criplomats

We were unceremoniously thrown back into work this week – can I go back to Indonesia, please?

I was happy to see that my back-up handled pretty much everything while I was gone – so nice to come back and not have fires to put out. That said, it is the season for employee evaluation reports (EER), so I was busy proofing reports for review panels and writing EERs for staff. The week flew by, and I spent all day Saturday and half of today (Sunday) trying to catch up.

We have two new officers starting work on Monday, so that’s exciting. It will be fun getting them settled and trained. Since most folks just sign up for one year here, there are lots of comings and goings.

Something bloomed recently that my allergies don’t like, so I’m a little sniffly. The upside is that the gardens look beautiful all over town!

Tugu Farewell

Sadly, we had to leave the Tugu on Sunday afternoon! It was hard to leave after such a great stay. We left around 3 PM to head toward the airport. Our flight the next morning was leaving early and we wanted to be closer to the airport. On the 1.5 hour drive back to town, we went through the “monkey forest” – a couple of miles over a mountain – and there were monkeys everywhere. Tourists feed them, so they just hang out by the side of the road hoping for hand-outs.

We checked into a blah-but-clean hotel and headed home the next morning. To only go three time zones, it sure takes a long time! By the time we got home, 24 hours had elapsed since we got up that morning in Lombok (we came home via Jakarta and Bangkok). Unfortunately, the weather in Islamabad was bad, so our scheduled 10 PM arrival was delayed until 3 AM – the rest of the time we spent sitting on the plane in Lahore, where we were diverted.

The rest of the week, we just stayed home – it was great to see little Flavie and she is happy we came back! She’s been sitting in my lap all week. We’ve watched tons of television and read, and really enjoyed the last few days of our vacation.

Friday night we went to dinner with a friend at the Marriott for sushi. Yesterday afternoon, John smoked a duck and some chickens – yum! And this morning, we attempted to hike up the Margalla Hills to Monal Restaurant. Wow – it’s a long way! We did see some great wildlife, including a bunch of monkeys (one was very curious and got really close to us) and a huge (I mean HUGE) momma boar and six tiny babies. We got about halfway up before I threw in the towel. Our buddy kept going while John and I walked back down the hill to get the car – we drove up to the restaurant and picked up our friend at the top. We sat outside and had lunch and enjoyed the wind and the view.

John with a Bintang beer

This has been an excellent R&R! The days have run together since last week’s post – the weather cooled off a bit and we got more afternoon rains, which we have really enjoyed. Every day has been spent with a book in hand, either on the beach or lazing around somewhere on the property.

The hotel upgraded us to a fancy room a couple of days ago. It is also lovely. We have a private pool, outside day bed and ocean view – the best thing is just being able to hear the ocean – so relaxing!

Happy John

Last night we had our last dinner here. They set us up in the Chinese temple – a huge lovely structure with smooth teak floors. They set up dozens of candles and flowers everywhere – very private and nice.

Private dinner

Click to see all of our Lombok photos. Click to go to the hotel’s website.

On a very sad note, Dail passed away this week. (Click for obituary.) I am just sick at heart to know that when I go back home, he won’t be there. His wife Nancy and I had many email exchanges throughout  the week – due to the 13-hour time difference, I was able to email her while she was awake in the wee hours of the morning. It was a comfort to get those updates from her and made me feel a bit closer. Of all of the tributes that have been posted either on the Caringbridge site or elsewhere, my favorite was Phillip Cuffman’s “Raconteur, bon vivant, mock curmudgeon” – an excellent description. You will be missed, friend.

With Dail 2012

View from the restaurant, over the pool to the ocean

We started our R&R on Monday. We did a little bit of work in the morning, then spent the day doing laundry and packing. We got to the airport at 8 PM for our 11:20 PM flight…I mean, our 2:30 AM flight. After a maddening 3 hour delay, we were off. We figured that we would miss our connection in Bangkok, but lo and behold, Thai Air saved us! We were picked up at the gate and whisked to our connecting flight – and even our checked bag made it! We arrived on time in Lombok, Indonesia, after our layover in Bali.

The hotel picked us up and drove us 1.5 hours to our destination. It’s really lovely – thanks to Scott and Laura for the recommendation.

Since Wednesday, we’ve done nothing but relax. And by nothing, I mean nothing. Breakfast…then lay by the beach…then lunch…then lay by the beach…then afternoon tea…then dinner and maybe a movie in our room. Sleep like clams, then get up and do it again the next day!

The only down side to the trip has been very bad news from home. Dail has been hospitalized again and the prognosis is not good at all. This is one of the times when it’s hard to be so far away. John and I both would love to be able to see him and Nancy – it has made us really glad we saw him when we were home last fall.

With Nancy and Dail Spring 2011

Roses in the yard

Spring continues to bloom in our yard – this week the roses came out overnight and now the yard is full of beautiful blooms! It’s really amazing. Everything is so colorful and the fig tree is all covered in leaves again.

I had my first round of car trouble last Sunday afternoon. John was with me and we were at Rana Market to have some photos framed. We got in the car and it was dead – not one peep. We sat there for a few minutes and John looked under the hood. Some nice guy came out of a shop and starting beating the battery with a pair of wire pliers and pouring water over it. And – in a few minutes, he got it started! About that time, our new mechanic Rafiq showed up and tightened up the battery cables and dabbed oil from the dip stick around the connections (“local trick,” he said). Anyway, it seems to be fine now!

This market is a parking lot surrounded by small shops. You can buy brooms made out of sticks (you won’t find a Western broom in this city), fruit, fish (recommended only early in the day before it gets hot), and really good samosas. It didn’t dawn on me until John and I went back on Saturday to pick up the photographs that I was the only woman in the whole place! Granted, women here don’t get out a lot but it was an almost eerie feeling to look around this bustling market and see no other women.

We had several social outings this week. One of our friends in Public Affairs is leaving soon, so we went to a fun BBQ for him on Thursday night. I’ll miss him – he has a great sarcastic sense of humor and is a lot of fun.

Friday night, we celebrated another good friend returning to post from R&R and had a nice Thai dinner at the Marriott (yes, the same one that was bombed in 2008!). Then Saturday we went to Jim and Kellee’s to celebrate Jim’s 40th birthday. Jim is from Wisconsin, and somehow Kellee found someone to bake a birthday cake in the shape of a large wedge of cheese – really cute! We love sitting up on their rooftop at sunset – lovely.

Jim's Cheesehead birthday cake

The weather was perfect this week. You can tell it’s starting to warm up because we now need umbrellas over our lunch table  on the patio.

Friday in the office was pleasant – it was a admin day and all of the entry-level officers were in a meeting all day. We worked a lot over the weekend just trying to get our desks cleared off and our annual evaluations written (torturous!).

We watched Les Miz last Sunday night – I didn’t know that John knew all of the words to the songs, but evidently it’s one of his favorites! And we got caught up on “Justified” last night.