In June 2017, I started lobbying and bidding hard for PSP -- Primary Staffing Posts, which includes Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and South Sudan (sort of).  I started bidding for every job in my Consular cone.  Sadly there are way more bidders than jobs. Shockingly, every job had 20-30 bidders.  After handshakes came and went, I started broadening my horizons and considered bidding on jobs in several other cones including Political and Public Affairs. Longtime "Two Crabs" readers may recall Mr. Crab was a journalist before joining the FS.  I heard crickets for many weeks. Then out of the blue in late July 2017 I received a one-sentence email asking if I was still interested in a PA job. YES, of course I was!  That was followed by two rounds of phone interviews. I didn't hear anything again until a few weeks later when I received what's known as an "Air Kiss"...essentially an unofficial job offer in the form of an email asking if (hypothetically) would I accept the job if it was offered. Again, YES.  Finally in early August 2017, I received the official handshake, and accepted the same day.

Why PSP?  Well it's no secret that the Two Crabs have wanted to return to EUR since joining the FS.  When I first joined the Foreign Service I had a "5 Year Plan" already mapped out in my head -- I would serve my first tour in Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America as I speak fluent Spanish, and then end up in Europe for hopefully the remainder of my career.  Well, it hasn't turned out that way. After 9 years in the FS, I have yet to serve in a Spanish-speaking post or in Europe.  Mr. & Mrs Crab knew if we ever wanted to go back to Europe, it would take some drastic measures and sacrifice. So after a lot of contemplation and conversations with mentors and bureau colleagues, we agreed that one or both of us would have to go to PSP.  Besides, Mr. Crab has always wanted to return to Afghanistan -- the place where I started my war correspondent career just weeks after 9/11.  Afghanistan is an extreme hardship: 35% hardship pay, 35% danger pay, 20% Special Pay to make up for the fact that we work 6-7 days a week, 12-14 hour days (as a tenured officer, I no longer receive overtime pay).  In addition, Mrs. Crab decided to remain Stateside so we also receive Involuntary Separate Maintenance Allowance (ISMA), which is a nice little bonus to help maintain two separate households during our year apart. 

I arrived in Kabul in September 2018 and I'm now four months into my year-long tour. The job is challenging but rewarding (present government shutdown aside). The quality of life is much better than I was expecting. I live in a "CHU" - Container Housing Unit, which is basically a windowless shipping container. But I lucked out with a "double-wide" hooch and even better, no roommates.  The food is good. I have a fantastic team of Afghan colleagues who never make the day boring. Many of my colleagues are "tandem" couples serving together here in this hardship environment. 

So immediately after accepting my Kabul handshake, I began searching for EUR "linked" assignments. Links are a kind of 'reward' for volunteering to serve in a PSP.  They are negotiated between DOS and the State Department union, (American Foreign Service Association (AFSA).  Sadly, "links" are quickly going the way of the dodo bird and we don't expect them to be around too much longer.  But, I lucked out.  Searching online and speaking to colleagues, I found several consular assignments in Europe that would be perfect fits...including, shockingly, my DREAM POST (more on that later).  I bid on a total of 4 links and interviewed with all four jobs.  All the interviews went quite well and I was very torn on which to pursue more aggressively.  Some of the jobs were very high profile, but the location wasn't our top pick. Some of them were in great locations, but the job was less than desirable.  This is the way bidding goes -- you compile all the jobs and study the pros and cons of each assignment.  A number of factor go into picking any job: location, the job itself, quality of life, spousal employment opportunities, crime & safety, ease of traveling to/from post, schools if you have kids, corridor reputation of the post and post leadership, etc.  

About a week or two into my bidding, I received an "air kiss" for my third choice. I decided to hold out for a day or two and reached back to my bureau for update on the other jobs.  Instead of receiving a HANDSHAKE reply. 

"Congratulations, Mr. Crab..."

 I happened to be sitting at my desk in Calgary when the Handshake email came up. It was about 5:10pm local time, and I was already late to a group happy hour where Mrs. Crab was already waiting for me. I screamed 'Woo hoo! but nobody was in the office to share my joy. Without even waiting to discuss it with Mrs. Crab, I replied within 15 seconds with a one sentence response: "YES! YES! YES! THANK YOU! YES!"  That was it.  I then printed the email, ran to the bar where Mrs. Crab was waiting and saw her and stared with a big shit-eating grin on my face. "What?" she asked. I pulled out the paper and began reading:

Congratulations (Mr. Crab)! The Bureau of Consular Affairs is very pleased to offer you a link handshake on:

"VIENNA CONSULAR OFFICER"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mrs. Crab screamed at the top of her lungs and began jumping up and down before I could even finish reading the sentence. I wish I had videotaped the moment I read the email!

