Let it tow, let it tow, let it tow...

Ah, our first Christmas on a tugboat. In a fit of Christmas spirit, we decorated the boat for DC's annual Parade of Lights... Yes, drunken boaters decorate their boats and then swoosh around the Potomac in a giddily tipsy manner. There were some moments of poetry: a huge schooner with a blue electric wave cresting over the mast, a small little trawler with a big red nose like Rudolph's, and, of course, the simple but elegant Wendy B. She is a pretty boat.

We received a prize just for showing up, I think, considering the generator failed as we approached the judge's booth. We all lit sparklers on the back deck and sang the new "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" with the refrain "Let it tow..." We'll have to work out the entire song for next year!

Why I returned...

Family home floats
On a sea of rice paddies
Far away, away...

Even the manhole covers are pretty!

Old friends

Tetsuya and his daughter Chihiro, whom I last saw when she was 9 years old... Argh! I am getting old. Regardless of age, though, we downed about 15 plates of sushi before heading off to the airport so I could fly back to Tokyo, back to Washington DC...

Daisen from Kugo-cho

The most lovely Mount Daisen ("Big Mountain"), as seen from the Kano's backyard in Kugo-cho. I could see Daisen from the balcony of my apartment in Sakaiminato, but without the stretch of rice fields and the singing cicadas. (And the telephone pole -- ah well!)

Touristing in Tottori

Images from my trip to Japan... the Shimane peninsula, as seen from Kaike. I used to live near the TV tower that's faintly illuminated against the mountains.

Turning Japanese, I think I`m turning Japanese, I really think so...

Well, I`m in Japan and working on a Japanese blogspot.com website, so I`m typing and trying to remember which icons go with what action as most of the icons are in Japanese! My language retention is pretty bad (it has been 11 years), but my Japanese was also never very good to begin with! It`s coming back fast-ish.

What a trip! A head-trip that is... We all look the same, but a little older, a little wiser, but still essentially the same. Sakaiminato has changed somewhat in the port area and Yonago is creeping outwards. But what a lovely place...

Breakfast awaits. Photos coming. Gambatte ne!

What's going on?

I haven't written since May -- it's been a whirlwind. Here's what we've done:

• Taken the boat to Weems, VA, to have her "bottom" sandblasted and painted anew (I've pasted in a photo of Wendy B pre-sandblast);
• Attended a sub-grants training in Istanbul during the World Cup (Zidane, what were you thinking?);
• Had a restful week in New England at the beginning of July, in which I watched hours of "Project Runway" and decompressed in a rather ugly, couch potato way while my husband read books and broadened his mind;
• Worked on proposals, proposals, and more proposals...;
• Moved out of my apartment and onto the Wendy B full-time.

Where does that leave the summer? Almost over! Sigh.

Wendy B trails the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle

Wendy B pulls into the Potomac

Julee and Laurence

Bride, groom, and large knife makes for cutting evening

More photos are coming in from family -- Hoang sent the latest batch, which includes this lovely photo of what we hope is not foreshadowing.

Uncle Bruce added some ministerial flavor to the evening by announcing to everyone in my family beforehand that he had noted that 80% of the "cake smashers" (brides and grooms who smash the cake into their new spouses' face instead of feeding it to them lovingly) ended up in divorce. Luckily, unbeknownst to us, we passed the test by gingerly taking up little pieces and having a nibble.

Laurence actually made us wait until we had a plate. I wonder how we can interpret that?

More photos coming!

Blushing bride bites nails on hillside

What ever am I reacting to? Hmm...

Program Manager gets hitched to suave State Department foreign service guy

Doesn't she look happy? Not surprising... Julee on April 29, grinning from ear to ear.

How many faux Hawaiian leis can one woman wear?

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Apparently, a lot! Here's a lovely photo of me getting decked out for the wedding shower luau, courtesy of Tom. My Ethiopian wedding shawl became entangled in my silk leis. And my grass skirt. I looked fetching.

Julee's shower amongst showers in Hawai'i

Pre-luau in front of the Ala Moana Hotel -- little did I know that grass skirts and silk leis were in my honor! Swishy!

Not DC! Three weeks to go!

We have all these great photos of Hawai'i, but they're still trapped on Laurence's computer, so here's another one of Kabul. Bomb damage. Realidad.

In three weeks from right now -- this very moment -- I will be married. Well, we might be collapsed in a heap of snoring at this moment in time, too, but we will be married. I'm reacting to this right now by doing spring cleaning closet purges, overeating almonds, and watching bad movies. (Or movies I've seen at least four times already because I lived in Bangladesh and had limited access to films I really wanted to see.) Tomorrow is Sunday and perhaps I'll be productive -- I had planned to go and work on the boat to surprise Laurence, but it poured today and dropped about 20', so no work. Perhaps tomorrow... Or perhaps more movies!

