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  Maybe it's all so outdated I won't need to take it with me?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.