Vienna, AUSTRIA!  Our 'Dream Post'!  

Almost everyone who joins the Foreign Service has a "Dream Post" - that place for which they would forsake all others for the chance to serve.  Vienna has been our Dream Post since Day 1. Not only is it our top post, but the job itself involves my favorite subject in consular affairs. We are beyond psyched, even though neither of the Crabs have actually ever been to Vienna!  However, we have traveled to western and central Austria many times on ski and hiking trips including to our favorite ski resort in Europe, St. Johann in Tirol (aka Sankt Johann am Tyrol). Mr. Crab plans to visit Vienna very soon. 

A bonus benefit of bidding PSP + Link back-to-back: I don't have to bid again until 2022!  When I landed the PSP assignment and Link back-to-back, my life became locked in for the next six years:

2017-2018: Completed our final year in Calgary

2018-2019: Kabul, Afghanistan

2019-2020: German language + other training, Foreign Service Institute, Arlington, Virginia

2020 - 2023: VIENNA

Above: Mr. & Mrs Crab after landing Vienna!

I've been horrible about blogging, mainly because I just don't have the time and it seems like blogs are so 2012. Does anybody care or read blogs anymore? I rarely do.  But, I thought I'd blog today because it's on my to-do list and also because I've been home sick with the flu for the past 3 days and getting really bored.  I'm long gone from Canada. I'm actually in Afghanistan now.  But here's some photos of some of my favorite places seen from Calgary:

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in March

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in March

Downtown Calgary in the Fall.

Lake Louise Ski Resort, with Lake Louise visible in the distance.

Sunshine Ski Resort

Waterton National Park

The U.S.-Canadian border. No walls, no fences, no hedges. Just a clearcut in the forest and simple stone obelisk with "USA" written on one side and "Canada" on the other. Glacier National Park, Montana, USA is to the left (south) of this obelisk and Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada is to the right (north). 

Snow festival castle in Yellowknife, NWT

Tuktoyuktuk, a small fishing village on the Arctic Ocean, Northwest Territories - well above the Artic Circle.

Flying above the MacKenzie Delta toward Tuktoyuktuk. The delta is the second largest in the Western Hemisphere after the Mississippi Delta.

Formerly the end of the road in Inuvik, NWT. The road has since been extended all the way to Tuktoyuktuk in the Artic Ocean.

Tuktoyuktuk, a small fishing village on the Arctic Ocean, Northwest Territories - well above the Artic Circle.

The Two Crabs are back in the Great White North of Canada after a 3 week trip through Europe that took us to Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria. 

A few more snapshots of our trip.

St. Johann in Tirol, Austria:

Groningen, Netherlands:

Frankfurt & Munich, Germany:

Full disclosure: before we were assigned to Calgary, I had never heard of the Calgary Stampede -- billed as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth".  The Stampede is part rodeo, part state fair, this quintessential Canadian event was actually started by an American -- promoter Guy Weadick.

It's no surprise Calgary was chosen for this mega rodeo. Calgary is to Canada what Houston is to the U.S., a boom town built on the oil and gas industry. But before there was oil, there were cows. Lots and lots of cows. Hence Calgary's other nickname: Cowtown. Outside of Calgary in the plains of Alberta, real cowboys still roam.

But for 10 days in July, everyone in Calgary is a cowboy or cowgirl. Folks wear jeans, plaid shirts, big shiny belt buckles and cowboy boots, of course.  Another Calgary tradition: the pancake breakfast. Many companies and social organizations host free pancake breakfasts throughout the city, sometimes 100 different events per morning. The costumes, parades, decorations and pancakes all lead up to the Stampede. It could take you 3 straight days and you would still not see every attraction, food stall, dog show, or ride every ride.  Just $8 Canadian dollars (about $6 U.S. bucks) lets you roam the grounds for an entire day. Of course, you can still go broke buying drinks, junk food, ride tickets and tickets to headline concert events.

And of course the rodeo tickets. During the day, the Stampede grounds host a traditional rodeo with bull riding and barrel racing. At night, the shows start with the ground-shaking chuckwagon races, followed by a Vegas-style glitzy show and fireworks. Here's looking forward to the next Stampede!

