And thank you for your reaction, too

I am frustrated, and I am going to whine about a dilemma which I am sure 99.5% of my readers will never have to face: finding a daycare in my little corner of Europe while living in the U.S. Yes, my long-time readers, I thought I had this all figured out. We did after all start our search in earnest a full 2 months before TS's arrival, giving us a full 8 months to find a spot. But the spot we were promised seems to have evaporated, and the agency we were working with simply does not get that my start date is non-negotiable and I need daycare 5 days a week, preferably full days.

So here it is 3 hours until March and I'm still looking ...

I know things will work out. We will find some solution. It is just too expensive for me to live in Europe and not work every day that I can, and I absolutely cannot work with TS there (she can't even come into my work building). And of course, the more I can work, the sooner she will be reunited with her father. So we will either land up with a temporary solution of a home daycare (I love them in the U.S., don't feel at all safe with the way they are run in this country) or I will lug the baby an hour to the big city to get her into a good daycare (that's an hour to drop her off, an hour back to work, an hour to go pick her up, an hour home - fun fun) and then we will wait until a daycare spot opens up in our little town ...

So here's what makes it so challenging:
1. People in Europe have long maternity leaves. As a result there are very few spots for babies under a year.
2. Even those couples where both parents work, it is quite standard to work a 4-day workweek until your child enters elementary school. Yes, even my male advisor when I was in Europe last spring took off Mondays to stay home with his 2-year-old son. TWO. And an adorable IVF baby, no less. As a result no daycare I've spoken to has been willing to offer me more than 3 days a week.
3. I want to live in the little town where I will be working. Since I will be alone with the baby, I really need to be close in case she gets sick, etc. And my schedule is flexible enough that I would have time to go breastfeed her at lunch anywhere in the little town. But because it's a little town, there are not so many daycares.
4. Commuting costs are really high in this country (I can't believe I'm even considering commuting!) I could find a decent daycare in the big city, but then I would have to add at least $300-400 per month for my commute to the little town. And if TS got sick at daycare I would be a full hour away and really worried about it. Let alone the fear of missing my train and daycare closing time.
5. Plain old fashioned stupidity. I have yet to get my residency permit, so I have yet to open a local bank account, so I can only wire money ... and the daycares have long enough waits that they just don't want to deal with these little complications. I also don't have a local address, which they flip about. Or proof of income in the local language. Or a full vaccine report for TS (because she hasn't got them all yet ... being 10 weeks and all). To give you a sense of the short-sighted stupidity, the national socialized hospital where I had my ultrasounds last spring refused to send the bill to my address in the U.S. because they weren't authorized to spend that much postage on a bill. Yup, not authorized. So, I had to have the bill mailed to a colleague (who then paid the bill) and forwarded it to me.

I know that the agency I wrote to meant to thank me for my response, but I think what they actually wrote "And thank you for your reaction" is a bit more accurate. Of course, if they actually knew my full reaction I doubt they'd have bothered to write at all.

And if you've made it this far, you deserve a real prize. More thoughts on flying tomorrow when TS and I are back in NYC.