Posted By Seth W on September 4, 2009
Okay, so technically it’s in the air again, but I (Seth) am flying back to the capital city to renew our visas. We were under the impression that we could renew our visas here, so this is somewhat of an unexpected trip. Here’s how it developed. We were able to obtain work permits for the city we live in ( I even paid for one from 2005 they said I owed), and another teammate set out on the task of getting our visas renewed locally. We figured, wrongly, that since we had work permits for this city, the visa renewal would be no problem. As it turns out, they’ve recently passed a law (or so we hear) that requires all foreigners to return to the capital to renew their visas. At first we were told all members of our family would have to appear in person, but now it seems that head-of-household will suffice. An intense debate ensued, and after I beat her in Phase 10, it was determined that I was head-of-household. So off I go to the capital for a week’s time. I’m not at all excited about spending a week away from my family, but we’ve been told we can bring a letter back from the visa office there giving the visa office here permission to renew our visas locally next time. Place your bets now.
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Posted By Seth W on July 24, 2009
One of the most common questions we get back in the States is in regards to our living conditions. I’m happy to say that the quality of life where our family is living now is a lot better than when I was a single guy here several years ago. Life is a lot easier when you have indoor plumbing, a refrigerator, and electricity most of the time (it’s out for eight or nine hours every other day). We have a simple home here with a small garden out front (mostly grapevines), a guest room, a living room, one bath, a kitchen, and two bedrooms in the basement downstairs. While not substantially cooler, the bedrooms downstairs stay noticeably cooler than the rest of the house and make for better sleeping. Our running water is a gravity fed system from a tank mounted on the roof. There is a water well out front near the garden that we use to pump water to the tank every day. We continue to make a few purchases here and there, but overall we’ve settled in quickly and quite nicely. Again, all the amenities make life much easier, but the heat has been a force to reckon with. Unfortunately, we don’t have the means to run air conditioning, so we’ve been relying on fans and our trusty swamp cooler. A swamp cooler (or evaporative cooler) is a device that cools air through the simple evaporation of water. It works well in this climate of dry heat. Enjoy the pictures we’ve posted of our place and feel free to comment with any questions you might have!
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Posted By Seth W on July 18, 2009
At long last we have made it to Central Asia and to the place we’ll call home for the next nine to twelve months. 
The most difficult part of the journey was actually getting out of Alabama! (That’s Elyse finally taking a seat in the terminal.) We missed the connection in DC after being delayed in Huntsville, which put us a day behind schedule and frantically trying to find a hotel in Virginia at 3AM. Elyse did great on the transatlantic portion of the flight; sleeping all but the last hour-and-half when she woke up, took a bottle, and watched some television. When we finally made it across the ocean, we were told to get a few hours rest as we’d be catching a 3AM flight to our host country. We arrived at roughly 7AM local time and thought we were getting on another plane to our final destination, only to be told that flight was canceled and we’d have to spend a week in the capitol before moving on. After a lovely week in the big city, we made it to the place where we will live and work for the next year. Anita will focus on language learning and I’ll be busy managing sales for a new company here in town.
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Posted By Seth W on February 18, 2009
Seth, Anita, and Elyse
Anita and I hope that this will give everyone an opportunity to connect with us as we live overseas. Check back often for new content!
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Okay, so technically it’s in the air again, but I (Seth) am flying back to the capital city to renew our visas. We were under the impression that we could renew our visas here, so this is somewhat of an unexpected trip. Here’s how it developed. We were able to obtain work permits for the city we live in ( I even paid for one from 2005 they said I owed), and another teammate set out on the task of getting our visas renewed locally. We figured, wrongly, that since we had work permits for this city, the visa renewal would be no problem. As it turns out, they’ve recently passed a law (or so we hear) that requires all foreigners to return to the capital to renew their visas. At first we were told all members of our family would have to appear in person, but now it seems that head-of-household will suffice. An intense debate ensued, and after I beat her in Phase 10, it was determined that I was head-of-household. So off I go to the capital for a week’s time. I’m not at all excited about spending a week away from my family, but we’ve been told we can bring a letter back from the visa office there giving the visa office here permission to renew our visas locally next time. Place your bets now.