Cue the AC/DC....

The Mini-Menace and I have successfully returned from our recon trip to Managua...it was a really short trip: flew down on a Sunday, spent 2 days there, and then came back on the 4th.  That was pretty much all the time I could con out of my CDO and the Spanish Department, even though I have about 8 million hours of annual leave that carried over from my previous job.  Still, I'm thankful that they let me go, considering that I am supposedly testing a week from now.  I say supposedly because no one has bothered to tell me when exactly my test is.  Anyhow, back to the recon....we spent about half a day visiting and registering the MM at his future school.  He seemed happy and definitely a little less freaked the eff out now that he knows what to expect.  We also had dinner with the embassy family that volunteered to care for the MM until I can find a permanent solution; they have three boys at the same school, and really, they were just about the NICEST people I've ever met.  They asked the MM what kind of food he would like for dinner, and--naturally--he voted for burgers.  Yes, folks, our first official dinner out in Nicaragua was at a T.G.I.Fridays, a place I have never actually frequented in the US.  Rest assured, Nica food was the only option on the rest of the trip; but conveniently for the MM, he was able to eat panqueques at breakfast every day.  He did discover the joys of passionfruit (aka maracuya) juice, and deep-fried cheese.  Score!!

Our second day, we visited the Masaya volcano, which, according to local legend (thank you, superstitious Conquistadores!) is an entrance to the underworld.  In case you were wondering, this is where the lame AC/DC reference comes in.  No, I was not actually referring to one of my all-time favorites (and most ridiculous) Christmas songs, Mistress for Christmas.  Yes, I like to make random musical references.  So what?

Also on the day-long adventure were a stop at a gorgeous crater lake, the Roberto Clemente baseball stadium, the markets in Masaya, where I had to restrain myself from actually shopping, since really....why cart all that stuff home when I'd just have to pack it up and ship it back?  I did buy the MM a wooden chess set, since he's now apparently obsessed with chess.  Don't ask me how it happened....summer daycare camp is an amazing thing.  Every evening we'd sit on the patio at the hotel, by the pool, and he'd try to teach me to play.  Would anyone like to guess how humiliating it is to have your 9 year old crush you like a bug EVERY SINGLE TIME?  If you answered pretty damn humiliating, you'd be right.  I figure this has to be a major checkmark in the Greatest Mom Ever column.  Right?????

Finally (and still on the epic day-long adventure), we also visited a local pottery market.  This was pretty awesome:  they mix the clay by stomping on it for hours, then spin it on foot-powered pottery wheels.  Pretty damn labor intensive, but best of all, the Mini-Menace got a hands-on (literally!) experience and got to give it a go.

On the way home, our flight on American was delayed so much that we would have missed our connection in Miami...so American put us on Copa, which then routed us through Panama and on to D.C.   I'm now a pretty big fan of Copa....remember when airlines actually used to feed you?  For free?  And left and arrived on time? Take note, American!! 

So, we're back, I'm freaking out about my Spanish exam, and we're off to NE Ohio for what will probably be our last trip home before we leave for Managua at the end of October.  The Cleveland area is the epicenter of both sides of my family, so I have loads of aunts, uncles, cousins, and both grandmothers to visit, plus some really close family friends who I met in VA (and who subsequently returned to the mothership area).  VERY excited to see everyone.  It'll be a nice way for the MM to celebrate the end of his 1st week of 4th grade....thank you Archdiocese of Arlington for starting before Labor Day!!!! 

I'd promise to try and post more often, but you all know that's not going to happen until I'm actually on the ground in Nicaragua, so until I can come up with something interesting to say, I'll just leave you with some photos of our trip.  Enjoy!!

 (OK, so it's not exactly a highway to Hell, but still, pretty damn impressive!)

