Holly in the Foreign Service

The U.S. Government requires employees going to certain "high threat" areas to take a course that we affectionately call "Crash/Bang."  So far this week has been the coolest week of my career.  I got to "crash" cars, "bang" guns, drive an armored suburban, drive an up-armored hummer, see things blow up, skid cars around, and generally do all kinds of awesome stuff.  I cannot believe I get paid to do this!

Well, my training is finally starting to wind down.  Next week I have the "FACT" course, which according to the State Department website: "provides participants with the knowledge and skills to better prepare them for living and working in critical and high threat environments overseas. Specifically, participants are familiarized with the practical skills necessary to recognize, avoid, and respond to potential terrorist threat situations. Participants will demonstrate the practical application of techniques taught in the course and will learn how to: conduct surveillance detection; provide emergency medical care; demonstrate improvised explosive devise (IED) awareness; participate in firearms familiarization; and perform defensive/counterterrorist driving."  I'm not even sure that counts as work.

The week after next I finally get to start Arabic.  It will be nice to have some consistency in my schedule and to know that Arabic is the last hurdle I face before departure.

Life outside of training is great.  A group of us went tubing yesterday down the Shenandoah River.  I managed to escape with only one scraped knee and a fairly minor sunburn.  I need to make an effort to get outside and enjoy the warm weather more before fall starts to arrive.  I've been spending too much time indoors.

Today should be fairly low-key.  I'm thinking I may go for a run and then read by the pool for a while.  Tonight I have to do laundry and pack for my training this week.

Ok, so I've done a really BAD job of keeping up my blog.  This will be an attempt to kinda rectify some of that.

First of all: I got my assignment and will be going to Saudi Arabia.  I couldn't be happier.  I really wanted a chance to go to Saudi and I love the job I'll be doing once I arrive.  This also means I get to learn Arabic (yea!!).

In the meantime, I'm in training 40 hours a week learning different skills.  I've gotten to do some really cool things like tour a nuclear powerplant and tour the research facility at the Smithsonian.  I'll be in training full time through mid-July and then I'll be doing different short-term trainings on different topics.

I'll try to update more, but between training, getting ready to leave, and making contacts in DC I've been absolutely swamped.  Students--I miss you guys!!

Wow...it feels like it's been months since I wrote that last post.  We had class for the rest of the week.  It's been a ridiculously overwhelming amount of information and responsibility.  We did get our bid list (which I can't share with you) and it's been a crazy amount of researching different positions and different locations.  It's hard, because you get an idea in your head of where you want to go, but maybe the job available in that place is not what you want to do, or you wouldn't get to learn the language, or you were excited about experiencing the culture, but all the embassy personnel live on the military base and can't go out.  All the different posts come with different circumstances that can all weigh into your decision.  There are a few things that will probably be listed high on my list that I never imagined I would want to do.  I'll know in about 3 weeks which post I get.

The people in my group are amazing.  We're starting to get to know each other and hang out more often.  Aside from even just my group, you can't imagine how it feels to sit in the cafeteria at the Foreign Service Training Institute.  Everyone in the room speaks more than one language and has lived in multiple countries.  It is an entire room full of some of the most interesting people I've ever met, and everyone is happy to share their stories with you.

Today is dedicated to laundry, groceries, and studying French.  My former French students will be happy to know that I have a French test in the morning (and I'm not sure how I'll do on it).  Like an idiot, I sent all my French books to storage, so this morning I'll be hunting down some more.

Well, the first few days have been great and exhausting.  Lots of paperwork to fill up and lots of information.  I got my official ID badge today, so I look very important. :)  My shipment of stuff from Jackson also arrived today while I was at work, so I've nested a little bit and the apartment feels more like home.  I promise to post pictures of the updated apartment soon.  Tomorrow is my first official training day and Thursday I'll get to see the list of potential post assignments.  Right now, I'm going to BED!

Ok...so updates on the flight and my apartment.  Left the hotel at 6:20 am (I was guest of the day!--because we harassed the girl behind the desk to make me guest of the day), checked in at the airport, and flew directly to DC.  It was all fairly uneventful.  I was mostly tired and had way too much luggage for one person to carry.  From the airport I took a cab to my apartment and checked in.  The luggage was a pain again (and they didn't have a luggage cart), but the place is awesome and the people were very helpful.

The apartment is like a generic hotel room with a kitchen.  The bed is a murphy bed and when you flip it up into the wall, it's an entire mirrored wall (I'm thinking disco).  There was one of everything waiting for me here (trashcan with a trash bag in it, one new sponge, tiny bottle of dishwashing liquid, tiny hotel shampoos, a couple of bottles of water, a single serving of coffee), but by the time I got here I was STARVING...so I went to ask about restaurants and grocery stores nearby.  It turned out, the shuttle to the grocery store leaves at 1 on Sat and Sun and it was exactly one o'clock!  So I spent about an hour at the grocery and came back on the shuttle.  I'm starting to learn I need to think differently without a car.  I should have taken a backpack and bought less stuff.  Anyway, the rest of the afternoon I've been unpacking and nesting as much as I can until my air shipment gets here.  Tonight I'm meeting some of my classmates for dinner.

I know this isn't terribly exciting or reflective.  I'm mostly tired right now and wanted to do a quick update with photos for those who are interested.

FYI: You guys can post comments/send private messages to me on here (or shoot me an email).  I have no idea if anyone is actually reading this.

:(  So I've tried to post this twice with pictures and it keeps freezing up.  I'll post the blog entry first and then try the pics so I don't lose it again.

Moving Day was yesterday and it was incredible.  About 9 pm the night before 2 guys in a HUGE truck pulled up in front of my house.  Yesterday they started packing around 8am and drove off around 6.  I only had one moment of panic around 7 pm the night before when I looked around the house and suddenly thought: There is NO way this is all going to be organized to pack tomorrow.  Everything I own is going to be swept away in boxes and I will never be able to find it in the warehouse.  Once the movers got there though, everything was great.  The movers were AWESOME! (see pics)  I didn't feel overwhelmed at all (which was my biggest fear).

Random thought of the day: Even when you hire giant corporate America to bring a 52 foot truck to your house and box up everything you own in identical boxes, the moving pads they use are all different shades and colors.  It seems like this is something that would be standardized....like the company would just buy a whole set of green or blue or grey....but apparently they don't.  So even as your stuff is hermetically sealed into cardboard boxes and saran wrap, it's then wrapped up in all different colored cloths, so it looks like you've wrapped it up in some old, faded family quilts.  This is a nice feeling as you watch everything you've ever own drive off without you.

**UPDATE: The pics apparently did upload and are to the right of this post.  I'm going to post comments for each one explaining what they are**