On Friday, December 7th I was in Miami for a meeting to discuss work activities in the Caribbean region. During the meeting I received an email indicating that I had secured my last clearance and was now able to set my move date! This week I can start contacting people and setting things in motion for my departure. It is quite a relief to finally know that I'm leaving for sure. Although I had hoped to be in Barbados by December, this time frame will work pretty well because things tend to slow down during the holiday season and I can be more relaxed while trying to tie up lose ends. Of course, it also means I will have to try and rent my home in a three week period when people are likely traveling or occupied with holiday activities.
While in Miami, I met several people that are living in Barbados; but working for different organizations. Barbados is obviously a great spot for vacationing, so I was encouraged to hear how much these folks-- who are working full time and not vacationing--- enjoyed living in Barbados. We shared a common interest in running and they were talking about an upcoming 10/5k race they were participating in. They also talked about catamaran rides and days at the beach. Even though these individuals have been in Barbados for a while it sounds like they still take advantage of what it has to offer in their free time. The down side is that they all mentioned how horrific the traffic was and that it dictated their work schedule...
I want to close this post by talking about my friend Karen. We worked together 15 years ago when I was a young fellow and she was a mid-career subject matter expert in fetal alcohol syndrome research. When I left the fellow position in 1999 our paths only crossed briefly in subsequent years; she began international work so we would have lunch every few years when we were both in Atlanta at the same time. As it turns out, she was working in Barbados when I applied for the behavioral scientist, so I relied on her for advice about the position and living there. Sadly, I will likely be moving to Barbados the first or second week of January and she will be leaving at the same time to take a position in Tanzania... So, our ships will pass in the harbor yet again... Thankfully, though, we were able to spend three days in Miami together this past week. I think we both forgot how much we liked each other and how much fun we had 15 years ago. While we always had a strong connection, over time the small stories and memories tend to fade. But they started to resurface in our evenings out together over dinner! We had some good laughs thinking back about our work situation in the mid 90's and where we were with our lives. Our shared time reinvigorated my feelings about working internationally and gave me more optimism that work can be a place that's fun again and where I'll build meaningful relationships.
I'm signing off now, but will be commenting in then next few weeks about the moving process.
Tip of the Day: I just found out there is a potentially cool app called "What's On in Barbados". I haven't tried it yet, but it is supposed to list fun social activities. I hope it winds up being an easy to use app that centralizes social activities.
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