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Events >> Events Diary In reverse chronological order from September 1998 - January 2004:
JULY 2002 (IVF,
JUNE 2002 (Class work, and here we go again...)
MAY 2002 (Ulaan Baatar,
APRIL 2002 (Lupron, Follistim, HCG, PIO, ..... ) If someone you know and love and/or work with is going through the process of invitro fertilization (IVF) - it means they have likely exhausted all other possibilities for starting a family. Please give them room and space and your support as we can confidently tell you that there are few experiences in any lifetime as painful (physically, socially, hormonally, and especially emotionally) as IVF. We spent all of April (and part of March and May) traveling two hours (each way) to the Abington Reproductive Medicine Group in Abington, Pennsylvania... where reproductive endocrinologists, Steven Somkuti and Larry Barmat, embryologist Scott Smith, and a host of exceptional lab technicians and IVF nurses (Aimee Weston was our rock!) took exquisite care of us. Instead of detailing these procedures and medicines and processes here - feel very free to contact me on email for more information: rqp@r-n-r.com Although we spent most of April in the IVF track, we still had occasional moments away from it all... we spent a badly needed weekend away - in Washington DC with Bob and Janet Granger in early April. That trip included a visit to the National Gallery to see an exhibit on Francisco Goya (a well-known Spanish painter). We were lucky to
be at home the evening Rachel's parents hosted a dinner for dear family
friends: George and Adair Monta, Steve and Marianne Bartlett, and
Betsy Ruff. It was a delight to catch up with them and their
activities and families, too! MARCH 2002 (on the road again...) March was a busy
month and a month of transitions for us. We were so sad to leave
our dear friends in March
was full of doctors' and dentists' (root canal for Rachel), weight
watchers, and trips to the Baltimore/Washington area to get the vehicle
(a Honda CRV that has been in storage since we lived in One
high point of the month was a day trip to New York City for Rachel,
Mom and Dad... to the Museum of American Folk Art (lots of great pieces
from Penna Dutch country), The Metropolitan
Museum of Art (Tapestries, Surrealism, and Father and Daughter
- Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi), and a fantastic dinner at ZUNI
Restaurant (43rd x 9th) FEBRUARY 2002 (Viajes por Espaņa) February was an unusually cold one here in Salamanca and since Spain is on double day-light savings time the sun doesn't rise until 8:30am but even in January and February it's light out until 8pm! Roger and Rachel are hard at work in Spanish classes at the Mester Academy - One of our favorite teachers, Asuncion Garrido - deserves mention (is she still in love with George Clooney - you bet she is!). Rachel continues to sing with the University Chorus and is delighted to be doing so. The first long weekend
in February we had the chance to hop on a bus and travel north to
the marvelous Asturian (young prince Felipe is called the "Principe
de Asturias") capital city,
Oviedo.... one of the most beautiful cities of all of In addition to our
visit to see Esther and Fernando in Oviedo, dear friend Fini (Benitez
Seguin) came for a visit from Caceres where she is now working - and
we had to chance to visit her (and her Mom, Manuela) in Merida.
We did a little tourism with Fini and managed to see the 'real' Virgin of Guadalupe
(tucked in the mountains of Extremadura) and saw some of Francisco
Zurburan's best works in the monastery there. We had the chance
to see Fini's new home in Caceres
and walk around the wonderful medieval
old city in JANUARY 2002 (Bienvenidos al "Euro", adios
Peseta!) The new
year (a "capicua" in spanish) opened in Rachel joined the
DECEMBER 2001 (Goodbye What a month!
Wow! After scrambling like madmen to get the house in some order to
be moved at the drop of a hat, we sat around waiting to hear something
from the From
grey, mosquito-y Just
before the new year, poor, dear Roger had to hop back on a plane for
Dhaka to "finish" his assignment. He'll be back though...
NOVEMBER 2001 (with the honeymooners in November opened with
a plane flight to Then it was off to Angkor Wat to visit the temples. Although the temple compound of Angkor Wat is quite large (more than 400 sq. kilometers) there are a number of highlights that we were able to visit in the three days we were there. Although Angkor Wat is the largest and most famous of the temples. Our favorite was probably Ta Phrom, the large temple compound that has never been restored. Tucked into the deep jungle, Ta Phrom is covered with the extended roots of centuries of trees. Eerie, beautiful and enchanting, a short trek through and over the ruins was a real delight. The latest claim to fame of Ta Phrom is that pieces of the popular movie, "Lara Croft, Tomb Raider" were apparently filmed here. After Lydia and David
left for home, R&R headed back to Dhaka and received news that
their stay in Bangladesh would be cut short as a result of budget
constraints discovered as of late by the IRIS group at the University
of Maryland. Although OCTOBER 2001 October was a retrench month... Rachel continued to substitute teach and her choral practices geared up in earnest in anticipation of choral director, Jane Angell's return from the UK where she was giving birth to her second daughter, Isobel! Roger began to plan his next year's activities based on the results of the general elections in Bangladesh (power changed hands from the Awami League - led by Sheikh Hasina, to the BNP, lead by now, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia). Much of his work would be diverted for some months until the new party in power could get their ministers into their posts. We continued to live under the tension of the misdirected American bombing in Afghanistan... Bengalis tend to be less violent in their Anti-American demonstrations, but hold them nonetheless. Usually on Fridays after morning prayers (when the Imams work them into a froth) we are sent messages from the US Embassy suggesting that it would not be particularly wise to leave the house. Otherwise, things go on pretty much as usual. Biggest news of the
month is that newly-weds Lydia Peterson and David Powicki, on their
around-the-world honeymoon, actually flew to Dhaka to spend a long
weekend with us in late October. We had a lovely time with them
(played lots of cards) and they were the hit around town as most of
our friends exclaimed that they'd been in Dhaka for years and had
never had a visit. Dhaka has a hard time competing! After SEPTEMBER 2001 Back in the saddle
again, Roger has a consultant in from Rachel has applied for a PSC position with the USAID mission - in an effort to do some meaningful fulltime work. Her chances are slim but she is hopeful. Her substitute teaching is certainly meaningful but not a fulltime job. She has stepped in for one of the high school English teachers who was delayed returning for the school year. She has returned to sing with Cantemus and is delighted with the Christmas selections. She is also back with the book club, and has taken on step aerobics five days a week in efforts to reduce the drag when she walks. We were devastated
by the horror we saw on our television on September 11 and have attended
a town hall meeting at the Embassy to honor the deceased and explore
our feelings about our security here in Bangladesh. Although
there are Taliban in country, they are not considered a threat as
of yet. We are, as a larger expat community, very concerned
about the ability (or as the case may be, INability) of the Bangladeshi
government to function in any sort of heightened security capacity.
