criplomats

Valentine's Day Gladiolas

I found these lovely red glads waiting for me when I got home Friday afternoon – what a great husband I have! They are really beautiful.

This was a pretty good week, all in all. It’s been a little slower at work with less visa demand. It’s nice to have a bit of a break and not be at full tilt every day. We celebrated President’s Day at the Embassy on Thursday night with the big annual event. John was in charge of it last year; this year, other people took the reins, but John has been sort of a mentor to them throughout the process. By all accounts, it was a big success. John was in charge of one of the parking lots (parking and traffic are always the big logistical problem). I rode back and forth with guests on a shuttle bus all evening (a cleared American has to be an escort).

Our longtime Consul General and good friend Dan departed post this week. We had a pizza lunch on Monday to say farewell to him and to welcome our new CG Kristin. Dan and I have worked very well together the last 18 months, so I was sorry to see him go – but I’m sure Kristin will do a great job as well. Change is part of the game in this job!

LJ celebrated her 89th birthday this week! Happy birthday, mom! She sure doesn’t look or act her age!

We had several social outings this week. Last Sunday was a nice brunch at Bridget’s house, although John wasn’t feeling well enough to go so I had to go solo. Saturday night, we went to a very nice dinner party at Adi and Cecelia’s house. They are lovely hosts, and Adi treated us to a mini-concert on his piano – wow, is he talented. It was really wonderful to hear him play. Then Sunday afternoon, we went to a rooftop BBQ at Howie and Petit’s – they have a lovely view of Margalla Hills. Good food and fun talking to Carolyn and Konstantin, among others.

Saturday afternoon I went to my photography class. We went outside and took still life pictures, then came back inside to critique them. Our objects were mostly fun and colorful pieces, done “truck art” style.

Fan, truck art style

We watched a couple of movies this week. “Captain Phillips” was excellent, and last night we started “Wolf of Wall Street” – to be continued tonight.

Today is a holiday for us – John went to Joseph and Sunera’s for board games, but I’m staying home to study Spanish. Not too much longer till I test again.

Here’s a nice photo of John from last night.

Jackcito

We had rain off and on this week, which brought out the chill in the air. The days alternated between rainy and just cloudy, but then yesterday the sun came out and it was beautiful!

Barbara and I braved the chilly weather Thursday and met some ladies from the German Embassy at the French Club for lunch – we had a lot of fun.

We had a lot of socializing this weekend: Friday night happy hour outside with the management folks, Joe C.’s birthday part later in the evening, and I went to a consular party last night at Barb’s house that was a lot of fun.

Yesterday I went to the first of a series of photography classes at a local gallery. I took a class in Tel Aviv but have managed to forget a lot of it, so I thought another class would be fun. The instructor is a very good Pakistani photographer, Azhar Hafeez – I’m looking forward to getting out and taking more pictures. Here’s a link to his web page – you can see some beautiful photographs.

All in all, it was a pretty quiet week!

We had a nice flashback on Friday night when we went to Howie and Petit’s to drink some Israeli wine, along with our friend Mike L. We were all in Tel Aviv together, and we all share a love for Israeli wine. Howie had a nice bottle from Flam and another from Chateaux Golan that we enjoyed together. It brought back nice memories of sitting on our balcony in Tel Aviv. So nice of them to share with us!

We had another nice sunny week here in Islamabad, very conducive to relaxing lunches outdoors. We had French Friday lunch at the French Club, as well.

We bought a nice new treadmill recently, so this week Howie and Mike L. helped me move our old one over to Mike F.’s house. It has served us well over the last 10 years or so. So lucky to have good friends to pitch in with a truck and help moving things up stairs!

I continue to work on Spanish. My tutor Susana came over Wednesday night and again yesterday morning. I alternate between feeling terrified and confident. We’re getting more excited about our move to Guadalajara – we filled out our housing survey this week, so we spent some time poring over housing photos. We have our fingers crossed that we will get something with some outdoor space.

K2 on the Pakistan-China Border

This week I indulged in two things I like to either watch or  hear about: tennis and mountain climbing.

Years ago, I read “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer which was about the disastrous 1996 ascent of Mt. Everest. Since then, I’ve enjoyed reading articles about climbing; a few months ago I went to a talk given by a German woman who had climbed Everest. This week, the Embassy brought in Nazir Sabir for a brown bag lunch to talk about his time as a mountaineer. It was a fascinating hour with beautiful photographs of northern Pakistan. He started climbing in the 70s, and was the first Pakistani to summit Everest (2000). He talked mostly about summiting K2 (in the photo) in 1981. K2 is the second highest mountain in the world, but apparently much more difficult to climb. His talk was truly the highlight of the week!

We would love to go to this area of Pakistan, but unfortunately it is verboten, since last summer when the Taliban shot 10 foreign climbers and their Pakistani guide near another Pakistani peak. The scenery looks simply stunning.

Then on to tennis. While I missed most of the Australian Open, I did catch the men’s final today – lots of fun! I started watching the match during brunch at our neighbor’s house, then came home as the party was breaking up to see the last set. It’s always fun to watch the underdog win!

Brunch was lots of fun – a really nice couple from the Lahore Consulate is leaving this weekend, so this was a farewell. Lots of good food and conversation.

Another highlight of the week was having my first lesson with a Spanish tutor Saturday morning. I finally found a teacher here in Pakistan, a lovely woman from Argentina. I plan to work with her this month before I re-test.

The rest of the week was pretty low-key. I had a school board meeting one night. The Embassy cats are doing well; I’ve been trying to get them de-wormed this week with some success. And I made it to the gym everyday before work! Here’s hoping I can keep it up!

I took a mental break from studying Spanish this past week – much needed. Last Sunday I finally sat down and did the paperwork for insurance claims, ran to the market, and then watched “About Time” with John. It’s by the same director as “Love Actually,” and while it was a cute movie, it wasn’t nearly as good as “Love Actually.”

Several people are back in the office after Christmas R&Rs. It’s nice to have our lunch gang back together again We even were able to sit outside a couple of days this week. And we had French Friday lunch – always a nice break.

Tuesday was a Muslim holiday. I went to the gym and did some work, then John, Spence and I played “Settlers of Catan” at Joseph and Sunera’s. They cooked a great lunch and we had a really fun Settlers game.

Wednesday was a welcome admin day at work with no NIV applicants. Thursday I gave a visa briefing to some folks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; I had never been to their office before, so it was interesting.

Saturday I went to the gym and worked a while. Sunday was a nice day at home after a trip to the spa. We topped off the week with a nice dinner out with Petit and Howie.

Now it’s time to pick up the Spanish books again…wish me luck!