Update

Obviously I haven't done a very good job of keeping this blog up to date. Although life here is usually quite chaotic and I work way too many hours, I think the real reason for a lack of posts is that there just isn't anything exciting to report. With both Eric & I working, we have settled into a pretty quiet routine. The past few weeks however have been a little more interesting...

With the wedding only six weeks away, we have been trying to take care of all the last minute details and we even managed to get the invitations out! We are definitely counting the days until we get home. We are also working on the honeymoon plans - a few days in Amsterdam and a whole week in Paris! I cannot tell you how very excited I am to finally be going back after all these years. I think the thing we are looking forward to most is just seeing all our friends and family though. It has been a long time and we feel so very far away here.

In other big news, we received our bid list - or the list of all the possible places we could go for our next assignment. Sadly Paris was not an option - nor were any French speaking posts for that matter. So, it looks like I will have to wait a few more years to become fluent in French...

It has been a crazy process trying to pick the top five places we would like to go - since Abuja is a particularly tough post, we get some preferential treatment and will almost definitely get one of our top 3-4 choices. Although there were some fabulous places on the list, like Athens, Prague, Bern, and Munich - when it came down to it, I decided I didn't really want to spend 9 months learning a language (like Greek, Czech or German) that I wouldn't be able to use in too many other places. So in looking at my career and possibilities for future assignments, we decided to focus on Spanish (or Portuguese which can be transitioned into Spanish with a six week course later on) speaking places. In addition to that, we wanted big cities with a lot of cultural and outdoor activities that also offered the opportunity for travel - and most importantly that were close to home with easy access (meaning direct or one stop flights that took less than 24 hours to get to - unlike here!) SO - to sum it up, here our the top five choices:

Bogota, Colombia
Mexico City, Mexico
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sao Paulo, Brasil
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

They all have amazing things to offer and most importantly a better quality of life than here. Outdoor cafes, museums, parks, good food, travel opportunities, etc. AND they all LOVE dogs. Dogs are pretty much feared and dis-liked here so it is a bit difficult. We should get our assignment within the next few weeks and we will let everyone know. Hopefully some of you will be interested in a Latin American adventure!

Counting the days until we see everyone...

Miss you.