What a Week!

Our Midwestern month has come to an end, and we are back in the unseasonably cool weather of the East Coast.  It was a wonderful month, full of time with family and friends.  But the last week stands out with 3 rather jarring events.

Yes, Dave felt the earthquake.

The girls and I were still in Chicago, when we received a call from the United States government.  Dave called from his office phone to tell us he was alright, before we even realized what had happened.  Apparently the first few seconds were scary - when the State Department begins shaking, the first thought is a bomb rather than an earthquake.  Looking out the window, he said he could see a retaining wall moving like waves on the ocean - after that, everyone calmed down and enjoyed the ride.  The pictures on our walls were crooked when I got home, but no other damage.

We just missed Hurricane Irene.

We missed it by a few hours.  We left Chicago on Saturday morning, camped outside Cleveland on Saturday night, and drove the rest of the way on Sunday.  Apparently power went out throughout most of Northern Virginia around 9pm on Saturday night and was restored to our area by Sunday morning.  When we drove through on Sunday afternoon, we had to search to find evidence of the storm.  Our house fared just fine - even the beachball and inflatable pool we had left in the backyard.

But we did succumb to a nasty stomach bug.  While camping.

It was ugly.  I started feeling queasy before dinner.  I limited myself to chicken soup and bread, but still felt queasy after dinner.  I chalked it up to the junk food we'd been eating for the last few days.  By 10:00 or so, I could no longer blame the food.  And by midnight, I had lost most of the contents of my body.  The nearest bathroom was a 5 minute walk away from our beautifully isolated campsite - and didn't flush.

It hit Lilly around 1:30am, before it even woke her up - leaving a disgusting mess all over her sleeping bag, the tent, and her hair.  Poor child.  She stood shaking in the chilly night air, nightshirt peeled off, while I tried to rinse her hair from a water bottle. 

By 3:00am we had cleaned up, broken down the tent, and moved to a nearby hotel.  Dave held it together until the girls were snug in bed, and then it hit him.  He and Lilly were up every hour or so for the rest of the night.

He seems to have recovered by Sunday evening.  Lilly still has very little energy, and I'm also a bit off.  Luckily, Sophia missed it entirely.

But it has rather put me off of camping for a while.

The World's Most Dangerous Cities

So, I was feeling all bad about myself because we're going to Caracas, Venezuela, with the reputation of being the most dangerous city in the world.  Then I started to think, well, I lived in St. Louis - right there in the ghetto of St. Louis.  And I kinda liked it, so...  Then I'd back up and say, of course, St. Louis is no Caracas.

Well, take a look at this...

Google this phrase:  "most dangerous cities in the world 2011" and you'll find a surprising number of top ten lists.  Go to the first one - http://UrbanTitan.com/10-most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-in-2011/

Here's a quick summary of their top ten list:

10 - Muzafarrabad, Kashmir, Pakistan
9 - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
8 - Grozny, Chechnya, Russia
7 - Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
6 - Caracas, Venezuela (not even in the top 5!)
5 - Mogadishu, Somalia
4 - Port-au-Prince, Haiti
3 - St. Louis, Missouri
Wait, did you see that?

Here's some of the details that the Urban Titans provide:

According to a latest study analyzing cities based on their FBI statistics for murder, rape, robbery, and assault, St. Louis top the list of the most dangerous city in America, beating Camden, Detroit and New Orleans, last year’s most dangerous cities. After first being pronaunced ‘America’s Most Dangerous City’ in 2006 and coming in second place in 2009, St. Louis has once again reached the top. St. Louis had 2,070.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 429.4.

Other lists name Detroit instead of St. Louis, but Caracas makes the list every time.  In fact, according to some blogger named laikepo, Caracas is the most dangerous city in the world.  Laikepo sourced Nacho Celebrity for this data, and Nacho Celebrity didn't provide a source, but sounds pretty credible, at least by his moniker.

MostDangerousCities.org says that "Caracas has one of the highest murder per capita rates in the world (between 130-160 per 100,000)".  I was going to compare that to St. Louis' 2,070 violent crimes per 100,000, but its kind of apples to oranges, isn't it?

Anyway, the message to take away from this is that living in Caracas may compare well to living in the worst parts of St. Louis.  And as that's where we choose to live, when actually given the choice, I don't think we have much room to complain.

And don't you love how I have access to all of the data in the State Department's library on living conditions in Caracas, Venezuela and instead I quote a top ten list on Nacho Celebrity's blog?

Prepared

I returned today from a lovely weekend away.

While living in Shanghai, I was blessed to be a part of a truly amazing group of women.  The group morphed over the two years I belonged, but the women were consistently amazing.  It was a weekly Bible Study, where we worked through Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself, and her A Woman's Heart. Some other time I'll tell you how great I think Beth Moore is.  Today I'm telling you about me, and about these women - who studied with me, challenged me, prayed with me and simply met with me every week.  Three of us met in Ohio this past weekend, and it was a beautiful few days.  In commemoration of our studies, we attended one of Beth's Living Proof Live events.

