Tijuana - Crash and Bang

Guess what?  We actually have news about where we are going.  We get to take a course that is affectionately referred to as "Crash and Bang."  This nickname, coupled with the fact that everyone in the Foreign Service apparently wants to take this course (which takes place at some off-site location), is all that I knew about the course until Friday.  That's the day I found out that both Lisa and I would be required to complete it.  Predictably, I am super excited about anything called "Crash and Bang."

After a little bit of googling (which is, in Spanish, I believe, the verb: "googlear"), I can guess that the course involves guns and driving fast, and maybe stuff blowing up.  If only I could have taken it closer to the Fourth of July.  I was able to find this snippet from a blog from 2008, so of course, its veracity could be questioned:

Today our training course took "crash and bang" literally.  We started with some warm-up exercises of backing the car around the racetrack at insane speeds and doing Y-turns periodically.  Then we went into scenario-playing where we put the techniques learned yesterday to actual use.  We practiced identifying threatening situations and getting out of them...  We also practiced how to ram your car through a roadblock, both forward and backward.  We beat that poor Honda Accord to pieces.  After ten students had hit it twice each, it looked like a beer can in a bar's parking lot.  Our rammers, by contrast, were still running just fine.  They looked like hell, but all the important pieces were still in place.  I think I'm ready for the Demolition Derby. Or the DC Beltway.

At the end of the day, we got a demonstration of several different types of explosives...  For a finale, they had put a half pound of high explosives into the dash of an old Dodge Intrepid.  That little bit of HE just blew the crap out of the Dodge: roof blown off, doors blown out, glass gone, dash disintegrated.  Most impressive.

 http://storypaintings.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html

And now I give you permission to be jealous.  I mean who wouldn't be jealous.  Five days in the wilderness driving fast and wrecking cars.  It's a dream come true--except for three little problems named Jacob, Benjy and Andrew.  While I firmly believe that my boys would love this kind of thing, I also doubt that they will be permitted to attend.

So what do we do with them while we are there?  That is the question that we face. I think that if Lisa is required to take the class, she should have to do it with three screaming passengers.  You know, to make it more realistic.  But since that would be considered "dangerous,"  we have to deal with the logistical nightmare of finding 24-hour care for the three of them, the youngest of which is still breastfeeding.  We're trying not to think about that part until we have all the information.  The key word here is trying.

Some of you, like my father-in-law, are probably more concerned about the fact that we "have" to take this course.  Really?  Its going to be awe-some -- to be read as you would hear me say it.  Besides, what's life without some danger?  We are in this for an adventure and to serve our country.  This class is just a perk.

Are we crazy?  Maybe.  However, remember what the title of this blog is.  And, the skills we're going to learn are going to be super useful during our cross-country drive to Tijuana.

In other news, we hosted a Tijuana party for the other guys from my A-100 class that are also going to TJ.  I cannot post anything about them or their pictures, but it was a nice night with tacos.  You will have to settle for this:  Lo llamamos "Andito"