I was going to go to bed early and read, but then I thought, "No, I'll blog!" So here I am blogging and I have no idea what I'm going to say.
I've been exercising a lot, although mostly not running. I started a staff Pilates class at Reed, and it feels good to do something totally different for my body. I've also been doing the Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred video every night with Z.
So, yeah, things are really exciting. Tonight I cleaned off the top of my fridge. See why I haven't been blogging?
We are, for the most part, navigating through each day with a good sense of routine. Z continues to be a stabilizing presence for us. Maddie and Riley enjoy school. I've been more productive at work, although I remain woefully behind on a few projects. I'm still poking around looking at houses online, still a little obsessed with the one I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. I guess I'm not obsessed enough to talk to a realtor or make an offer, though.
The wintertime Endless Cold finally caught up with us and there's been a lot of coughing among the four-year-old set. There has, however, been no sign of the popcorn kernel, so hopefully that situation is well and truly resolved.* We're considering going to family camp this summer; Maddie loves the idea and Riley is concerned that wolves might be hiding in the woods, waiting to eat us while we sleep in our cabin at night. The kids had the first of four skiing lessons; both seemed to love it, especially Riley who was on a total adrenaline high at the end of the day. Riley enjoyed his first Superbowl; interest in football remains high.
And so one day merges into another. Maddie is coughing now; I don't know how kids sleep through that. Tomorrow promises more of the same: hectic morning, work, school, hectic evening, an attempt at nighttime productivity, sleep. And so it goes, and so it goes.
*See post from January 11 for more on Kernel 2011. Short version: Riley put a popcorn kernel into an orifice that should not have a popcorn kernel in it and that while the indications were that the situation was resolved, no actual confirmation was made, so parental concern has lingered.
Showing posts with label Au Pair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Au Pair. Show all posts
07 February 2011
30 December 2010
Au Pair Logistics/Details
A few people have asked me for an overview of how I decided to host an au pair and what the process was around actually finding Z and getting her here to the U.S. Without further ado, here's the scoop, keeping in mind that this is based on my experience and understanding and that I'm not any kind of official source for au pair information.
WHAT IS AN AU PAIR?
Definitions will vary, but the kind of au pair that Z is and the kind I was interested in hosting are young adults (18–26) who come here on official au pair status through a Department of State program. I think there are ways you can sponsor someone you know to come to the U.S. on an au pair visa, or ways to hire someone to do live-in childcare that is more ad-hoc, but I wanted to do a regulated, established program because it makes things a lot simpler to organize. The process and rules are clear and someone else is taking care of the paperwork.
The link above will give you a ton of information about the rules and regulations of the au pair program. The main points are the following:
PROS AND CONS
Maddie and Riley have been in a home daycare, an independent preschool, and had a live-out nanny, so I have experience with quite a few types of care. While I think all of those situations have their advantages and disadvantages, here are the advantages I see to having an au pair:
I mentioned above that you pay your au pair $195.75/week. What a steal for full-time care, right?! It is, but not quite as much of steal as you think. Unless you have the temerity to find and sponsor the au pair yourself, you're going to have to go through an agency, and the agency will have fees. I used Au Pair in America and I paid them around $7,000 in up-front fees to get Z here. I also paid for her airline ticket from New York (where she had her training) to Portland. I will need to pay $500 for her educational component. And I'm feeding her and buying her a bus pass and paying for her cell phone every month.
All that said, it's still cheaper for me to have Z with us than it was for me to pay for private preschool in the morning and an afternoon nanny. I'm saving about $5,000 this year for a situation that works *much* better for our family.
I think there's a misconception that live-in au pairs are only for very wealthy families. I'd venture to guess that any family paying for full-time childcare for *two or more kids* in a city of any size in the U.S. would break even or save money with this option.
