At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners

I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world

2011-06-23T05:44:00.000-05:00

Thank you Socrates for that one. Although I agree with the sentiment, for at least one week I was able to experience Greece, and let me tell you, if you have to be a citizen from some country, you could do worse.

So, I spent a little over a week in Greece with the Moms. Two full days in Athens and then four more in beautiful Santorini (see above), an island five hours by fast ferry from Athens. I wasn't a very good tourist to be honest. Or I was, depending on your perspective. While we did a couple of the requisite museums and ruins, we also spent quite a lot of time by the pool and the ocean, just relaxing with one or five bottles of Mythos. I don't really have a lot to say about the trip, other than it was a wonderful break with my Moms (love you Moms!) and I'd go back in a heartbeat, but I'll leave you with some more images. Enjoy!

Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time

2011-06-01T09:52:00.000-05:00

Just over one month since my last post. Not too bad.

My latest Oman adventure took me to Snake Canyon (for us furriners) or Wadi Bani Awf for locals. No snakes to be seen, it gets its name from its narrow and winding trajectory. Yet again, I had a blast. There was quite a group of us, maybe twenty in total. I was really worried about the heat; all that week it had hit 115 everyday (dry heat, but still). But within about twenty minutes of starting the hike, I cooled down, never to feel hot again for the rest of the day. Here's why:

No that's not me jumping. The only person who had a water-proof camera took about 200 pictures...of his girlfriend primarily (Shout out ST. Much love!), so just photo-shop (or go really old school and IMAGINE) me into this picture. But you see why the heat wasn't a problem. We spent the entire four hours of the hike soaking wet.

There were four or five jumps like this one into deep pools of water, and a couple of slides as well. All naturally-occurring, and there were some very hairy rock formations to navigate. Nothing requiring any special equipment, but not for the faint of heart either. Should any amateurs attempt this hike, you really need to take someone who's done it before, because some of the hand/footholds in the rock are tricky or hard to find. We had several guys along who had hiked the canyon before, and they were super helpful (Shout out MC, CM, and AaS!).

Several parts required swimming, including about 250 meters through this awesome cave:

So no snakes, but Cynthia (I finally named my car!) pulled a flat on the gravel road into the canyon. Thank God for the U.S. Marine Corps, who had the spare on in ten minutes flat (Shout out NC and SS!). But there were some tense minutes driving at a snail's pace back to the paved road, terrified the donut wouldn't hold. But she did, and everyone made it back to Muscat in one piece.

A couple more pictures, including a group shot of us at the tail end of the hike. If you squint really hard you can see me in the red bathing suit on the left.

I really love this country!!! Next, off to Greece with the Moms. Will post upon my return.

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea

2011-04-14T06:46:00.004-05:00

Sifah Beach is about an hour's drive from Muscat on some pretty hairy mountain roads. But the drive is worth it. The beach itself is set with the mountains as a backdrop; and it's pretty quiet, there's usually no more than three or four other groups of people around. A day at Sifah is fun, but it's just a day at the beach. Sifah's real beauty starts when the sun goes down. Due to (insert long marine biology explanation here), the water is filled with phosphorescent plankton. The waves crashing on the beach look like they have electricity running across them, and when you go in the water, moving your arms creates star trails. I wish I had some actual video from Sifah of this phenomenon, but to get an idea of what this looks like, check out this YouTube video, taken by some guy in Texas. It's much more intense in person, easily one of the top five experiences of my life.

I do have some daytime video and pics of Sifah. I've been camping there a couple of times:

And I've been just to spend the day.

Take a look at this crab digging a hole. There were easily five or six of these guys just on the stretch of beach in front of us.

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once

2011-03-20T12:29:00.008-05:00

8 months =
Beach!

New car
Road trip
Birmingham
Move across 9 time zones
New job

Cairo

New niece :)

Istanbul

Boyfriend
Turtles laying eggs/hatching on beach
WikiLeaks
Phosphorescent plankton
Bryan Adams
Parents' trip canceled :(
Secretary Clinton visits!

Dubai

Ex-boyfriend
Parents visit :)

Arab Spring (even in a sleepy Sultanate)

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero

2010-07-13T22:00:00.002-05:00

I have three just ridiculously-talented brothers:

Brother #1 is a rocket scientist. Literally.

Brother #2 is a computer genius and polyglot.

Brother #3 is a rock star/guitar god.

Brother #3 came to visit this past weekend with his equally talented wife. He's currently touring with a country music band called Love & Theft (Top 10 country single "Runaway" last fall, available on iTunes), as one of the opening acts for Tim McGraw's Southern Voice Tour. #3 got backstage passes for the show in DC for me, his wife, and his best friend from childhood who happens to live in the DC area. Now I'm not--generally speaking--a country music fan (Johnny Cash always excepted), but I had an amazing time!

We got to watch his band's sound-check, just the three of us out front in an empty arena, and then watch the Love & Theft show from the sound board, absolute best seats in the house. We caught two glimpses of Tim McGraw backstage, once shirtless (and can I just say, my, oh my!) after a run, and one of Faith Hill, then caught Tim's show from a pretty kick-ass vantage point.

Sound-check:

#3's bandmates were really nice guys, I scored a U.S. Marshals' baseball hat and lapel pin (don't ask), got to eat cookie cake, and spend time with #3, who I haven't seen in over six months.

The rest of the weekend was really fun, too, although there were fewer celebrity sightings. But pool time, a Spanish victory at the World Cup, and a great dinner at a newly-discovered oyster bar in DuPont Circle rounded out just an amazingly chill couple of days. May all summer weekends be ever thus.

Six months plus...