 (Time to make the donuts clay)

The kindness of strangers

The concept of DOS and the FS as a community / family really hit home for me this week.  Ever since A-100 began, I've been stressing the F out over what I was going to do with the Mini-Menace once we arrived at post.  I hate to harp on the single-parent thing because, god knows, there are countless other single parents (or doubles, to be honest) who have it so much tougher than I do.  But I had no idea what I was going to do when I got to post and had to go to work, but at the same time, had to figure out school transportation and after-school childcare until I was able to hire someone.  (And that is a whole other issue, the concept of hiring a domestic employee is so foreign to me that I feel incredibly guilty about having domestic help).  Anyhow, to get back to my point, the woman who runs the Welcome Wagon group at post put me in touch with a family there whose kids attend the same school that the Mini-Menace will....and without having emailed / spoken to me, this family offered to take the MM to / from school and to watch him after school until we get settled, help me get him enrolled at school or or anything else that I needed help with.   Amazing.  I'm so much more relaxed about the move now, I can actually be excited about the move.

So excited, in fact, that the MM and I are headed down to Managua next month for a quick bombing run of a trip.  We're just going down to visit his school / take placement tests, and get him officially enrolled.  Ok, and *maybe* we'll be taking a day to do a little sightseeing--but I think it will help his transition if he can visualize where he'll be going to school or if he has a better idea of what he can expect.  So expect some actual Managua-related posts & pictures next month!

And the vehicle dilemma has been resolved....the poor hybrid Highlander is officially dead and we are now the proud owners of a bitchin' Jeep: 

An imposter!!!

Somebody needs to tell Newsweek / Murdoch / Brooks that this particularly alias is already spoken for!!

Working Vacation

The Mini-Menace has been in California for the past 2 weeks, on his annual pilgrimage to visit his father and paternal grandparents, and, as usual, I am bored to death without him.  The first few days are great--freedom to go where I want, when I want, and to watch movies with all sorts of child-unfriendly language, etc.--but after the 3rd day, the house is just too quiet.  The dogs were depressed too--they both stopped eating for the first few days, and would go into his room to look for him.  We're fine, but I'm definitely looking forward to his return in 1 week.  Just in time for his Young Diplomats' Day and Youth Security Overseas Seminar, and the start of his Saturday Spanish classes!!

In other Spanish news, I'm still plugging along in class.  I had my first progress evaluation and did much better than I'd anticipated.  It felt like a fluke, though....I was really on top of my game that day, whereas in class, I still feel like a total idiot.  I have until early September to get my act together.  One of my classmates was able to convince his CDO and post to let him test early so that he could arrive earlier than planned in order for his kids to start school at the beginning of the school year.....and he passed!!!!  So happy for him!  I hope his luck is contagious.

Had a little bit of drama with the car--there was a massive flash flood in the 'hood two weeks ago, and the 2.5 feet of water in the street got INTO my car and damaged the interior, the hybrid system, the brake system, and the power steering.  No verdict yet on whether or not it can be salvaged.  I love that car, but am starting to think about replacements.  Since the roads are pretty rough in Nicaragua, I'm actually thinking about getting a Jeep.  The dilemma, though, is do I go with the soft top, or the hard top for security reasons?  And since the Mini-Menace isn't old or big enough to sit in the front, plus my family will be visiting, do I go 2-door or 4-door?  Ay caramba!!!

Thanks to my mom for sending the Mini-Menace a massive care package with 15 different kinds of Oreos.  That's one item off his bucket list.  At least one of us is accomplishing something!!

The Bucket List

You didn't think I meant MY Bucket List, did you?  Oh no, I'm straight-up exploiting the Mini Menace here.  This list is awesome on so many levels.  I too would like to know what is a doy hole (see #12), and I really applaud the desire for a closet full of Oreos (#3).  Thanks to #16, I think I must be doing something right with this kid, although I supposed I ought to tell him to add #19 "Teach Mom about the concept of personal privacy.

False Advertising

I know, I know....I promised a post about my experiences so far in the FS as a singe parent (or, to be more accurate, a single, custodial parent of a school-aged child).  But after some reflection and drafting and editing of a post, I realized that there was no way for me to come out of that without sounding like a whiny brat.  Look, I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this gig, and while it certainly hasn't been easy and I'm sure that folks think I'm anti-social because I didn't go to every happy hour, there is no getting around the fact that the Mini Menace and I are about to embark on a massively exciting adventure.  Whatever my experience has been so far, it's all worth it.  And hey, the fact that domestic help is incredibly affordable (almost embarassingly so) in Nicaragua means that I'll have even less to complain about.

