Shots and Equipment Registration

Planning, sorting, organizing, paperwork, equipment checks, connecting with friends, and so much more. I suppose the huge amount of work to do before we go is helpful quelling all the emotions around this adventure.

I already miss everyone. I feel badly for the boys as I take everything they say and do too seriously, imagining all the time I won't see them. They are turning into such amazing young men and I hate to miss a moment of it. But I will.

C is trying to help by taking care of her responsibilities before we leave. But she's still young. I know how stressed I am right now. I can't imagine being 13 and handing all this. At the same time, we are both very excited.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to Northwest Community Hospital's travel clinic. (I highly recommend them. They were the only ones who could help me get Yellow Fever vaccine instantly before the Chad trip last year.) C really lucked out.  She doesn't do needles well. She had to have a blood test (required by Fulbright for reaction to malaria meds), but only one immunization shot. So yesterday she had hepatitis A. Due to her small size, she can have the pediatric dose, so she doesn't need the second for at least six months. Then she'll have lifetime immunization... (unless it changes).

Then we drove to the Homeland Security facility in Chicago for Customs check of my equipment. I did this prior to the first India trip and had the form with me for Africa last year. Unfortunately, I lost it in Africa. Not a huge problem as I have much additional stuff now. The process involves completing this little Customs form, bringing the form and all your equipment to a site that can verify it.

Last night it was snowing, so the traffic was unpleasant, but this Homeland Security building is opened until 8 pm, so it wasn't a crisis. The problem was that the online-form CBP-4457 doesn't indicate that one needs to include the serial numbers on the form. [I got the link to the form as I was writing this and it DOES have the s/n requirement. The one I downloaded YESTERDAY didn't. And, in case you're wondering, the CBP officer agreed that it doesn't say so on the web. How weird?!]

Luckily, the Customs official on duty was a real star. He suggested I get them and come back next week since I'm not leaving immediately. When I told him it had been an hour drive to get there he suggested I write the s/n for each item next to it's description on each form (in very small print). This took ages, during which C lay down on the only bench and practiced waiting - something we're sure to experience in India.

Not only was the officer patient with this process, which took about half an hour, but he helped me by re-assembling devices requiring battery removal to find the s/n. Here's a man that wasn't missing any of the necessary checks. At the same time, he is a gentleman, patient, vigilant.

Yet another person acting in a way that suggests everything is not only okay, but quite good.

I still am not entirely comfortable with the Homeland Security bureaucracy as the best strategy for protecting us all. But I know they are staffed by really good people. So maybe the structure of the bureaucracy isn't so important.