What were the odds? Saturday we went to the zoo for the very first time ever even though we have lived here 3 years. Monday when I come home I'm chatting with our nanny about what she and Zoltan did that day. She had taken him to the zoo and was so surprised he seemed to know exactly where everything was, where to enter the buildings (some had entrances to the side almost behind the building - you had to know where to go). It's been a zoo-tastic week for big Z!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Shashlik season
The parks are open after the April "drying out" and the weather is increasingly sunny and occasionally warm. As a true Petersburgian, I strive to be outdoors every possible reasonable minute while the sun shines and the temperature crosses the freezing threshold. The best way to do that? Shashlik in the park.
Each of the last 2 weeks we have been able to get out to the park once for dinner, good company for us AND the kids and the freshest air in Tsentralny Rayon (the central region of the city).
Bedtime always gets pushed back on these nights, especially when they are too filthy from playing and ice cream to be put to bed as is. I didn't get good shots of the kids during the evening, but here's Zoltan's poor jacket, victim to his inability to eat ice cream from a stick. Lesson learned - next time we try a cone.
Each of the last 2 weeks we have been able to get out to the park once for dinner, good company for us AND the kids and the freshest air in Tsentralny Rayon (the central region of the city).
Bedtime always gets pushed back on these nights, especially when they are too filthy from playing and ice cream to be put to bed as is. I didn't get good shots of the kids during the evening, but here's Zoltan's poor jacket, victim to his inability to eat ice cream from a stick. Lesson learned - next time we try a cone.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Leningrad Zoo
Budapest it ain't, but it wasn't nearly as traumatic and depressing as I had been led to believe. Some areas are still from the 1900s and it was hard to even look at the animals caged therein (zebra, wildebeest, I am talking about you), but other areas were sufficient for the animals who were clearly content and even happy. It was interesting to watch the tiger tear into the meat-laden raw limb of something. The petting zoo, always a hit, was full of happy goats - as you can see.
We hadn't known there was a small amusement park inside the zoo. Zoltan wanted a turn on one of the rides for his "treat". Alex got cotton candy - her first - and loved it. We hadn't expected to stay so long but it was a good half day's adventure. We wanted to save things like Elagin with its playground for when Alex can take full advantage of it (maybe even throwing her bike in the trunk to ride the trails - the No Bikes prohibition does not seem to hold true for little kids).
Some other small victories:
The baby polar bear was cute as can be.
We hadn't known there was a small amusement park inside the zoo. Zoltan wanted a turn on one of the rides for his "treat". Alex got cotton candy - her first - and loved it. We hadn't expected to stay so long but it was a good half day's adventure. We wanted to save things like Elagin with its playground for when Alex can take full advantage of it (maybe even throwing her bike in the trunk to ride the trails - the No Bikes prohibition does not seem to hold true for little kids).
Some other small victories:
- noting that Skazka Dom, a fairytale museum/experience, it literally next door to the zoo entrance. We're saving that one for a rainy or wintry day as it's indoors, but our friends' kids absolutely loved it and we weren't sure where it was.
- Being able to ask completely grammatically correctly where was the entrance to the zoo, and understanding that the family we asked wanted to know the same thing as the entrance they just passed wasn't yet open.
- Also being able to answer completely correctly directions to the only cotton candy stall actually serving cotton candy when a lady saw Alex eating hers.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Nipple
I am supremely new to "foreign service blogging" as a community. In fact, I am pretty sure my readership is still entirely made up of family. I haven't even put up the standard FS blogger disclaimer because my mom knows I have no official capacity to say anything about anything. I am also pretty new at actually talking about thoughts and opinions on my blog, previously sticking to travelogues and the cute things the kids say and do.
But here's the thing. This is a "Foreign Service blog" anyway. No matter who hears it, thinks it, or believes it. No matter if there isn't a single actual or potential member of the Foreign Service who reads it, has ever read it, or has even heard of it. When one member of the family becomes paid by the US Government to be in the Foreign Service, everyone else is immediately recruited. What my children and I say and do is being watched (and not just in the spy thriller way). I bite my tongue when, in the USA, I wouldn't. We're not just along for the ride, we are part of it.
One source of frustration for me has always been meeting FS people, either paid or family, who are surprised by some facet of our life that is easily discovered through any of many online or print resources. As an academic at heart, I research everything thoroughly. The more important the issue, the more important is having full access to all relevant facts.
