Saturday at the Pool

Today is Saturday, March 24th and my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Ma! I went to bed last night at about 11pm and woke up this morning at 9:10am. That is the longest I have slept in a long, long time. I guess my body was really tired. I probably could have slept longer because the reason I got up was from a knock at my door to clean my room. I forgot to put the "do not disturb" sign on my door. Duh! I was actually glad she woke me up because I might have missed breakfast.

Breakfast for me was just a lot of bread products because my stomach has been hurting since about 8pm last night. I'm okay just ate something that didn't agree with me. I'm drinking lots of water so I don't get dehydrated if you know what I mean. Lunch was also a Clif Bar because I was nervous to eat anything else. I brought Clif and Luna bars to eat every day :)

This morning there was a bride and groom taking pictures around the hotel. It was neat. The bride was amazing in a typicaly wedding dress and the mom (I think) was dressed in this beautiful African Dress with a big, beautiful head piece. I wish I had my camera. I wanted to sneak a pic.:)

I went to the pool today and did a little reading and work. It was nice. The pool is really beautiful. Here is a pic (at Becs' request):

As I was sitting by the pool I was thinking how disappointing it was that there are no lizards here. At the last hotel I stayed at (La Palm) I saw several walking around the pool. Not to be out done by the La Palm lizards, a Labadi Beach lizard showed it's face as I was leaving the pool.

Tonight I have been invited to have dinner at a work colleague's house. She invited me over at 6pm and I plan to take a cab. Don't worry Ma, I asked the driver who has been taking me around during the work week if it was safe and he said "yes" and it should cost about $3.

My hotel has it's own private area on the beach as well. It's actually pretty nice. There is a bit more litter than I care to see but its not too bad and there are little sand colored crabs running around on the beach...like the ones we saw at Virginia Beach.

Tomorrow I plan to work more - maybe go to the pool and maybe tomorrow I will go to Global Mamas, the shop Rebecca recommended. Even if I don't go tomorrow I will definately go sometime next week. On Thursday, I am going to Cape Coast to visit staff at the University and I think there is a shop their too.

That's about it for Saturday. Still looking forward to getting home!

In Ghana (yes, again)

So my Ma asked if I would blog while I was away and I couldn't refuse. I know she is less interested in what I am doing than just wanting to know that I am safe. How could I refuse that?

So I left DC yesterday Tuesday, March 20 at 11pm (EST) and arrived in Accra, Ghana at 2:30pm (Ghana time) on Wednesday, March 21. As most of you know we just arrived home on Sunday morning from a week long cruise in the Caribbean which was too fab! Yes, I am a little crazy. I will try to put some pictures on the blog of our trip when I get home. Anyhoo, I had enough miles to upgrade my ticket to business class which made my trip a bazillion times betters. There really aren't words to describe how much better business class is on an overnight 12 hour plane ride. It's just so much more civilized. I could actually recline to sleeping position and slept about 6 hours on the plane. I NEVER sleep on planes. I'm dreading the plane ride home because I don't have enough miles to upgrade on the way back. Boo, sad.

It's 90 degrees here and humid. They will start their rainy season in about a month. The hotel I'm staying at is nice but I haven't really got to explore yet because I have so much darn work to do. I ate dinner in my room: grilled spicy chicken with jollof rice and have been working since I got here. The power went out while I was eating for about 40 seconds and went off while I typing but this time it was out for about 20-30 minutes. Ugh! I hate that part.

I have to say...getting a little tired of the work trips, especially the international travel. Not sure what i'm going to do about that right now. My poor little guys were in tears when I left. I miss them so much too (and my big guy).

Here is my room:

 

Bathroom

 Room 1

 Room 2

It is a much, much nicer room than the hotel I stayed at last time.

Good night!

