September 29, 2005
The Final Cut
Our bid list is due tomorrow. Here is the final list. Hopefully we'll know where we are going on October 14.
1-3. BANGKOK
4. BEIJING
5. KATHMANDU
6. KUALA LUMPUR
7-8. PRAGUE
9. ATHENS
10-11. WARSAW
12. RIGA
13. ROME
14-15. CAIRO
16. AMMAN
17. MOSCOW
18. ISTANBUL
19. TUNIS
20. YEREVAN
August 10, 2005
The List
Our list has changed quite a bit over the last week or so. This is what we are looking at these days :
BANGKOK
BANGKOK
BEIJING
KUALA LUMPUR
KATHMANDU
PRAGUE
PRAGUE
WARSAW
WARSAW
WARSAW
ATHENS
ISTANBUL
CAIRO
CAIRO
TUNIS
AMMAN
MOSCOW
YEREVAN
KIEV
BEIRUT
August 01, 2005
First Draft
I'm sure this will keep changing, but after a few days of scrutinizing all of our choices this is how the list of 20 is looking.
1. Bangkok, Thailand
2. Bangkok, Thailand
3. Kathmandu, Nepal
4. Beijing, China
5. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
6. Athens, Greece
7. Cairo, Egypt
8. Cairo, Egypt
9. Istanbul, Turkey
10. Tunis, Tunisia
11. Prague, Czech Republic
12. Dushanbe, Tajikistan
13. Amman, Jordan
14. Yerevan, Armenia
15. Ankara, Turkey
16. Kiev, Ukraine
17. Muscat, Oman
18. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
19. Beirut, Lebanon
20. Jerusalem, Israel
July 29, 2005
Where should we go next?
We just got our bid list today. We have to come up with a list of 20 places from a list of 466 positions. At first glance here are some of the places that look interesting to me.
Amman, Jordan
Athens, Greece
Bangkok, Thailand
Beijing, China
Cairo, Egypt
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Istanbul, Turkey
Kathmandu, Nepal
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Muscat, Oman
Prague, Czech Republic
Rome, Italy
Singapore
Tunis, Tunisia
Yerevan, Armenia
June 18, 2004
Our Apartment
Click on each picture for an enlargement.
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Our Building, one apartment per floor |
Front Entrance, left leads to master bedroom, straight
to dining room/living room and to the right is the kitchen. |
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Front Entrance from the other direction |
I love all the cabinets! |
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Door on left leads to next picture |
Behind door washer/dryer, the room further back is for a live-in, which we won't have. |
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Dining Room |
Living room (from the dining room) |
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Dining room view, it's hard to see because its so
bright out but yes that's the Gulf. |
Dining room view, you can even see the Golden Arches. |
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We have three of these long hallways, off to the right,
where Sam is peeking out of our bedroom, leads to the main entrance and
one to the left of the bathroom leads to the guest bedroom. |
Guest Bedroom |
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Guest Bathroom |
Office |
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Office |
Entryway half-bath |
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Master bathroom |
Master bedroom |
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Our gym (there is a huge plasma TV in the box waiting
to be mounted on the wall) |
Our pool |
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Roof view (same as from our dining room) |
Roof view (same as from our dining room) |
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Roof view (other side of building) |
On the roof |
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Sunrise |
March 22, 2004
Our new car
We bought a car this weekend. From everything we hear from people in Kuwait we will really need one. So, at almost 29 years old I finally own my very first car!
March 19, 2004
A link to various sites about Kuwait
History, weather, tourism, this is the place to go to link up to info on various topics. You can even see pictures of what the money looks like.
http://www.hejleh.com/countries/kuwait.html
March 16, 2004
Kuwait websites
http://usembassy.state.gov/kuwait/
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ku.html
http://www.ameinfo.com/kuwait/
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/index.asp
March 12, 2004
Leave date
Sam made our reservations yesterday and we will be off to Kuwait on June 14th. My last day of work is going to be March 26 and I'm looking very forward to 2 1/2 months off!
February 24, 2004
ETD
Just a little update : It looks like we will be headed overseas in mid-June. We also decided to move to an unfurnished apartment in the same building to save a little money. We are planning to move on March 3. I'll send out an email with our new apartment number. Also, we won't be getting a landline so we are back to cells only.
February 18, 2004
In case you are wondering where Kuwait is, these are helpful.
February 17, 2004
We're going to Disneyworld!
Well I woke up this morning with a very strong feeling that we were going to go to Kuwait and found out at about 3:30 today that we are! We are very excited. We really wanted to be in the Arab world so we got our wish. We aren't sure exactly when we will be leaving but its looking like April or May. We'll be getting more specifics in the next couple of weeks.
February 11, 2004
Narrowing down
Well, we just found out that Saudi Arabia will not be in our near future. Both positions were filled. So that means I already lost since I said Riyadh.
February 05, 2004
Anyone interested in a little friendly competition?
If you have a feeling about where you think Sam and I are going to end up and feel like putting a little money on it let me know in the comments section.
I'll start the betting with $5 on Riyadh.
If you don't remember what our choices were you can view the top 25 list at http://sam.werberg.net/denise/archives/000334.html
January 21, 2004
Into the hands of fate
Here is our final top 25 list by city, country and when we would leave to go overseas. Now all we have to do is wait until February 17 to find out where we are going.