There is a theme here. There is a reason I'm ranting about this in a post entitled Nipple. Gimme a minute.
The #1 reason FSO/FSS leave the Foreign Service is family issues. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to train and security clear each person. It's really in everyone's interest to be sure that person intends to stay. If the spouse is unhappy, and said Officer/Specialist still likes said spouse, that staying is less likely.
Blogs are one of the very best ways to learn about the real nitty gritty of FS life. You have hundreds of people writing about their actual daily life. Living "on the economy" is very different from living somewhere as part of the FS community. It matters to know what it's like. It matters to enter an A-100 class with every literate family member having some sense of what's coming up. Because what happens to the Officer/Specialist happens to the family. We get separated and employees go to places where they will be shot at. We DON'T get separated and family members come down with dread diseases, risk kidnapping and muggings on a scale not one USA city can match, or our parents die while we're still on the flight back to be with them during their last days.
One member of our community, one of the earliest and best Foreign Service Bloggers, was recently removed from the blogroll State uses as a recruitment tool. Jen Dinoia's story is here and here. The gist is, receiving the diagnosis of breast cancer while your husband is on an unaccompanied tour is too personal and not FS enough. One specific example of inappropriate content was her mention of "nipple cozies". The odd thing is that the story itself, how DOS let her husband curtail from an AIP assignment, found him a job in DC to be with her throughout the ordeal, and MED working to find a suitable onward assignment the entire family could go to, is a great recruitment tool - a story of how State put families first.
Here's some more bloggers who are writing about this in solidarity with Jen, much more eloquently that I have.
Here's from Life After Jerusalem: What makes a blog an FS blog?
And Connie at Whale Ears and Other Wonderings: Not FS Enough
And Sadie Abroad: Nippletastic: A Rant for FS Bloggers
And Noble Glomads: Don't tell us who is relevant to us
And The Wandering Drays: "Nipped in the blog"
And Well That was Different: It's the Little Things
Four Globetrotters: Nipples, Nipples, Everywhere
dp's Blog gives us: I guess I'm not as important as I once assumed
But here's the thing. This is a "Foreign Service blog" anyway. No matter who hears it, thinks it, or believes it. No matter if there isn't a single actual or potential member of the Foreign Service who reads it, has ever read it, or has even heard of it. When one member of the family becomes paid by the US Government to be in the Foreign Service, everyone else is immediately recruited. What my children and I say and do is being watched (and not just in the spy thriller way). I bite my tongue when, in the USA, I wouldn't. We're not just along for the ride, we are part of it.
One source of frustration for me has always been meeting FS people, either paid or family, who are surprised by some facet of our life that is easily discovered through any of many online or print resources. As an academic at heart, I research everything thoroughly. The more important the issue, the more important is having full access to all relevant facts.
There is a theme here. There is a reason I'm ranting about this in a post entitled Nipple. Gimme a minute.
The #1 reason FSO/FSS leave the Foreign Service is family issues. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to train and security clear each person. It's really in everyone's interest to be sure that person intends to stay. If the spouse is unhappy, and said Officer/Specialist still likes said spouse, that staying is less likely.
Blogs are one of the very best ways to learn about the real nitty gritty of FS life. You have hundreds of people writing about their actual daily life. Living "on the economy" is very different from living somewhere as part of the FS community. It matters to know what it's like. It matters to enter an A-100 class with every literate family member having some sense of what's coming up. Because what happens to the Officer/Specialist happens to the family. We get separated and employees go to places where they will be shot at. We DON'T get separated and family members come down with dread diseases, risk kidnapping and muggings on a scale not one USA city can match, or our parents die while we're still on the flight back to be with them during their last days.
One member of our community, one of the earliest and best Foreign Service Bloggers, was recently removed from the blogroll State uses as a recruitment tool. Jen Dinoia's story is here and here. The gist is, receiving the diagnosis of breast cancer while your husband is on an unaccompanied tour is too personal and not FS enough. One specific example of inappropriate content was her mention of "nipple cozies". The odd thing is that the story itself, how DOS let her husband curtail from an AIP assignment, found him a job in DC to be with her throughout the ordeal, and MED working to find a suitable onward assignment the entire family could go to, is a great recruitment tool - a story of how State put families first.
