Terceira Island - Azores - Portugal

Terceira Island - Azores - Portugal

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The secret is out!

Last week I told my boss about my new job at Lajes.  He was happy for me, but dismayed about having another vacancy to fill.  It was fun being able to tell coworkers about my upcoming move.  Everyone who knows someone who's been to Lajes says they loved it, and would go back.  Congratulations have abounded.  The first question is, "What will you be doing?"  The second questions is, "When will you be going?"  I'm sure they all mean that only in a good way!


My Facebook page has a countdown app that shows how many days left till I arrive on Terceira.  I'm working my way through the house, organizing what I want to keep and throwing out stuff I no longer want to drag around the world.  Lots of paper.  Office supplies I've had since 1997.  A sweater I started knitting and know I'll never finish.  Negatives of photos I don't even have any more.


The date has slipped since I first talked with the AF personnel center.  Now there's a reporting date of 25 April, which is the Monday after Easter.  The e-mail I got from the center had a link to the site with information about PCS-ing (Permanent Change of Station).  After talking with their tech support, I learned the link is broken.  Thanks to my innate resourcefulness (aw, shucks), I managed to find the info myself using Google, and sent a good link to the woman in personnel.  I found forms there and general info, and Isidro sent me the link to the Lajes newcomers site for info about housing, medical care, driving, pets, and much, much more.  


No, this isn't Emma.  But it's the XL (40l x 27w x 30h) crate I just ordered for her plane trip.  I was pleasantly surprised to find one for less than $100.  From reading through the Pets pages for the base, I learned that neither on-base temporary lodging or hotels off base have accommodations for pets.  That means either putting her in the kennel on base till I find a place to live and can move in - and who knows how long that will take, including getting household goods there?  So, I'll probably fly over without her and have friends take her to BWI for a flight once I have a new home for us.
Here's my Emma, lounging on "her" bed that she generously shares with me.  Restrictions for bringing in a pet are pretty routine - current rabies vaccine, microchip - which she already has.  Not like going to the UK, with its 6-week quarantine policy.

The other day, I spent some time looking at rental property near the base.  Prices range from 750 to 1,100. Lots of variety - some really pretty houses.  I was drooling over a couple of them, like the one below, but looks can be deceiving.  The house with this view doesn't come with any appliances or hook-ups.



This one does, though.

Or how about this lovely "cottage?"  I might 
even be willing to buy some appliances to live here!  And I bet I'd have plenty of house guests!

To be honest, these are the exceptions in appearance.  Most of the listings are much more, shall we say, unimpressive?  Of course, it's early days, and some places look better "on" than they do on the hanger.  Some houses are just 220v, but others have 110v, too.  The housing site recommends bringing dehumidifiers.  None of the houses I've seen have air conditioning or screens, but I hear there's usually a good breeze. Also, closets seem to be minimal, so I might rent a small storage space in VA for cold-weather clothes.  More to come on that. 


I've been e-mailing back-and-forth with Isidro, the personnel guy handling my move, and he sent forms last week for my personnel office to process so I can get my physical exam.  It's a pretty extensive check list (not!): "light lifting/carrying, walking, standing, near vision correctable, ability to distinguish basic colors/shades of colors, hearing, other (unspecified)."  Once that's done, and the selecting official has completed his part of the process on line, I should be good to go for the April 25 EOD (enter on duty) date.


That's all for this post.
Aisha

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Here I go again!

A few of you have asked me when I'll start blogging again, and my response has been, "As soon as I have something to blog about."  And now, I do!
*************
For several months - okay, over a year - I've been checking in weekly (and sometimes daily) with the Air Force Personnel Center and USAJobs to see if there might be anything enticing out there.  I had come to have very defined goals: small-medium size city, no harried, road rage-inducing traffic, temperate climate, beautiful scenery (preferably mountains and water), and lower cost of living than DC (that's the easy one). My brother Steve considered posting a map of the world with a pin for the location of each job I applied for.  These included Texas, West Virginia, New Mexico, Ohio, Colorado, Hawaii, Tennessee, the UK, Japan, Germany, and the Azores.  I know, only one of these meets all the criteria, but my primary goal was to leave AFDW, which I saw as imminently doomed to obsolescence.
* I was offered a position at Cannon AFB, in eastern New Mexico, in the middle of nothing and nowhere.  It was tempting, in spite of its isolated location and lower grade, because the base had been pulled out of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) death to take on a new mission.  This meant I would have had the rare opportunity to build a new base. I told my boss that I had accepted it.  Then all the drawbacks were pointed out to me, so I changed my response to a decline.
* In the first week of December, my dear friend and colleague, Jo Rupert, told me that she had seen an announcement for Supervisory Asset Management Flight Chief at Lajes Field.  This is on Terceira Island, in the Azores, which is an autonomous region of Portugal in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 2,400 miles from the east coast of North America and 930 miles west of Lisbon. Its 148 square miles has a population of only 56,000, a temperate climate, low cost of living, and very few roads.  You see where I'm going with this, right?  The position was to close the next day, so I updated my resume and self-nominated for the position post-haste.  Meanwhile, I continued casting my job search net to see what I might pull in.
* On Friday, 7 January, I stayed at work later than I had planned, so I was there for the arrival of the e-mail that said, "Congratulations! You have been tentatively selected for the permanent position of GS-0301-13, Supervisory Asset Manager located in 65th Civil Engineer Squadron at Lajes Field Portugal."
* I stared at the e-mail and said, "Oh. My. Gosh." for about ten minutes.  Visions of sugar plums couldn't top this.  This is a dream job location that meets all my criteria, and then some.  And I realized that it took the selecting officials only ONE MONTH from position closing to the notification e-mail, in spite of Christmas-New Year's holidays and the wheels of the Air Force personnel system, "which grind exceeding slow."  This has got to be an all-time record for speed hiring. The deadline for accepting or declining was 11 January.  I already knew I'd say not only "Yes," but "Hell, yes!"  However, in the interest of giving this big decision due consideration, I kept it to myself over the weekend - and told only ten of my closest friends that I'd be moving to the Azores.
* Bright and early this morning, I sent a "Reply All" e-mail saying that I enthusiastically accept the offer.  After my experience with the Cannon position, I decided to say nothing to anyone in the office until I receive the formal offer letter. Naturally, though, I told Jo, since I wouldn't have known about the opening without her.  It was hard to keep from telling everyone today.
* So this will be my Moving-to-the-Azores blog, in which I chronicle the process of uprooting myself from Northern Virginia for two to five years; ending my very successful house-mate relationship with my brother, Steve; figuring out whether he'll stay in the house or move to an apartment; deciding what to take with me to my new life; shipping my car; arriving on the island; finding a house; the job itself (oh, yeah, that's why I'm going); and much, much more.  Maybe I'll even talk about the job - what a concept!
* I welcome this new chapter in my life - 2011 will be a fascinating year!