1. Algiers, Algeria - October
2. Algiers, Algeria - September
3. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - November
4. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - October
5. Kuwait City, Kuwait - April
6. Yaounde, Cameroon - November
7. Lome, Togo - September
8. Djibouti, Djibouti - June
9. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso - September
10. Niamey, Niger - August
11. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - May
12. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - September
13. Manila, Philippines - May
14. Athens, Greece
15. Warsaw, Poland
16. Seoul, South Korea - August
17. Seoul, South Korea - December
18. Pristina, Serbia - September
19. Pristina, Serbia - August
20. Minsk, Belarus - February ‘05
21. Dhaka, Bangladesh - August
22. Moscow, Russia - August
23. Ulannbaatar, Mongolia - June
24. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea - August
25. Maputo, Mozambique
January 13, 2004
Where oh where will we be going...
Here is the list. We are probably looking at places in this kind of order :
1. Arab and/or Muslim countries
2. French Speaking Africa
3. South East Asia
4. After that it gets tougher, most likely we won't bid on anything in the Western Hemisphere.
Please feel free to offer any thoughts or suggestions.
Kabul, Afghanistan
Algiers, Algeria
Vienna , Austria
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Minsk, Belarus
Belize, Belize
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Yaounde, Cameroon
Santiago, Chile
Beijing, China
Bogota, Columbia
Kinshasa, Congo
San Jose, Costa Rica
Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire
Havana, Cuba
Prague, Czech Republic
Djibouti, Djibouti
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Cairo, Egypt
San Salvador, El Salvador
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Frankfurt, Germany
Athens, Greece
Georgetown, Guyana
Port au Prince, Haiti
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Kolkata, India
New Delhi, India
Tel Aviv, Israel
Guadalajara, Mexico
Hermosillo, Mexico
Mexico D.F., Mexico
Monterrey, Mexico
Tijuana, Mexico
Maputo, Mozambique
Managua, Nicaragua
Niamey, Niger
Abuja, Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria
Islamabad, Pakistan
Peshawar, Pakistan
Panama City, Panama
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Asuncion, Paraguay
Manila, Philippines
Warsaw, Poland
Moscow, Russia
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Pristina, Serbia
Seoul, South Korea
Lome, Togo
Caracas, Venezuela
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Harare, Zimbabwe
January 12, 2004
Some pictures of the new place...
Kitchen, Dining Room, Living Room all in one
Our very first walk-in closet
December 18, 2003
Important Dates
January 1
Sam and I will be driving down to DC for good.
January 2
I start work at the Peace Corps Recruiting Office in VA
January 10
We move into our corporate suite in Arlington, VA
January 12
Sam starts his training and we get the list of the 90 possible overseas postings
FEBRUARY 17
WE FIND OUT WHERE WE ARE GOING!!!
November 07, 2003
How I am preparing for the next phase of life
It's hard to predict what may be in store for me once we move overseas so I decided to prepare for the worst-case scenerio - not being able to leave the house. So what will I do with all that down-time?
Hobby #1 Crocheting
Although it is likely that we will end up in a desert climate we are still in NY for now so I have started making Hat and Scarf sets. Below is my first attempt.
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Also, being the wonderful wife that I am I'm making this scarf for my husband.
I can make blankets too!
(pictures of different blanket styles)
Hobby #2 Stained Glass
My ultimate goal is to learn how to make lamp shades. To learn technique though I'm working on the following project. I'm at the soldering stage which I must admit is a little scary.
Hobby #3 Harmonica
I haven't actually started this one yet but I'll get around to it.
I do hope to perfect all these skills over time and you can all expect that any gift you may get from me will be homemade. I'm not sure if I will actually fulfill them but you can make requests in the comments section and I'll let you know...
But keep in mind that I don't deliver so you'll have to come visit!
November 06, 2003
FAQs about what the hell is going on in Denise’s life these days?
What the hell is going on?
A whole lot of changes are about to take place.
When are you moving?
We will be leaving Astoria on December 31.
Where will you be living?
For the months of January and February we will be living in a Corporate Suite in Arlington, VA, basically a one-bedroom furnished apartment. I am making a prediction that our dining room table will be glass with gold trim and there will definitely be pictures of flowers somewhere in the apartment.
What are the three most exciting things about living in a Corporate Suite?
1. We will have a washer and dryer INSIDE our apartment (for the last 3 years its been a laundromat and the 4 years prior to that was hand-washing)
2. We will have maid service once a week!
3. We don’t have to pay for it!!
How long will you be in DC?
We will be there at least 4 months and could be there up to a year depending how much language training is needed.
When will you know where you are going?
On the third day of training Sam will be given a list that has approximately 90 different positions on it. We will have to rank our top 25 choices. In week six we will find out where we are going, which means we should know around the end of February.
Where do you want to go?
Our preference is definitely the Arab/Muslim world. I would have to say personally my top choice is Tunisia, but because of that we will never end up going there.
What will you do in DC while Sam is in training?
I am hoping to transfer to the Peace Corps Office in Arlington, very close to where we will be living. That would make for a very easy transition and give me something to do while we wait to go overseas.
What are you going to do overseas?
I will have to wait and see where we get posted, but no matter what I will try to be the best wife I can be. If we are in a Peace Corps country I would love to try and get contract work with them. There are usually positions available for spouses, but it depends and they are usually low paying menial jobs (oh wait a sec, that’s exactly what I’m used to)
Further questions may be submitted at anytime through the comment section, when a question is asked by more than one person it will be added to this list.