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?

Learning Arabic

Dear Readers,

After 6 weeks of Arabic instruction for 6 hours a day, I can safely say this is a SUPER-HARD language to learn. Today, it was posted, to all of the new groups, that starting tomorrow our schedule is changing and we will now have 7 hours of Arabic per day. I can feel the pain already!

It has never been made more clear to me than now, how "physical" learning really is. By the end of the day, I am at the limit of my "cognitive load." It literally starts to hurt my brain to try to continue working with my vocabulary flash cards, listening comprehension or verb conjugations. I have to either go exercise, take a power nap, or BOTH!

At the same time, this is a thrilling endeavor. I am in a class of 5 students and one teacher. My teacher is a very patient gentleman from Sudan. He is generous with his knowledge and kind in his instruction. He charitably sits with the five of us as we butcher his native language in our attempts to express the most basic ideas. He shares information about the Arabic-speaking world with us, prods us along our learning paths, laughs with us at our silly sayings we come up with, and even goes out to lunch with us to Yemeni restaurants and converses with us in our pidgin-Arabic. It is a blessing to have such experiences.

I am learning an incredible amount about a culture that is very different from my own. At the same time, I am learning that I am just scratching the surface. At times, it seems to be radically different. For example, the music is very different. Here is my non-musically trained attempt to explain this: The instruments are all played in unison, BUT they are all slightly tuned differently - this produces a wave effect in the sound, which creates a slightly off-key sound to the western-trained ear. We are used to all of our instruments being in tune with each other and then playing harmony and melody. After our class on the folk music of the Arab world, I have a whole new appreciation for their music and dance. It just takes a little retraining of the ear to hear the beauty and passion in eastern music. It is important to note that the guitar, mandolin, bagpipes, clarinet, and oboe all have roots in the Middle and Near East regions.

Well, enough musings for now. Back to my "wajib al bayt" - homework.

The Beginning

Dear Readers,

Here is the beginning of the blog I promised to all of the students of PJXXIII community - okay, and to the grown-ups, too. It was hard to say goodbye, but I told everybody I would post pictures from my adventures onto a blog - hence the name of the post.

I will spend some time in DC getting language training before we head to Jerusalem. I have been to both DC and Jerusalem before, but now I will have the time to explore and give voice to my musings. I have to let you know that these two cities hold very special places in my heart and soul.

It is difficult for me to visit DC and not be in awe of the magnificent history and culture of my country. It is a wonderful experience to get back in touch with the principles of our founding fathers and the sacrifices that have been made throughout our history to preserve those principles.

Though it has been over 20 years since I have been to Jerusalem, I can still remember the awe of being in the Holyland - the birthplace of my monotheistic religion. Jerusalem is beautiful! Once one has seen this shimmering city spread over the hills, so much of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures comes to life.

So, welcome to my blog! I hope it is a fun and educational journey for all of us.