I feel like I’m slowly readjusting to American culture. It’s an overwhelmingly good change, although there are a few annoyances that I had forgotten. For example, how is it possible that we’ve had a phone line for only three days and have already had 6 telemarketer calls? We haven’t even given the phone number out to anyone besides our families yet!

Until I feel like writing more (or have anything exciting to write about, for that matter), I thought I’d do a little photo summary of the past few weeks:

One last boat ride in Nassau, courtesy of friends. (Foreign Service tip: It’s good to make friends with boat-owners when you live on an island.)

The theme of our home leave seemed to be waterfalls. Here I am at Bushkill Falls in the Poconos.

We also got close to nature. Of course, we saw another deer just a few days ago on the walking trail in our neighborhood. Maybe deer are going to be a new theme as well.

Guess who picked out the rental car?

I think this was the point in Vermont that I decided I wanted to just chuck it all and move to a cabin in the woods. What a quiet, beautiful place.

And for the grand finale: Niagara Falls.

Work has been crazy. It’s summer transfer season – that that means out with the old boss and in with the new one. As the program assistant, that meant lots of work for me. But I think the transition went fairly well. Now it’s time to get ready for my own transition. We’ve hired a really great person to take over my position, so I’m confident that it will go well. And she happens to be a friend of mine, which means I can give her all of my tips and tricks for working with the different groups of people that I have to work with. (If it was a stranger, I might feel the need to be a little more “diplomatic”…)

Shawn and I have taken on a foster dog. Yes, we might be crazy. But she’s a Doberman, and we’re suckers for a Doberman…especially one with a sad history like hers. She’s only three years old, but was used for breeding. And neglected/mistreated while she was being used. So she was only half the size Laika was and when she came to us, and severely underweight. We’ve managed to put some muscle on her bones in the past three weeks and teach her that people can be trusted, so she’s ready for a new home. Now we just have to find it. Here’s a before and after of Robin:

We’ve done some traveling in the past month – Green Turtle Cay in Abaco for Memorial Day weekend and Ft. Lauderdale last weekend. Abaco was great for relaxing, as there is absolutely nothing to do there. But we did all kinds of shopping in Ft. Lauderdale and saw Joel McHale(!), so it’s hard to say which trip was better. Now that I think about it, Ft. Lauderdale would have definitely won if Joel McHale had been wearing the speedo from our Abaco trip:

And finally, Shawn has his next assignment (after our year in Washington):

(You all know the flag of Afghanistan, right? That should have been an easy one.)

I say it’s his assignment (as opposed to ours) because I can’t go along unless I get a job as well. So I’m back to applying for jobs again. I feel like I’ve spent most of my life looking for jobs. I thought grown ups didn’t have to do that….

I’ll start with Charleston: what an amazing city! I definitely have to get back there when I’m not stuck in training for 8 hours a day. I have never seen so many great restaurants in such a small area. I very well may have eaten my body weight each day, particularly if you count locally produced beer in that total.

There was a group dinner at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp one night. This is about the cheesiest place ever, but I highly recommend experiencing it with a group of non-Americans who are: 1. totally excited just to be in America (There was an epic trip to Walmart on the first evening after our training class.); 2. super into Forrest Gump (They made us Americans look like we’d never even heard of the movie during the pre-dinner F.G. quiz.); and 3. eating shellfish for the first time (I lost count of how many photos were taken of people holding lobster claws.).

Another group event was a ghost tour of Charleston. I have always wanted to do one of these and I was totally into it. We had great weather for the walk and I found myself feeling pretty uneasy at a few points as our guide told us stories about Charleston history and hauntings. I’m sure all of these things can be explained away, but it was fun to get lost in the stories for a couple hours.

