Dave's job

So, you know that Dave is a Foreign Service Officer.  You know that he is currently posted in D.C..  You may know that he works in the Main building of the State Department, just down the hall from the Secretary.  You may also know that he works in the Department for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor - rather oddly abbreviated as DRL.  You may even know that he narrows that focus to China.  But if you want a prettier version of what he does, take a read of President Obama's speech before Australia's parliament this morning.

Now, lets be realistic.  You all read that speech on your own time.  But maybe you didn't notice where he mentioned Dave.  Here it is:

And this brings me to the final area where we are leading -- our support for the fundamental rights of every human being.  Every nation will chart its own course.  Yet it is also true that certain rights are universal; among them, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and the freedom of citizens to choose their own leaders.
These are not American rights, or Australian rights, or Western rights.  These are human rights.  They stir in every soul, as we’ve seen in the democracies that have succeeded here in Asia.  Other models have been tried and they have failed -- fascism and communism, rule by one man and rule by committee.  And they failed for the same simple reason:  They ignore the ultimate source of power and legitimacy -- the will of the people.  Yes, democracy can be messy and rough -- I understand you mix it up quite well during Question Time.  (Laughter.)  But whatever our differences of party or of ideology, we know in our democracies we are blessed with the greatest form of government ever known to man.
So as two great democracies, we speak up for those freedoms when they are threatened.  We partner with emerging democracies, like Indonesia, to help strengthen the institutions upon which good governance depends.  We encourage open government, because democracies depend on an informed and active citizenry.  We help strengthen civil societies, because they empower our citizens to hold their governments accountable.  And we advance the rights of all people -- women, minorities and indigenous cultures -- because when societies harness the potential of all their citizens, these societies are more successful, they are more prosperous and they are more just.
These principles have guided our approach to Burma, with a combination of sanctions and engagement.  And today, Aung San Suu Kyi is free from house arrest.  Some political prisoners have been released, and the government has begun a dialogue.  Still, violations of human rights persist.  So we will continue to speak clearly about the steps that must be taken for the government of Burma to have a better relationship with the United States.
This is the future we seek in the Asia Pacific -- security, prosperity and dignity for all.  That’s what we stand for.  That’s who we are.  That’s the future we will pursue, in partnership with allies and friends, and with every element of American power.  So let there be no doubt:  In the Asia Pacific in the 21st century, the United States of America is all in.
...This is the story of the alliance we celebrate today.  This is the essence of America’s leadership; it is the essence of our partnership.  This is the work we will carry on together, for the security and prosperity and dignity of all people.

What We've Been Reading

With Venezuela only 13 months away, I've been scanning the bookshelves for new reading material.  However, Venezuela does not make the newspapers, NPR or the best seller lists nearly as often as China does.  That could certainly change over the next 3 years, but right now the picking is pretty slim.

I did start off with a classic, though.  The Lost World was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1912.  The book is fabulous - an adventure tale of British gentlemen in the early 1900s.  I enjoyed so many things about the novel, one of them being the chance to get inside the heads and mindsets of the explorers, back when exploring meant forgoing safety and your possible return just to see what was out there.  The setting of Doyle's lost world is said to be inside of Venezuela.  Interestingly, parts of Venezuela are still said to be relatively untouched.  I doubt there is much fact in the novel, but it is a wonderful read and does paint an exciting and exquisite picture of the physical place we will be living.

However, I couldn't find much else.  I do have a short reading list, but I am open to all suggestions as well.  Until then, I have broadened the category to include Colombia as well.  Colombia and Venezuela share both a border and a history.  Simon Bolivar is history's great man for both nations.  Also, a prolific and Nobel prize winning author writes from and about Columbia.  "Believed by many to be one of the world’s greatest writers, Gabriel García Márquez is a Colombian-born author and journalist, winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature and a pioneer of the Latin American 'Boom.'"  I'm guessing that the here referenced boom is in Spanish language literature - and although I am working through Rosetta Stone's Latina American Spanish program, I'm not yet reading great works of literature.  However, Márquez has been translated into English and one of his books now sits on my bedside table.


