One of the core skills Foreign Service Officers need to develop is the ability to say goodbye...constantly. With tours lasting, on average, two years, we move in and out of other peoples' lives at a dizzyingly rapid pace. It can be a disconcerting process, especially when you come to really care for the people you share this globe-trotting life with. The chances of running into one another again is both large (after all, the Foreign Service corps is quite small) and miniscule (Foreign Service Officers may quit, retire, or just get posted far away from you at all times).
I arrived in Argentina a little over a month ago, but I've already begun saying goodbye. Summer is the season for staff turnovers and this summer is no exception. For (nearly) each one of us dozen or so new officers at post, someone had to move on to another posting. Not to mention all our summer interns and fellows.
The first of the despedidas (for people I know, anyway) was earlier this month, when the Econ Section said goodbye to our Pickering Fellow, Karina. She and I shared a true love for whining at each other - seriously, folks, I can make Karina's name into a twenty-second whine at the drop of a hat. And I already miss how she used to sit at her desk and laugh at her email so loud that it carried throughout the office, forcing everyone to peer out and ask just what was so funny.
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| Cynthia, Megan (the world's fiercest OMS), Yours Truly, Karina |
This weekend we also said goodbye to the Political Section's intern, Patrick, and his lovely wife, Whitney. We've easily discovered that they both bowl better than I (honestly, even Mad Maggie Delicious could bowl better than I, despite the lack of opposable thumbs) and very soon we will be missing their presence at all the after-hours events, plus all of Patrick's hard work at the office (nearly the entire Political Section just turned over, so the work of 6 or so full-time Americans was being handled by one Political Officer and Patrick for weeks on end).
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| Patrick, Whitney, Megan, Nile (the world's most fashionable, dance-crazy baby), and Neil |
My Friday night, in fact, was spent fare-ing-thee-well to Patrick and Whitney, where I met some new non-embassy people while also toasting with some friends from within the embassy community. The funny thing is that it looks as though one of the people I met Friday night will be crashing in my guest room for the next two nights. So while Patrick and Whitney flew back to the States today, they leave a bit of a legacy for me.
Life in the Foreign Service is certainly never static.
I wish you well, Patrick, Whitney and Karina. May our paths cross again...
