Good Friends

I’ve written before about what a great community I have.

All of our new friends in Brazil have been amazing to my family. And the whole time I was in Berkeley I was surrounded by friends and family who kept me company and watched out for me and helped me. 

It hasn’t stopped since I arrived in DC.

I don’t know nearly as many people in DC as I do in Berkeley, but the few that are here have been tremendous.

Some of my Vibrant Colleagues were still here for training when I arrived.  Since I moved into the building where they’d been living for quite a while, they made sure to show me around and pass on any tips.  And in the finest Foreign Service tradition, they also gifted me with many of their extra food products when they headed off to post.

Other Vibrant Colleagues have been here working at the Mothership.  Some have had me to their homes for dinner and I got to play with their kids.  Not the same as playing with my kids – but so nice to be around a family!  And others have made sure I didn’t get to lonely in my apartment – meeting me for dinner and lunch several times – and even showing me some cool knitting stores!

My Vibrant Colleagues who are in Brazil even got together and sent me some wonderful flowers to brighten up my cookie cutter government housing!

I’ve also been very lucky in that one of my best friends from college lives in the area.  She and her husband have taken such good care of me!  They took me shopping so that I could get set up, we went to their place on the Shore one weekend, they’ve introduced me to a great neighborhood in Alexandria and a wonderful restaurant.  They took me to Howard University where I got to see DC’s own Afro-Blue perform and then to the Jefferson Memorial at night - beautiful!!

I will be so happy to get home to my family, but it’s been a wonderful silver lining to spend such great times with good friends!

Girl's Weekend

My mom and sis came out last weekend to keep me company while I'm doing the radiation thing.

And we had a blast!!!

Since my dad and I had so much good father-daughter time while I was having all my surgeries, it was nice to get some "mom" time while I'm in DC.

They also came out so we could celebrate my mom's birthday weekend in style - and we did!

My sister is a great instigator of all things fun.  The very first night we made a couple of "rules":

1. Since it was Cherry Blossom Festival time here in DC - every time we went to a restaurant or cafe, we had to ask if they had a  "Cherry Blossom Special"  and if they did - we had to order it - no matter what.  It made for some very fun and interesting and often delicious items.
2. Every time we sat down to a meal - we toasted the birthday girl.  (My sister and I are both Leo's so we understand the importance of celebrating not just the day, but the whole month - or at least as much as you can).

The birthday girl said she had one of her best birthdays ever.  And I know I had a great time as well.

My sister is also a second-hand clothing store maven.  So we checked out much of DC's finest.  J. is always able to find that wonderful nugget buried beneath all the other stuff.  And then she puts it all together in a really great way.

And of course we talked the whole time - catching up on all the little things you don't often get to when you're just on a phone call.

So we had great food, great shopping, great talks - the perfect girl's weekend!

Community

Community has always been very important to me. 

I've worked to create it wherever I've lived whether consciously or not.  It's what made our wonderful neighborhood in Berkeley so fantastic.  It's what initially drew me to the Junior League and I loved being a part of "Women Building Better Communities".

With the business that K. and I created, community was at the heart of our mission statement.

Speakeasy Theaters nurtures and grows local communities by entertaining, challenging and feeding the mind, body and soul through irreverent, respectful and whimsical entertainment and tasty, local, housemade food and drink.

I knew that joining the Foreign Service would stretch many of the physical bonds of the communities I've been a part of - it can be difficult to keep those connections fluid when you're removed from so many day to day interactions.  Facebook and Skype are wonderful tools - but they're not a substitute for running into a friend at the Farmer's Market and catching up.

But I also knew that I'd become a part of a larger, worldwide community.  I'd seen examples of how the Foreign Service community reaches out to one another from all over the world - whether it's evacuations, or personal health issues, the FS community really comes together.

And then we had our most recent whirlwind hit.  The out-pouring of love and support has been tremendous!

