criplomats

John and I spent a nice, quiet day at home on Christmas. COVID cases are on the rise here, so there wasn’t a lot of socializing going on again this year (like last year). We had a few gifts to open, watched “Love Actually” (a Christmas tradition) and started the new James Bond movie. We also had a nice chat with Pete and Ginger.

The week was busy at work. An emergency case is keeping us quite busy, and we have several staff out on vacation. Last Sunday I had a good call with Jamie and Jackie.

John and I have started watching “The Landscapers” – it’s so clever and well done. I read “Quiet in her Bones” (a murder mystery) and the second in the Thursday Murder Club series, “The Man Who Died Twice” – as fun a read as the first one. We also watched “Being the Ricardos” – Nicole Kidman never ceases to amaze me.

The big news of the week was making a decent score on my Spanish test – it will help finalize the paperwork on my next assignment in Buenos Aires. I was very nervous about it since I haven’t spoken Spanish much since 2017 – and my tester had an accent that I am not very good with (from Spain) – but all’s well that ends well.

I also got a few pieces of good news regarding various projects at work, so I’ll mark this week up as a “win”!

John donned a Santa suit yesterday morning for photos with the kids at post – he had a lot of fun but was ready to get out of the Santa suit after a couple of hours in the outdoor heat!

We learned tonight that a friend of ours passed away suddenly from a heart attack. We had seen him on our trip home to Hot Springs in November and he seemed fit as a fiddle, happy, and stress-free. Our hearts go out to his family.

I had a great video chat with Ann, Pamela, and Jackie today. John did a coffee roasting demo with our fun neighbors Pam and John this morning, followed by brunch (I had Lawrence come yesterday to shop and prep for me).

I was sorry to miss the celebration of Lehmah Gbowee’s 10-year anniversary celebration of her Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, but work was just too hectic and I wasn’t feeling tip-top. I’m happy to have been invited!

We had a delightful dinner at Mario and Amanda’s house on Thursday, along with some other fun folks – Mario made a home-cooked Mexican dinner complete with my favorite white posole! Lots of fun and laughter and a highlight of the week!

With temperatures in the 80s, it doesn’t really feel like the holidays are approaching! There’s not a lot of decorating in town, although the embassy put up a huge tree in our atrium and stockings are hung for the Marines (we have eight Marines, some as young as 18!).

I had a fun chat with Ann, Pam, and Jackie last Sunday while John hosted a gaming day. Tuesday night, Matthew and I hosted two contacts for dinner at a local restaurant to talk about inter country adoptions (we do about one per week).

There has been a lot of news coverage about the new COVID variant, Omicron, and I spent some amount of time on last Monday’s holiday and late Friday afternoon making sure our messaging to U.S. citizens was updated and correct.

John and I are re-visiting “Miranda,” which really makes us laugh. I finished reading a murder mystery, “The Guest List.” I’ve been listening to some Spanish podcasts to brush up a bit before my Spanish test later this month!