Said at the Smithsonian

Dave had the day off on Monday, because a truly fabulous storm knocked out power all over town over the weekend.  Luckily, our power stayed on and we enjoyed a 3-day weekend.  Happily, the Smithsonian also had power, and so our family explored the Freer Gallery of Art and some of the gardens surrounding it.  A few interesting tidbits from our kids:

Smithsonian lady:  Where are you from?
Lilly:  America.
Smithsonian lady (seeming rather thrown): Yes, but what part of America.
Lilly (without pause):  St. Louis

Dave and I were both surprised by her answer.

Later, in a Chinese garden modeled after the Temple of Heaven in Beijing:

Sophia:  That looks beautiful.  Can we go there?
Mommy:  We have been there, and it was beautiful.
Sophia:  Where is it?
Mommy:  Its in China.
Sophia:  Will we ever go to China again?
Mommy:  Probably.
Sophia:  Good.  I'd like to see what it looks like.
Mommy:  You mean this garden?
Sophia:  No, I mean China.  I'd like to see what it looks like.

We have passed some pretty significant milestones in this house.  Dave has finished his job with the Department of Human Rights, Democracy and Labor.  He has moved on to Spanish language training at the Foreign Service Institute.  We have lived at the same address for longer than 364 days - a first for our Sophia.  Annika has lived in the U.S. for over half of her life.  Lilly will very nearly miss that goal when we leave for Venezuela in December.

Enjoying Mundanity

Life has become much simpler over the past few weeks.  Dave finished his job in DRL, and is now spending his days at FSI - that's the Foreign Service Institute.  He's currently is class, learning how to process visas - that will be his job in Caracas.  At the end of the month, he will transfer into Spanish.  That will bring some stress back into his life, but will still keep his days to 8 hours.  Ah, it has been lovely.  And then last week, Sophia finished preschool.  And so ended the daily commute.  My life has become much more relaxed over the last few weeks, and at the onset of summer, things promise to become only more relaxing.  I haven't posted much lately, because life has become beautifully mundane.  That will certainly change as we begin ramping up for Caracas, with its lack of security and its political instability.  But for now, I'm enjoying the mundanity of life in Northern Virginia.

As part of that simple life, Sophia wrote me a story yesterday.  Saved here for posterity, and for your enjoyment:

Translated above in red, but also below:
    This is a Mommy and a kid.
    They are going to a party.
    The kid is shy, but the
    Mommy
    says "You are
    Pretty."  To Mommy  Love, Fia

Love the story, and the supportive mom.  Love that she spells party PRD.  And also love that she looked at a picture of a white woman and a black child and naturally imagined them as mother and child.

In the Right Place

Dave is in China right now.  He's staffing his Under Secretary - that's the head of the Bureau on Democracy, Human Rights and Labor within the Department of State.  I posted earlier that these two weeks in China are the pinnacle of his year working the China desk within this bureau.  That could not have become more true with the news this week.

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng rather impressively escaped house arrest and appeared in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing only days before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived for this big summit.  The news coverage has been exciting, with new bits of the story breaking every few hours over the past few days.  And I'm getting nothing more than random texts from Dave, who is right in the thick of it.

Again, I've got to admit that I'm pretty jealous.

And a little bummed.  Because Dave's supposed to get on a plane tomorrow morning and fly home to be with us.  Glad he's spending his time on such worthy endeavors.  But a little jealous of his time, too.

TCK

I like to indulge myself, thinking about how different my childhood was from the childhood of my own kids.  I suppose that's normal - my childhood was certainly different from that of my parents.  But I still find it striking how many parts of their young lives I will not be able to identify with.

As Third Culture Kids (TCKs), our kids fall into this psychological category of people who grew up outside of their passport country, away from their parents' homeland, and as foreigners in their resident state.  Add on the complications of moving every few years, and you can begin life as my children as well.

But don't worry - although there are some pretty typical psychological responses, there are also loads of benefits of this life.  And I'm meeting plenty of young adults (and older adults) who grew up abroad and are not only well-balanced but also pretty enjoyable.

