It's starting to get real..

I take my Chinese test in exactly two months, though I won't arrive in China until early July.

Congress mandates that Foreign Service Officers spend at least 20 business days in the U.S. between tours, getting reacquainted with the country we are serving. It's called Home Leave. I'm not sure why it is mandatory when an FSO is studying a language (for example, it's waived when you are coming home for a tour in D.C.), but it is. Normally you do home leave right after leaving your previous tour, but our assignment included home leave after training.

So after I hopefully PASS my Chinese test, we will pack out of Oakwood and start our home leave. We plan to move into my parents' house for a few weeks to let the kids finish school. In late June, we will head west for our annual family reunion on D's side. It's looking like I will continue on to Guangzhou by myself, and the family will follow 4 weeks later. We couldn't get much information about summer camps in GZ, and the prospect of the kids sitting around for 6 weeks until school starts was not appealing. They are going to have a blast in Oregon.

Last time we left for post, we were running around like crazy people doing things that could have been done earlier. I'm really trying to avoid that this time, so I have multiple massive to-do lists and have been crossing things off...

Here's where things stand, ~3 months out...

- Visa applications submitted
- Tourist passport renewed for one child
- Kids accepted to Chinese school
- Vaccination appointment scheduled
- Housing assignment received (so excited!)
- Oregon summer camps researched
- Multiple doctors and dentist appointments scheduled or completed
- Online shopping for kids' rooms commenced

Need to do this week/soon:
- Schedule airline reservations
- Schedule packout
- Register for summer camp

Going forward, the weeks are just going to race by.

Have I mentioned that I started CrossFit? When we were in the DR, D and I promised ourselves that we would get in shape, but it just hasn't happened...too many excuses. We had dinner with a friend who raved about CrossFit, and before I knew it, we had purchased two Groupons for a month of CrossFit classes!

During the first class, I almost died. Some of those muscles haven't been used in ages. I was so sore for days that I could barely walk. I don't love the weight lifting emphasis of CrossFit (should have done my homework!), and I realized that what I really wanted was a boot camp-type class which emphasized cardio as much as strength training. So I just bought a Groupon for that, too! I feel very energized and find that the exercising helps me make better food choices, as well. I am really hopeful that I can keep this up after the Groupons end. I know that I'm thin, but I need to lose some weight or I will have to buy a whole new work wardrobe!

So, it's busy around here. L wanted to do spring soccer like her brother, so every weekend we will have two soccer games, swimming, Chinese, and you know, regular errands....

Great article on ACS services!

This week, the Washington Post published a wonderful article  on American Citizen Services at embassies abroad. I hope everyone who wonders what I do and everyone hoping to become a consular officer reads this article! Consular officers work long hours helping Americans abroad, especially in an emergency/disaster.

I am glad the article mentions STEP, a program that allows travelers to receive emails and information about their destination. For example, if there is a hurricane coming while you are visiting the Dominican Republic, you would receive periodic emails with information on what to do.

The ONLY thing I think it missed was a mention of travel insurance. In the DR, many Americans called us because they wanted us to pay their hospital bills, something we couldn't do. Anyone can get into an accident or become ill while abroad, and the financial and medical consequences can be disastrous. We had tragic cases where the family members felt their loved one was not getting adequate care in the DR, but they could not afford the $50,000 to evacuate their loved one to the U.S. Please, next time you travel, be sure to purchase travel insurance. I thought this NY Times article was very informative.

Overall, very pleased to see this positive coverage!