I've had tons of offers of places to stay both in Berkeley and in DC (when I undergo radiation); my father has driven up to be with me for the surgery; my sister is coming in for the aftermath; my mother has arranged things with her work so that she can Skype my kids whenever they need.  When I started to lose it after traveling 30 hours and then having a 3 hours doctor's appointment, all I had to do was call on my dearest friend to come get me and he did - he and his partner plied me with burgers and Manhattans (my favorite cure) and a cozy bed (and then fresh eggs and coffee for breakfast).

My Vibrant colleagues have reached out from all over the world.  Their love and support makes me feel so warm and cozy!  I know that when I do my TDY at the Mothership, I'll get to hang out with some of them and that's a wonderful thing to look forward to.

The outpouring of support from the FS blogging community has been wonderful.  I've seen it in action before, but never (since I don't think of myself as a writer and since I'm fairly new to this life) felt truly worthy to be in their community.  People I've never ever met - only read about - have reached out to me with their support.  I may even get to meet some of them when I'm in DC.

And our tiny Consulate community in Recife has been amazing!  People we've barely met and have known for less than a month have been helping to take care of my family - playing with the kids, helping my husband tackle life in Brazil by himself, setting up our cell phones so we can maintain contact (thank you Viber!).  I can't be with my husband and kids, but I know they are being very well taken care of.

Even the official channels and positions who have the responsibility of making sure that the US objectives are being met and taxpayers monies are being spent appropriately are also making sure that I'm being well taken care of and that my family and I are in a good place.  It's nice to be working for such a great employer.

I head into surgery today knowing that my family and I are being taken care of and loved and supported from every possible angle.  It doesn't take the burdens away, but it definitely makes them lighter (and more fun) when they're shared by so many people!

Community is a tremendous thing.

What a week it's been

So - I got my results back from my biopsy and they weren't exactly the "it's all good" news we had all thought they would be.  Seems as though it's more of a "hmmm - this doesn't look so good" kind of news.

So - I need to go back to the US and get this taken care of.  And just when we were finally settling in to our new home in Brazil - the kids have started school and are making friends,  I was hitting my stride at work, I've got some interesting projects that I've been tasked with.  We thought - we finally will be able to be in one place for a while.

But (insert your favorite deity here) is a merry prankster!

First, we learned that my results weren't good and that set off a flurry of phone calls and information gathering to determine what the next steps needed to be.  Luckily, we had already made an appointment with the Health Practioner for Brazil who just happened to be visiting the Consulate that week.  The next day, when we met with her, we learned that the State Department would medevac me back to the US so that I could undergo surgery.  My family would stay here, and as soon as I got the all clear, I could return to Brazil.  If we were lucky, the whole process could be taken care of in about a week or so.  I am very lucky to be working for such a great employer and have such great health insurance!

We started another flurry of phone calls and emails to arrange all the necessary appointments.  I'm lucky in that I can go back to California to my regular doctors to have this taken care of.  And my parents will be able to be there to help.  But - as we learned more about what needed to be done - we learned that more often than not, people in my situation end up needing a course of radiation.  Hmmmm - that's 5-7 weeks more . . .  That's a long time to be away from my family!  And a long time to be out of work!

Luckily, the State Department is a big organization and has experience with people needing to leave one place and work in another for a short while.  It's called TDY - think "temporary duty".  It looks as though if I do need to do the radiation, I can do it back in Washington, DC and take a temporary job at Main State - also known as the Mothership.

I'm trying to focus on the silver linings here - I get to see my family again sooner than I thought, I could get to work at Main State for a bit and get a better understanding of what goes on there.

But it's also super hard to be leaving my husband and kids for so long.  I know it's the best thing for the kids - it's important that they get settled in to their new school and begin making friends so that they can really enjoy our time here.  I'm so lucky to have such a good partner who does such a great job with our kids.  And I'm so lucky to have such a great community of friends and family who are rallying around us all to support us in any way they can.

In the meantime, things are changing pretty fast.  Every day brings new information.  Soon I'll have my plane tickets - it looks as though I'll be leaving Brazil exactly one month after I arrived.

