On to Adventure!

My Gradual Progression into Photography

2011-01-30T07:19:00.000-05:00

Baby, it's mild and pleasant outside!

2010-12-09T08:31:00.000-05:00

Finally the temperature in Jerusalem has dropped to a level that is tolerable when carrying 30 lbs. of Ozzi through the ancient (hazardous) and crowded streets. As usual, today's excursion involved a little running crazy, a few treats, brief contemplations, and a fair share of complaints.

Turkey Day

2010-12-05T13:06:00.001-05:00

This Thanksgiving we decided to be thankful for the opportunity to celebrate the annual American feast with a bit of irony. We went to Turkey, specifically Istanbul, for 4 days. We LOVED it.

Istanbul is one of my favorite cities I've ever been too (just below Florence, but just a touch above London. Sorry London but you're expensive and you kicked Q and I out of Westminster.) It really is a perfect mix of Europe and the Middle East. It manages to find that balance of being tourist friendly without being over-run with tourists. Great history. Great culture. Great public transportation. Great cafes. Great people. Great city.

I've never been to a more child friendly place in my life. EVERYONE we came in contact with fauned over the boys. At one point we stopped into a United Colors of Benetton store and Kate and I probably could have left for a few hours without anyone caring. The boys were running, wrestling, and playing with all the clerks like they were all their best friends. At cafes, waiters were constantly giving the boys free treats, candy, toys, and trinkets.

It was amazing how so many of the people we met over those few days made us feel so at home and welcome. Which I have to say is about the complete opposite of what Israel does. Our very nice hotel, located right in the center of the historical part of the city and 50 yards from a tram stop, had fantastic staff and even served a turkey dinner the evening of Thanksgiving with pumpkin pie and a glass of Baileys for dessert.

we LOVE Aqaba

2010-10-12T03:13:00.000-04:00

Turns out heaven is approximately 3.5 hours and a border crossing away from Jerusalem. Ok, maybe not heaven. But, compared to the exhausting stress of Jerusalem's inexhaustible cloud of bitterness, Aqaba is blissful.

The Negev

2010-10-04T06:49:00.000-04:00

Ozzi vs The Ice Cream Cone

2010-09-22T01:48:00.000-04:00

Ozzi wins!

Party at the Park

2010-09-21T08:27:00.000-04:00

The first of many birthday parties this school year was a blast.

The juggler put on a great show,

the boys had a blast,

and Ozzi impressed all the ladies with his style.

He picked out the hat himself at H&M and insisted we buy it. "Me LOVE this hat!" He also picked out the shirt to wear to the party, demanding that I button ALL the buttons.

Hurricane Oscar

2010-08-30T06:15:00.001-04:00

I remember when Q was this age. The Minneapolis Institute of Art and The Walker were our second homes. Q could have guided tours. He was always content meandering quietly through these favorite places of mine. Patiently allowing me to revel in my favorite pieces and the professions of amazement from strangers over his un-childlike tranquility. All those visits have certainly paid off. Not only does his behavior in museums put some adults to shame, he can pick out a Van Gogh in a room filled with impressionist works.

Ozzi is not his brother. More often than not, I'm quite thankful for that. I relish the variety.... But, I also really love a good art museum. And clearly, one cannot truly enjoy the extensive collection of a quality institution like the Israel Museum with a two year old tornado.

kickin' it old school

2010-08-27T07:16:00.005-04:00

The school bells have rung for Q. When we visited his school for the orientation he was reluctant and nervous on the way there. That all disappeared though, the second he was back on campus and saw a few of his friends. He was back in his element.

This first week of kindergarten he has been more energized than he has been since we returned to Jerusalem from our vacation back in Minnesota. He really seems to love it. Though, the other day when I asked how school was he said, "Good... but... well... we just don't do enough science. I don't think they have enough science equipment. You should go back to America and buy some, bring it back here, and give it to my teacher."

As for Ozzi and I, the repressive heat of summer has finally started showing signs of retreat. This thankfully allows the little guy and I to spend more days running amok. Terrorizing/entertaining shop keepers and tourists along the way.

"Camel" Rides and Dragonfruit

2010-08-22T07:27:00.002-04:00

Tiabas-sitting

2010-08-16T12:41:00.000-04:00

While some friends of ours are spending some quality time back in the old US of A, we have been dog-sitting their dog Tiabas. He is huge. He is also the best behaved dog I have ever seen... which is good since I have two boys that seem to be eager to test his patience.

When the time comes to give him back, I'm guessing there will be two very sad little boys.

Baby, It's Hot Outside

2010-08-06T01:55:00.000-04:00

It has been exceptionally warm in Jerusalem recently so we've been doing our best to pass the time indoors.

The Height of Sophistication

2010-05-11T02:17:00.002-04:00

Despite my efforts, I can't seem to get Ozzi to call Quentin by name. Instead, he stubbornly continues to refer to him as "Brother". How properly Victorian of him.

When they're playing hide and seek, "Brother, where are you?"

When they're fighting, "No. Brother stop. Hallas! Hallas!"

