As I may have mentioned, we have spent the summer living (in the tiny house) in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington. The neighborhood is also sometimes known as The George Washington University neighborhood. Even though there seemed to be a substantial number of students around for summer school, it wasn’t that big of a deal. The campus is urban, but nice to walk the dog around, so that was cool.
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We’re back in Washington, DC for the summer. We arrived Sunday afternoon and Shawn started training on Monday, while I began the process of getting the house in order and exploring the neighborhood. We’re in a great location – Foggy Bottom – with plenty of green space, restaurants, and a quick commute for Shawn. Our apartment is an old row house and is the perfect size for a single person without any pets. We, on the other hand, are two people with a large dog. We knew it was going to be small, but when we got all our stuff in the house and it filled the entire first floor (of two) of the place, I almost started crying. But now I’ve got the mess under control, and although I’m constantly tripping over Laika, I think it will be fine for a few months.
Our first 2 1/2 weeks back in the US have basically been a blur. We’ve done a lot of driving – our families live about 2 hours apart, in the same state, but different time zones (thank you, Indiana!). And we’ve done some serious work on stimulating the economy – purchasing a new car, a fancy camera, and a laptop.
Spring finally arrived in Kyiv late last week. All the signs are there: mid-day public drunkenness, gratuitous makeout sessions on public park benches, and, of course, the return on the summer-length skirts.
Six weeks and two days from our departure, I’m finally beginning to make some progress on the huge to-do list that has been staring me in the face for the past few months. Of course, it seems like each time I cross something off, another two or three things are added. Which explains my fragile mental state this week. I know it will all get done. I just wish I wasn’t the one that was responsible for taking care of it.
So far, this winter has been much colder than last winter. If I’m trying to be positive, that means that it’s also been a lot sunnier and snowier than last winter. Which is good. (Trying to hold on to the good here…) Anyway, today, being very cold, started out with snow flurries and then the sun broke through. I’ve been trying to come up with a new photo for my header anyway, so the camera went with me today – first on my walk with Laika and later when I travelled to a friend’s apartment. Of course, my fingers quickly froze as I tried to get the perfect photo, but here are the results:
I’m afraid I’ve been a bad blogger lately. As I’ve noticed that the days are getting quite shorter, I think the pre-winter blues have set in. There was even a forecast for snow today (although it hasn’t happened yet). And Shawn was diagnosed with pneumonia this week. Nothing says winter like sickness spreading through the Embassy community like wildfire.
Sometimes I’m just too nice for my own good. Yesterday was one of those times. A newcomer to the Embassy, who just arrived three weeks ago, desperately needed someone to watch her dog yesterday. Knowing that it was probably going to be a disaster, I went ahead and said yes. I’ve got to have some serious good karma built up by this point – I’m just waiting for it to catch up with me.
In Kyiv, September 1st is the first day of school. This morning the sidewalks were packed with parents walking their children to school. It was easy to see which kids were headed to class for two reasons. First, kids here dress to the nines on the first (and last) day of school. All the girls were in their best dresses with fluffy white bows in their hair approximately equivalent to the size of their heads. And the boys were all wearing suits – I even spotted a couple little boys dressed in tuxedos. Very classy. Second, it’s traditional here to take flowers to your teacher on the first day of class. From small bouquets of 5 roses to huge flower arrangements (again, approximately equivalent to the size of their little heads) – I can only assume that most classrooms look like funeral parlors on September 1st.