Goodbye, Expat Life; Hello, Repat Life?

As I type, I am sitting in Geoff's hometown in NJ. We're en route from Berlin to Seattle, stopping over just long enough on the East Coast to attend a wedding. It has been my first real break since January. The first time that I have had real time off, not thinking about wedding or work or looking for work or moving logistics. And the sun is beaming beautifully outside; even the sweltering tri-state humidity cannot begin to bother me when I am sleeping 12 hours a day. I am spending most of my time just hanging out with the in-laws in Jersey, but am also idly looking up friends in NYC during the week. During the coming weekend, Geoff and I will be visiting the Museum of Math, as well as catching the "new" musical Once. Although I love New York, I cannot help but feel relieved that we don't live there anymore. The city is a total wallet-zapper!

On a more personal note, things have been pretty rough at home, since my mom has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks now, and Geoff's parents have had health scares of their own recently. I think this is the start of an era -- the years when we feel lucky whenever our parents get over a scary episode of something without it becoming life-threatening; it's no longer the norm that our parents get sick and they would get better. It's scary, and we're still waiting for biopsy results to see whether my mom will get lucky this time. I really hope so, but as my mom has already said, if it's not this and not this time (that becomes life-threatening), then it will be something else at another time. That realization has hit me very hard lately, and I don't know how to navigate through my web of feelings about it. I think grief is a very selfish thing, because as soon as you start to dwell on your own grief, you're already prioritizing your own fears and needs over the tremendous needs of the person who is actually ill. So I have tried to keep everything latent, because I don't know when my mom will need that extra boost of positivity from me. The wait for diagnosis has been agonizing, but I keep reminding myself that it is 10 times more difficult for my mom than it is for the rest of us. It helps to keep other things in perspective.

So, it was with a heavy heart that I had said goodbye to Berlin. Amidst all the furniture-selling, packing, cleaning, painting, paperwork logistics, and long-distance phone calls to Shanghai, the time simply flew. There are many things that I could say about Berlin, but most of all, I will remember the wonderful friends that we've made there. Although it was quite random that Geoff and I ended up there, we were fortunate to experience the city on its way to becoming -- truly -- one of the greatest cities in the world. When I think back about my two years there, I will always remember how charming the neighborhoods were, with their parks, biergartens, craft and flea markets, and slowly savored Sunday brunches. The city can throw a helluva open-air party, or two or three. And I've never been in any other city where the train is habitually still packed to standing-room at 5am, with a diversity of languages to rival that of NYC.

So long, Berlin! Thanks for all the wonderful memories. I wish that there was more time, and that the goodbye wasn't quite so hasty and so distracted, but I am sure that we will visit again soon.

PS. Next year, I will be teaching Algebra 2, Precalculus, and Calculus. To keep myself from being overly lazy all summer, I plan to do some Calculus planning starting in late July or early August. Any resources that you can point me at would be awesome!

PPS. On a different note, if you visit Germany at any point as a tourist, I highly recommend talking to the locals and going to a traditional German sauna to try their Aufguss experience. It's not to be missed! The experience is so exclusively German that you can hardly find any English info about it on the web, and the descriptions that you do find do not adequately describe it...

An Epic Week

This week has been epic. It was a week when I tried to do something for everyone. It was my last week with my Grade 12 IB students (since the next two weeks will be Spring Break, and after that I'll be absent from school for a week to chaperone a trip to China, and after that they go on a week of "study leave" before the IB exams); my last week teaching material to Grade 11 students before their semester exams; and the week that my MS principal and I looked through and picked two Grade 7 buttons business plans to invest money into. All of my 7th-, 8th- and 9th- graders had to come to a conceptual stopping point before vacation AND they had to be sufficiently solid in the new concepts that they could do independent practice/review without me, during my week-long absence after the break. It was a week when I promised to draft up 3 different semester exams so that I could help my colleagues agree on final exam content and dates for three different grades, so that I could send my own students off on their Spring Break with all of the necessary studying information. This week, as a Grade 12 team, we had to send in audited samples of graded student portfolios to the IB Organization, and internally, we had to submit estimated IB grades for the 12th-graders. This week, I finished babysitting/monitoring the enrichment research projects for the kids who are going to China with us, and they successfully presented their projects to their parents at the last trip meeting during Monday evening.

