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

place2place

  • we fall behind

    Sometimes we fall into a writers block. I fear the blog might sound repetitive and perhaps a bit boring. But our readers remind us that they are waiting. Thank you Clay!

    Our embassy life is a bit like living on a reservation. All amenities are supplied to us and most socializing happens in our teepees with occasional powwows and tribal stomps. So it takes some effort to get out and experience this city. We fall into routines; our kids go to school, we go to work, and dinner still needs to be made at the end of the day.

    But we do get out some and hopefully more so once the weather warms up, the days get longer, and we get our license to drive. In the mean time, there is plenty to see by metro and walking. 

    Yesterday evening we were invited to our friend Moscow Mom's for dinner.  The trolly driver was unusually nice. She got out of her booth to show us how to use the ticket to get through the turn stye, told Stefan to duck under for free, and asked us which stop we needed so she could signal us to get off. The windows were splattered with grit but we still made out some beautiful buildings and wooded parks. 

    Their apartment is small nice with views of the river and forest, beautiful! Our children played games together while we enjoyed each others company. We enjoyed handmade pasta and a vegetable tartine (eggplant, red and yellow bell peppers, and glazed carmelized onions), and for dessert, a chocolate tart and a lemon tart. Fantastic! Fun.

    The taxi ride home took a different route and we asked what was that beautiful fortress all lit up that we passed. The driver said it was a monastery. Beautiful!  All walking distance from our house and we didn't even know it.

    It's good to get out.

  • love finland

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    I had a great time in Finland! The people were very warm and friendly. They all speak English. When I asked the obvious question of why that is so, they said that if they only spoke Finish, they would isolate themselves from the rest of the world since no one else speaks the language. They learn English and another language in primary and secondary school. 

    Nokia rules. It's not uncommon to be in a store looking at a clothes rack when several cell phones ring simultaneously around you and someone is talking on a phone. There are lots of shops, music, and museums. I loved the food which is Scandinavian but even if you don't like herring, cold cuts, and grav lox for breakfast, there are plenty of European and American restaurants to choose from.

    On my last day, I was taking the trolly to work. Right after I got on, three young stinky drunk men got on. There were plenty of seats vacant but of course, one of them plunked down right next to me. I turned my head towards the window and tried to close off my sinuses without pinching my nose. I suddenly heard a "pop" and then, gulp-gulp-gulping as he chugged down a tall can of beer. 

    I wanted to move so I motioned that I needed to get up. He stood cross-eyed on wobbly legs as I slid out. As I was walking away, it suddenly dawned on me that I had left my gloves on my seat. I turned around to retrieve them and as I approached my "friend,"  I saw him lean over where I had been sitting and throw up all over my gloves. I decided against asking him to hand them to me. Later that day in Stockman's (a famous Finish department store), I treated myself to a new pair of nice leather gloves.

  • moscow, malaysia

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    Dina

    Amy, living the Foreign Service life in Malaysia, and I are doing a project together. Every day we post a picture, she from Kuala Lampur, me from Moscow. I think my Nikon is functioning now, but everything I've posted so far has been from my iPhone. Much easier to walk around town with. Amy is leaving KL in five months, so this project will take us through May. Check it out!

  • in the government arena

    I am down to only one nurse in the clinic (I'm supposed to have 3). In our advertising for the position, I am "in the process" of hiring the only RN who applied. I knew of a physicians assistant (PA) who wanted to work so I modified the second RN position to try and accommodate her. We offered her the RN position too, only to discover bureaucracy and legal issues so I had to go push for changing the position to a PA. That means paying her more money but also, she can work in a greater capacity. I won't go into the details of all the obstacles but now in the final stages, it looks like I won and we are hiring her as a PA. Smooth talking persuader.

    As you know, we went to the inauguration celebration at Spasso House. The Embassy has been buzzing in anticipation of Hillary Clinton being sworn in as our Secretary of State. Her swearing in was to take place live via webcam in one of our conference rooms and all were invited. The technicians were unsuccessfully trying to get connected. After about 20 minutes and just before her speech, someone walked in and said, "Hey! They are broadcasting it live on CNN in the cafeteria!" We all raced there and watched on 2 large screen TV's. A new picture popped up on the wall. My new boss.

    I am preparing to go to Finland next week to see patients. There was a lot of wrapping up to do with the PA job, second round of interviews for the secretary position, hosting a representational meeting and lunch with my docs of other embassy health providers, and taking care of our patients. A busy week.

