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It's that time again: time for me to tell the State Department where I want to go :desire: , and then have them tell me where I will go. 
Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be getting back to DC for a tour; I had wanted that, in spite of the ungodly expense, because my daughter will be starting college next year and almost certainly be somewhere on the East Coast. Also unfortunately, State guidance strongly recommends I not do three Asia tours in a row. Fortunately, however, it looks like I'll dodge all of the potential assignments I was worried about in my Hellhole thread a while ago.
So now the question is: where to next? The leading choices:
Moscow - PRO: most cosmopolitan place on the list; get to re-activate my long-buried Russian language skills. CON: Russian winters defeated Napoleon and Hitler; getting fluent in Russian means being available for other Russian-speaking posts, many of which end in -stan.
Jerusalem - PRO: being someplace where there's truly important work to be done; spending two years in language training (Arabic) first, which is a little like paid vacation and means Iraq might finally be drawn down by the time the tour ends. CON: things that go boom; having Arabic has the same drawbabck as having Russian, except with even worse choices in the hopper.
Sarajevo - PRO: Some interesting and valuable work to be done; closest of all the choices to our friends in Paris, London, and Ankara. CON: proximity aside, it's apparently unusually difficult to get out of Sarajevo and to someplace that isn't Sarajevo; do I really want to spend a year learning Bosnian?
Kiev - PRO: see Moscow, except the cosmopolitan part. CON: see Moscow, except a little less snow, but a little more radioactivity.
Lima - PRO: reasonably safe, reasonably cosmopolitan, reasonably temperate; proximity to Machu Picchu; unlike Arabic or Russian, onward choices with Spanish aren't so bad. CON: working to maintain the US-Peruvian bilateral relationship isn't exactly career-enhancing.
La Paz - PRO: Spanish (see Lima); possibly interesting work trying to keep Bolivia out of Chavez's sphere of influence. CON: um, pretty much everything else.
I'm a Libra; I can't make decisions. Choose for me!
Unfortunately, it looks like I won't be getting back to DC for a tour; I had wanted that, in spite of the ungodly expense, because my daughter will be starting college next year and almost certainly be somewhere on the East Coast. Also unfortunately, State guidance strongly recommends I not do three Asia tours in a row. Fortunately, however, it looks like I'll dodge all of the potential assignments I was worried about in my Hellhole thread a while ago.So now the question is: where to next? The leading choices:
Moscow - PRO: most cosmopolitan place on the list; get to re-activate my long-buried Russian language skills. CON: Russian winters defeated Napoleon and Hitler; getting fluent in Russian means being available for other Russian-speaking posts, many of which end in -stan.
Jerusalem - PRO: being someplace where there's truly important work to be done; spending two years in language training (Arabic) first, which is a little like paid vacation and means Iraq might finally be drawn down by the time the tour ends. CON: things that go boom; having Arabic has the same drawbabck as having Russian, except with even worse choices in the hopper.
Sarajevo - PRO: Some interesting and valuable work to be done; closest of all the choices to our friends in Paris, London, and Ankara. CON: proximity aside, it's apparently unusually difficult to get out of Sarajevo and to someplace that isn't Sarajevo; do I really want to spend a year learning Bosnian?
Kiev - PRO: see Moscow, except the cosmopolitan part. CON: see Moscow, except a little less snow, but a little more radioactivity.
Lima - PRO: reasonably safe, reasonably cosmopolitan, reasonably temperate; proximity to Machu Picchu; unlike Arabic or Russian, onward choices with Spanish aren't so bad. CON: working to maintain the US-Peruvian bilateral relationship isn't exactly career-enhancing.
La Paz - PRO: Spanish (see Lima); possibly interesting work trying to keep Bolivia out of Chavez's sphere of influence. CON: um, pretty much everything else.
I'm a Libra; I can't make decisions. Choose for me!
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