It's been a stressful two weeks.
The prospect of A-100, the Foreign Service training that I'll start in January, has been one big factor. I've gotten the formal appointment letter, and turned in all the paperwork, but there's a part of me that's pretty anxious.
Then there are the fibroids that sent me to the emergency room and three different follow-up doctor's visits. That caused a momentary hitch in the Foreign Service paperwork as I waited for the State Department medical folks to review the new medical records and give my medical clearance the thumbs up.
During that eight day period, there were graduate classes to attend (Intro to Economics and Intercultural Communications this semester), final papers to write for each, and a final exam to take for Economics.
Just when State sent confirmation that my clearance was still good to go, the U.S. postal service brought me a summons for jury duty, for January, of course. Three hours of panic later, I discovered that DC allows deferral of jury duty for up to ninety days. There is a strict 100% attendance policy for A-100, but later training is more flexibly scheduled, so my plan is to defer as far out as possible.
This weekend a good friend took me shopping and I filled my closet with formal business-wear, the required dress code for A-100. Yay!
Today, my credit card was locked out because someone, somewhere, attempted to make multiple purchases with it on various websites, ranging from $1 to $500. Boo!
Whew.
Finally, now all I've got to do is... wait. The next four days are vacation: my folks are coming up to visit, which will be great! Next week will be a three-day week at work, and the week after that will be my last at NOAA. Hard to believe...
But my imagination has started to run wild, and worry is edging some of the excitement out. This is a huge career - and life - change. I could be living overseas four months from now, or maybe a year from now, or sometime in between. Where? Will I like it? Is it going to be dangerous? Will there be interesting and friendly people there? Will I be lonely? Is this the right move for me?
A million questions and worries and futile stabs at guessing the future are milling around in my mind. I'm finding it hard to focus, at home or at work. Sleep is somewhat difficult; eating habits are depending on delivery food; and I snap irrationally at people and have been experiencing more driving frustration than usual. Excitement. Anticipation. Fear. Longing. This is not a restful holiday season, oh no.
It's a wild, wild ride.
The prospect of A-100, the Foreign Service training that I'll start in January, has been one big factor. I've gotten the formal appointment letter, and turned in all the paperwork, but there's a part of me that's pretty anxious.
Then there are the fibroids that sent me to the emergency room and three different follow-up doctor's visits. That caused a momentary hitch in the Foreign Service paperwork as I waited for the State Department medical folks to review the new medical records and give my medical clearance the thumbs up.
During that eight day period, there were graduate classes to attend (Intro to Economics and Intercultural Communications this semester), final papers to write for each, and a final exam to take for Economics.
Just when State sent confirmation that my clearance was still good to go, the U.S. postal service brought me a summons for jury duty, for January, of course. Three hours of panic later, I discovered that DC allows deferral of jury duty for up to ninety days. There is a strict 100% attendance policy for A-100, but later training is more flexibly scheduled, so my plan is to defer as far out as possible.
This weekend a good friend took me shopping and I filled my closet with formal business-wear, the required dress code for A-100. Yay!
Today, my credit card was locked out because someone, somewhere, attempted to make multiple purchases with it on various websites, ranging from $1 to $500. Boo!
Whew.
Finally, now all I've got to do is... wait. The next four days are vacation: my folks are coming up to visit, which will be great! Next week will be a three-day week at work, and the week after that will be my last at NOAA. Hard to believe...
But my imagination has started to run wild, and worry is edging some of the excitement out. This is a huge career - and life - change. I could be living overseas four months from now, or maybe a year from now, or sometime in between. Where? Will I like it? Is it going to be dangerous? Will there be interesting and friendly people there? Will I be lonely? Is this the right move for me?
A million questions and worries and futile stabs at guessing the future are milling around in my mind. I'm finding it hard to focus, at home or at work. Sleep is somewhat difficult; eating habits are depending on delivery food; and I snap irrationally at people and have been experiencing more driving frustration than usual. Excitement. Anticipation. Fear. Longing. This is not a restful holiday season, oh no.
It's a wild, wild ride.
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