Oh the Possibilities!

It has been a tough month. 
From leaving the comfortable routine of life in the NIV section; to the start-all-over-again mental gymnastics that is being in a new and more complicated section (IV), add in two VIP visits to the Consulate, and oh right, a 400-post bid list to sift through and narrow down where we want to live and work for two years - there's been a lot going on lately! It all came to a head last week when our in-Spanish, after-work salsa class started to get way too complicated and I felt like my brain was just going to send out a little puff of smoke and then seize up.  There might have been tears when I got home that evening; there certainly was whining and self-pity.

But now the visitors have come and gone; I took a break from salsa for a week, and best of all - the bid list has been turned in to my Career Development Officer.  There's nothing to do but wait while they put together the assignments and deliver us the news in a very non-Flag Day unceremonious email.  It doesn't even have a little drum roll that activates when you open the message, which truly it should. 

 I don't want to jinx our chances by telling you what we're hoping for, but I can throw out some hints. 

• Our top ten posts are located on five different continents;
• They represent the chance to learn one of six new languages, two of them tonal (I'm going to kick myself if one of those comes to be); 
• We will either live in dry sunshine in a coastal country, or have four distinct seasons surrounded by thick forests and mountains, or live in a teenie urban apartment where we will change out of our shoes into little slippers whenever we come home;
• We've already visited three of the ten cities, and I've lived in two of them;
• Four of the countries are known internationally for their amazing cuisine, as in, "Should we go out for x, y or z tonight?" and three will most probably never make this category. 

As you know, I love bragging about our amazing weather down here in the northern Chihuahua desert. Two years full of blue-skied sunshine and the ability to do outdoor activities 11.5 months of the year. So, while going through our bid list, I began thinking of the opposite and romanticizing life in northern climates, even mentally trying on the wardrobe I'd need. I caught myself thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a 'real winter' again? I could wear my sweaters and we'd walk through snowy cityscapes to our new favorite little restaurant on the corner, you know - the one with the fireplace?"  Our cozy home, kitties curled up in their baskets, will certainly be located in a Thomas Kinkade painting. 

While across from me at the dining table, with his own list, is my husband the tropical weather beach lover, with his own images: weekend trips to post card beaches, sweating when he steps out the door each morning and sitting on our patio in the evening, hearing and smelling the surf nearby. 

However, probably the truth will be closer to this:

Or...

But now we're in the relaxed, ignorance-is-bliss time where everything is still an option and the images are all positive and exciting.  When we finally get The Email containing our assignment, and realize that we'll be in urban drear from October to May, or I come to grips with the fact that I'll be one of only three employees at a tiny consulate, having to be duty officer every other weekend - well that will be the time for dealing with reality. 

Right now, we're loving the romantic possibilities instead. 

Life As We Know It

Greetings from the middle of Week Five of A-100, where the content of our coursework has changed from being orientation-based (i.e. listening to subject matter experts) to actively jumping into learning the core skills of our new profession. 

So what are "core skills" for entry-level diplomats? 

Writing, public speaking and responding to difficult questions, among others. Our A-100 coordinators were clever enough to know that the week leading up to, as I call it, the Day That Changes Your Life (Flag Day!), is NOT the time to expect nearly 100 of us to sit politely and quietly, stuffed first into our suits and then into our under-sized classroom to listen to hours of information on travel allowances, health care options or voucher preparation. To help stem our anxious waiting, they've instead distracted us with other stomach-churning tasks, like "Composure Under Fire," or what has been dubbed, "shark week" by some. In this class we practice handling the difficult questions we may reasonably be expected to face once we're at our new posts. Our class has been divided into smaller groups, so if I draw a complete blue screen (my new favorite phrase) - it's only in front of a fraction of my highly-educated classmates, not all of them. Remember all that material I mentioned cramming to pass my FS Officers' Test two years ago? Yeah - that's the stuff I'm having to regurgitate under pressure. With confidence and without letting myself get flustered or dragged down verbal dead-end streets by mock angry student protesters or members of the press looking for soundbites. After this week - the anxiety of Flag Day will be a welcome relief!

On a lighter note, once again I find myself looking for signs about where our next assignment will be. Last year it was Toby's litter-box signals that led me to believe we were headed to Africa. Since his credibility as a soothsayer was brought into question, I've been looking for other signs. Such as seeing two car license plates in one day with the letters IND - does that mean we're headed for the Sub-Continent? What about my sudden craving for Shrimp Lo Mein? Are we China-bound? (I certainly hope not, because besides their one-child policy, they also have a two-pet policy for hopeful kitty importers.) I've even slowly run my finger down our bid-list, hoping in Ouija board style to receive some message from the printed words. 

Nuttin'.

With 100 options on our bid-list, it dawned on me that we have a 1% chance of getting our favorite spot. Yes, following that same line of reasoning one should conclude that the less-desirable spots have the same odds, but still - it's hitting me that I need to steel myself for the very real possibility of being sent somewhere we hadn't even considered as a viable option. 

Which brings me to another core skill that we've been soaking in lately: our pledge to be "worldwide available" and the value of hidden gems, pleasant surprises and other euphemisms for finding happiness in unexpected places - like your lowest-low post.

This will be my last post until after Flag Day. You may have to give me a day afterward to compose my thoughts and offer the news, but in the meanwhile, we couldn't be more eager to learn our fates. 

I just love the fact that I get to have the thrill of two of these red-letter days in my FS career. 

Vamos a ver...

I shoulda' known

You know how they say that the all the answers to our "big" questions are generally right in front our faces and yet we don't see them?

While I was agonizing over which post I'd be assigned to and resorting to hiring feline soothsayers to give me their predictions (see previous posts), all along the answer was right here in my vegetable drawer on my chives packet and it wasn't until today that I saw it:

Moral(s) of the story:

1. For those of you dying of impatience and waiting to hear your assignments (yes 160th A-100 - I'm talking to you!) or those of you day-dreaming at home about your FS futures: take a look around you and be open to the answers that are so close you may not even notice them. They're calling out to you as you walk by: "Look, I'm that Russian nesting doll that you got from the exchange student in the 10th grade where you keep your loose change; you're going to Moscow!" Or, "Hey, look at me; I'm the Chinese restaurant menu that just appeared under your apartment door one day. You're going to Shenyang!" Let the answers come to you; they're out there.

-And-

1. Sometimes you have to listen to the Chives Talking.

The Great Toby's Bid List Predictions:

Some folks look at tea leaves; some throw bones; some use a crystal ball or Tarot cards.

Me? I use cat litter. Courtesy of The Great Toby, I have received a divine prediction that my posting will be in:

Africa!

We received our bid lists today, and sure enough, there were three countries on the African continent listed. There were also two in China, four in Spanish-speaking countries, two islands, one fancy-schmancy Euro city where they like to waltz and a country that usually kicks our butts in women's gymnastics. I'm not totally comfortable with how much we're allowed to say, so I'll leave it at this for now. But I believe that Toby's undeniable prediction may prevail. One classmate looked at the picture and turned it sideways, saying perhaps it was Australia, but then changed his mind when he realized that Toby intentionally put it in portrait perspective. Which then prompted another classmate to add that she believed it would be in Saharan Africa, because after all - he wrote it in sand.

That's all for now; I've got lots of homework and further prognosticating to do.

Feeling better and getting more excited!