Here's some more bloggers who are writing about this in solidarity with Jen, much more eloquently that I have.
Here's from Life After Jerusalem: What makes a blog an FS blog?
And Connie at Whale Ears and Other Wonderings: Not FS Enough
And Sadie Abroad: Nippletastic: A Rant for FS Bloggers
And Noble Glomads: Don't tell us who is relevant to us
And The Wandering Drays: "Nipped in the blog"
And Well That was Different: It's the Little Things
Four Globetrotters: Nipples, Nipples, Everywhere
dp's Blog gives us: I guess I'm not as important as I once assumed
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Alex is too clever
So, Alex broke her arm about a week ago. Since then things have been interesting:
- Since the break she has been asking for help getting dressed. Especially getting shirts over the cast, I had assumed she needed assistance. Last week was a holiday Monday through Wednesday, then Thursday was her doctor's checkup so her first day of school was Friday, and I picked her up before naptime. Monday was her first full day back. She loves gym class, and it's the last class of the day so I made sure to get to school before class as I knew she couldn't participate. Imagine my surprise when I got to school and found her all dressed and ready for gym! I asked the teacher if she was able to participate and she started laughing. No, of course not. What happened was that when all the other kids got changed for gym, Alex just got herself changed too. Little sneak!
But wait, it gets better.
Monday evening around or after dinner time she started complaining that her leg hurt. Like with her arm, there's no outward sign of anything wrong, no swelling, discoloration, she can wriggle her foot and toes. Nobody had witnessed anything that could have caused it and Alex kept saying she didn't remember what she did or when it started. Suspicious. We put her to bed.
The next morning she keeps it up. VERY consistent. Continually refusing to put any weight on her leg, complaining it hurts to much, etc. I tell her we'll have to go to the doctor and get an x-ray on her leg if it hurts so much. I call the Consulate doctor at 8:30am to ask what to do. In the end, the Consulate doctor says she'd be more comfortable if the same doctor who did the last x-rays did these and he didn't work until 6pm so we'd have to have the appointment then. Alex says she doesn't hurt when she just sits, only when she puts weight on the foot. I tell the nanny to get her to the park, she can stay in the stroller if she hurts. My nanny offers to bring us to a regular (public) clinic and we can get an x-ray for 200 rubles. I say it's OK, we'll wait til 6pm. She suggests we bandage the leg for more support. I find an Ace bandage (talk about being prepared!) and we wrap it up. Alex is now willing to put a teensy bit of weight on her leg and says it helps a little. I head out to work, only 1/2 hour late.
A couple of hours later my nanny texts me "We are in the playground. Alex forgets about her leg." One hour later "I took off the elastic, Alex complains it's too tight, now she is walking around the house normal."
That little bugger. But wait, it gets even better.
I come home at night and she's on the floor playing with something. When the nanny leaves she gets up and STARTS LIMPING.
She's only 4. How will we survive her teenage years?
- Since the break she has been asking for help getting dressed. Especially getting shirts over the cast, I had assumed she needed assistance. Last week was a holiday Monday through Wednesday, then Thursday was her doctor's checkup so her first day of school was Friday, and I picked her up before naptime. Monday was her first full day back. She loves gym class, and it's the last class of the day so I made sure to get to school before class as I knew she couldn't participate. Imagine my surprise when I got to school and found her all dressed and ready for gym! I asked the teacher if she was able to participate and she started laughing. No, of course not. What happened was that when all the other kids got changed for gym, Alex just got herself changed too. Little sneak!
But wait, it gets better.
Monday evening around or after dinner time she started complaining that her leg hurt. Like with her arm, there's no outward sign of anything wrong, no swelling, discoloration, she can wriggle her foot and toes. Nobody had witnessed anything that could have caused it and Alex kept saying she didn't remember what she did or when it started. Suspicious. We put her to bed.
The next morning she keeps it up. VERY consistent. Continually refusing to put any weight on her leg, complaining it hurts to much, etc. I tell her we'll have to go to the doctor and get an x-ray on her leg if it hurts so much. I call the Consulate doctor at 8:30am to ask what to do. In the end, the Consulate doctor says she'd be more comfortable if the same doctor who did the last x-rays did these and he didn't work until 6pm so we'd have to have the appointment then. Alex says she doesn't hurt when she just sits, only when she puts weight on the foot. I tell the nanny to get her to the park, she can stay in the stroller if she hurts. My nanny offers to bring us to a regular (public) clinic and we can get an x-ray for 200 rubles. I say it's OK, we'll wait til 6pm. She suggests we bandage the leg for more support. I find an Ace bandage (talk about being prepared!) and we wrap it up. Alex is now willing to put a teensy bit of weight on her leg and says it helps a little. I head out to work, only 1/2 hour late.
