Monday, October 27, 2008

South America Here We Come!

The long-awaited flag day occurred last Friday, and it was torturous! The head of the State Department Assignment Office held up 90 little flags, one at a time, announced the country and city, and then the name of the person who would go there. Every time he held up a flag, my heart would race, either in anticipation or dread! Finally, I heard my name after Lima, Peru.

I was not at all expecting Lima, but I think that of all the places on the list, this is the perfect one for us. The Colegio Roosevelt is the school most of the U.S. Embassy kids attend, and it has a great reputation. The school year runs from August to December, and from March to July. January and February are "summer" vacation, since the seasons are reversed in Peru. The climate is pretty mild, ranging from 40 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, though Lima itself is generally covered with fog from April to December, according to accounts I've read. Lima is only a six hour flight from Miami, and is in the same time zone as Washington, D.C. And, one of the best things about Peru -- ceviche!

Peru itself is very diverse geographically - desert, ocean, rain forest, and mountains. We'll only be there two years, so we'll have to plan carefully in order to see everything (Machu Picchu and other Incan ruins, the Amazon River Basin, and more) and also take some trips elsewhere in South America, like Argentina and Brazil.

I'm not scheduled to report until early summer, so in the meantime I'll receive training on the area (history, political, economic, etc.), and in Spanish. I'll also receive some management and leadership training, and probably some other things I'm not aware of yet!

We're all really excited about going to Peru, and hope to have lots of visitors!

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