Month: July 2006

Although it’s been scorching hot with high humidity, we really haven’t suffered much. Our hotel accomodations are on constant AC and we find ourselves needing long sleeved shirts and a blanket at night. My walk to work is about 15 minutes. Just long enough to feel it but not quite long enough to build up a sweat. And it has cooled down some since our arrival. Yesterday, we got caught in a downpour thunderstorm.

My office overlooks the Kennedy Center. The people at MED have all been really nice. I have had meetings with different areas of the department such as overseas medivacs, medical records, computer training specific to patient care, as well as a meeting with the medical director, his assistant, and the department of psychology. We also had our immunizations started. Ouch! I took my valium to prevent my vasovagal swan dive off the table and don’t remember most of the conversation we/I had with the nurse. All I remember is her name was Porche and she could have been a car for all I know. But at least I didn’t pass out.

In addition to work, we have eaten out at some really good restaurants, shopped at bookstores, and went to a huge mall where we bought shoes and some clothes in preparation for Africa. We aslso walked to the mall to see the monuments and Dina took the kids to the Natural History Museum one day after visiting me at work where we had lunch together.

I was trying to coordinate their arrival and called the hotel. I asked for room “nine-thirteen.”
The voice on the line sounded destinctly foreign. “There is no such room number here sir!”
“But that’s the room my family is in!” I replied.
“I’ve been working here for over 10 years and I can assure you, there is no such room as nine-thirteen sir. How do you spell your last name?”
I spelled him my name and he said, “It’s room nine-one-three for future reference sir! I will connect you.” :—)

We are considering buying a car (not a Porche, my arm hurts everytime I see one). There are primarily Toyota and Nissans in Niger. We visited a large reputable new/used car dealership on line and sort of fell for a Nissan Xterra. This week we’ll look into a car loan as well as diplomatic visas and passports.

We had three weeks, or so we thought. I was going to finish building the deck with my friend Sheri. We were going to take a trip to California; stopping at Mt. Shasta, Davis, Grass Valley, Donner Lake, Lake Tahoe, Paradise to store our car, and then back home via Mt. Shasta. So logical! So well planned! Could we really be doing this?!

Our trip to California was great but with a few glitches. The car had a minor problem which we fixed in Davis. We met up with Luanne, Evan, Logan, and Christina in Grass Valley. The 4th of July, we celebrated at Donnor Lake with Dina’s family. Afterwards, we spent two nights at Lake Tahoe with Dina’s parents and Serge came. It was beautiful. Our drive to Mt. Shasta was uneventful and we stayed the night with Milla before heading back to Portland again.

One last week to go! My colleagues at OHSU threw us a deck party but Sheri and I were still screwing down the last planks after the party began. It was hot and both Dina and I felt sick. Stefan had gotten sick at Tahoe two nights before and started the chain reaction. The final days were preoccupied with selling the car since we decided not to store it after all. Plus packing a month of luggage, obtaining international driver’s lisences, haircuts, and watch repair. Ironically, our neighbors Kathy and Lee Moore will be renting our home. We spent some wonderful evenings with them, marveling at our fate and we all had to laugh since they were the ones who initially were most outraged by our decision to take this position with the Foreign Service. Once they decided to rent our house, they were affraid we might change our mind!

The movers came on Stefan’s birthday, July 13th. A crew of three immediately began boxing up things asking, ” surface, air, or storage?” Within a day and a half, they had boxed most of our belongings including our garage door opener and all the other things we now can’t find. The air freight was slightly over our allotment so Dina made the executive decision to have them remove two of my boxes of clothes and send them to long term storage instead. If you see me in 2006-styled clothing in 20 years when I retire, you’ll understand. A second moving crew arrived with a 75-foot-semi and two guys loaded all of the remaining storage items (furniture, boxes, and golf clubs), working until 6 PM.

We were staying with Dave, Elizabeth, Laura, and Claire Miles (some of our dearest friends). Our last evening in Portland was spent with them. We grilled fajitas and drank some good wine. It was calm and we maintained an up beat mood, ignoring the sadness that we were really leaving for a good long while.

The alarm rang at 5AM. I took a shower and Elizabeth made me a very good cup of coffee. We loaded the car and said our goodbyes. I will remember a lot about our 4 years here in Portland. Especially the good life long friends we made and the comfort of knowing we still have a home where we call home.