Bulletins From BA #41
12 abril 2015
¡Hola! there… Rodger
French here.
So the word has been made
official: Our next posting is, in fact, Burma (Myanmar), specifically the city
of Rangoon (Yangon). Beginning in late August - exact date soon to be confirmed
- we will begin a two-year posting. It’s a very exciting prospect, so I am
told. Burma is a serious focus for the State Department and Anne’s job promises
to be challenging and important. Plus, literally everyone we’ve spoken with who
knows anything about the place has raved.
We’ve just begun our background
reading in earnest, so here’s a few glittering generalities I’ve gleaned so
far: (1) Burma is primarily Buddhist, but extraordinarily diverse culturally;
(2) a complicated civil war is still being fought 60 years on; (3) there are
three seasons: Hot and humid, hot and dry, and monsoon.
[Nomenclature Sidebar: There is some uncertainty concerning whether
one can/should use the old colonial names (Burma/Rangoon) rather than the newer
traditional names (Myanmar/Yangon). Said confusion is abetted by the fact that
both DoS and the Burmese themselves freely mix the two. Me, I’m getting older
and so choose to continue using the names I grew up with, as long as it doesn’t
create any stress.]
I have mixed emotions
about traipsing off to this exotic place on the other side of the world. I’m
sure it will be a grand experience and all, but first we have to actually, you
know, move. This will be our fifth packout in nine years and I am seriously
grateful that we have no kids, no pets, and no car to deal with.
But the primary reason for
my current, albeit temporary lack of enthusiasm is simply that I will miss
living in Buenos Aires. In spite of a lamentably tenuous grasp of español, I
have enjoyed Argentina, and Buenos Aires has somewhat infected me. I don’t
harbor any pretentions about going native in just three years, but I have
developed a deeper understanding of why porteños feel such a profound attachment
to their city. And, por supuesto, there’s the music. What a wondrous circumstance
for an accordionist.
[Privilege Check Sidebar - Obviously, being furnished a very nice
apartment in a very nice neighborhood never hurts. Diplomats live an intriguing
life and, in a civilized locale where no one bears you any particular animosity
for being an “American,” being an expat can be a very nice state of affairs. We
are most fortunate and ever appreciative of this.]
So… with two months left (we
leave in June for home leave in the States before continuing onward to post), it’s
time to suck it up, get out the multitudinous checklists and heaps of boxes,
and begin to get after it. ProTip: It. Never. Gets. Easier.
Tourist Update - Just in case you were wondering, T & A, our buenas amigas from
E.E.U.U., made it home safe and sound (and laden with wine and olive oil) after
a three-week visit that took them from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, La Rioja,
Iguazu Falls, and back. They were excellent guests as well as great tourists,
and we thoroughly enjoyed their company. Our very nice apartment seems much
emptier without them.
Until we fill it up with
boxes in preparation for the movers.
¡Adelante!
Rodger
