criplomats

With Carolyn, Konstantin and Richard

Our big news this week was that John and I got tenure in the Foreign Service. The cable came out on Tuesday, and there was much merry-making! We didn’t expect to get it this year (it was our first time to be considered). I’m happy to report that lots of folks from my A-100 class were with us on the list (and sad to see a few favorite names omitted). It was great news, and John and I immediately went to Harry’s to celebrate.

The celebration continued Thursday night, when we went with Richard to Carolyn and Konstantin’s neat house on Capitol Hill. It was stormy, so instead of going out to dinner, we enjoyed a nice meal at their comfortable house. And I got to see their dogs, back from Nepal.

Friday night, we went to dinner at Harry’s with Dink, a good friend and mentor from our A-100 days. He’s in town working on a special project, and we were happy to be able to spend time with him. With 20+ years in the Service, he has lots of insight and good advice, and he’s just a darn nice guy and enjoyable to be around.

Saturday night, we drove to an area in NE DC to meet our Juarez neighbors for dinner and a de las Nieves reunion: Neal, TFran, Miguel and Meghan. It was a funky little sushi/tater tots place (yes, what an odd combination!). It was great to have the neighborhood gang back together. In Juarez, Neal was famous for making Spam Sushi, a nod to his Hawiaan upbringing – we did without the Spam last night, and had a good visit.

Last Sunday night, we had dinner with some good friends from Juarez who were in town for just a few days. The husband in the family just returned from being in Afghanistan with the State Department for a year – it was great to hear his stories and observations.

Yesterday, John and I spent the day running errands and test-driving cars. Yes, the Volvo will be going to the country…Arkansas, that is. Looks like Cousin Kay has decided she wants to fly out and drive it home. I’m thrilled that my car of 19 years won’t just be religated to a dealer parking lot (the Volvo is a 1988, and I bought it in early 1991, if I remember correctly). I’m looking at buying a Honda Fit to take to Tel Aviv.

Luckily, the weather has improved markedly, so we’re enjoying some much cooler days. Hope my friends in Arkansas get a break soon, too!

With Kathy, John (and their kids) , Beth, Tom

Mom, David and Alison

I took a whirlwind trip back to Hot Springs this weekend, arriving after midnight Friday night and left early Sunday morning. We had a fun family reunion at Iron Springs Campground, where we used to have reunions after “Decoration Day” at the Mt. Tabor Cemetery. It brought back a lot of childhood memories of being there in the cool shade and playing in the creek. We also got to see a lot of relatives from Uncle Shorty’s side of the family who we don’t normally get to see, which was a lot of fun.  Click here for photos.

It was a special weekend because David was also home from Diego Garcia. He and Alison came to the reunion, and then I went to their beautiful place on Lake Hamilton to sit and yak some more. Too bad James couldn’t have made it up from San Antonio!

I had a lucky day coming back from Hot Springs. I thought I had lost my favorite sweater (I bought it when we lived in Costa Rica), but the nice folks at Avis had found it in the parking lot and saved it for me! Then, I got an exit row seat on the long flight from Dallas to DC, and we were on time! Life is good!

The rest of the week was pretty quiet; just lots of studying. We watched “Sesame Street” in Hebrew, which was a hoot. We actually understood some of it and picked up some grammar rules, too.

John finished up his magic workshop last Sunday, and went to a magic lecture on Wednesday night. He’s gotten our friend Miguel interested in magic, too, so Miguel went with him.

Rooftop party

The big news this week is that John and I moved into a new apartment, just down the hall from our old apartment. It’s newly renovated and so nice. It was kind of a pain to move, but it was worth it. We also have a washer/dryer in the apartment now, which is a big improvement from having to go down the hall to do laundry. TFran, Miguel and Pam have all made stops by to see it and say hello.

Thursday night we went to Dupont Circle for a couple of going away happy hours – one for Dean, who is going to be the Consul General in Juarez, and another for our Hebrew-speaking friend Liz, who is leaving for Jerusalem. It’s kind of odd, because out of our A-100 class there will be five of us in Israel.

Our teacher was doing tests Thursday and Friday, so John and I were mostly left to our own devices during class, but we made good use of the time. Speaking of tests, John did a Hebrew progress test this week and made a good score, so he should be on track to pass (just before Labor Day).

John is at a magic workshop in Maryland this weekend (it’s close enough to come home at night). He’s having a blast with all of his mentors and friends from around the country.

Last night, I went to a fun party on the rooftop of a cool building with a beautiful view of the Capitol in the distance. The party was given by a friend from A-100; he and his wife cooked up Brazilian food, which was delicious. It was a gorgeous evening, no humidity and perfect temperature.

 Empanadas

John and Kellee

Dupont Circle

DC has really felt the heat this past week…have I mentioned that I have been too lazy to get the air conditioner in the Volvo fixed? Ouch!

The highlight of my week was having dinner out on Thursday with my good friends TFran and Pam, both friends from Juarez. We had a great time at a little Mexican place.

Last Sunday, we had some excellent ribs at Whitney and Ale’s, and also got to see more old friends from Juarez, Ryan and Joanna. Afterwards, I took our friend Della to the emergency room with her sick baby, Indy. The doctors said he was going to be OK and just needed time to let some antibiotics kick in. He’s such a happy little fellow, even when he’s not feeling well. We were in A-100 with Della’s husband in 2007, and now Della is an officer, too.

The other good thing that happened this week was that John and I got placed in our own Hebrew class. It’s nice to just have the two of us in class, and it should help us reach our goal more easily.

John was in training on Friday for something unrelated to Hebrew, so I had the teacher to myself for all four hours, which was good, but intense! My brain hurt by the end of the day.

We’re trying to get our travel arrangements to Tel Aviv get worked out, so we also spent a lot of time in the Travel office trying to figure out logistics. We thought we had to stop over in New York for consultations, but that plan changed; it’s good because now we can just leave from DC, then catch a direct flight from NY. From NY, it will be about 11 hours.

Saturday we studied, and I went to the mall to try to find some lightweight suits for work – with no luck. Everything is made of polyester – hard to find natural fiber. I’ll keep looking.

Miguel and Jasper

We’re so happy to have our good friends from Juarez back in DC! TFran and Michael (aka Miguel) returned this week. Although we aren’t neighbors with them, like we have been since 2007, it’s nice to have them in the same town again!

We met up with them at RT’s for a great Cajun dinner (she-crab soup, BBQ shrimp and shellfish in parchment), then went to their apartment afterwards to sit on the balcony overlooking Pentagon City and see their (grown up) puppy Jasper.

We also went out Friday night with our good friend Richard, who passed his Spanish test that day. We started out with drinks at Ris, then ended up on his balcony with a bottle of wine; our friend Carolyn joined us. It was lots of fun.

We started the week with a fun brunch last Sunday with our friends Mary and Tony – they had a big get-together, a great way to start (or end?) the week. We got to catch up with our friends Jim and Kellee, who are just back from Panama.

We pretty much just kept our heads down the rest of the week for Hebrew study. I also took Flavie back to the vet for her follow-up blood test, poor girl. She was quite brave.

I’m sad for my good friend Pam – her black standard poodle, Boo, passed away this week. She had him for 14 years, since he was a puppy. He would always sit in the front seat of the car and was so big he looked like a person! We’ll miss him; he was a great companion for many years for her.

Flavie wants to learn Hebrew, too!

A-100 girls at brunch