This little video got me thinking about it:


So Where's Home? A Film About Third Culture Kid Identity from Adrian Bautista on Vimeo.

Culmination

After nearly 4 years living in China, Dave began working on China within a few weeks of his new job with the State Department.  Since last May, he has been working in the Democracy, Human Rights and Labor section with a focus on China.  He's enjoying the chance to focus on China more academically and politically, and certainly to think about their human rights issues.  He's becoming an Old China Hand.

He finishes the job in less than a month - which may disqualify him from eligibility as an Old China Hand; I assume Old is more than 5 years.  Anyway, he finishes this job in a few weeks, and will happily finish his work on a trip to China.  Dave leave this Sunday for 2 weeks in the middle kingdom.  He's busy preparing for the trip, and looking forward to his time there.  He'll catch up with his coworkers, and have a very different work day than he did while we lived there.

I'll admit that I'm a little jealous.  The girls are, too.  We're not really wishing we could relive so many Chinese experiences - I remember well the bad customer service, crazy driving, and people spitting on the sidewalks.  But we're all a bit reminiscent of our old lives.  Going back to China feels like going home.  I think that's why we're jealous.

Although, there are certainly things that I miss. 

I miss the food.  Chinese food is fabulous.  The stuff they sell on the streets is cheap, flavorful, and often healthy.  The stuff Wendy made was always amazing, so much healthier than what I cook, and so cheap - plus, I got to eat it with Wendy every day.  The restaurants were yummy - both the local Chinese places, and the world-class Western places.  The produce was big and fresh and cheap.  Grocery delivery was free.

I miss the lifestyle.  We lived in an urban city, and we really lived in the heart of it.  We walked whenever we could, and we metro-ed the rest of the time.  We did occasionally have a driver, but used him primarily for the school commute.  We walked to the grocery store and the markets, to the park with the carnival rides on weekends, and to the many restaurants in our neighborhood.

I miss the housekeeping.  Although I don't miss the cockroaches or the rats, the peeling paint or the dysfunctional heaters, the bad landlords and the squirrely agents, I do miss having a housekeeper.  Never washing my own dishes or folding my own laundry bought me so much time.  Someone wiping up daily meant that my bathroom mirror never got spitty and the floor never grew hair.

I miss the community.  I belonged to an amazing group of women who met weekly for Bible study.  Lilly went to an amazing preschool, with a small and lovely community surrounding it.  Lilly and Sophia attended a fabulous elementary school, with warm teachers and involved parents.  Wendy kept me company in our home every day, and we ate lunch together regularly.

I could go on, but I won't.  We have lived in this house for a few weeks shy of one year.  Its been a simple move and northern Virginia is lovely.  How funny that now that I've settled in America, I feel homesick for China.

Once Dave's trip is over, he has a few days off and then he goes back to school.  His schedule will change, and his hours should improve dramatically.  We're looking forward to a summer of Daddy home for dinner every night and evenings walks before bedtime.  And of leaving China behind for now, to draw our focus more keenly onto Venezuela.

Feeling Better?

I sat down this afternoon to post on a news story that I read earlier today.  A Costa Rican diplomat had been kidnapped in Caracas.  According to the Boston Globe, he was the fourth diplomat or diplo-family-member kidnapped in Caracas in the past 6 months.

But when I checked Google News this afternoon, the story had changed.  The top story was now from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and with a much better headline:  Diplomat Freed After Venezuela Kidnapping Ordeal.  The story says that he's back with his family just over a day after disappearing.  That's good news.  The story says that although the abductors demanded a ransom, they released him under police pressure and with no money paid.  That's good news.

And so I wonder - should this story make me feel safer about our next city, or should it make me feel nervous?

Feeling Old

I was talking to my health insurance company on the phone in the kitchen, while the girls colored in the dining room.  The woman on the line asked my birthdate.

Lilly looked up from her coloring and said, "You were born in 1977?"

I nodded my head.

She gave a thoughtful hmm reply, and then went back to her work.

But Sophia's head jerked up.  She looked almost worried as she quietly said, "Does that mean you were born in the time of the dinosaurs?"

For the record:  No, it does not.