I admit to being a little intimidated.  The General in His Labyrinth been sitting there for a while.  Currently, it sits behind World War Z, a much lighter and far less intimidating book.  But now that I've posted this, I'm sure I'll read the Nobel Prize winning author next.

Settling In

How I planned to spend my Saturday:

• Oiling the patio table and moving it to the basement;
• Raking and mowing the lawn;
• Cleaning the outside toys and moving them to the basement;
• Picking the last of the vegetables and cleaning the vestiges of our summer garden.

I'm sure we could have added much more to that list, given the right day.  But we were not given the right day.  We were given this day, our last day of October:

So, Dave took the minivan and helped a friend move.  The rest of us stayed home, and got stuff done for a while.  As soon as they could see snow on the ground, which did take quite a while, both Lilly and Sophia insisted that they go out to play in it.  Just as they pulled on their boots, their neighbor friend knocked on the door asking them to play in the snow.  When I looked out the window, a small crew of children was playing in the front yard.

I love snow.

And I love this neighborhood.

The landlord may be crap, and the house may be imperfect, but the neighborhood makes the whole thing worthwhile.  We live in a great school district - a neighborhood where people buy for the zip code and for the schools.  Plenty of people buy one of the 1950s era houses and tear them down, building much bigger and much more expensive homes on these already pricey lots.  But our block has escaped that.  A few homeowners have added on to their houses, and a few homeowners seem happy with things the way they area.  And I think the reason I like this neighborhood so much is that I like that kind of people - the folks who live close to the city, choose the good schools, but live happily in just enough space.  The small house folks, where the television is relegated to the basement, the bikes are better protected than the car, and the kids play outside because its just too crowded in the house.

We like it so much that we wanted to stay here.  Not stay here stay here, like some of you people may think when I say "stay here."  Not, like, live here for the next 5 years or anything.  Goodness no.  But we decided it would be perfect to buy a house here.  To buy this house, should the landlord want to sell.  Even better - to buy the next door neighbor's house.  They do want to sell, and their house is nearly identical to ours.  Plus, they have this great climbing tree in the front yard.

The more we thought about it, the more we wanted to do it.  That way, every time we come back to DC, we'll come back to the same house, the same neighbors, and the same schools.  That much more stability for our kids, and a source of rental income while we're out of the country.

We tried every which way to make it work, but we simply can not afford to buy in this neighborhood.  These houses are crazy expensive - even the small ones!  And although it would be comforting to buy a house right now, it is also freeing to decide not to.  We looked at our goals, and we only plan to spend about 3 of the next 16 years living inside the United States.  That's pretty exciting.  We looked at our finances, and we'd rather invest in college, retirement, and a few rooms to spend our summers in the Midwest.

Its crummy not to buy a house.  It would be lovely to invest in this neighborhood.  But its nice to make a decision, to have some long-term goals, and not to have to worry about replacing furnaces or gutters anytime soon.  And by soon I mean within the next 20 years.

Sophia Says

So, that last post was a bit heavy.  But Sophia said something lovely this morning as well.  Today is Diwali and her teacher celebrates Diwali, and so she met us wearing a lovely sari.  When Sophia saw her, she told me that her teacher looks beautiful.  When Ms Teacher opened the car door, Sophia told her that she looks like an Indian princess.

When I was 4 years old, an Indian princess looked like the cartoon character from Peter Pan with a feather poking out of her hair.

I love that this is what my 4 year old imagines an Indian princess looks like.

Missing Grace

A favorite game for my children is to pretend that their parents are dead.  I take this as a compliment, that we have made our girls feel so confident and safe that being orphaned seems like pure fiction.  So this morning on the way to school, it came as no surprise when Sophia told me I wish I didn't have a mom.  I told her that if I were not her mom, I would miss her very much.

And at that moment it struck me - that is how I feel about Grace.

Grace is what we would have named the orphan from China who we planned to adopt.  We waited years for her, although we were never matched to her.  She would have joined our family within the next 9 months, but we decided to stop the adoption procedure this summer.

I insinuated to Sophia that even if she had never been born, I would still love her.  Even though Grace will never join our family, I still love her.  And sometimes my heart hurts because I miss her.

