1st day

Hi everyone, today was my first official day in the embassy. I had a good experience; everyone there was very helpful and friendly. There were some friendly faces from when I was in DC, which was nice. My sponsor has also been really great.

For the first few days I'm in the check-in process, which means getting registered on several different things and meeting a bunch of the principal officers at the embassy.

There are some great views of the city. The embassy is located in the Valle Arriba neighborhood, which pretty much means high valley, so it's not too hilly, but you can see down on some beautiful views. I took a couple of pics on my blackberry, which I'm attaching.

Everything you do here is based on your accreditation, so I'm really not able to do much yet. I'm applying for it as quickly as possible, but have to wait on things outside of my control. To buy something at any store, you are asked for your credential number. If you're a foreign diplomat, you're allowed to give your Carnet number instead. Until then, you can use your passport number, but you can't use that to sign up for internet or cable or cell phone service. So it'll be exciting when that comes through. Until then, it's kind of nice to be staying in a hotel until I get housing, since here I do have internet and cable tv :) I'm spoiled right now compared to a couple new people who got into their permanent housing right away.