We are hoping against hope that evacuation does not become a reality
for us. AUGUST 2001 August was busy but
lovely, both Roger and Rachel were back in the States finally diarrhea-free!!
We enjoyed a week in After the wedding
and a few more precious days at Camp, we were back to We had a scrumptious
brunch with Cousins Lisa and Julie Luongo in Hatboro, PA,
and then a lovely late afternoon visit with Roger's nephew and long
time partner, Kevin Roundsley and Amy Johnson, on the U
Penn campus in Philly (ate a wild meal at Pod
restaurant). And finally a dinner with Bill Trapmann and Michelle
Beiss at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Bethesda, MD (for some the high
'dining' point of the summer, maybe even the year). A sunny
Saturday afternoon provided the backdrop for Elizabeth Ryan's wedding
to Kris Heck - a beautiful wedding out on a Maryland farm. We
spent a day boating the Severn River
and After much wishing
it wouldn't end, we boarded a plane anew for JULY 2001 Roger spent much of July organizing the 'next steps' for the draft law (see June). He has had an intern assisting his team and that has made a nice difference. He is looking forward to managing the next activity his policy unit has planned which will involve the development of a collateral registry here in Bangladesh. He is expecting an expert in from Canada in early September is assist in the efforts on the collateral registry. Early in July Rachel
left Dhaka for the eastern US where she spent the month in New Jersey
and traveling. July 7th saw a baby shower for cousin Sarah (due
with baby boy in mid-September). July 14-17, a long weekend
in Rachel spent most
of July undergoing a series of medical procedures and exams in an
attempt to put a finger more closely on the issues of infertility.
After trying to conceive for a number of years and numerous miscarriages,
we were feeling that more needed to be done. She has spent her
time here at the Abington Reproductive
Medical Center in JUNE 2001 June was a busy time
for Roger on the JOBS project as much of what he had been working
on came to fruition at the end of the month. He successfully
led the effort to present a draft "Secured Transaction Law for
Moveable Asset Financing" to the government of June was also marked by the increased activity surrounding getting the apartment 'finished'. Our landlord spent a lot of time stalling and so we finally threatened with potentially withholding the rent. A lovely situation, all around. By the end of June we FINALLY had a telephone line (after being almost 8 weeks without), and a stove - although the kitchen wasn't finished until mid-July so we are still eating only stovetop and microwave. We also had a set of drawers put into the kitchen and a couple of bookshelves into the living room. Rachel worked on
a survey for the US Embassy on the availability or potential for employment
for those 'eligible' spouses of incoming foreign service officers.
We finished the month by escaping our frustrations and enjoying a
long weekend in Bangkok,
eating sushi, curries, and fresh fruits galore. MAY 2001 Another disappointing
month in Rachel bought a car so as to be able to get around. A white 1989 Toyota Corolla (the most common car on the streets of Dhaka). It is a real tin can (and has a "choke"!!) but will hopefully last until we escape this place - it is just enough to get around the neighborhoods in Dhaka where the school, Embassy, commissary and most of our friends are. She has also picked up a brief consulting assignment for the Embassy, writing a report on, "How to Find Work in Dhaka" for in-coming foreign service spouses (ironically doing this little piece of work for the same guy who personally nixed her application as a Human Resources Officer). She will be appallingly underpaid but it will keep her busy through the end of June. Roger spent three
days on retreat outside of Rachel suffered three weeks of bad flu and sinusitis but is hoping dearly that it won't prevent her from singing on May 30 at the fundraiser at the British High Commissioners Residence with Cantemus. The illness has kept her out of school and away from her exercise activities. R&R are working
on the summer's travel plans - Rachel will likely spend as much time
as needed for medical reasons (both physical and mental!!), and Roger
will join her for as long as he can in August so they can attend Lydia
and David's nuptials at Camp. APRIL 2001 April has been a difficult month to get into in Dhaka... the weather is oppressively hot (in the low 100s daily and with humidity to add insult to the injury), it is very hard to get used to the fact that you can't walk anywhere and are therefore more or less a prisoner in your home (or in our case, the hotel), we miss the luxury of Bangkok, we miss our friends and lives in Amman, we still have no household goods (nor a household), and the apartment we are serious about is owned by a landlord who insists he can't get us a phone line (sorry, bad enough we can't go outside - not to have email and internet - I'll stay in the hotel thank you) ... neither of us seems able to see the results of decreased food intake and increased exercise, and the pregnancy strips continue to come up negative. So it's been a month for lots of sleeping and dreaming about things like liposuction, Prozac, and getting out of here as soon and then as often as possible. So as not to dampen our spirits completely... we got some WONDERFUL news while we were in Bangkok, Rachel's sister Lydia and her long time partner (David Powicki) are engaged to be married!! We are counting the days until we can see them in August and get a couple of days at Camp to celebrate those nuptials! Also dear friends, Terry Kristalsky and Ken Donaldson got engaged in Jordan (Ken did it "Arab style", not sure if that involved a camel - better not ask!). Roger continues with
the JOBS
project in fine spirits in spite of a long and very tedious spate
of hartals (general strikes) which shut everything down and prevent
meetings and travel and generally result in violence. Rachel
recently spent a day delivering a presentation in Spanish for the
large textile concern, BEXIMCO, and
doing interpretation for their visitors (clients) from Best news of the
month? We are off to Bali, Indonesia on April 26th for a short
week of R&R and to celebrate our wedding anniversary - we hope
to spend a few days on Lembongan
Island... [ Don't groan! You have children, we have
holidays in cool places! Who says life's not fair? ] And to
those who are following the tales... we have a passbook!!!!!
