As soon as the Foreign Service became a reality for us I began daydreaming about where in the world I’d love to go. Three places quickly rose to the top:

• Ireland
• Australia
• Cuba

I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland and Australia, and Cuba, c’mon — I could finally own a ’57 Chevy. Alas, none of those countries ended up on our bid list, but that was okay. After all, we really wanted to learn French, we wanted the hardship differential, Alex wanted to work in her cone and we thought it would to cool to go somewhere that most of our family and friends had never even heard of. Benin definitely fit the bill. Which was why it was our first choice. And why we’re very happy with our assignment. And why it’s going to be great.

But…

I happened to sneak a glance at the 153rd A-100 class’s bid list, and guess what’s on it. Yep. Lots of cool places, including — surprise, surprise — Ireland, Australia and Cuba.

Ugh.

Even more frustrating is the fact that Alex was almost in the the 153rd class. This could have been our bid list! We were going to take some time off to travel and bum around before she joined the Foreign Service, but we ultimately decided to just get the ball rolling and start in March.

Did I mention, grr?

But it’s easy to dream about cool cities when you don’t take any other factors into consideration. And as they told Alex in A-100, Benin (which really will be cool) is just the first of many posts. So, I’ll meet you in Australia… one day.