Today was a roller coaster day in the theme park of emotions. I woke up unenthusiastic and not wanting to leave the bed. The feeling of discomfort has been growing as the reality of "I'm not going home" has been setting in. The cold rain everyday doesn't help. Emphasis on doesn't.
What DID help was that today I had somewhere to be: orientation. A day of lecture sessions about media, safety, programs, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera at the embassy. I shouldn't say etcetera so many times because a few people put a lot of effort into it. And I'm glad to have the information, even if it included things like "the smog is so bad in the winter (worse than Beijing!) you can't see the ground in front of you and there's nothing you can do about it."
I also met a lot of people with titles, some of which were French (see title of this post).
After the orientation, we were invited to an evening welcome party for the new Ch'arges and some public affairs officers. Talking to the foreign service officers is interesting because they live and work for a period of time in one location and then once that "tour" is over pick up and relocate. The party was held on the first floor of the ambassador designates's house, who does not live here yet because her appointment has been waiting confirmation by the US Senate for over a year but they still use her house for parties. Embassy contacts, local officials, administrators, and "celebrities" were invited. There was no music but plenty of beverages and appetizers. Some privileged conversations were had- a Srebrenica photographer, a Sarajevan who knows Ladino and Yiddish- and the night ended with me and my fellow fulbrighters enjoying a drink at a local kafana (bar) before two of them depart for Banja Luka tomorrow a.m.
Forced myself to write this post so I can a) remember to tell my grandchildren about the time I attended a party with diplomats and b) so I remember in days ahead when both my soul and the sky are gloomy, to make myself get out and allow myself opportunities to feel different.