2010-07-01T19:23:00.000-05:00

I suck. That's all your getting from me.

More later, but I thought I might let the more curious of you off of the hook. I'm still in DC, but on my ETD of August 30, 2010, I will be heading off to sunny, plucky, happy-go-lucky

Come on you ignorant Americans. Don't you remember 5th grade geography?

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

2009-12-23T10:02:00.001-06:00

Many of you may know, or have heard, about my living conditions when I was in the Peace Corps in Niger. See below my house and...ahem...bathroom facilities.

Now that I am a big, bad State Department employee, however, my housing will be much swankier. And--as an added bonus--I had a hand in building it myself! Check it out.

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

2009-12-16T16:00:00.000-06:00

After using PCs for years, I recently purchased a MacBook. Apple is not paying me anything to say this:

Go out and get one immediately!

It is wonderful, and I'm already organizing all my old docs/pics/videos that have been sitting inert on my hard drive for years.

The above picture was taken Summer '08. I was studying Arabic in Morocco, and the program I was with took us to a workshop that trained people in traditional Moroccan crafts. These items are the work product of some of the jewelers/metalworkers-in-training. The hand is the Hand of Fatima (also known as the hamsa), which is a protective symbol in some Muslim cultures, similar to the superstition of "knocking on wood" in the West. It is used to ward off the Evil Eye. Interestingly (I think), most cultures seem to have something in this vein. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, the women would lightly spank each other's children at random (never at all roughly) to indicate something along the lines of "this child is ugly and no good" in order to fool the Evil Eye into thinking that it shouldn't "take" (read: kill) that particular child. Anyway, I thought this depiction was a particularly beautiful piece of work, and so I've included it in today's post, whose theme is Protection. A few things:

1. I just found out that--due to an increase in al-Qaeda activity in parts of Niger (nowhere near where I was)--several volunteers have been removed from their villages by the Peace Corps out of safety concerns and the volunteers either reassigned in-country or given the option to leave. The newest training group--which arrived only a few weeks ago and had not been posted--was sent to Madagascar. This is unfortunate for a lot of reasons, not least of which because the Peace Corps has had 45 years of uninterrupted service in Niger.

2. I'll be driving to DC in two weeks to start my new job. During the winter. Probably in the middle of an ice storm. And most of my baggage is arriving separately. Lots of opportunity for disaster, although I will be taking out some personal property insurance. Fingers crossed (another cultural protection superstition!).

3. Small rant: I am really getting tired of people acting horrified when I mention that I'm joining the Foreign Service and likely to be posted overseas. Or saying: "Your poor parents! They'll be so worried," or asking me if I'm not concerned. Not everyone reacts this way, of course, but for those who do: CUT IT OUT! I think this is an amazing opportunity, one I've worked hard to achieve for years. And despite the myriad scenarios you've conjured up in your head concerning terrorists or exotic diseases, I will remind you that statistically you (and I mean you, and not just "people") are much more likely to die in a car accident (although God forbid) driving home from work on a rainy day than I am to be involved in the things that you are imagining. So chill, and contemplate the Helen Keller quote, which is today's post's subject heading. Rant over.

Thank you for your time. I'll be here all week...and then some.

All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move

2009-12-11T09:00:00.000-06:00

I'm Class III.

Nothing too exciting to report, but a couple of minor developments, which I thought I would document here as it's been almost a month since my last post.

1) I signed a lease on an apartment in Arlington, Virginia for the duration of my training in D.C. Sight unseen, but other Foreign Service employees have previously lived here and gave major kudos to the landlord, so I feel like it's a fairly safe bet. Right across the Key Bridge from Georgetown, half a block from the metro, fully furnished, and--best of all--fully paid for by our great government! At least as long as I'm in training.

2) I finished all the paperwork that State sent me. This may not sound very exciting, but it took easily twice as long as finding the apartment did, and so warrants a stand-alone bullet point, in my opinion.

In non-job-related news, as 'tis the season and all that, and some of you might be brimming with holiday goodwill, here's a great resource for determining where to let some of that goodwill spill (rhymes!). I always check it out before I donate any money to a new charity.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/

It rates charities by a whole range of complicated criteria, but the bottom line is that it assures that a high percentage of the money received goes to the purpose of the charity, rather than administrative costs or fund-raising. And you can search for charities by themes (eg children, veterans, environment) or geographical location.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

Diplomat - a person having failed to secure an office domestically who is given one by the government on condition that (s)he leave the country

2009-11-13T12:05:00.000-06:00

My apologies to Ambrose Bierce for having tweaked his words to make them fit my situation.

It's official. I received my start date from the State Department on Monday. My training starts in Washington, DC on January 4, 2010. I'll be doing general training for 5 weeks, at the end of which I'll find out my posting. Then 3-8 months of additional post-specific training (language, culture, technical, etc.) before I'm shipped overseas.

Very excited this 15 month-long process has finally come to an end. Even more excited to be heading back to DC (as most of you know, I lived there during my undergraduate years).

I'll be posting more as I know more, and, if I'm very motivated, maybe even a picture or two.

To succeed in other trades, capacity must be shown; in the law, concealment of it will do

2009-11-05T09:29:00.000-06:00

Unlike me!!!!!!!

New York: the first bar I've passed in my life.

Sailing Away from Safe Harbors

2009-10-30T12:18:00.000-05:00

Well, hopefully. Many of you know that I applied to the U.S. Foreign Service over a year ago and I think I finally see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Nothing is ever certain, and I hate to hatch my baskets before the chickens can count the eggs (especially with any institution as nebulous as the federal government), but it looks like I will be heading off to training in Washington, DC in early '10. No word on eventual posting until after that.