Halloween and Lietuviškai

For the first time in seven years, J and I decided to celebrate Halloween by dressing up.  We had an invite to a friend's party, and needed to put together a last minute costume.  I went to the internets for some inspiration, and we came up with this: I was the lady-in-curlers lucky winner of $10,000,000!!!  And J put on a suit and tie for the occasion. ;)  You can't quite see his name tag here, but he was moonlighting as Ed McMahon. We had fun!  Before we left the party, other folks insisted that I take the curlers out to see what it did to my hair.  In case you were wondering... here's the proof that my hair isn't always straight as a pin.


Lietuviškai:  For the past nine weeks, I have been studying Lithuanian in class, five hours a day, five days a week. It is exhausting! And then, of course, there's homework. I'm about one-third of the way through this course. J also took a shorter version of the course so that he will be able to get around Vilnius and handle day-to-day interactions in the native language. Boy, is he glad to be done with the intense language learning, although he's going to study on his own and talk with me to keep up what he has learned.

So, about the Lithuanian language itself: I've been surprised at how similar the language is structured to Russian. Both Russian and Lithuanian also have the concept of process verbs versus completed action verbs (a.k.a. perfective and imperfective). Both languages have five cases of nouns (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental) that decline in masculine, feminine, singular and plural. The reason this is so hard is because the endings on nouns keep changing, depending if the noun is the subject, object, indirect object, etc of the sentence. Before I can say a sentence, I have to remember whether the nouns in the sentence are masculine or feminine, and then think about what case they should be in, and what ending that type of noun takes in the case I want it to be in, and then maybe I can speak, although I've probably messed something up somewhere. So... I bet none of this makes sense, but all I really wanted to say is that they call it a "hard language" with good reason!

I have trouble hearing the differences between vowel sounds.  For instance, last week I was reading part of a dialogue out loud on giving directions.  I was supposed to say "pereikite" which is an instruction to cross the street, but instead I said "perekite," which is a command to lay eggs! Who knew?

My favorite phrase in Lithuanian is "va" (sounds like "vah"). This is the best all-purpose phrase ever!  Basically, it means "there you go." Want dinner? Va. Looking for your other sock? Va. Huh, I never knew that! Well... va.

In addition to language training, we get three hours a week of area studies instruction. While I knew that Lithuania was a Soviet Republic, I didn't have a good understanding of the atrocities that Stalin and other Soviet leaders committed against Lithuanians. They conducted mass deportations during World War II, sending politicians, the educated, and anyone considered a threat to the new communist regime to Siberia before Hitler invaded. The Soviets conducted more deportations after WWII when they declared Lithuania a Soviet republic. Lithuanian was banned from schools and no books could be written in Lithuanian. Lithuania kept up one of the strongest resistance movements, and they were the first to declare independence in 1991.

Lithuanians were pretty creative in the peaceful protests and demonstrations that took place before independence. They showed solidarity with the other Baltic states (Latvia and Estonia) by forming a human chain of people holding hands all the way from the tip of northern Estonia down to Vilnius in southern Lithuania. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union was not always peaceful in its response, and in January 1991, tanks attempted to put down the uprising and killed 13 Lithuanians. In the end, the Soviet violence spurred the Baltic states towards independence and the fall of the Soviet Union. Both of our instructors have first-hand accounts of these events, including deportation to Siberia and being part of the human chain.

As I learn more, I'll share more details of their history. The more I learn, the more excited I am about going to live in this little European country. Can't wait to get there!

The Big Apple

Hello again!  Sorry for the long silence - I guess language class has taken up most of our free time.  Not all of it, though, as you'll see below.  Stay tuned for my next posting: on the trials and tribulations of language training.

 

Last week I reminded J that we get Columbus Day off from class, so we decided to make last minute plans to go to New York City.  Priceline gave us a smashing deal (4 star hotel on Wall Street!), TripperBus made the trip at a relatively low rate, and so we were set.  Saturday morning started off with a (false) fire alarm and climbing down 10 flights of stairs to get out of the building, then our 5 hour bus ride.  But after that, things were great – we saw the sunset over Manhattan from the Top of the Rock, window shopped in the Lego Store, and then strolled down Times Square. 

