Saw President Obama today

One thing we have looked forward to since we moved to D.C. was seeing somebody famous around town.

It happened today when we went to the GWU vs. Oregon State basketball game with the Obamas. They were sitting right behind the Oregon bench (the orange players), and we were way up in the upper deck. You cannot even see them in this picture but we could see them when we were there. The Presidential limo was parked right outside the gym, so everyone in line to get in the game was talking about them being there.

One of my savvy A100 classmates predicted that they might be there because Michelle Obama's brother is the Oregon State coach. It was a good game too.

In other sports news, the Gamecocks beat the Tigers today, making this branch of the family happy & rich. It was about time.

We're Going to Guadalajara

Finally it was Flag Day. We had posted a map in our apartment with pins for all the posts on our bid list. Every evening we would stare at the map with pins all over the world, different colors for our high, medium and low bids. Some nights we would move the highs to medium or mediums to lows. I feel so fortunate to have gotten a post that we bid high.

Guadalajara was one of our highs because it was a smaller post, a great place for the family, and a place to learn a language. The more we read about it, the more we like it. A few of our classmates are going as well, so we'll have instant friends at the new place. I still don't know how all the assignment officers came up with the posts for everyone. Most people got a high choice, so I know that they take our preferences into account to some degree. All through A100 they repeat that their main criteria are "worldwide availability" and "needs of the service."

Flag Day was quite a bit more emotional than I expected. The only thing I can compare it to is waiting for the jury to come back with a verdict. You just cannot predict how it will come out. All you can do is pray and hope for the best. We had lots of friends and family praying as well. You are hearing them call out the places and the names of your classmates, in no particular order, and waiting impatiently for them to call your name. Even though you want them to tell you immediately, it is also the end of the wide open possibilities so it is sad as well.

We are now reading all we can about our future home. It is still 9 months away because of language & work training. I had to take the language aptitude test this week (it was hard), so I am hoping the results will show that I have some aptitude. I am a little apprehensive. There is only so much room in this brain, so what will I have to forget to make room for the Spanish? Hopefully nothing important.

Flag Day Eve

In less than 24 hours we should know where we are going to spend our next 2-3 years, when we will be going, and whether or not we will be learning a foreign language. I am hoping for a county that speaks Spanish so that when we return home one day, we will have the language skills we need to talk to our Mexican friends. In a way, even if we get to go to one of our High ranked choices, we will probably have a bit of a letdown. Right now, we are so excited because the whole world is available to us. After Flag Day, the anticipation will be over and we have enjoyed it so much.

Today, we visited Manassas National Battlefield Park and took a 3-4 mile hike through the battlefields. It was a beautiful day in the high 50s. We picked my parents up at Reagan National Airport and went into DC for dinner and a driving tour of the monuments.

Missing my family

It has been less than two weeks since I saw my family but I really miss them. That has been the hardest part about A100. I'm glad they had the chance to come up and stay for a week, but it was not enough.

There are only 4 more days until Flag Day. We are all trying to prepare ourselves for the unknown.

Packing out

It took 3 days to pack out. One day to box up and two days to load, because at 5:00 the 2nd day it was apparent that all of our things would not fit on one truck. I was concerned that we would go over our weight limit but the grand total of the first truck's weight was 11,000 pounds. The movers had to pull out the tailgate of the truck and strap 3 mattresses on. Then the next day they returned with another small truck to pick up the items at my office, probably about 600 pounds.

It was sad to see them pack up my Vespa. When will I see it again? One of the movers told me he had recently unpacked a family that had been overseas for 20 years. He said all their things were old, like from the 70's, and most of it just went to Goodwill.

I had already spent a week separating all of our things into three groups: what we are taking to training, what we are packing out because we may need it overseas at an unfurnished post, and what we are leaving in Anderson.

The movers did all the packing, which was great, but I had to keep track of what was going into each box so that I can request them by box number or item number later on. Every item has a number that goes on our inventory.

Tonight Anderson, Tomorrow the World

Tonight is my last night in Anderson. I will probably be up late packing and getting ready for this big adventure. I didn't expect to be so sad to leave because I have been so busy I did not really think about it much. I have been focused on our destination, instead of what we are leaving behind.

Last night they had a bon voyage party for us at church, complete with international food, flags of the world, sentimental speeches, tears & costumes from different countries. Lots of people got up to predict where we would go: Sierra Leone, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Belize, Japan, Mexico, and China. My parents and Chet's parents almost cried when they started talking about us leaving.

Our church family will be greatly missed. We are very close to so many of them after living here for 15 years for me and a lifetime for C. It is nice to feel like they will miss us too. I hope they remember to pray for us.

The plane, the plane, the plane

This weekend C. flew us down to Myrtle Beach for a combination business trip/family weekend. If you would have asked us two years ago if C. would be willing to give up the airplane we would have said "never in a million years." Of course that was pre-FS (before we were thinking about the Foreign Service). Now we are taking our last few trips before it gets sold.

You might notice that all the posts lately have been about our sacrifices to join the foreign service. We cannot stop thinking about it because C's parents and his brother and sister-in-law keep reminding us. They think we are totally out of our minds to even consider giving up what we have here to go to a place to-be-determined. The thing is, we are asking ourselves the same thing, but at the same time we are excited to be doing it. It is liberating. It is also scary. We are simplifying our lives but we are taking a big chance too.

We are rolling the dice and hoping for 7's: a good post, an easy adjustment for the children & C, lots of new friends, and interesting work.