Packing, packing

Well, I don't think I am going to get everything into one checked bag and one carry-on. I can tighten up what I have so far (and will probably move things around just to be able to handle the cases myself), but I think I will do well to be in those 2 bags and a medium sized dufflebag. My 'test-packing' seems to indicate those 3 will do it though. Thank heavens for those 'space-saver' packing bags!

There is weight in them thar bags. I was pleased to get a travel iron as a going-away gift from Mom/Sister - definitely needed, esp with the vacuum bags, and I have a surge protector/plug set, both necessary and wanted but a bit heavy. The leaden bags of squished clothing, the 4 pairs of shoes (I will wear one of them to travel in), the unusually (for me) large collection of cosmetics/toiletries, the assortment of chargers (please tell me why this hasn't been universalized??)...

With a heavy heart, and swearing this is a temporary situation, I have set aside my nodules of soapstone and alabaster (for my desired but eventual carving work...won't get to them quickly anyway.) I am bringing my paints and watercolor pencils, my drawing pens and brushes, and my Teaching Company classes on Geology and Dutch Masters. I have only 4 books with me, which feels very strange - I carry more than that when just traveling.

I know I have way too much stuff with me as it is...well, I do have 3 days to winnow it down further. And I will, after all, be back over.

Getting closer all the time, which is a good thing, given the 7 am Wednesday departure!

Contract Update 2

Have received the contract via email, signed it and returned it via email. Kind of a strange feeling...

Apologies

Apologies, folks, for the rounds of detail...I'll try and save it for when I answer questions!
Instead - more pictures...

Contract Update

I've email telling me the employment contract has been signed by the Governor of Bermuda and the Department Director, and will be emailed to me by end of tomorrow...It is becoming real!

Now, to finish the details on the US-side of things. It is easy to trip over these, with life in two places, tho not quite, yet.

• Most, if not all, of my tax W-2s etc have now shown up, so I may be able to get that bit of business taken care of before I leave.

• I haven't been able to sell my car (2002 Subaru Forester L, 94,500 miles, manual, pearl white with roof rack, gray herringbone upholstery, regularly serviced, new brakes...), so I will transfer it to Trevor, who needs a car. We agree that having the money from an outright sale would have been helpful for me, while our deal involves some money and his labor management my house in Raleigh as a rental. Oh well - he needs a car, she needs a good home, I need to send her off into the world. It is a good solution. To do that, David (Ramp) has provided us a list of the steps we must take. (Thank you very much!) Trev, we need to jump on that!

• I will be paid in Bermudian dollars, which are keyed to US dollars - you can use either easily while in Bermuda, tho you can't use Bermudian dollars in the US. While I will have a bank account there, a big reason for taking this position is to be in a better position to pay down debt here, so I need to find a way of transferring money into the US accounts that doesn't cost a bundle each time. So far, it has seemed there would be both a transfer fee and an exchange fee. I suspect there is another way to deal with that.

• I will have a cellphone there, of course, though I intend to do most of my US calls via Skype (sign up, people, and let me know your contact name if you want to chat over your computer sometime. If you have a camera on your laptop/desktop, so much the better!) My cellphone is unlocked, so a Bermudian SIM card works, though I may try to keep a pay-as-you-go phone for those back-and-forth times. More than one Bermuda-based correspondent has mentioned that Blackberries (etal) are a terrific deal. I tend towards the simplest, leanest, biggest-buttons-est phone, however.
  
• I'm researching my options for internet service. The available service is ok, tho not blazingly fast; a new cable being laid across the ocean floor as we speak will upgrade the available speeds, I'm told. (That just seems weird to me. It all seems like magic, anyway.) Mike has found a program that appears to effectively turn some cellphones into a wireless card for the computer (and how in the world does that work??!) I want something that will move with me in Bermuda, which narrows the options.
  

I'm easily confused by all this. None of the US phone/internet companies have affiliates in Bermuda, and the captive market is reflected in the prices (well, to be fair, prices acknowledge that there is no potential for economies of scale, everything is beastly pricey, and there is a limited pool of potential customers in the first place.) There - my econ major side feels better.

