Winter is drawing to a close. The bear slowly comes to life from his long drowse, digs his way out of his hole, and greets the sun.
I am sorry for being underground for so long. Language training, although very rewarding, does not inspire me to do much other than go to class, study, and well, that's about it. Yesterday after a very stressful week in class, I took my language test and reached my proficiency goal in Vietnamese. Talking with a colleague who just passed his Bangla (Bengali) test, we agreed that the feeling is not like graduation from college where you feel elated. It is less of a happy feeling and more of a sensation that you have instantly lost 50 pounds. Maybe I don't feel elated because there is still so much to do. Make arrangements for packing up out stuff, moving to Potomac temporarily to await the arrival of a new baby, cleaning up loose ends at FSI, preparing for another assignment at Main State, trying to sell the truck, trying to get set up for adding another kid to the "official" family as far as the State Department is concerned, et cetera et cetera.
I have been employed by the State Department for almost exactly one year. I have yet to actually go out into the world and do what I was hired to do. That will change very soon. In spite of the fact that I have done nothing but train since arriving here, the experience thus far has been quite rewarding. That is the positive. If I can find a negative so far, it is that you are never really not busy. Even when you're not at work, there's always something that needs to get done. I addition to performing whatever your assigned duties are, you also have to take care of yourself and your family. That means that when you aren't at work you still have mounds of bureaucratic paper to move. Police work was always busy, but once I went home and took the uniform off, my time was generally free.
Not yet having been to post, I still cannot comment on the life overseas. That being said, I like to be frank about these things in case you are reading this blog trying to decide if the Foreign Service is for you. Personally, this was one of the best choices I have ever made. However, trotting the globe is not so simple as hopping on an airplane. You'll live out of temporary apartments and hotel rooms enroute to that plush, exotic locale, and once you get there you'll have just enough time to get settled before you have to pull chocks and go somewhere else. You have to condense your life and the lives of your family members down to 7000 pounds and then further condense it down to a few hundred pounds that will get you through until the 7000 pounds of your life catch up to you in Timbuktu. For me, it is an adventure. Shucking off hundreds of knick-knacks and unnecessary belongings is like shedding skin to me. For others, it is not a stable existence and therefore stressful.
In a couple days, Mrs. Warpiper and I will condense our lives down to two 50 pound bags per person while the rest of our stuff goes on the slow boat. We'll move to Maryland for a few weeks to await the new wee bitty one. A week or so ofter the baby comes, we'll separate as I go to Vietnam and leave the family behind for a couple months. After they join me, our lives will arrive on a ship, packed in boxes. Hopefully we'll finally get settled in so we can enjoy another year of feeling like we finally "live" somewhere. Then we'll move again.
Like I told you, it's an adventure.
