In my last post, I cursorily addressed a big issue for those of us who travel overseas to new posts: what happens when you have no way of communicating except for your US-based cell phone and you have an emergency back home?

We were faced with just this dilemma upon arriving in Indonesia: at 1:00 a.m. our time, we had a major pet-shipping logistics breakdown at IAD, and needed to solve it instantly.  We had no internet at our house, no nearby open WiFi networks, and a useless home phone (they had changed the international dialing codes recently, and didn’t tell anyone the new ones).  I was forced to use my US-based smartphone with AT&T to use the internet and make calls from Indonesia to the U.S.  All-in-all, I used about 65 MB of data (2-minute Skype call, email, and some Facebook messaging), and received one 1-minute international roaming call.  At pay-per-use (PPU) figures of $0.0195 per kilobyte, I used 66,308 KB (64.75 MB), adding up to $1,293.00 in accrued international data charges.  “Holy crap!” is right, though the words that came out of my mouth when I saw this were a little more NC-17–oriented.

Looking at that same page on the AT&T site, you’ll see that they have several options for overseas usage.  The have international options for voice, SMS, and data.  $30 gets you 15 minutes of roaming in Indonesia (compared to $2.50/min. PPU) or 120 MB of data.  Even the highest tier of $120 for 100 minutes or 800 MB is still less than 10 percent of what I paid at PPU rates.

This being said, I think next time we PCS overseas, I’ll take advantage of the international roaming plans for any contingencies that arise (and arise they do, believe me).  I’ll happily pay $30, $60, or even $120 on top of my bill as insurance that I’ll never have to see a wireless bill that has four figures instead of three.  We couldn’t suspend our accounts until we reached post (luckily I wasn’t that forward-thinking, and didn’t fax our orders until we arrived at post), so I at least had access to SOME form of communication.  However, after the data usage ate through $1,300, AT&T helpfully suspended my account to “avoid significant overages” and I was left with a brick in my hands instead of a smartphone.  I wonder what their threshold for “significant overages” is?  $1,000, $5,000, even $10,000?  With my phone now “bricked,” I had to call the duty officer here at post to go use her internet connection at 1:30 a.m. to complete the Skype call I was cut off from and get our dogs on the plane.

This isn’t a unique situation to just AT&T.  A quick glance at Sprint ($0.019 per KB), T-Mobile ($10 or $15 per MB), and Verizon ($0.02 per KB) all show similarly ridiculous PPU rates.  Only AT&T, Sprint and Verizon offer international roaming packages… so sorry, T-Mobile users, you’re up a creek without a paddle (but good news! you’ll only pay about 75% of what AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon charge for PPU).

So, are you PCS’ing soon?  Do you have a tight, logistics-heavy schedule for departure?  Are you shipping pets or anything that could be delayed or made impossible by the slightest hiccup?  Are you worried about dealing with contingencies in the U.S. from abroad if when they happen?  Think carefully about it, and then just get an international voice and data roaming plan for a month.  The $60, $120, or even $240 you spend on this “insurance” will only be a very small fraction of the actual cost if you need to use PPU while overseas.

Greetings from Indonesia, dear readers!  We made it!  After a 3-leg, nearly 40-hour journey, we arrived in Surabaya last Wednesday evening.  And, survey says… we love it!

Our journey was not without hiccups, mind you… Late on 31 May, we received an email from our pet shipper here in Indonesia that they needed the air waybill (AWB) amended in a certain way.  After a maelstrom of emails, pages, phone calls, etc. over the weekend, we still didn’t have it correct by the time we were wheels-up from DCA on 3 June @ 10 a.m.  Luckily, we had a 4-hour layover in NYC before the 16-hour leg to Hong Kong.  Once we landed, I frantically checked my email and thankfully found the AWB waiting for me.  I bounced it off our shippers here (who signed off on it by the time we hit Hong Kong), and thought we were good to go.  HA!!