So - this stuff, and cancel car insurance; put house insurance on automated pay; finally get a wedding gift to Mike Stock and his bride of a year+; configure the external hard drive; load in the music, lectures, etal I want to bring; figure how to work with pictures (I am used to the PC world, but shifted to a MacBook in April, which requires a cable rather than just slipping the datacard into the machine, something I have to re-learn each time I do this!). Get all the stuff that is left behind stored and out of the way. Finish my first read-thru of the Bermuda general plan, which is also basically the zoning and subdivision ordinance and is the central tool of the Development Controls office. Find the drivers manual so I can take the license test shortly after arriving on the Rock. And so forth - I feel like I have taken care of so many things, but, like the sown-dragon-teeth Sparti warriors, they continue to spring up with amazing ease.

Onward!

Details, details

What to bring? How much do I want to carry anyway??

Apparently the government will cover the costs of moving up to 300 pounds of 'household effects', as well as the cost of my flight over. (The same for my eventual return to the US.) I'm not intending to move 'household effects', tho...just clothes, eventually kitchen gear, art stuff, laptop, Kindle (which is how I'm not moving my usual tonnage of books, thank you very much Michael!) that sort of thing. I want to stay relatively mobile - after all, wherever I live will be tight quarters, and I'd like to move from being a renter to being a house-sitter eventually. (That was suggested by a nice lady I met while I visited in September - I hadn't thought of that as a possibility.)

Also - I'd prefer not to have a car, which means moving via taxi or the vehicles of friends, another reason not to over-accumulate.

My goal is to bring 1 large, checked-in suitcase or duffel, and 1 carry on.

My first residence is furnished and supplied with most of one's requirements for running a household, so I need clothes and shoes, my laptop etal, my art supplies and probably not much else. Later, when I move, I likely will need to provide linens, towels, kitchen gear, even if the place I rent is 'fully furnished'. And, of course, my nest is important to me - I want some of my own things around, and not just cope with rental furniture, weird color draperies and featherweight pots and pans.

So - I am trying to sort thru clothes, shoes, etal - what to bring with me to start with, what I'd bring with me (or request be brought by visitors) later on, what to keep/store here, for winter weather, for summer weather, for professional wear, for putzing around town, for being messy with my paints and clay and such at 'home'.

Of course I am trying to think ahead - I want to do a much better job of losing weight and getting fit, which will mean more exercise (since my diet is pretty good), which means appropriate attire for that. I'm not really sure what sort of cultural life there is, but I do know there are festivals and music events, I hope to be quite active in the arts community, and my not-at-work interests include some community efforts. I'm told attire is relatively conservative. (Suits me - I am hardly one to wear the bikini top to a restaurant anyway. Frankly, I'm not one to wear a bikini at the beach, either. Burkha, maybe!)

Shouldn't be this tough - after all, I am accustomed to packing, and quite lightly, for my trips, and have been known to pack for 2 weeks in a daypack. The only reason I had a carry-on case for my last trip to Italy was to accommodate the bottles of olive oil I knew I was bringing back. Those who have traveled with me know I get fussy about even checking luggage - I just don't expect it to show up at the other end, besides it taking longer to wait around for it than my antsy, lets-get-started! enthusiasm tolerates.

But I have covered the bed with piles of clothes, built inevitably around black as the key color - after a day of messing with it, I am down to 3 knee-length black shirts, 1 loden skirt, 4 long skirts, 6 dresses, easily 9 pairs of black slacks, another 9 pairs of not-black slacks, a dozen sweaters, perhaps 3 dozen long, elbow-length and short sleeve/sleeveless blouses/tops, 15 blazers/jackets, a dozen scarves, 8 pairs of shoes, 1 long raincoat, 2 'sport' raincoats, 3 fleece jackets....clearly I am nowhere close to ready with this!

On the positive side, I do have space-saver bags into which I will pack, then suck all the air out and be able to take 3 or 4 times more in the same volume bag. (On the down side - those bags do nothing about the weight of the stuff squished down inside of them. And I do have to put it all somewhere once in Bermuda!)

Arg!

Hows and Whys

Looking for a usable map that shows the US eastern coastline and Bermuda...not found it yet.

