Anyone Wanna Help Unpack??

This is pretty much what my whole house looked like on Tuesday after our sea shipment was delivered.  I am very happy that it is here, and so far I haven't found any damaged or broken items.  There are, however a few missing boxes, so we will have to deal with that once it is all unpacked and we figure out what was in them.  It's all part of the joy of moving...

Air Shipment fun

It's finally here!!!  And we are soooo excited!  Now we just wait for the sea shipment...

Our boxes

Adam found his toys

Checking it all out

It looks like Christmas day in here!

Which will get here first, the air or sea shipment?

I shouldn't even have to ask this question, but at this point, it is anyone's guess.  Just like with our move to Doha, the company gives us two shipments:  an air shipment, which is supposed to take 1-2 weeks and is for 'immediate needs' items, and a sea shipment, which usually takes 6-8 weeks, and contains all the rest of our junk.  Both shipments were packed on September 21.  I received a notice from our shipping company yesterday that our sea shipment will arrive in Sakhalin on October 22!  That is just 4 weeks!  Well, what about our air shipment?  It is still in Doha as I type this.  It is full of - you guessed it - items that I am really needing right now.  Yes, I have already called and chewed on them, and today got a notice that it is due to leave tomorrow for Amsterdam.  I am pretty irritated that it has taken them almost 4 weeks to even send it.  They should have just put it on the boat with our container!  Oh, well, as long as I eventually receive it.  

So which will arrive first?  I don't have an ETA on the air shipment yet, but Shane is betting on the sea shipment.  Stay tuned...

From Russia with Love

Well, here we are!  Our first day in Russia!  And what did we do?  Well, we mostly slept.  Adam woke up around 1:30 pm.  I woke up with Shane, who had to go to work, poor thing.  I unpacked for a while and then fell comatose on the sofa.  Once Adam woke up, we walked down to the little shop inside our compound and bought a few essentials.  Here are our photos from our first day here:

Our house - we are the unit on the right

The pups have made themselves at home

Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen

Dining room & office area in the background

Living room

Another view of the living room and the front door and entry

Adam's room

Another view of Adam's room

Master bedroom

Another view of the master bedroom - and that's a walk-in closet behind that door!

Master bath

Walking trails in the compound

A look down our street

Children's play area - in progress

Poor baby - so jet-lagged

Adam in the frozen section of the store in our compound

Our last view of Doha

Here are some pictures that I took from our room at the Sheraton the day we left.  We didn't make it down there to enjoy any of this - bathing suits were not on my list of items to pack for Sakhalin.  Also, it is still really hot during the day...for us swimming weather doesn't start until mid to late October.  

Qatar - our last day!

Well, here we are!  It's our last day in Doha, Qatar, the place we have called home for the last 2 years.  I am a bit sad to leave it and all of our friends.  In spite of all of the things that I don't like about it, I will miss Qatar, partly because it has become familiar to me, and I have come to feel at home here.  I will also miss the friends that I am leaving here.  Some of them are EM, so it is likely that we will meet again, whether it be in Houston or on some other expat assignment.  However some of them are not, so it will be more difficult to "run into" them, but you never know!  This is a very small world, after all.  

We leave for the airport tonight around 7 pm.  I am holding my breath until the dogs get checked in, as the KLM folks have to tag them exactly right or else we risk getting them thrown into quarantine in Tokyo.  Pray for us and for them...this flight will be hard on them.  I am praying that all will go well, and that we will land in Yuzhno with the dogs in tow.  

Stay tuned...my next post will hopefully be made from Russia!!!

So much for relaxing: Our last week in Qatar

And we still have 3 days to go. I usually try and refrain from ranting and raving on here, not only for the sake of anyone who might read it, but also for myself - I go back and read this sometimes and I really don't want a temper tantrum posted online for all to see. However, this week has been more like a dream, er nightmare. I don't think I could have scripted it better if I had been writing a disaster movie. Let's put it this way - if it could go wrong, it did - and big!

If you don't recall, this move has already been a crazy one - with the multiple delays, visa problems, limited airlines/routes to take, the dogs, you name it, we have had a problem with it. Well, here we are at the end of our time in Qatar, finally with Russian visas in hand - and we are still having trouble!

Let's just start with the packing/loading of our shipping container. The packers showed up Saturday and Sunday and packed up all of our treasures and loaded them onto a shipping container. All except one thing: you guessed it, the new sofa that we bought specifically to take with us to Sakhalin. Yes, I know, the surveyor said that it would fit and that we would have room, but I guess he was wrong. The problem was solved about 1 hour later when we sold it, but still, par for the course.