When responding to questions, "Did you just put a popcorn kernel up your nose?"
"No, Brother did it."

Extreme Makeover: Playground Edition

2010-05-02T14:14:00.001-04:00

This is what I signed on for. As a spouse of the foreign service I expected to be doing a lot more community outreach sort of activities. The reality is though, that I'm here in Jerusalem. In many other posts, volunteer opportunities seem endless. Here, the places that could use the work are in Gaza and the West Bank. Unfortunately, our access to the occupied territories is very limited. So when a chance to clean up a playground at a school here in East Jerusalem came up, I jumped at the chance. And it was awesome.

It felt great to get my hands dirty and put in some real work for once. It felt even better knowing that an overgrown and faded playground at a girls' school has been brought back to life.

Cairo Video

2010-04-21T14:01:00.005-04:00

I finally put together a little video from our trip to Cairo.

Holy Week a few weeks late

2010-04-21T07:28:00.001-04:00

Once again I'm apologizing for neglecting the blog. Sorry. There was certainly things to write about over the last few weeks. Walking in the Palm Sunday procession from the Mount of Olives into the Old City.

The combination of Passover, Easter, Orthodox Easter, and all the corresponding holidays and festivals makes for a pretty crazy week in Jerusalem. In order to escape some of the craziness for Easter Sunday we crossed over into Jordan to visit Ajloun Castle and Jerash, an ancient Roman city complete with gladiator and chariot reenactments.

A stone throw away

2010-03-17T07:36:00.000-04:00

It's a five minute walk but still a world away. Isawiya, one of the East Jerusalem neighborhoods that experienced clashes between the IDF and some Arab youth yesterday, is just on the other side of the hill. Yet, beside the coming and going of helicopters, life at home was the same peace and quiet we usually experience.

As a herd of international journalists gathered on top of a hill just down the street to cover the conflict, Jews and Muslims nearer by peacefully ate fallafel together. There was no media coverage of that though.

Like everyone else, I do have my opinions of things here, but even after living here for a while I feel I'm still in no position to publicly voice them. The unfortunate reality is that way too many of those so readily and vehemently mounting soapboxes seem to know even less then I. Politics here is far too complicated and dominated by biases and grotesque generalizations. What I will say is, when you watch news coverage from around the world please know what you see is a very small fraction of what's really going on... good and bad... it's only the 30 seconds of the exciting and obvious that makes the nightly news.

Road Trip to Petra, Jordan

2010-02-25T15:18:00.001-05:00

We recently took a long weekend to visit Petra, Clark Griswold style. We packed up the Volvo wagon and entered the Kingdom of Jordan. After the surprisingly easy time crossing the border we soon found ourselves driving up steep narrow switchbacks toward Mount Nebo, the peak from which it is said Moses first saw the "Promised Land". From there we continued on to Madaba, home to a spectacular 6th century mosaic map of the Holy Land.

Madaba is also where we began our journey south along the Kings' Highway. An ancient route winding, ascending, descending, ascending even more. Twisting and turning across fertile plateaus, down steep switchbacks into deep wadis, past crusader castles, and through towns populated with happy waving children, even a brief bout with some road construction, all made for an amazing drive. Even the occasional military checkpoint was a pleasant experience. Every soldier had a genuine smile and "Welcome to Jordan." for us. While passing a military base all but one of the soldiers stopped their target practice to all wave at the crazy western family in there dirty blue station-wagon. The one that didn't wave scared the shit out of Kate, "Look. A shooting range." BANG. "AAHH!". As an unexpected bonus, we got to see some snow banks and even a couple of kids sledding on a distant hilltop. The Kings' Highway was probably the best 6 hours I've ever spent in a car. Though two words of caution to those planning a similar road trip, SPEED BUMPS. They are everywhere, frequent, and rarely well marked.

It was dark when we arrived at our beautiful hotel just outside the entrance to Petra. After checking in we ate a quick dinner and crashed into bed. Early the next morning we ate a quick breakfast and rushed to the main entrance of the historical site in hopes we would beat most of the giant tour groups in. From the front gate we opted for a quick horse ride to the entrance of the siq, the narrow canyon road, leading into the actual city of Petra. Through the siq, there are channels carved into the sides of the cliffs that once funneled water into the city. And then you get your first glimpse of "The Treasury". After that you just become a broken record of wows. Throughout the rest of that day we walked and climbed all over Petra. We got off our feet only for the slightly nerve-racking donkey ride up the steep climb to the "Monastery". We did come back down on our own though.

The next day we took the much shorter "Desert Highway". It was significantly quicker and easier but drastically less interesting of a drive. Much of it was like what North Dakota after a century long drought would look like. The highlight for the drive back would probably be the speed trap that we got stopped for:

Us: (sheepishly) "Hello."

Jordanian Police Officer: "Welcome to Jordan."

Us: "Thank you."

JPO: "Do you speak Arabic?"

Us: "No."

JPO: "Ok. Thank you. You can go. Welcome to Jordan."

