The Foreign Service Journal, February 2010

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 47 T WO H OMES IN T WO H EMISPHERES We divide our time in retire- ment between West Virginia and New Zealand. We bought a cot- tage at the top of the South Island in 2000 and moved to West Virginia in 2004. We were reluctant to leave the Washington, D.C., area and the friends and activities we have en- joyed there, but we are also glad to have escaped the congestion, leaf blowers and high prop- erty taxes. Instead we have gained the rural peace of liv- ing on a river in West Virginia (annual property tax: $500) and the scenic beauty, low population density and relaxed life style of coastal New Zealand (property tax: $1,500). Our town there has no traffic lights! This arrangement allows us to avoid winter com- pletely, since New Zealand is “Down Under.” It also means we don’t have to give up outdoor activities and sports (except skiing) for any part of the year, permitting a healthy lifestyle year round. (Of course, if you can do this in the same time zone — e.g., Latin America or the Caribbean — the travel would be easier!) Changing location every six months complicates get- ting involved in community activities, but the move keeps us from getting stuck in any ruts. And the change between countries is stimulating, just as it was in the Foreign Service. We find it easier to get involved and to know new people in New Zealand than in West Virginia! Eventually, advancing age will preclude the long flight to New Zealand (13 hours from the U.S. West Coast). Then we’ll sell our place there and settle full time in the U.S., probably in Charlottesville or Rich- mond, where we have daughters (West Virginia is too wintry!). As it is, we miss them and our grandchildren while in New Zealand, but they sometimes come to visit. And they make returning to the U.S. all the more en- joyable. To get a feel for this kind of lifestyle, you can read my book of poetry, Rhymes of the Antipodes: New England, West Virginia and New Zealand . (You can order it from www.xlibris.com or www.amazon.com .) Peter P. Lord Elkins, W. Va. WAE W ORK : A W IN -W IN I am a current When Actually Employed annuitant who has served either in the State Depart- ment or overseas most years since I retired (early) in 1992. I remem- ber waking up the morning after I was promoted to the Senior For- eign Service in 1991, a few months short of my 20-year anniversary of becoming an FSO, and thinking: “Congratulations, Judy. Your jobs from now on will be to supervise other people doing work you would much rather do yourself.” I retired six months later, as soon as I could do so. And since then I have been able to do the work I would rather do myself! To get WAE jobs, you have to keep up with your con- tacts and what is going on in the areas of your expertise and get to know incumbents in those bureaus and posts. It helps to live in or near Washington, D.C., of course. Once assigned to an office, you can mostly avoid the endless in-house committee meetings your poor career colleagues have to attend, and can avoid entirely the many frustrating hours they spend trying to get themselves or the people who work for them promoted. You have the luxury of being allowed to just get on with the job. If you want status and recognition, WAE work is not for you. But if you like working with colleagues and if you can get across to the career officers among them that what you do won’t get in the way of their promotions, but will redound to their credit, you can have an awful lot of fun. Handled right, the use of WAE personnel is a win-win situation for State, posts and the individuals involved. Judith M. Heimann Washington, D.C. B ACK TO THE S ECOND G RADE I retired from the Foreign Service in December 2008 and came to live in Sanibel, Fla., where I’ve had a house since 2000. The climate and wildlife have kept me from contracting “rock fever,” which the Urban Dictionary de- fines as “the hemmed-in, claustrophobic, trapped feel- ing mainlanders get when they spend too much time in F O C U S Mentoring five university students at different times on pursuing careers in the Foreign Service was a particularly satisfying experience.