Whether or not we're brave enough to go to one of those African nations remains to be seen -- but we had to at least put them on our list to prevent the list from being kicked back to us as "unacceptable" because it was loaded with Londons, Dublins, Torontos, Aucklands, and the like. And when you get your list kicked back, you then "get" to bid on the chaff.
Anyway, as promised, here is the good stuff I've gleaned from overseas life -- at least, with the State Department:
Housing is provided for you. It's not necessarily up to US standards, but you don't have to pay for it.
The travel (to the assignment country) is provided. When it's halfway around the world, this opens doors for short trips that otherwise would be huge undertakings.
As such, we've gotten to see the temples at Angkor Wat, gotten Thai massages in Bangkok, and climbed part of the Great Wall near Beijing. For R&R, we may even go to New Zealand for some sight-seeing.
We've been immersed in an interesting culture very different from our own, and despite what Shane says, I still dig the pop music -- though I wish I could understand the words better. Not intending to rebuild my CD collection with Korean recordings, but they are definitely unique mementos of our time here.
The positivity (is that a word?) of the next two years will greatly depend on the post. It may mean wondrous joy (*crosses fingers for certain posts*) or it may mean frequent trips "home" (certain others) or even bailing altogether (once conditions are assessed firsthand).
And now, some things I really miss:
good, regular RPG'ing
Scrabble
Red Lobster
good beer
...and some things I -will- miss upon leaving here:
the grilled food
various beverages (pine bud drink, etc.)
amusing use of English
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Hopefully the post is good and maybe you will find some people you would choose to hang out with. I'll tell you my regular gaming groups are crumbling but I think that's because priorities change and everbody has lots of things to do. We've even shifted a weeknight group to just being a hangout with possible gaming on occation. I'm not to upset because the hanging out has easily taken the lead as my favorite part of gaming. Well ejoy the time with Shane and Melissa maybe they'll play scrabble with you.
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