شكرا

2010-01-22T11:39:00.000-05:00

Our visit to Egypt's capital was amazing and overwhelming. From the imposing pyramids to the terrifyingly chaotic traffic, in Cairo, it is best not to blink. Conveniently they make some damn strong coffee to remedy such a problem. It is without a doubt the most exhausting trip I've ever been on. By comparison Cairo has made me appreciate the "calm" pace of Jerusalem.

The high point for me was probably watching Q climbing through the shaft to the tomb within one of the pyramids. In fact, our time at the pyramids is firmly planted amongst some of the best experiences of my life thus far. If you're planning a visit, a camel ride and the evening light and sound show are definitely worth the extra Egyptian Pounds.

Even a few of the countless tourists made it more enjoyable. When Ozzi started getting disagreeable a few Japanese women presented him with a variety of little treats. Finally I got to put to use the Japanese I learned from Styx. "Domo arigato." This seemed to impress them and it soon became almost a competition for who could give Ozzi the best little gift. With each offering came the typical Japanese bows. This, all in the shadow of the great pyramid, made the experience even more surreal.

The low point is the constant attempts by most everyone to get us to give them money for one thing or another... but hey, on the bright side, I can now say I paid off a cop... and he did take a halfway decent picture of us all.

Guest Spot: Midnight Mass in Bethlehem

2009-12-25T02:59:00.000-05:00

Please note: My husband is a much better writer than me, so please do not think less of this blog!

Last night, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the midnight mass at the Church of St. Catherine (the Roman Catholic section of the Church of the Nativity). After winning a lottery within the Consulate to attend, eight lucky souls loaded up in fully armored vehicles and headed to Bethlehem.

The relatively small church (much smaller than the Basilica in St. Paul) was packed to the gills. We had standing-room-only seats for the two-hour mass. Every pew was full - mostly with VIPs including the President and Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority and our own Consul General - and the floor space was taken crowded with people standing, sitting, and a few sleeping. One woman even sat in the confessional and fell asleep! Despite the solemn Latin mass, the crowd constantly whispered, chatted, and tried to sing along where possible.

The mass itself was pretty boring as typical masses are. However, there were parts that were absolutely inspiring. First, I could identify the Our Father prayer in Latin! (A bit silly and boastful, but I was very proud of myself.) The prayer was even sung, and I knew it!

Second, the "Peace be with you." The church was filled with people of every age and every ethnicity. I turned to a German, a Hispanic man, an African woman, an Arab family, a Bangladeshi man, a little Indian girl, and two other Americans and said "Peace be with you." It was so cool! Given peace is our main objective here at the Consulate, the simple act of saying "Peace be with you" to everyone in the church was just amazing. One part of the mass was translated into at least eight languages - including Hebrew - so wishing everyone peace in such a tumultuous place was - I can't describe it accurately.

Third, the church went quiet during communion while people gently pushed their ways to the priests scattered throughout the church. Then, the crowd broke out in Silent Night. It was in Latin, but everyone knew the melody and either sang along or hummed. I could not stop smiling at that point. I was in awe of how special the event was.

I could not have gone but for three things: (1) the Consulate brought me; (2) the kind, generous, and earnest men of the security detail (who had families they left to take us to the event); and last but not least, (3) my snazzy husband who stayed home with the boys and waited up for me. Without those things, I could not have enjoyed the event. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Spoiler Alert

2009-12-22T13:27:00.000-05:00

"So Quentin, did you buy anything when you were in the Old City today?", Kate asked.
"Um, a bagel with cream cheese.", Q answers glancing nervously at me.
"Did you buy anything else?"
"Some spice and a grinder thing."
"The mustard seed and pestle and mortar, yes, but was there anything else?"
"Um, ahh, no... Hey Papa, I didn't say nothing about the earrings!"

Aaargh!

Merry Christmas!

O Tannenbaum

2009-12-18T09:07:00.001-05:00

Tis a tree that would make Charlie Brown proud... of his own tree. Honestly, I think this is my favorite Christmas Tree we've ever had. It's got personality. Flimsy, disheveled, whimsical, and, with the fantastic decorating by Kate and the boys, Perfect. Of course, the adventure of Christmas in Jerusalem makes this motley conifer even more special to us.

We started priming our holiday spirit by visiting Bethlehem last weekend with an organized tour for Consulate Staff and Spouses. We visited the Church of Nativity and did some shopping. On the way back to Jerusalem our bus driver hit the traffic-arm at the check point leaving the West Bank. After a little yelling between the guard and our driver and probably a few calls to various supervisors we did eventually get through and home.

