criplomats

Angkor Wat Sunrise

 
We arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Thursday and we love it! We’ve gone out early each morning to look at some of the temples and they are amazing! We love the town, too – nice people, excellent hotel, good food – it really doesn’t get much better than this.

We’ve passed the time by shopping, taking advantage of super inexpensive massages, and just walking around town. Last night we took a cooking class that was a lot of fun – some really nice folks in class with us. It poured rain the entire time, so it was a good evening to be doing something indoors. Another night we had a good steak dinner at the hotel courtyard and watch a traditional apsara dance.

We’re also fans of the tuk-tuks here, using them to get everywhere.

I really had no idea Cambodia would be this fun, but it is! Here are a few photos.

Banteay Kdei

Ta Phrom

Bayon

Cooking class

Baby Monkey!

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

The heat is back with a vengeance (not really sure it ever left). I worked Saturday adjudicating passports all day (a “super Saturday” to provide passport services to Americans here in Pakistan and reduce our wait time for appointments). Afterwards I walked up to the Club to look at the Saturday vendors the Embassy brings in and thought I would pass out from the heat! I did find a couple of lightweight tops to buy.

Monday we were closed to visa applicants due to the security situation (large demonstrations not directed to Americans). We were at work but no applicants or local staff, so it was pretty quiet and pleasant.

Thursday during lunch, Nomi, Brad, Mike and I took motorpool to the market. I picked up the things I had left to be framed – they did an excellent job on them. Rick and Sarah seemed to really like the photo of their dog that we had framed as a gift to them.

The rest of the week was pretty busy. I had to adjudicate visas several days since I had an employee out sick. Saturday was passport day, and I worked all Sunday afternoon just trying to catch up on visa work. It never stops.

Tuesday night we went to a fun carpet party at Becky’s house and brought home more carpets to choose from. It’s so hard to pick! Friday night was happy hour at the Club, and Saturday night was a going-away at Joseph and Sunera’s – sure will miss them!

Truck full of carpets

Since our security posture doesn’t allow us to go out shopping in the markets, we decided to bring the market to us! Last Sunday we had dozens of Embassy friends over to peruse carpets (and jewelry). Obaid brought over 200 carpets to the house and they were selling like hotcakes! And a local jeweler set up the dining room table with sparkly jewelry, too! Lots of fun! We enjoyed visiting with everyone until bedtime!

I spent a good amount of time at the dentist’s office this week, prepping for two more crowns. He is so good and I’m glad I’m having it taken care of.

Some bug is going around – John was out from work on Thursday and Friday, then it hit me on Saturday. Instead of going to the office, I spent the day alternatively moaning and watching movies (“The Politician’s Wife” and the remake of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”). Sunday I felt much better and spent the day at the office trying to get caught up. At the end of the day, I joined up with John, Joseph, and Sunera who had had a gaming party all afternoon – we wound down the evening sitting on the balcony watching a huge storm (including hail) pass through. Nice to cool things off a bit.

The rest of the week was pretty low-key since we can’t really go anywhere. We went to happy hour with Sunera on Wednesday – it’s mango season here, so I tried a mango margarita – yummy!

Mom’s out of the hospital, thank goodness, and seems to be feeling fine! I’m so grateful to Sandy, David, and Alison for taking good care of her!

Here are a few more photos from the carpet party.

My boss, Kristin

Steve bought this cool kilim

View from the stairs

Adi checking out a Turkman design

Good grief, it’s hot here! I went out shopping yesterday with Brad and Mike and thought we might melt! I had several errands to run: taking things to be framed, picking up photographs, just odds and ends. I took this photo below of the naan (flatbread) shop – the guy squatting on the left is placing dough in the tandoor (oven) and geez, talk about hot. It hurt just to pause to take the photo and buy a couple of pieces of bread!

The naan shop

Making naan

We had a few things going on this week. John and I treated ourselves to sushi one night; spent Friday the 13th at a happy hour given by the agricultural attaché, followed by a going-away party for our friends Charlie and Andrea; shopping outing to the tailor with John; shopping outing with Brad to the tailor and to Saad Brass; happy hour at the Club with friends on Wednesday – keeping busy!

I gave a visa presentation to the Ambassador and other interested folks on Thursday – it was fun. Visa stories are always interesting and entertaining and everyone seemed to enjoy hearing about the work we do in the section.

I went back to the dentist for my crown. He’s so good (Dr. Malik). He actually has a lab in the office where they make the crowns. He wasn’t happy with the color, so he brought the tech up to look at it – 15 minutes later, the tech had re-fired it and the color was perfect – pretty amazing to me. He’s going to do a couple more for me before I go; crowns are very inexpensive here compared to the States, so I’m going to take advantage of that before we leave.

There was an attack on the airport in Karachi last Sunday, so our security posture here has changed a bit. I can’t drive my car, so am back in Motorpool for everything.

LJ is in the hospital for a few days – her blood pressure dropped super-low. Luckily her fabulous housekeeper was there and got her to the ER quickly. We’ve spoken several times and she sounds good. They’re running tests and keeping her a couple of days for observation.

These fabulous trees are blooming in Islamabad right now – they are gorgeous. The blossoms look like bunches of grapes.

Amaltas tree

50.5 with Christy’s chocolate fudge cake!

Last fall when we tried to celebrate John’s 50th birthday, we had to cancel the party due to a security lockdown. So, we decided to celebrate 50.5 with a dinner re-do. We had 11 guests; Christy made an out-of-this-world cake and Julia made homemade chocolate chip ice cream. We topped off the night with Brad’s wicked Czech liquor and called it a night around 11PM. Fun!
The other highlight of the week was last Sunday evening when I went to commencement for the International School. I’ve had a fun and busy year on the Board of Directors and enjoyed seeing it culminate with graduation. There were 12 graduates and they were just as cute as could be. The DCM gave the commencement address. Here are some photos with some of my favorite Board members.

With Romana – so pretty and elegant!

With Jaunice and Rose, superintendent – wonderful ladies!

With Tariq, Board president – such a gracious man.

Monday we had two new officers join my section, so we’ll be busy getting them trained up. That night I went for a massage, and later in the week went for a mani-pedi after work.

Tuesday, Christy, Brad, Sunera, and I went to Tribal Arts to do a little shopping, then swung by a couple of art galleries.

Thursday, we went out for a steak with Joseph and Sunera, and Friday we stopped by a happy hour at work, then to a going-away party for INL. A fun and busy week!

Saturday John and I went to see an acupuncturist, a Chinese doctor who several folks have talked about. He gave me a good massage, then two needles at the base of my neck to try to loosen up my shoulder. So far, so good! The rest of the day I was at the gym, did a little bit of work at my office, took a sick Embassy kitty to the vet, and got ready for the party.

Today I got up early and went in to work. The days are so busy that it’s hard to get anything done that requires concentration. Around 11AM, I went to the Canadian Embassy for a bazaar and did a little shopping and met Brad for lunch at the Club – then back to work for a while longer.

It’s soooo hot – summer really is here.

Here’s a happy shot taken at John’s balloon animal class – happy people!

Balloon class!