10K Race and Cherry Blossoms

Before the race

This weekend we went down to Richmond because Jason was running in his first 10k (Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K). We drove down on Friday after work and school. Doris came with us but she ended up driving on her own. (We tried to get her to ride with us but she wanted to drive on her own.) It was a sad, sad, day for Doris. She couldn't get into the HOV lane and spent hours miserable on the highway. We met her 1/2 way down, about an hour away in Fredricksburg VA at the Red Robin. We got down there about 1.5 hours earlier and entertained ourselves at the Target and Five Below store (Aidan really, really wanted a basketball--who knew?!?). We had dinner and Doris' stress level went down by a thousand points. I rode with her the rest of the way and we got into Richmond at about 9:45pm. Marc and Cindy were waiting for us and they were so kind to put us all up and show us a super good time!

Jason getting ready to give five to Uncle Marc

Marc and Jason ran the race and their supporters (us!) were trying to catch them near the finish. Marc finished in 49 minutes and 19 seconds and Jason finished in (an amazing!) 59 minutes and 18 seconds! Marc came in 2,901 place and Jason came in 9,999 place. On the face of it one might think that is not so good but there were...wait for it, wait for it...41,314 registered participants!! We saw Jason about 200 yards from the finish line and when we saw him he was looking really good! He was running, and fast, and he had a smile on his face!!! He did amazing. Afterwards, he and Marck took a nap (as did Leo...to be fair he did get up really early) and Jason's knee was really aching. Today (Monday) he said it was feeling good. He even went to the gym today.

After the race

Later in the afternoon Cindy, Doris and I went to Careytown and shopped a little and when it started to rain we finished the shopping and went to Cafe Caturra for wine (great bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio) and snacks (breads and spreads). It was such a nice, nice weekend.

Right now is Cherry Blossom season so at work I took a nice little walk down to the tidal basin to see the beautiful, beautiful cherry blossoms. My new office is just about 5-7 minute walk from the basin. It's wonderful. In the second photo, you can also see how crowded the tidal basin is!

DC United (3) and Columbus Crew (1)

 

Last weekend we went to the DC United home opener. It was the most exciting DC United game we have ever attended. They scored 3 goals...more in one game than the sum of their first 10 games last season. Maybe that is an exageration but not by much. We had seats in the uber-fan area so we ended up moving to the other side of the field so that we could sit down for the second half of the game. Leo was cheering and getting all excited during the game and Aidan was remaining as cool as ever. Leo also kept looking for the cotton candy guy. Jason let us leave about 10 minutes early so that we could avoid the rush and get out of the stadium calmly and without the bum rush of a crowd. It was a fun game.

On the Sunday following, we got up and drove down to the Lincoln Memorial and ate breakfast on the steps between the Lincoln Memorial and the Potomac. We haven't been there in so long! Leo said, "What Mom? Has it been 5 years?" I told him that he remembers coming there so maybe it was about 1 year ago. Time has no meaning when you are five.

After we had breakfast, we took a trip to my new office. We dropped off some books, pictures and tres important papers. I really don't know why I kept some of the things from my old office and then brought them to my new office because I have the feeling I'm not going to use them but whatever...it was fun for the boys and Jason to see my office. The building is enormous. We figured out that you could walk around the building just on one floor and walk 0.6 miles. Lots of people walk at lunch and at the end of the day around the building.

8 days on the job

Officially, my new job started two weeks ago...on February 28. When I arrived I didn't even have a place to sit. Fortunately, I had planned to take the rest of the week off so that I could regroup and refocus and relax. My new organization was extremely kind.

My second day was then Monday, March 7. I arrived with an actual place to sit and to my surprise a telephone! The computer on the other hand was a totally different story. At 5pm on Tuesday, March 15th I finally entered the electronic age and have a computer. Could you imagine that it takes an organizations with 100,000 employees all over the world over 2 weeks to get an employee a computer? At this point there have probably been over 20 people involved in this process. Each day I met someone new who claims to be working on this computer request or who thinks they can help.

I feel like a new person connected to the world again. Okay so I can't really complain that much because I got an iPhone during the same time. (Love It!) But I digress... Today was an actual efficient and normal work day. I felt good. We had meetings and they went well. Reflecting, I can't believe I have really only been there for a week and half and I'm already telling people what they should do and how they should it (that is my job). I'm scared that my honeymoon phase is leaving too quickly. I was hoping for more time to reflect, read, and become aware. That seems to be slipping away so quickly.

