In 24 hours I will have all my answers and can begin the next chapter of my life. Will it be cold? Warm? Festive? Remote? I am not going to be able to sleep tonight
Alterning a prom gown for a friend's daughter to take my mind off of tomorrow.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Almost Pool Time in Tryon
This time next week the pool will be open !!! I don't think te boys realize that the water will still be freezing. Hopefully we will have enough time to enjoy it before we head off to who knows where?
Dreaming of Costa Rica
Missing our house in CR today. I am wondering if we will ever have the opportunity to spend any real amount of time there again. We are hoping that our FSO family will want to visit the house for us and check the roof for holes, cupboards for Iguanas and bedrooms for squatters :)
Bid List
Two weeks ago we got our bid list. This is a list of the jobs available at various posts/embassies around the globe. There were 103 jobs available for Adrian's class of 93. So many opportunities to choose from. As far as what jobs to look for the first 2 postings he will basically be training and learning the ropes so it is not as important to stay in your specialty at this time (Public Diplomacy). We decided together to go through the list and bid on posts that will allow us to stay together as a family, provide a good education for the children and not require us to learn a new language right away. We did not want to have to put the boys into another school in DC for the time it would take to learn a language, then pull them out when we go to our new country. Poor kids have been to 3 schools in the last 3 years already.
So, that eliminated many of the Middle Eastern posts as well as the Mexican border posts. We tried to be as diplomatic as possible given the fact that Adrian's CDO (career development officer) stressed that the State Department was not Travelocity and we were here to serve America not shop for a vacation spot. Point taken.
Since Adrian is already fluent in German we didn't feel bad about bidding on the only German speaking position on the list. Hey, someone has to get it right As for the beautiful, first world gorgeous locations ? Someone has to work there too, might as well be us right? Check. And of course someone has to work in the third world locations where drinking water must be boiled, the school is adequate but not winning any awards and the mosquitoes are present in huge numbers. Check there too. We are supposed to be available for worldwide service right?
I am so eager for Friday to be here so I know where I will be living with my family. Hopefully it won't be a place where I will be forced to home school. Could you imagine me home schooling Morgan? He would have to go to boarding school which would break my heart.
Anyhow, no sense speculating. We will know in 2 short days. Out of the 103 posts we bid high on 10, medium on 12 and low on the rest. I hope that doesn't put us in the "difficult" category.
So, that eliminated many of the Middle Eastern posts as well as the Mexican border posts. We tried to be as diplomatic as possible given the fact that Adrian's CDO (career development officer) stressed that the State Department was not Travelocity and we were here to serve America not shop for a vacation spot. Point taken.
Since Adrian is already fluent in German we didn't feel bad about bidding on the only German speaking position on the list. Hey, someone has to get it right As for the beautiful, first world gorgeous locations ? Someone has to work there too, might as well be us right? Check. And of course someone has to work in the third world locations where drinking water must be boiled, the school is adequate but not winning any awards and the mosquitoes are present in huge numbers. Check there too. We are supposed to be available for worldwide service right?
I am so eager for Friday to be here so I know where I will be living with my family. Hopefully it won't be a place where I will be forced to home school. Could you imagine me home schooling Morgan? He would have to go to boarding school which would break my heart.
Anyhow, no sense speculating. We will know in 2 short days. Out of the 103 posts we bid high on 10, medium on 12 and low on the rest. I hope that doesn't put us in the "difficult" category.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Falls Church
We were pleasantly surprised by our accommodations in DC. The apartment was very nice. The rooms are spacious and the whole layout..very convenient. It is not as convenient to grocery shop, having to lug bags to and from the car, up stairs, etc. But, luckily we have a ground floor apt. and if I can find a parking space close to our patio, I can throw the bags over the fence :)
The boys instantly made friends in their new temporary home...all of the other kids are int eh same boat so are adept at making friendships quickly. We barely saw Ewan, he was at the makeshift soccer field most of the time. Morgan played his new 12 string guitar and I enjoyed a few carefree days of no housekeeping.
We spent a long time going over the bid list, making sure our top picks offered a good education for the boys. A lot of info to go through but I think we've chosen our top 11 from every corner of the globe. Some I even had to look up since I had never heard of them before and had no idea where they were.
Other than the severe beating of a man by a gang in downtown DC that we witnessed Saturday night (more on that later) we had a nice time. In less than 2 weeks we will know where we are headed.
The boys instantly made friends in their new temporary home...all of the other kids are int eh same boat so are adept at making friendships quickly. We barely saw Ewan, he was at the makeshift soccer field most of the time. Morgan played his new 12 string guitar and I enjoyed a few carefree days of no housekeeping.
We spent a long time going over the bid list, making sure our top picks offered a good education for the boys. A lot of info to go through but I think we've chosen our top 11 from every corner of the globe. Some I even had to look up since I had never heard of them before and had no idea where they were.
Other than the severe beating of a man by a gang in downtown DC that we witnessed Saturday night (more on that later) we had a nice time. In less than 2 weeks we will know where we are headed.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Finally !!!
After months of waiting, Adrian was invited to the 152nd A 100 class in Washington, DC. He leaves March 26th ! We have decided to let the kids stay here and finish school then head to DC to join Daddy. It will be a long 3 months of single parenting. We've heard that the classes during A100 are gruelling so perhaps sending him alone is a good thing. He can devote more time studying and less time worrying about us. The kids love it here !
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Limbo in Tryon
After selling our home in State COllege, we arrived at my in-laws vacation home to wait out the "wait". FInal acceptance into the A100 class can take up to 18 months but since we are eternal optimists, we are plunging ahead and hoping we move a bit faster than that. Fingers crossed.
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