A new beginning

After much pressure from my family and friends, this is the start of my blog. I admit that putting too much of myself on the internet makes me nervous, but I’m willing to give it a try. So here I go…

It’s been about a month since the big move from Providence, and I feel like it’s been one of the busiest months of my life. A big part of the Foreign Service is networking and socializing, so that’s a big part of Shawn’s initial training. Which means we have had “meet and greet’s” and happy hours at least 2 or 3 evenings a week all month. It’s been exhausting, but knowing that it’s a big part of our new lifestyle has kept me going.

One of the great things about the Foreign Service is that they like to keep spouses and other family members really involved. I guess they’ve figured out that expecting people to change their entire life and move overseas is a little much to ask without giving any kind of support. So I’ve taken a few classes at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, which is the same place all of Shawn’s classes are. I’ve learned how to handle stress (I hope), introduce people to the Ambassador, and eat lobster in a formal setting. I kind of hope that last one doesn’t come up in real life. I don’t think it would be very pretty.

Other than those events, I’ve pretty much been learning how to be a non-working person. I thought that I’d really enjoy it, and I think I will eventually, but it’s been a little bit of a difficult transition. I’ve been keeping the apartment really clean and have instituted a “get out of the house one day a week” rule. So far I’ve spent a day in Georgetown and a day at the Union Station area. And the funniest housewife moment happened this week: One of the other non-working wives and I actually went to the grocery store together to get the ingredients to try new recipes for our husbands when they got home from work! Very Donna Reed.

The next few weeks will be full of more classes, at least one “spouse” event, and the most important event of all: Flag Day. That’s the day when we will find out where in the world (literally) we’ll be going for Shawn’s first assignment. It’s exciting and stressful at the same time. But I guess that’s been the case for much of life during the past two months.