I took a picture of my new cubicle. It was put together while I was out of the office. My colleagues, very kindly, were concerned with my privacy (because I have none) so they tried to help me with it. I took a picture with my old cell phone and I am trying to download the picture. Stay tuned because it results in a bit of a chuckle.

I hope everyone has a Happy St. Patty's Day. Inspired by Barb, I am cooking corned beef, cabbage and potatoes--only I am cooking it on Friday instead of tomorrow! There is only so much you can do on a week night.

mydogspace.com

New Beginnings

I have a new job. I started on Monday but I am taking the rest of the week off so I that I can reboot. On Monday, I spent most of the day filling out paperwork and taking a tour of my new building. I feel like a kid, getting to know my new building, figuring out where the bathroom is, where the cafeteria is and trying not to get lost.

It's fun and exciting and seems silly. I'm happy.

I miss my friends at my previous job but I know we will always be friends. Besides, I'm only 8 blocks away or so, on the other side of the national mall.

My great friends and colleagues took me out to lunch to celebrate new beginnings. I'm so fortunate to have such kind, fun, good humored, and thoughtful friends. We had a delicious meal at Oyamel and laughed and talked. It couldn't have been better.

(Doris, Amy, Becs, Sarah and Joan)

I'm hoping with my new job, that I will have more time to write on the blog and start again to share our goings on.

Elephants running amok in the streets of DC

On Tuesday, there were Elephants walking up 3rd Street outside my office! We heard they were coming so we tried to plan our lunch around their walk. We missed them when we were outside but we could see them from our 5th floor office! The circus is in town so they were marching them around the city. Fun

Weekend Update

FRIDAY: I was planning to stay at work a little late. Doris had left a little early to go to the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit. At about 5:55pm Becs sent me an email to ask if we wanted to have dinner at Mi Rancho in Silver Spring. I called Jason immediately and asked if he wanted to go too. Sometimes Friday's are tough for Jason to go out to dinner because he's had a long week at home but even though he had already cooked the boys a couple of burgers (though they hadn't eaten them yet) he was totally up for it. I sent an email back to Becs telling her "YES!!" She couldn't believe it. She thought it was totally a long shot and wasn't even going to ask us but I told her, "invite us to dinner where we don't have to cook and throw in margaritas and Jason and I will almost never say 'no'". Becs, Jake and I all rode the metro to the restaurant and Jason packed the boys in the car. Even with the rain, we had a great time. The pitcher of strawberry margaritas and Dos Equis helped but best of all it was the great company and Doris surprised us and showed up too (we texted her on her way to the restaurant).

SATURDAY: Saturday had it ups and downs. On the up side, we had a nice morning. Aidan and I played Wii tennis before breakfast. He said if he wins, I had to make him breakfast in bed. I took on that wager and ended up making him breakfast in bed. He loved it, took full advantage of me and acted like a king!

After getting ready we went into my office. Leo was so cute and asked "am I going to work with you?" I told him "yes" and his face lit up and he said, "thank you so much mommy. I get to go too? and Aidan?" He was so excited. The boys helped me clean up my desk. My cubicle was a disaster. It looked like a paper hurricane had landed in my cubicle. There were papers on the floor, on my desk, still sitting in my printer, in the overflowing recycle bin, everywhere! The boys had the run of the office and they loved it. They ran back and forth between my cubicle and the recycle, we filed stuff in the filing room (Aidan thinks the filing room is 'spooky'), we cleaned up my bookshelves, they washed my coffee cups, cleaned out my drawers, shredded papers, put books on other shelves and wiped down my countertops. Aidan and Leo loved it, Jason was a good sport and a super helper. Jason went to the potbelly's and got us sandwiches and we ate in our conference room. They asked if I had meetings in here and where I usually sit. The boys had so much fun that Aidan asked if we could go to my work on Sunday.

