Thinking Out Loud

It’s maybe 18 degrees outside with lots of snow on the ground. Someone told me this is as bad as it gets and although I don’t believe them, it’d be fantastic if it were true.

I’m still expecting horrible wind, but so far it’s been manageable. Actually, I find it really amusing because all these North Dakotans keep telling me I’ll never make it, but they’re the ones running the car for eight hours a day to keep it warm while they’re at work. I’m still walking to work. It’s as unheard of here as it is in Indonesia.

But I’m sure it will get worse, no matter what I was told today. While researching weather averages in North Dakota, I found that January 9 is traditionally the coldest day of the year.

So, Dec. 21 is the next calendar milestone I am aiming for and that’s coming up quick. After that, there’s Christmas, so next I’m aiming to get through Jan. 9. Hopefully, it will be downhill from then on out.

This week was my six-month mark, too. So technically, I’m halfway done. BUT … there’s a new plan. It might not happen, but I’ve requested to extend for four months.

That would put me here until Oct. 15, 2013. Our big building season would end at the end of September and two more weeks would, first of all, round it off to four months, but second, allow me to wind this thing down.

Realistically, we could finish our rebuild project next year, so it might enable me to really ride out the whole thing.

The reason I’m considering this is because I have re-qualified to take the foreign service oral assessment again. I’m hoping to take it in May (I think you have to wait a year between takes). Before last week, I thought if you took it again and got a higher score, it replaced your old score but you didn’t gain any time on the register. But I learned that it’s a whole new candidacy.

If I passed, I would get 18 more months to get offered this job, which would mean I’d have no problem finishing out here.

If I didn’t pass, well, I still wouldn’t get an offer until July or September anyway (I’m still on the register with my low score.)

So there are a lot of things to consider. Nothing is definite, but I did officially request an extension and asked my supervisor to do the same thing. I figure it’ll be stronger if it comes independently from both of us.

My supervisor wants me to stay on anyway. It would just be more convenient if we could just continue on the same path. And honestly, it seems like a decent compromise because we were supposed to get two volunteers and wound up with just one. I’m not sure that AC will see it that way, though.

This weekend has been a little more exciting than last, just in that I went to a Christmas party. Nothing huge, just a little get-together with the same old people. I have a small but special social circle. And they’re good cooks.

Food … For the last two weeks, I’ve been eating salmon left from HostFest. I finally finished that and am now starting on leftover Salisbury steaks. Quite honestly, it might be February before I need to buy meat. I’d love to make some chicken soup, but I just have too many meatballs, S steaks and ribs to even consider buying new stuff. And that doesn’t even count the fish sticks – I forgot I had those.

Really, I have barely bought much food. Milk, yes, but real food – no. I even have donated tea. Someone brought a ton of tea bags that make a gallon at once. It’s a ton.

I am on the Key lime pies, though. The Marie Callendar ones are fabulous, but Edwards are pretty good too. Nothing’s the total real stuff, but it’s darn good.

I’m trying to avoid retail outlets before Christmas but I did walk over to Walmart this afternoon. All I did was drop off a bag of bags for recycling, but I dropped them off at one entrance, walked through the store and walked out the entrance closer to my house.

Holy cow. People are nuts. The 20-items-or-less [sic] line was stretched to the pharmacy.

I want to stay so very far away. However, it’s tempting to not get caught up in it. I haven’t been in the country for what, four of the last five Christmases? So this is kind of cool.

And then yesterday, I got a free-and-clear $10 gift card from Eddie Bauer. I don’t need anything, really, but I could use some socks. The gift card expires the 20^th, so it would require me to go to a mall before Christmas. I’m just not sure I am capable of doing that.