I can’t believe six months has already gone by! That means I’ve been officially an expat for half a year, I’m half a year older, etc.

I guess it’s good thing, because time only flies when you’re having fun, right? Jokes aside, overall it has been a great 6 months. Not only am I feeling better about being here, I don’t feel at all homesick. I think our move to a better apartment helped me get the feeling of “home”, so it was definitely worth all the hassle.

My Spanish continues to improve and I seem to be past my learning plateau. That, and I’ve finally gotten into a routine (what more can Iask for ) We also now have our favorite stores, restaurants and bars. This makes going out for a bit of relaxation a lot easier and worthwhile.

Six months seemed like such a long time when we first arrived. I remember someone telling me it would probably take about a year to speak Spanish fluently and I felt like that was forever. From the looks of things, I think he was right on target. I also expected to be working by now. Surprisingly, I am not yet bothered about my unemployed status. I am making the most of the time I have with kids and also doing things that I would have never have had the time for while working full-time. I actually see it as a blessing to be able to live well and have all this free time. But, I imagine this feeling of bliss will is only temporary…I’ll let you know how I’m feeling about it in another couple months

I don’t know one person who enjoys the process of moving. All the packing and unpacking – then finding new places for things – it’s terrible. Well, add limited knowledge of the local language and a sick child and you’ve got my recent move.

We pretty much knew when my husband signed the lease on the first apartment that it was temporary. We planned to stay there six months and find a new place with more space and amenities. Well, six months came and went and we found out that there was some sort of housing crisis building (don’t ask me), so that meant paying upwards of $3,000 for a place of our liking. That was a no-go. Luckily, our landlord was very understanding and told us we could move whenever we found a place and didn’t have to sign a new lease.

After a couple false alarms, we finally found a place reasonably priced without getting outbid at the last minute. That really was the hardest part. The rest of it has been the normal nuances of moving. We managed to pack up everything in small boxes (we didn’t have any furniture) and since the new place is about five minutes from the first, all of our stuff was moved in about three hours.

One MAJOR lesson learned was getting internet service transferred. We had to wait almost two weeks and spoke to 8 different customer service representatives before our service was connected. Now, our modem is on the fritz and is causing our connection to be spotty. I guess you can’t win them all.

My one piece of advice to an expat looking for a place in Caracas is: be very patient. With limited housing, there are a lot of expats who pay through the nose simply because they feel there are no other options. But if you can hold out, you can negotiate “better” prices.