The dogs were slated to fly out late afternoon from IAD on 5 June.  We had arranged for a handler to transport the dogs from their boarding facility to IAD, and for a friend to act as shipper for us (basically show up at IAD and sign a piece of paper).  They arrived at the airport at 1 p.m. for a 6 p.m. flight, and ran into trouble.  The counter agent for KLM decided that the crated we were using were “too small” for our dogs, and that we needed to get bigger ones.  Mind you, the dogs had flown TO and FROM the D.R. in these crates on Delta Cargo and Continental Cargo, respectively.  My agent and friend dashed to the nearest PetSmart and purchased a Series 700 “Giant” crate for my Lab (this crate is usually reserved for St. Bernards, Mastiffs, and Newfies, i.e. freakin’ huge dogs), and used the Series 500 (X-Large) for the Beagle (made for Labs, Golden Retrievers, Rotties, etc.) so the dogs could fly.

I was up late due to jet-lag (1 a.m. local time), and had a bad feeling about the dogs.  I quickly checked my email and Facebook for updates on the dogs, and saw the messages about the issues at the airport.  Lacking any method of communication other than my US cell phone, I frantically made a Skype call (seeing as I couldn’t dial internationally from either my home phone or my cell due to the codes changing 2 days prior to our arrival) to check in.  64 MB of international data later, I still had no solution as the call was quickly cut off by AT&T in order to “prevent high costs,” and I was forced to call my wife’s new boss (also duty officer) at 1:30 a.m. in order to use her internet for a Skype call.

Ugh.  Needless to say, the dogs did get on the plane, but the cost went up by over $1,000 due to the new dimensions of the crates.  Our potential import duty (if the Embassy couldn’t get the exemption letter in on time… which they hadn’t been able to do yet) was also set to go up by over $700, effectively doubling it.  With the dogs en route, we pushed hard on the Embassy and our handler here in Indonesia to get the duty exemption prepared in time, however, 6 June was a national holiday (Ascension of the Prophet Mohammed).  As of COB 7 June, we still had no letter and the dogs were on the ground in Jakarta.  Our handler had to front the import duty to GOI, and we had to hope for GOI to accept the letter on Monday, 8 June and refund the duty.

On Monday morning, we finally got some good news… GOI had accepted the exemption letter and refunded the duty.  The dogs were released in the afternoon, and arrived to us healthy and happy on Tuesday.  We’re now in the middle of filing a complaint with KLM/Air France Cargo w/r/t the decision of the counter agent and the necessity of changing crates.  I’m also looking into filing a formal complaint against the booking agent we used in the U.S. (OHL International—www.ohl.com—DO NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES use these guys… they SUCK), as over the course of the 10 weeks we were in contact, they waited until the last second (literally) to book the dogs despite constant promises that everything was all set, avoided and ignored emails and phone calls from me in the last week leading up to shipping, and basically made my life a f*cking nightmare of stress and anger for the last 2-plus weeks.

Yesterday, I got a notice for my final bill from AT&T (we did the military suspension thing… they required we fax our orders with PII and SBU info redacted, but it was almost instantly approved), and decided to take a look.  Imagine my horror when I saw an amount due of $1,475!!  64 MB of international data apparently costs $1,283 as pay-per-use, whereas, had I been able to see into the future and anticipate the shit-show that awaited us upon arrival in Indonesia, I could have paid $30 for 120 MB of global data, $60 for 250 MB, or $90 for 500 MB.  Note to fellow FS families… if your US provider provides this service, GET IT.  I will never again travel without it… $90 is well worth the ability to communicate in case of an emergency, and is a hell of a lot better than $1,300.  I’m working with AT&T to address this, and may have played the “serving our country” card, “loyal customers for over 8 years” card, as well as the “in order to avoid potential delays in the shipping of and possibility of harm to our beloved dogs” card in my email.  They seem receptive thus far… however, we’ll have to wait to see an updated bill to confirm just how big their hearts actually are.

So, there you have it… our “great adventure” in Indonesia thus far.  Our house is gorgeous, our street is quiet and pretty safe, and my son can walk to school, literally.  The entrance to the school campus is right across the street from our house.  We’re still waiting for our stuff (and will be for some time, from what I gather), but have been able to piece things together from the local market, the Welcome Kit, and Amazon.  Son misses his toys, but he made an instant friend in our neighbors’ son, who is also 5 and will be in his Kindergarten class come August.