We 'may' have a lease signed by this weekend... and our airfreight
MAY be in before we leave for Bali (cameras? contact lenses???!), and we 'may' have a phone line in the
apartment before 2002 - ok, let's not get too optimistic. MARCH 2001 March has been a
getting settled sort of month - as much as we are able to be settled
living in a hotel. We are in the Crystal Garden Guest House
which is in the cushy (yeah, uh, by We are settled at the guest house and are playing tennis regularly, Rachel joined a step aerobics class (for baby boomers - yeah, who are wiping the floor with me!) and R&R are dancing on Tuesday evenings (we learned how to tango last week!). Roger is well into his position on the JOBS project and has made many great contacts in the Bangladeshi government (and the private sector) in his efforts to make a difference in their lending practices and policies. Rachel has now survived her first substitute teaching assignment, high school English at the American International School/Dhaka.... A great experience, lovely groups of kids (Americans being the minority - class pictures are UN-looking and beautiful), and some great literature (The Odyssey, The Great Gatsby, Mosquito Coast, etc.). Finally, R&R
spent the last ten days of March at the Oriental Hotel
in Bangkok where we toured a little on the countryside (the ruins
of Ayutthaya and the floating marketings of Danoen Saduat), a little
of Bangkok (temples and foods!), and attended the Oriental's Thai
Cooking School - which was fun, enlightening, educational and VERY
tasty. More writing on that later!.... FEBRUARY 2001 Another wild month for the weary travelers... Rachel scrambled around to finish the last minute procurement of needed items, also made a very important visit to the Abington Reproductive Medicine Center and met Dr. Steven Somkuti - there is hope for fertility! Early February also included a visit with Lisa and Goldy in Hatboro, PA, and a farewell visit with Anne and Alden Fetherman, cousins Dan, Sharon, Grant and Lindsey Flagler. Also last minute goodbye visit with Aunt Alice and cousin Julie (and a nice telephone goodbye with cousin Sarah who is due in September and lookin' good!). Flight to London Heathrow was short and uneventful, flight from Heathrow to Dhaka (via Delhi) was very long (13 hours) but Rachel slept for much of it. Roger greeted her at the airport at 4am on February 15. Later in the day R&R traveled outside of Dhaka to Rajendrapur near a national park, when the BRAC center hosted Roger's team of lawyers for the first of multiple workshops. Rajendrapur was lovely, lots of green, lots of beautiful birds and decreased volume of particulate matter in the air! Dhaka is somewhat of a shock, quite filthy, not particularly safe - currently there a number of hartals called (general strikes, usually inciting violence), but the dull sticky weather will get much worse next month (we are told), so we are enjoying early morning tennis lessons at the nearby American Club, and we are signed up for Adult School classes (yoga for RQP and ballroom dance for R&R). Rachel is applying at the American International School (AIS) to substitute teach Spanish, English, and Social Studies (if they'll have me, of course). Roger's job on the JOBS Project is well on a roll... he is the Senior Advisor for the Policy Component and is working with a team to draft a law involving secured lending, with much on the horizon. He works with some terrific people both expats and local staff and is back to work and happy. There is a US State
Department warning on for JANUARY 2001 Happy New year (and welcome to the "real" new millennium!). We celebrated by grabbing cousin Julie (Luongo) in Stroudsburg, PA, and driving to Amherst, MA, to spend the long holiday weekend with Lydia and Po. Their tradition of potlucks (every two weeks or so) was a delight to behold with dear friends bringing delicious foods (Jeff brought the curried lentils), amazing children (John and Lena brought 3 month old (100 lb - ok, not quite) Carsten), traveling distances (Buzz and Mark made it down from a snowboarding adventure in VT), singing 'name' songs (Sarah!) and telling jokes in funny accents (Bill, "walk with prrrrride, laddie!"). 8" of fresh snow, the hot tub and the excellent food and company - well, is it any wonder we were up WAY past the witching hour! Roger then took advantage of a great opportunity to spend a few days with the Emerging Markets Group at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in DC strategizing on a proposal for their team, then he hurried home for his final pack up for Bangladesh. In the air on January 10, he finally arrived, tired but happy to be on the ground again and getting up and running. Culture shock is most profound in the environment (unbelievable noise and air pollution, hyper-population, severe abject poverty, etc.) but he thinks it's survivable - we'll see once his trailing spouse is there! Rachel went off Jan 14-21 to visit with the Cohens in Jacksonville, FL (escaping the Jersey winter blues!) and had a WONDERFUL visit. Lots of laughter and catching up, we dined on yummy Thai, smoked Arguila, watched Karolyne belly dance (no kidding: http://members.aol.com/karolyne01/) and ate wonderful Arab/Levantine food at the Casbah, visited the Cummer Museum (and saw the Smith College Museum exhibit!), enjoyed a jazz performance by Neal in the Tavern on the Square, BUT mostly played with a delightful three and a half year old named Gabrielle! Rachel was back to welcome Lyd back to NJ to celebrate Dad's b'day on the 24th. On January 31, Rachel,