I get rather a variety of distances from NC depending on the source - here is one: Bermuda lies about 570 mi (920 km) southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., U.S.

This is a pretty schematic map of the nation. There is one airport - referred to as Hamilton, but it is the one in red up there near St. George/St David's. Cruise ships come in to St. George, into the Naval Dockyard area on the opposite end of the island from, and into Hamilton's terminal along Front Street of the city proper.

My temporary abode is in Paget Parish, basically due south of the dot shown for Hamilton, practically on the southern coastline. (If you are looking at the scale on the map, you get some idea how close that is.)

A couple of Bermuda-local media sites (don't expect the NY Times): www.royalgazette.com, and www.bermudasun.com. (Finally figured how to embed links!)

And here is one on Paget Parish: http://www.bermuda-online.org/seepaget.htm

Answer to one not-uncommon question: How did I find the job? (i.e., How can I find a job there, too?) The job was posted on the American Planning Association's jobs listing website (http://www.planning.org/jobs/search/). I'd applied back in maybe February or March, got a letter notice (oddly exciting to get mail in envelopes stating "In the Service of Her Majesty") that I'd made the first cut - and heard nothing for months.

Now, senior jobs in the public sector often take just ages to process thru the steps - I'd say an average of 2 months from closing date to when you hear if you made a first cut, and another 2 months to go thru the winnowing and interview process. (Having said that, some have processed inside of a week, and others have called for the first serious contact 6 months after the closing date.)

The processes can be practically on-the-fly or (more often) multi-stage. Some involve multiple sets of essay questionnaires to the ever-winnowed pool of potentials, an on-line personality/management style test, a phone interview, a video-conference interview, then be brought into the jurisdiction for a 1 to 3 day process. Some places (to my mind rather unaccountably, given that the positions were not entry level) required college transcripts as part of the initial application; several required essays on a series of set topics; almost none required letters of reference or work samples. A few requested not fewer than 15 references with full contact information by specific category - community, co-worker, supervisor, those supervised, other departments, friends outside of any work environment. (For those of you who have served as references, thank you for your patience and kind words!)

With Bermuda, after a long period of hearing nothing (April until August), I got an email asking if I was still interested in the position, and once they got the set of interviewees organized it processed quickly. I had a phone interview of sorts, then a panel interview by phone (those are inherently disconcerting), and found the position would be offered if I wanted to accept it, a sort of 'you-first, no, please, you' scenario. The panel interview/tentative offer all happened quickly.

The offer had to be approved through the hierarchy, of course, altho this took rather longer than I'd previously found to be typically the case. I kept being told things were fine, dont worry, this is just how the process works, which helped but didnt still my concerns - because once I agreed I was also to stop my job search. (This is because there is a lot of time and work involved in getting the work permit - given that I was being hired into the government, the fast-track process is about 3 months - and they didnt want to have to do it again.)

The application for the work permit required a lot of materials - police records report, school transcripts, written letters of reference, a chest xray, a doctor's medical evaluation, clearances for security checks, etc.

I have email saying Immigration has approved me for the actual permit; that the paperwork has gone to the Governor; that once he has signed off (presumably this past week) Immigration will jump on the 5-day process to actually release the landing papers if not the formal work permit. We will take care of the contract signing and that part of things once I've arrived, which allows the actual work permit to be issued. (They really really want me to get started! And, yes, I have read the standard materials used.)

Ergo, I am apparently being met at the airport by my boss-to-be, with landing papers in hand. (Wonder how that will match up with the practically royal reception in St. Petersburg?) It will be nice to get the final paperwork and feel 'real'!

A couple of family fotos

Sister Terry, left (as if that were not obvious!), and my son Trevor Ramp, a bit over a year ago.

There are few (if any) attractive ones of me; I will sort thru and find one of Mom.

Answers to some Questions

Thanks, all you who have read what I posted last night! 25 messages from folks who checked on it already (or so I have heard from via email, at least.)

I think I have adjusted the settings so you can actually post comments, so try again and let me know.

