Farewell Season

As I have mentioned many times before- we say a lot of goodbyes here. On the military side, people are always rotating in and out. But on the State Department side, the turnover is massive in the summer months. So it is farewell season, and happily, my departure date is right around the time my Embassy colleague Eric's departs. Actually, mine is a week earlier but as he likes to point out, he will beat me home. I have that extra week "vacation" in Kuwait. Nothing like the desert in July!

This past Friday night, I joined the Embassy Econ Section for an official farewell celebration. The evening included a bountiful spread of Iraqi food, kind words for all, and a few nice parting gifts too! I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work so closely with, and learn from, such a talented Embassy staff. As a Naval Officer, joint duty (inter-service)is valued but one of our latest buzz words is inter-agency, during my time here I have had the best of both worlds.

But it is time to wrap it up, so I have really made an effort this week to do just that. I went through and cleared out office drawers, shredded lots of paper and made more piles of things to pass on, donate and toss. With a significant amount of people moving, finding boxes takes a little persistence but I think I have almost everything in order for my departure. As may be expected with our draw down in military forces, I do not have a replacement coming in behind me. In a lot of ways, this makes my last week here much easier. No effort required to train someone up, just have to make sure my office and CHU are cleared out and paperwork is all completed. So this last full week (LAST week, can hardly believe it myself...) will primarily be spent dotting i's, crossing t's and saying goodbye.

I am excited to get home for the last few weeks of summer vacation. Time with family and friends, trips to the pool and pulling tomatoes off the vine- I am just so pleased that it is all within reach.

Love,

Krista

pictures: My super Embassy colleagues, John and Eric, a picture with my boss, Air Force Colonel "Z". Over six feet something, he was making a deliberate effort to be in the same frame with me.