Next up, our rental car - the first one. We sold our 2 cars upon return from Houston, so we had to rent a car to get from point A to point B. We are allowed a company-provided rental car, but only for 5 days, and we needed one for about 12 days. First off, the thing was a piece of junk, with dented fenders, multiple scratches and stains throughout. It was a Nissan Pathfinder - my guess is a 2004 or older, but it sounded like a Mac truck, definitely not like the one I used to drive when we lived in Houston. Anyway, when we went to return this car on Tuesday, we found that the parking lot was chaos and there wasn't anywhere to park. This is not unusual for Doha - it is common practice to build a building without a proper parking lot or garage. Shane just pulled up as close as he could and got out to go and get rep. When he returned - 1 minute later - a policeman was giving him a 500 QR parking ticket. Perfect - because we needed something else to do before we leave. He is going to try and pay it today, because we don't want to get stopped at the airport and prevented from leaving due to it. A few have said that they can't tie it to him, yada, yada, but I am not feeling like pressing my luck at this point. Read on and you will see why.

Next up, our airline tickets. We thought we had all of this sorted out before we left Houston. We did, actually, what we didn't have sorted out was the price of the tickets. The route/airline that we chose was KLM to Tokyo via Amsterdam. KLM accepts pets as accompanied baggage, and with this route we can take the company charter from Tokyo to Yuzhno. The Travel Rep is supposed to alert us of any major price differential between the route that we choose versus the company's desired route (which is Qatar Airways to Korea, and then Asiana to Yuzhno). The difference in price between the two was a whopping $16,000! He only told us this on TUESDAY! There is no way the company is going to agree to pay that much of a difference, but we asked anyway - and of course were rejected. It was acknoledged that this was in fact the only route possible for us and the dogs, but they still wouldn't approve it. Great, so just like that, we don't have a way out of here, and neither do the dogs. Another problem that I should mention is that Ramadan is almost over, so after today, everyone will be on vacation for Eid. With the "Eid clock" now ticking, Shane was up all night last night speaking with Houston and Yuzhno - and their bright idea was to send us via HOUSTON. Hello, can anyone say 48 hour trip? Yes, it was cheaper than KLM, but seriously - I don't think we would have made it without killing each other. Not to mention all of the paperwork for the dogs that we would need to get us through the USA. Crazy! The next idea was to split us up: send Shane and the dogs on the KLM flight and agree to pay the overage on his ticket, and then send Adam and I on the cheaper route. However, when Shane went to work this morning the Travel guy said that he was on the phone with KLM trying to get them to lower their prices down to an amount closer to the Qatar airways route. Brilliant. Why didn't I think of that - or better yet, why didn't he - TWO WEEKS AGO when he booked it??? I don't know the answers - but after a few sleepless nights and several heated phone conversations and emails, this is all resolved by the moron who didn't do his job right the first time. Our tickets are now paid for and approved. We are all on the same flight we reserved weeks ago. Talk about wasted energy.

Now here I am today, exhausted, both mentally and physically from all of this stuff, trying to close out my mobile phone account. Duh. How long have I lived here? After standing in line for 30 minutes I find out that my husband has to do it. Right. Because women aren't capable. Well, I won't get started on that one...

Moving day!!

Our shipping container and one of the movers taking a break

Well, things are moving along! The packers came on Saturday and Sunday to get our shipment packed for our move. The container was loaded Sunday and I was told that it would get taken to the port today! That is alot faster than I thought it would happen. I guess because it is Ramadan, it would take longer, as most things tend to do. Maybe they are trying to get all these shipments out before Eid al Fitr starts next week - when all things will shut down for 4 days.

It is a load off getting the packing over with. There is nothing really left to do, other than hang out and wait for our flight on Sunday. And that's not such a bad thing...

We have visas!!!

We now have our visas to go to Sakhalin!  YEA!!  We went to the Russian Embassy today and turned in the massive pile of paperwork required and returned with visas pasted in our passports.  I feel like I have achieved something major, probably since we have been working toward and waiting on this moment for a long time.  We leave Doha for good 2 weeks from today. I will miss it and our friends here, but we are ready...at least mentally.  Physically - well, let's just say I have quite a bit of packing to do between now and then!

наконец!

That means "finally" (actual translation: it is final) in Russian.  We have made a bit of progress on our move.  Of course, it could always get delayed again, but we are pretty sure that it won't this time.  We received our LOIs (letters of invitation), which will allow us to purchase our single-entry visas to get into Russia.  Shane's work permit will be ready in 3-4 weeks.  We are scheduled to leave Doha on September 29, which will put us in Yuzhno around 10 pm on September 30 (local time, of course, it will be around 6 am in Houston).  The packers are scheduled for the 20th and 21st, which means that we will have more than a week in Doha after everything gets packed up.  We are still trying to determine if we will move into a hotel or into temporary housing, and where the dogs will go during that time.  Sounds like fun, right!  Stay tuned...