The End of Language Training

One of the requirements for a Foreign Service Officer to achieve tenure is to become proficient in a foreign language.  There are many who enter into the Foreign Service already knowing a language, and then there are those of us who must attain proficiency in their first two posts. 

I've been in Portuguese Language Training for the past 24 weeks.  It's been wonderful and difficult and challenging and fun.  I am so lucky to not only get to learn a language as part of my job, but to be able to learn such a beautiful language that's spoken by so many wonderful people and used in so many cultures.  With this language, I'll be able to visit many continents and regions all over the world.

But it's been very hard, really hard.  I've written about how challenging it's been for me here and here.  The last 8 weeks, I've been in major boot-camp mode in preparation for my language exam.  At my previous progress report, I wasn't quite at the level I wanted to be at and knew I really needed to kick everything up a notch.  So in addition to my time in class, language lab and homework, I started meeting regularly with native Portuguese speakers to really boost my confidence.  My entire being became focused on Portuguese.  My language skills really improved and I began to feel much more confident.

The last few days before the big test day it's important to be in the right mind-set.  At that point, you're not going to learn anything new - you already know it.  You just need to make sure you're in the right head space for the exam.  I reviewed some other people's preparations for the test, and then I crafted my own version:  N. and I went to SpaWorld!

For those of you who don't know - SpaWorld is a Korean Spa located in the DC area.  It is an amazing place!  There are special pools with water jets that work every part of your body.  There are poultice rooms that are super hot and equipped with various minerals that have healing properties.  There are people who will scrub your body rendering your skin baby fresh.  It is completely relaxing!

After SpaWorld, I felt well prepared for my test.  I got a good nights sleep and went to my test rested and calm.  Of course, I didn't stay calm long - but I got through my test and thanks to the wonderful language instructors at FSI - I passed!!!!  I now have a "professional level of fluency in Portuguese" and can head off to post on schedule!

Crabs!

I've been wanting to have crabs since we moved here.  I remember having them with friends when I had lived here before and really wanted to experience again - this time with my family.

So this weekend we made the trek up to Cantler's for crabs.  

Of course - since it shouldn't just be about the food, we checked out the fall colors and the Chesapeake Bay as well.  First we went to drove out to Sandy Point State Park.  The drive was beautiful and the park was very quiet and peaceful.  When we got out of the car, we realized one of the reasons it was so quiet and peaceful - it was cold and windy!  But beautiful.

O. found a great "caveman stick".

And we saw some deer.














Then it was time to head to Cantler's.  It's down a windy residential road and sits right on the water.  The Chesapeake Bay has so many fingers of water throughout the region here.  It seems like everyone can get waterfront property and it's just so beautiful - especially with the leaves changing.






O. and I shared some crabs.  He had lots of fun using his mallet to crack open the legs.  K. was kind enough to clean the bodies for me to then pick out the meat.  Unfortunately, N. was feeling righteously vegetarian that day and was concerned about flying bits of crab from all the mallet action.

After lunch we walked down to the water where they bring the crabs in and sort them.  You can see why they call them Blue Crabs.

They were yummy and it was a good time.  Some time I'd like to do a side-by-side tasting of Dungeness Crabs and Blue Crabs.  We had Dungeness Crabs growing up and they are so tasty - and because they're bigger, there's more meat and less picking the small bits.

Of course I'll have to try the Stone Crabs in Miami sometime.

East Coast Beaches and the Atlantic Ocean

I grew up on the ocean.  The smell of the salt water, the feel of the ocean breeze, the fog rolling in, the sound of the crashing waves and the barking of the seals - this is what I grew up with.  This is the view from my bedroom window at my parent's house.

Sunset over Catalina Island.

I love the ocean and really miss it when I don't get to see it regularly.  When we lived in Berkeley, we were close enough to smell the salt air and feel the fog and get to see the Bay.  And we could always hop in the car and easily drive out to Fort Funston or Baker Beach or Ocean Beach or Muir Beach if we needed a closer fix.