The trees arrived at the American Consulate Thursday courtesy of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (which is a bit surprising after reading this article). The boys and I drove over to meet Kate for dinner with plans to bring the tree home after. Halfway to the restaurant it began to rain. This coupled nicely with the heavy winds that had been bombarding my eyeballs with sand all day prior. We found refuge in a nice little Italian restaurant as we watched the rain increase in volume. As Kate and the boys had a little dessert I ran back through the rain to the Hyundai Matrix we're still renting. Thinking it would be easier to cram the tree into the little SUV before the boys than vice versa, I found myself driving back to Little Italy with a car stuffed like a cypress canolli. If you're wondering why we didn't tie it to the roof, I didn't have any twine on hand and, well, you haven't read the article I linked to yet, have you? At any rate, we managed to plant the boys into their seats and make the pine-fresh drive home. Ozzi, spurred on by the invading branches, got wise on how to unbuckle himself from the protective confines of his car-seat. Luckily we were just about home and here child seats are very much the exception and not the rule. Explaining the tree obstructing 98.9% of my view while driving would be much harder than the 2 year old climbing over the back of the driver's seat. Once home in one piece I procured a small bucket of Jerusalem's finest limestone gravel. This works quite well in absence of a traditional tree stand. Our non-traditional Christmas Tree in the capital of the Jewish State now stands, in all its festive glory, awaiting a visit from our jolly fat friend from the north.

Mount Scopus

2009-11-30T13:55:00.000-05:00

Mount Scopus, home of Hebrew University, is located right next to us here on French Hill. It has definitely had a significant role in Jerusalem's history, most commonly as the base of attack for Romans, Crusaders, and most everyone else that has laid siege to the city. It's also a great place for Q and I to explore while Kate and Ozzi are napping.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-27T17:48:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving Eve

I picked up the magnificent turkey I special ordered at Super Deal. This supermarket tries to cater to the huge American contingent here in Jerusalem without being obvious about it. I did have to special order a whole turkey after all. With the 6.5 kilos of holiday bird loaded into my cart I joined the scavenger hunt already in progress for pumpkin pie ingredients. It's surprising the sense of community one gets gathered around the dairy section trying to collectively determine which little Hebrew laden container is the proper whipping cream for our Dessert Americana. That was one of several shopping excursions in preparation for our first Thanksgiving Feast beyond the land of Pilgrims, Indians, and the NFL.

Thanksgiving Day

We adopted a vagabond IT guy named Cory. He's a great guy from the consulate that arrived only about a month before we did and didn't have any plans for Thanksgiving. With his car still in bureaucratic limbo, I was more than willing to go pick him up at his German Colony bachelor pad Thursday afternoon as the turkey progressed to a glistening golden brown in the oven.

Jerusalem traffic is chaotic in the best and worst sense of the word. There is a degree of lawlessness that provides a driver with the freedom and convenience to, say, make u-turns whenever or wherever it suits you, ignoring other traffic, curbs, oneways, whatever. It's fun and entertaining. Of course, this driving philosophy tends to lead to the other extreme on the driving continuum; traffic patterns, or really, lack there of. Which brings me to my drive across town to pick up Cory. Why, on a Thursday afternoon at 2 pm, the city streets in entirety would be at a complete standstill, I do not understand. I do, however, understand that this level of congestion on old narrow roads is not the best circumstances in which to get a flat tire.

I had suspected something was wrong. The little rental Hyundai didn't quite feel right. But when the dude on the scooter pulls up to your passenger window and pantomimes the universal gestures for "Your tire is flat." you know you have a problem. At that point I was relatively close to Cory's and had no good place to pull over anyway. I decided to just get to his place and deal with it there.

I know how to change a tire. It's pretty easy really. Unless the tools your given don't work. The lug wrench, though the right size to fit the lug nuts on the wheel, was too fat to fit into the holes around the lug nuts. So I call the rental company:

"Sholom."
"Sholom. Hello. Do you speak English?"
"Yes. Of course." seemingly offended that I would even ask.
"I have a rental car with a flat tire and..."
"Flat tire is not insured. It is customer responsibility."
"Ok, that's fine. I'm trying to change the tire right now but we don't have the proper tools here."
"All tools should be there. Flat tires are customer responsibility."
"The wrench here doesn't fit. Do you not have some sort of roadside assistance that could at least bring us the correct tool."
"You should have the correct tool in the car."
"Well I don't."
"I can send someone with the tool but if they see you already have the tool we will have to charge you a service fee."
"Fine."

I then spend 5 minutes trying to explain where I'm at to her after which see just tells me that within a two hour time frame a guy will call me and I can give him directions. We get the car parked in a metered spot nearby. The meter's broken and steals my money. The guy calls and speaks English just slightly better than I speak Hebrew which made for fun direction giving until I mention that we're near the McDonald's. "Oh, the MacDonald. Yes. You go there. I send a guy there. His English not good as me." So I leave Cory watching a car with a flat tire at a broken meter so he can maybe explain away any parking tickets that come by. I meet the guy at the McDonald's and aggressively persuade him to come back to the car to make sure the wrench he's handing to me fits better than the one we already have. As soon as I confirm it fits he takes off, leaving Cory, Q, and I to finally take off the flat and put the State Fair mini-donut spare on. Two hours later we're finally on our way toward Thanksgiving Dinner... except traffic is still at a complete halt. Eventually we do make it home to an amazing meal that Kate made independently. The food was wonderful and it was great to have Cory over. I even got him home without incident.

