Today was orientation today. They put me in a huge room with hundreds of other people today. For many of them, this will be the second, third, or even the fourth language they are going to learn at the Foreign Service Institute. One of the speakers today said that they are presently teaching over 70 world languages and have people working their from over 90 different countries. Those figures were astounding to me. Not only do they have teachers for all of these languages; but they have a process that they liken to "Marine Bootcamp" for teaching and learning languages.
You have to forget all of the languages you know (including English) and start out like a toddler, learning his/her first word...words...sentences...conversations. To become truly fluent, they make us read, write, speak, repeat. We're (and I am paraphrasing from the info they gave us today but have also been through this once before when learning Spanish) supposed to welcome mistakes and corrections and learn from them. It's mind-numbing, headache inducing, and overwhelming; but it is one of the most effective language learning processes in the world.
But what REALLY wowed and impressed me today was when we had to introduce ourselves. My class and another language class were in the second (yes, you read that right) orientation of the day, and the department head asked us to introduce ourselves and list previous language learning experiences at FSI and all languages spoken by each person. There were eight of us in there, and I heard: Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic, Korean; and we were all in there to learn either Albanian or Hungarian. Most of the people knew at least two languages, with a lot of them repeated of course. I mean, am I the only person impressed by the sheer amount of knowledge in that one little room? Because with each language learned comes classes on the country or area of the world, politics, economics, culture, customs, etc. They don't just teach us what the word is, they teach us why THAT particular word is used. I don't know, it just impressed me. It made me proud to be part of this. It made me proud of my country and the people who serve it.
Tomorrow, I actually start learning the language. I know it's going to be excruciating, because I've seem my husband come home exhausted and almost broken for five months now. But I believe that the independence knowing a bit of the language will give me is going to be well worth it. I love people, and I love to learn; so I'm just glad I get the opportunity. And I will be so thankful that I actually get to speak with people on their own terms once I get there...fingers crossed.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
We're Starting Another Chapter
The last few months have been Foreign Service "lite" so to speak. We've been "in training" rather than "at post" or "in route," etc.
We've been living around Foreign Service families with Foreign Service concerns and questions like: "Where are you going next?" or "Do you get language with that?" or "What do you use your consumables for?" rather than everyone else's questions of: "What do you do?" or "So you think it's fun to pack up your kids every two years and move to a different country?" or "Where are you living now?" and even, "What language do they speak in Albania??"
You see, as I've explained before, this lifestyle is not measured in normal weeks or months between Summer vacations or in seasons of the year and things like that. This lifestyle is measured in tours and times in between them. We're ALWAYS waiting for something: to bid, to get assignments, researching bid lists, training, home leave, R&R, getting reimbursed or advanced for random costs, getting kids and pets vaccinated, packing, waiting and/or planning to pack, buying stuff to pack, preparing for housing, or waiting to pass a language test and/or get our orders. Because NOTHING can be done without orders. Our orders are our lives when in between tours like we are now. If it's not in our orders--perfectly--we don't get it.
These periods of waiting and/or planning are usually six-month cycles. When you're in the middle of a tour (or coming to the end of one), you find out where your next tour is going to be about six months before your current tour is up. Six months before that, you were starting to think about what "might" be on the bid list. If you're anything like me, you'd begin obsessively researching the hidden jewel places that might suit your needs/wants. And so it was with us.
We decided on Albania. If I had a dollar for every time I or my husband's been asked, "So you actually bid Albania HIGH? You wanted to go there?" I'd be a very rich woman. And the answer is a resounding, YES!! We're excited about this place, this country, this quite mysterious part of the world. I mean, we're either going to love it; or we're going to hate it. There are not very many in-betweens in this lifestyle. And, for us, that's perfectly okay. I truly believe we're going to love it, though--for the travel opportunities if nothing else.
So, after taking you through a very long, yet circular tangent into my life, we're back to the six-month cycle.
