2013: Adventures Abroad

I know we’re already about 3 weeks into 2014, and it would have been more appropriate to do this on New Year’s Day instead of sitting on the couch and watching more episodes of “Smash” than one should really watch in one sitting, but it’s still January, so I think it’s still totally legit to post a retrospective on 2013.

The year turned out to be pretty wild. What I thought was going to be a year filled with figuring out how to live and work (and see gorillas) in one of the most remote, poorest countries on earth turned into a year of bouncing around all over the place until I finally landed in one of the wealthiest countries in Africa. (How that wealth is distributed is a whole other story – but that’s really a discussion for another place).

Here’s a quick city round-up of 2013. The Cliff’s Notes of my year, if you will:

1. Washington, D.C. – New Year’s! Fancy party!

2. Arlington, VA – unexpectedly got to spend some more quality time in my Arlington apartment with the killer view of D.C. Also got in one more visit with the fabulous ladies of MSNBC, plus a couple of basketball games (glossing over the fact that IU went down hard).

3. Columbia, SC – a trip down south before heading off to Africa!

4. Washington, D.C. – had to fly outta here.

5. Paris, France – Quick stop for meetings en route to #6.

6. Nouakchott, Mauritania – 3 weeks of Public Diplomacy work! Putting my French to the test! Beautiful beach! Lots of sand everywhere! (even not on the beach), Goats!

7. Casablanca, Morocco – OK, this was just the airport.

8. Dubai, UAE – Fine, also just the airport. But also a snoozecube!

9. Kigali, Rwanda – 3 more weeks of very different (but also interesting) Public Diplomacy work! Running (poorly) at high altitude! A mini-safari with cute baby zebras!

10. Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Airport again. But also the Yotel!

11. Washington, D.C. – 2 weeks here to wrap up what turned out to be a 6 month assignment with Public Diplomacy office of the Africa Bureau.

12. Columbia, S.C. – Packing up my belongings that had made their way down south! The next time I would see them would be many months later in Algeria.

13. Washington, D.C. – A couple more days for meetings! By this point it had become clear that I must learn to love meetings if I want to continue working for the State Department.

14. NYC – MORE meetings! (these were actually super interesting), plus FUN with friends (human and canine)

15. Paris, France – Yup, airport only again. There were a lot of these visits in 2013.

16. Algiers, Algeria – My new home for the next 2 years (inshallah)!

17. Tlemcen, Algeria – a chance to see more of Algeria, plus a chance to get my photo taken by a cow head.

18. Back to Algiers for my 30th birthday!

19. Nice, France, plus Monaco, Cannes, and Eze (the town atop a mountain) – My first break from Algiers!

20. Barcelona, Spain – Part 2 of my first break from Algiers! Good food, good sights, good wine, good cava!

21. London, England, plus tiny town somewhere in Suffolk – Louise’s wedding, aka grade school reunion from the England days!

22. Back to Algiers for various events, including gingerbread houses (oh yeah, and I had to do a little bit of work, too. Like a trip out east with the Ambassador)

23. Copenhagen, Denmark – Christmas vacation part 1!

24. Flensburg, Germany – Christmas vacation part 2!

25. Finally – back to Algiers to celebrate a very merry Christmas!

Whew! Next up will be the U.S. of A. – coming soon! Here’s hoping 2014 will be as adventurous as 2013, with maybe a little more stability when it comes to home-base! Happy New Year!