As I said, I was in training for 8 hours a day, so the only photo I have as proof that I was in Charleston is this shot taken from my hotel room:

Oh, wait, here it is a night, so I guess I have two photos as proof:

I returned to Nassau just in time to spend another Saturday working at the quilt show. This show is put on by the Stepping Stone Quilters (my quilt group) and all members show the work that they have done during the year. So there’s a wide variety of skill levels on display. And one of the highlights is that the quilts for our group challenge are all on display together. As I mentioned, before I left for my work trip, we had an open house for friends and family of the group members. Here’s most of the group:

Since I worked at the show two Saturdays in a row, I had a good chance to examine everyone’s work up close and picked out a few of my favorites here to share:

And here are all those challenges. It’s hard to believe that all of these quilts are based on Log Cabin Blocks!

This afternoon, we all worked together to take down the show. It was a little bittersweet because this is not only my first quilt show, but also my last one in Nassau. There’s another member of the group that will be moving away (because of her husband’s job) and also won’t be here for the show next year. We found ourselves standing off to the side as the other members divided up the supplies to store for the next show. I guess I’ll have to wait and see what the next year brings — maybe I can come back as a visitor to the 2012 show.

1. I started a new job. It’s not quite full time, but it’s more hours per week than I’ve spent working for at least the past five years. Bye, bye free time.

2. I went on vacation. Sixteen days in Indiana and New York City. There was a lot of much needed relaxing during that time. But also some time spent weeding, resulting in some lovely blisters. (You’re welcome, dad.)

3. The last week has been recovery time from vacation. Why is it always so hard to come back? And Thursday was the official Embassy Independence Day celebration — 8am to 10pm spent working. Mostly standing. I must be getting old because that wiped me out. I apparently slept through a doozy of a thunderstorm last night, complete with the dog running back and forth over my legs in bed. I remember none of this.

4. I’m currently preparing for the in-laws’ arrival on Monday. They’ll be here for six days. So, yeah, the blog is going to be quiet for a little longer.

But for your patience, here are some pictures to prove that I really was on vacation:

Wind farm in northern Indiana

I love New York!

With some giraffes at the Bronx Zoo

For my birthday, we went to Savannah for a long weekend. Here’s our sweet ride:

(Yes, Shawn rented the car.) Savannah was gorgeous and so much fun. We just explored — both on trolley and on foot — and enjoyed being back in the US for a while.

For Memorial Day, we took a trip to Harbor Island (or Briland, as they say here) with a group from the Embassy. It was a long day, most of which was spent on the ferry from/to Nassau, unfortunately, but it was so relaxing while we were there. We were still in the Bahamas, but it felt like a different world. Things were much slower, but in a good way. They have to be when your main mode of transport is a golf cart! And the “pink sand” beaches were amazing. I’d heard that some people were disappointed by the sand after all the hype, but I was impressed! It definitely has a pink hue, and it’s powder soft. Again, so different from New Providence Island.

June 1 was the official start to hurricane season, and it has definitely felt like it. We’ve had rain and thunderstorms for at least part of the day every day since then. Unfortunately, we’ve learned that Laika is absolutely terrified of thunder and heavy rains. (I blame the dumb GWU students who decided to set off fireworks 5 feet from our front door last July 4th.) So…I’m not sure how we’re going to deal with this all summer. I was up from 3am to 5:30am last night — first trying to calm her, then just trying to get her to quiet down enough that I could get some sleep!

In with all of this, I have had a little time to do some sewing. My fabric finally arrived for my challenge quilt for my quilt guild:

That’s pre-pressed, obviously. Since the guild members take this challenge very seriously and the finished quilts are to remain secret until our Christmas luncheon, I can only tell you a few things. As you can tell, it’s a monochromatic challenge (I picked blue), and the finished dimensions are to be 36″x48″. It has to be done with only log cabin blocks (of any variety). I’m about halfway done at this point. I’m really happy with how it’s turning out, but I have had to put my math skills to some serious use. Lots of drawing and measuring. I’m stealing Norm Abram‘s motto: “Measure twice, cut once!”

(As an aside, I feel the need to gush about how much I love Apple. It’s not often I can leave a store having spent the LARGE amount of money we just spent and still feel good about myself, my purchase, and my experience. They just know how to do things right. The hassle-free experience continues even once you get home, from the packaging (you mean it’s not necessary to package in bulky styrofoam?!) to the fact that you can just plug in the machine and you’re ready to go. Ahh.)

