bags are packed, ready to go...

...and this time I'm definitely getting on a plane!  It's been a crazy week but I'm ready.  It's finally happening.

You might be wondering, "wait - wasn't she supposed to leave on the 4th?"  Yes, yes I was.  But let's be honest, we all knew that was going to change.  I've waited this long, what's an extra 4 days?

You may know this about me, but I have serious packing anxiety.  I hate packing.  Hate. It.  Plus, I've never traveled for business before and I'm pretty sure I've never had to live out of one suitcase for 5 weeks.  Those added variables plus the dread I feel at the thought of possibly not packing something I'll really, really need and/or want at my destination made this particular packing experience super fun.  Enter Lillian, the woman who can go to Egypt for 10 days with only a carry-on.  Seriously, I watched her do it.  Answering my last-minute plea for help she came over last night and whipped me into shape.  My carry-on may or may not fit into the overhead bin, but my checked bag is under 50 lbs, which is nothing short of a miracle for me.  Don't judge.  Also, as multiple people have reminded me, it's not as though I'm going to a place that doesn't have stores.

I managed to de-Aisha-fy Chris's spare bedroom before I left, too.  I wanted him to be able to host Thanksgiving without his overnight guests wondering about his decorating choices.  It's as though I were never there, as long as you don't look in the dresser drawers...or the closet...or under the bed.  I don't think I'll ever be able to thank him enough for his generosity.

I'm number 1 on the wait list for business class, again thanks to Chris's generosity (and his mega-super-plus elite status on United).  It would be really nice to sleep horizontally for this 13-hour flight, so fingers crossed someone who bought a business class ticket decides they don't feel like flying to Dubai today.  Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be.

It's HAPPENING!

Dubai is back on the travel calendar - this is HAPPENING!  Cutting through the red tape has ceased and I am scheduled to depart in a week.  I have guarded optimism, mind you, simply because I have learned (over and over and over again) that nothing is guaranteed.  But I have a plane ticket, and that's the closest I've gotten so far so it's looking good.  YAY!

It's been an otherwise busy few weeks.  I got to celebrate the marriage of my friends Jason and Ben at their home in New Jersey, and the car ride with Alex, Mostafa and Brandon was nearly as entertaining as the wedding festivities.  And thanks to the magic of Facebook, Mom figured out that we were near the town of Ewing, NJ where generations of our family are buried, all the way back to the Revolutionary War.  Our hotel happened to be less than a mile from the cemetery and the boys were gracious enough to let me explore it for a little while before we headed back to DC.  I had to call my great uncle John to have him guide me to the three spots where our people are, otherwise it would probably have taken a few hours for me to find them.  I didn't expect to be as overwhelmed with emotion as I was, especially as I stood over the graves of my great-grandparents.  I've heard so many stories over the years and I'm so very grateful I finally got to spend a few moments with them.  I will never forget it.

Oh hey guess what - the government re-opened!  After almost 3 weeks I got to go back to work and spend 5 hours going through emails!  I will admit, the time off was pretty nice (especially since we got paid for it) but I was going mildly insane towards the end of it.  Let's just hope it doesn't happen all over again in January.

I went to a few concerts, one of which was 2 Cellos (that's the name of the group - super creative, I know) and it was amazing.  There was a meet-and-greet after the show and I was reduced to a babbling teenaged girl in the presence of what I consider freaking rock stars.  Words escape me to describe the experience, but I will say that I cried at one point during the show - actual tears running down my face.  They were that amazing (or I'm that obsessed with them, either way).

Obviously the biggest news is Dubai.  DUBAI DUBAI DUBAI!  This. Is. Happening.  And I'm pretty sure I get to go to Casablanca to give trainings for a week in the middle of it, no big deal.  I'll miss Thanksgiving with my family in Florida but I'll be home for Christmas (I dare you to get that song out of your head now).  I might even try to pop over to Cairo for a weekend to see all my other family.  Anything is possible!  Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be.

According to this I'm a DAR. 

My great-grandparents, Dearie & Bampi, and my great uncle David who died when he was a little boy. 

