Hi all!! It has been a few (err…maybe more than a few) months since our last post. Although the blog has been quiet, our lives have not! In fact, life was blasting max stereo since we touched down in Washington almost 10 months ago. This is the first of a long 2-part post catching up on everything that happened after our world trip ended last August.
A few highlights from that time in no particular order:
- Swathi started her new job as an attending physician at NW Medical Specialties
- Bought a new house in Federal Way after a short (and tight) stint in a Tacoma apartment
- Soren had his first day of pre-school, and then another first day of pre-school after we moved
- Hired a full-time nanny for Meera
- Clark interviewed for and started his new job at the Washington State Investment Board
- Bought a new car
- Took a week-long vacation to Hawaii to visit Sruthi
Life has been so busy that I very well have may have missed an important highlight. Swathi’s board exams!!! Swathi had to study for and pass Oncology and Hemetology boards. See I forgot about that. Also we got solar panels, a home cook, cleaners, new washer/dryers and a new backyard fence. Forgot about those too.
Let’s take a step back and give you a quick timeline. We’ll cover August through early October in this post and round out with late October through November in the next post.
Late August/ Early September
We touched down in SeaTac airport August 29 from Hong Kong. After 3 hours at bag claim, they take refuge in a local motel and celebrate their return to the USA at the Cheesecake Factory. The next day we meet the moving company to unload our effect in an apartment in Tacoma. While the neighborhood was amazing (love that Farmer’s Market), the apartment was smaller than expected.
Also the downstairs neighbors complained about us twice! The building did have a nice rooftop garden for tenants though, so that was nice:
August 4 had Soren his first day of pre-school at Montessori in Motion. We found out he had lice the day before starting and had to shave his head. Despite much trepidation, he quickly made friends and became a teacher favorite. Apparently he is a goody-two shoes at school, if not always at home.
September 7, we bought a new car! It is a Volvo XC90 plug-in hybrid. We LOVE this car. Needless to say Soren threw up in it within 2 weeks smh. Still, it has been really nice and having a second car has been a necessary part of living in PNW.
September 10, Swathi had her first day of work. NW Medical Specialties is a private oncology practice with clinics around the Tacoma area. Swathi is in the Tacoma and Federal way clinics. She likes the new team and work, although it is very busy. We started to notice that her commute times were starting to add up, especially in the direction of Federal Way
Clark and Meera spent a lot of time bonding at home and picking up/dropping off Soren. Clark starts interviewing with the State Investment board. His final day with IBM was September 14 although he had emotionally and mentally departed much, much earlier.
Late September
Casual attendance of open houses matures into more active house hunting. We discovered Redfin (which is amazing) and started spending a lot of time on the app. We quickly discovered that most of the housing stock in Tacoma was built about 120 years ago with knob and tube wiring. Look it up if you are ever bored. We did find our dream home in Tacoma, but it only cost a cool two million dollars. Think we’ll have to wait.
September 22 we walked through a newly listed house in a quiet corner of Federal Way and had a very good feeling about the place. On September 24, Redfin notified us that they were closing to new offers at the end of the day. We scrambled to put a bid in and quickly found ourselves in a bidding war. After some smooth negotiating, we emerged victorious!
September 26, we pick up Swathi’s mom from the airport. She joined us for most of October to help smooth the transition, especially while Swathi prepared for board exams. She couldn’t have come at a better time as we had a lot to do with the move. We couldn’t have gotten through the month without her!
Early October
October 4 I had my first in-person job interview. The role would be to lead the Investment Analytics team at the Washington State Investment Board (WASIB). WASIB manages the $120B investment portfolio for the state, and my team would provide data and insights to the investment officers in the organization. October 11, I had my final round interview and received an offer to start December 3!
Mid-October was a lot of prep for our house closing on October 24 and studying for boards. We were all sick with colds for most of the month as well. Despite all the craziness, we managed to see our friends …. Soren has befriended their son and they even spent one day together at Chuck-e-Cheeses!
Meera was her usual sweet self, but had a few really sad days when he bottom teeth we coming in. She also had a self-improvement project to figure out how to stand. She still hasn’t totally mastered it, but perseveres nonetheless
October 22 to 27 was marathon week. Swathi took her board exams on Monday and Tuesday. We closed on the house on Wednesday. We proceeded to move for the next three days and finally moved ourselves in on Friday. By the end of the week, we were proud homeowners!
Soren liked the house too