Eid al-Adha

This morning Kate called Nassar, the motor pool guy, for a recommendation on where we should take the tire to get fixed. It turns out today is a major holy day for the Muslim population here. This made getting a tire changed in East Jerusalem impossible. I spent a good portion of the day following the wonderful local guard staff driving all over Jerusalem trying to find a place that was open. We did eventually find a place way out on the SW side of town.

Oh wait, one more thing

Last night Ozzi had a super-high fever. While I was running all over town getting a tire fixed, Kate was getting Ozzi to a doctor to find out he has a double ear infection... which explains why he was so pissed off on the decent down to the Dead Sea last weekend. He's on antibiotics now and already seems to be feeling better.

So, what am I thankful for this year?

Nassar, the Local Guard Force, and everyone else here that has been so forcefully eager to help you with stuff that shouldn't even be their problem.
The opportunity to live in such an amazing city with so many fun quirks, challenges, and new things to discover and learn.
My wonderful wife that was able to put aside fear of bones in meat and actually carve the turkey by herself.
Two happy and (relatively) healthy boys.

Peace Maker

2009-11-18T09:41:00.004-05:00

"Papa, can you walk me all the way into school today?"
"Sure. Why?"

"The big kids were being mean and made me cry."

"Were they teasing you?"

"No, not me. The other littler kids."

"Um, so they weren't teasing you?"

"No. They were saying mean stuff like 'scaredy-cat' to the little girl."

"And that made you cry... them teasing other kids."

"Yeah."

The trick is, how do I toughen him up so he isn't such easy pickings for bullies without discouraging his empathy and compassion which rivals that of Buddha himself. He may not have been the victim this time, but if he's that quick to tears, they'll pick up on that soon enough. Unfortunately, the Gracie Jiu Jitsu class at the Consulate is for 9 and up, because a martial arts class seems to be the best approach. At the very least, I'm glad he told me about it. I did my best to explain to him that it's up to him to be brave and stand up to bullies and tell them to stop... even if they are picking on someone else... even if the ones doing the teasing are his friends.

Besides that little incident before class one day, school has been great for Q. He really loves having all these new friends to play with every day. He even said he wanted to go on Sunday. Instead we visited the Western Wall....

... and left it standing for this guy who visited just hours after us.

Camera Obscura

2009-11-14T16:05:00.002-05:00

I've adopted the nasty habit of leaving the camera behind most any time we go out. At times this is done consciously as I would like to feel more at home and less like a tourist here before I strap on the camera that makes me look more like a tourist.

Tonight was an occasion where we just plain forgot... or not even forgot, but didn't plan on needing it. Lesson learned. You always need your camera when in Jerusalem. We were planning on simply finding a "supermarket" on the other side of town that is open on Shabbat so we could pick up the dryer sheets we now lack. We never found dryer sheets but we did find ourselves wandering The Peace Forest and The Mount of Olives. The views were stunning and I vow to return several times over the next two years to take MANY photos.

What I did take pictures of today was the sights of and from our surrounding neighborhood that Q felt worthy of our lense during a morning walk. Which is to say, views of the West Bank and feral cats.

Falafel

2009-11-07T06:45:00.001-05:00

Today for lunch we stopped by one of the two falafel joints across the street from our little compound we call home. It was very good though I think the ones we had in The Old City were better (K8 disagrees). We have yet to try the falafel next door to the one we stopped at today. Why there are two falafel places next door to each other I'm not sure... and it sounds like the city is evenly divided over which one is better.

Under The Jerusalem Sky

2009-11-05T15:29:00.004-05:00

We made it. There were a few bumps along the way (we were delayed a full day in DC, weather in Philadelphia) but we are now all settled into our lovely new home. It is very nice, very large, and in a very nice area.

Most of our time thus far has been either dominated with logistics or hampered by rain. On our first free and dry day here we walked down to the Old City and wandered through the ancient streets. We marveled at the pyramids of spices displayed along side "Uzi Does It! Israeli Army" t-shirts (haven't found that one in kid sizes yet, but I'm still looking). Today we went and visited Q's new pre-school classroom and were thrilled to see the international kaleidoscope of children welcome Q with such warmth and enthusiasm. It was a scene in which, even if you hadn't the vested interest of your own child, you would still feel an undeniable hope for the future... and, really, how many pre-school classes get to go swimming once a week for P.E.?

Obviously we have much more to share, but that will have to wait until another day. On this corner of the world, it is past my bed time.

Valedictory Dispatch

2009-10-27T23:20:00.000-04:00

In less than 24 hours we will be on a plane. We are leaving behind our nation's capital which we just began to get to know. Though I'm far from a seasoned resident, I am walking away with a pinch of familiarity and have definitely enjoyed our time here. It has certainly been a learning experience.

D.C. is an ideal training ground for those about to venture abroad. You can't help but gain a swelling of pride as you wander the monuments to our nation's founders and their revolutionary ideas. The diversity of the museums reflect the diversity of our country while they remind us of the complexity that makes our republic so amazing and unique.

