Africa it is!

I just could not prolong the suspense any longer. I finally reached Ryan today so with all the blood relatives informed, I decided to go ahead and publish where the Foreign Service is sending me. I apologize in advance to those people who I really tried to reach to tell via the telephone before this BLOG update came out. I realize everyone is busy, including me!

Drum roll please.......

I'm being assigned to SIERRA LEONE!!!! That's in West Africa.

I have no idea how the B-O-L-D type came on, but oh well! I guess BLOG-land is celebrating with me.

I don't know a whole lot about the country yet, but I will be emailing Post in the next couple of days and will keep you updated. So far the worry is whether they will have a Catholic church there, as the population is primarily Muslim. The medical care is sub-standard, so I will have all dentist and Dr. visits here in DC before I leave. I'm not sure about taking my car....it's been noted that the roads are not in very good condition and a 4x4 might be a better option than my Avalon. The capital city of Freetown is where the Embassy is located. It's right on the ocean, so I should have nice weather like Texas, only warmer.

On another note, our class visited the CIA and the OPS center in the past two days. It's quite an honor to be allowed into these places, as they are highly secure areas and not just anyone has access. We learned what happens in a crisis and how all the "principles" are contacted and kept up to date with all the details. I really feel like I've stepped into another world with this career.

On a more humble note, tonight I locked myself out of my apartment! I had to have the building manager give me this HUGE security key to gain access to my apartment to retrieve my keys. You see, in my defense, I was having dinner with friends and in all the excitement of showing them my apartment and the beautiful flowers that I received, I forgot to pick up my house keys. I think I will keep that little episode of forgetfullness (yes, Ryan, there is another "ness" word!) to myself and not inform the Foreign Service. After all, I want them to believe they can trust me with Top Secret documents and here I can't even keep track of my keys!

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Love,

Becky Boo