Transitioning to Trinidad

We are under the 6 week mark of our remaining time in Mongolia, which feels very strange.  In true State Department fashion, our departure inexplicably got moved up by a month.  (Something about "maintaining the integrity of the transfer process"... huh???)  So we've been feeling a mix of panic and excitement since we found out.   But that's not that interesting.  And thinking about it stresses me out.

What is occupying my thoughts more and more now, though, is our next post.  I'm really going to be living in Trinidad for the next two years?  What will that be like?  I've spent the last 30 years of life (so, all of it) living in climates with 4 seasons, most of them cold.  What is it really like to live on a tropical island?  Will I go crazy?  And, more importantly, what am I going to do with the roughly 1 billion sweaters, coats, boots, gloves, hats and scarves that we own?

But amid all the questions and transitions, every now and then you learn something that just makes you realize how cool this all is.  For example, I just learned yesterday that one of my favorite movies ever, Disney's 1960 classic (don't laugh) The Swiss Family Robinson, was filmed entirely on Tobago.  Apparently, the tree they used is still standing.  Tell me that's not awesome.

I'm going to be really disappointed if our embassy housing doesn't look like this.  Elephant included, please.