Living in America's Mecca also allows you a opportunity to relate to people around the world. I can understand why so many have such negative opinions of Americans as a whole. Stereotypical American Tourists. They are devoid of commonsense and consideration and expect everything to be obvious and on a silver platter. Please, if you plan to visit anywhere beyond our borders, or Washington D.C. for that matter, leave the fanny-packs at home and don't stop at the top of an escalator to look at your map.

Getting Closer

2009-10-15T10:26:00.003-04:00

This picture pretty much sums up how we feel right now. We are now close enough to peer into our new life and see some of what's on the other side. There is still plenty hidden in the darker recesses of the unknown, but the prospect of discovery excitedly draws us in further. Our departure for our first official post fast approaches. In two weeks we will be arriving in Jerusalem just in time for the Consulate General's Halloween Party. That's K8's strategic planning skills at work. What better way to meet other families so soon after our arrival.

We have what looks like a very nice, not to mention huge, home waiting for us in a neighborhood near the Hebrew University and not too far away from the Old City. It sounds like we will have fantastic views that on the clearest of mornings will stretch all the way to the Dead Sea. Our neighborhood is even rumored to have a Domino's Pizza that doesn't adhere to kosher rules. Hooray for pepperoni pizza! We haven't quite decided how much of our furniture we want to ship to our new (fully furnished) home. We certainly don't have to bring any of it, but it would be nice to have a few things to make it feel a bit more like OUR home. I do have plans to stock up on all sorts of space stuff from the Air and Space Museum to decorate Q's room. His plans to be an Astronaut when he grows up (and on Halloween) are resolute. I also have plans to do some painting. This should make the house feel more like ours and give me something to do with myself.

The closets here in DC are slowly filling up with things we think we need to stock up on. Not so much because they aren't available in Israel, but because prices there are quite high. We have a stockpile of diapers that we hope will last us up to Ozzi being potty trained. There is a copious amount toilet paper ready for our spoiled American behinds. We have yet to get a few of the essential to survival food items like Mac & Cheese. Unfortunately, it's just not practical to amass a cache of bacon and pork chops then ship it halfway around the planet.

Beyond these more material preparations, I've spent as much time as I can researching all prospective adventures in our next locale. To give you an idea what we have to look forward to, here are a few of my favorite online resources:

TWO WEEKS! OY VEY!

Down On The Farm

2009-10-03T17:54:00.000-04:00

Today we went to the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, Maryland for their annual Harvest Festival. We met up with our neighbors there and I gotta say, for the 2-3 hours that we were there, it was like being back in Minnesota... well, except for the 78 degrees in October.

Hooligans in the hay.

Candle Dipping.

Diggin' with goats.

Getting lost in the giant corn maze.

Arts and crafts.

Q is no Pele... K8 is no Spielberg...

2009-09-22T14:50:00.004-04:00

but 4 year old soccer is certainly one of the more entertaining moments in life.

Bumps in the Night

2009-09-14T20:26:00.001-04:00

The last few nights the boys have been waking up around 3 am and we haven't really figured out why... until tonight.

"Quentin, why do you keep on waking up at night and coming into our room?"

"The ghost lemur keeps trying to jump on my head.", Q says very matter of fact with no fear or stress.

"The ghost lemur?"

"Yeah."

What the hell good is an imaginary friend alligator if he sleeps through nightly attacks from a ghost lemur?

Our Anniversary in D.C.

2009-09-09T10:26:00.003-04:00

Over the past week, I had planned out an elaborate scheme to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. I wanted to make this one, our first since joining the Foreign Service, especially memorable. My plans involved intrigue, diamonds, the finest dining, mysteriously vague love notes, and a pedicab.

On the morning of, things appeared to be falling apart. Forecasts of rain all day and the pedicab company wasn't answering the phone. But, it seems, Serendipity loves me. The sky cleared up, in fact the weather was perfect, my pedicab guy called me back as I waited for the Metro, and everything else seemed to fall into place just in the nick of time. Our night even had a surprise celebrity guest.

Behold, The Interactive Map of Love!

View Our Anniversary in D.C. in a larger map

السلام عليكم

2009-08-28T15:31:00.000-04:00

While K8's brain is being bombarded with daily tsunamis of policies, acronyms, and bureaucracies, the boys and I continue to explore. That is, when we are not occupied by the pool, playground, or new friends.

On the occasion that I am afforded any real time to do so, I've been attempting to learn Arabic. My efforts in Hebrew are less pressing, as most Hebrew speaking Israelis also speak English fluently. Thus far, my success in Arabic has been limited to a few different ways to say hello and about 20 other words that I have bouncing around in my head, of which, I cannot recall the coinciding meaning.

Being in our nations capital has spurred us to bone up on our U.S. History a bit so we've been watching HBO's John Adams series on DVD. It is a fantastic look into the personalities and realities that led to the formation of this country.

