criplomats

Local transportation

John and I hosted a big brunch at our house last Sunday. We had 30+ people here – lots of fun. Saleem cooked most everything. I had made a couple of casseroles the day before. Everyone seemed to have a really good time, and it was a good mix of people.

On Tuesday, we had a going-away lunch (early) for Brett, hosted by the local staff. They did it in advance of his actual departure date because Ramadan will be going on when he actually leaves (it started this week). During Ramadan, Muslims fast all day. It’s hard when Ramadan falls during the summer. They get up around 3:30 AM for prayers and to eat before the sun comes up; then they can’t eat or drink again until the sun goes down – very difficult in such heat. The Embassy observes shorter work hours for local staff, so they stagger six-hour per day shifts.

Tuesday night, John took me back to Manhattan for another good steak. We’re really enjoying it.

John is now back in Arkansas for his home leave! He left mid-week. It’s weird to be here alone. I re-watched “The Savages” (with Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman) Thursday night. Friday night I started the “Downton Abbey” series – really good.

I worked all day Saturday – it’s a great feeling to walk away with a clean desk and inbox! It was right about sundown when I left the office, and the locals were all enjoying their iftar, their evening meal to break the fast. All of the guards in the diplomatic enclave where eating by the side of the road in small groups. It was a ghost town! Instead of normal traffic, I saw only a couple of cars on the road, and absolutely no pedestrians. It was kind of eerie, and peaceful at the same time, a bit reminiscent of yom kippur in Israel.

Smart alecs - when I told them to let me take their picture in front of this pretty tree

Happy 4th of July! We had a nice day – I used it to catch up on work and write an employee’s review. It’s always nice when you have a super employee to write about – so much easier to do. Afterward, I went to the gym then had lunch with two buddies from Tel Aviv, Mike and Howie, at the Club. The rest of the day was relaxing – a massage and man-pedi.

Last Sunday was a fun day. Michael, Scott, Laura, and their sweet dog Fenway came over to play board games (well, Fenway just slept and played in the yard). I just watched but thoroughly enjoyed myself. We enjoy having folks over.

Monday was Michael’s last day at work. I’m really sad to see him go, although I know he’s looking forward to being back with his family.

Tuesday night we went to a nice dinner at Sandy’s house to welcome Joe and Julie. Joe and John share an office; Julie just arrived and is really nice. As always, we enjoyed being at Sandy’s – good food and good company.

Wednesday, the local staff supervisor came to me and said, “We have an applicant outside, but we don’t know if he is here for a passport or a visa – can you come outside?” So, off I went to see what was going on. Surprise! It wasn’t a person, but a young goat and his mom! They were just hanging around outside where all of our visa applicants enter the building. I petted his head and scratched around his little stubs of horns. Then I made a fist and pressed it against his forehead – he started pushing back and trying to butt me…then he would rear back on his little hind legs and dance around and try to butt me again. I was laughing so hard I was crying! I went back later in the day with Scott and played with him some more – just hysterical! The guards say he and his mom have been coming around a lot and just hang out in the shade.

And of course, I have the little black and white kitty who I feed outside the Consular section (against the rules…shhhh). This week, they put a fancy shoe-shine bench right where she normally hangs out – so now, she thinks the bench is her new bed, with a nice leather cushion on it! She’s decided that it’s ok for me to pet her, and she won’t hardly let me go home. She runs in between my legs and slaps my ankles to get me to stop. She’ll follow me as far as she can when I go home each day, like a little puppy. So cute.

I have to say, the animals around the Consular section remind me that animals are easy and people are hard!

Michael and Scott

With Scott and Michael

My first year here in Pakistan has been so much fun, and much of that is due to my two best friends at work, Michael and Scott. Unfortunately for us, Michael is heading out soon and he will be sorely missed. Not only is Michael a great consular officer, he’s just a boatload of fun. He and Scott love nothing better than to tease and torment me, but they are also there for me when I’ve had a bad day. Michael and I first met when we were both first tour offices in Juarez together – you never know when you’re going to see a Foreign Service friend again! We went out to dinner Saturday night to say bye to Michael – I’ll have Scott around a little longer.

We also had to say bye to our very good friend Rick this week. We went to eat sushi with him before motor pool came to take him to the airport. I’m really going to miss running around and hanging out with him – but, John and I are already planning a visit at his onward post!

On top of having to say bye to such good friends, the week was full of ups and downs for us on the job front. We tried to link to an onward post in Central America, only to find out one of our jobs is no longer available. We quickly regrouped and have started working on another spot. It’s an emotional roller coaster but I’m confident something will work out for us.