But living near DC, the ocean is pretty far away.  Of course, there's the Potomac River which leads to the Chesapeake Bay which eventually leads to the Atlantic Ocean - but it's still pretty far away (which is probably why we didn't feel much from Hurricane Irene).

When the kids were at Camp Grandma and Bompa, K. and I decided to check out the oceans on the east coast.  We got up early one Saturday and drove northeast past Annapolis to take the Bay Bridge (not the Oakland Bay Bridge). By the way - the road we were traveling on is Highway 50 - the same Highway 50 that we drive on in California from Sacramento east.

Once we had crossed the Chesapeake Bay, we headed to the coast, passing farmland and some farm stands (great peaches!) and eventually reaching Rehoboth Beach.  This part of the East Coast is called the DelMarVa Peninsula.  It's a peninsula that has parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia - hence the name.  We checked out many of the beaches and beach towns along the way - from Rehoboth to Ocean City.  We found them all fairly similar, differing mainly by whether they were more family oriented or more singles oriented. All the beaches were filled with lots of people and lots of umbrellas.  There were boardwalks with lots of fried foods and frozen treats.  It felt very crowded and with not many people swimming.

Rehoboth Beach

Ocean City was notable for the number of large hotels - it resembled the Las Vegas Strip (but without casinos).  There were also more miniature golf places than I've ever seen - and more than there were McDonalds!  And lots of places offering crab.

The best part of Ocean City (for me), was to get to see the counterpart of the sign I'd grown up with.

This is what I see when I drive to my sister's house.

And this is what I got to see in Ocean City.

From Ocean City we drove south into Virginia.  The towns on the Virginia peninsula are just wonderful - small, quiet, beautiful.  The beaches are quite lovely - quiet and secluded - much more our cup of tea.  We definitely want to go back for a relaxing weekend.  At one point we even got to see Chincoteague - a town I'd read about as a child in Marguerite Henry's book - Misty of Chincoteague.

Eventually we came to the tip of the peninsula and went on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  It's an amazing span and tunnel - although a little scary with the tunnels.

The bridge ends up in Norfolk, Virginia - very near Virginia Beach.  We had dinner there (soft shell crabs!) and headed home.  Virginia Beach seemed like a place we'd like to return to and bring the kids.  It didn't seem to have quite the hubbub of Ocean City, and also was closer to where we're living now so we could possibly make a day trip out of it.

Which is what we finally did this Labor Day weekend.  On Saturday we got up early and headed to Virginia Beach.  It was so nice to smell the salt air when we got there!  We rented a 4-seater bicycle carriage and checked out the boardwalk.

N. loved checking out the boardwalk!

We got to go on a few rides and then we headed to the beach.  It was absolutely wonderful to go swimming in the ocean again.  It had been far too long!  And, much to my surprise, people are right - the Atlantic is warmer than the Pacific.  The kids were full of such joy as they played in the ocean.  It made me so happy to see them enjoy the ocean and its power so much. We played in the waves for a long time, and then rinsed off and headed home.   A great day at the beach!

Come On Irene

This past week has been quite interesting.  First we had an earthquake on Tuesday.  And then on Thursday, it seemed as though Hurricane Irene would be heading our way as well.

Now, coming from California, the earthquake was familiar and not especially exciting.  But a hurricane - this is something we've only every got to see on TV and in news reports.  And unlike an earthquake - you can prepare for it.

On Friday, we got a lot of information on how to prepare.  My employer sent emails with lots of information on how to prepare; our housing company sent information on how to prepare; and of course we got lots of advice on how to prepare from our friends here who have lived through hurricanes before.  And in Portuguese language training, we got to learn a new word: furacão.  (And of course it didn't stop our field trip to the churrascaria!)


That night we had some good friends from Berkeley come over.  We grilled pizzas on the BBQ's outside and enjoyed that last bit of good weather before the storm.  It was great to catch up and have a visit from home!

A lovely rainbow over Oakwood on Friday night!