In the end, the week was smooth, without a hitch. It has wound down beautifully, and even though I am running on 5 hours of sleep today (went dancing yesterday), I feel very satisfied with what I was able to accomplish during this week.

And, oh boy, am I ready for Spring Break! I am looking forward to being in the States for a week, followed by being in Beijing and Shanghai (while chaperoning students) for 10 days and SEEING MY PARENTS!!! and eating some yummy soup dumplings. And when I come back, it'll only be a short sprint (punctured by another whole-school field-trip week and various holidays) until the end of the school year!!

Ah, winter break...

I miss drawing. I think this Christmas, I'm going to buy Geoff and myself some charcoal and drawing pad, so that we can be drawing hippies on Saturday mornings. I made this today because I was bored and the art store was closed. It's based loosely on this picture, but of course I messed up on the arms since I was drawing with an ink pen (one I normally use for grading) and I hadn't made anything in years.



Hello, winter break. :) It's only Day 2, and we have already: partied a good bit, finished hanging all kinds of things up in our apartment (Geoff measured/built three art frames from scratch and stapled the canvasses to them! It was awesome watching him sawing and banging things together while I laid back, ate chocolate, and watched TV... but I'm extra happy that finally all of our Salvadoran art is hung up), and we rode our bikes today to eat yummy breakfast in the park. In about 5 days we will be off to Turkey. I can't wait!!!

PS. Geoff's parents sent us chilled champagne in the mail. Two bottles. I managed to convince Geoff to immediately crack open one bottle upon receiving them, because hey -- how often in your life would you get chilled champagne in the mail?! That seems like as good an occasion as any to enjoy them. :)

PPS. Our Christmas tree/bush is coming along. It's crooked and small (that's what she said?), but it's filled with holiday spirit! :) I am so excited about our first jointly owned Christmas tree ever!! (Last two years we lived in the tropics, and before that we each lived separately in NYC.)


Anyway, I hope your holiday spirits are bright. Setting up the Christmas tree made me all sorts of sentimental. It was the first time I had actually set one up without my sister around (even though it has been 7 or so years since we've spent Christmas together). Made me miss her extra much.

PPPS. You know that Australian claymation movie Mary and Max? Please watch it. It's phenomenal (although not really suitable for children) and made me both laugh and cry.

Thanksgiving with the Coxes

Geoff and I spent the last four days playing host to his parents. It was AWESOME - I actually never imagined that it would be possible to jam pack so many things into four days, in El Salvador. We saw a beautiful beach (and did a whole all-inclusive thing) that had a stunning salt-water pool, a jacuzzi, and many very large and luxurious pools. We had an oiled massage (here they are $15 per hour... very affordable!). We took the Coxes up to a beautiful (and very delicious/intimate) fusion restaurant at the top of the mountain, overlooking many mountains and the city while the sun was setting. (The owners came out and talked to us, and one of them told us the story about how the restaurant came to be, and also played and sang some tunes on his guitar. Geoff's parents LOVED that!) We visited an old Spanish colonial town, saw its church, had a drink by the lake, and even hiked down a bit to check out the awesome hexagonal-prism shaped rock columns that are completely natural. And on the last night, we went to a beautiful restaurant that's already all decked out in Christmas spirit, on top of Torre de la Futura. (Geoff's mom LOVES Christmas, so it was a special treat for her to see the whole place decked out already.)

All in all, it was an absolutely lovely weekend. Happy Thanksgiving, and may we all be thankful for family and for love.

LA and Shanghai

I just arrived back in San Salvador after a two-week whirlwind trip to Los Angeles and Shanghai. Honestly, I had been a bit antsy to get back, because I don't like to be on the road constantly, but I was ridiculously sad to say goodbye to my parents in Shanghai nonetheless. The older they get, the more heavy-hearted I feel when I leave them after each visit. (My mom especially misses me when I'm gone...) Unfortunately, for financial reasons, I see my parents at most once a year. ...Maybe some day things would change and I would live at a closer proximity to my parents, but until that happens, visits home are almost as difficult as not being at home, because my mom counts the days until I would have to leave again. :(


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Anyway, en route to China, I was able to see and quickly catch up with some high school friends (Cat, Helen, Danna, and Jenny) and to visit my sister, my cousins, and my grandma in Los Angeles! My short stay in LA was busy and fabulous. Since I only go back to LA once every couple of years, it was so good to hear how everyone's life is moving and changing ever-so-rapidly. I miss my California girls and my sister already... Seeing them and missing them made me reflect that we each pay a steep price for our wanderlust -- or any other life that we choose to live.

