Furlough Prep Part 2: Their Questions

Five months from today, we start the journey back to the US for our year long home assignment or furlough. This is "Part 2" in a monthly series I'm attempting to do, prior to our departure, so you can get an idea of what we're thinking and doing as we transition from here to there.

This month I'm looking at the questions my kids have been asking. The topic of furlough comes up, almost daily, as we anticipate all the changes that will be happening. So here, in no particular order, are some of their questions:

Will we have a dishwasher?
This is a big question since our three are on a daily rotation of washing, rinsing and drying. They pray we have a dishwasher so they can be off the hook for dish duty. I told them not to get too excited...those dishes don't load themselves or put themselves away. (Can you hear the collective groan from that response?)


Will we have to burn our trash on furlough?
We have a unique trash system here. Anything that can't be burned, or isn't food rubbish, gets tossed into a can for pick up on Tuesdays. Food scraps get tossed into a bucket that's taken out regularly and thrown into a deep hole in our backyard. Anything burnable gets tossed into another basket and those items burned in our backyard in a cement burn barrel. So...the thought of throwing everything away, into one can, without burning anything is really kind of disappointing to our designated pyro-loving trash burner.


Do we have to wear shoes?
Bless their hearts (see? Prepping for Texas :) These kids are used to having a "shoes optional" lifestyle. Needless to say, there's been quite the discussion about "No shoes. No shirt. No service" in the US. And regardless of our trip to Texas in December of 2014, they still question why they can't wear flip flops in December because, after all, that's summer time on this side of the world!

Just a heads up...old habits die hard, so when we come into your house, we're still likely to take our shoes off at the front door. Everyone has hardwood floors here, so it's common practice to take your shoes off so you don't track dirt inside the house. I've also gotten used to taking my house shoes or a pair of socks with me to keep my feet toasty when we go to someone's house.

Barefoot & dancin' in the rain!

 

Will the power go out in the US?
We're used to almost nightly power outages. Thanks to a generator, it doesn't stay out for long, but it's still something we're used to. We assured them that, most of the time, the power is fine and will stay on all the time. But then that led to a conversation about thunderstorms and losing power, which led to a discussion about tornadoes and thus a science lesson ensued. One thing leads to other around here.

Some nights a candlelight dinner is how we roll!

Despite all of the questions, the kids are getting excited about going back to the US. There will be a good deal of reverse culture shock we'll have to contend with, but hopefully they'll keep asking questions and hopefully we'll have some helpful answers.