I'm going to take some time out of my R&R updating to update on what's been happening since we got back! Never a dull week for us, and this past one proved to be extra exciting.
Wednesday we got a new car. Well, a new old car but I'm not complaining in the least. It's a Hyundai Getz - as Oscar says, "It Getz you there...." There's a seatbelt in the back middle seat and a bit more room for me to squeeze in between a car seat and a booster. All good things.
Thursday we moved upstairs. You know us and moving. While it was a slight incovenience to get all of our stuff upstairs, we thankfully had to do very little of it. Plus it gives me an excuse to reorganize and clean stuff out! Not to mention that we are off the ground floor and have a lot more light, access to the roof, and somehow a much nicer apartment, even though it's almost the same layout.
Thursday we also got the bid list!!! More on that coming...
Friday a new family came to town and we're sponsoring them (essentially helping get them settled here). We spent the weekend showing them around and reliving Chennai through new eyes. It's been fun meeting all the new people coming in, and has helped take away some of the difficulties of saying goodbye to friends that have moved on to new adventures.
Monday we took a trip to the school for Oscar to meet his first grade teacher (!!!!) and say hello to Ms. Dina. He was so excited to see her, and I think he's getting ready to go back...I think. We also had 2 playdates with new and old friends.
Yesterday was Oscar's first day of First Grade! While not particularly enthusiastic to get on the bus, he handled it like a champ, and bounded off the bus in the afternoon shouting, "I had so much fun!" Definitely a win. I have yet to get any details from him but we'll go slowly on those...
Phew. I don't know about the kids, but I'm exhausted! Needless to say, we're settling back into our cozy little lives here. Just in time to figure out where we're going next year!!
To backtrack a little, Oscar's position is different than most in the foreign service. While most foreign service officers can stay abroad for as long as they want (and even find it hard to get posted in the U.S.), it's really hard for us to stay abroad. There are a lot of domestic positions, not to mention a ton in AIP. So, while we've heard of the other officers here getting their exciting next posts (ie. Paris, Tokyo, and Brussels...) these will not be places that we will go. (We're in a "hardship" post here so all the other foreign service officers typically get pretty good posts after serving here). It's highly unlikely that these places will even be on our ultimate list since the most desirable places go to people who are coming out of AIP and pick first, rightfully so. Unfortunately, since there are so many of them there's not much left for us regular bidders. Throw in the people who are in the U.S. and have to leave since they've been there for 5 years (we call that "up against the wall") and you leave us with...well, Djoubuti.
At this point, there are a world of choices on our list of potentials, including a bunch of domestic options. We're not really sure what will be left by the time it's our turn to submit our list next month though. Essentially, we'd love to go somewhere fabulous, will be happy with somewhere decent, but are trying to avoid somewhere too "challenging" (we haven't quite defined what that means yet...). Essentially we haven't ruled anything out! Except AIP. That's a no go!!! Wherever it will be, we should hopefully know by November...Until then we wait and play the "where will we be?" game.
Wednesday we got a new car. Well, a new old car but I'm not complaining in the least. It's a Hyundai Getz - as Oscar says, "It Getz you there...." There's a seatbelt in the back middle seat and a bit more room for me to squeeze in between a car seat and a booster. All good things.
Thursday we moved upstairs. You know us and moving. While it was a slight incovenience to get all of our stuff upstairs, we thankfully had to do very little of it. Plus it gives me an excuse to reorganize and clean stuff out! Not to mention that we are off the ground floor and have a lot more light, access to the roof, and somehow a much nicer apartment, even though it's almost the same layout.
Thursday we also got the bid list!!! More on that coming...
Friday a new family came to town and we're sponsoring them (essentially helping get them settled here). We spent the weekend showing them around and reliving Chennai through new eyes. It's been fun meeting all the new people coming in, and has helped take away some of the difficulties of saying goodbye to friends that have moved on to new adventures.
Monday we took a trip to the school for Oscar to meet his first grade teacher (!!!!) and say hello to Ms. Dina. He was so excited to see her, and I think he's getting ready to go back...I think. We also had 2 playdates with new and old friends.
Yesterday was Oscar's first day of First Grade! While not particularly enthusiastic to get on the bus, he handled it like a champ, and bounded off the bus in the afternoon shouting, "I had so much fun!" Definitely a win. I have yet to get any details from him but we'll go slowly on those...
Phew. I don't know about the kids, but I'm exhausted! Needless to say, we're settling back into our cozy little lives here. Just in time to figure out where we're going next year!!
To backtrack a little, Oscar's position is different than most in the foreign service. While most foreign service officers can stay abroad for as long as they want (and even find it hard to get posted in the U.S.), it's really hard for us to stay abroad. There are a lot of domestic positions, not to mention a ton in AIP. So, while we've heard of the other officers here getting their exciting next posts (ie. Paris, Tokyo, and Brussels...) these will not be places that we will go. (We're in a "hardship" post here so all the other foreign service officers typically get pretty good posts after serving here). It's highly unlikely that these places will even be on our ultimate list since the most desirable places go to people who are coming out of AIP and pick first, rightfully so. Unfortunately, since there are so many of them there's not much left for us regular bidders. Throw in the people who are in the U.S. and have to leave since they've been there for 5 years (we call that "up against the wall") and you leave us with...well, Djoubuti.
At this point, there are a world of choices on our list of potentials, including a bunch of domestic options. We're not really sure what will be left by the time it's our turn to submit our list next month though. Essentially, we'd love to go somewhere fabulous, will be happy with somewhere decent, but are trying to avoid somewhere too "challenging" (we haven't quite defined what that means yet...). Essentially we haven't ruled anything out! Except AIP. That's a no go!!! Wherever it will be, we should hopefully know by November...Until then we wait and play the "where will we be?" game.
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