CHOOSING AN AU PAIR
To choose your au pair, you have to first choose your agency. The two biggest agencies are Cultural Care Au Pair and Au Pair in America. I wanted one of the bigger agencies because they have larger applicant pools and more established support systems. That said, they can be more expensive and I'm sure the smaller agencies are fine. Our former live-out nanny originally came to the U.S. with Au Pair in America, and she said she enjoyed the program and had felt well supported, so that was a point in their favor for me, too.
Once you choose your agency, you fill out a family profile and send in some photos talk to a counselor (or this is what I did; I'm assuming it's much the same from agency to agency). Once your file is complete, you can either search the database of available au pairs yourself or have the agency screen applications for you based on criteria that you provide. The number of available au pairs is overwhelming, so I had the agency screen for me. You are able to see quite a lot of information about the au pairs: photos, their educational history, an essay in English about why they want to be an au pair, notes from interviewers about how the candidate presented herself and how her English is. I will say that au pair shopping felt strange to me in the way that online dating feels. There's something a bit dehumanizing about specifying criteria and then choosing people from a lineup. But you do have to make a real connection with the candidates as you must conduct a phone interview with anyone you are serious about inviting to the U.S. You can do this via Skype (if the au pair has access) or regular phone or whatever works for you.
I found the experience of making our match with Z somewhat like choosing a college. Once we found Z, it just felt like the right fit. I had three final candidates, and I'm sure they all would have been fine. But Z seemed like a part of our family from the first time we talked. That's not very scientific, but it seems to be working out quite well.
Once you make your match, the agency takes care of helping the au pair get her visa and arranging for her travel to the U.S. Then you just wait for her to arrive!
I'm happy to answer specific questions about the au pair gig. There are also lots of blogs out there written both by au pairs and by host families. I have certainly found it to be a great solution for us, but like anything, it's not for everyone.
WHAT IS AN AU PAIR?
Definitions will vary, but the kind of au pair that Z is and the kind I was interested in hosting are young adults (18–26) who come here on official au pair status through a Department of State program. I think there are ways you can sponsor someone you know to come to the U.S. on an au pair visa, or ways to hire someone to do live-in childcare that is more ad-hoc, but I wanted to do a regulated, established program because it makes things a lot simpler to organize. The process and rules are clear and someone else is taking care of the paperwork.
The link above will give you a ton of information about the rules and regulations of the au pair program. The main points are the following:
- You must provide the au pair with her own bedroom. It needn't be anything fancy, but it has to be her own, private room. You also provide her with food to eat. You also need to provide her with reliable, safe transportation, but this could be anything from a bike to a bus pass to use of your family car to her own car.
- Au pairs are paid a weekly stipend set by the U.S. government. Currently that rate is $195.75/week.
- Au pairs can work up to 45 hours/week (although no more than 10 hours in any 1 given day). You are required to give your au pair consecutive days off per week and one full weekend off per month. Au pairs also get two weeks' paid vacation per year. You negotiate mutually agreeable dates for that.
- Au pairs will do any work around the house directly related to the kids: the kids' laundry, cleaning their room, preparing meals and cleaning up after, etc.
- There is an educational component to the program. You are required to pay (up to $500) for your au pair to take a class of her choosing during her stay. You also need to help her find the class—it could be through a community college, a local university, or really anywhere.
PROS AND CONS
Maddie and Riley have been in a home daycare, an independent preschool, and had a live-out nanny, so I have experience with quite a few types of care. While I think all of those situations have their advantages and disadvantages, here are the advantages I see to having an au pair:
- Flexibility with the hours. Forty-five hours/week is quite a lot of hours, and they can be totally flexible. Z works from 8 a.m. to noon every day, then again from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., so 6.5 hours/day. (M&R are in preschool during the afternoon break.) This means that if I want to go out in the evening, those hours are covered as long as I don't exceed my 10 hour/day limit. Also, when it's school break or a late start day or an inservice day, I'm not scrambling around to figure out childcare. Z is there!
- Language and culture. M&R have been in some type of Spanish-speaking care since they started daycare at four months. Their public preschool program is Spanish immersion. I love that they are getting their language skills reinforced at home and that they are learning about another culture. Z cooks Bolivian food for the kids and tells them about her life back home. The kids love hearing these stories.
