This past Monday marked the start of ConGen, the six week training that prepares consular officers for overseas work in embassies or consulates with visas, passports, and American Citizen Services.
While I was in my class today completing a module on non-immigrant visas, my first travel orders cable came through! It was in response to the request cable I sent in February, in which I proposed a PCS (permanent change of station) plan routing me, my husband, and all of our stuff from Washington DC to Tashkent, via New York City and Frankfurt.
Now that I have the green light, all the remaining details about when to pack out and ship my car should be pinned down within a week. I already made flight reservations pending this authorization; the flight to Tashkent I need occurs only twice per week and apparently fills up quickly in the warm months. It’s very exciting to think that I’m heading out of northern VA in several weeks, at last! I did a little happy bounce in my chair when I saw the email.
Less exciting things today involved getting the third in a three-part rabies vaccination series, bickering with my health insurance provider over the phone regarding my request to fill prescriptions for six months instead of three, and picking up my remade spare pair of eyeglasses. But hey – I’ll take it. It just means I’m being taken care of and slowly moving my way through the pipe.
It’s also better than earlier this week when I was fighting a mysterious bout of food poisoning that appeared on Monday night and almost forced me to violate ConGen’s 100% attendance policy. Luckily I white-knuckled my way through Tuesday with chills, bones that felt like glass, and a topsy-turvy stomach – and today when I woke up, all was well again.
I’m looking forward to these next several weeks of tradecraft. It feels really great to learn more about the specific work I will be doing at post. Once I learn to do it in Russian too, I will be really set! Ha ha…
Collecting Postcards 