The Landlord

When I signed the lease for this house, I got a rude shock.  The realtor who managed the transaction  told me never to call.  I should not call him with a problem.  I should not call the landlord with a problem.  Surprised, I said, What if something needs repair? Nope.  That's your responsibility.  Okay, but what if the toilet explodes in the middle of the night.  Then I would need to call her, right?  Nope.  That's your responsibility.  But, if a tree falls on the house and tears a hole in the roof?  Yeah, then you should probably call her.

Silly me.  I took his word for it.  Just last night, I sat down to reread the lease and learn exactly our responsibility.  Contractually, our landlord is responsible for all appliances as well as for general maintenance of the house.  I have no idea what the manager was talking about when he discouraged me from calling.

But that he gave me bad advice a few months ago did not keep said landlord from lecturing me this afternoon.  The washing machine stopped working Tuesday night last week, with a pool of water on the floor around it.  I called the landlord first thing Wednesday morning.  She finally made it out for a peek this afternoon - Monday.  She lectured me for not explaining more clearly; for not calling earlier; for not attempting to solve it myself; for not cleaning it up on my own; for not installing something to stop the problem.  She explained to me how the fuse box works; how the shower head works; how I ought to think for myself.

I owned my own house for 6 years in St. Louis, as well as managing rental property that I also owned down the street.  We still own the rental property in St. Louis, and rely on managers (aka my parents) to keep it in good condition.  I have become fairly savvy about property maintenance.

We rented the last 3.5 years in China - 4 different properties and 4 different leases.  We had problems with bugs.  We had problems with washing machines.  We had mold. And each time, I hated working with the landlord, largely because they all seemed to believe me an idiot.  Fair enough - I did not speak their local language.  Americans are guilty of the same thinking far too often.  But knowing that the landlord looked down on me drove me nuts.

Sadly, none of those problems were unique to China.  In the few months we've lived in this house in Virginia, we have had bugs, mold, and a faulty washing machine.  The washing machine seemed worthy of a call to the landlord, as the lease has a specific clause making all appliances her responsibility.  Using Midwestern English, she talked down to me the whole time.  Apparently it has little to do with language issues - maybe landlords just think tenants are idiots.

So now I know that I am supposed to notify her immediately of any problems.  I also hope not to have anymore problems, because contact with her is no fun.

But more generally, I am reminded that my life abroad was not as foreign as I thought.  I enjoyed complaining about the bad service I got in China, and how difficult it could be to communicate simple problems.  Clearly, bad service is global and communication can be difficult within the same language.  Our next move will make the United States government our landlord, or at least our property manager.  As I ought not complain about that landlord in this forum, I had best set bad landlords as my standard, and see myself pleasantly surprised at how well I am treated in Venezuela.

Venezuela-fy

Word is that Caracas is not only ripe territory for murders, but that carjackings are fairly common as well.  My understanding is that the point of the car jacking is to steal the car.  At first, we planned to leave our 2011 Honda Odyssey back in the states.  A brand new car must scream money, right?  Surely we would be a target for carjackers.  Apparently not, actually.  When the goal is to obtain the car, then the car must be desirable.  In Venezuela, as in most of the United States, a mini-van is not seen as a desirable car.  Apparently, we'll be fine.

Still, the shiny new car was making me nervous.  It may have Cheerios ground into the seats and names written on the walls in crayon, but it still shines on the outside.

And so yesterday, I began the process of Venezuela-fying our car.  I accidentally scratched a car as I pulled out of Lilly's school parking out.  In my defense, that car was parked surprisingly (and illegally) close to the corner.  Still, I felt a little silly.  I immediately parked, walked back to the car to inspect the scratch, and decided it was worth a note.  In the time it took me to write the note, the illegal parker had driven away.  I am off the hook for Venezuela-fying their car.  And as I began to feel guilty about our car, it dawned on me the luck.  It would be awfully difficult to intentionally scratch up our car, making it look less desirable and making us look less rich.  But if I can accidentally do it a number of times over the next year, we'll be that much safer!