Aidan also had a birthday party to go to later in the afternoon. On our way home from work he asked if he could take a nap. I told him "yes" but that we were almost home and he had to go to his party. He started to cry and said he didn't want to go. Jason was frustrated because he hates it when Aidan rsvp's for a party and then the day of the party doesn't want to go. I hate it too but sometimes when you get there he warms up to it and ends up having a good time. I offered to take him but Aidan wanted Daddy to take him. So, nervously I watched them head out the door. Leo wanted to go to the party too but since he couldn't I promised him we would do something. We ended up making a St.Patrick's Day cake. Halfway through mixing the batter, I heard two car doors slam shut. I looked out the window and saw Aidan and Jason, unhappy as can be, walk up the stairs. Jason said Aidan cried when they got to the party and didn't want to go in so Jason took the present inside and said Aidan wasn't feeling well (which obviously is true). The birthday was at some sportsplex-a place Aidan had never been.

When Aidan came home, I told him he had to go to his room for a while. Surprisingly, he went without a fuss. I sent Jason to the book store and movies (this is clearly the only fun thing he got to do), Leo and I finished the cake, and I went up to talk to Aidan. I told him that the reason that we were upset was because he had told us earlier that he wanted to go the party so his friend's family paid money for Aidan to be at the party, they had planned for him to eat pizza and cake, so we had wasted their money and that most of all his friend was looking forward to him being at his birthday party and he was disappointed on his special day. If he RSVPs to a party it is important for him to go because people are planning on him being there. Jason said that even if they would have gone inside he would have hated it because it was loud and crowded and unfamiliar--all the things Aidan hates. I don't know if it was the right talk but it was the talk we had. The rest of the night went really well. They were all in a good mood, ate a super dinner (even Leo) and we frosted the chocolate cake with green frosting and put on green sprinkles.

SUNDAY: Aidan started swimming lessons again and again, it was another activity he didn't want to do. I didn't put up with that one. My whole shpeel about swimming is that once they can swim easily in the deep end of a pool without any help they can cut the swim lessons but until then they will go. It simply a matter of safety. No ifs and or buts. How parental is that? Sounds like something my parents would say.

After swimming the boys dropped me off at Doris' house for the monthly Creative Memories scrapbooking event. I had a great time but I realized where Aidan gets the anxiety of crowds and noise because there were lots of people at Doris' and lots of loud talking which towards the end gave me a little anxiety. I worked on Leo's first year album (no comments please) and made some great progress. I am on the very last month (February) and working on his 1st birthday party. I love the pictures. The boys are adorable and I can never get enough of looking at their baby pictures. They are too sweet for words. After I got home, as is tradition, we looked at the new pages I did and we looked at both their albums. They love looking at them too, maybe not as much as me but they like it.

While I was scrapbooking, Jason took the boys with rain boots and all to the airplane park. They walked around in the mud and the puddles for a little while. Jason sent me a cute picture of Aidan and Leo standing in the middle of a gigantic mud puddle.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Sorry there are no pictures.

Long time no blog

You can always tell when things are up in the Holma-Ritualo household without even talking to any of us. What are the clues? No blog posts for one. This past week has been a really long and tough week. Full of ups and downs. No just downs. Work has been tough. I have been staying until at least 7:30 every night and I leave not because I have finished what I needed to do but because I can not physically do any more. Or because if I stay longer I can not get a ride home because the boys will be a sleep. When these kinds of things happen I kind of disassociate myself from everything. I shut down. Riding the metro 15 stops or so is exhausting and lonely at night. Having someone turn the lights out on you in the office because they don't think any one is still in the office is just plain sad. Trying to manage to pull it together in front of your family after having an exhausting week takes so much will. Crying while talking to your sister and walking to Doris' house from the metro at 8:30 pm is kind of pathetic.

I am grateful for:
Having a job in this economy.
Having health insurance for my family.
Having two wonderful boys who still love their mom after she has been late at work every night this week.
Having a husband who only tries to make it easy for me and make me feel better.
Having a husband who keeps it all together.
Having a sister who doesn't care if she gets a call from a blubbering idiot.
Having family who love us.
Having bosses who appreciate and respect my work.
Having friends who I can lean on.
Glee
Shaun White
Nyquil
Sleep

Good night!
PS I will try to put pictures up of Leo's Birthday. Better late than never right?

