ok! i'm still alive!

update, in bulleted format because i am so very lazy and segues are too much work:

• i've been taking spanish for 4 weeks now. the classes have good bits and bad bits. good bits include there being only 4 students, the teachers all being native speakers, class running from 10-4, and the textbook and class being heavily conversation based. the bad bits include the book being not so much organized as a series of seemingly unrelated tidbits of spanish and the almost complete lack of explicit grammar instruction.

• we are learning a strange mix of normal beginning-language-student stuff, like the colors and how to ask how much stuff costs, and foreign service specific things, like the following vocab items:
  
  • el embajador: the embassador
    
  • la solicitud de visas: visa application
    
  • la Agencia del Desarrollo Internacional: USAID (agency for international development)
    
  • el agregado political: the political attach�

• karl and i are moved in, basically, to our apt in DC. it is a small 1-bedroom and being here is taking getting used to, since we were living in a 3-bedroom house in philly. sigh... good things about this apartment: it is furnished (though not exactly to my tastes, what with the rust-colored velour couch/chair, the central-american design rugs, and the african prints on the walls), utilities are included, the front desk staff are friendly, and it is only a 10 minute walk to the metro.

• in other news, i am 14 weeks pregnant. karl and i were kinda sorta talking about when to have kids, and had kind of unwillingly come to the conclusion that this time period while we were here in DC, before heading off to post would be a great time to have a baby (because hey! what better way to cap off a year that included defending the diss, moving cities, getting a new job, and preparing to move to another continent than to add a small person to the family?!) so we went for it, and were very lucky that i got knocked up right away. i'm due march 27, and i'm not sure quite how this is going to affect our departure date for peru other than that it will be delayed somewhat.
  
• good things about being pregnant:
  
  • no period
    
  • not having to tuck my shirt in for 9 months
    
  • blaming the extra fat on "the baby"
    
  

• bad things about being pregnant
  
  • "morning" sickness. not restricted to mornings, nor apparently restricted to the 1st trimester, as i threw up as recently as this morning. also, feeling nauseous for most of the day, every day, for going on 2 months now is NO FUN. sure, i can function. sure, i get up everyday and shower and go to work. but it is a drain on my whole being and i am WEARY of it.

  • not enjoying food. because of the "morning" sickness, i have not had an appetite in weeks. i eat throughout the day because it is the only thing that keeps the nausea to tolerable levels. but i do not enjoy eating and in fact pretty much dread every bite.

  • my skin. i have dozens and dozens of pimples. my skin is much worse now than it was a the height of my teenage pimplehood. and, because i'm pregnant, there's barely anything i can do about it.

  • the exhaustion. when is that 2nd tri burst of energy going to kick in? cuz, anytime would be nice. any. effing. time.

  • clothes. none of my pre-preg clothes fit, and the maternity clothes i have are all too big. i need a belly! (or rather, a bigger one than i already have) (i know, i know. soon enough i will be complaining about the belly and how uncomfortable it makes me.)

  • having to skip the mojitos when we go out for mexican. boo.
  
  

pet llama, anyone?

21 August 2006 - 7:23 pm

where'd i get posted? Lima, Peru!

i've finished my initial training, gotten sworn in by undersecretary for political affairs r. nick burns, and have started my other training.

first was 2 days of s.o.s. -- security overseas seminar. this was 2 terrifying days of all the ways you can die overseas. we learned about armed kidnapping! and drowning in pools! and kids running right through untempered glass doors! and housefires from shoddy wiring and/or electrical outlets *in the shower*! we heard about bombs (if a grenade rolls to your feet, kick it and run the other way!) and being held hostage in the embassy! and how to tell if you're experiencing a nerve agent attack (apparently, your vision goes quite suddenly very dark, as if you've put on sunglasses indoors)--and also learned that we're each going to be issued 3 doses of an anti-nerve-agent medicine, like an epi-pen, and how to administer it. we also noted that just us, not our families, would get this stuff.

this week i've started a two-week class on the western hemisphere, which is really a class on Mexico and Parts South--the 3 people in our class going to canada are SOL.

after labor day i start 6 months of spanish class--5 hours/day of class + 2-3 hours/day of homework or lab work. i still can hardly believe that someone is going to be *paying me* to learn a language! whoo!

in march, after spanish, i have EEO training, then 6 weeks of the consular course--basically a class on immigration law. i know, i know, but it's supposed to be a really good class. then, in may 2007, we leave for Lima!