Mom and Dad took an afternoon to NYC to visit do a little museum hopping
and spent a great time in the Museum of American Crafts [ http://www.ny.com/museums/american.craft.museum.html
] - in particular at the exhibition of Gary Knox Bennett, a craftsman
with a sense of humor! DECEMBER 2000 December was a busy, happy month... being home for Christmas unexpectedly turned out to be a real gift. With lots of snow for the event and plenty of time to reconnect with lots of old friends through Christmas cards - R&R spent December helping with the preparations. Rachel and her father sang the Messiah with the Summit Chorale and others at the Summit Central Presbyterian Church on December 17th, Roger and mom cheered us on. R&R took to the NYC streets on December 22nd (the ONLY time to go - just pre-Christmas!) for a couple of amazing meals, a quick run through the Metropolitan Museum of Art (saw the magnificent Neapolitan Baroque Christmas tree and creche scene), and a romping good Broadway show - "Kiss Me Kate" ('...brush up your Shakespeare'). Much to our great delight, David "Po"wicki made it to Warren for a couple of days before Christmas - that meant lots of laughter and an overdose of Cho-Die-Dee games. R&R and Lydia made it to the midnight Christmas service at the Mt. Horeb Methodist church and Aunt Alice and Cousin Julie made it down on Christmas Day for some cookies and some more Cho-Die-Dee. Roger
and Rachel accompanied Beth and Scott Newman into NYC again on December
27th (for Beth Anne's b'day) for a smashing meal at "Local"
(45th x Broadway) and a performance of "Riverdance"
at the Gershwin Theater. At the end of the month, we are off
to NOVEMBER 2000 November was a 'retrench' sort of month. Wrenched somewhat rapidly out of our lives - it took a little time to get used to being back in the States for a while. November was spent in the diet and exercise mode (the previous two months in sunny (yummy) Spain and luscious Venice meant we were both due to shape up!) and enjoying the Thanksgiving festivities with family members, especially Melissa (3 1/2 years) and Anthony (9 months old) who we are getting to know! Rachel tried out
lots of new gourmet ('light', honest!) recipes on guinea pigs Mom,
Dad and Roger who seemed no worse for the wear. R&R took
a few days in Washington DC so that Roger could connect with the various
consulting organizations to see what they might have available - time
in Shanghai, maybe a return to Mongolia, perhaps a bank project in
Kosovo or a bank and legal reform project in Bangladesh. Whatever
it would be, we were decided that Rachel would trail this next time
out! No matter what the decision, the household effects and
our vehicle wouldn't be arriving Stateside for another two months
so there was no hurry. It was an additional comfort and delight
to spend those couple of days in DC with dear friends Janet and Bob
Granger (and "Gabriel's"
is a real keeper, wow!!). OCTOBER 2000 Lots happened to us in October! We began the month rejoicing in Roger's presence back in Amman after his mind-swelling trip to Spain in September - He misses his Salamancan buddies a whole lot and hopes he will be able to keep up the Spanish for future interaction with all! We left Amman for ten days with Rachel's parents, David and Jeanette Peterson, and sister, Lydia (Peterson) and longtime partner, David "Po"wicki - in Venice! Another spectacular Untour. What an adventure - a web piece in the making (when I have the inclination and the time). It rained for much of the time we were in the (already) wet city - but we had a ball in spite of the weather and were even lucky enough to have experienced Acqua Alta (the high seas) during a full moon - the walk planks went into operation and the high water fog horns were sounded - San Marco under three feet of the sea was WILD! Day trips included all the favorite sites: La Accademia, the Peggy Guggenheim (what was that Po?), a day in the little towns of the Veneto with the lovely Monica, a day to Burano and Murano (the northern islands), and lots and lots of good food and churches and touristy shopping (art, paper, glass and other Venetian specialties). After being home
in Amman for a week, we learned that Rachel's assignment would be
completed earlier than expected. After a year and a half of
wonderful experiences in Amman, we were very disappointed and saddened
to leave so many good friends and the community activities in which
we were involved. In a flurry of packing, giving away books
and food, and attending the American Community School's
Fall/Winter concert (Roger's trumpet student, Chris Crane had a solo!
and did GREAT!), we said tearful good-byes to some wonderful people
and headed for the States. We arrived in SEPTEMBER 2000 September began with
Roger in Rachel is holding down the fort and reading plenty. She also joined the Amman YWCA chorus (looks like she'll be singing tenor - too many strong altos and the tenors need reinforcements!) they are preparing for a couple of December Christmas performances - the repertoire looks to be filled with lots of old favorite carols - so it'll 'sound' like Christmas around the house for a few months. Now to find a good piano teacher... We finished September
with a surprise visit to Salamanca by Rachel (for Roger's b'day on
the 26th) - he was really surprised!! The best news of the month?