Alex, Jason, Jason's dad and Mostafa.

Brandon and I wear the same size shoe so sometimes we like to switch.

Clockwise: Brandon and me...unclear what's happening;
the groom and his new father-in-law;
ex-roommies!; the blushing bride and yours truly.

I'm a groupie and I make no apologies for it.

Woo hoo!

We (LilWayne, Lara and I) defaced some pumpkins by giving them faces. Happy Halloween!

 

and then there was a shutdown...

Some key things that happened in the last few weeks (in chronological order):  I turned 33, the federal government shut down, ArtStream had its most successful gala yet, and I deleted Dubai from my travel calendar.

Yay I got to celebrate another birthday in DC with my friends!  LilWayne, Charla, Cal, and Lee all took me out to dinner to a Thai place I've had on my DC bucket list for years.  It was a truly amazing meal, complete with the house cat wandering around the dining room.  It's cool, cats are clean.  There was definitely partying afterwards and I have to say thank you to all my buddies who came out to celebrate with me - I had a pretty good showing considering the the torrential rain.

And then there was a shutdown...
October 1, 2013 - the folks on the Hill couldn't get their act together so the federal government went into partial shutdown mode.  The USPTO is allowed to continue operating at full capacity on reserve funds for the next few weeks, but guess who's not technically a PTO employee anymore!  I was the only one at the office packing everything up, trying to make my out-of-office auto response sound as neutral as possible.  It took me a few tries.

DC has been pretty generous with the furloughed souls, though - I even got a pair of free tickets for Miss Saigon.  I've talked about it with a lot of folks and we all have the same dilemma: we have endless amounts of free time but we don't want to spend any money because we don't know when we're getting paid again.  Don't get me wrong - I'm keeping myself plenty busy (for example, it's been raining a lot so there's been a lot of Breaking Bad binge watching), but I have a feeling my friends are going to stop buying me pity drinks if this drags on much longer.

The upshot of the shutdown was that I had almost an entire week to help the ArtStream staff get ready for our 4th annual gala.  My role this year was significantly reduced from galas past since we didn't know whether I would be in the country for it at all, so I'm glad I could make myself useful.  It was an insanely successful event, and it's always a good night when I don't embarrass myself with a goodbye speech full of ugly crying (see ArtStream Gala 2012).

Since my last update on the Dubai situation, things were looking really good for a departure date of October 17th (a week from today).  And then there was a shutdown...
For so long I refused to take it off my calendar because I have to hold out hope for something.  But at some point we have to be realistic and accept that everyone responsible for handling the logistics of my trip (and almost everyone I would be working with in the consulate in Dubai) is also furloughed.  So a few minutes ago I deleted Dubai from my travel calendar.  For now.  Say it with me: This is only a delay.  This is only a delay.  This is only a delay.

I got this job just over a year ago.  The comedy of errors that has ensued since then makes for really good conversation if nothing else.  I've said it before and I'll say it again - I laugh so I don't cry.  It's all I can do to stay sane in this seemingly never-ending limbo.  Even though I'm furloughed I'm thankful I have a job, and even though I'm essentially homeless I'm thankful to Chris for letting me stay in his gorgeous home.  Thank you.  Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be.

delicious birthday dessert with delicious friends

someone got me a really funny birthday card

ArtStream Gala 2013!  Cal, me, Brent, Lillian, Libby, Wayne & Christine

shut DOWN

#furloughperks with Jennie

surely these people can find me a permanent home

back to my karaoke roots with Ben

oh, and I went to a party at the Egyptian embassy  - I like looking at ceilings, is that weird?

this will probably be outdated within 24 hours

Most of the time I can't keep track of which updates I've given to whom, especially since things change not daily but hourly (and sometimes more frequently than that).  If someone asks, my tendency these days is to simply report on what the status is right NOW instead of anything/everything leading up to now.  It's going to change again in a few minutes anyway.  (Am I talking about my personal situation or life in general?  Yes.)  My benefactor/roommie Chris said he envisions me getting to work every day and strapping on a seat belt.  It's a fairly accurate description.

