Where in the World is.... Our Very First Posting???

Destination Paradise

So we have officially received notice about our first tour posting.  The first abroad tour is a directed post that lasts for two years and is generally considered the most memorable/trying/laughable/heart-warming/frustrating/endearing/insert competing, paradoxical adjective HERE.  


Are we excited?  Yes.
Am I nervous?  Maybe a little.
Scared?  Nah.
Looking forward to it?  You betcha. 

Waiting on The Road of the Unknown/ The Road Less Traveled/ The Road of Life: you get the drift...

As of Tuesday, we now know where we are going, when we are leaving, the size of our posting, the weather, the food, the language(s) needed to be acquired, the religions de rigeur, and our potential traveling plans for the next 24 months.  So, where are we going, you may ask?  Hold onto your horses for one second here, and let me first set the mood... It will give you an idea of how we heard about where the wind will take us in our first tour abroad in all of its joy and mayhem and magical fury.

Before learning about what your first posting entails, the foreign service sets up a handy network of support, a bid list, and an official event called Flag Day to get you prepared and seasoned for an upcoming life abroad.  Flag Day is a formal event where they gather all of the people in your training class, including those in different professions and fields, and they invite family and friends to attend as a sign of support and encouragement.  Because where you will be posted is a complete surprise (you may get your first posting of preference, or, to work with the needs of the service, something much further down your list), Flag Day is an afternoon that invokes stomach butterflies, idle nervous chatter, tapping legs, growling bellies, winks of excitement, and new dreams.  At Flag Day you show up, smile, cross your fingers, and, if you are into that kind of thing, make prayers, promises, or call in for favors to the universe and higher ups in the hopes you will get one of your first bid-list choices.

Bridge to New Beginnings?

 For me, perhaps because I like to know my options and prepare for them accordingly, I wrote down all of the names in the class and all of the potential postings worldwide that were listed.  As the speaker showed a PowerPoint slide of a new flag, I would jog through my mind what country it was affiliated with, whether it was on our list, and, if it was, get my camera ready in case they called my husband's name.  If they called the name of someone else, I clapped and cheered and either counted my blessings or said, "Dang!  That was a good posting!"  As more names were called and postings for countries from multiple continents were determined, a few of my favorites were taken and all of our bottom o' the list preferences remained.  Needless to say, I felt---well, I was at the edge of my seat.  Literally.  A flying elephant could have landed in the room, jumped on a trampoline, and sang Happy Birthday Mr. President and I wouldn't have batted an eye. 

Focus was my middle name as I became momentarily thankful for my forever-ago statistics class enabling me to quickly calculate the possibilities based on remaining people, percentages, and postings.  Some of the postings were better for kids, others were better for singles.  Some required language, adaptivity, inoculations, and the like, while others were in developed English-speaking countries with similar lifestyles and cultural tendencies.  Some were safe, others would take some getting used to.  That's what it means to be worldwide available: you must express flexibility and be adaptable, amenable, and service-oriented.

When there were only seven choices left, I breathed a sigh of relief: all of the postings still available I would be happy and comfortable with, and dogs were allowed in-country.  (We didn't want to have to get rid of our two puppies!)  From that point on in the ceremony, I was just waiting for the familiar name to be called and to accept our fate gracefully.

Romeo says: Take me with you, please!

Lola breathes a sigh of relief!

                                                Here's a few clues:
                                               1) the flag they showed us is striped orange, white, and green;
                                               2) the country's name has three vowels, two consonants;
                                               3) the city we are posted to changed its name in the past 15 years;                                                 4) this highly populous entertainment city is the city of dreams
                                                    that never sleeps.

Guess I won't be wearing this sweater for a while...

                                                                                What's your guess???
                                                      The place we are going to is, drum roll please.....

                                                                             M-U-M-B-A-I.  
                                                                        We are going to INDIA!!!!!!!