This week marked hitting 3 months left in our tour. It feels like we just got here, but our arrival seems like it happened so long ago. It’s a weird feeling. A lot needs to get done in the next few months and it reminds of when I first joined the Foreign Service:

1. Get my PCS orders squared away.
2. Obtain funding for my PCS. With the government kicking the can on a budget, this has been coming last minute and makes arranging movers and packout less predictable. My orders have been pending funding since October.
3. Once I get funding, arrange to packout our entire house. This is complex because it will include HHE and UAB, and specifically my UAB is going to Rangoon while the rest of the family’s stuff is heading back to Texas.
4. Continue purging items we don’t need now, in Texas, or for our onward tours. We shipped 7k lbs of stuff to this post, and my guess is we ship back less than half that weight.
5. Consume all of our food/consumables or give them away before we depart. 30lbs of bacon seems like a good idea when you are buying it, but not so fun when you have a hard deadline to eat it. I think a bacon party is coming.
6. Sell our cars. I have buyers for both our vehicles here in Nouakchott, but paperwork needs to be done.
7. Arrange the actual travel to get us to Texas, and for me on to Rangoon. Complicated by a few trips I have to take while on home leave for training.
8. Get a Burmese Visa. This is complex and made more difficult because there is no embassy here, I basically will have to send everything from here to the Embassy in D.C. and hope I get approved.

As you can see, it isn’t the easiest process. Adding to the complexity, Angeli will be leaving post soon to resume her previous nephrology job in Texas and get our casa ready for our return. This means I will be handling a lot of this while still working fulltime and managing the kids. I have lots of household help, but still a lot to juggle. Angeli did it when I was in training and will be doing this when I am in Rangoon, so it’s just a reality of the service, and the temporary sacrifices have made things worth it in the long run.

The next 3 months will be a whirlwind and I hope I can just navigate the head winds well enough to give us a smooth exit while preparing for my onward assignment. Fingers cross! -Nick