Wow, what a month for anniversaries. Our nation’s birthday, this blog’s birthday, and this month my family celebrated one year of living in Nouakchott. How has it already been a year?
After seemingly just arriving, my family finds ourselves as one of the more established families at post. We have crested past the halfway point of our tour, and are now less than a year from departing post. A year into being here and this job, I can still safely say that joining the Foreign Service has been one of the best decisions of our lives. The travel opportunities have been remarkable, and the experiences for my young family unparalleled to anything we could have dreamed of living stateside.
In the last year I have been afforded the opportunity to do work trips to Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Minnesota, Germany, and Orlando. Meaningful experience that would have never occurred for me in the private sector. My family and I have also had the opportunity to do some great trips to the Canary Islands, mainland Spain, Portugal, Senegal, France, and Florida. In country we have road tripped through large swaths of Mauritania, going to UNESCO world heritage sites Chinguetti, the Eye of Richat, and Banc d’Arguin. The travel itch has been scratched…and then some.
Where has the time gone?
It’s difficult to explain, but even when living through the routines of the week, it feels like time just flies by. I wonder if it has something to do with an overall hard timeline existing in the background, on top of just always having some sort of event or trip to plan around. In my previous life, travel was pretty much what we worked for, but I never had a sense that time was just flying. In this job, you move to your country and know that on day one you have started a countdown to when you will leave. From there, you are granted R&R’s in addition to a smattering of other work or regional trips you can take, so it truly feels like there is always something to look forward to and makes time feel accelerated. Perhaps the biggest thing for me, is I really love the work the job entails. I have always enjoyed working, but never really been in love with my job the way I love working for the State Department. There has never been a day that I wake up wishing I didn’t have to go to work, or dread some aspect of the day.
I have been told I am really lucky that my first assignment was to Nouakchott. Several of our senior leaders and more experienced officers at post time and again tell me that of the half dozen or more posts that they have all served in, Nouakchott has far and away the best sense of community and work environment. I really appreciate having the opportunity to work here, but it also is sort of scary thinking that I might be living in this great healthy bubble, and for my next tour going to such a small consulate, one bad apple could sour the bin. I guess only time will tell.
As the countdown to our PCS in less than a year draws ever closer with each passing week, we have crested the camels hump and somehow have survived a year in one of the most austere posts the State Department has to offer. I have really enjoyed myself thus far, and look forward to the ongoing adventures the next year has in store for me. Below are some of my favorite photos from my first year. –Nick