As to some of the questions:

• I am presently still in NC, having left California in July/August. Not knowing what I was coming back to or where I might be heading next, I'd made lots of donations to charity shops, left some things my quasi-sister-in-law thought some friends at her church could use, and shipped boxes (books!!) back. Then Mom - who had flown out to do this - and I packed my Subaru Forester full, and drove it back across the country. We took about 10 days, exploring some of Yosemite, Devil's Postpile, the Nevada badlands, Bryce Canyon, that beautiful drive up exceedingly scenic (and deer/cow occupied!) Hwy 12, Capitol Reef, Goblins, Arches, then into Colorado and another beautiful drive (this time thru rain, but that let us take it slowly!) from Ouray to Durango along the San Juan Skyway. We dropped south thru New Mexico, visiting Angels Peak and trying to visit Chaco - that washboard road was just too bad, I was afraid everything in the car would be shaken to bits and our speed was about 5 miles an hour - and stayed that evening in Santa Fe. A bit of exploration in the morning, then up to Taos and Taos Pueblo - then we just drove east for home.
• I am going to a job as a planning officer with the Dept of Planning for the Government of Bermuda. That holds a 3-year contract, and is with the 'Development Control' rather than the 'Forward Planning' side of the house.
  
• Yes, visiting Bermuda requires a passport; the entry stamp is provided as you come in thru pretty standard Immigration and Customs. One of the nice things is that you go thru US Immigration and Customs there in Bermuda, which is typically much less time consuming and much less of a hassle than going thru it on this side - once you've cleared there you are free to catch your next flight or leave your arrival airport or whatever here.
• You do have to have a return ticket AND the name/address/contact info for where you are staying while on the Island - no open-ended, "I'll figure it out once I get there" visits.
  
• Two invaluable resources for those Bermuda-bound: www.bermudarentals.com for lodging in homes, guest cottages, small inns. The woman who operates this is a wonder, in my experience - she got me something in very short order when I flew over in late September. (I decided to go one afternoon, and flew out about 6 the next morning.) She has also arranged for my temporary arrangement, at a special rate. The second resource is www.e-moo.com, which is the nation's advertising 'paper' - this is where rental and sale housing is listed, among other things. Often there are pictures to go along with the listings. (You too can find a rental for $6000/mth with water views!)
• Yes, the pictures are mine, not 'borrowed' from anywhere else. The town of St. George (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) mostly, and a view from the upper porch of Camden House (the prime minister's official residence). Hamilton, the capitol and the location of my soon-to-be office, is a city and not my idea of pretty, overall.
  

Nerves...

Um...why nervous? Bermuda is paradise!

Adjustment issues, really. A friend pointed out this sounds a bit like Wilmington, or Florida. Those locales are just as foreign to me, in some ways.

Of course, to visit and to live in a place are two different things. Sure, I probably have more experience with this than a lot of folks - a fair amount of travel; graduate work in Ljubljana, Slovenia; volunteer work in St. Petersburg, Russia; my 'creative break' going to school and working in a restoration studio in Florence, Italy (and, frankly, I'd count living and working in the Carmel area as being 'away'.) There is always something a bit challenging in doing this in a new setting. At least the 'home' language is English!

Bermuda is really a chain of lots of islands (9 main ones, 100+ smaller ones), about 21 miles long, 1-2 miles wide, 600 miles due east of North Carolina . As I noted, that would be little bits of land surround by lots of water, far as the eye can see. I find that unnerving, sort of a form of claustrophobia. (It is a recognized issue - referred to as 'rock fever'. People - Bermudians too, not just ex-pats - seem to get off the Island about 3 times a year. A lot of shopping gets done on those visits 'off'!)

It is a small country, perhaps 65,000 people. That in itself is not a bad thing – I prefer smaller towns and cities to big cities. My experience during my visit underscored how interconnected the business relationships and friendships can be. That can also be a wonderful thing. I’m just wondering about the claustrophobia thing…

I have no water skills…shipwreck diving? Sailing? Snorkeling? Even swimming is on the foreign side for me. (I never actually put foot in water while in California, despite living perhaps 150' away from the coastline.) Yikes! (But doesn't it all sound fun?!)

