Guangzhou, China!

 

What a day!!

Today we learned that we will be posted to Guangzhou, China in 2014!

All week we have been waiting for the news- we didn't know when the results would be released. What anxiety. With each day I became more stressed. Finally, around 12pm today, friends started announcing their posts. I grabbed my Blackberry and went to lunch, eagerly watching for the little red light. Nothing. I went back to NIV and tried to keep interviewing, distractedly, as I kept one eye peeled for emails. Nothing. I interviewed for three more hours, while everyone around me knew by 1pm. Finally, at 4pm, I emailed my CDO- my email had gotten stuck in her outbox!!!  Oh my goodness, I aged a few years in those 4 hours.

Anyway, we are pretty happy about Guangzhou! And also scared, I'm not going to lie to you. We bid it #11 out of 30, far above other China posts (except Shanghai GSO, which I think would have been cool). D really wanted to go to China, while I was more hesitant. But when I learned that in Guangzhou they do immigrant visas and adoptions in addition to non-immigrant visas, I was interested.That was one of my bidding priorities- a post where I can rotate to different consular units. I've been interested in adoptions in China for years- first as a potential adoptive parent, and now as an adjudicating officer. I would love to be part of that work.

We really wanted to go to Asia, in my case because I'm dying to travel the region. We will be only 2 hours from Hong Kong! We hope to visit Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, and who knows where else while we're there. So if you're not into visiting Guangzhou...let us know and maybe we can meet you somewhere (in 2-4 years- mark your calendar).

Many people advised me on China and Guangzhou before we bid it, so I feel like I know a fair amount about both the pros and cons. You know, as well as someone can know who's never, ever been to China (cue anxiety).

As for logistics: we leave post in August 2013, head to Virginia for nine months of Mandarin training (it's actually primarily a Cantonese-speaking region, but I'll be learning Mandarin- I don't know enough to tell you why yet), take home leave in June 2014, and arrive at post in July. According to the current plan. Which could, of course, change.

So what else was on the list? I'm sad about our #1, Skopje, Macedonia. I really, really want to serve in Eastern Europe someday- I hope this posting doesn't rule that out. I'm a bit bummed about Tel Aviv and Moscow too. But that's why I love this job! Who knows where we will go in 2016!

Hope everyone else out there who was bidding is happy, too.