Bid Day: Take Two!

Rome, Italy

June 2014

Can you believe it!?! I surely can't. Still!! And it's already been two days to let the good news sink in. Happy doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling. 

For those of you just tuning in, let me explain a little. In the Foreign Service, we bid on our future job locations. A list comes out based on our assignment cycle (mine is Winter) and the list includes positions all over the world that will become vacant just around the time when my current term ends. Shenyang, China has been my first assignment and my tour runs from Dec 2011 to Dec 2013 (or thereabouts). About a month ago, I got a bid list that included 28 awesome job posts all around the world. As a second-tour bidder, my next assignment is still "directed," a fancy term that means the State Department still has a hand in where I end up. My 28 high-middle-low bids are considered against the other 27 OMSes who submitted their bids. The CDO (career development officer) considers everyones preferences and needs and then, in conjunction with an assignment board, assigns the positions. Some preference is given to bidders coming from high hardship differential or danger posts (Shenyang is 30% hardship). Consideration is also given to families with school-age children, tandem couples, and health concerns. Requests for language are also taken into the mix as well. In the end, assignments are announced on a certain date and everyone starts to plan for their onward assignment.

Granted, I still have about 10 months or so before I depart Shenyang. But it's never too early to start planning for a two-year tour in ROME! I've already looked at potential running routes (who needs running routes when everywhere is gorgeous), housing options (apartments overlooking the Tiber River, anyone?), concert dates and dance clubs (here I come!), and motorino prices (vroom vroom!). Yes, yes, I'm getting ahead of myself. Even after I spend December 2013 at home for the required home leave (oh sure, Congress, force me to take a month off with my family repatriating myself to the US), I'll have to "torture" myself through six months of Italian at FSI. YES I GET TO LEARN ITALIAN!! It just keeps getting better and better. 

Can you imagine me taking a lunch break at 12:30 in the sunny September afternoon, walking out of the Embassy to Villa Borghese and grabbing a small loaf of fresh baked bread, freshly made mozzarella, and a ripe tomato, slicing it and assembling a delectable caprese salad while enjoying the kids frolicking through the park? Afterward, on my way back to the Embassy, I pick up an espresso and chat with the neighbors about the football game over the weekend. After work, I hop on my Vespa and scoot over to the market to pick up some fresh pollo and spices, with some handmade pasta and sauce, I walk up the wrought-iron stairs to my apartment and open the balcony windows to let the evening air rush through. Pouring a glass of wine as I prep dinner, I put on some music and watch the sun set among a sea of domes and roofs. Yes, that is a fantasy that will inspire me for the next ten months in Shenyang. Life is good.

Heading into the New Year

I'm normally not one for resolutions in the New Year. In my mind, setting a list of goals for yourself all at once is stressful! Instead, I make commitments to myself all year round, and spend a good part of my time working to achieve them. Every day is a challenge and a potential accomplishment. Baby step resolutions make for daily successes.

Right now, I'm working on worrying less and loving more. It has been my mantra lately and so far, it's been helpful to keep in mind. I have this bad habit of worrying about things beyond my capacity to change, like the weather or other people's opinions of me. Perhaps the first example is not really that great, since the weather in Shenyang is most likely always going to be "cold," in varying degrees of the word. But my overall realization has been that it takes a lot of effort to worry about the future, effort that would be better spent focusing on the now and loving it. And believe me, it feels great to live in the now.

So what's happening now in the 'Yang?

Well, the bid list is out. All 28 locations. And my choices are all AH-MAY-ZING. I couldn't be more fortunate to come out of a high differential post with so many awesome options. The list has places like Madrid, Tokyo, Istanbul, Jakarta, Cairo, Moscow, Panama, all huge hotspots and major cities. Can you believe that out of that fantastic list, I didn't even mention my top three?? In my mind, they're even better... Needless to say, I've been enjoying the research process and I'm looking forward to submitting my list in February and getting my answer in March. Surprisingly, I haven't been worrying too much about the list, probably because it's fantastic. What happens will happen and I'm happy knowing that I'll probably get one of my top 5 bids coming from Shenyang.

In other news: I just came back from an awesome ski trip to Beidahu in Jilin with "Bill" and "Ted" from the CONS section. So many times this weekend I thought about Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and how we were kind of on our own China adventure. Hope to write an entry about that this weekend. Coming up, we have the Chinese New Year (Feb 9-13) and I'm planning a trip to Burma with some consulate folk. I'll write a full post about that as it gets closer (wait, it's only two weeks away!) with more details. Looking WAY down the road, Mom & David are planning on visiting in late March/early April after my birthday, which gives me GREAT excitement to begin to plan. Mom: I'm already lining up the restaurants we're going to eat at! You will LURVE it here. Can't wait to have you <3