Roger passed his Spanish course - he sweat it out 'til the end - but
we knew he'd triumph! We spent the few days together going to
see the rejoneadores (bullfighting on horseback) with Nuria and Ramona,
and visiting with old friends and enjoying the city. We also
took advantage of the opportunity to purchase a few 220 volt small
appliances we could use back home in AUGUST 2000 August in In mid-August we
took a day to picnic up at the ruins of Umm
Qais with old friend (see December 1999 in The big news for
end of August is that Roger is off to Salamanca,
JULY 2000 July began with a
swell trip north from After sunning and
funning... we were off to As the plane took
off for JUNE 2000 June began for us with a blow-out BBQ. 120 invited, 80 attended over a seven hour period, Saturday, June 3. Roger grilled until he felt he would smell permanently of briquettes! Lots of good friends brought lots of great dishes - including Sultan's mom's tabouli (to die for!), and Diaa Hammamy's kebabs... so many friends, and so much fun... when the balloons came out it was every kid for himself. Then June became a rush to finish assignments before heading home to the States for our annual leave. Roger finished his World Bank report with some editing assistance from Rachel - and he received some very nice kudos on it. Rachel was finishing procurement plans and 100 other little tasks in the preparation of her staff for her month-long absence. We arrived in Seattle, Washington after a 28 hour trip and fell into bed at Jennifer and Mark Spatz's in Seattle (after a magnificent meal of Dungeness Crab, Halibut, and asparagus, wow!). The next day we were off to the Swantown Inn... a beautiful local B&B located less than two minutes from Roger's mom's place in Olympia. We spent five days in Olympia visiting with Joyce Bird, and managed to squeeze in a trip to Seattle for a performance of Romeo and Juliet by the Bolshoi (surprise gift for Roger!). Besides Mark and Jennifer, we were also lucky enough to spend our last evening dining with old friends, Carla and Tom Hendrix - keeping the wait staff at Anthony's Home Port up WAY past their bedtimes. Then it was off to
DC were Bill and Michelle hosted us and we caught up with doctors
appointments, Rachel did some work at the Abt offices, and most importantly
- we dined with friends, every chance we could.... Bill and Michelle,
Cousin Nick and mate, Tammy, Karen and Alan, the Ryans, Bob and Janet
Granger!, a nice visit with David Pazornick, and we had a wonderful
visit and meal with Erin M. Brooks, one of Rachel's college roommates
and an old and very dear friend. Erin flew up from Florida to
visit with us and so we could meet her four year old, Angela!
Although it was a hectic time - it was a delight to see so many old
friends. MAY 2000 May was a terrific month for us since Roger was now home for a good long time from Mongolia and Rachel was becoming more entrenched in the job (it becomes easier). May began with a magnificent five days in Istanbul with Rachel's parents, David and Jeanette... We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Istanbul up the hill in the new side of town - but our location did not deter us from touristing all over the city. We even spend a day on a boat traveling up the Bosporus to the Black Sea. Istanbul is a magical and wonderful place. The Grand Bazaar was a blast, "Madam, madam, let me help you spend your money!." Roger and Rachel bought a beautiful rug (of course) from the Caucauses and a number of other knick knacks... J bought a splendid belly dancing outfit for grand-daughter, Melissa (who was thrilled, they reported, until she saw the slit down the outer leg seam and exclaimed, "It's broken!"). We toured the Aya Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and the Suliman Mosque, the Topkapi Palace (especially the Treasury, wow!!, and the Harem rooms, hmmmm). But the best part of the trip was each afternoon at happy hour when the four of us joined forces and enjoyed each other's company. Delicious. May was also a busy
month for Roger who picked up a short term assignment for the World
Bank, here in Jordan (yeah!!). He is investigating and writing
a report on the credit possibilities available to the cooperative
sector in Jordan. That should be finished in early June.
May is rose month in Jordan... and we have a front and side garden
absolutely full of bushes taller than we are: yellow, white, reds,
oranges, and pinks, all beautiful and they smell divine! And
our collection is a pittance compared to most of the neighborhoods
in APRIL 2000 April has been windy
and sunny and a little lonely with the two of us apart. Big
news is that Evan and Marie Peterson (and big sister, Melissa) welcomed
a baby boy on April 9th (cousin Lisa's birthday!) and everyone is
happy and healthy. Since I've had a lot of time on my hands
- books have been a priority... see the Book Review pages for 12 new
reviews...! Work for Rachel has been very busy with reporting
requirements (have we really been here seven months already!?) and
a cranky Ministry of Health. The PHCI project is now almost
completely staffed - in fact we are entering performance reviews (How
about a raise, Abt?). Roger is finishing the final touches on
his status report for the Barents project in Mongolia and will be
home in time to travel to ISTANBUL with his lovely wife for a five
day adventure with D&J Peterson in Turkey at the end of the month.
We are also very excited and have tickets to come stateside in mid-June,
early July to see friends and family in Seattle, MARCH 2000 In FEBRUARY 2000 February was a month
of picnics. Roger was home early in the month, and we aimed
to spend our weekends loading up the car with food and friends and
exploring some of the Jordanian country-side (and sites). We
traveled again to Umm Qais (in the North, overlooking the Sea of Galilee)
with Cari Clark and Gabriel Abraham (who work with Rachel and were
visiting the project on a short term consultant basis). Later
in the month we also picnicked to Mukaqwer with Cal and Mimi Wilson.
