Smells and humanity

Have you ever noticed how powerful smells can be in triggering memories and emotions?

Springtime in DC and the northern Virginia area is an amazing olfactory event. One can go outside and inhale deeply and positively smell LIFE! There is a rich smell of earth, plants, and growth. It is amazing! In Arizona, one only smells these types of odors after a rainstorm; when the humidity in the air seems to hold the delicate scents of the desert plant life. However, here in Virginia the scent of plant life and earth is overwhelmingly heavy in the humidity of spring. It smells like even I, who has killed every single plant I have bought from a nursery in Arizona, can create a verdant garden that will be overflowing in an abundance of flowers and fruit. Although, I think I will refrain from the temptation of purchasing any innocent victims from the local Virginia nursery at the Home Depot. However, there is something truly magical about stepping outside, looking at the Potomac River and inhaling all of these heavy springtime scents of new life, earth, greenery, and flowers; and picturing the centuries of people who have had the same sensations.

I have to contrast this with an earlier olfactory experience today. I went once again to the Holocaust Memorial Museum today. It is such a horrible, yet necessary, reminder of the capacity for inhumanity that is within humanity. But the most horrible part of the museum for me is the room of shoes. The smell emanating from the shoes is ever more devastating for me each time I visit the museum. I don't know if I can go back there anymore. Each time I go into that part of the exhibit I am struck by the humanity of the shoes, but this time the smell of the leather was so much more pungent. I don't know how to describe the smell. Today it was like nothing that I have ever smelled before. I have to ask myself was it a smell of anguish? of evil? of despair? or just a smell of rot? Human rot? Then, it brings the question...Can we only ever see this evil rot after the fact?

What is the right answer for us to be truly the best of humanity? Do we focus on the wonderful smells of the verdant earth in springtime, ergo the beauty of of what we can be? Or do we boldly look at the rot that can infect humanity and fight against it? What is truly the best way to create good in our time and in our world?

Preparing for Baghdad

Well, my first assignment as a foreign service officer will be to Baghdad. I am going through the checklists, studying Arabic, submitting papers, and trying to prepare for anything that may happen. I repeatedly get asked if I am afraid, or how do I feel, or what do I think it will be like. So here are some answers:

I am no more afraid than I would be going going anywhere half-way around the world, and leaving my young adult kids here in the US. I do not fear for myself or my safety. Going pretty much anywhere now-a-days is potentially dangerous, but sending my young adults out into the world is terrifying. I keep thinking of every scary scenario that can possibly go through parental OCD-like thoughts. However, I have tried to build up safety nets with friends and family to help provide a support network; and with the benefit of technology today, we can be in contact everyday. I cannot even fathom what our forebears went through watching their children take off in wagons into the unknown territories with no communications for months or years at a time!

I think my work will be incredibly challenging, rewarding, at times tedious, at others entertaining, but never boring! That has been my experience so far in consular work. I have already met with some of my future colleagues, and I think we are going to make a great team. Travel will be very restricted for me, so I will probably not get to go out and see the country. However, I will have an apartment - a big step up from the trailers - and a great gym.

Plus, I am going with my best friend, my husband. Now, if I could just figure out how to stop worrying about the kids...

Arabic training - Round II

Well, I must say that the second go at Arabic training proves all of those pedagogical classes that I took in college during my teacher training, and for my first masters, in educational leadership. The second time around studying a topic really does yield new learning, and even more synaptic connections. After having 9-10 months of Arabic study before, I am back for a refresher course with the same material being presented, almost two years later and by different teachers, and I am seeing new things and making new learning connections.

It is very interesting to experience and observe this first-hand. It is not necessarily because I have different teachers, although they are very good, and I have been blessed with good teachers throughout. However, this time around, it is as if my brain quickly recognizes the information being presented and then goes on to form new elaborations around the already known information. It is much like how I picture learning to play an instrument is. My brain has the "scales" and now it is forming new melodies. I LOVE how brains work!

My second observation is not quite so lofty. Learning a "Super-Hard" language, like Arabic, as a second language, is similar to labor-and-delivery of a child. The pain and trauma and exhaustion is quickly forgotten when it is over; but it all comes back in full, technicolor as soon as you start into it again during that second labor.

I had forgotten the sensations of the 7-hour Arabic-learning day:

~the period of mental slowness on Monday mornings, as the brain struggles to switch over to the new language (thankfully, it doesn't last as long on the other mornings of the class week);

~followed by the increasing mental-processing speed and comprehension that occurs with the repetition through the day;

~then the bogging down and feeling of mental fullness in the last two hours of the classwork, as if one more sentence will overflow the capacity;

~to that final feeling at the end of the class day, while walking out to the shuttle, that there are actual physical changes, or shiftings, occurring in the brain - sometimes it is even painful.

