Mookie 2012
For no good reason, I just didn’t post anything last weekend, so I have a little catching up to do.
I found out today that Mike and Wayne’s dog Mookie died. She was only five years old, but became suddenly ill. I know it was tough for them to let her go. She was a sweet and pretty girl, with one blue eye and one brown. Over the rainbow bridge. She’ll be missed.
This weekend the Pakistanis are going to the polls to vote. If it goes well, it will be the first peaceful and democratic transition of power in the country’s (relatively short) history. There have been lots of stories on the news about pre-election violence and demonstrations, but it’s been pretty quiet in Islamabad. We canceled going out to dinner Thursday night because of a big rally that snarled traffic, but we made up for it on Friday night by having sushi with several good friends. Election eve was really quiet; our local staff got the day off so they could go home to their villages to vote. So, today they are voting and we will hold our collective breath that it goes smoothly.
Wednesday was my birthday! John and I had a really nice dinner with our old Juarez friend Jason, who we hardly ever see even though we all work at the Embassy. It was great to catch up with him. I had lots and lots of good wishes, and the visa staff surprised me with a cake at work, so it was a very nice day.
It’s been busy at work since we returned from Indonesia. We have two new officers in my section, which is fun. On the downside, it’s also time for people to start transferring out, so we have had to start saying goodbye to people. Also, we are all trying to get our own evaluations in on time, plus write evaluations for our employees. It’s a tedious process, all narrative with lots of nuance.
On the social scene, we had dinner with two other couples last Tuesday at the Serena. Last Wednesday was a holiday in Pakistan, so John smoked some chickens. Jim, Kellee and another buddy came over for an impromptu dinner – lots of fun – and the chicken was wonderful! Last Friday we all headed over to the French Club for lunch to celebrate Laura’s birthday.
Last weekend, John and I worked. We’ve started looking for onward posts, which is exciting and scary.
We’ve watched some fun TV and movies the last couple of weeks. “Silver Linings Playbook” was a really good movie. And we are caught up on “The Americans” and “Mad Men.”