Saturday was supposed to be hurricane day.  Since we would be home-bound, we planned a day of watching movies, playing games.  K. made a big pot of yummy chili and we settled in for the storm.

We waited . . . and waited . . . and waited.  I kept looking at the window to make sure I wasn't missing the hurricane.  Every time there was a bit of wind - O. said "Mommy - I think that's the hurricane."  It rained on and off - but never as hard and thick as it's been this summer during the thunderstorms.  And while the wind gusted and blew the trees around, it never felt particularly strong - we would go out on the balcony and watch and hold our hands out to feel the raindrops.


That night after we went to bed, the wind picked up a bit.  I could hear it really blowing the trees and at some point I heard a big crack.  The next morning, the crew was up early (7 AM!!!) with a chain saw cutting up the big branch that had come off a tree from the parking lot.


We were pretty lucky where we were.  Most of damage from Hurricane Irene was on the coast.  In our area of Virginia, there were just some downed trees.


On Sunday we hiked on Theodore Roosevelt Island and checked out the damage from the hurricane.  It was beautiful after the storm, but there were a number of downed trees on the island.  But we still had fun exploring!

Here's what N. wrote about our hike:

I stepped out of the car into the wet and moist air with my long striped pants.  My hot pink shirt is covered up by my Disneyland rain jacket.  I walked to the bridge on a sandy path right next to the water.  When I got to the gray concrete bridge, I looked down and saw the green water.  There were little ripples in the water that seemed to be going right.  I slowly walked across the bridge and toward the little island.

Food in the DC Area - Part 1 of probably many

Those of you who know me are probably surprised I haven't written about the food here yet.  After all - I'm a super foodie.

On vacations growing up, museums were just places you went to between the significant restaurant stops.  And family get-togethers were always about who was cooking what and where it came from and what the story was behind it.  The best Christmas present my grandparents ever gave was the handwritten copy of my grandmother's favorite recipes.  We all have our own copies of "Nana's Cookbook" and when she died, I was fortunate to get her copy that had many annotations and additions.

And of course I ended up working in restaurants, starting a catering company, going to cooking school and eventually opening my own restaurant.

But eventually that all ended and now I'm in DC with my fabulous new job with the State Department.  Of course the big attraction of a job in the Foreign Service is that I get to taste food from all over the world!

So here we are in our first posting - training at FSI with us living in Northern Virginia.  I'd been very excited to check out the food scene in DC.  It's not really fair to draw comparisons between the restaurants of the DC area and those of the San Francisco Bay Area.  After all - DC is a town that's all about politics and power - that's the whole point and everything ultimately serves that.  San Francisco is a town that's about food.  When your chef's are celebrities and recognized wherever they go; when your newspaper's food section is larger than the entertainment section - and has a food scene gossip column - then you know you're in a food-centric town.

The DC area has some great places though - and does some things significantly better than SF - for example pizza.  I've had some really good pizza in Berkeley.  And everyone knows that the Cheeseboard pizza is a category unto itself.  Here there are a lot of really great pizza places.  We love Pizzeria Orso in Falls Church but our absolute favorite is Pupatella.  They've got the wood-fire oven from Naples and use San Marzano tomatoes.  Just wonderful!

They even have a wonderful Insalata Caprese for my daughter! Fresh Mozzarella - Yum!

Folklife Festival

Each year the Smithsonian holds the Folklife Festival in DC.  It's "an international exposition of living cultural heritage" held on the National Mall.  In one of the areas this year they were celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps.  We got to go and check it out with our good friend from California.

 There were some great exhibits from many of the places Peace Corps Volunteers serve.

 This is an exhibit about making Shea Butter by the women of Mali.  A Peace Corps volunteer met these women in Mali and ended up creating a non-profit organization that works with these women to help them sell their product.  You can learn more about her organization here.

 And then there were the weaving demonstrations from all over the world.  They really appealed to my yarn / craft side.

Making mud cloths.

It was a great day!