Throwing the Dart at the Map...
...this isn't quite what bidding on our next assignment is like...but when you look at my possible selections, it really does seem a bit random. For anyone that hasn't heard, my 'bid' list is out and I'm getting ready to lobby for my next assignment. I'm a winter bidder (there's a summer and winter cycle) and unfortunately there are far fewer choices on the winter cycle.Some very serious possibilites are Quito, Ecuador, New Delhi, India, and Kuwait, Kuwait. Some of the less likely choices (for a variety of reasons): Dubai, Jordan, Bolivia, Brussels, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. The bidding process, shrouded in mystery and still fairly intimidating, should be finished in late March/early April, and I'll let you all know where you can come visit us next.
Oh: on a random note, here are a few pictures I've been meaning to post. They're from my big CODEL visit in January. I've included one with me in the background at the Polish white house (I'm hiding behind the lady in the black coat), and one with me, the Congressman, and the Ambassador.
Posted @ 9:21 PM
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Ooooh! You really look snazzy in that red jacket!
Also, um, have I ever mentioned how much I'd like to go to India?!?!?! Of course, I my friend Marion spent a summer in Quito and loved it, so I suppose I could consider letting you go there as well ...
With the India option, would you have to go through language training again???
Of course!! Pretty much all of my options require language training. Get this though: if I go to India, rather then getting Hindu (which is what everyone uses), I would have to learn Urdu (which is the common muslim language in the north). So for day-to-day errands I wouldn't speak the common language.
Oh: and Arabic training takes 2 years!! One in DC, the other in Tunisia.
A year in Tunisia, too?
I'm casting my vote for "you look extremely delighted to be there" in the red jacket.
Did the roof collapse have any effect on things at the embassy?
The only real effect that the roof collpase has had is that Melissa's office is a bit more chilly now since she (and everyone else on the top floor) no longer has a ceiling.
Honestly though the roof collapse doesn't seem to have done anything other than generate quite a bit of social buzzing around the office. The buzzing has mainly centered around the fact that the penalty for the building owner was a 500 zloty (~$150 US) fine.
People are speculating that the judge will probably come up with some other charges to throw at whomever is deemed the responsible party.
Wow, ~$150 isn't even a slap on the wrist, really.
I totally missed the roof collapse ... how does that happen??
Also, I had no idea Lissa's office was that close to the roof. It just shows how convaluted and turned around one can get inside that Embassy. It's enough to make one think that it's done on purpose ... hmmmmmmm??
Actually her office has moved since you were here... twice. I don't mean she's changed offices, it's just moved. The whole building is essentially built of Legos.
Anyway, the roof collapse that we're talking about didn't occur here in Warsaw; it happened in southern Poland at a convention hall. They were actually having a pigeon fair (I swear I'm not making that up) when the roof of the convention hall collapsed due to the weight of accumulated snow.
The final death toll was 67 after a gentleman injured in the accident died in the hospital a few days later.
You can read the original article about the incident here.
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