We had a beverage at Starbucks before the flight and Stefan made friends with an old lady with a cane. They were clearly enjoying each other’s company while Camille drank her orange juice and I watched her eat a lemon cake: long fingers and brown eyes.

In line for the flight, I knew there would be trouble over who should sit by the window. I told them they would need to figure out a way to make it fair and I proposed that each would have a turn each direction but to decide who went first by a coin toss. Stefan called it "heads" and won so he got to choose. Camille was upset and said, "Fine! He always gets to go first!" After a few minutes of sulking, Stefan tried to be friendly but got long slitty stares and a pout which only conveyed the message of, "leave me alone!"

After a few minutes, he came up to her and with his eyes wide open and said, "Ok, Camille! You can sit by the window! Ok?! Do you want to?!"

‘No! It’s ok Stefan." Bizarre behavior from both. And then it was over.

Later, on the plane, the stewardess remarked, "You seem like a very nice boy." To which he replied, "First we’re mean and then we’re nice!"

When the stewardess asked him what he wanted to drink, he said; "The real thing!" He told me he wanted a real Coke before she asked, meaning, not diet, not cherry, or cherry vanilla…

Mike picked us up and I was just as excited as the kids. Of course, when we got to the house, Tanya and Ana were out somewhere, only to prolong the kids agony. When they did arrive, Camille was jumping up and down like a pogo stick and Stefan ran up to Tanya and asked, "You wanna see my trucks?! I’ll show you!" The kids immediately started to play and it was at least two hours later before I realized that they had been playing nicely (including Stefan in their games) without any whining or sagas.

Yesterday morning, we had great coffee with breakfast. Tanya and I completed the camping list. Mike lent me his car (anything I borrow from Mike is special) and we followed Tanya and Lidia to REI. Tanya bought a rack with a space case for her new car. We bought Ana and Camille matching T-shirts with a dog on it.

Camille, Stefan, Ana and I drove to Bob and Valerie’s on Sunday. Grammy and Grampa were already there. The kids mostly played in the yard and later swam in the hot tub. Bob bought burritos and chicitos for lunch. Grandpa was ok but looked disheveled; unshaven and scruffy. He mostly sat quietly as he lately does. Valerie was a joy and we chit-chatted about our kids, trips, and current thoughts about the Foreign Service.

It rained on the drive back to Davis from Sacramento and all three kids fell asleep in the car.

Lidia came over with Bunya for dinner and we had fish tacos. The kids just played and played so nicely together. Camille and Ana made a collage from magazines. Camille’s has pictures of dogs and cats (both wild and domestic) and wrote; "Dogs are active. Cats are lazi."

Mike and Tanya are at work. Bunya is inviting us to lunch and tonight we are all going out to Japanese food. I have errands to run and I want to take the kids out to a park in between rain showers. The kids are currently playing school and Ana and Camille did some homework this morning.

The kids loved your "hot cross bunnies" joke and I can hear Stefan announce he wants to be eight now.

You are my life.

Peter

Today, I received my official FS contract and information. It sort of feels like winning the lottery. But it comes with some anxiety. There are many arrangements to be made. Finding a residence in DC. Figuring out how to have the State Government foot the bill. Paper work. Returning to Seattle for the Memorial Day weekend. Leaving the family behind. Fixing it so that my last day at OHSU leaves me with insurance until we start the FS. Buying staples to take with us to Niamey or wherever it is we end up. Tying up loose ends. And fixing those images of our extended family in our minds so that when we are gone for a time, we don’t forget the pictures.

I expect that DC on my own for 3 weeks will go by relatively fast. And I will see Dina and the kids in Seattle for Milla’s 50th!

Camille is having a hard time accepting the fact that we are leaving Portland. She gets distraught and cries. This pulls at my heart strings and I try to explain to her that we have the opportunity of a life time. The pluses far outweigh the minuses and NO!, I’m not trying to ruin her life! It’s hard. She can’t imagine her world outside of Portland. Sometimes she does say that “when we live in Africa…” So I think she’s coming to grips but still, it’s going to be the hardest on her.

