Okay - I am REALLY starting my adventure

So, I said goodbye last April and thought I would be off to a far away land within a few weeks after my departure from San Diego. But then, the reality. It is now 1 year, 3 months, and 1 day (not counting at all!!!) after starting with USAID that I am actually going to get on a plane and head to my post. Is it a joke? I am pleased to say it is no joke this time.

So here is the update. I arrived in DC on April 9 and was sworn in as a Foreign Service Officer on April 12. I attended a mandatory orientation for 5 weeks at the end of which most of my colleagues learned their future destination. Me, no I didn't. I finished my orientation and played intern until July 6 when I started language training. Since I did not have an official post and had studied Spanish previously, my office assigned me to language training to brush up on my Spanish in order to obtain the required language certification for meeting foreign service tenure. I finished Spanish in October, returned to the office, talked to my "unofficial" post, and WHOOOOAAAA - not only had the union not approved my posting my post wanted me to have a certification in French.

But, I could not officially start French training until I was officially posted so, I waited and then in December received my formal posting to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. I started French in late February, finished in mid-June, and now my stuff is officially on its way to Congo and Sam the cat and I leave on July 13th!

So, it has been a long year in a city that has a few bright points but San Diego is 100 times better. I learned some interesting things and worked on some interesting projects when I wasn't in language training. I speak three languages now which is pretty cool.

And so starts Heather's Big Adventure blog...