Ahh, the life of a Foreign Service family abroad….  Mahalo.

Anyone with a furry companion in the Foreign Service knows that the title to this blog post is NOT hyperbole.  Traveling to post with pets can be one of the most stressful, excruciatingly frustrating, and downright awful experiences one can have in the FS.  I really, truly mean that, from the bottom of my heart.

We are flying in early June to our next post: Surabaya, Indonesia.  Fly America act has a couple of restrictions on us, as do contracted routes.  We had a couple of options for routes that might let us take the dogs as accompanied baggage: Korea and Japan.  We were foolishly hopeful.  Enter airline and country restrictions.

Korea will not allow any pets over 75 lbs. (pet plus crate) to transit their country.  Since my Lab is 80 lbs. on a particularly trim day, that wasn’t going to happen.  His crate weighs 24 lbs, so he’d have to lose 29 pounds in roughly 1.5 months.  Not gonna happen.  There goes option 1.

After much leg-work by my wife, we were able to find some flights through Narita (Tokyo) that looked promising, all on United and ANA (codeshares).  The timings were OK with temperature embargoes, but we were faced with an overnight layover in Narita, and neither United nor ANA had overnight accommodations for pets.  We’d have to import the dogs into Japan for a period of less than 18 hours.  I called the Japanese embassy here in D.C. and spoke with the agricultural attaché who very politely informed me of the impossibility of this, since while we would meet all of the entry requirements, we’d have had to apply for an importation permit 6 months prior to arrival after jumping through numerous hoops.  Hence, the earliest our pets would be able to transit Japan on this route would be October, a full 4 months after we arrive.

So then I did some frantic Googling about PCSing with pets, both through the military and with State.  After many different search terms, I came up with an interesting site: www.actionpetexpress.com.  I read through the pages, looking for the information I needed.  Sure enough, there was a link on the left side that said “State Department” and that page had a link to one of the FSO blogs I read, The Diplomatic Mama.  She had shipped a cat directly through Qatar Air cargo to Bangladesh, without a “Pet Relocation Service!”  WTF?

I called Jerry over at Action Pet Express, we chatted for a bit, and he asked me to email him some information so he could put out some feelers on prices/routes.  As it turned out, the only option was KLM (our preference), and he put me in touch with a broker to work out the details.  While I’m paying a small broker fee just to book the tickets (~$200), it’s still costing me a hell of a lot less than Club Pet International (State’s “preferred” shipper) or even All Pet Travel (the ones we used last time to the D.R. who, BTW, owe me a HUGE favor for all of the publicity and business I threw their way in 2010/2011.  That favor was in form of a 5% discount offered on their “administrative fees” which were well over $800).

Jerry also clued me in on a little factoid that I’m sure will be helpful:  the DOD Diagnostics Lab at Fort Sam Houston does the rabies titer test for ALL USG employees.  The only quid pro quo at the moment is that the EU and Korea don’t accept their results.  The cost is $55 per sample, plus shipping.  Overnighting through UPS for me ran $75 for both samples (you can 2nd-day air it with a Cold-Pak and a cheap, soft-side cooler).  Together, I got both dogs done for $90 less than it would have been for ONE dog through our vet.  Keep this in mind when you need a titer test for your dogs or even yourself.  Overall, Jerry was a pleasure to speak with, a fountain of knowledge, and gave me all of this advice and access to his connections gratis.  Thanks Jerry!

Basically, despite the efforts of State, AFSA, and AAFSW, PCSing with pets is still a nightmare.  The airlines say they’re trying to help, but they still make interlining (an important term to know if you’re codesharing) a giant PITA.  With a large majority of posts only accessible via foreign carriers (especially in Asia and Africa), this presents a huge problem for FSOs and their families.  If you’re flying on United or American on the first leg (which you usually do), you can almost forget about getting anyone to interline your pets.  Both airlines tell you to check with the codeshare carriers, and the codeshare carriers tell you to check with American or United.  It’s an infinite loop qua clusterfrak.  If you’re flying to Asia or Europe, start planning your pets’ routes and researching the requirements the second you get your assignment.  I’m not kidding.  Had we been aware of Japan’s 6-months quarantine in country of origin after the first rabies titer test, we’d have gotten that shizz done waaaaaay on back in October and transited Narita with the dogs in tow as excess baggage and not be paying $2,200 for cargo fares.

