big news on the horizon

Next week is shaping up to be momentous for us. On Monday — a week from today — bureaus can begin officially notifying their leading candidates about their onward assignments. We’ve had extensive unofficial communications with various hiring managers over the last month, of course. Monday will offer the first official hint as to where we might be heading after Costa Rica, with handshake offers to follow next Friday. Handshake day also happens to be the last day for which the government currently has approved funding. Will there be a government shutdown or will our Congressional leaders manage to avoid one at the eleventh hour as they did at the beginning of the fiscal year five weeks ago?

Next week will also mark the two-year anniversary of our arrival in San Jose. Thanks to a six-month extension, Costa Rica will be the longest of our five overseas assignments to-date. With the extension, S’s tour technically ends mid-May, with enough flexibility potentially for us to remain in Costa Rica until the end of the school year next June. Of course, our onward assignments will impact our transfer timing, as the departure date from San Jose and arrival at our next duty station will need to be negotiated simultaneously. We hope to have a good idea of how the chips may fall on handshake day. Of course, there is also the possibility that we do not receive handshakes, which would force us back to square one of the job search and extend our period of uncertainty.

Regardless of how things work out next week, we know for a fact that there is no extending our Costa Rica tour beyond next summer, leaving us with 6-7 months, at most, before the final mad scramble to get our affairs in order and prepare for departure. It’s not quite bucket list time, but it does feel like things are beginning to get down to the wire. Costa Rica has treated us exceptionally well these last two years: we’ve made good friends, traveled the full breadth of the country, and have grown deeply enmeshed in various local communities.

With the time ticking down, each decision takes on extra weight. What do we want to do in our remaining months in Costa Rica? Explore parts of the country we have not visited or return for one more visit to our favorite destinations? Spend more time with friends or rededicate ourselves to our favorite activities? There are no wrong answers, but there are real tradeoffs. Every weekend we travel outside of the capital means missed soccer games for Munchkin and Ultimate frisbee practices for D. Every concert or salsa night entails a missed opportunity for a game night with friends. There are only so many hours in a day, and there are a finite number of days remaining in our assignment to San Jose — a reality that is beginning to feel ever more present as we gird ourselves for what the future may hold in store for us.