criplomats

Sunset

So, it was a great tour, but all good things must come to an end (not sure I really believe that in general, but it was true in this case).

Flavia and I left Israel on Wednesday evening, after saying a tearful goodbye to my co-workers and friends at the Embassy. I will especially miss the Consular staff – they were an excellent crew.

I’m happy to report that Flavie and I both survived the 24 hour trip home. We flew Tel Aviv – New York – Atlanta – Little Rock and then drove to Hot Springs. Little Flavie did great! I was able to bring her in the cabin with me the whole way. I’m even happier that when we got to Mom’s house, she did not hide under the bed, but made herself right at home and explored the house. What a world traveler she is becoming!

I took some parting shots of Israel in the neighborhood around the apartment at sunset one evening. Click here to see the album.

Geula Street Cat

The last couple of weeks have been hectic. I had several meals with my friends and neighbors, Bill and Diane. Indian food for Sunday brunch, breakfast beachside on a Saturday, and a last trip to Benedict’s for a yummy breakfast the Sunday before I left town. We also had dinner together with neighbors Katie and Charlie last Monday to celebrate Katie’s pregnancy.

I had a nice going-away dinner with Petit, Howie and Mike at the Thai House one night – it wasn’t really goodbye since they will all be in Islamabad with us!

Bouganvilla

The Consular section had a nice farewell party for me on Friday before I left and gave me a pretty commemorative plaque of Jerusalem – awfully sweet of them!

I celebrated my birthday the day before I left Tel Aviv. We had cake at work, and I had a glass of wine with Petit and Howie.

Flag and motorcycle

John is doing great in Pakistan – he really seems to like it and is going to lots of social functions after work. I’m also happy to report that father-in-law Pete is doing well after surgery to remove a kidney. He’s tough!

It’s good to be back in Arkansas. The weather is not hot yet, so it’s very pleasant. I spent yesterday afternoon sitting on Aunt Bonnie’s back porch with her and Mom – there is probably a lot of that in my future the next few weeks!

Mom and the resident mallards

Aunt Bonnie and Koli

Air show

Thursday was Israeli Independence Day, so the Embassy was closed. I had a great time at two different parties in my building. We watched the air show from the balcony which was a lot of fun. Dave and Shani spent Wednesday and Thursday nights with me, too. Click to see more photos from the air show.

Last Sunday I had brunch at Benedict’s with Rob, Bill and Diane, then Diane and I went to the shuk to pick up a few things.

Last night I went to a fun party upstairs at Clay’s. We sat out on his balcony all evening – a really pretty night.

I’m really in countdown mode here in Tel Aviv as my departure date gets closer –  there’s so much to do to get ready to go! I spent all day yesterday organizing everything. Luckily, most of our things were packed out when John left, but there is still a lot to do. I have to split everything between four shipments, so the house is a big mess now!

With Jen

With Dave at Tonic

I accidentally went AWOL on my blog last week. I arrived back in Tel Aviv last Sunday and was just so jet-lagged that I neglected Criplomats!

My last week in DC with John was great. We saw some A-100 friends – Dave, Manju, Scott, Brandon and Dean – at Tonic. Dave brought his new Israeli bride Shani to meet everyone. We had a great time getting caught up. Dave is on Cloud 9 – wonderful to see him so happy, and Shani is delightful.

My new boss is Islamabad is currently at Main State, so I set up a meeting with him. He seems quite nice. We talked for about 45 minutes – it’s nice to put a face with a name.

I also had the chance to see my good friend from Juarez, Pam – we got together for lunch one day. She is currently working in the Overseas Citizens Services group.

John and I had some great meals – we had lunch at Smith and Wolensky’s one day…and we just had to go back to RT’s once more before I left.  I had to have that pecan-crusted haddock again – so good!

Then Saturday late afternoon, I started the trek back to Tel Aviv. Boy, was Flavie happy to see me! When I opened the front door, I called her name and heard this little “Mew.” She came out and just followed me around like a puppy, bless her little heart!

This week at work was good, although I’ve been fighting jet lag so sleeping was difficult at first. Had a nice lunch out with Juan and Jacob on Friday. The weather here is gorgeous right now.

Yesterday was the first Saturday where it was really warm enough to be at the beach. There was a constant traffic jam all around the apartment. Hillary and George came down to test drive the Corolla (they are buying it from me), and traffic was a mess. I later took a long walk on the beach promenade – just beautiful!

John and Shani

Manju, Dean, Scott

With Brandon

Eastern Market

The movers are coming on Thursday, so John and I have been doing some shopping. I was so happy to get to go to Sam’s Club and Walmart on Saturday! We also went to John’s favorite used bookstore in the area where I stocked up on Jodi Picoult  books to send to Islamabad.

We’ve had a really fun week. We went to FSI on Monday so John could wrap things up, and I worked on my employee evaluation. It was fun to have lunch in the cafeteria and see familiar faces.

Tuesday John had consultations downtown, so I walked over to Pentagon City mall and spent the day shopping.

Wednesday we went to Main State for lunch and more consultations. It was fun to run into some of our old friends. That night, we met Dean for dinner at a Cajun place near Foggy Bottom – always nice to catch up with him.

I thoroughly enjoyed our outing on Thursday. We did some clothes shopping for John in the morning, then went to the Annie Liebowitz photography exhibit at the American Art Museum. This exhibit wasn’t her typical celebrity photos, but instead photos of classic Americana and homes of famous American figures, like Georgia O’Keefe. We also saw another good exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery called “In Vibrant Color” – great photos of celebrities from the 40s and 50s.

Afterwards we went to a movie theatre and saw “The Hunger Games,” which I really enjoyed.

Friday I went for a long lunch with an old friend who I hadn’t seen in many years – we spent hours getting reacquainted – lots of fun.

One of the highlights of the week was dinner with our manager from Juarez, Roger, and his wife Ayse – we went to RT’s and had a fabulous meal. My mouth had been watering for their she-crab soup, and it was as good as I remembered. I also had pecan-crusted haddock topped with crab meat and it was out of this world! It was great to catch up with Roger and Ayse.

The weather has been beautiful since I have been here – a little chilly but nice and sunny. We took advantage of it yesterday to go to the Eastern Market and poke around – we also ran into an old friend and visited with him and his family. Afterwards, we found a yummy Indian buffet for lunch.

It’s been a great week!

I left Tel Aviv Friday night and flew to Washington DC to see John – finally, after almost three months! I got in Saturday morning and we’ve just been relaxing around the apartment while I get over jet lag.

It was a busy week leading up to the trip. I stayed late Thursday night at work, making sure that I didn’t leave any loose ends.

I did a really dumb thing on Wednesday night – when I got home from work around 6PM, I realized I had locked myself out of the apartment! As a security measure, our building maintenance doesn’t have keys to our apartments, so I had to wait a couple  of hours until Embassy maintenance could bring me a key. The ironic thing was that I was meeting Rob and Diane that evening to give them my extra key so they can feed Flavie while I’m gone! Luckily Diane entertained me at her apartment until the key arrived.

Friday our office was closed due to the Tel Aviv marathon – they close the streets around the Embassy and hardly anyone can get to work. It’s fun to watch the thousands of runners go by the apartment. I walked up for a manicure, had lunch at the Thai restaurant and then browsed at the crafts market for a while. Around 8:30 PM, the taxi driver arrived and off we went to the airport.

It’s great to be back in DC (a little on the chilly side)!