In Shanghai, I went with my parents to briefly check out the Expo 2010 (aka. World's Fair), for which the entire city of Shanghai had been transformed in preparation. But I also spent a good deal of time home with my parents, besides going out with my parents to eat and to go to the hospital. (--Long story, but I am on a two-month herbal medicine regimen until my "moisture diminishes", my "heat lowers", and the root cause of my recurrent infection is cured. It was actually my idea to try herbal medicine this time, because I had been sick for well over a month with a common recurrent infection, and Western antibiotics seemed to be of little help. I figured I've got nothing to lose in trying the alternative. Although, I had to ask my mom to sit and wait outside during my examination/consultation, and that was pretty awkward... But, really, I think it was definitely the lesser evil of the two possible awkward situations; she didn't even expect me to say that I am on birth-control pills, despite knowing that I'm 28 and that Geoff and I obviously live together!) At home, my parents and I watched a lot of TV, talked a lot, and I learned a lot about the history and attitudes of the mainland Chinese people. Consequently, I felt more connected with Shanghai than I had felt during my previous visit...

I also took some time in Shanghai to check out its swing scene! This was my second try at swing-dancing in Shanghai, because Geoff and I had gone two years ago to the only small bar that had hosted a weekly swing dance. This time around, the venues have changed and there were definitely more dancers. In fact, I got to meet various cool international folks who are currently living and working in Shanghai; they helped me to appreciate Shanghai as an increasingly international -- and metropolitan -- community. I had super fun dancing, and (even though I got a little out of breath) I was surprised to feel how quickly I was falling back into the rhythm of the music.

Now I am home! :) Am ready for some serious downtime before we head out again (to Peru, in mid-July). How funny is it that we always want to get away, and then as soon as we do, we start to miss home?

Brain/Life Dump

It has been sweltering here in San Salvador, but this week that heat and humidity have finally turned into rain. First, a trickle, and then today, an all-out ugliness outside. I guess this marks the starting of the rainy season. Yuck!

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Geoff and I went to the beach last weekend to check out "Atami," a private beach club to which the school has membership. We had heard mixed things about it, so we decided it was something to see for ourselves. They had two types of rooms, $20 for a room with a fan or $36 for a room with an AC unit. We sprung for the one with AC, and it turned out to be a blessing, because the beach area was unbearably humid during most of our stay. But, besides that, Atami had a couple of huge pools (warm even at night because they are completely exposed to the sun during the day); a 100-meter water slide (actual curvy, water-park style); and a couple of salt-water pools right next to the ocean! The salt-water pools were awesome during high tide! The waves actually splash over the edge, but the pool is roped off on the sides so that you would not fall into the rocky ocean 10 feet below.

All in all, we had a LOT of fun at the club, and we think that we will try to go back there with a bigger group of people next time. My only gripe from the whole weekend is that the club is a bit remote from the happening spots along the popular beaches, and yet their food has a high price-to-quality ratio. Our weekend ended up costing a little over $100 bucks -- definitely not cheap for El Salvador -- once you included all the food and drinks, and that was only for mediocre food and a few drinks!

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In other news, my dad is out of the hospital! YAY. He was in there for a short stint for something potentially very serious, but in the end, the docs determined that he was OK and let him go after a few days of in-patient care. :) Thank goodness! (Needless to say, this had been very stressful...)

I can't wait to see my parents in June, which seems to be, amazingly, just around the corner.

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On the teaching front, I have been working hard to pull together the last projects of the year for my kids. I showed my Geometry kids a super fun movie about dimensions, called Flatland, and they loved it! On Monday, we will launch into a multi-day project on the computers, using this link in combination with some excellently scaffolded spatial puzzles (which I found while digging through the reference books at my school) to do a 3-d visualization/surface area/volume/base perimeter project. I can't be more excited! The entire project will take 3 or 4 days, but it should be super fun and educational for the kids.