I feel compelled to mention that we actually "occupied" Wall Street for two nights, unlike the protesters, who were actually several blocks northwest of Wall Street in a small park. We walked through the protest area one night - it was full of sleeping bags and also tables set up with the various causes that protesters are championing... you know, stuff like sustainable agriculture.  And of course people had signs against income inequality and the "big, evil" bankers, and beat drums while chanting slogans.  It seemed like a pretty tame protest to me.  So, back to Wall Street: it's actually quite a short, narrow one-way street.  I always pictured something more like Broadway, but this street is tiny - you can't see anything but the walls of skyscrapers all crowded in around you. Go figure.  All weekend, as we walked down Wall Street to get to the subway, we saw nothing but temporary barricades and about a million policemen standing around or on horseback.  I guess they were serious about protecting Wall Street.

Sunday we had a leisurely morning with brunch in the West Village, and then walked through the High Line Park. It’s amazing to me, a rural Midwestern girl, how much a place can be in need of greenery.  The park is really unique and I would recommend it as a nice break from some of the traditional sightseeing spots.  (I loved the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, too!).  After that we caught the last sail of the year with a ‘green’ ship out of Chelsea Piers.  The weather was amazing – truly one of the last dog days of summer. We sailed past the Statue of Liberty and over to the Brooklyn Bridge before returning to land.  While sailing, we saw a plane writing in sky smoke.  I had to look up the story later, since we sort of lost interest after a while and didn’t catch all the words.  We thought that it was a lovesick pilot, writing things like “Lost our love” and “last chance.”  Evidently, these ominous messages were actually “Lost our lease,” “Last chance,” and “Now open” and were supposed to be art by the High Line Park. According to this article, some New Yorkers didn't particularly take a liking to the “Last Chance” sign in the sky.

Finally, we rounded out the day by walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the US, and grabbing some dinner in Brooklyn.  We walked over to Grimaldi’s pizza, but that line was at least 40 people long waiting to get a table, and at 8:30 at night, that was too much of a wait for us. Maybe next time…  I should note here that J particularly enjoyed the taxi ride back home (the only one we took this weekend!), because the taxi comes equipped with it’s own TV screen in the back seat, where you can watch your route on GPS and also catch the local news.  In the end, that ride took us door to door, and only cost twice as much as two subway tickets home.  I think the convenience was definitely worth it!

Monday we were back on a boat, this time to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  Lady Liberty is beautiful!  We enjoyed going through the Ellis Island Museum.  They do a great job of illustrating the process that immigrants had to go through, including medical and legal inspections, to the hospital (still on the island), where children with infectious diseases were kept until they got better.  Over 12 million people came through Ellis Island in the late 1800’s until the 1920’s.  I was surprised to find out that Ellis Island fell into disrepair from the 1950’s until the 1980’s, when restoration began.  It really is an amazing national park and I’m glad we got to see it. 

 

That was our "New York in three days" experience - we loved it! 

Earthquake!!

Today's 5.8 magnitude earthquake was my first (at least the first that I have been aware of).  I was sitting in my office at work and at first I thought that the maintenance guys were just making a lot of noise.  But when I realized they had been working on the ceiling, and yet my floor was shaking, I knew something was up.  Then someone else in the office who had lived in California said it was an earthquake.  You should be proud to know that I immediately got in a door frame away from windows (thanks to those elementary school earthquake drills!).  There hasn't been a lot of news yet, but it sounds like most of DC is just fine.  Evidently the National Cathedral sustained some damage, hopefully it won't take too long to repair.  The only noticeable difference for me was the slow metro ride home, a precautionary measure.