All I can do at that point is put the iPod earbuds in, put on a vocabulary drill and fall asleep in the shuttle on the way back to the apartment, in a sad hope that my vocab/grammar-laden brain might soak up a few more words in the day. Thank goodness, I do not have to drive back myself!

It is a fascinating experience as a former educator! I learned, after the first-time around, to know and to embrace the rhythms of my individual-style of language learning at this point in my life. I now recognize the feeling of cognitive overload, and instead of trying to fight through it, I take breaks. It actually is more efficient that way. Instead of wasting the time fighting the process, I embrace it and plan for it, so that I can more effectively use the time. When I am tired and feel the need for a nap or early bedtime, I go to sleep. Or sometimes, it is much better to get up and go exercise, or do the laundry, than to ineffectively sit and stare at Arabic words. I can return to the Arabic wajib, homework, later. Then I have the laundry done AND feel like I can tackle the Arabic again.

Hatha mumtaz!

Translation= This is wonderful!

It reaffirms all that I have ever learned as an educator.

My new life as a FSO!

Well, I haven't written anything lately, but suffice it to say for now that 2010 was a year filled with interesting, and some painful, changes.

The biggest change in my life has been that as of September 13th, 2010, I am a bona-fide US Department of State foreign service officer, known as a FSO. Secretary Hillary Clinton is my boss, well, technically President Obama is my big boss. I am in the "consular track," which means that I will generally work in consular positions overseas, but I am also expected to work in the other areas during my career in order to best meet the needs of the service and my country. I actually have taken an oath to serve my country and the Constitution, and the Senate confirmed my appointment in November.

What do I do as a consular FSO? Well, the Consular Commission states, "Reposing special trust and confidence in your Integrity, Prudence, and Ability, I have nominated and by and with the consent of the Senate, do appoint you a Consular Officer..." signed President of the United States of America. I serve and assist the American citizen overseas. I will assist with cradle to grave issues for Americans abroad. Bill is an FSO also, but he is in the "political track." That means he is a political reporting officer. He is serving the interests of American citizens abroad, too, but in the policy level.

Together we are called "a Tandem Couple," meaning we are both FSOs that will be posted to the same place for our work assignments. Unfortunately, at times we have to be separated for training, like right now. I am currently in training here in Arlington, VA, while Bill is in Jerusalem finishing his tour-of-duty there. After this period of separation, we will be assigned in Baghdad together.

For this separation, Bill and I each took one of our two kids. Patti remained in Jerusalem to finish her IB program. I brought Kathy with me to Arlington. I joke with people that we decided to be fair this time and share the girls. Then I tell them that we are running away to Baghdad for our second honeymoon and abandoning the kids here in the U.S. I don't think the girls think it is very funny though...

Jerusalem driving

Well, I haven't written in ages because in fact living in Jerusalem has rendered me wordless when it comes to describing this experience. I feel completely overwhelmed by all of the sensations and observations.

There is the whole experience of driving and dealing with traffic here and all of the things I have learned through observations. All of these observations come from watching real Israeli drivers everyday on my way back and forth to school and work. I have learned all sorts of things about driving that I never knew before. For example, it is okay to go the wrong way on a one-way street, as long as you do it in reverse. Evidently, the car just needs to be pointed in the one-way direction. This is very problematic for pedestrians. They have to always look both ways when crossing one-way streets because one never knows when the speeding car going the wrong way in reverse will be coming by.

I have also learned that traffic laws only apply when you don't have any perceived special needs. For example, if a driver needs to just run into a store really quick to pick something up, that driver can just stop the car in the moving lane of traffic and go run into the store to get the needed item; creating a traffic jam that extends back for a mile.

I have also learned that traffic markings on the roads are really just suggestions. The arrows and lane markings frequently change within a few feet of the previous marking; therefore, if a driver chooses to ignore the markings altogether it is not really an issue. For example, a lane that had an arrow pointing straight ahead 10 feet back now has become the left-turn lane as indicated by a left-turn arrow in the road; therefore the driver in the lane next to it that is a straight-arrow lane is free to also make a left turn. This is really only a problem when the driver in the suddenly-changed left-turn lane wants to go straight, which of course that driver can do if he/she wants to, because all of these arrows are obviously just suggestions.

