criplomats

The highlight of the week was a fun trip to Murree Brewery that our Community Liaison Office (CLO) put together. It’s the only brewery in Pakistan – they make beer and whiskey, among other things. We got to sample their wares and tour the brewery. They were great hosts, and we had a fun time. We had Jim, Kellee, Rick and his girlfriend Amy (visiting from Jerusalem) and John and me in our van going out there – it’s also just fun to get out and see different parts of the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we got back, we all went over to Jim and Kellee’s and sat on their rooftop for pizza and drinks, bundling up in blankets and listening to the call for prayer from the nearby mosque.

Tuesday night I ventured out on my own to attend a slide show presentation by a woman who had climbed Everest in 2009. I’ve always been fascinated by Everest since I read Jon Krakauer’s book, “Into Thin Air.” She was very interesting and had some great photos – I was glad I went, not that I ever plan to climb Everest!

Wednesday after work, John and I met Rick, Petit and Howard at the Club and had a fun happy hour together – it’s so nice to have them here.

We went back to the club on Friday for happy hour – it was quite festive. Some of the Mission employees have formed a band and they played. Lots of folks were there, and it was a great way to end the week.

Here are a couple more photos from the brewery trip. Click to see more photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the week was the staff party that John hosted for his staff in Housing. He is soon rotating to another management position, so to say goodbye, he hosted everyone at a local restaurant. They surprised him with some traditional Pakistani clothing: a pair of sandals, a topi (hat), and a wool man shawl – it was great! The ladies on the local staff dressed up in beautiful shalwar chemises and just looked stunning! It was a fun evening. Click to see all the photos from the dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another highlight was seeing our good friends Howie and Petit again! You may remember that we first met Petit in Mexico, then she married Howie and came to Tel Aviv…and now they are here in Islamabad! The Foreign Service is a small world indeed! They joined us at brunch on Sunday with my co-worker Kelly from Karachi – along with my good friend Scott, John (of course), and Howie’s fellow RSOs Mike and Justin (we also worked with Mike in Tel Aviv). Follow all that? Simply put, it was wonderful to have a table full of friends, old and new!

Monday night, Scott, Michael and I took Kelly to dinner at a local Asian restaurant – quite nice. The next day, Kelly headed back to Karachi. It was interesting to hear about her life there. The officers all live on the Consulate compound, so she basically eats, sleeps and works with her co-workers. Forays into the city have to be carefully coordinated, so her movements are  pretty limited. Makes me glad we have the freedom we do here in Islamabad – fingers crossed that our security situation will remain stable. I just heard on the news that there were problems again in Peshawar, with reported Taliban attacks at the airport there. It’s a few hours from us and is a completely different world, but we do have staff there, so I hope they are keeping safe.

I’m so lucky to work with my good friends Scott and Michael (I also knew Michael from Juarez.) They never cease to have fun and tease – it seems this week they were in full force. We usually have lunch together, but one day I needed to have lunch with another girl to talk about some specific things. Mike and Scott acted devastated that I would forsake them, and sat at a nearby table. All through lunch, they sent me text messages saying “I miss you” “Why do you hate us” etc., while casting exaggerated sad looks in my direction.

The next day at lunch, the manager of the restaurant came over to my table (where I was sitting with Scott and Michael) to inquire about two pie pans I had neglected to return to the Club. I explained that I would bring them back the next day. Then he came back to the table as I was trying to eat my lunch to keep talking about it. I got a little irritated with him, but explained I would bring them this week. I stopped on the way out to talk to the manager again. When I returned to my desk there was a phone message for me, inquiring about the pie pans! (Obviously the manager had sent it before he saw me at lunch.) I told Scott and Michael about it, and we were all laughing about these darn pie pans. (Honestly, in retrospect, maybe it was Scott or Michael who left the message…I’ll have to check into that!)

The next day, I stayed home sick (the down part of the week) and John took the pie pans to the restaurant manager to deliver them personally.

Well, at the end of the day, I got an email from Michael on my Blackberry. He forwarded a note with the sender shown as the restaurant and the subject was “Mrs. Crippen’s Pie Pans.” The note basically said the restaurant had been trying to reach me about the missing pie pans, and could Michael and Scott please ask me about them.

I hit the ceiling! I immediately dialed the restaurant to complain about the harassment about these pie pans! As the phone was ringing, another message came in on my Blackberry. “Just kidding,” it said.

Touché!

 

We enjoyed our last few days in Arkansas before we headed back to Islamabad. The highlight of the trip was taking Mom, Aunt Bonnie, and Bonnie’s caregiver Tammy to see the holiday lights at Garvin Gardens – it was beautiful and I think we all enjoyed it. It was nice because they had golf carts available; otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to do it.

John spent last Sunday getting Mom’s new computer set up. From looking over his shoulder, Windows 8 looks like a nightmare. He spent a long time trying to make it look like her old computer. He did a great job, and I think she’ll be happy with it. We celebrated by going to eat a great steak at The Porterhouse downtown – John also had a good appetizer: shrimp with avocado in a pesto sauce – yum!

We did a lot of running around shopping, and before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport on Tuesday. We lost a day coming east – we left on Tuesday afternoon, flew through Chicago and Abu Dhabi, then arrived in Islamabad Thursday morning around 4AM. My body is so confused!