Ahh, dogs.  Almost as annoying/expensive as having a car in the Foreign Service.

…And I hate what happened in my home away from home yesterday.

In case you’ve been living under a rock or lack access to modern media formats, two explosive devices detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring some 200 others.  This hits particularly close to home for me, even more so than the Sandy Hook shootings which occurred no more than 25 miles from many of my relatives’ houses.

See, I used to go to the Marathon every year.  I used to get as close to the finish line as possible.  I know that Marathon Sports in front of which the first device exploded.  I’ve watched the marathon from that exact spot, I’ve walked that corridor hundreds of times, Marathon Day or any other day.  If I still lived in Boston, there’d have been a good chance that my wife, son, and I would have been there.  And knowing me, we’d have been very near the finish line because there’s nothing cooler than screaming out encouragement to hundreds of completely insane strangers who have just completed one of the craziest of physical feats (Seriously, 26.2 miles?  I’d be dead after 6).

The three dead and 200 injured luckily didn’t include anyone I know.  I have plenty of friends still in Boston, and through whatever higher power, none of them were there.  The runners I know either finished before the blasts or weren’t allowed near the site after the blasts.  For me, everything worked out.  For some other families, everything went wrong.

What kind of cowardice would drive someone to blow up hundreds of people who are wildly cheering on and encouraging thousands of perfect strangers to push just a little harder and cross that finish line?  Who would think that blowing up IEDs at a Marathon would send any kind of message other than the fact that the perpetrator is a sub-human psychopath with no regard for the collective community and mass showing of good will that is a Marathon’s cheering section?  Seriously, what the f*ck?

I’m too mad and too heartbroken to try to place blame, but I do know that the 24-hour news culture has something to do with it.  Just like Aurora, CO, Sandy Hook, CT, the VA Tech shootings, the DC snipers, and even Columbine, this incident will be the center of the media universe until the next big tragedy comes along (or worse, until we are desensitized enough that we don’t care anymore).  If it wasn’t an international or domestic terror group trying to “make a point” (And what point would that be?  Running 26 miles sucks and is really hard?) or trying to chip away a little more at our sense of security and freedom, and it was some disgruntled individual or individuals, don’t you think that maybe the media coverage they are getting could have in some way influenced their decision to carry out this horrific act of senseless violence?

But here’s the thing: this event didn’t scare us.  Bostonians are tough bastards, and rather than tuck their tails and run and hide, hundreds of first responders and spectators rushed TOWARDS the explosions and helped to care for the wounded, helped to provide access to the ambulances by tearing down the fences and barriers and clearing the debris without regard for the potential of other blasts.  Doctors and nurses who had JUST RUN 26.2 MILES ran straight to the medical tents and began triage and treatment of the wounded.  No water, no rest, no nothing.  Just instinct, adrenaline, and good will.

So f*ck you, whoever did this.  I hope you’re caught, prosecuted, and never again see the light of day.  And guess what, YOU DIDN’T WIN.  We won.  Boston won.  The American People won.  While we lost lives and limbs, we showed the world that there still is hope for humanity and American society.  We banded together and helped our fellow man, woman, and child.  Just like we do every time something this horrific happens.

I’ve never been prouder of Boston.

Well, dear readers, I now have an excuse for not updating this blog as often as I should: bahasa Indonesia!  Yep, I’m back in language training.  The same language training that damn near killed me last time around.  I’m happy to report it’s going better this time.  Something about my head being in a different place, I guess.