Stefan on the other hand has been a supportive brother. He strokes her and reminds her of all the exotic animals we’re going to see. In her moments of despair, this annoys her but she knows that he is caring for her. A 4 year old trying to comfort an 8 year old. She’s the one that usually supports him.

Everyone knows moves are stressful. Even if the government is moving you and taking care of everything. The emotional wave of excitement and anxiety seems accentuated.

I recall wanting to know how long it would take from start to finish regarding entry into the FS. While you wait, it is mental cruelty.

I sent off my application for the Foreign Service Health Practitioner position on March 4th, 2005. (3-4-05–get it? We thought that date auspicious.) I heard back 6 or eight weeks later, with a message that my application had been looked over and that my candidacy would continue to the next step since I was considered “mentally competent”. My wife got a lot of milage out of that one. In July, I was in France and I received an e-mail from the State Department informing me that my NP license had expired. I faxed my renewal in August.

In mid-September, I got a call from the State Department telling me I was a qualified candidate and they wanted to invite me for an interview. There were two days open to interview in October and one in November. I chose November 7th because that suited my work schedule best.

Naturally, I was nervous. But I did prepare as best I could for the interview:

I brushed up on the 5 paragraph essay. (Choose one side of the topic with 3 supporting points defending your view in the introductory paragraph, use each supporting view in the following three paragraphs and embellish it, then restate in a cohesive manner, your view and how you believe your supportive arguments demonstrated your point). I practiced writing several under the time restraint of 45 minutes. I chose topics such as: Should abortion be illegal? Should we drill for oil in the Alaskan national wildlife refuge? Should we continue with the death penalty?

In addition, I focused on the 13 dimensions sent to me before the interview. They are readily available on the web. I thought of good examples to demonstrate each dimension and rehearsed answers so that if I had a melt down, I could still pop off an answer. Of course, during the interview, I ad lib’d but I was confident that I at least had a quick response and I did use a lot of the examples I had in my brain from that exercise so I really recommend it.

The interview went well and the entire time I was well composed on the outside but felt like my innards were doing summersaults. And there was the stressful but humorous story of forgetting my suit and trying to find an outfit at Chicago airport between flights. It all worked out but I don’t recommend it.

After the interview, I was asked to step out while they commiserated and then when I was asked back in and they welcomed me and told me I successfully passed the interview process of the FS.

Since then, I had to pass the medical and security clearances. More mental cruelty but finally, the clearances took less than three months and I was offered a spot in the March orientation. I postponed due to school, work, house, etc… but I am looking forward to my upcoming orientation.

Like we’re being dragged in. Now it seems like Niger will be our destiny for 2 years. But wait! Perhaps not. There are 5 new posts coming up that require medical providers. Where? We don’t know. But Stefan told Tyotya (aunt) Nina on the phone that when we move to Africa, he will live closer to her. She lives in Juneau, Alaska!

Dina and I are excited to be at this junction. We are figuring out where I stay in DC for 3 weeks for the FS orientation (indoctrination). And then afterwards when we all go in July. Most days and nights are preoccupied with thoughts of what it might be like and how will we fit into the theater and culture of the FS, Africa, and eventually Asia, the far east, or Europe. Do we take a car from here or buy one there? Should we ship our piano? Once we are there, liquid items are difficult to come by in Niger and you cannot order it by mail in your pouch. So how much shampoo and dish soap do we take with us? And how will we survive the heat there?

But besides the anxiety, there is an excitement which makes it obsessive. How will it be? I envision myself seeing patients in a small clinic. The streets are a wild mix of Africans wrapped in brightly colored print linen dresses and wraps around their heads which balances a jug of water. And camels and donkey carts in the streets amongst diesel cars and the lazy Niger river providing a bath for its people. The displaced medical provider arrives with his family and settles into the elite quarters of the embassy housing. And I will walk to work just as my grandfather did in Peking China. And I fantasize about volunteering at the World Health Organization or Doctor’s Without Borders clinic. And my children will learn that we are privileged and be humbled. And every 3 months I will drive the boulderous route to Burkina Faso to deliver my care to the embassy there. And things will drive us crazy. And we will miss the weather and people who we care so much about.

All this and so much more.