In Algebra 2, we're wrapping up the exponential / logarithmic functions unit, so I dipped into my long-past engineering background and worked with the science teacher to figure out an RC-circuit lab for the kids. I have already tried it out, and I think it is going to be brilliant! (We're also doing a water-cooling lab, which is also exponentially slowing down as it approaches room temperature. But, that one is easy to set up, and I had actually already made the kids do it once last year with my friend Tim when I went away myself on a school trip, so I'm not too concerned about working out the logistics of that lab.) I am relieved to be wrapping up the long and very tedious exponential and logarithmic unit with some hands-on science activities.

Addendum July 2, 2010: In the spirit of sharing, here are the RC circuit lab thumbnails. Let me know if it looks interesting and you want the original file!





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The last bit of update is that I got to swing-dance to live jazz music last night right here in San Salvador!!

April is apparently the jazz-appreciation month around the world, so the American Embassy had sponsored a free jazz concert in the plaza across the street from La Feria (the San Salvador convention center). I went with my sensible swing shoes on, just in case the music and venue were swingable. And, it was amazing!! Geoff wasn't there, but Andrea and I danced, and then I asked some of the Peace Corps volunteers we had met to dance. By the end of the concert, there were 4 or 5 couples up swing-dancing, and it was so lovely! (Even the locals were looking on, admiring the energy we had spontaneously generated.)

Afterwards, Andrea and I went along to grab a drink with the Peace Corps people we had met. They were super cool, and they gave me an interesting perspective on El Salvador. But, that's story for another time. :)

It's Unbelizable!

Without exaggeration, Belize is my favorite spot thus far in Central America. The ocean there is absolutely breath-taking; looking out from a boat, in every direction you can see the ocean scintillating in various shades of blue -- light blue, dark blue, aqua -- all because the water is so clear that its color reflects the plethora of marine life underneath the surface. The islanders are extremely warm and friendly, and overall, it's just an amazing place to visit.

We only spent three days on the San Pedro Island, but it was three days well spent in paradise! I wish we had more time to linger in the waters, because Belize has various well-established tourism options, such as cave-tubing and snorkeling. In the small amount of time that we spent there, we opted for a half-day trip on the Catamaran to snorkel among the beautiful reefs. Belize has the second largest barrier reef in the world, and supposedly the plentiful fish keeps the usual predators well fed, so that they stay a safe distance from human divers and snorkelers. (This includes predatory sharks such as bull sharks and whale sharks.)

While we were snorkeling in the water, we saw a giant sea turtle, many big fish, and a few large sting rays. The guide went down and grabbed one of the sting rays so that we can pat it near the surface of the water. It was majestic and stunning! (Geoff also saw a small shark -- probably a nurse shark, which is extremely docile and common to the area; the tour guide has lots of pictures where the tourists are swimming among and touching the nurse sharks!)

On land, there was a constant breeze that kept the island extremely temperate. They speak English there, because they were a British colony until 1981. But, they're also extremely diverse, and they have a cultural makeup that descends from the Russian Mennonites, Kriol, and Spanish-speaking Mestizos! As a result, it's a very interesting and eclectic place, where you can get a lot of different (good) beers and foods, and people speak all kinds of languages amongst themselves. It's so unique, that the locals even have a proud tagline: "It's Unbelizable!"

Geoff, Andrea, and I loved it. :) In fact, Geoff and I are thinking about spending part of our summer there, renting out a house near the beach... So, if you are thinking about visiting Belize, that might be a really good time to do so!

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In other news, I have finally purchased summer tickets to go to China! I haven't seen my parents for well over a year, so I'm very excited to be able to make this trip happen, both financially and logistically. :) But, I remembered belatedly that I'll need to get a visa before going to China this summer, and that's far from easy to do when you live in El Salvador. The closest Chinese consulates are in Cuba (which I'm not technically allowed to visit as an American citizen), Mexico, and Ecuador. There are also some additional difficulties, so it seems, with applying for a Chinese visa from a foreign country, because there are zoning restrictions and the consulates are not very patient with foreign applicants...

But, I'm not going to complain. This is a small snag compared to not being able to afford the trip at all, which is what I had feared. I just hope it will get resolved soon!

Winter Holidays

Geoff and I had an amazing trip back to the States for the holidays! Not only did we get to see a lot of friends and family, but we also got to spend some time in the city, revisiting our favorite restaurants and checking out the current Broadway shows -- and we even managed to swing-dance for a hot second! It made us miss being back in the States, for sure, but also helped us appreciate things back in San Salvador (ie. the ridiculously warm weather and things being reasonably priced). In any case, it will likely be a good while before we get to take another vacation to the New York area, so we cherished this opportunity to catch up with everyone.