The interesting thing is that the Israelis are very proud of their driver education program. Israelis must clock a ridiculously long amount of time - around 100 hours - with a driving school before they can get their licenses. The student drivers are everywhere and they are annoyingly slow wherever they go AND they obey all of the traffic laws. However, once the drivers are licensed, they obviously forget everything they were taught. Perhaps there is some brain-destroying device in the photo machine that takes their pictures! That does not bode well for me! I'll be getting my new Israeli driver's license any day now. Of course, I didn't have to go through the instructional time because I have a current valid US license, but I did have to get my photo taken...

Jerusalem Cats

Well, after about 5 weeks in Jerusalem I have so many observations that I felt I should start writing before I forget too many of them. So here goes...

We arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport on the afternoon of Thursday, August 20th. We were met by our sponsors and and whisked through checkpoints, baggage claim and customs and into a van and off to Jerusalem - the shining city on a hill.

Okay, so "Modern Jerusalem" is actually spread over many hills. Perhaps too many hills, I think after having to hike up and down them, sometimes multiple times in a day, over the past weeks. However, by hiking the hills of Jerusalem, I have seen into many aspects of neighborhood life in West Jerusalem that I would miss if I were speeding by in a car. I guess I should explain that as a member of the US consulate community I am forbidden to use public transportation due to security concerns. I don't know for sure which is more concerning to the security personnel here, the possible terrorists or the high speeds and centrifugal forces, as the buses literally careen around the street corners.

Now, back to my neighborhood observations. On our first exploratory walk through the streets of our new neighborhood, we noticed that there were feral cats everywhere AND there were dishes of food scraps left out for them. We passed one lucky cat dining on some raw chicken meat. Then we passed a lady who was walking her two little dogs, but she had a can of food that she left on the top of a wall for the feral cats. Then one morning as I was walking our dog through the little park near our apartment, we looked across the park to see a man sitting on a bench and surrounded by at least 50 to 75 cats. He was feeding them some breakfast! And all of them seemed to be getting along well.

Jerusalemites seem to love caring for their feral cats. There are literally little dishes of food tucked away everywhere along the streets - usually in the little trash dumpster nooks along the sidewalks or on the top of the walls around their gardens. Cats seem to be welcomed and encouraged. Perhaps it is a way of coping with the ever-potential vermin problem of a large, crowded urban population. I know I prefer cats in my living areas, rather than rats and mice. The cats seem very comfortable, too. I never see any that look like they are starving, even the crippled ones seem to be getting food from somewhere.

The cats are everywhere, so it will be interesting to see what happens during Sukkoth. This is the Jewish holiday that lasts a week where the people build booths, or tent structures, in front of their houses on the street, or in their gardens, and move into them. I wonder how the cats will react to this "invasion" of their spaces. Will they get more scraps?

You can scroll down to the bottom of the page to see some pictures of the various cats, but disregard the photo dates - I haven't figured out how to reset my camera dates.

Weathering Adventures in DC

After my first winter in DC, it is finally starting to feel like spring.  I didn't get my much anticipated white Christmas; in fact, it hardly snowed here at all.  We had a couple big snowstorms, but not big enough to cause the Federal Government to close down for a day.  I never got one of those coveted snow days, as a break from our Arabic studies.  We mostly had cold rain throughout the winter and the beginning of spring.  It takes a lot of rainfall to support all of these huge trees here! 

We did go skiing up in PA a couple of times.  Luckily, they have snow-making capabilities back here.  It was like going to some of the smaller ski areas out west.  The weekends that we went tended to be towards the warmer side, due to our availability.  The conditions were reminiscent of skiing in the spring out west, which for a couple of Zonies, is what we are used to.  I like my slushie and warm conditions!  

The very brief Cherry Blossom season was spectacular!  We did go down to the Basin one weekend to meet a friend from Arizona and see the blossoms.  It was breathtaking for a couple of reasons.  First, the crowds were GINORMOUS!!!!!  I started to have claustrophobic flashbacks to the Obama Inauguration (just kidding).  Second, the blossoms were amazing!!! While we were walking through the trees - tiptoeing around the picnickers - I felt like I had passed into some sort of suspended reality or a fantasy world.  The contrast between the deep-green grass and the over-arching tree branches covered in pink blossoms was like a Hollywood set, as if I had just walked onto some Lord of the Rings scene.  Where were the Hobbits!? 

But, the weather is changing!  Now, the heat is finally coming, but unfortunately it is bringing the humidity, too.  It is wonderful to see the blue skies over the huge green trees and the feel the sunshine.  Swimming pools are opening.  It is hinting at the heat and humidity that is coming for the summer, which always leads me to ask, "Why did our founding fathers feel the need to put their nation's capital in a swamp?