- Help around the house. I think that Z is particularly helpful, so this may not be typical, and I have emphasized to her that she goes beyond the call of duty. That said, I'm not complaining that the house is always neat as a pin and I have pretty much not washed a dish since she came to live with us. I no longer think about what M&R will have for lunch; Z takes care of it. So, so helpful.
- Logistics of someone working for you. The au pair program and agency take care of much of the logistical hassle of employing someone. The au pair agencies usually require the au pair to purchase health insurance through them, so there's one hassle taken care of. The tax implications are straightforward. The rate is set for you, so no worries about how much to pay, raises, etc.
- Someone else is living in your house. For me, this is an advantage, but for some families, this can seem like an intrusion. I'm extremely social, and I'm single, so having someone else around is actually really nice. For some families who like more privacy, I think it can feel overwhelming to have someone else around all the time. We welcome Z on all of our family activities if she wants to come, but that might not be OK with everyone. Something to consider.
- You're dependent on one person. Just as when you have a nanny, if that one person is sick, it can be a problem.
I mentioned above that you pay your au pair $195.75/week. What a steal for full-time care, right?! It is, but not quite as much of steal as you think. Unless you have the temerity to find and sponsor the au pair yourself, you're going to have to go through an agency, and the agency will have fees. I used Au Pair in America and I paid them around $7,000 in up-front fees to get Z here. I also paid for her airline ticket from New York (where she had her training) to Portland. I will need to pay $500 for her educational component. And I'm feeding her and buying her a bus pass and paying for her cell phone every month.
All that said, it's still cheaper for me to have Z with us than it was for me to pay for private preschool in the morning and an afternoon nanny. I'm saving about $5,000 this year for a situation that works *much* better for our family.
I think there's a misconception that live-in au pairs are only for very wealthy families. I'd venture to guess that any family paying for full-time childcare for *two or more kids* in a city of any size in the U.S. would break even or save money with this option.
CHOOSING AN AU PAIR
To choose your au pair, you have to first choose your agency. The two biggest agencies are Cultural Care Au Pair and Au Pair in America. I wanted one of the bigger agencies because they have larger applicant pools and more established support systems. That said, they can be more expensive and I'm sure the smaller agencies are fine. Our former live-out nanny originally came to the U.S. with Au Pair in America, and she said she enjoyed the program and had felt well supported, so that was a point in their favor for me, too.
Once you choose your agency, you fill out a family profile and send in some photos talk to a counselor (or this is what I did; I'm assuming it's much the same from agency to agency). Once your file is complete, you can either search the database of available au pairs yourself or have the agency screen applications for you based on criteria that you provide. The number of available au pairs is overwhelming, so I had the agency screen for me. You are able to see quite a lot of information about the au pairs: photos, their educational history, an essay in English about why they want to be an au pair, notes from interviewers about how the candidate presented herself and how her English is. I will say that au pair shopping felt strange to me in the way that online dating feels. There's something a bit dehumanizing about specifying criteria and then choosing people from a lineup. But you do have to make a real connection with the candidates as you must conduct a phone interview with anyone you are serious about inviting to the U.S. You can do this via Skype (if the au pair has access) or regular phone or whatever works for you.
I found the experience of making our match with Z somewhat like choosing a college. Once we found Z, it just felt like the right fit. I had three final candidates, and I'm sure they all would have been fine. But Z seemed like a part of our family from the first time we talked. That's not very scientific, but it seems to be working out quite well.
Once you make your match, the agency takes care of helping the au pair get her visa and arranging for her travel to the U.S. Then you just wait for her to arrive!
I'm happy to answer specific questions about the au pair gig. There are also lots of blogs out there written both by au pairs and by host families. I have certainly found it to be a great solution for us, but like anything, it's not for everyone.
29 December 2010
7:40 p.m.
The kid are sleeping. We had a really fun evening. I got home from work early, and we spent fifteen minutes or so playing around on the new gymnastics mats in the basement, doing somersaults and airplane lifts and making human sandwiches (that sounds so gross, but you know what I mean).
