Our next assignment!

A few weeks after handshakes, I'm finally getting around to announcing our next assignment: Mexico City! I will be a deputy consular manager in a rotating position- my first midlevel assignment. I will gain some really excellent experience in multiple consular units.

We will arrive next summer. This time, since I speak Spanish, we sadly won't have an extended period of time in DC. Just home leave and a few weeks of management training.

We are so excited about so many things- MEXICAN FOOD, quick flights home to the U.S., beaches and other travel opportunities, speaking Spanish again, learning more about Mexican culture, returning to Puerto Vallarta where we were married years ago, seeing more family and friends during our tour since we will be so close, MEXICAN FOOD, being able to find anything at post (we have Costco, Walmart, Crate and Barrel, etc), I could go on and on...

The Mexican Flag in food 

Midlevel consular bidding was challenging and dragged on for nearly four months in my case (I started researching posts in July and we received the handshake offer on November 9). But I got a great job out of it, so I really can't complain.

One thing I find interesting is that even as I'm celebrating Mexico, I'm mourning the loss of other posts that I came to love over the months of research. In particular, Bratislava and Helsinki (if you are reading this and got this job, please let me know! I'm really curious who was assigned). We bid a bunch of small European posts where I would be the sole consular officer/consular chief. After two large posts, this kind of job makes sense for me, but they were highly bid and I decided to push Mexico City when I did not hear any feedback from those jobs, other than polite thanks when I contacted them. I later heard I was on the short list for a few of these countries, so I'm hopeful that someday I will get the chance.

Every country, every job has its pros and cons. If we had gotten a European post, we would have spent 6-11 months in D.C. learning a language I probably would never use again after that tour. My kids would grow up with a smattering of different languages but not really be bilingual. We would have some great time in the U.S. with our family, but then be rather far away for three years. I'm sure we would have seen family a little more than we do here in China, but those countries are still a day's travel away. We would have most likely lived in a house, which I long for after five years in apartments. We would have lived in a smaller city and done some traveling around Europe, which neither of us have seen extensively. On the other hand, my job as the only consular officer would have made it harder to take vacation.

Instead, we got enormous Mexico City, with its direct 5 hour flight to Washington, San Francisco, NYC, and many other places. I will have many colleagues with whom to share the responsibilities (and therefore, vacation time hopefully won't be as difficult). My kids (and husband?) will likely learn Spanish pretty well in those three years- I hope to be able to call my kids bilingual when we leave. We will see our families and friends a lot and be able to travel home at a moment's notice. Mexico City is a cosmopolitan city with wonderful museums, parks, restaurants, and more. We will be able to explore Mexico as well as perhaps the U.S. southwest. However, we will likely live in an apartment, though we don't know yet.

Like I said, pros and cons, pros and cons.