The movie, coupled with my labors in language, has produced dreams that are quite bizarre... especially last night. Yesterday evening Q "captured" an imaginary alligator that, according to Q was skilled in automotive repair and medicine. Unfortunately, this new imaginary friend later fell 4 stories down the apartment's elevator shaft along with my not imaginary belt that he was using as a leash. This resulted in a tear filled meltdown of epic proportions until, "Q, what's that noise? Is there something scratching at our door? Let's go see. Oh, my goodness, it's Alligator. He climbed out. YAY!" Crisis averted but a dream about trying to get your oil changed by an alligator that only speaks Arabic dressed in colonial attire makes for a rather restless night.

Playing Tourist

2009-08-13T23:07:00.008-04:00

While we've been here we've spent a great deal of time getting acquainted with our surroundings. The boys and I have wandered through many a monument and park, many a museum has been perused, and a slight sampling of restaurants have been... well... sampled. Here are some of our findings:

Smithsonian Air and Space is the bee's knees. Since we visited the location on the mall, Q has been persistent in a new goal of being an astronaut when he grows up. When we visited the Dulles location we were amazed. Not just at all the fantastic and historic planes and rockets but also at Q's unrelenting excitement throughout the entire visit. Hell, even Ozzi dropped a bunch of, "Oh wow!"'s there. Of course we couldn't leave without getting Q his own orange astronaut jumpsuit.

The National Zoo is fantastic!!! Elephants, hippos, giant octopus, and naked mole rats, zoos don't get much better than that.

Visiting the monuments have been an interesting opportunity for me to try and explain aspects of American History to Q, some of which is a bit difficult. It's one thing to tell a 4 year old that Abraham Lincoln was the president a long time ago (and "No he wasn't that big when he was alive.") but a whole different thing to explain what the Vietnam Memorial represents and "Why is that man crying?"

I had to take the boys hiking around Theodore Roosevelt Island, Q being named after TR's youngest son and all. We even got up close and personal with a couple of young deer.

As for restaurants, 2 Amys has easily replaced Punch as my all time favorite pizza outside of Naples... especially with fresh Burrata on the menu.

A few other highlights thus far, Old Town Alexandria with this guy,

The National Gallery with it's underground passageway,

The Einstein Memorial,

And making some great new friends. Including our new next door neighbors who are from the Twin Cities and knew our neighbors in St. Paul and have a girl the same age as Q.

Jerusalem!!!!

2009-08-04T20:39:00.003-04:00

Air and Space

2009-08-03T21:17:00.003-04:00

Sorry it's taken so long for me to get another post up. We've been busy getting acquainted with our new surroundings... oh and K8's been busy with training and hammering out the bid list. We feel like we've gotten our bearings here and our final ranking of the numerous available posts around the world was turned in late last week. Yesterday we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum out at Dulles Airport and tomorrow we go to Flag Day to find out where our first assignment will be. I will do my best to post our destination asap. Until then...

air and space from tapirspoop on Vimeo.

Made it!

2009-07-21T13:11:00.002-04:00

We made it. Q and I via 2 days in an over packed Honda Element...

Road Trip to DC from tapirspoop on Vimeo.

K8 and Ozzi via 2 hours in a plane. Their trip may have been quicker but they didn't get to see the Goodyear Blimp. Then again they didn't have to drive through Gary, IN, all boarded up and burned out, looking for a place for a 4 year-old to poop.

The new apartment is very nice. The pool is great and the walk to the Metro is pretty quick. The apartment management has all sorts of community activities going on, which is great since most everyone here is with the Foreign Service. We've already met quite a few people in various stages of their FS lives. Today I took the boys to one of the play-times in the activities room and walked out with a play-date for Q on Thursday.

Yesterday we went to the Air and Space Museum having forgotten that it was the anniversary of the moon landing. Luckily we got in before the big crowds showed up. Q went bonkers over all the rockets and planes. Ozzi was less enthused. The significant historical day had several news crews in the museum trying to do their pieces. One lady from Fox News had the nerve to actually shush Ozzi as we walked past. Had we not needed to get home for Ozzi's nap we would have parked right next to them and let Ozzi scream his way through her entire taping.

Of course, all this fun doesn't meen that we don't miss our friends and family. We do, greatly.

Preparations

2009-07-08T22:29:00.002-04:00

We are now truly feeling the gravity of our new lives in the Foreign Service. We are so close we are accelerating and spinning almost out of control. In less than two weeks we will be living in Washington D.C. preparing for our lives abroad.

The house amazingly sold in 24 hours (pending closing) which was an amazing relief. K8 finally got the official travel orders so we now have the movers scheduled for pack up and our trips from St. Paul planned. K8 and Ozzi will be flying out while Q and I will be driving out over 2 days. That way we will have a car while in D.C. and get a few vital things (toys) there just in case the UAB is delayed. The other benefit, I hope, is a chance for Q to see a little more of the country we will be representing over seas.