All that's done must be undone

I have spent the last few days 'undoing' all the things that we had done in preparation of our move to Sakhalin:  airfare (including the dogs), hotel reservations, packers/movers, pet relocators, etc. Maybe when we have to do it all over again next month it will be easier...as they say in Doha, insha'Allah (God willing).

Since our move is being put off for at least another month, Shane is going to Houston to work at the Sakhalin project office for 3 weeks.  Adam and I are going to tag along and see friends and family.  Hopefully we will also get some R&R before we have to come back to Doha and start the moving process all over again.  It will be good to 'recharge my batteries' before making another big move to another foreign place, and being away from Doha during the holy month of Ramadan doesn't sound too bad either :)

Now you see it, now you dont!

This move just gets crazier and crazier.  Monday was such a good day; it finally seemed like things were moving along smoothly for once.  Well, Tuesday was a completely different day.  The work permit that Shane was issued was revoked.  Apparently, immigration got wind of it and told EM not to bring him there to work on that permit.  The labor laws (or whatever they are called in Russia) are very strict and the penalties are great if one gets caught working without a permit or with the wrong type of permit.  We will now have to wait until the visa extensions are granted to the Sakhalin region, which should be at the end of August.  After that, it takes about 4 weeks to obtain a new work permit, so we are looking at moving at the end of September or beginning of October.  We will stay in Doha until then and Shane will work his new job from here.  I am hoping to one day to look back on all of this and laugh...

We can see the light...

It looks as if things are finally coming into place with our move to Sakhalin.  Today we were issued two very important pieces of the puzzle:  our letters of invitation and our medical clearance.  The letters of invitation just allow us to obtain (i.e. purchase) visas to enter the country.  We should get the originals in the mail later this week, so we will visit the Russian embassy next week to get our visas.  Shane also received his work permit, which is kind of like our Qatar residence permit.  It will allow him to live and work in Yuzhno.   

We are now working on getting hotel reservations for our last week in Doha.  The packers come to the house on the 20th, so we will need a place to stay until we leave on the 25th.  It looks as if we will be staying at the Sheraton, which will be nice.  It is in a good location for Shane's work and our compound.  Just the thought of living out of suitcases again kind of turns my stomach, but it is part of life as an expat and we are getting pretty good at it by now.  

The last big step - besides packing, of course - is to get the paperwork done for the dogs.  They need an export permit for Qatar, a health certificate by a certified vet and a rabies vaccination.  The vaccination is already done, and the other two items will be done sometime in our last week here.  

It still hasn't hit me that we are really moving.  We have known about this for so long, and have had so many hang-ups and delays along the way that it seemed that it would never get here.  While we are ready to move on, it will be hard to say goodbye to all of the friends we have made here.  

A journey to Sakhalin: 2 weeks and counting!

We have just a little over 2 weeks before the BIG move!  I can't believe it, it seems like we have been working on this move forever.  We have known about it since February, so I guess it was just so far away for the longest time, but now it is almost here!  We have our plane tickets, which are now changed from our previous route (via Moscow) to our new route (via Tokyo).  We are flying Qatar Airways from Doha to Frankfurt, All Nippon Airways from Frankfurt to Tokyo, and then the company charter from Tokyo to Yuzhno.  All in all about 22 hours of flying time, not including layovers.  The pups are both booked the whole way through, but we will have to collect them and our bags at each stop.  In a way, that will ease my mind to see that they made it to each stop.  

Our LOI's (letters of invitation) should be granted on Monday.  Once we receive them here, we will go to the Russian embassy to purchase our visas.   The packers will be here on the 19th, and we will move into a hotel for the rest of our stay in Doha.  Once we get our visas, things will really start to come together.  I am hoping to get all of our suitcases packed by next weekend, so no essential items get put in our sea shipment.  It should be a busy couple of weeks!

Shane's trip to Sakhalin

Shane bought this painting at a local art shop

The view from the rooftop of the Megapalace Hotel

View from the Megapalace Hotel

Olympia compound

Living room

Kitchen

Karoke bar

Lake and paddleboats in Gagarin Park

Lake and paddleboats in Gagarin Park

Sunset

View of the mountains

Gagarin Park

Gagarin Park

Lots of rides and bouncy houses in Gagarin Park!