I’m enrolled in the FAST course at FSI, a survival-skills language course of sorts.  It’ll give me a basic knowledge of Indonesian, with the capacity to communicate on the most basic level.  It’s an 8-week course, and I’m lucky to be in a class of mostly EFMs.  I’m strongly considering extending that training by 4-6 weeks, as there’s only one FSO who is receiving the full 24 weeks of instruction, and my extending won’t be a burden on the department’s already-strained resources.

Thus far, I’m picking up and retaining things a lot better.  I can form simple sentences, am beginning to understand the roots and affixations (and their purposes and meanings), and more or less get the structure of the language and its syntax.  I also think that I’ve at least picked up some words from my wife and the constant drone of Indonesian TV in the background (my wife watches it all the time) at least has me recognizing some words and getting a feel for the cadence.  I also found some open-source language materials and texts, so I will be using those to further my learning.

In other news, I may actually start working in a kitchen soon.  I’ve been in discussion with a local chef who runs a teaching-oriented restaurant and culinary workshop.  He’s looking for some help in the kitchen both for dinner services and for the cooking workshops.  He’s been impressed enough with my chops (literally, heh) after seeing me work in 2 cooking classes here at Oakwood, that he’s considering offering me some hours.  Sa-weet.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for this one, as I feel it’s a real foot-in-the-door opportunity for me.  I have always wanted to work in a commercial kitchen, and this is as good a chance as any.

My shoulder is now about 75 percent healed/rehabilitated.  Well, it’s 100 percent healed, but I’m only at about 75 percent mobility and strength.  Most of the deep surgical pain has ceased, the infection seems to have cleared up, and I’m really only left with the muscle pain that comes with trying to regain my full range of motion.  My only setbacks have been when I pull or aggravate something in the joint, but these are just a few minutes of pain and my confidence level with my left arm has soared recently.  I’m pretty much fully capable of everyday activities again, pain-free, and working to get back to sports.  I’d really like to be able to swim and surf in Indonesia, and possibly get back into golf and tennis.  A healthy left shoulder will be helpful in all of these things.

So there’s the update.  We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us before our June departure.  The dog shipping thing is a long, expensive, and painful process, but that’s another post altogether.  Let’s just say that if you’re thinking about a career as a diplomat, you should really reconsider your stance on pets if you have them.  While they’re part of the family and a good source of continuity between moves throughout their lifespans, they’re damn expensive and complicated to move around with you.

Mahalo.

….non-existent.  I went in Monday for orientation despite the beginnings of a cold rearing its ugly head.  Sat thru the administrative stuff (no, it didn’t change since September, though there’s rumors of a new intro video being produced, so you have that to look forward to), sat through the Thai/Indonesian orientation, sat through the Indonesian orientation/goal setting, went home at noon, didn’t go back again last week.

That lovely cold took me and Son out this week in the worst way.  Missed 4 days of training, Son missed 5 days of school.  104-degree fevers and a hacking cough kept us worried and Son up all night most nights.  A nasty sore throat and sinus pressure-qua-infection kept me miserable and out of class.  We’re finally feeling better, but now the Wife has it.  Hooray for infectious diseases in close-knit communities!  As the director of Son’s school told me, “There’s something going around.”  Thanks for that tidbit!

So, I missed week 1 of 8 in Indonesian training.  But I made 500 flash cards, and think I can recall about 50 of them.  I can also put basic sentences together: Saya orang Inggris.  Saya punya istri.  Nama istri saya Joanne.  Saya tinggal di Oakwood di Falls Church.  Saya mau perjalanan ki Indonesia.  Good times.  Tidak buruk.

Despite feeling like death this week, I was at least a little productive in learning.  So that’s nice.  I was totally off the cooking bandwagon, however, and we mostly scrounged for food in Chez Expat Chef when we weren’t getting delivery or take-out.  Did manage to pull together a taco salad on Friday with an amazing creamy cilantro-lime dressing.  Mmm-mmm.

Still feeling the effects of being sick for a full week, that’s about all the blog-posting goodness I have in me.  You’ll have to wait until next week when I’m on the verge of suicide from the EPAP application process (I passed the writing exam, natch) and beating my head against my Kamus Bahasa Indonesia for another post.  It may even be whinier than this one.

Mahalo.