Mukawer is located southwest of Amman (and Madaba) and is the site
of the ruins of one of Herod's palaces. It sits high up on a
hill overlooking the Dead Sea and much of Israel.. it was a beautiful
sunny day and we gave our quadriceps a real workout! At the
end of February we had Clara Amado Khreis, Khalid Khreis (our Spanish-Jordanian
artists) and their daughters Salma (13) and Janet (11) for an afternoon
of sheer Spanish culinary pleasure... Paella for six, tortillas, calamares,
pinchos de chorizo, mejillones, and lots of good red wine. Oh
a sweet piece of JANUARY 2000 Our dear friend, Terri (who Roger and I were very close to in Bosnia and who is now working here in Amman - small world, or what!) was hosting her long time boyfriend from home (Michigan) and we decided that the best place to ring in the new millennium would be in a place where we would certainly not be affected by electricity, water, computer or any other glitches. Although suffice it to say that in countries like Jordan that are not as advanced electronically as the US - the idea that computers run anything as large as an electrical grid are somewhat laughable. So off we went to the desert. Our fifth adventure-team member was a cool Lebanese good-ol'-girl named Golda who runs the Jordanian office of "Save the Children" - who is single, very funny, and who had access to a large Toyota Four Runner (which we found indispensible!!). Off the five of us trekked to the Southern end of the country (not far from the Saudi border) - well below Petra and not quite to the port town (and scuba center) of Aqaba - to the deserts of Wadi Rum (Wadi means valley). [ OK, atlases out, gang ] This was clearly the most exciting New Year's Eve I've ever spent, for sure. We rang it in with lots of champagne and fireworks (that we brought with us) after a Bedouin meal under the tents of the Jordanian desert. I have never seen stars like I saw standing out in the seas of red sand in Wadi Rum. The wild part was the sky. You know that with the naked eye one can spot constellations like Orion with little difficultly almost anywhere in the world on a clear night - and far enough away from hard city lights.... but in the desert with absolutely NO ambient light - there are so many more stars that it becomes difficult to even FIND Orion amongst them!!! It was wonderful. Quite cold but we were all prepared for that - and the pup tents were perfectly comfortable for the overnight... [ although peeing behind the boulders was sort of funky - I mean, in the woods of Northeastern US there are lots of trees and hiding places and you know it gets absorbed right into the leaves or pine needles... but in the desert? Umm. well. Food for thought. ] Both during the afternoon of Dec 31st and much of the day of Jan 1st - we four-wheeled around the desert. Without trying to describe what this desert is like... I direct you instead to this website - easy to pull up, it's short and sweet with some great photos: http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/wadirum.html Needless to say - we felt like pioneers (briefly, of course) or archeologists in an Indiana Jones movie (although with fewer Nazis chasing us). Things like camels everywhere become so commonplace that you don't even blink to see them hot-footing it in the distance with the bedouins (replete with the flowing red and white checked head gear - picture Yasser Arafat) hoisted up upon them. The rest of January
(for Rachel) was finally a time to relax, retrench, and pick up a
more normal life pace... Project start-up is for the most part over
- we still need a lot of equipment but the rentals will do for the
time being. Roger left for Mongolia again, after the Eid (January
9) and was gone the rest of the month. he
continues to work of the vast and detailed preparatoy work necessary
to privatize a state owned bank. DECEMBER 1999 December opened amidst a flurry of settling in and taking off... Roger accepted a short term assignment to work of a bank privatization project in Ulaan Baatar (yeah, Mongolia) but he and Barents promised that he'd be home on the 22nd so as not to miss our first Christmas in our new home. After working day and night to make sure the house was in livable condition and the furniture was all put together, he took off for the steppes of the Gobi Desert. Don't even ask him in the long underwear helps (it doesn't). Rachel's job is settling a little as well - plenty of the usual fires but nothing like the start-up. She has built a terrific team and activities are moving along in spite of the Ministry of Health. In fact, we should be getting our vehicle out of customs any day now (it's been collecting dust since November 18th) The house needs lamps, rugs and some art but these things will come. Jordan is an interesting place at Christmas (not hard to find a Chrismas tree although most are tacky plastic things). The YWCA gave a carols concert a few nights ago, I went with Cal and Mimi Wilson, a very local 'feel' (a lovely young soprano with a voice like an angel but then a tenor who could have used a few more lessons). The weather is cool, near freezing at night - making things feel right for this time of year. Christmas brought
a wealth of neat gifts... Rachel received a piano (rented - but so
desired!), a camera, and best of all, her man came home! Roger
received a large painting by Khalid Khreis, for the living room.
And Rachel gave Roger a trip to NOVEMBER 1999 November has started out in a flurry of post workplan activity (finishing budgets) and pursuing the hiring of more local (admin) staff for Rachel. In addition to trying to shake a nasty, lingering chest cold, Rachel is looking forward to moving into the house with her sweetheart. Roger continues to expand his work network in his attempts to find a good position locally. In the meantime, Barents has asked him to go to Mongolia for a 2-3 month bank privatization assignment. He leaves for Ulaanbaatar around the 26th of November. He'll be back for 10 days or so at Christmas and then out again until February 1st. Short-term assignments like this are definitely second choice, but this one is an interesting and challenging opportunity. Roger is fast and furious into Spanish language lessons. We have had the opportunity to attend a piano concert and a Flamenco guitar performance with our friends Cal and Mimi Wilson (He is a doctor on the project, she is the author of the best selling Once-A-Month Cooking). We have also met artists, Clara Amado and Khalid Khreis. Their work is phenomenal. Khalid's next exhibition is on November 28th here in Amman. The sea freight is scheduled to arrive on November 11th, Insha'allah (God willing), and will likely take 5-6 days to get to the house at 22 Marj Al Hamman Street. Roger will work like a madman on unpacking, getting the house set up, and looking for his warm clothes before heading off to Mongolia. In terms of general
information about our plans for the next few months, we will not be
able to make it home to the States for the holidays this year and
are looking forward to enjoying our first Christmas in Amman.