So, right now: Dubai is still on the table for a TDY.  It was a definite, then merely a maybe (the ambassador "still needed convincing"), then a definite again (we convinced him!)...until mass confusion ensued between the two government agencies responsible for me regarding how all the logistics are to be handled.  Over a week was devoted to applying for my official passport, being told that one cannot carry both an official and a diplomatic passport, being told I can travel to Dubai on my dip passport after all, and getting my dip passport back from the Egyptians (who were still "processing" my visa) in order to apply for a UAE visa.

My administrative staff consists of 3 ladies who have my back 100%.  They want Dubai to happen as much as I do.  I can't really blame anyone for the mass confusion, but I will say my ladies seem to know exactly what's going on and they spend most of their time trying to explain it to everyone else.  More power to them.  This is an unprecedented situation for the IP Attaché program, not made any less complicated by the ever-changing political climate in the region (the US embassy in Beirut was evacuated a few days ago ahead of our possible military action in Syria).  The fact that no one can agree on who needs to approve/pay for/make all necessary arrangements for this TDY does not surprise or phase me in the least.  I am eerily devoid of emotion on the subject.  I have learned to not pack or move anything until I have a physical plane ticket in my hand.  But even then I probably won't be convinced of anything until I'm on the ground in Dubai, and even then nothing is for sure.  It is the ultimate lesson in flexibility.   

Because an early September departure to Dubai was looking less and less likely, I decided to fly home to Florida for Labor Day Weekend to surprise Granny on her 92nd birthday.  I paused only slightly when considering the potential physical consequences of surprising a 92-year-old.  I told a handful of friends I was coming home, even keeping Mom out of the loop (although on some level I knew she knew).  My boo Eddie picked me up from the airport, we had dinner with friends, and I had the whole surprise planned out in my head, timed perfectly for when Mom, Granny and great aunt Sal pulled into the driveway from dinner.  (Seriously - you would think the last year of my life would have taught me to not make plans and to not get attached to outcomes.)  Needless to say the surprise did not go how I had envisioned it, but it was a successful surprise nonetheless.  I'm so grateful I was able to spend another birthday with Granny in person.     

It was a fairly uneventful weekend, which was perfect.  Murray was utterly beside himself when I walked in the door and he did not leave my side for four days.  Heaven.  I spent time with my dear (pregnant!) friend Joslyn and her husband Dave in their brand new gorgeous amazing house - mazel/mabrook! - and with my dear friend Laura and her husband Brice.  L&B's last name is Duba so I hope to bring them semi-personalized souvenir T-shirts from Dubai.  Mom, Granny, Sal, Murray and I spent Labor Day out at the lake with the Dunegans, my bonus family, and Mom went out on the Jet Ski while the rest of us ate birthday cake.  It was delightful. 

Back here on the ranch in DC the weather is unseasonably amazing so the whole city is taking advantage of it, and I'm writing this from the front porch, naturally.  We spent most of the weekend outside: at an outdoor concert on the river, on Lil & Wayne's front stoop, and on one of those Potomac River dinner cruises to celebrate our friend Libby's birthday - it was never on my bucket list and you wouldn't know it from the picture, but I had a really great time!

Tomorrow is Monday...fasten your seat belts and stay tuned.  Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be :)

it was the only candle we could find...

my love

one of the trees I planted at WPHS 9th Grade Center over 18 years ago

with Eddie at the Orlando City soccer semi-finals - we won! -
silliest name for a sports team ever

Lillian on our way home from Yards Park - oh hey there Capitol Building

I wasn't ready!
Tom, John, Wayne, Libby, Lillian, yours truly, Dave,
and some nice girls we met for the first time that night

  

TDY in Dubai! it's fun because it rhymes

I'm watching a news conference coming out of Cairo right now in response to the interim government's crackdown on Morsi-supporter protests.  This past week in Egypt was the bloodiest since the revolution in 2011, and the pictures are heartbreaking, regardless of which side one supports.  It seems as though the political situation is deteriorating rapidly into a military state and I hope all the bloodshed hasn't been for nothing. 