Her theme was PREPARE.  I'm not going to take you through the weekend, or her 9 points.  But after listening to a great speaker, worshipping with 7,000 other women and a strong worship team, and just relaxing and talking with three amazing women, I solidified a few things for myself.


I am in a time of rest right now.  The move to Arlington has been difficult, and June was a particularly hard month.  But we've found a few blessedly good communities - Sophia's school, our church, our neighborhood - and I trust we will begin this year strong, upon our arrival home in a few weeks.  Strong, and without much stress.  Life is challenging - we're on a tight budget, and I do not want to live beyond our means, or to sacrifice good food.  Also challenging simply managing the schedules of 5 people in suburban America, and all of the car time that entails for Annika and I.  But still, I inherently understand the systems around me and I am able to communicate freely with most of the people I meet.  This is a time of rest.

I have become particularly committed to this time of rest over the last week or so, as a few wonderful options have arisen.  I have the opportunity to teach music classes on Saturdays, a paid and enjoyable position.  I have the opportunity to volunteer for a significant State Department project which would likely bring me into direct contact with the Secretary of State.  I have a fabulous book idea, and have been connected to some great publishing contacts.  I feel excited about each of these opportunities.  Like, really excited.

And I have said no to each one.  I am committed to this time of rest.  Not that driving all over Northern Virginia and baking my own bread is particularly restful.  Just that each of these things are inescapable, and life will quickly become exhausting and unpleasant if I add on any negotiables.  This season is exclusively for the non-negotiables.

Here are the only extra-curriculars I am allowing on my plate:
- Bible Study:  Our church hosts women's Bible Study on Thursday mornings.  I have a feeling it'll be nothing like my groups in China, but its a commitment my soul and my social side need.
- Spanish: I would really like to arrive in Venezuela with a long list of vocabulary, ready to begin speaking poorly and then begin in earnest with a tutor.  I plan to speak Spanish well by the time we leave Venezuela.  As a State Department family, I have access to Rosetta Stone and plan to begin earnest study with that as soon as I am able.
- Blogging: As much a release and a journal for me as a gratifying way to stay in touch with folks I have known, and to share information with folks I don't know.  I haven't written as much as I'd like over the past few months, and I want to see my posts increase again.

I feel prepared going into this season, planning not to oversubscribe and to take only a few projects quite seriously.  I hope this will leave me well prepared both spiritually and verbally when we leave this place of rest, and arrive in Venezuela 18 months from now.

Disappearing Act

When I didn't post very much back in May and June, it's because I was overwhelmed and kinda depressed. I won't be posting much this month, either, but for different reasons. The girls and I have been spending August in the Midwest. I am enjoying late nights, catching up with friends, and loads of time with family. The girls are enjoying the sights of St. Louis, the plastic pool in Nana's backyard, and loads of attention and help from grown-ups who love them.

I am not enjoying much time alone, or moments to compose an interesting blogpost. So, let's call this my vacation - from caring for my kids alone, from cooking and grocery shopping, and from forming a few paragraphs of coherent thoughts.

Coming Turmoil

When Dave was first hired into the Foreign Service, the idea of evacuation filled me with fear.  I'd hear stories and they'd make me want to cry - not that the storyteller cried, just that I felt such fear.  With the vision of life in Caracas now settling into my mind, evacuation actually provides me some comfort.

We've switched from watching China in the news, to picking up stories on Venezuela instead.  And current events on Venezuela these days are always stories about Hugo Chavez.  The leader of Venezuela is a clear megalomaniac, but is also a cancer patient with no clear successors groomed to follow him.  Many leaders have already promised turmoil should their opposition take leadership, and the military promises not to support elections which bring the opposition into power.  This kinda scares me, except that I know we'll be evacuated if we're in real danger.

Another excitement tidbit about Venezuela is its affinity for earthquakes.  Venezuela is apparently in an earthquake zone, has had some minor earthquakes recently, and is due for a doozy any year now.  I doubt their apartment buildings and office complexes are as shoddily built as those in China, although the possibility certainly exists.  No, the bigger problem is that many of the buildings in Caracas are apparently shanty towns, of a sort.  Should an earthquake hit, the majority of the population would lose their housing, and I've read that Caracas' emergency infrastructure would be overwhelmed.  Scary, except that I know we'll be evacuated if we're in real danger.

Unfortunately, the danger of gun violence and frequent robbery will not be cause for evacuation.  I am curious what our life will look like, in the face of such danger.  At this point, I'm guessing that we'll frequent places which are safe - home, school, the embassy, and a few markets and stores.  And my guess is that we'll become claustrophobic quickly - although our life these days basically circles around work, home and school anyway, so maybe we're well suited for a post such as this.