K8, being the amazing woman she is, has managed to take care of pretty much all the prearations while I, being the stay at home dad, have occupied the boys. Which, when you need to maintain a staged home can actually be quite the task. I've also really been doing everything I can to prepare Q for this major change. At 4 years old, a big move can be unbelievably hard. But, at this point anyway, Q is genuinely very excited about the move. I think most of the credit goes to sitting down with him at the computer and going over all the aspects of his new life. Together, we've looked at our new apartment building, checked out what animals are at the National Zoo, and taken a virtual walk along The Mall via Google Maps Street View. We've even gone over our Road Trip, plotted out on Google Maps.

View Road Trip in a larger map

Things really do seem to be finally coming together with this new beginning in close sight. There is still plenty to get done, including what may be the most daunting task of all, the countless goodbyes we have yet to say.

Lists

2009-06-16T15:39:00.000-04:00

For the majority of my life there was really only one list that occupied my mind. My "Things to do before I die" list.

Somehow convince a beautiful and intelligent woman to fall in love with me. Check.
Reproduce with said woman. Check x 2.
Jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Check.
Swim with sharks. Check.
Climb Kilimanjaro. Waiting for the boys to be old enough to go with.
Learn to surf. Been pretty hard here in Minnesota.
Make at least one other person's life significantly better. One of these days.
Be seen as a hero in the eyes of my children. Ongoing struggle.
Have a lifestyle that justifies owning my own tuxedo. I'm a ways off from this one yet.
See the world... all of it. A bit ambitious I know, but it's worth a try.

The last one is encroaching the realm of possibility now as we ready ourselves for our new lives abroad. In getting ready though, I find myself needing many new lists just to keep from being totally overwhelmed (I'm still overwhelmed, just not totally). Right now most of these lists have to do with getting the house ready to sell. from lists of possible realtors to the daily to do lists of all the little things that will hopefully make our house more attractive to a buyer. Next to those lists are the lists of what to put in storage, what to ship to D.C., and what to get rid of. Once in D.C. we will be confronted with the list of open posts around the world on which K8 will have to bid. Once we find out our first post we then start down the list of things we need to buy to better equip us for life at that post. Probably a lot of toilet paper, transformers, adapters, heavy duty surge protectors, and of course diapers... lots of diapers.

All the while I've been working on a list of website and blogs that will help us prepare for the Foreign Service and a list of websites and blogs that will help us keep in touch and maintain our Minnesotan. Those lists should appear to the right and should be expanding as time passes.

Last Minute Minnesota - The Walker

2009-06-02T20:29:00.000-04:00

In addition to the obvious high pressure of having to get everything sold, packed up, shipped out, and what have you in the next month and a half, I also feel compelled to take in as much of Minnesota as we can before we leave the state that has been home my entire life. We've already got weekends set aside for trips to the lake, my childhood hometown, and, I'm hoping, a quick jaunt up to the North Shore.

Today I took a break from setting up for our garage sale by taking the boys to The Walker... probably for the last time. If you followed my previous blog you'll know how much we love The Walker. Q, my 4 year old, could practically give tours there he's so familiar with the place. Of course, we'll soon have The Mall, The Smithsonian, The National Gallery, and the rest of the seemingly endless list of things to do and see in D.C., but, I'm still gonna miss that cherry and spoon.

ON TO ADVENTURE

2009-05-27T22:23:00.000-04:00

On Saturday May 16th K8 and I had a date night planned. We had a babysitter coming to watch the boys so we could go out for sushi, K8 was finally willing to venture beyond the California Roll, then a slow walk around Lake of the Isles like we used to pre-kids. Before the babysitter arrived K8 happened to check her email and find an offer of employment from the United States Department of State.

K8's pursuit of a position in the Foreign Service started over a year ago as one of those things that you say "Why not? It doesn't hurt to try. It's not like I would actually get the job anyway." Well it looks like she got the job and we are in for the biggest change of our lives. While we bravely sampled uncooked creatures of the sea at Fuji-Ya we discussed all the changes and possibilities, fears and hopes, and the vast chasm of what we didn't know.

As we talked Q's voice began to ring louder and louder in my head. "On to adventure!", he would announce as he jumped off various surfaces. "On to adventure!", he proclaimed as he raced around the block on his big wheel. "On to adventure.", I replied to K8's questioning eyes filled with excitement and fear. "On to adventure!" Nothing like committing to upending your family's future over octopus, river eel, and Sake-tinis.

Since then there has been much research and daydreaming with small spurts of planning. By late July we will be living in Washington D.C. By mid August we will know where in the great wide world our government will be sending us. Until then it's not really worth stressing out over where we will be posted. We've got enough to occupy us with trying to sell our house and planning the move to DC.

Now that we've had some time to really come to terms with what all this means to us and the boys, we are bursting with excitement... excitement and fear. Because leaving a life in a city you love filled with the best friends you could ever ask for, giving up close proximity to the family that is more important than you could ever express to them, and abandoning a standard of living provided by a sky-rocketing career that K8 worked so hard and long to achieve is scary, scary as fucking hell. But, as the saying goes, "Don't regret fear. Fear regret."

so,

ON TO ADVENTURE!