Last week was the end of Ramadan - I didn't fast this year but I did give up alcohol for the month as a gesture of good faith (hehe, get it?).  I realize celebrating the Eid with a glass of bubbly is wrong but I did it anyway, and I had some folks over to the front porch to help me.  Being surrounded by good friends, breaking bread, laughing together - that is holy to me.  Eid Mubarak!

A couple of weeks ago the State Department issued the closing of all US embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa because of a security threat.  All but the embassies in Egypt and Yemen have since reopened.  A lot of people ask me how I’m dealing with all of this limbo and commenting on how difficult and frustrating it must be.  Setting aside the real-world strife in the region right now, yes, not being able to plan anything more than two weeks out (just in case) is troublesome for someone like me who likes to plan (#firstworldproblems).  But in order to keep my sanity levels in check, I decided to stop waiting and just be here until I’m not.  I have to live my life in a way that isn’t so temporary and in-between, and changing my outlook has made all the difference.  Funny how that works... 

It's SO funny that my options have literally tripled in the last 48 hours.  The folks in UAE, Bahrain and Oman are all willing to let me come hang out on a TDY (Temporary DutY - although, Wikipedia says it means "temporary duty yonder" which I think is hilarious).  No one wants to create a new full-time position for me at their embassy because it's a huge pain, but apparently finding space for me for 30-90 days is no problem so that's what I'm going to do.  I'm more than happy to wander the desert like a Beduin since we don't know whether my home in Cairo will ever be an option.  

So yes, I'm 99% sure I'll be in Dubai for the month of September.  (!!!!!!!)  It's unclear how these back-to-back TDYs will work, whether I'll return to DC in between or just move from Dubai to Manama(na) to Muscat to wherever else.  Also, since these are temporary assignments and not diplomatic posts I can't travel on my diplomatic passport.  I have to get an official passport.  With my tourist, official and diplomatic, I will have the trifecta of passports.

I'm beyond excited about these new possibilities, but I’m also really grateful for all the time I’ve been able to be the Attaché from my stateside office.  It’s been my very own independent study on what works and what doesn’t, with all the support I need from the people here in DC I’ll be working with the most once I’m gone.  There’s a lot to be said for good working relationships and I’m creating more and more of them every day.  I've been thoroughly enjoying another DC summer, too: outdoor movies, concerts, backyard BBQs, drinks on the front porch, new friends, old friends, brunches, golf, etc. etc.  I say thank you every day for all the goodness in my life.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be. 

My new business card, 4 months later.

It's been just over a week since the protests that ousted Mohamed Morsi from the Egyptian presidency began.  My family was out there in the streets protesting, and I'm thankful they are all safe.  The pro-Morsi folks were camped out in the neighborhood where my would-be apartment is still empty and waiting for me...like Godot, sad to say.  

I'm still in DC, but not entirely because of the current security situation (although the embassy in Cairo is under a mandatory evacuation so even if I had gone I would have been back here anyway).  There was another hiccup after the ambassador changed her mind to let me go to Cairo and there were a lot of interagency politics being played which eventually led to a stalemate...and then Egypt had another revolution, if I may be so bold as to call it that.  (We're certainly staying away from the word "coup" because of the political and economic ramifications, but the military overthrew the president so call it what you will.)  

The June 30th protests in Egypt had been planned for months so I decided to wait and see what would happen there before I tried again to cut through all the red tape and go claim the desk that is rightfully mine.  Fact: not only do I still have an empty apartment in Cairo, I also have an empty suite of offices in the embassy.  It's such a waste, because Cairo is now completely off the table.  I'm so disappointed I hardly have the words.  Terribly, awfully disappointed.  BUT, we pick up the pieces and move on, so now I'm in the midst of convincing the powers that be to give me a spot in the consulate in Dubai.  If they don't have room for me then we'll ask the embassy in Abu Dhabi, and if they don't want me we'll ask the embassy in Amman.  It reminds me of something my bonus dad, Steve, told me at the beginning of my budding legal career - "somebody somewhere WILL hire you!"