My job has been going well - at least, I don't think I've made any mistakes big enough to damage relations between the U.S. and the Benelux region (I set myself a high bar once I found out all that I would be responsible for on my bridge assignment!).  Whatever I may have believed in the past, I have NEVER worked in a bureaucracy as big as this.  I've spent the last couple days (in between responding to and forwarding a couple hundred emails) trying to figure out how to request appointments.  So far, I have deduced that I must draft a memo, ask roughly 10 people to 'clear' it, and then send it off to the higher ups and hope that someone gets back to me sometime.  Luckily, many of the folks around me are happy to give advice and suggestions on how best to craft these things.  Also, since I'm only working here until Labor Day, I can only give it my best shot and leave it to the next guy to make sure that we get an answer.  While I may sound like I'm complaining, this has been a great experience for me and I think that I'll do a better job at post now that I understand some of what goes on back here.

Speaking of post - we start language training in two weeks!  J also gets to take language, and lucky for us both, there is a good chance that we will not be in the same class! ;) 

Outside of work, we've been enjoying the milder weather the last week or two, going on long bike rides and playing volleyball with classmates when it's not raining.  We're looking forward to welcoming some of J's family next month and showing them around the city. 

Belgian National Day

I have the coolest job ever.  Well, if you'd asked me 5 hours ago, I would have told you about IT frustrations, but since then, I was honored to attend the Belgian National Day celebration at the Ambassador's residence.  It was a-mazing!  Okay, I'd better back up a bit.  Most of the past month has been spent in training, but as of last week, I moved to a temporary position covering the Benelux desk.  "What's Benelux?" you ask.  Well, that is BElgium, the NEtherlands and LUXembourg.  Until the beginning of September when I start language training, I will be coordinating our contact with the embassies here and our posts in those countries.  Wish me luck (and them, too, because this is usually handled by two people with much more experience than me!).

(It's now two days later... but let's pretend that it's still Thursday night)  Back to the festivities:  One of the big events that each embassy has overseas is a celebration on their Independence Day (or the equivalent, i.e. the Qween's birthday for Britain).  That's the day to invite citizens of your country that live near the embassy, as well as fellow diplomats and contacts in the State Department.  So, I got to meet most of our Belgian contacts at that embassy, and also drink a variety of Belgian beers, and eat frites, Belgian waffles, and chocolate! The only downside was the heat, and that I didn't get to bring J with me to try the beers... ;)  There will be plenty such opportunities when we get to Lithuania.

Today we decided to beat the heat (over 100 degrees again today) and head over to the Newseum.  This has been on our to-do list for a while, but we just haven't taken the time to go.  It's basically a six story tribute to news and the history of news in the US and around the world.  It's really well put together, with a number of exhibits on how major events were reported, such as Katrina or September 11th.  They also have some nice touches, like the front page of paper from every state displayed outside, which is updated every day.  Some of my favorite exhibits were the Pulitzer Prize photography and the memorial for reporters who have been killed around the world.  They also have a couple of studios, one of which houses the Sunday morning talk show, ABC This Week with Cristiane Amanpour.  I also liked the exhibit on White House photographers.  (I like photography, I guess you could say.)  Evidently they change the exhibits pretty frequently, so I think we will be back to visit sometime.  Sidenote: There are some cool exhibits for kids, like the 10 "studios" where you can stand up and give your own reporting in front of a green screen.  I'm assuming that you then get to take that video home with you.  Pretty neat!

Now that I'm back in my suits, work seems to be going well.  I'm a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paper that gets sent around the Department, and mostly afraid that I will not send all the things I'm supposed to pass on to the right people.  It's a good learning experience, though, and I look forward to making the most of it!

Second tour: Moscow!

Just a quick note to let you know that I got word of my next post.  I will be an economics officer in Moscow starting in 2014! J and I are very excited and look forward to getting there three years from now. ;)  In all seriousness, I think it will be a good experience to work in a small post on the first tour and a relatively large one on the second tour. Economics work should be interesting; I suppose I should start paying closer attention to economic issues in Russia. 