My husband and I got our housing assignment today. We have been lucky so far this tour, because we've gotten our first choice bid and our first choice housing section. We're going to be living in a community that will be absolutely wonderful for our boys to grow in: a large, safely gated American neighborhood that is full of kids living a life just like them. I can't think of any better scenario for them, as they're thriving in that lifestyle here where we're living now. Now, it's true that we're going to be living in a bit of a fishbowl, but we know that going in. Now begins the six months (actually, five this time) of planning for our move, arrival, etc. Our easy, carefree first six months back in the States are over. Game time commences.
My sweet husband is coming along beautifully in Albanian class, and I am supposed to start at the end of the month. Then we have to plan for consumables, trips to Goodwill to rid ourselves of locally acummulated crap, vaccines, medical clearance updates, traveling with pets, planning how to alter our govy issued furniture, etc.
Our vacation has ended; it's time to plan. Wish us luck. Oh, and we know most people think we're crazy to live this nomadic existence. But know this: it works for us. We're happy. We're doing exactly what we want to do in this life, and that makes us extremely lucky!
We've been living around Foreign Service families with Foreign Service concerns and questions like: "Where are you going next?" or "Do you get language with that?" or "What do you use your consumables for?" rather than everyone else's questions of: "What do you do?" or "So you think it's fun to pack up your kids every two years and move to a different country?" or "Where are you living now?" and even, "What language do they speak in Albania??"
You see, as I've explained before, this lifestyle is not measured in normal weeks or months between Summer vacations or in seasons of the year and things like that. This lifestyle is measured in tours and times in between them. We're ALWAYS waiting for something: to bid, to get assignments, researching bid lists, training, home leave, R&R, getting reimbursed or advanced for random costs, getting kids and pets vaccinated, packing, waiting and/or planning to pack, buying stuff to pack, preparing for housing, or waiting to pass a language test and/or get our orders. Because NOTHING can be done without orders. Our orders are our lives when in between tours like we are now. If it's not in our orders--perfectly--we don't get it.
These periods of waiting and/or planning are usually six-month cycles. When you're in the middle of a tour (or coming to the end of one), you find out where your next tour is going to be about six months before your current tour is up. Six months before that, you were starting to think about what "might" be on the bid list. If you're anything like me, you'd begin obsessively researching the hidden jewel places that might suit your needs/wants. And so it was with us.
We decided on Albania. If I had a dollar for every time I or my husband's been asked, "So you actually bid Albania HIGH? You wanted to go there?" I'd be a very rich woman. And the answer is a resounding, YES!! We're excited about this place, this country, this quite mysterious part of the world. I mean, we're either going to love it; or we're going to hate it. There are not very many in-betweens in this lifestyle. And, for us, that's perfectly okay. I truly believe we're going to love it, though--for the travel opportunities if nothing else.
So, after taking you through a very long, yet circular tangent into my life, we're back to the six-month cycle.
My husband and I got our housing assignment today. We have been lucky so far this tour, because we've gotten our first choice bid and our first choice housing section. We're going to be living in a community that will be absolutely wonderful for our boys to grow in: a large, safely gated American neighborhood that is full of kids living a life just like them. I can't think of any better scenario for them, as they're thriving in that lifestyle here where we're living now. Now, it's true that we're going to be living in a bit of a fishbowl, but we know that going in. Now begins the six months (actually, five this time) of planning for our move, arrival, etc. Our easy, carefree first six months back in the States are over. Game time commences.
My sweet husband is coming along beautifully in Albanian class, and I am supposed to start at the end of the month. Then we have to plan for consumables, trips to Goodwill to rid ourselves of locally acummulated crap, vaccines, medical clearance updates, traveling with pets, planning how to alter our govy issued furniture, etc.
Our vacation has ended; it's time to plan. Wish us luck. Oh, and we know most people think we're crazy to live this nomadic existence. But know this: it works for us. We're happy. We're doing exactly what we want to do in this life, and that makes us extremely lucky!
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