Ferris wheel in Gagarin Park

The Megapalace Hotel from Gagarin Park

View from the Santa hotel

View from the Santa hotel

A lot of the town is older - this picture was taken on Shane's route to work

A journey to Sakhalin: one step closer

Well, to say the least, it has been a very interesting week.  Shane is now on his way home from Yuzhno (YEA!).  I spoke with him on Monday and he had been told by the HR department in Sakhalin that our visas were going to be delayed and that our move would not be able to take place until October or November.  Apparently, there is a quota for how many work visas are issued in Russia each year, and this year's quota was met in May.  For some reason that is still unknown, this was not communicated with us until this week, 1 month before we are scheduled to be there.  So now the scrambling begins.  There is talk of moving us to Japan or Houston for a few months until it all gets settled.  Shane would have had to work his new job from one of those places.  Not fun.  While I would have loved to be home to visit family and friends, the whole thing would have been hard on my son, my dogs, and my husband (he would have had to work hours that would coincide with Sakhalin, which is 16 hours ahead of Houston), not to mention living in a hotel for 2 months!

It all turned out to be unnecessary stress on all of us.  Today we find out that we are getting our visas after all.  Shane is going to get something called an "advisor" work visa, since the quota on those has not been met.  Our LOIs (letter of invitation) should be issued next week, and then all we have to do is go and get the visas put in our passports.  So it looks like the move is on.  Full steam ahead!!

Here we go again...

The dreaded Sheremetyevo Airport

Okay, so remember when I said that we had all of our flights to Sakhalin sorted out?  Well, I was wrong.  Now that Shane has travelled through the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, he has no desire to do it again.  He said there wasn't a luggage cart in sight, and getting around the airport was very cumbersome with just 2 bags, not to mention 6 and 2 large dog crates.  It is also worth noting that this airport won a not-so-good award in 2007 - The Poopy Airport Award.  Yes, I'm serious.  As if all of this wasn't enough, our layover in that airport is only 2 hours, and according to Shane, that is not enough time to get all of our bags and the dogs through customs and on to the Federal terminal in time for our flight to Yuzhno.  So now we are at Plan C, which is to try and go through Tokyo, Japan, and get on the company charter plane to Yuzhno.  I called the Travel office in Houston to set it up, but we are waiting to see if   we can bring dogs on that flight.  We know some people that moved to Sakhalin 2 years ago and brought their 2 labradors with them on that flight, but that was 2 years ago, so who knows if the rules have change.  If we are not allowed to bring the dogs on this flight then we will be forced to go through Moscow, but we will probably have to stay the night since otherwise we wouldn't make our next flight.  Stay tuned...

Maya and Tilly's last visit

We have houseguests again!  This time it's our old buds, Maya and Tilly.  They are staying with us one last time while their Mommy and Daddy are in Houston waiting for Baby Girl Ray to arrive!  Stephanie is due to have a C-section on the 24th, so we will all be anxiously awaiting baby pics!

How to know if you are moving to the middle of nowhere

Shane is now in Yuzhno, the place that we will soon call home.  It took him longer to get there than it normally does to get to Houston (30 hours!).  He flew from Doha to Moscow with stops in Bahrain and Istanbul, and then flew on to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk from there.  

He had a 9 hour layover at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, most of which he spent sitting on a bench waiting to check in for his flight to Yuzhno.  Shane said the airport didn't look like it had been renovated since WWII.  They also apparently allow smoking in the airport lounges, which is pretty disgusting.  It's kind of hard to relax when you don't even have clean air to breathe.  One can only wonder...how far behind are these people, anyway?  

So are we about to move to the middle of nowhere?  Well, probably.  I had always thought that my hometown was in the middle of nowhere, but now I am starting to rethink that.  Here are some clues:

1.  When Shane asked the transfer desk where to go for his flight to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, their first response was "Why do you want to go there???"

2.  When trying to arrange flights from Doha to Yuzhno, we have found that there are only 3 ways on to the island, and one of them is a Chartered flight.

3.  When you tell people where you are moving, their response is either "Ewww" or "Where?"

4.  More people have heard of Doha than Yuzhno (frankly I had never heard of either one before moving out here).

5.  When you arrive at the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk airport, you get off the plane and walk to the terminal.  No need for a bus when all you have to do is walk 50 feet!

Despite all of this, I get the feeling that Shane is happy to be there and away from Doha for a while.  He said he was actually cold and needed his jacket.  It is probably in the 60's, which is a stark contrast from 115F!  He is taking pictures, so I will post them when he returns in a few weeks.  

Reservations for 5 - Doha to Sakhalin

Okay...crisis averted.  Buster gets to come with us after all.  It basically took all afternoon to get it all straight, with the help (well, kind of) of the company travel guy.  He managed to book the dogs on one leg of the trip at least.  We are now traveling from Doha to Frankfurt on Lufthansa, and then to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk via Moscow on Aeroflot.   One good thing about this:  we will be able to get the dogs out in Frankfurt and walk them around before our flight to Moscow.  Let's just hope it all goes smoothly and we all have a good trip.  Insha'Allah...