In other news, I had my last Arabic class a couple of weeks ago.  They gave me a certificate and everything!  I will miss my teacher, Ahmed - we've been buddies since February and he's heard all about ALL of the ups and downs during this entire process.  They should give him a bonus for putting up with me for as long as he did.

July 4th was last Thursday (interesting that Egypt's "independence" was the day before) and I spent the holiday weekend in St Louis with Lindsey, her husband Chad and their friends.  We were mostly at the pool, with the exception of a quick mud run on Saturday morning, no biggie.  I actually volunteered last-minute to help out along the course since I hadn't signed up to run - mostly because I didn't think I would make it through 5 miles of mud and obstacles.  Looking back I probably could have done it, but then we wouldn't have those sweet action shots of the rest of the team!  Good times.

SO - no Cairo, but I'm still the Intellectual Property Attaché for the Middle East & North Africa.  They can't take that away from me!  I'll still be doing the same work, just from a different place than I had planned.  And we all know that when we make plans God laughs.  I would imagine He's having a pretty good chuckle with all the plans I've made in the last few years :)  Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be.

p.s. Ramadan Kareem!

Tahrir Square in Cairo on July 3, 2013.

Best Arabic teacher ever.

   Mud up wit dat?!  Chad, Lindsey, Chris, Adam & Christina 

(plus the non-runners Hayden and Aisha).

Little man enjoying his July 4th weekend in Asheville, NC with his grandma.

So...there was a major hiccup in the whole Aisha-moves-to-Cairo story - but it's all fixed now and we're finally back on track.

See what had happened was: the day after Memorial Day while I was still in Florida getting ready to move Mom into her new house, I got a phone call telling me the Ambassador had decided to reduce personnel numbers at the US Embassy in Cairo and that she was looking to rescind my position.  Let that sink in for a minute: everything I had been working towards for the last 3 years was on the verge of disappearing.

Alternatives were discussed, including relocating me to somewhere else in the region (like Dubai, which certainly would not have been awful).  But my family isn't in Dubai, they're in Cairo, and Cairo is what I signed up for.  Not to mention the 5 months of Egyptian colloquial Arabic lessons I've been taking.  Needless to say I was pretty torn up about it.

Fast forward 2 1/2 weeks to this past Friday (which, by the way, felt like the longest 2 1/2 weeks of my life): the Director of the USPTO somehow managed to convince the Ambassador to change her mind about me.  I was waiting outside the Director's office during the call, and when everyone came out with their thumbs up it felt like I had gotten the job all over again.  Sadly the final deal isn't in ink yet so I'm keeping my promise to the Universe to not count my chickens until I'm on Egyptian soil (and then again on American soil inside the embassy walls).  But to everyone who had started pricing out flights to Dubai (Lillian), we're back to the original plan...for now.

I still don't have a departure date, naturally, so I'm in that unfortunate state of limbo again.  But I would take this limbo of not-knowing-when-I'm-leaving over not-knowing-whether-I'm-going-at-all any day.  Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be.

p.s. happy Father's Day :)

    

Another pseudo-lazy Sunday, hanging out on the porch again.  It's a gorgeous day and I'm cherishing the breeze and temps in the mid-70s.  Soak it in, oh desert-bound one!

In my first post I neglected to mention my swearing in ceremony.  For some reason I have to continually remind myself that I'm moving to Egypt for a job and not for a semester abroad or extended vacation or something.  Reality smacked me in the face the other day when my predecessor brought me 2 boxes full of files and binders she used during her time in Cairo.  It might take me the rest of my time in the states to go through all of it.  Maybe it's all so outdated I won't need to take it with me?  Wishful thinking.

Back to the swearing in: it was a couple of weeks ago and it was a lovely, incredibly short ceremony.  It literally took us longer to get to the room than it did for me to take the oath and sign my papers.  I was blessed and honored to have an entourage there with me to witness it.  (I know Lillian and Lindsey would have been there, but Lillian was busy running the National Cherry Blossom Festival (no biggie) and Lindsey lives in St Louis.)  On my way to the Department of Commerce headquarters I began to feel a tremendous amount of anxiety and couldn't figure out why.  Then my mom and Lindsey, independently of one another, reminded me that this ceremony meant things were officially getting REAL.  Speaking of things getting real, I finally got my travel orders - I depart on June 15th, assuming I get my dip passport and visa by then.  So even though it's official, I won't consider it officially official until I have a plane ticket in my hand.

