Second Tour Announced!

Originally Published December 28, 2021

We were assigned to Athens, Greece for our next post!

✨🌎

📍We still have one more year in Nigeria

📍We were assigned to DC for a year to learn Greek

📍Next assignment will be two years 🤸‍♀️🤸

📍Had the most complicated bidding process to date; pulled an all-nighter to submit our bid list the Monday after our wedding

📍 Grateful as can be and looking forward to experiencing another new culture

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Greece was at the top of our bid list. During the week of our wedding our advisors told us to expect a region much farther from home. However, State typically gives you a tour at the top of your list after being a diplomat in a hardship post. So we crossed our fingers and were shocked to receive the post. Serving in West Africa was a huge goal of ours so we feel blessed twice over. Though we have lots of time before the move, we started consuming Greek content to give us some context about our future home. From one book I’m reading:

“What’s not to love about Greece? There is the sea, the islands, the combination of ancient ruins and cellphone towers, the guards at the temples who measure their wealth in olive trees, the old towns with streets named for gods and philosophers, navigable by Google Maps. I love the sharp-witted people and the stark contrast between the blues of sea and sky and the whitewashed homes and church domes. I love the landscape of Greece, with its peaks and chasms, the fact that this land has been cultivated since antiquity, and the mythology and wealth of stories laid like a series of transparencies over the Old World.”

One year ago we moved to Nigeria. Our tour here has taught us so much. I’m not sure what is waiting for us in Greece, but this lifestyle is teaching us flexibility and resilience and we are eager to find out ✨

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

📍In our next post we’ll be trading in our desert for a country made up of mostly mountains and coastline. Our 🌊🌴 🦀 hearts are grateful to live by the water again.

📍We moved to Abuja in 2020 right before Christmas. We spent the holiday in our empty foreign service-provided house dreaming about what our first tour would bring. Although far from family, we were content just being together and serving our purpose. The last year brought us challenges, adventures, and so much growth.

📍This year, as Covid spreads and our friends return to the US for the holiday, we are again reminded that we are lucky to simply be together. We’re going to spend the time being grateful for the gifts in life that we’ve been given, including our time in Nigeria and for the adventures to come. ✨