We are planning a trip to Spain when Roger returns from Mongolia,
maybe in early February. Roger will go for two weeks in advance
of Rachel and then she'll join him for an additional week. It
will be great to visit our dear friends in Spain, and give Roger some
good on-the-ground Spanish practice. We are hoping for visitors
this winter and spring (any takers? - Hey, email Rachel's Aunt Alice
(Luongo) at OCTOBER 1999 Although we were
all hoping that October would settle down some for us, the Primary
Health Care Initiatives (PHCI) project is in the process of preparing
a large annual workplan (for USAID) ..."this is what we plan
to do this year, and this is what it should cost". The
Ministry of Health changed the date for the workplan conference about
fifteen times (forcing us to incur costs at all levels)... And the
extra five expatriate staff out here for the month from Abt Bethesda
and other locations added an extra strain on the support staff.
In the meantime, Roger continued looking for work, but mostly looking
for a house. While the
Grand Hyatt Amman is lovely and the staff is starting to seem
like family - we are both eager to get into a place of our own.
The housing here is abundant but much of what we see is furnished
- which we don't need. We discovered that the housing for foreigners
is a completely different market - something that has depressed us
slightly. But after much looking and changing real estate
agents, Roger found our dream house. It is a lovely "semi-villa",
meaning a house that has two units in it. We have the ground
floor including the outside land (fruit trees, gardens) and the landlord
has the upstairs. The place has 3 bedrooms (so we're expecting lots
of visitors) all with built in closets (something very rare here).
It also has a 1/2 basement. The basement room could be a large bedroom
plus it has a separate kitchen, and maid's room with a bath.
Roger suggested we rent it out to Abt for their short-term consultants.
(HA) The living area is an L shaped formal living room & dining
room space. There is also a separate sitting or TV room. We'll
probably use the formal living/dining room as a regular living/TV
room and we'll put an office in the front room because the lighting
is so good there. Just off the living room is a patio with a
fountain. The dining room will be the small informal space just off
the kitchen. Yes, Jordan does have a water issue, but
this place has a fountain and it is quite lovely. Off the good-sized
kitchen is a patio with large stone beams overhead with recessed lighting
in them. This is going to be perfect for BBQs, and sitting out like
we enjoyed so much in Takoma Park, MD. The house is located on a dead
end street, so it's very quiet. We are both very excited about
the place and the prospects of finally getting settled. Two
interesting notes for October: First, we day-tripped with our
dear old friend Terri Kristalsky to the Dead Sea (this
place is wild! 600 feet BELOW sea-level... so many minerals
in the water (high in magnesium) that you could almost walk on it),
and second, Roger started taking Spanish classes at the Instituto
Cervantes. He is taking this seriously, lots of studying and
practicing, CD-Rom, children's books from their library - you name
it, he is working on it. He'll be fluent by the time we sneak
off to Spain
for a week in January (Insha'allah). SEPTEMBER 1999 September was a month
for discovery. The discovery that project start-up - for the administrator
(ha, the technical staff was having it SUPER easy) is sheer hell.
And it lasts way longer than a month. The first four weeks
Rachel put in 14 hour days, 7 days a week. Abt is still somewhat new
(ten years) in the international dev biz and as such has very few
concrete procedures for project set-up... as a result we all got here
on the ground without a functional office, without any instruction
on how to get our work permits, our residency permits, and our household
effects out of customs, and with lots of layers of internal bureaucracy
surrounding everything from purchases to hiring local staff.
We have an ex-patriate staff of eight technical specialists (mostly
doctors) -all of whom are terrific and are flexible and understanding.
I have managed to hire a temporary driver, and a temporary office
manager - both of whom I am hoping will become permanent with us.
I am in the market for a Finance Manager, and once we have
an office - a receptionist and more admin staff. While the tech team
struggles with a Ministry (of Health) that is staffed (as usual) with
under-qualified, unmotivated government bureaucrats, I struggle with
the same ministry for letter writing campaigns for our household effects
and our permits. Our airfreight has been sitting in Customs
for two weeks because "our man" in ministry procurement
can't find the time to write the letters we need. Roger has
been the ROCK and supports the wild ramblings of our girl every evening
before she drops into unconsciousness. Roger's work consists
of keeping the family (us) sane, keeping friends and families up to
date, looking passively for work, looking actively for a place for
us to live for the next five years, and generally being the reasonable
one in the family. We were lucky to be able to take a day in
mid-month and travel with the Abt water project team (not Rachel's)
up the AUGUST 1999 August was a scramble
month... buying bulk toiletries, sundry items, dry
goods, buying a guest bedroom set, mattress and linens. We sold
the house to Susan Banahan, closed on August 20th. Visited a
billion doctors and filled out a billion forms. Rachel's learning
curve at Abt was a solid vertical line in preparation for the Jordan
project. Someday I will write about packing out a couple of
lives for a long term assignment overseas - I think I could get the
Erma Bombeck spin on it! Our flight left Dulles on the
eve of August 23rd and via Frankfurt we arrived in Amman in the evening
of the 24th. My team members were kind enough to arrange a meeting
with the USAID Mission Director at 9am on the morn of the 25th (this
is a hardy bunch). We are settling into the Intercontinental
Hotel (011.962.6.464.1361) where we will be for at least the next
month (in room 527 - Home Sweet Home?) Our air freight will
likely be in in the next two or three weeks - our surface freight
(most of it) is scheduled for arrival in the port of Aqaba on October
30th (jeez and I miss the furniture already!). Roger and I have
cell phones: Roger: 011.962.79.647.351 and Rachel: 011.962.79.647.352.