Today marks the end of a week-long celebration for our dear friend Wayne's birthday.  It was the first anniversary of his 39th...we're not talking about it.  I'm miffed that he decided to move back to DC from Phoenix right before I move, but I'll take as much Wayne time as I can get until then.  He's the life of the party - even when there's no party - and I will miss him terribly. 

Yesterday there was a cast party for ArtStream's Gaithersburg Inclusive Acting Companies.  Talk about missing people terribly.  I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to help lead such an amazing group of people (I'm still on the board, just not the chair anymore - and yes, the plan is for me to Skype into board meetings in the middle of the night Cairo time.)  ArtStream changed my life and if you're in the DC area you should check us out (www.art-stream.org) and go see a show/volunteer/donate/join the board.  It will change your life, too, I promise.

I head home to Florida tomorrow for a couple of weeks - most likely the last time before I move - which means I get to see my little man Murray!  And my mom and granny and great aunt and all my friends of course :)  Spending Memorial Day Weekend in Florida is always fun, and I'm also going to be helping mom move into her new house which we are very excited about.  It has a big fenced-in back yard for Murray to run around in, but he's never had his own yard so I'm not sure he'll know what to do with it.  I do know he will spend a great deal of time claiming every. single. bush. as his very own.  

While I'm home the goal is to practice some Arabic every day.  My teacher stopped giving me homework a long time ago because he finally accepted that I wasn't going to do it.  I graduated from school a long time ago - homework is hard.  But mom knows enough Arabic to be able to help me study so we'll see how it goes.  When I get to Egypt it will take me about 2 weeks to start dreaming in Arabic (this happens every time I go there) so I'm not all that worried about being able to communicate with folks.  Plus, all of my work at the embassy will be in English so there's that.

Now that there's an official departure date I know it will be here in what feels like 5 minutes.  In the meantime I want to be here, now - not waiting to leave.  The time will come when it comes, regardless of how quickly or slowly (depending on how I feel on any given day) I want it to.  Deep breaths, one thing at a time, everything is as it should be. 

The view from our little front porch nook.

Approximately half of the files bequeathed to me by my predecessor.

My entourage (from the left): Charla, baby Grant, 

Donna, Alain, Laure, Wayne, me, Jackson & Giselle.

It's official!  I'm a First Commercial Officer.

Never thought I'd be a blogger but here we are.  I figured a monumental life change warrants documentation - plus I have a feeling the process of writing will be some sort of active meditation to help me sort through the stuff that comes with monumental life changes...

I've wanted this job (see below for a full description of "this job") for over 2 1/2 years since I heard a rumor they were thinking of reopening the position.  Before that I had convinced myself that being a trademark examining attorney for the rest of my life was enough.  It's such a sweet gig (working from home anywhere in the US, infinitely flexible schedule, federal government benefits, etc, etc, etc) that I personally think anyone would be a fool to give it up (looking at you, Alain!).  But I distinctly remember coming home that day after I heard they were reopening the Cairo office and saying to myself "yes...that is what I am supposed to do."  I have always wanted to live in Egypt in a way that made sense with the path I've chosen so far, i.e. building houses in the desert/teaching English/etc is all very admirable but hi, have we met?  It's not really my thing.  Intellectual property law - copyrights, trademarks, patents (if I have to) - that's my thing.  And so I plugged away at examining trademark applications, putting myself in front of the people who would eventually hire me so often that some might describe it as obnoxious - I call it persistent - for the next 2 years.  The icing is that after my time in Cairo is up I have a right of return to be a trademark examiner again.  Win, win!  

They called to tell me I got the job back in September.  I hung up the phone knowing that in that exact moment everything had changed.  Good thing Murray (my dog) was at daycare that day.  All of the laughing, crying, screaming and jumping would have been seriously confusing to him.  We'll talk more about Murray and the fact that he's not coming with me to Cairo later...  

