criplomats

Monday the 5th was John’s birthday! He got lots and lots of nice e-mails and phone calls, and really enjoyed his day. We didn’t go out that night, but waited and celebrated last night at a Moroccan restaurant with our friend Richard.

We also had a nice visit this week from our friend Donny, who was in from Memphis to work. It was the first time we’ve seen anyone from home since John’s parents were out here in June, so it was great to see a familiar face!

Thursday we went to a fun happy hour for our friends who are leaving for Guatemala. Friday we went to a Lisa Lampanelli comedy show at the Warner Theatre (Warning: This is not for the faint-hearted – she is very offensive and very funny). The Warner Theatre is a beautiful old theatre built in the 1920s.

Meanwhile, I continue to study Spanish. I’m in a good class with four other people; we have class four hours a day. John’s in the last few weeks of his human resources classes.

In costume at ConGen graduation on Halloween, with Kristin (Liberia, usually a blonde) and Leslie (Guatemala)

This was a busy week. School-wise, I finished ConGen (no purple robe for me, whaaa) and went on to begin Spanish classes on Thursday. At ConGen graduation, your class is expected to do a skit of some kind, so our class sang “Monster Mash” with the words re-written for consular work – very cute, since we were graduating on Halloween!

I thoroughly enjoyed my day and a half of Spanish class – I really like the teacher and the 3 other students. We have class for 4 hours each day – my schedule is 10-12 and 2-4. I think I’m going to enjoy it.

On Thursday night, the gentleman who’ll be our boss in Ciudad Juarez was in town, so John and I threw a party for him. It was a good opportunity for him to meet or re-acquaint himself with most of the new entry-level officers going to CJ. 

Friday night, we visited with John’s former co-worker Lucien at a happy hour downtown. Lucien worked in Lima with ALLTEL and came to see us several times in Costa Rica; he, his wife and baby live here now.

Saturday afternoon we were back in hosting mode – John did a coffee roasting/tasting demo for several folks from our A-100 class. Last night, we went to a going-away party for our friends Leslie and Trey who are heading off to Guatemala soon.

Some of you may have heard about the announcement of directed assignments for foreign service officers to Iraq. John and I are not affected; it’s really geared toward more upper-level officers.

The biggest news of the week is that it looks like Mom will be moving into a garden home in Hot Springs. I’m thrilled because it means a nice, level lot on a quiet street – I really think she’ll be happy there, and she is very excited about it (believe it or not!). If all goes well, she’ll move later this month.

John talking about coffee with Richard, Marcy, Jimmi and Joe

John graduated from his Consular training (ConGen) this week as class valedictorian, so he got to wear the much-coveted purple robe. He received the honor because he didn’t miss any questions on any of the four tests. ConGen is a pretty fun course – there are lots of role-plays. We work in the land of Z, a fictitious country that has an in-depth back story. At the Zian Embassy, we get lots of “zany” characters whose names all start with “Z.” Neighboring countries are X and Y. This week I had my jail visit to visit an arrested American in our Zian jail cell (a real cell, complete with toilet, cot and stuffed rats on the floor).

We had some great social outings this week. Last Sunday, we hosted a fun dinner party at our apartment for our friend Jim Jay, who’s leaving for his post in Lagos, Nigeria. We cooked burgers and enjoyed visiting with everyone (see photos below). Thursday night was happy hour, and then last night we went to a dinner party at Carolyn and Konstantin’s (the friends who recently got married and had their puppy Meatball be the ring bearer) where we dined on great chili and homemade mac-n-cheese.

I also made the trek to the outlet mall yesterday with some girlfriends to go bargain hunting – successfully, I might add.

We watched an interesting movie this week called Jindabyne, with Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne.

Jim Jay

Foreground: Jim and Kristin; Background: Marcy and Zanaida

Chris with Noodle

This week was a pretty low-key week. We had dinner out with friends one night (they’re leaving for Sudan next week), but other than that, we were pretty much home-bodies.

School has been fun – we’re working on interviewing techniques. We also had a couple of field trips – one afternoon at Dulles Airport in the Immigration/Customs area, so we could see people with visas coming through. Another day we had classes at Main State.

Yesterday we made an outing to Sam’s Club to stock up on party supplies for a couple of upcoming events, but other than that, it’s just life and school as usual.

1. Eating Turducken
2. Going to a Renaissance Festival
3. Going to a horse show with dressage and jumping competitions
4. Practicing giving visas in role plays “behind the window”
5. Having lunch at the CIA

Draw your own conclusions regarding any or all of the above activities.

We also took our friend Richard to Harry’s to celebrate his birthday Friday night, and then went to a party at his house last night.