criplomats

John and I thoroughly enjoyed binging on the latest season of “The Diplomat” this week. Friends often ask me if the show is like real Foreign Service life. It’s not. Most ambassadors don’t live in palaces (although a few do!) and host breakfast for staff each morning. They also don’t write their own talking points and press releases, and they are not sampling pies on the day of the 4th of July part (there would usually be a food committee who worked with donors months in advance). But the show gets enough stuff right and has enough “lingo” in it to make it fun for us to watch. I’ve been happy that Keri Russell has been supportive of Foreign Service Officers in interviews.

Two diplomats have been on my mind this week. One friend is in Kiev on a one-year tour, and she and I chatted for a couple of hours this week. She lives in a hotel room because security on the ground can’t support apartments or residences in the city. That means no kitchen (not even a microwave) and living in one room. A few embassy staff have “apartments” attached to the hotel that sound like long-stay hotel rooms, but at least they have a kitchen. My friend talked about the time she spends hunkered down either in the hallway or in the basement during the Russian attacks, and how the sleep deprivation is real. Then she gets up and is back at work in the office like any other day.

Another friend is posted in another country, and her husband had a horrible accident this week. Luckily the country where she is has medical care but we are holding our breath to see what the prognosis is. This is a couple we’ve known since we joined the Foreign Service almost twenty years ago, and the husband is one of the nicest guys on the planet. It’s bad enough to have medical issues in the U.S., but when you’re on a different continent it’s even worse. We’re holding them and their children in our thoughts.

Nothing too exciting happened this week. I finished “This Monster of a Land” and “The Things We Never Say” by Elizabeth Strout — thanks to Joan for both of those suggestions. I enjoyed them both. I’m currently reading the very light “The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife” by Anna Johnston, recommended by my friend Lea.

This was the week for ”administrivia,” like dealing with insurance, getting my absentee ballot ready to mail, etc. I was on my own running the house this week, so grocery shopping and cooking were also on the list of to-dos. Nothing too exciting!

I finished reading “Sense and Sensibility” and “Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead,” and started “Monster of a Land,” by Lauren Hough (thanks for the recommendation, Joan!). John and I watched a good Israeli series, “Unconditional” and we are thoroughly enjoying the Dutch series, “The Perfect Lie.”

This week marked a year of calling my three congressional representatives in Washington every business day. I’m not sure they pay much attention to what I tell them, but it’s good to stay in touch with them! Try it!

This was a pretty laid back week. John and I went to a party yesterday afternoon that was nice. Today I sat by the pool and yakked with Mellisa, then John and I went to the movie theater to see “Verity.” It was fun – I haven’t read any of Coleen Hoover’s books, but I may need to because this movie was pretty clever.

I chatted with Lea and Rachel last Sunday afternoon, then on Saturday I had a good long visit with Stacie who recently arrived in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. I had some back and forth with a former employee about her bidding and wrote a letter of recommendation for another former employee.

John and I watched the three “Star Wars” movies from decades ago. They actually held up pretty well, and it was fun to see them after watching (and enjoying) “Andor.” We watched a decent series called “His and Hers” and started “War,” which looks like it will be a fun series. We were happy that a new season of “Slow Horses” came out. Hooray for good tv!

I finished reading “Heartwood” and enjoyed it. Now I’m reading “Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead,” by Olga Tokarczuk (I love the title). It’s a bit of a denser read, but I’m enjoying it.

Sunday morning we disembarked in San Cristobal and flew back to Guayaquil for a last night at the Hotel del Parque. We had a lovely dinner at their restaurant, Casa Julian. The next day we started a long travel day back to Guyana via Panama. We left the hotel at 11:30 AM, transited Panama, and finally got home around 3:30 AM Tuesday morning. Our cruise-mates Brian and Jason were with us through to Panama before they split off to go home to Chicago. John and I spent a lazy Tuesday at home.

We really enjoyed our trip! I promise more photos soon! (BTW, I fixed the photos from the last two blog posts.) We saw so many interesting creatures: marine iguanas, land iguanas, giant tortoises, dolphins, a few Galapagos penguins (who evidently don’t hang out in large groups like in Antarctica), a lone flamingo, lots of sea lions and their babies, and fur seals with babies. We also enjoyed the snorkeling and seeing cool fish, marine iguanas feeding on algae, and curious sea lions. The ocean was beautiful, the boat was very nice, and the food was good. We also enjoyed the other passengers on the boat, as well as the crew!

Our last day we visited the Charles Darwin breeding center for the giant tortoises.

We finished “Andor” this week, which prompted us to watch “Rogue One” (the next in the Star Wars series), which prompted us to start the Star Wars movies again. We also watched a couple of episodes of “Ted Lasso.” I’ve been reading this week: I finished “Erebus” by Michael Palin (yes, from Monty Python), “Mattering,” by Jennifer Breheny Wallace, and “Look What You Made Me Do” by John Lanchester; I started “Heartwood” today, by Amity Gage.

Last Sunday we flew to the Galapagos and boarded the Theory. It was an amazing week of exploring on a small boat, along with three other couples. We had a blast visiting several of the islands and snorkeling. We saw marine iguanas, land iguanas, penguins, a flamingo, fur seals, sea lions, and,of course, the giant tortoises.

More photos to come!