...until Friday.
And what, you may ask, does Friday signify?
Well, let me tell you.
From what we have heard, Friday is the next panel.
At this point in time (from what we have heard), DS is now paneling current *WINTER* bidders in addition to (some of?) us leftover summer bidders from last year (like what James is). Because this is the tenth? eleventh? twelfth? thirteenth? (I've lost track) panel that James and I have been through since last August, when our bid list first came out.
And at this point, this year's WINTER bidders have not only gotten their bid lists, but have begun bidding and have even begun getting handshakes and being paneled. So, quite frankly, do James and I have much hope that this Friday will actually be our panel? During which we will get our new assignment? After all of this waiting?
(But it would be nice.)
I KNOW, I KNOW. If I were A Good State Department Wife, I would be all positive! and upbeat! and optimistic! and all:
Another panel! Another opportunity to find out where we're going! Oh, how exciting! We're so happy! And excited! Because this is SO FANTASTIC! I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But unless this is the first time you've ever read my blog (and if it is, um, welcome?), then you know that I'm about as far as it gets from being A Good State Department Wife, and so the next .gif is more like where we leftover-summer-bidders-from-last-year are emotionally as another panel date approaches (especially knowing that so much time has gone by that now WINTER bidders are being paneled!):
I call this: "Oh, Look. Another Panel." Except that we don't really drink. And also, I would like to point out that I am a girl. And that comparing James to Alec Baldwin seems heinous as James is actually, you know, a nice person and a good man. But you get the point.
So, you know. Friday. It's coming up.
~ ~ ~
What else is going on?
Seeing as that we're only going to be in Chengdu through this summer (theoretically. Except for, we can't leave until they panel us, and they're never going to panel us, evidently, so MAYBE WE'RE GOING TO BE HERE FOREVER), I'm finally beginning to figure out how to successfully live in this place. Because isn't that just how it is? The second you get acclimated to your post, it's time to leave?
A couple of weeks ago I started to realize that I had finally hit my stride and was getting to the point where I could actually buy food for my family. Yes, people, it's taken me almost two years to feel like this. What can I say? I totally suck. That and none of the vegetables here actually cook like they're supposed to (so says me, from America), and none of the meats make any sense (again, so says me, an American), and I'm sorry but it's literally taken me THIS LONG to get some sort of system down for feeding my family. Again, I suck.
But, really? When I'm at a grocery store and I finally know EXACTLY what food I'm buying and EXACTLY what I'm going to do with it when I get it home?
I throw that package of whatever it is (don't ask me what it is - the writing is in Chinese) in my cart and I'm like DAMN STRAIGHT THIS IS GOING TO BE CHILI WHEN I'M DONE WITH IT. AND IT'S GOING TO TASTE LIKE AMERICAN CHILI, TOO!
And at that moment, standing there in that Chinese grocery store, surrounded by Chinese people trying desperately to peer into my shopping cart to see what the American is buying, deep down inside I'm seriously all TONIGHT THERE WILL BE CHILI, PEOPLE, BECAUSE:
Yes, I really CAN be this excited and this proud of myself just because I can FINALLY make a single American dish here in Chengdu, even though half of its ingredients have been shipped here courtesy of Amazon. DON'T JUDGE ME.
(And if learning how to make real, American chili while living in a foreign country isn't the pinnacle of expat acclimation, then please don't tell me what is, because reaching it is FAR beyond my grasp. Just leave me alone with my small win and let my family eat its chili in peace.)