Before we went to dinner with Rick, the three of us stopped by a lovely art exhibit sponsored by NatGeo. A group of Pakistani photographers had several workshops in Pakistan, then went to Washington for the final part of the workshop and an exhibit there. I worked on a lot of the visas to try to get them all to the U.S. in time for the exhibit, so it was especially gratifying to see their art. Click to see a slideshow of some of the photographs.

Early yesterday, John and I drove about 20 minutes to the outskirts of town to visit Metro, a store that’s sort of like a Walmart or Sam’s Club (but not really). We wanted to get a couple of big fans to help circulate air in the house. It was fun to be in a big store – the grocery stores here are more like a slightly-larger 7-11. The most interesting part was the area around the store. The store is big and new, yet across the road is a huge group of mud hovels, with tons of children playing in the dirt, etc. Very depressing. And, on the road we saw probably 20 camels, lots of them very young, presumably for sale. Most days, I don’t feel like I’m in that much of a foreign country, then something hits me in the face (like a bunch of camels) and reminds me that I’m very far from home! I wish I had had my camera…

Doing magic with his employees

John’s procurement team took us out to dinner Friday night, and John finally revealed his magician skills to them (Muslims aren’t big on magicians). They were thoroughly delighted. We had a nice time and they gave us a lovely teapot, sugar and creamer handmade from Multan. Sweet!

Before dinner we stopped by a going-away party for my good friend Michael. He and Scott are my “work husbands” and I’m sure going to miss him. He has another week to go.

Last Sunday we went to a fun cookout on Howie and Petit’s roof. It was a little different crowd and interesting to meet some new folks.

We were really sad to say bye to Jim and Kellee this week. They are heading off to learn German, then on to Vienna. We went to their house Tuesday night to pick up a grill they gave us. Wednesday was their last day in the office, and the usual suspects celebrated at lunch at the French Club. We were able to get the six of us from our A-100 class together for the photo below on the “jingle mule” at the Embassy. I’ve had so much fun shopping with Kellee and drinking on their rooftop overlooking Faisal Mosque and listening to the call to prayer. I look forward to meeting up with them in the future.

Rob, John, Joe, Me, Kellee and Carolyn

I worked yesterday, still trying to figure out the new system. Last night we hosted some of the folks John works with for another burger and brauts cookout – lots of fun. Lita has been John’s manager the past year, and they’ve hosted some great parties at their house.

Frank and Ma'am Lita

Today we started the day with massages. Afterward, I made a quick run to the Afghan Bakery. They have lovely bread and homemade crackers, plus fresh buffalo mozzarella, goat cheese and yogurt – yum! And I bought lovely bunch of sunflowers. Next we were off to a lovely brunch with a nice couple from the Embassy. Everything was homemade and delicious: yogurt, granola, bread, quiche, quinoa salad, and chocolate chip cookies. Excellent!

After brunch we came home to host a games afternoon. While the guys were playing Settlers of Catan, I had an in-home manicure/pedicure that was quite nice

In our spare time this week, we continued watching Season Three of “Game of Thrones” – fun!

With Carolyn and Kellee

The summer transfer season means that we have to say goodbye to dear friends. We had a great get-together at our house last night with our friends Jim, Kellee and Rick, who’ll all be leaving this week or next. We really will miss them and we hope we”ll cross paths again soon! We had a burgers and brauts cookout last night with them, plus our friends Petit, Howie, Carolyn, Konstantin and Maegon – lots of fun! John did some card tricks, Konstantin was giving poker instructions, and then there was some sort of card-throwing competition that left 104 cards all over the floor! Good times!

Last Sunday we went to Konstantin and Carolyn’s for a sausage-n-biscuits brunch, then we went to a carpet sale at another friend’s house. We came home with several carpets to try out. I think we’ll end up keeping two of them – both rather pretty and unusual. A runner is from the 1960s with a pomegranate design, and the other is a light-colored silk kilim ( a woven rug with no nap). Lots of fun.

After the carpet party, we picked up Rick and Joe, who just arrived. We headed over to one of our favorite restaurants to eat Thai food.

This week was quite busy at the office. We made some personnel changes in my section and had several people out for various reasons, so I was on the run most of the week. John and I continue to discuss where we want to go next – hopefully we can start honing in on someplace soon. We’ve had some welcomed rain this week which has kept temperatures down a little – which also means the electricity stays on more. Luckily we have big generators so we can keep at least one air conditioner going and the lights and TV on. Our local staff isn’t as lucky, and the frequent power outages take a toll on them.

We’ve been watching season three of “Game of Thrones” – so fun! But I really think this season has gotten a lot more gory – anyone else agree with me? Anyway, it’s still fun!

This morning I had a nice massage and manicure, then went into the office to check on a new software upgrade – looks like it went quite well. It will ease my work life quite a bit, so I’ve been anxiously awaiting it!

Here are a couple more photos from last night’s party.

Three jokers!

Card tricks