This past weekend we had a vacation within our “vacation” as we traveled to Portland (OR) to visit friends and see all the things that have changed since we left 5 years ago. There are definitely areas of the city that have been developed, but the general Portland vibe feels the same. And I have missed it terribly. We’ve lived in so many different places, but Portland is the only one where I’ve felt like I really fit. The trip was too short, but it was nice to relax and move at our own pace. And, of course, catch up with friends. And the weather was even nice. A great trip.

But now back to our regularly scheduled “vacation.” (I guess I should explain that I’m using the quotes because although Shawn is off work and we’re supposed to be enjoying being back in the US, we have so many things we have to get done, and so many people that we’re supposed to see, that any sort of relaxation has been in short supply since we got back. So not really a vacation at all.) We pick up Laika this weekend from what we have been calling Puppy Boot Camp. Hopefully she will be perfectly trained, therefore making our lives much easier. Right.

Lviv definitely has a different feel from Kyiv. First of all, the people speak Ukrainian rather than Russian. So we challenged ourselves to switch all of our pleasantries (please, thank you, good morning, etc.) to Ukrainian. However, we also found that a lot of people were willing to speak English with us – quite a nice change of pace from the scowls we get from some Kyivites when they hear us speaking English. Because it has been both part of Poland and part of Austria in the past, Lviv also feels more European in some ways. And the city is much smaller than Kyiv, which makes it feel more relaxed. Of course, visiting in February meant that we found ourselves struggling through a foot of snow everywhere. Apparently they don’t feel the need to clear the sidewalks in Lviv any more than they do in Kyiv.

Despite the snow and cold, we managed to do a few “touristy” things.  We took a quick walk through Lychakivskiy Cemetery:

Climbed to the top of the tower at city hall to get a bird’s-eye view of the city:

Saw the Shevchenco statue at dusk (note the reflection of the flash on the falling snow – and the aforementioned tower in the background):

And one of the cutest things we saw was that instead of using strollers in the snow and ice, everyone was pulling their babies on little sleds:

But the big find in Lviv (and perhaps the most adventurous thing – in that “do we trust this or not?” sort of way) was a Thai massage parlor. With real Thai ladies! We had about 7 hours to kill on our last day after we had checked out of our hotel. It was horribly cold and terribly icy and I think we had both had about enough of trying to find something to do in Lviv. Then we saw the sign for Thai massages. It took a while to work up our courage to actually check it out. I mean, the thought of there actually being non-sketchy Thai massages in the middle of Ukraine seems pretty far-fetched. But when we finally approached the entrance, we saw two Thai women sitting inside. So for about $20 each, we let them work us over for an hour. I think it was the best way our vacation could have ended and more than I had hoped for.

Tuesday, November 11

• Finally arrived in Madrid.
• We were excited to find a “Dunkin’ Coffee” and even more excited when we realized that it really was a Dunkin’ Donuts and not just a blatant copyright infringement like we originally thought.
• Had our first tapas “meal” full of rich (and salty) flavors.
• Marveled at the size of our large Cokes from Burger King (necessitated by the salty tapas). “I haven’t had a drink this big since the last time I was in the US!”

Wednesday, November 12

• Visited the Prado Museum and decided El Greco is our favorite Spanish artist.
• Found lunch off the beaten path – 2 two-course meals and a bottle of wine for only 20 Euros! “I think I could live with eating Spanish food all the time.”
• Highlights of our visit to the Royal Palace – for Shawn: armor, horses, and armor for horses; for me: a room made entirely of ceramic.

• Took the high speed train to Sevilla.
• Visited the largest cathedral in Europe and saw Christopher Columbus’ tomb. (And the woman selling the entrance tickets asked if I was a student. Whoo hoo!)

Friday, November 14

• Had our first paella at a restaurant called “Boston Burguer.”
• Sevilla is the most bicycle-friendly city I’ve ever seen. (And we lived in Portland, Oregon, so that’s saying something.) There are dedicated bike lanes everywhere and even a grab-and-go bicycle rental program.
• Attended a flamenco performance and found myself in awe of the artists’ intensity.

