As most of you know we had Flag Day last Thursday. There were only about 10 posts left when Seth’s name was finally called. They held up a flag for Colombia and called Seth’s name. We had held our breath while they called Nogales, Cuidad Juarez and Matamoros. We were down to Tel Aviv, Mexico City, Belgrade and Bogota. Any of those would have been fine but we are pleased with the results. Our major concern with our assignment was the departure schedule.

As of Thursday, Seth was scheduled to leave DC sometime around July 31. The baby is due July 20th and my doctor was planning to induce on the 30th if nothing happens before then. So, you can do the math and see that Seth was going to be leaving only a few days after the baby is scheduled to be born. Today he met with his CDO (Career Development Officer) and got them to verbally agree to let him stay until 6 weeks after the birth when the baby and I will both be cleared for travel. We are waiting for this in writing but so far things look good!

We haven’t had much time to gather more info on Colombia. So far from what we read it is a great post! It was the most desired post for the class so we are feeling really lucky to have gotten it! There is another girl in Seth’s class that lived in Bogota for two months with her husband before coming to DC. She will be returning to Bogota after her training. She has given us little tidbits. She told us that the apts are big, the food is good, live-in help is the norm, the city is safe for walking with a baby, and the weather is around 70 degrees year round! Oh, and she also mentioned that you can take pictures such as a Pottery Barn photo and you can have furniture made for very cheap (no we can’t take your personal orders but you are welcome to enjoy our furniture when you visit us)! At this point we are pretty satisfied with what we know. We have a while to take it all in before we head out.

Yep, we’re going to Bogota!!! And we’re excited! It was tied for #1 for our top post. So, we’re very happy. Overwhelmed, of course. And I’m sure we’ll go through all the cycles of emotions, but as of tonight, we’re thrilled!

More details to come!

http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/co/

Just a quick update before the big Flag Day on Thursday (this is the ceremony when we find out where we will be moving). Seth just recieved an email from the commitee letting him know that two of our medium posts were not filled with anyone in his class (there ended up being more posts than people). The posts removed were Seoul, Korea and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We were interested in these for sure but they would have required a LOT more language training and would have meant we would have left around Christmas time which would have almost completely eliminated the chance of coming home to visit. So, glance at our list in below entries and mark these off your mental list. You might see them come up again in our future but for now we will not be headed that way!

Two more days until the big day!  The suspense has been building for 2 years now so we will be relieved to have this big decision behind us!

During my training, many people talk to us about State-related issues.  Whether how to fill out a voucher or what our Myers-Brigg personality is and what that means when working in a team or hours upon hours of diplomatic history.  Most of them are interesting, but I’ll probably forget all about them in a year or two.  And then there are really cool and important speakers who really make your week.

Starting two Fridays ago, the run of memorable people started.  First, on Friday Amb. Christopher Hill spoke to us in a classified briefing about North Korea (he’s the US main negotiator with NK).  On Monday, we went to the CIA and had another classified briefing and got to tour a little of the Agency.  On Tuesday, we got to go on another classified tour of the Operations Center at the State Department (they monitor worldwide events and update senior DOS officials).  (They also have the phone numbers of thousands upon thousands of world leaders, including the King of Thailand and Bono).  Following the tour, Undersecretary Karen Hughes (Bush’s old Texas adviser) spoke to us about how her bureau is reaching out to the Arabs/Muslims.

Then, on Thursday, Secretary of State Condelezza Rice spoke to my class for 45 minutes about how she’s transforming the Department’s mission and what role we’ll be playing in it.  It was really cool because it was just our orientation class along with a few other newly-hired employees.  It was definitely a rare treat.  In fact, we were told some employees go their whole career and never hear the secretary speak.

So that’s been my week.  Definitely some memorable moments.

Only 2 weeks left.  The first 5 weeks have gone both quickly and slowly.  But what seems really crazy is we’ll find out on Thursday where we’re headed.  We’ve both got ideas of where we could be going, but we know we also need to be prepared for some unexpected posts.  I think it would be considered bad form if I have a disappointed look on my face as I cross the stage with a flag of Whatastan.  Kristen has offered the other wives money to start crying at the flag ceremony if she ends up in tears from the shock of an unwanted post.

In other news, we went to a small group Bible study for the first time on Thursday.  It was a great mix of couples, both young and old, and one couple is due a few weeks after us.  And, oddly enough, almost all of them had ties to Texas.  A few of the couples had lived in Dallas or gone to school at SMU.  We really enjoyed the group and are planning to continue attending.  We found the small group through the church we’ve decided to attend, McLean Presbyterian, which we also like.

And today we were tourists and went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  The Hope Diamond along with other precious gems really caught Kristen’s eye.  She was quite reasonable though, and only requested just one or two of the diamonds or rubies.  We saw a magnificent diamond necklace given to Marie Antoinette by Louis XVI for the birth of their first child.  Kristen not so subtly reminded me of the tradition of giving a gift to your wife when the baby is born.  But she quickly talked me out of buying the necklace from the museum.  She’d be perfectly satisfied with a smaller, less flashy gem.  We’ll see.

By the way, it’s really, really cold here.