More images from Calgary Stampede 2016:

When we were first assigned to Calgary, everyone warned us of the horrible the winters that lay ahead. They don't call Canada "the Great White North" for nothin'! Some of the more bleak predictions warned of regular -40 degree days (note: -40 is where celsius and fahrenheit meet). 

We took the warnings to heed, physically and psychologically preparing ourselves for what would surely be the longest winter of our lives. We spent a lot of money on winter tires (a MUST) and super warm parkas (maybe a must depending on your tolerance for cold. But you don't need to spend $1K on a Canada Goose). We got a good snow shovel and ice melting salt. We bought new gloves, hats, scarves. We prepped our house, storing everything in the garage. We stocked up on bulk food and products from Costco, under the assumption that we would be spending a lot of weekends and nights stuck in the house. 

It hasn't turned out that way. More than halfway through the winter, our description of 2015-2016 winter has been: meh! Turns out, it's been one of the most mild winters in history. Granted, we've had a few cold spells. The coldest day we experienced in Calgary was -13F (-25c) in late December.  There were weeks in December and January when the temperature never got above freezing, and we've had a few snow "storms". Fun fact: it doesn't snow in Calgary as much as on the east coast. And when it does, it's rarely more than 3-5 inches, and the snow is so fluffy and powdery, you can sweep it away with a broom. But even when the temperatures dipped into single digits, it's soon followed by the warming phenomenon known as "Chinooks" -- a warm dry wind from the Pacific that blows over and down the east side of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. When the Chinook winds roll into Calgary, the temperatures can rise from 10F to 30F in just a few hours!  (It was 55 and sunny in Calgary today, while it was only 31 and snowing in NYC today). 

The Two Crabs have EMBRACED the winter. We've gone skiing, snowmobiling, dog sledding. We have no problem with bundling up and walking 1 mile in the snow to our neighborhood pubs. As devoted skiers, we've explored several of the world class ski resorts within a 2 hour drive of Calgary (more details in a future post). And we've welcomed 5 wonderful friends to our home in fall and winter, including two dear friends who visited us in the dead of winter in January. We've experienced activities we never would have done otherwise...like human curling! And in a few weeks we will be heading to Yellowknife, a city near the arctic circle most famous as being one of the top places in the world to view the aurora borealis -- the Northern Lights. 

A few photos from our first Canadian winter:

Top places to experiencing winter in Alberta:

Best ski resort: Sunshine Village, Banff

Best place to learn to ski: Calgary Olympic Park, Calgary

Best dog-sledding tour company: Snowy Owl Tours in Canmore, AB

Best snowmobiling company: White & Wild, Golden, BC

Best hotel: Fairmont Lake Louise

Yes I'm guilty of not blogging. 2015 has been a very challenging year, between bidding and now scrambling to pack-out with only 2 months notice of where we are going (Canada). Our pack-out is tomorrow, and I'm about to lose internet access. I absolutely LOVE Korea and will greatly miss all our friends and colleagues in Seoul. This was also our first experience living in Asia. We've had the opportunity to travel to some awesome places over the past six months. A quick recap of where we've been:

New Zealand (south island) - November 2014:

Hong Kong - November 2014:

Macau, November 2014:

Melbourne, Australia - November 2014:

Brisbane, Australia - November 2014:

Kauai and Oahu, Hawaii - January 2015: 

Skiing in Niseko, Japan - March 2015:

Hoi An, Vietnam - May 2015:

Siem Reap, Cambodia - May 2015:

Home: Seoul, Korea! (This is a temple in Bukhansan National Park) - May 2015:

 Mrs. Crab is the "Green Thumb" in our family. Mr. Crab, not so much. But since arriving in South Korea, we've both found a new passion for gardening together. This includes regular trips to Seoul's famous Yangjae Flower Market and even the AAFES Four Seasons shop.  

But most of our flowers and plants -- and many of the ceramic pots -- have been gifted to us by friends and colleagues who are PCSing (permanent change of station) from Post. Thank you friends, and rest assured your flowers and plants have found a good home! 

Our front and back yard are now blooming with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, celery, basil, watermelon, green beans, eggplants, cucumbers, strawberries and rosemary! And most of all, beautiful flowers everywhere. 

Korea is currently in the middle of its rainy season, so everything is quite green and flowery right now. For those curious, Korea's climate is very similar to Mid-Atlantic region - four distinct seasons with hot, humid summers (but rarely over 85F), and cold, dry winters (rarely below freezing).  So pretty much anything we could grow in Washington DC, we can grow in Seoul!