  • before, during, after

    Somehow Peter's co-worker got us on the guest list for the inauguration party at the Ambassador's. I thought it was going to be just embassy worker bees, and we had to walk three miles in the snow: this is my excuse for showing up wearing jeans with a white belt and Keens. Well, this is no excuse for the white belt, except they are cool. On the way out of the embassy, we walked past the wall where the portraits of the President, Vice-President and Secretary of State hang. After seeing Bush, Cheney and Rice for so long on State Department walls, it was strange to see the wall, where the portraits normally hang, blank.

    We walk into the main "salon" at Spaso House and the room is electric, filled with people dressed far nicer than we are–one guy was in a tux–a jumbotron screen, and tv cameras. IMG_0946

    The lights go down, and they show the Presidents taking their seats. President George the First gets a big cheer from the Ruskie audience for wearing a Russian hat, they see it and go nuts. Aretha starts singing, in her hat with the bow you can see from space. "Freedom, freeeeedom," they show the Golden Gate Bridge and I start crying and pretty much don't stop until we get back home.

    Obama walks down the stairs going out to the podium and looks so beautiful, then speaks with this great combination of gentleness and power, that I think he may be the Buddah. "This guy is even better than David Cook," I say to myself. 

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    After the swearing-in the lights come back up and everyone stands around hugging. I feel like we all just got married. I have never felt so hopeful in my life.

    We exit the salon and the reception rooms are filled with flowers, banners, American flags, tables with caviar on toast, shishleek (Russian brochettes), mushroom pastries, dumplings in creme sauce, fresh fruit and veggies, all kinds of wine, beer, Beringer champagne and shots of Russian wodka.

    Peter says we have to drink to Obama.

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    After two glasses of champagne, I am a champion mingler. We even mingle with Obama:

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    At midnight we walked home in the snow, the ground slushy, the Russian White house in the distance. 

    We came in through the embassy and the wall was no longer blank, we were greeted by two new faces:

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  • ice skates and keefer

    Skating

    I went to the grocery store and picked up the essentials: butter, four cartons of keefer, (instead of milk, dammit) chicken, wine and ice skates for Stefan. He was thrilled. We are the kind of parents who say, "We bought you skates, we never said we'd take you skating." So he walked around in the snowy yard in his skates for half an hour and pronounced himself a very good ice skater. Then we gave in and tromped across the street to the park-turned-ice-rink so he could give his ice skates a first-time whirl, and some not-intentional twirls. I can't imagine learning to ice skate without a rail to cling to in horror. I think Stefan is junior nationals champion material because on his first time out he didn't do that horrible splits thing nor did he break his tailbone.

    I submit the following picture for a handy shopping reference. From left to right: keefer, milk, wine.

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  • low key holiday

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    While others traveled to Norway, the Riviera, and back to the States for ski resort and ocean holidays, we Chordas' stayed put and watched the snow. The sun comes up at 9:00 AM and sets around 4:15 PM. It's minus 12 degrees Centigrade (10 degrees Fahrenheit). So during the daylight hours, we baked, made trips to the grocery store to get provisions (mostly wine and milk) since the commissary was closed, and forced ourselves to the gym to counterattack the overindulgence of hibernation. 

    On New Years Eve, I took my lunch break to run to the grocery store to buy dinner. The lines were extending out into the isles and I stood 45 minutes in line, only to find out their debit card ability was down and I didn't have enough cash on me. There is a smaller store a block closer to home and I'm glad I checked it out. Prices are higher but there were far fewer people. I settled on a pork roast with vegetables and Dina made an apple pie from scratch. Work was busy that week while I was on call, but then it was back to lounging, reading, and daily wine tasting (mostly the same case of wine!) Here is a snap shot from outside our back door, which is about as far as we got.

  • adventurous

    Jennifer Fulbright has a nice article in the Oregonian this week about snow-shoeing at Crater Lake. Sounds dreamy. Is that James and Hesperus in the picture?

    Makes me think we should go check out the new ice rink across the street.

  • hny

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    My cute husband choosing music. We are waiting for our friend, and then we'll open the bottle of Russian Champagne. 2008 was great, wishing you a fine 2009. Salut!

  • this is christmas

     

    You guys want to do one of these somehow? Portland, Seattle, Niamey, Japan, West Coast, East Coast, ya in? What song do we all know? What we all sing/play? I say anything but Wonderwall. Maybe Rivers of Babylon? Peter and I will sing it in front of St Basils, and you will record yours where you are. Send it to me and I'll iMovie it into something. Something really lame and wonderful. You with me? Do it now and email it to me (or post on facebook.) Merry Christmas!

    The chords are here. Go!

    ETA: Christmas pix on flickr.