Worldwide Availability

I'm not really a stress eater; but at the end of the day yesterday, what I really needed was a cheeseburger, fries and a tall chocolate milkshake. Happily, we've got a fantastic burger place across the street from our home here in Virginia, and I had that need met by 7pm. It may have been partly because I had a small lunch, and a really small breakfast. But I'd say it was also because I spent a rather exhausting day playing Diplomat. Yesterday morning, I woke with Dave and dressed up like a grownup - jewelry, makeup, and all. I took the shuttle with him to the Foreign Service Institute, where he turned right to attend his Diplomat Training and I turned left to attend my Spouse or Partner Training.

I sat in a room with wives, husbands, partners and fiances and learned how to be a Diplomat's Wife. We heard from the Transition Center, who is there to help us through every transition, be it from real life to FS life, from FS life to retirement, or from old post to new post. We heard from the Overseas Briefing Center, who has files and videos and books and briefings on every place we could possibly go. And we could possibly go to anyplace that has an embassy or a consulate. We could go practically anywhere. We heard from a lot of other folks as well, who drilled a number of things into us. Here are my personal takeaways from the day:

- When Dave took his oath of office, he promised to be Worldwide Available. So we could be going nearly anywhere, whether we want to or not.

- The Foreign Service takes the needs of the family very seriously. They had this training for spouses and partners this morning. They hold many other trainings which I am welcome to participate in, up to and including job training and language training at FSI.

- The Foreign Service takes care of families well. We will live in safe housing; our children will have access to the best schools in the area; we have free access to a wide array of support systems; we can begin language training online at any point for free. The list goes on, but also includes some very key intangibles. The people of the Foreign Service have clearly developed a strong community, where our neighbors (who will also be Dave's co-workers) will support us and there will be a community wherever we go. This is a unique lifestyle, and they work to make it a supported and adventurous one.

- We will likely be evacuated at least once from our post and our home. Folks who were posted in Cairo and Tokyo likely never thought they be evacuated, but are now living temporarily in the states. They will likely get all of their household stuff back at some point. Folks who were posted in Tripoli, Libya had to leave within about 24 hours with what they could carry, and will likely never see the rest of their stuff again.

- Dave will likely serve at an unaccompanied post at some point in his career. He will be kept safe, likely having good access to doctors and pharmacies and a very strong community in a very interesting workplace. Our kids will likely be invited to DC at the end of his tour, and presented with a medal by the Secretary of State for the sacrifices they are making for their country.

- The number one cause of death among families living overseas is not terrorism or street violence, but simple traffic accidents. No different from home, really.

- If we live somewhere with malaria, we should take the malaria prophylaxis every day the entire time. Because malaria kills people.

- And again, Worldwide Availability. Although they will take our needs and desires strongly into account, Worldwide Availability means that the needs of the service trump the needs of the individual. He is a civilian, but he is also duty bound and will be directed where the government needs him.

And with that, we spent the night poring over The Bid List.

The Bid List is the document that I have been eagerly awaiting since Dave began this entire job process, over two years ago. Our Bid List contains a few more posts than there are people in his class, and every one of his classmates will go somewhere on this list. Its a long list, and as overwhelming as everything else listed above. And our job over the next week or so is to rank every single post on the list, High, Medium or Low. We need a Bidding Strategy, and it should be rather transparent to help the Career Development Officers make the decision that fits best with our personal wants and needs. Right now, we need to learn as much about each post as possible, to be able to eliminate or star a large number of cities which I have never even heard of. I say "eliminate" rather loosely, because he does have Worldwide Availability.

We've begun to put together our Bidding Strategy, made more clear by our hope to pick up Mei Mei at the end of this calendar year. And we've begun to research the posts a bit, putting down simple facts that make one place more desirable than another - e.g. does it have an English elementary school nearby?

It was an overwhelming day, to say the least. The day left me feeling great about all of the interesting people going on this adventure alongside us, and feeling awesome about the State Department's general attitude toward the families of Foreign Service Officers. Just overwhelmed, and ready for a burger and a long sleep. I'm not sure how Dave is making it through this week, and the coming 4 weeks without putting on an easy 10 pounds.