Spring has almost sprung. The cherry blossoms have been stripped by stong winds and storms; the leaves on the trees across the street have popped out completely, hiding the attic windows. If only we didn't have so much traffic on the street; it would be so lovely! We can hear the gibbons at the zoo in the morning and the sounds of wildness, mixed with mad mariachi from the predominantly Latino complex next door, makes for a wondrous noise.

Must go and pour through Martha Stewart's finally updated wedding site for inspiration, tinged with a wee bit of depression. These wedding magazines and websites make me blue. Perhaps there's a website out there for fat brides? Fat, cheap brides? (Or, to be PC, I could say "economical brides of size". Still the same thing!)

Three weeks!

Hangin' in Hawai'i

There's something about alliteration that really, really satisifies. Yum. I'm also feeling flu-y (more!), so perhaps there's a touch of the delusional about me right now.

I am at the University of Hawai'i right now, packing up so I can move from the dorm where we've been on retreat for three days to our hotel on Waikiki. Today I officially go on leave for five whole days. And I feel sick: stuffed nose, thick head, swollen eyes, etc. Sigh. What madness. Laurence flies in this afternoon, so he's going to get a "lei" greeting by his very own gal around town, moi. I've decided a mild amount of public embarrassment is a necessary rite of passage here.

Speaking of public embarrassment, we had decided that we needed to do some sort of big team bonding/event during our retreat, so we had planned to go on a luau last Sunday. It poured -- it's been raining here for weeks now and we have had terrible, anti-Hawai'i holiday weather -- and we postponed until Tuesday. Tuesday arrives, clouds heavy in the sky, etc., etc., and we all headed down to the pick-up point at the Ala Manoa Hotel. I noticed that my colleagues seem to have a lot of extra things with them, most notably Jodie with a rather large box. As we stood on the street corner, Jodie began to pull out grass skirts for people to put on...

More anon. Breakfast and other stuff. xx

Quaking in Kabul

I forgot one thing: we had an earthquake Tuesday night! It rumbled, my tummy jumped around a little and I ran outside to check with the guard. All was well. I went back into the house -- everyone else was at dinner -- and scoped out the place for a safe place to stand in case there was another rumble. Although the house was only one story tall, I fear that concrete ceilings pretty much guarantee pancake people post-quake.

My colleague Maureen, who was staying at a local hotel, called the front desk to ask what the commotion was. They told her it was a bomb -- perhaps to ensure she would never forget her first trip to Kabul?

Boom!

An office with a view... My last gorgeous day in Kabul.

Afghan adventures

I am now sitting in my little apartment in Adams Morgan, listening to the spring birds chirping merrily away. Two days ago I was listening to the spring birds chirping as well, but from the country director's lovely little compound in Kabul, Afghanistan. The birds chirp merrily there, too.

What a week! It was the first country visit I've made with a team before, so the entire show didn't depend on me, but rather our Vice President for Finance and Administration. This made the trip infinitely less stressful than other experiences, which gave me an opportunity to really open my eyes and take a look around. A look around from a convoy, admittedly, but a look nonetheless. They take security very seriously in Kabul!

If you're an expat in Afghanistan, you're kind of limited as to what you can do. It also depends on your organization: USG employees do not move from the American compound and live in what other expats liken to "pod living". My dear friend Amanda also says it's "shag fest", since there's nothing else to really do. (Sounds like our experience with rice mill workers in Bangladesh -- there's nothing to do but work and have sex, so the incidence of STDs in the rice areas is quite high, with local NGOs focusing on STD prevention!) For those lucky enough to be based in the town, there's eating out and eating out. We went out multiple times: French, German, Korean, Italian, and Pakistani were our cuisines of choice. And of course Afghan -- we went to a buffet at the InterContinental on Tuesday evening with our senior staff. Yummy, with a huge focus on meat. "Meat!" grinned my colleague Hashmet as the barbecue man came towards us with a massive skewer. "I love meat!"

When we did go out, it was by convoy. Admittedly, a convoy of two cars, both unarmed, but a convoy nonetheless. I think had they been armed I would have refused to go anywhere as the possibility of something going very wrong would have increased exponentially. We had a few little mishaps with cars being separated momentarily, but all went well. No western women were kidnapped during the week I was there, and that's been the standing threat since Clementina Cantoni from CARE International was kidnapped (and released unharmed!) in May 2005. And let that record continue, please.

I must take a nap. More anon.

Bombed-out remains of the King's Palace in Kabul.

Lovely children in our Child-to-Child (CtC) programs in Kabul. In their hands are books from the CtC mobile library, ready to share at home with their families.

Development creeping up the mountainsides in Kabul.

Julee in Kabul on Tuesday, March 7, en route to Chicken Street.

The blurry couple in this picture are getting married!

Scott Farm, the site of the April wedding. There might be snow then, too!

Asia Earthquake Appeal from Peter Gabriel