Tidal Basin at twilight

Weary Laurence with nice laugh lines

2 1/2 weeks and I'm a 0+!

Or maybe I'm not...

2 1/2 weeks of French are now nicely tucked under my belt, which is getting a little tighter given my propensity to crave rich and delectable foods -- or any junk -- when I'm a wee bit stressed out. There seems to be a method to the madness, but then there's also just some utter and complete madness. Alliance Francais, what were (and are) you thinking????

There is nothing much to report. I study. I chat in French with Laurence, simple things like, "How are you?" or "What's the weather?" The conversation then abruptly stops as I have nothing else to really follow up with, but it's coming along!

Onwards! Bonne chance a moi!

J'etude francais!

Blame David Bowie

'cause I'm talkin' about life ch, ch, ch, changes...

Three weeks have passed since I left my job. A week and a half have passed since I began full-time language training at the Foreign Service Institute. Mon pauvre brain is tired and full, but I am delighted to be on a different schedule, delighted to be preparing for our move to Haiti this summer, and delighted to be in school again. In fact, my glowing face in the photo below is testament to this giddiness about my current life.

Yes, we're moving to Haiti this August. We'll be there for 3 years, during which time I'll hopefully be working as a fonctionnairre d'coordination (that's a development worker) for another INGO -- perhaps my old one, perhaps another. We shall see. The one prerequisite is fluency in French, which I am working on very diligently!

Onward!

Happiness is lunch in the sun

A tugboat, the cherry trees... Ah, spring!

We took Wendy B out for her first outing of the season -- gorgeous. Look at the cherry trees behind us: lovely views, good beer, convivial conversation, good times!

It was a packed weekend: dancing to Haitian music at Zanzibar on Saturday, power washing the boat, mellow and happy hostessing on the back deck... Ah, gracious living at its best.

Ah, spring!

A sunny day in West Visayas

An elementary school, a very tall man from Mozambique, a sunny day in West Visayas. Memorable for all.

After shooting the photo, I collapsed in a chair, patting my ever expanding waistline after consuming too much mango, mango sticky rice, pork, chicken, jackfruit, coconut juice... I was trying to be a good guest! Danger, danger.

My hope for when we move to Haiti (news, o Blog!) is that we have mango, jackfruit, and avocado trees in our little tiny yard. Or at least a nice fruitstand down the street. At the rate I'm going, we'll have to buy me two economy class tickets side by side so I can spread my girth out amongst the people. How can one resist when there's so much delightful tropical fruit?

Mangoes. Sigh.

Friday in San Francisco

Along the Colorado River

Ice on the Potomac

Life as haiku

Chinatown bus flies

dizzily through concrete skies.

Here we are: Near home?

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.