Then it was dinner, one of those marvelous occasions on which the main course (butternut squash soup) was enthusiastically received by all and carrot (Riley) and celery (Maddie) sticks were consumed with gusto.
Off it was to the bath, where no one threw a tantrum when the bubble machine didn't work and there were no tears about hair washing or combing out. We had extra time for stories, we sang an extra song, and the light was out by 7:25 p.m.
And now, here I am with a glass of wine and my after-bedtime snack. I have a couple of bills to pay. There's a load of laundry about to shift to the rinse cycle. I could write some thank-you notes.
But the dishes are washed, the play areas are clean, there's no need to pack lunches. This post is really an ode to Z and how she has transformed our lives in the past two months. She delights in the kids, and they in her. I've been able to hear their Spanish skills just explode. Taking care of Maddie and Riley is clearly her priority, but she is also a huge help to me around the house, which has freed up my time in ways I did not expect and have yet to really learn how to manage. I find myself now in the evenings with my chores done well before 8 p.m. and the whole evening stretched out before me. Usually I manage to fritter away my time on Facebook or end up asleep by 9:30 p.m. I haven't been so well rested in years, and it feels really great.
I'm not terribly surprised to find that I love having another adult in the house after hours. Sometimes, once the kids are sleeping, Z and I will cook something together or just spend time socializing. It's nice to hear stories about what the kids are doing and to help with questions Z has about life in the U.S. Often, Z will spend the evening on her computer or on the phone, visiting with friends, but just knowing that she's here and that I have backup if something goes awry is a huge load off my mind, and an unanticipated benefit of having a live in au pair.
I have wanted for some time to get an au pair, but the circumstances were never right either logistically or financially. It was worth the wait, though, and my hunch that this was a good solution for our family has been confirmed. It's nice to be headed into 2011 with such a settled, happy feeling: my job is stable and mostly good, the kids are in a good place in school, and the childcare situation is so much more than that.
Now it's 7:54 p.m. I need a few more snackies to get me through the bills. Then I think it's time for an episode of Mad Men and some reading. I started To Kill a Mockingbird a few days ago. Not sure how it could be that I've never read it before, but there you have it. What a luxury to have time to spend on these things, on myself. I am well aware of this gift.
Then it was dinner, one of those marvelous occasions on which the main course (butternut squash soup) was enthusiastically received by all and carrot (Riley) and celery (Maddie) sticks were consumed with gusto.
Off it was to the bath, where no one threw a tantrum when the bubble machine didn't work and there were no tears about hair washing or combing out. We had extra time for stories, we sang an extra song, and the light was out by 7:25 p.m.
And now, here I am with a glass of wine and my after-bedtime snack. I have a couple of bills to pay. There's a load of laundry about to shift to the rinse cycle. I could write some thank-you notes.
But the dishes are washed, the play areas are clean, there's no need to pack lunches. This post is really an ode to Z and how she has transformed our lives in the past two months. She delights in the kids, and they in her. I've been able to hear their Spanish skills just explode. Taking care of Maddie and Riley is clearly her priority, but she is also a huge help to me around the house, which has freed up my time in ways I did not expect and have yet to really learn how to manage. I find myself now in the evenings with my chores done well before 8 p.m. and the whole evening stretched out before me. Usually I manage to fritter away my time on Facebook or end up asleep by 9:30 p.m. I haven't been so well rested in years, and it feels really great.
I'm not terribly surprised to find that I love having another adult in the house after hours. Sometimes, once the kids are sleeping, Z and I will cook something together or just spend time socializing. It's nice to hear stories about what the kids are doing and to help with questions Z has about life in the U.S. Often, Z will spend the evening on her computer or on the phone, visiting with friends, but just knowing that she's here and that I have backup if something goes awry is a huge load off my mind, and an unanticipated benefit of having a live in au pair.