A few scenes from our Seoul garden, along with some notes on the origins of various items in our yard:

Above: All the pots are from our friend who sadly just PCS'd back to the States. The wrought iron chair in the background was found by a longtime friend next to a dumpster in Alexandria, VA! 

Above: The ladybug lantern was a birthday gift to Mrs. Crab from a friend. Most of the pots above were purchased here in Seoul. The red pot was purchased by a visiting friend at a Salvation Army thrift shop in London for 50 pence. The metal cat sculpture is from Mrs. Crab's sister in Baltimore. 

Above: The terra cotta pot was purchased at a pop-up flower market in Islington Green, London, England. The lantern is from Mrs. Crab's brother-in-law. 

Above: The far left pot came from Bahrain, as did the clay lantern on the right. Note our HUGE tomato plants in the right plastic pot! 

Above: Mr. Crab bought the bistro table set in Virginia for Mrs. Crab just a few months after we were married. The umbrella was from AAFES Four Seasons in Seoul...it has built-in solar lights and BLUETOOTH SPEAKERS!  The colorful hanging white and brass lamp on the right came from Istanbul's Grand Bazaar. 

Above: This gorgeous blue peacock pattern pot came from Seoul's famous Yangjae Flower Market, purchased for just $10!  The silver lanterns are from Ikea in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The incense burner on the right came from a traditional market in Bahrain. 

Above: The bushy plant on the left is lavendar. The oval pot in the middle was a gift from a friend in Bahrain. And to the right is our trusty charcoal grill that we've carried all over the world since we were married! 

Our little back patio. Note the wood pile in the back for our fireplace. 

Above: Lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and celery growing on the side of our house.

It's time for another episode of The Two Crabs Guide to Skiing Korea! The final resort we are reviewing this season is Bears Town. This small resort is located less than 45 minutes northeast of downtown Seoul. With just a handful of slopes and creaky slow-ass chair lifts, and mostly man-made snow, there's not much to say. Bears Town is the place you go when you don't have time to head east to Yongpyong or High 1. 

 That said, it's not a bad little neighborhood hill. Most of the slopes are green and gentle. It's a good place to learn to ski. The longest "challenge" run would barely qualify as an advanced beginner slope in Austria. As for amenties, there's a small lodge with lockers, a KFC and a few snack shacks. There's also a hotel and youth hostel but I can't imagine why anyone would want to stay there overnight. You can ski the entire mountain several times over in a 4-hour time blocks offered. Tip: if you pay with a visa card, you can get 40% off your lift pass.

On this visit, Mr. Crab tried his hand at snowboarding. Mind you, this is only the third time in my life that I've stepped foot in a snowboard. As my past attempts, I spent the better part of the day on my ass or falling on my head. But after about 2 hours of tumbling, I managed to stay up long enough to do the "falling leaf" and link 1 or 2 turns. But you just can't teach this old dog new tricks...I'll stick to skiing.  

More scenes from Bears Town:

During the 2013-2014 Ski Season, the Two Crabs had the opportunity to sample four of Korea's major ski resorts: Yongpyong, Phoenix Park, Bears Town and High 1 Resort. Of those, HIGH 1 is by far the tops! The Two Crabs visited High 1 during the American President's Day holiday weekend with dozens of friends and colleagues. 

 High 1 is a four-hour drive from downtown Seoul, located in the southeast corner of Gangwon province. It's certainly not the closest, but it's worth the drive. At 1,367m (4,484 ft), High 1 is the highest elevation and most snow-sure of Korea's ski resorts, hene the name. 

Don't let the poorly-designed piste ski map steer you wrong: this place is HUGE. 18 runs. 3 gondolas. 6 chairlifts. The resort is a huge horseshoe-shaped bowl, with all the runs dumping into a common mid-station before ending in a gentle green slope down to the base village.

There's something for everyone here. For beginners, there are several gentle, long lazy green slopes. For experts, there are actually some honest-to-gods challenging (albeit short) slopes to tackle. Non-skiers will find dozens of restaurants and cafes, a huge casino and great accomodations. Our group of 6 stayed in a large, 2-bedroom Mountain Condo with heated ondol floors. Our hotel complex even had several outdoor hot tubs!

High 1 has one major negative point in our book: the slopes are "dry". You won't find a drop of alcohol for sale at any of the slopeside restaurants, cafeterias and cafes. The only place to find booze at High 1 is the lone convenience store at the base station, the casino, or bring it with you. As noted before on this blog, Koreans have yet to embrace the Apres Ski scene! 

A few more scenes from High 1: