In transition...

Friday was graduation, marking the end of our 17-week core training. The eight of us in the 88th Information Management Specialist group will now start to scatter to the four winds. We formed a very cohesive group over the past 20 weeks (we had three weeks of orientation before the IMS core training), and I'm sad to see going our separate ways. David is the first of us to head out, as he and his family leave for Jakarta, Indonesia in just over a week.

It's also starting to sink in for me that we're really going to Ethiopia. My family and I find ourselves at the dawn of a new era. We've rented the house (yay!) and will move out on August 28 after nearly eight years in the same location. Instead of growing our roots here deeper and broader, we'll start life as nomads, moving to temporary housing until we leave, and then shipping off to a new country every two to four years.

In addition to these feelings of transition, I miss my family - the girls have been gone some seven weeks, and Patricia nearly three - and feel lonely. I'm going to take time off from cleaning and organizing to do something fun with some friends this afternoon.

After graduation on Friday, the eight of us met at an Irish pub in downtown Warrenton called Molly's. After a beer and some chips and nachos, Rodney handed out some pictures of us he had photoshopped into "the 88th IMS after a year abroad". Try to figure out who this is...

The house is pretty well whipped into shape now. The siding guys are nearly done with their project, so I just have a few small things to finish up.

Last week I met with a Finnish-American couple who had spent 2002-2004 in Addis Ababa - they showed me lots of pictures and gave plenty of useful advice. I've also heard from both our American and Ethiopian sponsors, as well as my supervisor-to-be. Everything's coming together - now if I can just remember everything I need to order between now & when we pack out on August 28th.