So, many apologies to anyone who might have been expecting an angry screed, but my judgment got the better of me.  Man, sometimes this maturity thing is kind of a drag.

Instead, more Spanish adventures! At orientation, the Spanish section managers told us to expect that the classes would be shuffled around once instructors got a better sense of the students' abilities, so that students at similar levels would be together, etc.  On Monday, I was moved to a new section, which I thought was going to be a good thing, even though I liked my instructor and my classmates.  Why?  I'd already taken two Spanish classes at FSI, so I'd been through at least half of the overall course before, so I was ready to work on new material.  BUT DEAR MOTHER OF GOD!!!!! I am not ready for the section they put me in....one guy (an A-100 classmate and one of the nicest guys on earth) is married to a native Spanish speaker and has been speaking Spanish at home for 20 years.  Um, I've been to Spain twice and can manage to get myself a beer and a meal.  Either FSI has a lot more confidence in my abilities than I do, or they've made a terrible, terrible mistake and just haven't figured it out yet. 

My new instructor might just be the most charming and fascinating man I've ever met, though, so I'll stick around until they kick me out.  Honestly, after fleeing Spain during the Civil War, settling in Latin Am and having to flee another dictatorship, and who knows what else....at 82, this guy has some amazing stories to tell.  If only I spoke enough Spanish to understand what he was saying.....

Oh, and a Mini-Menace update for my family:  he was selected for the all-star soccer team, and won 2nd place at his school's art contest.  He's a regular renaissance menace, that kid.

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....

Just in case you can't read the fine print on the flag.....

I'm headed to Nicaragua!!!!!!  WOOHOOO!!!  I was totally surprised--I had actually expressed a strong preference for a Mexican border post and thought I stood a pretty good chance (but not a guarantee) of getting it.  I mean, who the heck WANTS to go to Nogales?  But, once the shock wore off, I realized that I was still lucky enough to get one of my high bids, in one of the safest countries in Central America, where I'll get to work in my cone and get my language requirement out of the way.  Plus, the school there for the Mini-Menace is fantastic!  Oh, and the coffee??  SO EXCITED! I'll be leaving a little earlier than I had hoped (late October), but honestly, I really have nothing to complain about.  The more I think about it, the more excited I get.  Plus, I'm a lot more likely to get visitors in Managua than anywhere on the Mexican border...

The Mini-Menace, who had specifically requested Tijuana (proximity to LegoLand), took the news quite well.  I think the promise of surfing lessons might have had something to do with it.  Look, bribery is a perfectly acceptable parenting technique, right?

Diplochick, I'm still coming to see you in Chennai.  Count on it!!

My parents came to town for Flag Day and were really fascinated by the whole experience.  It's a total blur to me right now, but all in all, I am very happy with my assignment and am so happy for all my classmates.  Way to go, 160th!!!!

OMG, what have I done????

Bid list submitted a few minutes ago.  Let the freak-out commence!!!  What, you thought I knew what I was doing??  Top factors were working in my cone, getting off language probation, and (hopefully) security & quality of the Mini-Menace's education.  I think I had a pretty decent mix of highs, mediums, and lows, so I'm hopeful that I'll be assigned a high or medium-rated post.  My absolute top choice isn't, I think, a terribly desirable post, so I'd like to think I stand a pretty decent chance of getting it; but I could be completely wrong.  Sadly for the Mini-Menace, the Bahamas were (was?  singular or plural?  My brain is fried!) not on the list, so he started lobbying for Tijuana.  Why?  Proximity to Legoland.  I wish my decisions were that easy.

Also from this weekend, another entry in the annals of Red Menace High Quality Parenting: letting my son listen to Cee-Lo Green.  Think that's balanced out by watching The Bad News Bears?  You might think so, except for having to explain that Walter Matthau was a drunk and that "Blow it out your bunghole!" should not be repeated at school.

Peaches vs. Coconuts

After a three-hour session on cross-cultural communication, I've learned that some people / cultures are like peaches, others are like coconuts.

In other news, the Mini Menace is a finalist in a poetry recitation contest at school.  Naturally, the poem he picked is about farting.

It's a glorious life I lead, I tell you.  Glorious!!