Roger has about a month's worth of work from Watkins and is plenty
busy getting us on line, unpacked, and keeping Rachel SANE (a GOOD
man this one). We are hoping that we can balance the work some
and have a life. Really. Ok, maybe not right away. JULY 1999 BIG NEWS!!! Rachel has accepted a position
overseas with Abt Associates in Bethesda, MD... She will be the Project
Director (not Chief of Party, but sort of a management and operations
deputy COP) for a $40 million five-year bilateral project with USAID/Jordan to implement a primary health
care initiative throughout the country. A long-term advisor
to manage the seven-person team (plus about 20 local staff) and short-term
technical assistance in Roger
and I are leaving for Amman sometime in mid-August (so much for that
spectacular garden I just put in!) for 2-3, maybe more years (Inshallah)
and we are both very excited about the prospect of living in the Middle
East in as splendid a city as Amman. There are lots of details to
handle and since Rog will come out with me in mid-August to help with
househunting and getting settled there, he will spend the rest of
July and August finishing his contract with the Department of Justice.
Bottom line? We're outta here! and we HOPE that you will visit us
- the expat life is one in which drop-in friends are expected and
hoped for! - you always have a bed, a shower, a meal and good friends
living in Amman (just day trips to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho,
Damascus,
Petra,
Cairo, and the list goes on).. Jordan
Tourism...or the King's Tourism
Page JUNE 1999 The spring in MAY 1999 May was MOVE IN MONTH!
We are finally back in the little brick colonial Rachel bought a few
years ago. Lots of unpacking boxes and learning to mesh two
households. Roger is enjoying his job with Watkins
Consulting in downtown Washington DC. He is
a banking expert for the Department of Justice as they muddle through
the litigation on the Savings and Loan Class Action suit.
He works long hours and misses the excitement and people in Bosnia,
but for now, this is working out well. Rachel is unpacking boxes,
cleaning, playing housewife and has re-joined a couple of her old
softball teams who seemed oddly glad to have her back!! We hosted
a BBQ-Birthday for Sanjin Sahadzic, and enjoyed a visit from Bob Granger and Janet Davis. We also had
visits from J&D Peterson
and a weekend with Roger's nephew, Kevin
Rounsley and his long-time mate, Amy Johnson who came down from Philly
to do some tourist gaping in the Nation's Capital! The month
ended with a spectacular visit to Ridge
Road Camp (click on it to visit the Camp page) where we spent
Memorial Day Weekend with sister APRIL 1999 While we wait for
the tenant to leave our house in MARCH 1999 1st March we flew
to JFK ( FEBRUARY 1999 Most of February
we spent in the Puerto... thoughts of travel to JANUARY 1999 31 December
- 1 January:
R&R celebrated the advent of the New Year in 2-5 January: Off to Madrid, after saying goodbye to our friends in Salamanca, we spent Saturday afternoon in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (one of Madrid's newest museums - and a real star!) They are in the final days of an exhibit by Joaquin Sorolla (one of my favorite Spanish painters) and the permanent collection is outstanding. Sunday we did a bit of the Prado (Goya and Velazquez primarily), Monday, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (my father calls the "Sophie Doo") which is full of outstanding Spanish artists of this century - some well-known, some who should be!. Tuesday morning we returned to the Prado to finish the Goya, see the magnificent Dutch painters they have collected, and to catch the special exhibit on Felipe II (also in its final days). In addition to the museum-going we trekked around central Madrid, had a sushi dinner, spent an evening listening to R&B at the Cafe Jazz Populart, and happy-houred on nachos (any ethnic foods in Spain are rare - and even rarer to find great Japanese and/or Mexican foods!) 6 January: The Ephiphany (The twelfth day of Christmas)! In Spain, there is no Santa Claus. In Spain, the children leave their shoes filled with straw (for the camels) out on the patios on the evening of the 5th of January so the three Wise Men (the Kings = Los Reyes) leave them gifts on their way to Jerusalem to see the baby Jesus. The Christmas season here finishes with a glut of gift-giving that rivals (in a small way) the US mass consumption on December 25th. We were just so happy to be back in the Puerto where the sun shines almost everyday and the daytime high temps hover in the upper 60s-low 70s. 12 January: San Lucar de Barrameda. We were going to meet some local friends for a tour through the Osborne Bodegas, but ended up going out to the little fishing town of San Lucar instead. A quirky little town on the delta of the great Guadelquivir River (which flows down from Cordoba and Sevilla), San Lucar is where the sherries called, "Manzanilla" come from. It is also the town from which the 'white shrimp of San Lucar' are harvested. If you are a seafood fan, particularly shellfish, this is a Mecca. The rest of January is, like months past, anyone's guess... we may travel to Morocco (that is still floating around in our heads), we'll likely do some traveling locally with friend, Fini, then again...Roger may land an assignment and we'll be off... but in the meantime... drop us an email, give us a call, or come for a visit!! FROM SEPTEMBER 1998 - DECEMBER 1998.... Click on SPAIN to read what we were up to!
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