Second of my email retro fits to our blog. This one summarised what we will be doing in DC:
For those who we haven't managed to catch up with yet, we are leaving at the end of April for a 12 month posting to Washington DC.
Malcolm has been selected to a Tax Office position outposted to JITSIC (Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre), which is a US, Canada, UK and Australian revenue authority operation. This has been in operation in Washington for three years now. For those who are interested, the broad objectives are set out here: http://www.ato.gov.au/print.asp?doc=/content/mr2004029b.htm. Malcolm is just back from two weeks working there and is very positive about the work he'll be doing and the people he will be working with. For those who know DC, the office is at 1099 14th Street NW.
We will rent our house out for the year we're gone (had two interested in it within three hours of listing on Thursday!) and our furniture etc will be put into storage. We've also found homes for Molly and Sasha for the year we'll be gone.
Malcolm has found a recently renovated / extended house to rent in Maryland, about 30 minutes commute to his work, and we are currently working through the 18 pages of the lease before signing it. We will rent furniture etc there and are still working out what we are going to do about a car. Public transport in the area is very good but the locals get confused when you talk about not having a car in the land of the automobile!
Olivia will be catching one of the big yellow school buses you see on American tv shows to a very good elementary school about five miles from where we will be living. She's not happy about having to go back to kindergarten for a month or so at first because their school year is effectively six months behind ours (starting in August rather than February). We're working on this! Kieren will be able to go to pre-kindergarten at the same school once their new school year commences. We haven't worked out how he's going to get there yet, buying that car looks like it may have to happen!
Donna is looking forward to having another year as a stay at home mum, with lots of quilting and volunteering at the school planned. The wife of one of the UK guys, who teaches batik and other courses at the Smithsonian, has already planned a tour of the fabric and quilting shops with her …
Sorry we don't have time to catch up with everyone before we go and thanks to all those who have helped and provided invaluable advice on how to survive moving overseas with two young children. It has been hectic with confirmation of the posting happening only the Monday before the Saturday when Malcolm had to fly to Washington for two weeks. We're now flat out getting the house and everything organised to be gone in three weeks. So unless we see you in Washington, parties will have to wait until we get back …
Kind regards Malcolm, Donna, Olivia & Kieren
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