Flag Day

So in case I missed letting you know I'm going to Nassau, Bahamas for the next two years.  Yup my first post and I get the Bahamas.  They present you with the flag of the country you are going to at a ceremony called Flag Day.  Luckily, my brother was able to be there since he couldn't make it to the swearing in ceremony.  They have a random way of calling out the names.  Each Flag Day it's different.  By the time they got mid-way through the A's I had figured out the system.  So I knew that I hadn't gotten my first choice which I was pretty sure was going to happen anyway.  Nassau was however in my high countries.  I think they did a great job with matching countries to us. 

In case you were wondering my top choice was La Paz, Bolivia.  I was looking forward to trying out some South American wines.  Guess I get to become a rum connoisseur instead. 

By the way Tim and Venetia are very excited.  If Josephine could talk she would say the same thing.  Sadly Aunt Krazy's kid stand by gift won't work with Josephine.  Need for blankets not so high in Nassau.  Except maybe in January/February when they get chilly.

I get what is called a bid list.  This time it was a list of 24 positions that were open in 22 countries.  We had a week to do as much research as we could and then rank them high, medium and low. 

Now here's the thing. Everyone is beyond helpful.  It gets to be information overload.  I have more information about countries than I ever thought I would need.  And every time you learned more information it seemed to make your decision even harder.  So in my case I narrowed it down to the top five or so things that were most important to me and then sort of based it on a gut feeling. 

So if you want to come visit you better plan in advance and clear dates with me.  Easter is already gone.  :) 

I get JohnPaul, Serena and the boys.   Almost makes me hope I have a yard so I can plan an Easter egg hunt.

Pondering

So I generally think I am a sort of wall flower personality.  Yet at the same time there is apparently a part of me that is screaming are you flipping nuts?  Well the answer to that is yes.  How I see myself and how my friends see me is very different.  Not necessarily in a bad way but ultimately very different.  I've always cooked.  I cooked in college.  I never thought I cooked anything all that great or even inspiring but reconnecting with a college friend it was the main thing he remembered about me from college.  He was more or less the second person to say the same thing in a matter of months. 

The best part about this reflection is I think my cooking has only gotten better.  I'm sure I'll be posting recipes at some point on here.  Right now, not a whole lot of cooking going on. 

The other thing is I always knew I was going to college.  Where tended to be the part that was up in the air.  It was helpful that my parents let us know early it was get a scholarship or live at home and go to Lander.  I'm not knocking Lander in any way shape or form.  It's a great school especially if you want to be a nurse or a teacher.  Neither of those have ever been my calling.  Seriously me trying to teach kids without the use of corporal punishment not happening.  So I went to College of Charleston because they offered me a pretty nice scholarship.  My three roommates my freshman year did not have scholarships.  Their parents were paying for it.  They all had cars and paid parking spots (you had to be a sophomore to get school parking). 

I never really thought about how I came across in college.  Until I reconnected with a long lost college friend that I was very happy to hang out with some before I left.  Too bad we didn't realize we had both basically moved back to Charleston about the same time.

What she remembers is that it was a hardship for my parents to send me to school.  I did not monkey around. Classwork came first, then theatre and then having fun.  Purpose of will.  I'm learning that is more how I need to describe myself.

Hi

So for about seven years I did a what I refered to as my joke list.  It always started with a rant about what was going on in my life followed by several jokes.  I hit a point in my life where the joke list just started taking up too much time in my life.  For years I avoided starting a blog.  The main reason I liked doing a joke list was the ephmeral quality that it contianed.  I never kept my joke list, it was merely sent and gone.  I liked the fact that it was there and gone like so many things in life.  With this blog it's different, it's there past, present and future to be viewed, reviewed and judged.  So here is my attempt at blogging.  I hope you will join the journey with me and not judge me to harshly. 

love, kal