They make a big deal of saying that you must pick your "cone" (political, economic, consular, management or public diplomacy) at the beginning of the application process and that you can never change it, but at this point, I am starting to wonder when I will get the chance to work completely within my cone.  Actually, it's not that critical right now, and I'm lucky to be able to work in something very close to my cone for three of the four years that I will be nontenured (I need to be tenured by 2016, or else I will have to find a new career...).  The Powers That Be tell us that nothing is as important for tenure as doing a good job in whatever position we are assigned, and also earning a good "corridor reputation" (a.k.a. working well with colleagues).  I think I can handle that!

One last tidbit: As a Foreign Service Officer, my name is submitted by the President for official Senate conformation.  Doesn't that sound formal?!  On May 12th, I was listed in the Congressional Record (Volume 157, Issue 65), and I think you should go check out the link to find me!

Still in training

Sorry folks, it has been a while since I posted.  On one level, I feel like I've been doing pretty much the same thing for the last 10 or so weeks, so I don't have a lot to report.  But that's not really true; I've had visitors, started different trainings, seen some things here in DC, so I'll try to catch up.  And again, I promise to get better at posting.

First off, we had our first visitors - R (friend from high school) and S (friend from college) over Memorial Day weekend.  We had a blast!  (Well, J. didn't have much to do with the girls' weekend, but the girls had a good time!)  We went all over the metro, including the Library of Congress, a couple Smithsonian museums, some of the monuments, a little of Alexandria, a boat ride to Georgetown, and some tasty ethnic cuisine.  My feet hurt by the end of their visit. For those of you on facebook, check out our pictures (R & S did all the photos, I'm not much of a camera person...). S & R: I missed you girls - so glad you could make it!!

Last week I also started a new training - Consular General or ConGen for short.  This course is Congressionally mandated and includes required tests. Consular work is bound by a ton of regulations (over 13,000 pages), to make sure that we apply the law fairly across the world.  Looking at the bigger picture, we're protecting U.S. interests abroad, particularly national security interests.  The training also includes relatively lifelike scenarios, such as visa windows and even a fake jail cell, where we will be doing a number of role play scenarios.  As a consular officer, I'll be working on mostly immigrant and non-immigrant visas, but I will also spend some time helping with American Citizen Services.  Anytime Americans need help overseas, they can contact the embassy, and we consular officers will help as much as we can within the perimeters of the law.  A common line I hear in training is that "Consular officers have the best stories."  I'm starting to understand why that's true.  People come up with the craziest (both factual and fraudulent) stories, and we have to get them to provide us with solid evidence, then apply the law fairly and accurately. I spent at least an hour yesterday with a conception calculator open on my computer, trying to figure out if the alleged father in a given scenario was in the same country as the mother when conception should have occurred ("So you're telling me that your pregnancy lasted 13 months??") Oh, and we're expected to provide good customer service, too, no matter what.

Today I took a test on how to determine citizenship, as well as passport issues and something called the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (aptly named, I think, since it is the official document establishing American citizenship for U.S. children born, you guessed it, outside the U.S.).  Happy to report that I didn't miss a single question on the test.  "Who is an American citizen" can be a very complicated question when looking at people that are not born in the U.S.  (Some day that may be our children, you know).  A lot has to do with what law was in effect when someone was born, but it also changes based on whether the parents are married and if one or both are American citizens. Fascinating stuff.

You mean I get to do that?? :)

We've been here for two months now, and until today I've been in relatively generic training (first training for all incoming officers, and now training for new political/economic officers).  This afternoon I got a chance to have my first consultations with people who work on Lithuanian issues.  I met the person who is called the desk officer (he works in DC and is post's main contact back at State), as well as the person who will be one of my bosses in Vilnius, and a whole bunch of other people.  I got to sit in on a briefing from a neighboring country, which was also very cool.  Everyone was helpful and made time to explain background information, and also answer my random questions about what I've learned so far.  It turns out that during the second half of my time in Lithuania, their president will hold the rotating EU presidency for 6 months.  That means lots of work for me, but it will be very exciting.  I've got to read up on how the EU works. All I know now is that it's complicated!  Today was one of those days where I can't believe that they actually hired me to do this job - it's gonna be awesome!!

