Ok, I just about completed a wonderful 10 days with my daughter who is a student at the University of New Mexico.   Tomorrow I head to Tokyo for a night before continuing on to Singapore.

New Mexico is a fantastic “enchanted” state, not only for the wonderful weather and landscape, but also for the food which is a wonderful mix of Mexican and Native American.  When I am back overseas I am so happy for mail-order so I can cook up these authentic dishes no matter where I am living.  I’ll include a few links to my favorite online food mail-order sites later this week.

My visit to NM coincided with the annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, one of the largest balloon events in the world.  Every morning, during “Mass Ascension”, hundreds of balloons all take off together and drift slowly over the NM high-desert.  In the evening, they secure the balloons to the ground, fill them with warm air, and then all at once they turn on the gas burners which lights the balloons up like giant Christmas ornaments!  This “Balloon Glow” is a spectacular event, and seeing hundreds of balloons all flickering brightly is a sight to behold!

Further north is one of my favorite regions in NM, the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  This collapsed volcanic caldera is located in the Jemez Mountains and protects 89,000 acres of wilderness and wetlands.  It hosts hundreds of elk and other animals, and the Park Service severely restricts human encroachment.  In addition to the Preserve, the area has the Jemez hot springs and Bandelier National Monument –  ancient Native American Anasazi ruins.  Techies can visit the Los Alamos National Laboratories, where the first nuclear bomb was built.

While I am away on assignment, far from America, its places like these that remind me what home is.

* Home Leave:  Home Leave (paid vacation time) is special leave time accrued while we are overseas.  We generally earn 15 workdays a year, so after a two-year tour of duty overseas we would have earned 30 days of Home-Leave.  Home-Leave is not Annual Leave, which is accrued at a different rate depending on rank.  While Annual Leave can be used anywhere in the world, Home-leave must only be used in the 50 United States (or its territories, if that is your home).  Also, Home-Leave is usually granted only after a tour overseas, but can be deferred to a later date with a waiver.  30 work-days mean that you do not use it on weekends and holidays.  As an example, if I had just completed an overseas two-year assignment and started leave on February 1st, 2010, I would be able to take off all of February and not have to end the vacation until the 16th of March!  30 days goes a long ways, and many members take a full 45 workdays after a 3 year assignment.  The State Department also pays for travel for you and your dependent family members to your designated Home-Leave address, and then on to your next assignment.  This is something to think about if you do not have a home, as you MUST take Home-Leave, and the State Department does not pay for lodging or meals – all of that comes out of your own pay check.  At least you do get paid while on these extended vacations!

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