Paperwork, Notaries, and more Paperwork

Back in the saddle, again...

Yes, back to filling out form upon form for relocation services. Glad we get access to the services!...could do without the 1980s approach to reading piles upon piles of polices, completing the same information on dozens of forms, hard signing many of those forms, and then faxing (yes, faxing) and sometimes emailing (woohoo!) to service providers. Like I said, glad we have the service providers to help us relocate, but surely we could step into the current century on data collection techniques...

So far, we're finding the paperwork on the relocation a bit more difficult than when we left the States because we're dealing with local service providers. The communication barrier we've come to know and love while living here is every bit as much a challenge as we prepare to leave. What would take 1 email or phone call in the States is taking several touch points to ensure things are communicated clearly and executed properly. It may sound a bit like exPat complaining if you haven't experienced it...but it can be exhausting.

I've been asking exPats who've returned to America if it's harder returning. Almost all of them have quickly said YES! That surprised us. We would have thought returning home would be easier. I guess time will tell if that plays out for us or not.

We're also kicking off building a house on the otherside of the world. We're excited to build a home, but also challenged to get it going from here. Part of the challenge was finding a lender who would close with us 12,000 miles away. We're blessed to have found one and that would accept notary services from the US Embassy in Bangkok! On the flip slide of the blessing: $50 per stamp notary charges. Yikes. I even appealed to our State Senator to see if there was some sort of reasonableness test the Embassy could apply so we wouldn't pay $1000 in notary charges for 30 mins of "work." No beans. "Policy is policy." Thank you Federal Government for confirming my long standing bias that my tax dollars really don't do much for me and that services are almost always better received in the private sector. If you can charge me again, you will. Oh well, thankful the process (albeit a rip-off) worked!

We have mixed emotions about returning "home." We would have liked to have stayed another year in Thailand - it was a lot of effort to relocate here and our just-shy-of-2-years stay feels a bit short. We LOVE the people, the food, the beauty of where we live, and adventures we find every day. We're also excited to return to family and friends back in America. We definitely will enjoy the easier access to food we're comfortable with and know is safe(r) to consume. Not to mention the reduced humidity and heat on a daily basis..yes, yes, even in Houston. :-)

At this point of the relocation, we're trying to make all the decisions on where to live in interim, work the complex choices and schedules of a new job, new home, new schools, transportation, etc. while still enjoying our last few months in Thailand. We have scheduled one more adventure trip to Cambodia in a few weeks and are all looking forward to that!

So here's to hoping that the next few weeks and months go smoothly and that our return home to America is everything we hope it will be!

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