Paneled for Bamako

I got my TMOne. Have no clue what that means? Welcome to the State Department, where we like to make up fun names for everything. TMOne means my next assignment is official. TM means Travel Message and One is...well...1. So, a TMOne is cable number one in all the fun messages that will move back and forth for my next (and subsequent) assignment. And I don't just get assigned to a post.  A whole committee - a panel - meets to decide that it's OK for me to go to Bamako, hence being "paneled" for the next assignment. And this whole thing about how emails are still affectionately called cables - just precious.

I will get nearly six months of French language training. My tentative departure from Charleston is the last week of April, 2017, six months in DC, then on to Mali.  Not that I'm not enjoying my time in Charleston, SC, but I'm ready (and I think Mark and Cosmo are, too) to get out into the world. Although, I think it's awesome that I'll actually get paid to learn a language!  Ask me how I feel around mid-September next year...

Just a quick update to say that it's official that we'll be going to Mali.  Now I have to pack some things since I'm heading back to Boston and Mark and Cosmo for Labor Day weekend - woohoo!

Here's a preview of Bamako: