Getting To Work

Living someplace temporarily always give a different outlook.  Every good idea either begins or ends with “before we leave.”  We did a pretty good job of checking some of those off of our list.  We’ve already been to the beach and to Colonial Williamsburg.  We’ve begun checking off the museums of the Smithsonian, and we’ve eaten loads of burgers and milkshakes.  We’ve begun to stock our kitchen with wonderfully useful, long-lasting kitchen tools, although that list seems to grow faster than it shrinks.  We’ve begun the dirty work as well.

I have begun a relationship with an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor.  After facing sinus infections abroad, where I had little trust for my doctors and even less trust for my prescribed medication, I decided to seek a better answer to the problem.  I’ve been referred to a Speech Pathologist (rather interesting) and to an Allergy Nurse so far, and am on my fifth dose of antibiotics for the calendar year.  My understanding is that each Embassy employs a nurse or even a doctor to serve the Embassy community, and that many people feel comfortable using them as their family doctor.  I am looking forward to the rest that will come from having our medical professional provided when we arrive, but I’m taking advantage of specialists while we’re here.

The girls are taking advantage as well.  Little Annika has been to a Speech Therapist and an Audiologist, as she has not begun speaking yet.  Although we spend a lot of time running around meeting appointments and making them fit into everyone’s schedules, I am thankful to be surrounded by such a wealth of medical professionals.  Dave and I have been to a psychologist for advice on raising our kids, after some serious behavior issues have arisen in our household.  We figured that discipline issues are best addressed when the kids are young.  But also, that this connection may be valuable in the years to come, with all of the stress we have planned for our girls.

Also, Lilly and I have begun studying Spanish.  She takes an after-school class twice a week.  I work on Rosetta Stone whenever I can snatch half an hour.  My goal for Lilly is that she gain enough vocabulary to recognizes snatches of words and phrases once we arrive, giving her the confidence to learn more.  My goal for myself is to build my vocabulary and a bit of an ear for the language through this school year.  Once Sophia begins kindergarten in the fall, my schedule will open up considerably and I hope to begin a more intensive Spanish course that last semester here.

It is my goal for everyone in our family to speak Spanish by the time we leave Venezuela.  Annika will have no trouble - I hope she can attend a bilingual school when she is ready for preschool, and I plan to have her spend some time with our Spanish speaking ayi during the day.  I hope that Lilly and Sophia can build a relationship with ayi as well, and I expect they will have Spanish in school every day.  For myself, I hope to have enough language to get by when I arrive.  If I never train myself to work in English there, my language skills will build quickly.

The work has begun, but within a season of rest and plenty.  The goal is just to be diligent.

Adrenaline Junkie

I may have become an adrenaline junkie.  As compared to the chaotic intensity of the past few years of my life, the relative calm of the past few months is making me crazy.  Coupled with some real behavior problems and far too many minutes spent in the car with a cranky baby, I think I may be losing my mind.  After a rough bedtime this evening, I grabbed my computer and walked straight out of the house.  Only once I had pulled onto the highway did I realize that I have no idea what's open for computer-starers and headphone-wearers at 9:00 at night in my part of town.  The best I could find was a Barnes & Noble in Clarendon.  It doesn't make me feel any more interesting or adventurous, but it gets me out of the house, listening to my own music, and thinking my own thoughts until they close in an hour.

Actually, quite a few wheels have been set in motion within our household lately, and I have a number of half-written posts jostling around in my mind.  My organizational tendencies beg me to sit here and write a few different blog postings, keeping my thoughts need and tidy.  Lets just see if that happens.  But to run with the current theme, I must admit that now that we have settled into a quiet life in the suburbs, I'm getting awfully bored.  We haven't traveled for longer than a day since summer, and my feet are beginning to itch.  We live just close enough to the city to make me hungry for it, but just far enough away that I don't know which restaurants to explore or which places are kid-friendly.  I don't know which bars or coffee shops are open at 9pm on a Monday night.  It seems that I am itching for some major stress to arise, bring on another adrenaline rush, and make me start running again.

Dear Santa Claus

I've inadvertently recycled both of their letters to Santa this year.  But I think they were particularly fabulous this year, so posterity (and all of our friends and family) can view them digitally.


From Sophia:

Dear Santa,
I think that I'm only kind of nice.  Santa, I wish I get a good present.  I want a new puppy dog, some flowers, a teapot set, the stuff to be a witch (a real witch).  I want to know how to plant flowers.  I would like some Christmas placemats.  I want some more music cause I like to dance.  Christmas music, and Chinese music, and hopping music.  I want some drawing things like a box of markers with a bag of paper.


From Lilly:

Dear Santa.
I have been pretty good.  What I want for Christmas is a scooter, a basket for my bike, my own flashlight, clothing for my Lovey Bear, a new easel, a new real puppy, I want a fun zuh zuh pet town set.  I am going to put out cookies and milk for you.  And carrots for your reindeer.

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving.  Today I am thankful for my wonderful husband, and for my badly behaved children.  Badly behaved as they may be, they're also brilliant and beautiful and very sweet and I love them very much.

Today I am also thankful to be in America.  I feel kinda corny writing that, but this forum is for honesty, so there you go.  We've spent the last few Thanksgivings in China, and there is something special about gathering together with other Americans to create our own, warm corner of America anywhere in the world.  But there's something pretty great about being in America for Thanksgiving - where everyone has the day off, the neighborhood smells like dried leaves and all of the fixings are readily available (and even on sale!).
 We took full advantage, and created a feast worthy of many more people than sat at the table.  Especially because by the time our feast reached the table, the girls had lost most of their appetites.  Still, Dave and I enjoyed it... and will be enjoying the leftovers for another week or so, at least.

And today, celebrating a small and quiet version of the traditional American Thanksgiving, it makes me aware of how differently my children's lives will be from mine.  My childhood memories of Thanksgiving are generally the same.  My mom made the meal, which we ate at our home with my grandparents coming over to share.  I would be upstairs in my room making some sort of decorations - place cards, pilgrim hats, or teepee centerpieces.  My mom made the same stuffing every year, and the same pumpkin pie.  The holiday was about three things - eating the same, fabulous, home-cooked menu every year;  celebrating our blessings;  and being together with family.

What will this look like for my kids?  The menu will likely change year to year, partly due to availability of different foods in different places, but partly because we will often join potlucks and share traditions from loads of different families.  We can still celebrate our blessings, but what else will my kids associate with Thanksgiving when they're grown?

No doubt things change, and my childhood Thanksgivings looked dramatically different from those of my parents as well.  For now, I am happy to relax with a glass of wine, a full belly and a refrigerator loaded with leftovers.  I am thankful for all that we have.

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.