The world is our smorgasbord

We haven't been in Shenyang for even one of our two years yet, but we're already starting the process of bidding for our next post.
It's a little bit terrifying. Last time we were bidding, we put China on the top of the list, and I knew we had a good chance of getting it. Come on, who else would bid high for frozen, polluted Manchuria? And we both speak Chinese. So while we researched the other possibilities, I didn't honestly consider them as likely prospects.
But this time is different. You can't stay in the same country twice in a row, so that eliminates any China posts. There aren't any other Chinese speaking posts that fit our criteria. So basically.... the world is our oyster. It's terrifying to be playing this real-life version of Spin the Globe and realize more than just your finger is going to wind up in some random far-flung corner of the world.
We really have a wonderful bid list-- a smorgasbord of exotic locales.... sort of. See, we have to limit it based on the kind of position Kevin will be taking, so that winnows out quite a few. Then we have to see which positions would work with our timing (when we leave our post, after time off for mandatory leave, and with training schedules that work to our timetable). That actually narrows it down quite a bit. Too much, in fact. And then we found out this morning that just because you have enough time to do the required training, it doesn't mean that the classes start when you need them to.
Basically, our smorgasbord has been reduced to the state of a church potluck lunch-- an hour after it started. We can still scrape together enough Jell-o salad to make a decent serving, and there are enough chicken enchilada scraps that you can pretend it's the whole enchilada. Actually, there are a few gems like an untouched lasagne that someone left the tin-foil on. And a chocolate bundt cake no one wanted to be the first to cut into. Two of my top three have survived the winnowing process, and I'm excited about most of our top 10. We're just hoping it doesn't come down to the leftover Jell-o salad, because we're just finishing a Jell-o salad post, and we are really hoping for some bundt cake or lasagne next time around.