I have wanted for some time to get an au pair, but the circumstances were never right either logistically or financially. It was worth the wait, though, and my hunch that this was a good solution for our family has been confirmed. It's nice to be headed into 2011 with such a settled, happy feeling: my job is stable and mostly good, the kids are in a good place in school, and the childcare situation is so much more than that.
Now it's 7:54 p.m. I need a few more snackies to get me through the bills. Then I think it's time for an episode of Mad Men and some reading. I started To Kill a Mockingbird a few days ago. Not sure how it could be that I've never read it before, but there you have it. What a luxury to have time to spend on these things, on myself. I am well aware of this gift.
10 November 2010
Day 1: SUCCESS!
I headed off to work today, leaving Z in charge of the kids without me for the first time. I told her to call or text with any problems. I checked my phone a lot. Nothing.
I got home a bit late (grr, traffic) and found everyone in the living room, listening to a book on tape. My arrival home was a total nonevent for M&R. Good sign. Z was all smiles. It seems that everyone had a great day. We had a nice dinner together, I solved a "problem" with the dryer (you have to hold the button in to get it to start; a quick push is not enough), and sweet Maddie was begging to go to bed at 7 p.m. I heard Maddie and Riley speaking more Spanish tonight than I have in a long time, and Z reports that they used quite a bit of Spanish with her today, which seems to have helped them all.
I gave Z a little gift tonight in honor of a successful first day: two chocolate bars and a compact, folding polka-dot umbrella. She'll need both in the days ahead. Today gives me the sense that we're all where we're supposed to be.
I got home a bit late (grr, traffic) and found everyone in the living room, listening to a book on tape. My arrival home was a total nonevent for M&R. Good sign. Z was all smiles. It seems that everyone had a great day. We had a nice dinner together, I solved a "problem" with the dryer (you have to hold the button in to get it to start; a quick push is not enough), and sweet Maddie was begging to go to bed at 7 p.m. I heard Maddie and Riley speaking more Spanish tonight than I have in a long time, and Z reports that they used quite a bit of Spanish with her today, which seems to have helped them all.
I gave Z a little gift tonight in honor of a successful first day: two chocolate bars and a compact, folding polka-dot umbrella. She'll need both in the days ahead. Today gives me the sense that we're all where we're supposed to be.
08 November 2010
Put a Fork in Me
I'm done!
Does that expression mean that I'm tired? Because that's what I'm implying. Having Z here is wonderful so far, just wonderful, but also exhausting. Today was our first day of the regular routine, although an irregular version thereof because I was home. But it was a school day for the kids and our first chance to show the newest inhabitant of our home what a typical morning breakfast looks like, where to drop Maddie and Riley off for school, what happens at the playground post-preschool. During the time the kids were at preschool, Z and I tried to get her a Social Security card (no-go; for some reason we need to contact the Department of Homeland Security. Huh.) and successfully got her a cell phone. By the time we took care of those two errands and then swung by the grocery store, the 2.75 little hours the kids spend in school were over. Poof! That goes by fast, for sure.
We had a nice dinner together this evening, then the kids and I went over to watch Monday Night Football with the neighbors for a bit. Now the kids are in bed and I'm not far behind, not far behind at all.
I've already missed a day or two of NaBloPoMo, but I'm still going to try to be more regular in my posting for this month. Posts like this feel kind of like throwaways to me, but the habit of more regular writing is good even on days when the content is subpar. I'm also somewhat motivated to keep a record of sorts of this au pair year.
For now, though, I'm motivated to go to bed. It's not even 9 p.m.! I've always loved going to bed early, especially if I'm reading a good book. My current read is Chronic City, which I'm enjoying but having a hard time getting through; it's one of those very character-driven books with little in the way of a story, at least thus far (150 pages in). This format does not seem to work very well in 15-minute bites, which I all I usually have the energy for once I crawl into bed to read each night. Perhaps a 9 p.m. bedtime will get me a little further along this evening.
