As I mentioned last week, the entirety of the State Department medical world descended on central Florida last month for a continuing education conference. Seeing as how they conveniently located us 10 minutes away from Disney World and my youngest sister lives 45 minutes away in Daytona, I seized the opportunity to take my family along and give them a much needed break from Nouakchott to get back to the motherland. The opportunity to see grandchildren also prompted my parents to come in as well, resulting in a great family reunion.
Once the dust had settled following the end of a productive week of CME, the first order of business was to head across the street from the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista, and head on over to our Disney resort, Saratoga Springs. We have been Disney Vacation Club members (basically their fancy name for a time share) for the last 5 years at their Hawaii location, and having not used any Disney points since Fall 2021, had an opportunity to get ourselves a nice room at no cost. It was totally worth it trading our small CME hotel room for a legit condo/villa. Here are some photos of our room:
Timing of the trip also worked out nicely as I was able to spend my birthday at Disney World, and chose EPCOT as my park of choice. There’s just something about walking around a giant lake and eating and drinking your way through a variety of cultures that appeals to me. Maybe that’s why I am in the Foreign Service? It was a great time, and over the following few days we made our way to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom as well. My eldest daughter had the time of her life, and even our 1 year old was mesmerized between nap time meltdowns. Some might say it isn’t as fun as Flamingo World in Bishkek, but I think Disney World still reigns supreme.
Not lost on me, I can’t think a weirder transition than going from a place as desolate and austere as Mauritania, to Disney World, a crowded land of excess. I absolutely loved it, but the ease of access to basically anything I could want as quickly as I could want it makes for a little adjusting. There was also a restaurant with a picture of Guy Fieri holding a chicken, and at this point I realized I might have been at Disney a little too long.
Following a few days at Disney, my wallet was bleeding and begging me to stop, so we relocated to an AirBnB closer to my youngest sister in Daytona, where we were met my middle sister who flew in from Texas along with my parents. It was great to catch up, tell old stories, and just unwind from the chaos of CME and then several days of nonstop amusement park action. Here are some pics of the family festivities:
Sadly, like all vacations, this one had to come to an end. We firmed up plans for our home leave next summer and said our goodbyes. Definitely a tough goodbye after 9 months apart, but it was nice to be able to pick up like we had never been gone. This was the type of experience that helped me understand why the State Department requires Foreign Service employees to take a month of home leave between every foreign posting. Relaxing, connecting with love ones, and connecting to a normal routine in our home country. It definitely lets you appreciate all our country is and has to offer. No, we aren’t perfect, but we do a lot of things right, and remembering your roots is very important when representing our country abroad (even if those roots mean I ate too many chicken tenders at a Guy Fieri restaurant).
-Nick