A couple of hours later my nanny texts me "We are in the playground. Alex forgets about her leg." One hour later "I took off the elastic, Alex complains it's too tight, now she is walking around the house normal."
That little bugger. But wait, it gets even better.
I come home at night and she's on the floor playing with something. When the nanny leaves she gets up and STARTS LIMPING.
She's only 4. How will we survive her teenage years?
Victory Day
May 8 commemorates the day that WWII ended in Europe. As the capitulation document was signed after midnight Moscow time, May 9 is Victory Day in Russia.
In St Petersburg, there is a memorial ceremony on May 8 at Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery. This is the cemetery where about 420,000 civilians and 50,000 soldiers of the Leningrad Front were buried in 186 mass graves.
At this memorial ceremony the full panoply of military, religious and diplomatic representatives are present and all members of the diplomatic corps lay wreaths. As it would be unseemly for the Consul General to carry his own wreath, volunteers are needed to carry it. Terry and I both volunteered and we both got the job.
We'd never been to the cemetery before, and it was of course one of those days that makes death all the more poignant - clear, sunny, warm in the sun and cool in the shade. Trees were starting to bud and some green leaves promised flowers to come. The ceremony was solemn and emotionally moving, very simple and of course we didn't really understand much of it. Our attention was largely focused on not dropping the wreath, which was not overwhelmingly heavy but awkward to carry. I am happy to say it made its way to its final resting place intact.
Then comes the surreal part. One of the honorary consuls general (a Russian) invited all the other diplomats to his car for a drink. Note I don't think it was quite noon yet, or maybe just on the other side. When we arrived we found a table set up with vodka, wine and zakuski (appetizers/snack, such as blini, pickles, tea-type sandwiches). There were many toasts that Terry and I are happily insignificant enough that nobody cared whether we drank or not, so we each got away with nursing a glass of wine.
Basically, we tailgated the memorial service. Woot woot to Russia!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Happy Mother's Day
It's now the tail end of Mother's Day. This is how I celebrated it, thanks to the hilarious and fabulous ladies at Rants from Mommyland:
1.I donated to World Birth Aid (http://worldbirthaid.org/) in my mother's name. This was her Mother's Day gift. I promise she didn't get shafted, she got a great gift that lets her shove her adorable grandchildren in anyone's face at anytime - a brag/charm bracelet with their photos.
The organization does one thing, make and distribute Clean Birth Kits to mothers without access to proper sanitation to avoid post-birth infection, which often leads to death. A whopping 1 in 13 women in sub-Saharan Africa die post-childbirth due to complications during and after childbirth. For comparison, in industrialized nations that number is 1 in 4,100.
2.I signed up to give another momma the Mother's Day she was due. A bunch of the other Rants readers made super awesome gift boxes full of personalized stationary, or bath salts and lip gloss, or thoughtful handwritten cards giving encouragement. Me? I live overseas and mail takes a month to hit the States. I had a week to organize and deliver something. So ... Starbucks gift card from me. With a Twitter-sized card allotment, so I couldn't say much more than Happy Mother's Day. But, she'll get it and hopefully she'll get it as I called myself her Mother Pucker which only makes sense if you know about the Mother Pucker project. And now you can read all about it.
3. Terry made waffles for breakfast, Alex put on a sock with a heart on it because she loves me, I got to go to Ikea and buy stuff I wanted that Terry very much didn't want and he didn't argue with me at all, and I got a nap. I got hyacinth plants for International Women's Day and a handmade card from Alex back then so I can't really complain about Mother's Day. It was everything I wanted or needed.
1.I donated to World Birth Aid (http://worldbirthaid.org/) in my mother's name. This was her Mother's Day gift. I promise she didn't get shafted, she got a great gift that lets her shove her adorable grandchildren in anyone's face at anytime - a brag/charm bracelet with their photos.