/end navel gazing, at least for tonight/
Does that expression mean that I'm tired? Because that's what I'm implying. Having Z here is wonderful so far, just wonderful, but also exhausting. Today was our first day of the regular routine, although an irregular version thereof because I was home. But it was a school day for the kids and our first chance to show the newest inhabitant of our home what a typical morning breakfast looks like, where to drop Maddie and Riley off for school, what happens at the playground post-preschool. During the time the kids were at preschool, Z and I tried to get her a Social Security card (no-go; for some reason we need to contact the Department of Homeland Security. Huh.) and successfully got her a cell phone. By the time we took care of those two errands and then swung by the grocery store, the 2.75 little hours the kids spend in school were over. Poof! That goes by fast, for sure.
We had a nice dinner together this evening, then the kids and I went over to watch Monday Night Football with the neighbors for a bit. Now the kids are in bed and I'm not far behind, not far behind at all.
I've already missed a day or two of NaBloPoMo, but I'm still going to try to be more regular in my posting for this month. Posts like this feel kind of like throwaways to me, but the habit of more regular writing is good even on days when the content is subpar. I'm also somewhat motivated to keep a record of sorts of this au pair year.
For now, though, I'm motivated to go to bed. It's not even 9 p.m.! I've always loved going to bed early, especially if I'm reading a good book. My current read is Chronic City, which I'm enjoying but having a hard time getting through; it's one of those very character-driven books with little in the way of a story, at least thus far (150 pages in). This format does not seem to work very well in 15-minute bites, which I all I usually have the energy for once I crawl into bed to read each night. Perhaps a 9 p.m. bedtime will get me a little further along this evening.
/end navel gazing, at least for tonight/
05 November 2010
Au Pairing
We have an au pair!
I would say that it's her fault that I have already missed a day of NaBloPoMo, but that just seems rude given how lovely she is, so I won't put that on her. It is, however, true that last night was dedicated to last-minute preparations for her arrival plus a girls' night with my mom to keep me awake before I went to the airport to pick up the newest member of our family (let's call her Z for now).
She had a smile on her face as she came through security and tears in her eyes as she gave me a big hug, and she pretty much hasn't stopped smiling since she arrived. She was up with the Maddie and Riley birds, has been completely hands-on all day, and just projects an air of caring and joy. Maddie and Riley have taken to her immediately—granted, they are pretty loving—and it all just feels right.
Sure, there's bound to be a honeymoon period and of course there will be bumps along the way. But the first 24 hours leave me reassured that the decision to host an au pair for a year is the right one for our family right now, and that this is the start of something good.
*****************************
UPDATE: Discussion of difficulty in reaching Bolivia by telephone follows. Thanks to those who gave suggestions on ways to resolve this. Looks like MagicJack wins for now!
It turns out that calling Bolivia, Z's home country, is no easy feat. Sure, it's easy enough to pick up a land-line phone and dial a number there, but (a) it can take a few times to get connected, (b) it's expensive as all hell, and (c) I don't have a land line, nor do I want to get one.
I had been counting on Z being able to Skype to video chat for free with her family and friends, and I think that will work with a subset of those she wants to be in touch with back home. But there is a good-sized cohort of folks in Bolivia, including her parents, that either aren't online at home at all or aren't online regularly. Having lived overseas myself, I know that having a reliable way to be in touch with family and friends is critical to good mental health, so I'm trying to figure out a relatively simple way for Z to stay connected.
My first thought was to use Skype for Z to call cell and land lines from her comptuer, and that's still an option. It's not free, of course, but I figured the $15/month for their monthly unlimited worldwide plan was a fine tradeoff for Z's mental health. Well, of course, Bolivia is not on their unlimited worldwide monthly calling plans, and the pay-per-minute rates hover around $0.20.
Calling cards are OK, but the 800-number access line on the one we bought today would not work when dialed from my cell, so if land-line is required for calling cards to work, that's not a real option. My dad pointed out that perhaps it's less cost-prohibitive for Z's family to call from Bolivia to the States, so now I'm thinking that we can get her set up with a Skype Online Number for her friends and family to use to call her, but it looks like that's only valid for calls coming from the country in which you set up the number, grrr. (I'm having a hard time understanding the logistics of that setup.)
