Lazarus in the house!!

Yeah, that's right, folks:  I'm back from the dead.  I warned you I was going to be a lazy blogger, didn't I?

A-100 is finally over, and I think the entire 160th breathed a massive sigh of relief.  I can't speak for everyone, but after Flag Day, all I really cared about was finding out more about my post and starting language training and area studies.  Well, that and finally not having to wear a suit and heels every day.  Still, we made it through that last week (barely, for some of us, including myself) and are now scattered to the four corners of DC and FSI.  I'm lucky enough to be in area studies with several classmates, and one is in my Spanish class as well.  I still see other 160ers around campus, though, which is nice.  I made some good friends and really hope that we'll stay in touch.

So: Spanish.  We're two days in and, while I can't say I'm feeling overwhelmed yet, the sheer volume and pace of the work is pretty hectic.  I took two Early Morning courses at FSI when I was at my last job, so I knew basically what to expect.  I have the one of the same instructors from my previous courses, so I even knew what to expect from her.  That said, though, my class of four is pushing ahead signficantly faster than the EM classes did.  On average, the EM classes covered a unit in 2-3 days; my current class has already blown through four units (albeit basic stuff, just as a review)  in a day and a half.  I do homework every night.  I may well be eating my words re: "independent study = watching Telemundo in bed"--my scheduled independent study hours are not going to involve rotting my brain with telenovelas.  Still, I'm so thrilled to be getting paid to improve my Spanish, I can't complain.  Now if I could only learn how to type with accents...

Other news:  Mad props to Short Term Memory for reaching out to me from Managua and offering to answer my undoubtedly asinine questions about life in Nicaragua.  Go check out the blog, folks, it's awesome.  It's made this whole moving-to-Nicaragua thing more real--the photos are gorgeous and STM does a great job of chronicling life at post.  I really feel like I have a better idea of what to expect and feel like the decision to rate Managua as "high" was the right move.

Stay tuned for a blog post on my experiences thus far as a single parent in the Foreign Service.  Eventually....