The organization does one thing, make and distribute Clean Birth Kits to mothers without access to proper sanitation to avoid post-birth infection, which often leads to death. A whopping 1 in 13 women in sub-Saharan Africa die post-childbirth due to complications during and after childbirth. For comparison, in industrialized nations that number is 1 in 4,100.
2.I signed up to give another momma the Mother's Day she was due. A bunch of the other Rants readers made super awesome gift boxes full of personalized stationary, or bath salts and lip gloss, or thoughtful handwritten cards giving encouragement. Me? I live overseas and mail takes a month to hit the States. I had a week to organize and deliver something. So ... Starbucks gift card from me. With a Twitter-sized card allotment, so I couldn't say much more than Happy Mother's Day. But, she'll get it and hopefully she'll get it as I called myself her Mother Pucker which only makes sense if you know about the Mother Pucker project. And now you can read all about it.
3. Terry made waffles for breakfast, Alex put on a sock with a heart on it because she loves me, I got to go to Ikea and buy stuff I wanted that Terry very much didn't want and he didn't argue with me at all, and I got a nap. I got hyacinth plants for International Women's Day and a handmade card from Alex back then so I can't really complain about Mother's Day. It was everything I wanted or needed.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Math major
Alex has trouble falling asleep. Usually I tell her to think of all the words she knows that start with A, then B, then C etc til she gets sleepy. Tonight she didn't want to do that so I told her to do addition tables, i.e., 1+1, 1+2, 1+3 etc up to 10, then 2+2, 2+3 etc.
She's 4!
Of course, one of the other October kids read a book today. Honest-to-goodness new book he'd never seen before, at the library. He's always been the smarty-pants of the bunch.
She's 4!
Of course, one of the other October kids read a book today. Honest-to-goodness new book he'd never seen before, at the library. He's always been the smarty-pants of the bunch.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Adventure and Mis-Adventure Vilnius: Sightseeing
Our main purpose for traveling to Vilnius was to spend time with our good friends, but of course one must go touristing when one visits a new city. On Friday we attempted to take a bus tour. On the company's web site the pickup time is listed as 10:30am. On the brochure we had, the pickup time is 10:30am. On the ad on our taxi's video monitor as we left the city, the pickup time is listed as 10:30am.
At 10:20am we met our friend at Town Hall Square (5 minutes from the hotel) and went to the pickup location. Pickup time: 10:15am. Grrrr. So we went on our own tour with me reading the Vilnius guide book out loud and my friend driving us around.
On also-hot Sunday we attempted to visit the Museum of Genocide Victims, housed in the former KGB headquarters. For some reason, I successfully go arts-ing (museums, ballet, etc) with my children individually, but when the whole family is together it's chaos. The stone blocks that form the building's outer walls have the names of the individuals who died in that place and their birth and death carved into the rock. I really wanted to get some photos but there was too much hysteria. The museum was interesting and definitely worth even the mere 30 minutes we spent there.
At 10:20am we met our friend at Town Hall Square (5 minutes from the hotel) and went to the pickup location. Pickup time: 10:15am. Grrrr. So we went on our own tour with me reading the Vilnius guide book out loud and my friend driving us around.
Here's the brick masterpiece of St Anne's Church.
Here's Cathedral Square.
And some random kitty cats
As mentioned previously, on what turned out to be a blistering hot Saturday my friend filled her car with us and her children and we jaunted out to Trakai Castle. Here it is:
On also-hot Sunday we attempted to visit the Museum of Genocide Victims, housed in the former KGB headquarters. For some reason, I successfully go arts-ing (museums, ballet, etc) with my children individually, but when the whole family is together it's chaos. The stone blocks that form the building's outer walls have the names of the individuals who died in that place and their birth and death carved into the rock. I really wanted to get some photos but there was too much hysteria. The museum was interesting and definitely worth even the mere 30 minutes we spent there.
Lastly, here's Terry carrying the kids off into the sunset on our last night there, at Belmontas restaurant. It's what Karl & Friedrich in Piter wishes it could be.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Pretty little princess
I asked my mom to send some light cotton summer dresses for Alex to wear. To the park, the playground, that kind of thing. Here's Alex modelling her favorite one.
And of course, whatever Alex does Zoltan must do too.
I admit, he's got a good curtsey. Think he's ready for an audience with the Queen?
And of course, whatever Alex does Zoltan must do too.
I admit, he's got a good curtsey. Think he's ready for an audience with the Queen?
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