I'm not sure how Bolivia has been left behind when it comes to modern telecommunications, but there you have it. At worst, Z will be able to call Bolivian cell and landlines from within Skype at rates that strike me as ridiculously high rates; I'll have to figure out if I can/should pay for some amount of those calls. If family can also call her, all the better, but I'm not sure about that part.
For today, though, I've thought about it enough. I need some sleep! We've got a whole lot of nothing planned for tomorrow, then Sunday we'll spend some time with my mom and stepdad. I'm off work Monday and Tuesday to help with the settling in and to oversee the first two days of normal schedule school dropoff/pickup. Maybe by then we'll have the calling sorted out. Advice appreciated.
I would say that it's her fault that I have already missed a day of NaBloPoMo, but that just seems rude given how lovely she is, so I won't put that on her. It is, however, true that last night was dedicated to last-minute preparations for her arrival plus a girls' night with my mom to keep me awake before I went to the airport to pick up the newest member of our family (let's call her Z for now).
She had a smile on her face as she came through security and tears in her eyes as she gave me a big hug, and she pretty much hasn't stopped smiling since she arrived. She was up with the Maddie and Riley birds, has been completely hands-on all day, and just projects an air of caring and joy. Maddie and Riley have taken to her immediately—granted, they are pretty loving—and it all just feels right.
Sure, there's bound to be a honeymoon period and of course there will be bumps along the way. But the first 24 hours leave me reassured that the decision to host an au pair for a year is the right one for our family right now, and that this is the start of something good.
*****************************
UPDATE: Discussion of difficulty in reaching Bolivia by telephone follows. Thanks to those who gave suggestions on ways to resolve this. Looks like MagicJack wins for now!
It turns out that calling Bolivia, Z's home country, is no easy feat. Sure, it's easy enough to pick up a land-line phone and dial a number there, but (a) it can take a few times to get connected, (b) it's expensive as all hell, and (c) I don't have a land line, nor do I want to get one.
I had been counting on Z being able to Skype to video chat for free with her family and friends, and I think that will work with a subset of those she wants to be in touch with back home. But there is a good-sized cohort of folks in Bolivia, including her parents, that either aren't online at home at all or aren't online regularly. Having lived overseas myself, I know that having a reliable way to be in touch with family and friends is critical to good mental health, so I'm trying to figure out a relatively simple way for Z to stay connected.
My first thought was to use Skype for Z to call cell and land lines from her comptuer, and that's still an option. It's not free, of course, but I figured the $15/month for their monthly unlimited worldwide plan was a fine tradeoff for Z's mental health. Well, of course, Bolivia is not on their unlimited worldwide monthly calling plans, and the pay-per-minute rates hover around $0.20.
Calling cards are OK, but the 800-number access line on the one we bought today would not work when dialed from my cell, so if land-line is required for calling cards to work, that's not a real option. My dad pointed out that perhaps it's less cost-prohibitive for Z's family to call from Bolivia to the States, so now I'm thinking that we can get her set up with a Skype Online Number for her friends and family to use to call her, but it looks like that's only valid for calls coming from the country in which you set up the number, grrr. (I'm having a hard time understanding the logistics of that setup.)
I'm not sure how Bolivia has been left behind when it comes to modern telecommunications, but there you have it. At worst, Z will be able to call Bolivian cell and landlines from within Skype at rates that strike me as ridiculously high rates; I'll have to figure out if I can/should pay for some amount of those calls. If family can also call her, all the better, but I'm not sure about that part.
For today, though, I've thought about it enough. I need some sleep! We've got a whole lot of nothing planned for tomorrow, then Sunday we'll spend some time with my mom and stepdad. I'm off work Monday and Tuesday to help with the settling in and to oversee the first two days of normal schedule school dropoff/pickup. Maybe by then we'll have the calling sorted out. Advice appreciated.
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