Saturday, November 15

• Local train from Sevilla to Grenada – olive trees as far as you can see.
• First sign that it actually is winter: snow capped Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance.
• We notice that the dreadlock to non-dreadlock ratio is rather high in Grenada. Perhaps it is part of the European backpacker trail? The number of incense sellers, hookah bars, and availability of cheap baggy pants also give it away.

Sunday, November 16

• Exhausted ourselves touring the Alhambra. It didn’t help that we got lost on the way there and walked about twice as far as we needed to.
• Took advantage of the Spanish custom of “siesta.”

Monday, November 17

• Finally saw the giant bull billboards on our bus ride from Grenada to Madrid.
• We came full circle by having our last meal in Spain at the same restaurant as our first meal. (And basically the same meal itself – toasts with various cheese, meats, and veggies piled on top.)

It all started innocently enough – we needed a vacation and the cheapest flights were to Madrid via Rome. Off to Madrid we went. However, when we got to Rome, we needed boarding passes for our second leg of the journey to get through security. Oddly enough, there was no one from Alitalia to be found at any of their desks. Then we heard the announcement: Alitalia was in union meetings from 8am to 1pm and 3pm to 8pm and we should “expect delays.” Not a good sign. We parked ourselves by one of their desks and waited to get our passes. Eventually succeeding, we headed to our gate. That’s when the cancellations started. And we sat there until 2 hours past our departure time with absolutely no information (but a very sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach). Then our flight was cancelled. I won’t detail the craziness that ensued as we joined thousands of passengers trying to find luggage and the correct line to stand in to rebook. (We mistakently stood in the lost luggage line for about 20 minutes at one point. It was total chaos.)

We finally found one of three lines that had formed for the rebooking of flights. Then began the longest 6 hours of my life. That’s right – six hours of standing, occassionally broken up by watching fellow line-members being interviewed by the press (that started about an hour in) as well as the fights that started breaking out after we passed the 3-hour mark.

By the time we made it to the front, we could get a flight for the next day (on a different airline), but there were no free hotel rooms left. So we were on our own to find a place to stay and we were not staying at the airport. That was when the following conversation took place, exhibiting just how delirious I was:

Me: Okay. We just need to sit down and look for a place in our guidebook.

Shawn (sitting down and opening his bag): Wait. What guidebook?

Me (with disgust): Our Spain guidebook.

Shawn: (pointed stare)

Me: (blank stare back)

Shawn: Jennifer, we’re in Rome.

Me: Oh. Yeah.

Hilarious after the fact, but at that point it was after 11pm and we had gotten up at 4:30am that morning. So cut me some slack. We did eventually make it to Spain. Photos and details will be forthcoming.

But within hours, I was in love with the city. Tallinn has officially been entered on my list of favorite places that I’ve visited. Here’s why:

It’s not too big. I hadn’t realized how much the hugeness of Kyiv has been bothering me until I got to someplace smaller. You can get around easily and the traffic’s not insane. In fact, Shawn and I almost had heart attacks on the spot when cars stopped for us to cross the street. Common courtesy and a respect for traffic laws – you have to love it.

It’s beautiful. We visited a couple different parts of the city and it was all lovely. Old Town is amazing and has one of the best preserved medieval walls in Europe. It was fun just to wander the streets, get completely lost, and then find that we knew where we were all along. The second day we headed a little further from the city center, saw some great parks and beaches, and wandered through the ruins of a 15th century convent. Very cool and not quite like anything I’ve seen before.

It feels like a hidden treasure. With the exception of the cruise ship crowd that took over Old Town on Monday, there were very few tourists. We went in two different museums and found that we were the only people there. When we got to the above mentioned convent ruins, there was only one other couple exploring it. Burma is the only other place where I have felt like I was seeing something really interesting and wasn’t completely annoyed by all the other tourists there with me.

It’s in the EU. So a lot of the people speak English (although we did switch to Russian once or twice) and there are modern amenities. Our hotel was great – it had a nature theme, which I loved. And we got to see two movies – in English!

Yeah. It’s love.