I mentioned that I'm in the middle of training for new political/economic officers.  I've had to reach back into my somewhat distant memory on macroeconomic topics: GDP, balance of payments, current account deficits... I'm actually expected to report on this stuff!  I also practiced giving a "demarche," which is a fancy [French] word for a message from Washington to an official in the host government.  I understand that we'll be delivering these messages on a fairly regular basis, and then reporting back on their answer (or lack thereof). For me, this is much easier than public speaking!  Speaking of which, I practiced giving another speech today.  The feedback was more positive this time, but I still have a bad habit of trailing off at the end of sentences (I do it because I can't seem to decide how to finish the sentence... hum...guess I should work on that).

Some of my classmates are getting ready to leave; several will leave as soon as next month.  They are going all over the world with different "portfolios" of work, such as piracy in the Indian Ocean, cultural affairs in the Philippines, consular work in Europe or political/economic issues in Sudan. I'll start training for how to be a consular officer pretty soon - that includes all the regulations related to visas as well as helping American citizens abroad.  If you're planning a trip overseas, be sure to check in with the Embassy in that country - in case something happens while you are there (i.e. earthquake in Japan), they will be able to help you get home safely, or alert you to options that are available.  Just a plug. :)

No homework tonight, so I guess it's time to watch some Jonny (aka The Daily Show) and then get some rest.  More Excel spreadsheets to come tomorrow!

Oath of Office (and the end of the beginning)

Today we took the oath of office in a formal ceremony led by Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg (the second highest position at Dept. of State).  The centerpoint of the ceremony is the swearing in, where we use the same oath as Congress.  (By the way, at some point, my name will be listed in the Congressional Record when all the members of our class are approved by the Senate - I'll be sure and post a link when that happens!)  It is an honor to serve our country and "defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." The past six weeks I have heard from so many people in the State Department, all of whom are doing amazing things to promote peace and security around the world.

In the past week, I've been learning bits and pieces about the place we will soon call home.  Vilnius is referred to as the last great undiscovered city in Europe.  Old town is evidently huge and parts of it were built 5 or more centuries ago. They have about 3.5 million people in a country roughly the size of West Virginia. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, although they don't use the Euro. I understand winters are particularly cold, but I'm sure that J will enjoy them, and we will enjoy having visitors in the summer! Lithuanian is actually the last living Indo-European language and was derived from Sanskrit (a dead language).  It uses a modified Roman alphabet (similar to English, French, Italian, etc) not Cyrillic, which is what I learned for Russian.  I'm going to a small post, meaning we'll get to know everyone well and I'll have a chance to work on all sorts of things going on at the Embassy.  I'm also excited about how easy travel around the rest of Europe should be. Once we get into language training in September, I'll have a lot more to share with you.

I feel like we just got here, and yet everything changes again on Monday.  I start training on how to be a political/econ officer, and in June I learn what it takes to be a consular officer (evidently, an in-depth knowledge of regulations!)  I'll still be with about 30 of my classmates on Monday, but at least we will have a little more elbow room!

J and I are headed out for dinner to celebrate tonight.  Tomorrow morning I'm running my first 5k, and next week I may sign up for a 10 mile run in the fall (heck, we'll be here a while, you know...).

Miss you all - talk to you soon!

Vilnius, Lithuania here we come!

Friday was Flag Day!  The ceremony was surprisingly informal; after a couple of minutes of introductions, they jumped right into listing off 89 locations and handing out 89 flags.  We shouted out each country's name when it's flag flashed up on the screen (at least those we knew).  When Lithuania flashed up (three bars: yellow, green and red), no one recognized it.  J didn't even hear the name of the country, so when I jumped up beaming, took my flag, and smiled for our posed photo with the ambassador, J didn't know whether to be happy or not.  It took a few minutes of asking other spouses sitting around him to find out where we'll be going! 

