twenty-something years of "what have you been up to?"

Month: May 2006

  • O.M.G.

    When Camille’s adorable french babysitter Najet got her belly button pierced I asked her if it hurt. She said, “Oh, not like when I got my nose pierced! Zen I was screaming, Stop! Stop! I don’t want it anymore! And zay say too late! Eet’s done!” I think that may be me now with this foreign service thingie.

    I’m reading the Pearson’s account (again.) One woman there grew up in the Foreign Service and had been in the Foreign Service for ten years and she said Niamey is the only place she’s ever had a breakdown. I guess I’ll have to remind myself that it’s not New York, but if I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.

    On the other hand, I correspond with a Foreign Service spouse who says Niamey is her all-time favorite post, and she wishes they could go back. And she had a post in Paris. So go figure. I am hoping I’m shipping enough books and can get the kids to school and back and go for swim and visit Peter at work and somehow keep it together. Must send pool chemicals. And order all new 220 applicances? I don’t even like appliances, but now I’m realizing how fond I am of my mixer and toaster. Oy.

    This could also be 2 and half weeks of no Peter and a rainy four-day weekend talking.

  • two wheelin’

    Cleaning out the garage, I got on Camille’s bicycle to see if it’s rideable. You can ride it, but with the training wheels, which she says make the bike “tippy” it takes a whole street width to make a u-turn. “It’s harder with the training wheels,” we decided. But she is a modern kid who is only allowed to ride when and where we can see her, so she hasn’t put in as much time on a bike as any of us did when we were learning to ride. I haven’t been sure she would ever learn to ride a bike, she might be like my grandmother who won turn-of-the-century auto races, but never learned to ride a bike. Next thing I notice she is having our neighbor remove the training wheels and she and their daughter are goofing around on their bikes. Then Camille goes riding down the sidewalk without training wheels! I run and get the camera.

    Stefan announces that his miniature bike “Cherry” is tippy, and he wants the training wheels off. “You have to pedal fast, that’s what makes you balance,” I tell him. He nods, staring straight ahead like an Olympian listening to his coach. I held onto the back of his teeny bike, he pedaled his four-year-old legs fast, and took off.

    So it was a big day for me.

    Twowheelerc

    Twowheelers

  • rigamarole

    Either we are the luckiest people in the world or the stupidest. Time will tell. Our neighbors, friends, want to rent our house for two years. How does that sound, since we just happen to want to be gone for two years? Last night over wine we wrote up a contract. They will paint the kitchen. We will get out by the 16th of July.

    Today is mother’s day and the kids are making me brownies. We could eat the batter and be just as happy.

    Peter called from the airport–his e-ticket to Washington DC hadn’t been paid for and they wouldn’t let him on the plane. Many frantic calls to some emergency travel number with the state department, “Are you calling about a medi-vac?” “Oh. Are you calling about Kiev?” Finally got someone who authorized a payment for a flight that leaves in an hour. What a morning I’ve had already. Later, I want to draw pictures of the house and play Carcassonne.

  • Friday Show and Tell

    I have two kids giving me a hairdo as I write this. I finished the PBObrochure.pdf and now I’m dreaming of this dress from Anthropologie as a reward. Press check this morning. The brochure looked great on press and like something Ron Rick would do. I watched Sophie from 12:30 to 3:00 then gave her back and picked up Camille. I bought a beautiful hanging basket of geranium. I like the shadow it makes on the window shade. Peter is working today, has tomorrow off, his last day before he goes to DC for three weeks. Peter’s sister Nina is visitinig from Alaska for a short time, we will meet her tomorrow at the farmer’s market. Tomorrow is the marché at the French School. The postcard design is my hommage to Lotta Jansdotter.Marketcard_3

  • the wonky hot water bottle

    Three times the size of California. What do they have there, besides yellow cake uranium? If you want to read about a Foreign Service family’s tour of Niger and see pictures of kids standing in front of thermometers reading 130F and a herd of wild giraffes before we get there take a look at the: Pearsons.

    Nigermap

  • Crunch time

    My calendar is black with commitments and prioritized lists. There’s a sketch of an optic neuritis (eye infection) I saw a couple of days ago on one corner of the page and the rest of the calendar is filled in with work schedules, itineraries, and appointments. Anyone looking at the drawing would wonder what the hell it was; a boggy balloon or maybe a donut with sprinkles. I only have two days off between now and the day I fly off to DC on May 14th.

    My schedule is full and yet it still feels like I’m in control. Yesterday I gave a lecture at the Urgent Care Conference on “shoulder pain”, went directly to work in the ER and didn’t get home until 2:30AM. I had a strange dream which seemed to start immediately after I lay my head on the pillow about an African boy with a wound infection but I was treating him in secret because I wasn’t supposed to treat any embassy employees. The nurse caught me and was angry and threatening to turn me in. But it turned out to be her brother and I woke up as if I had just read a novel in which I had became the main character. It was 10AM, warm and sunny out. What seemed like a 7 hour dream was really only 10 minutes.

    On my to-do list was a concern regarding housing while in DC. Our generous government provides a per diem for housing. Most new FS employees are there for 7-8 weeks but in my case I’m only there for 3 weeks and then 3 more later in July. Nobody wants a 3 week binge. But I was fortunate enough to find an apartment through another FS correspondent (Dr. Ed Miron) who will be in my orientation with me. The apartment manager had a lovely British accent and I explained my dilemma. We talked about all sorts of things and eventually she agreed to rent me the apartment on two separate stints (with and without family). A tremendous relief and a big scratch off my list.

    After the first two weeks in DC, I’ll be flying to Seattle for Milla’s 50th birthday party. Then I return to Portland on June 3rd. I will hopefully see Pop soon after and continue to work in the ER and family practice clinic through most of June. Then I fly to Minneapolis, Minnesota for a Comprehensive Adult Life Support (CALS) course. That’s where they teach you stuff like how to evacuate a patient and assist in a premature delivery, etc. I will also have the opportunity to meet NP’s from embassy posts. June 30th will be my final work day at OHSU. We plan to make a trip down to California for the 4th of July, visit with family and store the Saab at Dina’s parents’ garage. A rental car will get us back here to Portland. I will probably work a few more days at the family practice clinic and the movers will come around the 13th (Stefan’s Birthday). We all fly to DC on July 16th.

    I may find this boring to read in a few days but it’s actually very exciting. The thing of it is, Dina is just as busy. She has deadlines with Hanna and a huge brochure to produce for the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Camille heads for OMSI camp for 4 days with her class on the Oregon coast. Stefan says “no fair!” Despite the tight time lines, we still find ourselves saying, “Can you believe this?!” It’s important to understand and be aware that the demands made upon us now effect our daily lives. Sometimes it’s intense. I said that I feel in control but sometimes I know that I’m completely losing it.