criplomats

We’re celebrating John’s birthday today! Looking forward to a fun day with good friends.

Speaking of good friends, our A-100 classmate Jimmi flew in last Sunday for a visit. It’s great to get the chance to visit with her. On Tuesday night, she and I went to see the Martha Graham Dance Company at the Opera House. It was a cool performance.

Thursday we hosted book club for “We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People.” The author, a now-suspended Foreign Service Officer, Skyped in to answer questions from the group. We had another friend Skype in later from Barcelona.

Last night Dave came over from Jerusalem and we all went to dinner at Nana – a good meal with good company!

The Treasury Building

John and I left Tel Aviv last Saturday afternoon and flew to Eilat, on the Red Sea. From there, we crossed the border into Jordan, and a driver took us to Petra. We checked in the hotel and had a late dinner.

We met our guide the next morning and made our way into Petra, through the winding Siq, a narrow passage through the red rock canyon. At the end of the Siq, we were rewarded with a spectacular look at the Treasury building.

We walked on to the center, poking our heads in caves and tombs along the way and saw more beautiful facades. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel, repeated saying “no thanks” to offers of camels, donkeys and horses to ferry us back uphill.

Since we arrived in Jordan after dark, we had not seen the countryside, so it was fun to see it in daylight on our way back to Israel. It was very mountainous and brown, with a few olive trees and some type of scrub brush here and there. This is Bedouin country, so we saw their tents and camels and herds of goats and sheep – an odd juxtaposition, given that we were speeding past on an excellent highway.

Click for more pictures of Petra.

Back in Tel Aviv, we went to Trivia Night with a group of Embassy employees at the local Irish Pub. I kept score, and John played on a team – lots of fun.

We went to a fun dinner on Wednesday – “Pakistan Night,” hosted by our upstairs neighbor who served in Pakistan on her last tour. She cooked a Pakistani meal for several of us who are heading there next year. It was a lot of fun – she even had a loop of photos from Pakistan projected on the wall.

Last night we went to another nice dinner party and had a delicious meal – Naz is known for her cooking and she didn’t disappoint. Good wine and company, as well!

At the Jordanian border

Walking through the Siq

With Howie and Petit

We started off the week at a fun party to celebrate Howie and Petit’s marriage – the party was in Hertzliya in Bruce’s backyard, complete with beautiful flowers and twinkly lights.

I was the social sponsor for a new employee this week, which means I went to his house in Hertzliya on Monday before he arrived to make sure everything was in order, and stocked the fridge. Tuesday I went to the airport to pick him up and take him, his wife, and dog to the new house.

Wednesday night, John and I took the new couple, Dubi and Diedre, out to dinner. The next day was a holiday, so they came to our apartment in the afternoon to use the computer and U.S. phone. Then we met up with Howie and Petit, and we all walked down to the train station for a great tapas dinner at Vicky Cristina – what a neat place and good food.

John and Natalia, with balloon monkey

This week was filled with more holidays – Monday we were off work for Columbus Day, and Thursday we were off for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Friday was also a quiet day at work because of a bike race that made getting to work difficult, so many stayed home and our appointments with the public were re-scheduled. Don’t know what we are going to do when we have to work a five-day work week again!

Last Sunday, we took Flavie to the vet. She is losing hair – it’s very odd. I’ll take her back in three weeks for another check up and for skin scrapings. Her blood work was fine, which is good.

On Monday, our holiday, John and I went to the dentist for a check-up (all good). In the afternoon, we walked down to Jaffo just to look around. We stopped at the famous Dr. Shakshuka for a snack and cold drink. I think I’ve talked about shakshuka before – it’s eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce – really good. It was too hot for shakshuka, though.

Friday afternoon, John and I volunteered to work at the Ambassador’s Sukkot open house at the residence. John was a big hit at the Kiddie Korner, where he made balloon animals! He really enjoyed himself.

Saturday night, John took me to an excellent restaurant in Neve Tzedek, A Place for Meat. We had great steaks and delicious side dishes. Yummy!

Quiet streets of Tel Aviv

From sundown on Friday until sundown yesterday, it was Yom Kippur, a day of atonement. Cars and public transportation were forbidden on the streets and everything was closed – boats were forbidden on the water and all flights suspended. It was great – the streets were instead sprinkled with families out walking, kids playing and folks riding their bikes (John and I included). We could actually hear the ocean waves and birds outside – so peaceful!

Monday night, we had dinner at Whitehall with our friend and co-worker Alon. We had a good meal and it was fun to get to know him better.

Thursday night was book club at our house. It was a big book, which translated into a small crowd, but a good discussion all the same.

One thing that embassies around the world do is to attend trials for Americans who are on trial, or trials for American victims. Tuesday, I attended a session in Jerusalem for Kristine Luken, an American woman who was brutally murdered in Israel while she and her friend/tour guide were out hiking. It was a very moving experience to meet her brother and her friend who survived the attack. It was a small courtroom, and one of the accused was in the courtroom about 10 feet from me (his two co-defendants have already pleaded guilty). Shiver.

After the trial, we attended a memorial service for Kristine and three other people who had died last year, either by a terrorist attack or serving Israel in the army. It was a beautiful venue, high on a hill in the countryside. Our Ambassador, among others, spoke.

Hear the waves