"This job": if you're bored, here is the official job description of an Intellectual Property (IP) Attaché - http://www.uspto.gov/ip/global/attache/index.jsp.  Basically, I will be working in the US Embassy in Cairo as a liaison between the US government and the governments of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa for all things IP-related.  I'll help US companies protect their IP interests in those countries, advise local governments on how to amend their IP legislation to meet international treaty thresholds, provide training for local attorneys, judges and customs officials on how to better enforce their existing IP laws, and help local IP offices become more efficient.  It's a pretty intense, high level position - a far cry from examining trademark applications at home in my extensive collection of yoga-wear every day.  I have to meet with the Ambassador the first day on the job.  What?!?!  But they wouldn't have hired me if they didn't think I would be amazing, right?  Right.  

SO, we're approximately a month away from my estimated departure to Cairo.  I was supposed to be there by mid-April but things like this are always hurry-up-and-wait.  I'm currently (again) in the waiting stage.  Once I get my diplomatic passport (sooooo cooooool!) in a week or two I can apply for my work visa which takes another 2-4 weeks.  So yeah, a June 8th departure is unlikely.  Which is totally fine with me - I'm happy to have a little more time stateside since Egypt gets to have me for the next 2-5 years.  (Let me clarify so that "2-5 years" doesn't sound like a prison sentence: my initial tour is 2 years with 3 optional 1-year extensions for a maximum of 5 years.  The plan is to be there the whole 5 years, but we make plans and God laughs, so we'll see.)  

The last few months have been full of logistical nightmares but we got through it.  The lease on my apartment was up on April 11th, 2 days after I got back from my step-sister's wedding in Honduras, where apparently I offended Montezuma's spirit because I was physically unable to stand long enough to pour a glass of water let alone pack an entire apartment.  Mama Salem flew up in the eleventh hour (literally) to save the day.  We managed to fit a one bedroom apartment into one bedroom in my dear friend Chris's gorgeous new home.  Anything not in a box labeled "Egypt" or "Florida" got unpacked.  The day after my first official going away party (there have been 3 so far - there will be more), mom and I loaded up a moving truck with the boxes labeled "Florida" and the day after that we drove it to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to empty her storage unit there.  By Wednesday night (we left DC Monday afternoon), with the help of some very generous friends (including the one and only Lee), we had unloaded everything in Winter Park.  Two major moves down, one to go.  For that last one there are people who will do all the packing and moving for me - one of the many perks of foreign service.

Murray was a trooper during the multiple moves.  For the trip to Florida we put his crate on its side in the enormous space between seats in the cab of the truck with his little bed on top.  He had the best view of all of us, and I'm proud to announce that he did not try to frantically escape every time we parked like he normally does on road trips.  Sadly this would be his last road trip with me for a while since he is now under the guardianship of his grandmother.  Yes, I could have taken him to Egypt with me, but it just wouldn't have been fair to him.  I'll be working and traveling all the time, plus he's never been on a plane - he'd probably shake himself to death on a 9 hour flight.  Besides, Murray and my mom adore each other.  He'll be fine - me, not so much. 

At this very moment, I am relaxing on the luxurious front porch of my temporary quarters with the next door neighbor's dog.  I'm taking advantage of any four-legged companionship I can get at this point.  I will miss this.  There are no parts of Cairo I've seen that are as quiet.  So until then I will soak it in.  I even tried to enjoy last week's freakishly cold and rainy weather since I won't be getting any of that for a while either.  Key word: tried.  

Am I nervous about what's to come?  Yes.  This is a big f*$&ng deal.  I think it would be weird if I weren't nervous.  I'm moving to a different country and starting a new job on almost the same day.  When I look back on the path that lead me here it all makes sense, but I never would have imagined this for myself 10 - or even 5 - years ago.  Five years from now as I'm ending my Egypt adventure and starting a new one (insha' Allah) I'll probably be saying the same thing.  Deep breaths, one thing at a time...everything is as it should be :)

Mom drivin, Murray chillin.

No, Chris doesn't own the entire house.  The front porch on the right is his/ours.