Needless to say, we're quite excited to be going to a Baltic state in Eastern Europe.  Before we go, though, I need a lot more training.  I'll get about 2 months of "tradecraft" training in Consular and Political/Economic work.  Then, to fill the time, I'll be working on a country desk (which one is not clear to me at the moment because I have not learned enough acronyms - I'll have to ask about that on Monday!) for about 2 months, and then finally spend 6 months learning Lithuanian.  I knew I wanted to learn more languages than Russian, I just didn't expect to be learning another one before I solidified my Russian speaking ability. It's good to be flexible in this job!

In the mean time, we'll be staying in the DC area until March of next year. So... give us a holler if you've always wanted to come to DC. Now you have an excuse!

Last week was jam packed with things to do so that we stayed busy.  On Wednesday, we had two diplomatic receptions back-to-back.  I got to chat with some VIPs and retired VIPs.  The receptions are good practice, but I was worn out by the end of the day (must buy more comfortable shoes!).

Today I took a self-defense class - something I've been meaning to do for years.  This one was just an introduction, although I'm not sure I'm going to take the full 5 week course.  I think it was helpful, but a little short on moves.  Nonetheless, having practice defending myself seems like a good thing for "muscle memory" in case I ever need to do it in real life. J made me promise to take a CPR class, too.  Classes, classes... ;)

My last week of orientation starts tomorrow, and then I jump into another 10 months of more specific training.  Time has flown by - I'm looking forward to getting into a routine and being able to call this place 'home' for a while.

Coming up: 5k race with a friend on Saturday!  We're even talking about running a 10 mile race this fall! Have a good week, and don't be a stranger - email/call/check in!

How time flies!

I can't believe I've been here for a month already!  We have been very busy learning, team building, practicing diplomatic skills like public speaking and composure under fire (aka answering tough questions).  Just FYI - that's tough!  I also got a recording of the speech I gave today that I need to watch this weekend. There are few things I like less than watching myself squirm...  In one week, we'll find out where our first post will be, and how much longer we'll be staying in DC.

This week I had a great opportunity to be in the audience for an interview with Secretary Clinton and Dr. Kissinger.  At moments like this, I realize that this job is for real and I really am about to go out and represent our country.  After practicing a little composure under fire, I have a great appreciation for how well Secretary Clinton can respond to any and every question on foreign policy gracefully and without equivocating.  The interview aired on PBS this week, and believe it or not, I was on national TV (albeit in a 'Where's Waldo' sort of way)!!  You can see the video on this website (when the camera pans out to the crowd, I'm on the far side in the 4th row...).

J and I are trying to get out and experience DC.  He's made it to several memorials and historic sites, and also started playing soccer.  He dove right in and played two 90 minute games last week - I don't know how he did it, but he does love the game!  We've also been riding our bikes every weekend because we're so close to a trail network.  I'm also signed up to run a 5k next month, so a friend and I are hitting the trail a couple times a week to prepare.  J & I tried Moroccan food last night - it was good, but we were in such a big group that we didn't get to choose our own dishes, so we're looking forward to going back later. We tried Ethiopian food last week, along with a tasty Greek restaurant.  There are so many choices out here, I think I need to run more!

For the first time since we got here, I don't have anything planned this weekend, and I'm looking forward to relaxing and catching up on some reading and sleep.  I hope you all have a Happy Easter!

In the beginning

I've been here a full week now, and I love my job!  This week has been a whirlwind, and I don't expect that it will slow down much in the next several weeks.  To be honest, I'm doing more learning than doing at this point, but I am very impressed with the work that we'll be doing, as well as with my new classmates and all of the people higher up in the service. One day we discussed the mission of the dept, and I was struck by the thought that this is what I will be doing - this is part of my job description!