I am warned of the constant high humidity and the toll it takes on everything – food, clothing, paper goods, electronics and metals…and that the humidity means the higher temperatures become really hot and the moderate seeming lower temperatures become really cold. I’m not processing that well – the temperatures appear to stay in the upper 50s and 60s to mid-80s, but 85 degrees and 85% humidity will feel like over 100 degrees. Pacific Grove (CA) was like that, and the damp would roll in like the fog, but it was never really cold as a result, and also never really hot. (The remedy: keeping air moving, keeping things clean and well aired, keeping foods etal stored and refridgerated, keeping kitchens spotless. And - o joy! - hose in the summer are just not worn, unless you are trying for a chance to use some of those 5 weeks of sick leave.)

Of course, I will be working in an office, so I may not be as impacted by the outside temperatures as a non-career spouse might be. And air-conditioning is more common now - tho it seems as if furnace-heat is not.

I’m warned of a recent jump in residential thefts, and sure enough the police statistics show a nearly 50% jump this past year, a 20% jump the year before that and a 25% one the year prior to that one. Living alone, a mid-years female – hmmm. I'm told the warning - from the aging couple I stayed with when I visited - was rather over-stated, but the economic climate and growing drug use are making break-ins more likely - a quick snatch thru a cut window screen or unsecured door is the usual deal. Even with someone sleeping in the room - but personal harm is quite rare. Property crime yes; personal crime no. So - second story units, good window and door locks, lights and awareness, a dog (or at least a recording of a barking dog, triggered by fiddling efforts) - the usual sorts of things that discourage the 'easy pickings' sort of crime are very useful.

Housing prices are steep, everything is expensive because nearly everything has to be brought in…Reference books cite a 335 to 360% higher cost of living. Of course, higher than where is a valid question - certainly higher than in North Carolina, but maybe not than in NYC.

And then there are the things like the British-style right-hand drive business, which I figure I can acclimate to reliably after maybe 6 years, but which likely means I am a menace for the foreseeable future. (You are warned - driving to sites is a part of the job. I am to get a Bermuda driving license early on!)

All this notwithstanding, I am excited about walking into this new situation. Life won't be dull!

Leaning into the Wind - Kick-Off!

Well, friends, I’m about to do it again. I lean into the wind and start learning how to live and work in a new place, a different culture, climate, environment (in every sense) – again. I start work in Bermuda in February!


Of course I'd love to be able to work near family and friends, but I am thrilled to have this opportunity - a beautiful location, a lot to learn, people to get to know. I have to admit I knew next to nothing about the place before the job was a real possibility - but North Carolina is the closest land to Bermuda (ergo its history as the homeport for many of the blockade runners during the Civil War), much of the year there is a direct flight from Charlotte, and once you get to a departure airport the flight is 90 minutes to 2 hours.

I visited once I understood the job was quite possibly mine; my concern was mostly whether I could live on a bit of rock surrounded by lots and lots of water. (After all - I am a mid-Westerner, accustomed to little bits of water surrounded by lots of land. Both the idea of all that water, and the sense of isolation island-living brings are likely to be challenges for me.

I'd picked up a book by a Canadian who had moved to Bermuda with her husband (Tea with Tracey), which seems to be very useful and still accurate, despite having some age on it. I have to admit it spooks me a bit - very high, constant humidity, making what sound like mild temperatures surprisingly cold in winter and hot in summer; the pests and nuisances of a sub-tropical climate; the very high costs, as most everything is brought in. I certainly found the housing costs up there, and checking into internet and utility charges I find the same story.

Nonetheless - well it is lovely. The people I met were generous and friendly; the islands' relatively small population and compact size meant that even I ran across some of the same people more than once in my 4 day stay.

I have made arrangements for a temporary home - a studio cottage in Paget Parish, near Hamilton, where I will be working, for $2000/mth inc some utilities. It is furnished, linens are provided, the kitchen is kitted out; I can stay there on a month-to-month basis until May if I wish. So, to start with, I can show up with a suitcase or two of clothes and gear, and use the time to look for a permanent (well, 1 year, at least) housing situation.

I will try to post to this on a frequent (tho irregular) basis; please feel free to comment either to the blog or to any of the email addresses you have.

Back again shortly!