Since it is costly to fly directly from San Salvador to the States, Geoff and I had decided a few months back to try instead to fly through Guatemala. On paper, that saves us about $200 per person round-trip, which is a kickass deal. But, in reality, the bus + extra nights in a hotel + extra food expenses just about balance out the savings we would have had. And actually, the hassle of traveling by bus through Guatemala isn't worth the savings, regardless of how comfortable and luxurious those busses may be.

Still, Geoff and I thought this particular trip through Guatemala was well worth it, because we got a chance to check out Volcano Pacaya, which had been our only regret from our previous visit to Guatemala. There is a reputable tour group that takes people up the volcano at night, camps overnight, and then hikes up to the flowing lava just before sunrise. But unfortunately, 1. they're not too flexible with their dates, since they need to rally 4 people in order to make it worth their effort to lead such a trip, 2. the boss is kind of an asshole to his employees. In the end, we booked another day trip instead. The day trip only costs $10 per person, plus about $5 for entrance fee to the park and tips for the guides. The afternoon hike, which Geoff and I had gone on, left at 2pm and was supposed to catch the sunset as we were descending the volcano. But, since our group had a few old ladies and children, the group hiked extraordinarily slowly, and it actually worked out to be to our benefit. We didn't get to the flowing lava until sunset, so we saw an amazing sunset right over the lava stream, and we got to enjoy the lava in the dark before descending the hill! (Most other day-hike groups only see the lava in daylight, which just isn't the same.)

The experience was truly phenomenal, and I would highly recommend it. Although, you definitely feel when you are up there, that you are tempting fate. Even as we were climbing the volcano, the local guide pointed out chunks of rocks where lava had flown only months -- or weeks! -- ago. He said that the lava flow changes its direction or location sometimes within a day. Then, when we got to the mini-crater about 200m from the main (top) crater, the hot river of lava was breath-taking. At one point, the rocks near where Geoff had been standing collapsed, and everyone was pretty freaked out from the keen awareness that we were standing on only a thin shell of rocks above a huge reservoir of hot lava. Later, as we got further away from the lava, and we looked back, we could see two different places where the volcano was erupting, and see heavy smoke coming from the top crater. One of the guides told us "no es normal", which only hastened our steps down the mountain.

Geoff and I spent the next couple of days just relaxing in Guatemala, getting over our sickness (which we had acquired in the below-freezing weather of New York) and easing our way back home to the tropics. I posted the complete set of vacation pictures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/averyseriousmimi/sets/72157623154596774/show/ , which you can watch as a slideshow.

Take care! Hope you (whoever and whereever you are) had a lovely holiday season. :)

A Weekend to Remember

We had our goodbye party in Geoff's parents' garden on Saturday, and it was a blast! The weather was beautiful, even though it had been predicted to rain for part of the evening. A steady stream of guests came and went throughout the night, and I think everybody had a good time mingling. Geoff and I were surprised by the turnout of New Yorkers, actually, since it was definitely a bit of a trek out of their way. Even our friends who came solo seemed to be having a great time. And, as a special treat, I got to see an old college friend (Dan) for the first time in five years, because he had just arrived in NYC for the summer! All in all, we were more than grateful for all the friends and family who came out, and we will be spending the rest of our time here catching up with the rest of them...

Earlier in the day, when I had realized that my friend John wasn't going to be able to make our party (because he and his girlfriend were busy doing last-minute packing for their own summer trip), I made a hasty decision to rush uptown to meet him for coffee. As a result, I had to take a cab and sprint through midtown Manhattan to get to Port Authority on time for the bus -- TOTAL CHAOS! -- but it was totally worth it, because I got to say goodbye to my dear friend before he headed off for the airport today. yay. :)

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Then, this morning I came back into the city to meet up with the dancers for brunch at our troupe director, Laura's, apartment. There was an incredible spread of food, and we played Apples to Apples for a while before heading over to Central Park to enjoy a live jazz band. The afternoon wrapped up with some awesome music and dancing, before I had to say my goodbyes.

I am terrible at saying goodbyes, and I felt very sentimental to be leaving the troupe... But, it was definitely the perfect afternoon to remember. :)

Departure date!