Advance freedom for the benefit of the American people and the international community by helping to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world composed of well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty, and act responsibly within the international system.

In other news, I took the language test this week, and came in just below the proficiency I need to get off language probation.  So... that means that I'll have to take a few months of additional language training before I go to post, which is probably good for me.  I think I really had the ability 3 months ago, but I slipped a little from lack of practice.

Speaking of going to post - we got the bid list this week.  Nearly 100 places around the world to choose from, and one place on that list is where I will be by the end of the year. Ahh - the suspense!  There are only a handful of places that require my language, though, and more of us who have a requirement to serve there, so I may be headed somewhere else this first time. (BTW - I took a phone test in my language in January, which gave me the extra points to move up the waiting list and get an offer, so I have to serve two tours in a position that requires the language. It doesn't seem like much of a requirement to me - I'm more than glad to go there!) No matter, I'm just excited to get started.

J has been keeping himself busy.  He attended a day of training this week for spouses, and also has been taking care of a million details involved in moving.  Not to mention, my hard drive died this week, so he took care of the warranty issues and got it replaced (yay!).  We got to meet up with one of his friends last night, and will see another tomorrow, so we're keeping busy here.  Will try to write more this week!

On the road

We made it through our first 'packout' this weekend.  The packout itself took just over 4 hours, but all the worry and fretting leading up to it took days, if not weeks.  We donated/sold/got rid of a lot of things that we won't need anymore - like a second bed and tons of odds and ends (how many backpacks does one couple need to keep??), but it still felt like we shipped a lot of items off to DC. 

In case you all haven't noticed, I'm terrible at goodbyes.  We have so many wonderful people in our lives that it's hard to accept that we won't be able to drop in as easily now. But I look forward to seeing everyone again in the not-so-distant future, and until then, there's always cell phones, email, skype, facebook, etc.  If you aren't connected to me on skype yet, shoot me an email and we'll exchange logins. :)

Now we're visiting J's dad, family, and friends from his hometown - we'll head east on Thursday.  Last night we made a mandatory trip to Portillo's - one of our favorite eateries in the greater Chicago area.  So good! And then J & his dad convinced me to play Texas Hold'em, where I proceeded to clean house. I bet they wished we had played Scrabble instead... ;)

It's hard for me to believe that a week from now I'll have started this new career and have met many of my new colleagues. That's next week, though - now we have a little time to relax, and then a couple more days of cross-country driving.

T minus 4 and counting

We only have a few days left before the packers come, and until today, our apartment showed no signs that we're moving. All the pictures came down from the wall today - that's my only indication of the impending packing frenzy. J and I both feel weird not packing our own stuff, but that's what they require.

We had a good time with family and friends this weekend and last weekend. Lots of wonderful people I'm going to miss, but we'll stay in touch digitally and be back to visit before you know it!

Tomorrow is my last day of work - I've got to solve one last data problem (one I created, I think...), pack up my desk, and say my 'good-byes.'  Not looking forward to that last part - I've enjoyed working with these folks.

Better write a few thank you notes and break into some of the beer/wine/vodka/cider (only one of the above) that we were given this weekend.  Thanks friends!

The beginning...

Well, not even quite the beginning.  Training starts at the end of the month, but now is crunch time - we packout on the 18th, and my last day of work is the 15th.  J's last day is today, a much awaited event on his part.  So much to be done in just a few more days, but we're really excited to get started on this adventure!

I will do my best to write regularly here, but don't hold your breath - things are bound to get busy when training starts.  I hear 'they' somewhat frown on blogging, so I'm keeping readership limited to invitees only (don't you feel special!).  I'll also try to limit mentioning people by name, but I suspect that you will know who I'm talking about most of the time...

One more thing - the big date in my mind at the moment is Flag Day - that's when we'll find out where we are going to be for the next two or so years.  That day is April 29th.

We're still around for two more weekends, so give us a call if you're in town and want to meet up.

Yours truly,
D