Hi All – You haven’t heard from me much lately. I apologize for that, but I have a REALLY good excuse . . . I’ve been busy planning an international move. Yup, it’s true, we’re leaving Kazakhstan after only 10 months. Bet you didn’t see that coming–neither did we! :)
We started down this path back in mid-April. Nick’s Mom has been dealing with a myriad of health issues and Nick and I were both feeling a strong pull to be closer to help alleviate the burden on Nick’s Dad and spend quality time together while we can.
In the Foreign Service, ending your tour before the agreed upon time is called a curtailment. We’ve never done one before, and while it felt scary at first, the process proved easier than expected. Nick began by explaining the circumstances to the leadership here and letting them know that we were pursuing a curtailment. With their approval, we then worked with Nick’s Career Development Officer to draft the statement for a panel who would make the choice to grant us the curtailment or not.
The process took a bit longer than we’d like, but at the end of May we were granted our curtailment. It then took another week to get new orders, which meant we only started booking flights and packout dates this week! It’s been stressful not being able to take action, but it’s full steam ahead now.
As for the summer, Nia and I will be coming directly to Minnesota for five weeks (through the end of July). Nick, on the other hand, will be heading directly to Bend, Oregon, on July 1 to begin sorting out our new life stateside. Those small details include things like: finding both of us jobs (and no, he’s not leaving the Foreign Service, but is taking some time off and trying to find a job he can temporarily do remotely), finding a furnished residence, and selecting a new school for Nia. I like to think that I’ve gotten good at handing uncertainty, but this move is definitely testing my resilience. I wish we had a few more pieces in place, but at least we have family (and a few friends that we’ve made over our last decade of visits there!) to lean on.
At the end of the day though, I keep coming back to the fact that I know we’re doing the right thing–despite the terrible timing of moving so soon after getting settled!–and reminding myself that things have always worked out before, so there’s no reason to think they won’t this time as well. It’s too bad we didn’t get more time in Kazakhstan, but I’m grateful for everything we experienced and the wonderful people we met. And now . . . on to the next adventure!
