I haven’t written here for some time because I haven’t felt I had anything to say. You know, nothing major has happened. We’re still here in northern Virginia. I’m still studying Portuguese. The countdown clock in the right-hand column of this blog says we have another 128 days before our approximate arrival in Brazil. Until then, what’s to say?
Well, I felt that way until I started reading the other FS blogs, and I realized that yes, I do have nothing so share. I love how so many of the blogs cover the minutia, the small bits of every day life that would otherwise go by unnoticed, but that, like the bits of a mosaic add up to a distinctive portrait.
So here I am to report on the bits that compose the mosaic of our lives.
First off, I did buy the car. It’s a cutie pie, too. I had it for what, six weeks, before someone slammed into it in one of the parking lots of Tyson’s Corner, a huge shopping mall in McLean, Va. Did this person leave a note? No, he did not. Is the damage extensive? Enough for the repair dealership to come up with a $760 bill, of which I’m told I have a $500 deductible. “It’s not going to happen,” I said. And it won’t. Part of me is furious; the other part says, “Well, I was worried about something like this happening in São Paulo. Now, I don’t have to worry anymore.” But that’s just it. I worried about it happening in SP, where traffic is notoriously bad. I didn’t think that something like this would happen here, in quiet suburban Virginia, or that the perpetrator would be selfish and lousy enough to just drive off without leaving a note.
Back to the car. It’s lovely. I call it Hemingway. My daughter calls it Fitzgerald. At least, we both agree on the writer aspect. When I told her I liked the name Fitzgerald, she told me she didn’t want our new car named after such a misogynist chauvinist, no matter how talented he was. I could see her point, but I told her that our little Hemingway had nothing to do with Earnest, except in being incredibly dashing.
In other (old) news, I passed my first Portuguese language evaluation. Am I relieved? Well, I was at the time. Very. But that was four weeks ago — (Yes, I know, I should’ve reported it then) — and now I’m four weeks away from another evaluation. Do I feel ready? Hmm … No.
What else? Well, just about now I suppose I should start to do stuff to get ready for post. But all I can think about is Portuguese — Portuguese and leaving my mother in New York and seeing my daughter off to Los Angeles. We’re all of us, going to be so far apart. I’m worried too about registering my son for school. I haven’t heard back from any of the schools in SP. I’ve been told they’re over subscribed and now I’m terrified he won’t get in. A little voice tells me that it’ll all work out–it always does–but still.
Then, of course, there are the cats.
How could I have forgotten them? My two little (or not so little?) fur balls. I’m worried about their vaccinations and paperwork and the flight. I’m worried about the stress on them and the cost to me. I’m going to have to start paying more attention to FSPets, the Yahoo group consisting of Foreign Service pet owners. I know we’re all a bit upset, well more than a bit, really, about United Airline’s latest move: It has changed its in-cabin policies, meaning that it’s telling a lot more people they have to put their animals in cargo. That translates into a heck of a lot more stress for the animal and thousands more in cost to the owner. It seems that leave to carry your pet(s) in-cabin depends on your destination and the weight of the animal. So … I can’t change my destination, but I can put my animals on a diet!
Can I really? I’m such a wimp. Sigh. Well, I guess I’ll just have to toughen up.
Well, that’s about it, for now. Minutia. Really. Fretting about a lot of things, some of which I have no control. Ashamed to be fretting over anything, when I still feel so blessed to have this job.
The writing has been beckoning me. I put it aside for a while. But it beckons me now as a source of relief. I’ve picked up a couple of unfinished manuscripts, and I’m enjoying them. I have also (re)discovered an American writer living in Brazil. I look forward to meeting him when I get there.
And so, on that positive note, I will sign off.