We finally have a projected date of departure: July 15! --Or at least, that is when I will be leaving; hopefully Geoff will be able to book a flight on that same day as well. :) The rest of the new international staffers will be arriving around July 23, which means that we have roughly one extra week to find an apartment and to settle in before my orientation starts.

In other news, Geoff has sent out evites for our goodbye party, which will be on the last Saturday of June. Seeing that both Geoff and I are playing-by-ear types, I am truly amazed by how early these are going out, but his mom -- the hostess of hostesses -- had been anxious about not knowing how many people will be in attendance, so some parental pressure was definitely involved in making this early evitation happen. :) I don't know how many New Yorkers are going to trek out to Jersey to party with us, but it is going to be a good time regardless! At the Coxes', drinks are always flowing merrily...

Translation: I'm going to throw up on someone's foot, and my boyfriend is going to piss on my leg. Just sayin'.

Geoff's mini-move

We are inching toward the big move! Geoff's old lease is expiring, so he is moving into an interim apartment down in the West Village, for a few months. We are both very excited about this, because it is a very hip neighborhood, and his mini-move coincides with (hopefully) beautiful weather to come! Since I had been out of town for over a week, I finally got to see his new place this weekend. We have been eating out the last day or so, and we hit up a cool bar last night. The plan is to really enjoy our last few months in this beautiful city. :)

On the serious end of moving logistics, Geoff is going to try to pare down his belongings by the end of this month -- by the time his old lease officially expires. By then, most of his things will either have been given away, or been stored away at his parents' place. In late June, we will do another trip to New Jersey to stow the rest of our stuff. (His parents have very kindly offered up storage space for both of us! And, his mom is also excited to throw a going-away party for us in late June.) :)

Hopefully, by the next time I update, I'll have more info about when we will actually be leaving the city. It is like pulling teeth trying to get the flight dates nailed. Ugh. Seriously.

Why El Salvador, why now?

Many people move across oceans without a job lined up. I have always found that to be extremely courageous, regardless of their circumstance. Both of my parents had moved from Taiwan to the U.S. without definite prospects of a job, much less of a green card. With them, they had lugged two young daughters who had trusted that all things would be magically sorted out. Geoff's parents had also moved between England and the States several times, presumably without jobs each time. Even as I write this entry, two friends of mine are a full continent away from home, without having yet found work. They had simply packed their bags, terminated their apartment lease, and left--because why not? (Last I checked, their smiles were contagious even from Chile.)

Sadly, I am not so courageous. Or at least, I have never needed to put myself in such a position as to test my courage. Geoff and I had briefly talked about the possibility of going abroad without having found a job for me, and I was always ambivalent about the idea. (I envy those that do it, but I am not sure it is for me.) Instead, I researched every alternative on the internet. In an amazingly inter-connected world such as ours, I cannot fathom moving without a job unless I have exhausted every option.

I actually went through two seasons of international teaching recruitment. The first year, the timing was simply not right for Geoff, and between my relationship and my hopes of going abroad, I chose to stay. In return, Geoff made me a promise that he would make every effort to prepare to go away the following year. We called it his "18-month plan." This year, Geoff and I sifted through the offers and decided together that El Salvador was where we wanted to be, together. It is a little bit off the radar for most people, but life will be slower and hopefully full of beauty. I will be teaching high-school math at Escuela Americana, an American school whose principal actually went out and personally looked at apartment options for Geoff and me. The principal knew from the start of my situation, and although -- like many other Heads of Schools -- he frowned upon the additional burden of a non-teaching boyfriend, he still offered me a position at his school. I love my future boss's generosity of spirit (not to mention the fact that he is Mexican-American, and speaks around 5 different languages!), and if that is an indication of his ability to lead, I believe that this will be a great school for me. :)

Geoff is equally excited. For him, moving to El Salvador will be a logistically grueling process. Being self-employed is a double-edged sword in this case, since he will need to maintain his own business visa for two years, navigate the dual-country tax-reporting mess all on his own, and make sure that his business will continue to run smoothly from abroad with uninterrupted phone and internet services. Compared to him, my move will be cake!

...Now, on to thinking about which things to pack in my two suitcases. (Darn the embargo. I guess it will be a complete fresh start, whether we like it or not!)