Next Stop: Nigeria

The past week was absolutely exhausting; but it is such a relief to finally know where we are going. Flag Day was was fun and excrutiating at the same time. They made us wait until 3pm on Thursday and the anticipation wass enough to drive you crazy. Eric's mom came into town for it which was great. Hopefully, she has fully recovered from the shock of hearing my name announced for ABUJA!! I will admit I was a little shocked as well - since it is a Politcal job rather than Consular I just wasn't expecting it - but I am thrilled. Anyway, we had fun together and I am glad she was here for it and I hope she doesn't hate me too much for dragging her son half way around the world!!!

Now for the details... In a little over two months we will be leaving for Nigeria. Yup, two months. We don't have the specific date yet but it will probably be the last week of June. I don't think I was prepared for everything to happen so fast; but Eric & I are very excited about the assignment - at least he keeps telling me he is excited! I will be serving as the Political & Economic Officer at the Embassy in Abuja (the capital of Nigeria) and working on the Human Rights Report, the Religious Freedom Report and any other reports that Congress mandates. It is going to be a lot of challenging work but what a great way to start - as long as I don't screw up!

We have a million things to do before leaving. We have to sell both our cars, get back to Greenville to pack out the apartment, get our passports & visas, get a gajillion shots to ward off what seems like every disease known to man, stock up on all the stuff we won't be able to get in Nigeria (like good toilet paper!) get Cooper certified by the USDA (I thought that was a joke at first; but we really do have to go to the actual USDA and get Cooper's health certified before we can get an import permit) go to the eye doctor and go to the dentist, all while still working and training. Thank goodness I have Eric to help - he is going to be exhausted by the time we leave!

In the meantime, I am working on organizing the official swearing in ceremony this coming Friday - ordering beverages, food, flowers, etc. It is a formal ceremony where I finally become and official Foreign Service Officer. My parents are coming into town for the ceremony so I am looking forward to that. It should be a lovely day and hopefully they will stay for the whole weekend. After Friday I am done with Orientation Training and then next week I move into Area Studies which is more specific training geared towards Sub-Saharan Africa. I have training daily until the end of June so it will be a busy few weeks.

I will keep you all posted as things progress... as long as I don't lose my mind in the process.