Thursday and Friday we just spent around the house, sleeping at odd hours. Our good friend Rick came over Friday night after he got off work. We yakked, drank wine, had dinner and got caught up.

Saturday evening my friend Kelly, my counterpart in Karachi, came to town for consultations. She’s staying with us (our first houseguest!). We went to the Polo Lounge for a good dinner – such a nice atmosphere. The weather has gotten chilly here – since the Polo Lounge is basically outside, they have those nice big heaters set up. (John was disappointed in the weather in Arkansas – unseasonably warm and no need for the jackets we brought! He’s happy to be back in cooler weather – we’ve even turned on the heat in the house.)

Flavia was sure glad to see us! Our housekeeper Saleem came by every day to feed her, so she was fine. At first, she hid under a chair and cried, then she finally came out and hasn’t gotten off my lap since! She’s so cute, and I think she’s really glad we’re home!

Here are some parting shots from Hot Springs. Click for all of our R&R photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our R&R continued this week, and we had the chance to see more family and friends.

Monday I had lunch with David and Alison while John visited with his good friend Russell up in Mount Ida. Later in the day we drove to Little Rock and visited with Mary, then had dinner with John’s former co-worker Leland and his wife at their house.

Tuesday, John went back to Mount Ida. Mom and I went with Aunt Bonnie and her caregiver to Bonnie’s doctor’s appointment, then we stopped by Walmart on the way home. Later that evening, I met up with John, Russell, his wife Kathy and daughter Heather to eat sushi – fun!

Wednesday I dropped John off in Mount Ida, then hurried to my hair appointment at Mike and Peggy’s salon. Thank goodness someone knows how to cut my curly hair! Afterward I had lunch at a really disappointing Mexican restaurant (Taco Mama’s – don’t bother if you want good service!), then some shopping. At the end of the day, I ran back up to Mount Ida to pick up John. Russell and Kathy have a great place with lots of land – and they have a menagerie! We love playing with their dogs – they have five, plus four cats and a couple of birds. The dogs are so funny – John wants to bring little Penny, the pocket beagle, home with us!

Thursday I dropped John off in Mount Ida again (I say he’s going to day care), then drove to North Little Rock to have lunch with my old friends and co-workers, Lynn and Jim. We had a  great lunch together – so fun to get caught up with them.

Back in Hot Springs, I drove back to Mount Ida to get John, then Mom took us to dinner at KJ’s for a good steak – yum!

Friday we stayed in Hot Springs and ran errands all day. We had a great lunch downtown at Rolando’s – great food and service. We stayed home and watched “Prometheus” and ate pizza for dinner.

Yesterday was another fun, but busy day. We drove over to Little Rock and first stopped by Mr. Magic to say hi to Jim, John’s magician friend. We got caught up on all of the local magician gossip, then headed over to Dail and Nancy’s. Dail was in the hospital for five weeks’ worth of chemo treatment for his leukemia – thankfully he is almost in full remission! He’s lost a lot of weight and hair, but his appetite seems to be coming back: after a big plate of Whole Hog BBQ, he declared we needed to go to Izzy’s for lemon ice box pie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day, we met Ann, Jim, Pamela and Ike for dinner at Star of India – delicious! So fun to see my buddies! They seem to be doing great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way home, we stopped by Markham Street Pub to say hi to Hooper before his band started playing, then made our way back home to Hot Springs.

I’m very proud of John and me – we got a temporary membership at a gym here in town and have been going to work out every day! We get up early and head over there – it’s been a great way to start our days here.

Here are a couple of photos from Mountain Home last weekend – one with the family and another of an interesting plant/phenomena in Ginger’s yard – I can’t remember what she called it, but frost forms a neat column around the stem of the plant. The frost is pretty – up close it looks like silk ribbons.

Click for more photos from Thanksgiving and R&R.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made the trek back to the United States last weekend. The driver came to pick us up a little before 1 AM. The airport was a zoo in Islamabad, but the expediter finally got us through the hoards of people. We transited through Abu Dhabi at sunrise, then got on our 15-hour flight to Chicago. Luckily, John had the foresight to book us business class, so we had comfortable lie-flat seats – although after 15 hours, any seat on an airplane is tedious! Our shining moment came in Chicago when we managed to get on an immediate flight to Little Rock, rather than waiting for six hours! Even our luggage made it, and by 8 PM, we were at Mom’s in Hot Springs.

We took it easy the first few days at home – a few doctors’ appointments, naps to help with jet lag, etc. Wednesday night Pete and Ginger came down and we all went to KJ’s for a steak dinner.

The next morning, the four of us drove down to Carthage, Texas, for Thanksgiving with John’s relatives. This year we went to Brad and Marcia’s house. It was a fun day – we got to see Roberta, the Harwells and Mitch and Laurie. The leaves were still turning down south, making for a pretty drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, we had Aunt Bonnie, David, Alison, James and Mary Beth over for a BBQ lunch. It was great to see everyone! David has retired and is living back in Hot Springs now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday John and I drove up to Mountain Home, and Philip, Michele, Alise and Andrew drove over from Springdale. The kids are in 8th grade now and all grown up! The guys spent most of the day putting Pete’s electric truck on a flatbed to be hauled back to Philip’s for repair. Pete and Ginger treated us to a steak dinner at Hopper’s last night.