Wordless Wednesday

Miniature city

The first 3 days of our 5 day weekend were largely consumed with chores. There were too many things that absolutely had to be done before I left next week. We got outside every day, but the outings were largely brief and close (major exception being shashlik ... it was important to me to do that one last time, and there's still a chance we might go one last, last time).

Today the sun was shining, and I just had to get out. I suggested we metro to Gorkovskaya and see if we could find the miniature replicas of the major buildings in Piter that's supposed to be behind the metro. If not, there's always Peter and Paul Fortress, the Artilliary Museum or the zoo. The kids love riding the metro, it could be an outing all on its own. So we threw some things into a bag and off we went. It is remarkably freeing to go out with the family with no stroller and everything we need fits into a large purse. As that was packed, however, I took my leather backpack.

I hadn't realized it was actually a miniature of the city. Shiny, polished marble represents the rivers and canals. Grassy areas are parks and a couple of the major ones, like the Summer Garden, had its polished marble "pond" laid out.  The buildings are where they are supposed to be. We read an article a couple of months ago about how this was a gift to the city but the city never did anything about it and vandalism was destroying the place. Today everything was cleaned up, if Spilled Blood lacked color, and a gentleman with a megaphone kept anyone from touching the displays. Or rather, he yelled at everyone as they touched the displays.

 It was warm enough to be without jackets in the sun. The kids had the best time running around town. Zoltan even got on his belly to "swim" in the Neva. We got lunch in a nearby cafe and home in time for nap only a little late.

Troubleshooting

The latch on our dryer broke and it's a long holiday weekend here so I have 2 thick strips of masking tape keeping the dryer door shut so the wet stuff doesn't get moldy. At one point the tape stopped sticking and it turns out the dryer is happy to operate while the door is wide open. I learn something new every day.

Wordless Wednesday

Tickets!

I finally got confirmation from CWT that my and Alex's tickets are changed. I went into the airlines' web sites and got us seats together (except for the 40 minute flight where no non-premium seats were available. Sure, some stranger can sit next to the 5 year old on the 19-seater). This is really happening. Tomorrow is Alex's last day at school due to the long holiday. We're both sad and excited together, and having lots of talks about how that's normal and OK.

Security Clearance, for the nth time

The joining-the-foreign-service process is like a marathon. Every step you successfully take leads to more, and just when you think you see the finish line you realize it was a mirage and really it's still several hurdles ahead. OK that's a mixed metaphor, the process is so long and arduous one metaphor isn't enough to capture it all.

Although more and more spouses of FSOs are joining the foreign service, the majority of the ones I know of declined to use their "deferrment" option and instead take the first A-100 class they can. With an 18 month "ageing off" window from being put on the register to being dropped off, and the security clearance we get when mere hopefuls has a different expiration date from the one we get as actual FS employees, it means not too many people are in the situation of having their clearance expire before they either join A-100 or drop off the register. I am one of those rare individuals.

The first time I asked my Registrar about what to do, she told me nothing could be done until after my current clearance expired. This would mean, with certainty, I would not make it into the January 2014    
A-100 class, which has been my hope and dream since the day I learned I passed the language exam.

Then I remembered. Another EFM/FSO actually went through this exact same thing! And I sort of know his wife through the blogosphere! So I quickly got in touch and this lovely couple were so incredibly helpful and specific and the EFM/FSO said it was OK to reference him specifically when I spoke with my Registrar and even gave me some diplomatically worded ways to say "No, really, I AM right" and ....

I called my Registrar, explained why I was taking her time when we'd already exchanged a handful of emails on this exact topic, and dropped some names and dates. After putting me on hold for maybe 2 minutes, she came back to me and said I could start the process within the week or two and even, kindly, suggested I email her to remind her next week if she hadn't sent me her part of the process yet.

I am giddy. One hurdle smoothly cleared. And all because I "waste time" reading blogs.

Congress

I'm reading David McCullough's John Adams. Nearly to the end, I just found my very most favorite quotation, "Having failed at nearly everything he ever tried, he had lately been elected to Congress."

Not much seems to have changed in 200 years.

This isn't how I wanted it to end

Our family is supposed to depart St Petersburg, likely forever, in June.

But instead, Alex and I have to curtail. We thought we could medevac, but it is within the month before PCS and therefore we can't. When we leave in less than 2 weeks, we are not coming back.

We had plans for May, one of the best months in Piter. Alex was supposed to perform in one last school production, which would have been a goodbye for everyone as this is the last year of detsky sad and the kids all scatter to different schools next year. We were supposed to have time to revisit favorite places and share meals with friends. And try to eat up some of this load of food we accumulated.

Most of Russia will shut down May 1 and not reopen until after we're gone. People go away on vacation. Alex's last day with some friends may well be tomorrow. We're lucky that when faced with medical problems that nobody local can figure out, we have the opportunity to travel elsewhere. We are lucky that although we now have an odd, uncomfortable block of time in the USA without husband, son, or any more stuff than we can fit into 2 suitcases, we have plenty of options of where to go and what to do. We know that we're only cutting a month off the end. But this month was meant to be filled with goodbyes and will now, likely, be filled with a gaping silence.

Wordless Wednesday

Concert and Ballet and Hockey, oh my!

A couple of weeks ago we had what was for us a crazy busy weekend.

On Saturday, one of our Consulate colleagues performed in a cello concert (accompanied by a pianist - the teacher of several of the Consulate kids and a parent or two) at the CGR. Our game plan was that Terry and Alex would go and Z and I would stay home as it was naptime. Thus, I can't say much about the performance other than everyone reports it was very good and there is video I hope to view. When Z woke from his nap the first thing he said was "Can I bring doggie [stuffed animal] to the big house [CGR]?" So we went, hoping the concert had ended by the time we arrived. It had. So we got to hang out with

The next day we went to the children's ballet production of Sleeping Beauty at the Gorky Culture Palace out in a part of town where we had never been. Because the dancers were kids, some of the spectacular moves that make me love that ballet so much were toned down, but overall Alex and I enjoyed it, the boys got antsy.

We rushed home from there to get the kids a bit of naptime, because when we woke them we were off to hockey! Terry's been playing on an intramural type league and that Sunday evening was "skate with your kids" night. Alex couldn't participate as she was still in the cast and Zoltan was very eager outside the rink, very iffy inside. In the end Zoltan skated a tiny bit and we all got to see Terry play a bit and I got photos and video that will probably never see the light of day. A couple of the other kids inspired ours and they both said they want to skate more. I'm pretty sure Alex would have been on the ice if she could have. So, if we're here when they do another round, it will be another family night.