Snow Update: Part III

Snowmaggedon 2010. Aidan's school has been cancelled through the remainder of the week and they had a scheduled day off to celebrate President's Day on the upcoming Monday. As you can imagine he was thrilled when they closed school for the rest of the week. He is starting to realize, however that the more school he gets off now the longer he has to stay at the end of the school year so he is excited but I think it is with mixed feelings. We are also off work today though I have been doing some work at home. I have to say that it has allowed me to actually get work done that I wouldn't normally have time to do in the office so in some ways this snow is just what I needed. I think others are thinking the same thing. I have 5 long evaluation reports that I had to read over the last two weeks and I just couldn't find time in the office to do it. I have finished 2.5 and will finish another 1.5 today. It is a huge relief to be honest.

Back to the snow report, Tuesday night we were expecting blizzard like conditions and another 8-12 feet of snow. It started to snow in the early evening around 6pm last night. It was very light and barely covered the car and the street. If it weren't for the 8-10 ft snow banks leftover from the weekend the snow would be nothing too spectacular.

Start of the snow Tuesday, February 9th at 8:55pm

At about 9am on Wednesday, February 10th it is snowing much harder, the wind gust are between 20 and 46 miles per hour depending on where you are and the visibility is down to 1/10 of a mile. Occasionally we can hear these huge gusts of wind and see the snow falling out of the trees and I am talking about huge amounts of snow because it is leftover from the last storm. I'm feeling a little nervous about losing our power but (knock on wood) we still have it.

Snowmaggedon: Wednesday, February 10th at 8:50am

As of this morning our car is covered with about 4-5 inches of snow and the roads are completely covered with snow. Just to give you some idea about road coverage, our parking area was plowed about an hour earlier and you still can not see the road way. They are telling everyone to stay inside. There are McDonald's and Starbucks which are staying closed for the entire day. Right now (at 9:51am) we are getting hit hard with snow.

Entertainment during the Blizzard of 2010. We have computers and Iron Man.

We are trying to figure out ways to entertain ourselves. I am updating the blog, Aidan is playing Wizard101 on the computer, Leo is playing with Iron Man and now Leo and Jason are playing Wii Lego Star Wars. I think I will make some white chicken chili today which sounds nice and warm and hearty (see recipe on the side bar-it's one of my favorites) and maybe we will make some cookies.

Snow Update: Part II

Terracotta Warriors Exhibit, National Geographic Museum

A couple of weeks ago we bought tickets to an exhibit at the National Geographic Museum called Terracotta Warriors. We also bought Jesse a ticket because he was supposed to be here too.

Here is a brief description:
Soldiers. Charioteers. Archers. Musicians. Generals. Acrobats. Nearly 2,000 years ago, thousands of life-size clay figures were buried in massive underground pits to accompany China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, into the afterlife. Their discovery outside the city of Xi'an in 1974 is one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20 century.

Since we have been couped up inside for a couple of days we thought we should venture out and see the exhibit. If the exhibit staff could get to the museum (OMG did I mention my office was closed today?!?!) certainly we could make it to the museum right? We did have a few obstacles in our way. Obstacle #1: Metro was only running underground. That means the metro closest to us was closed so we had to drive three metro stops toward the city before we could get on. I had heard on the news that Wisconsin Ave was pretty clear but that was SO untrue. The roads were a bit of a mess. They still had at least an inch of snow in many places, there was slush and standing water every where and 15 foot mounds of snow every where too. After jumping puddles and stomping in the slush we made it to the metro. No problem. Down in the metro was Obstacle #2: the metro was only running every 30 minutes. Okay no problem: we are prepared parents with electronics (1 Nintendo DS and 1 Ipod please).

Leo, Terracotta Warrior, and Amy at the National Geographic Museum

We made it to the Museum 30 minutes before our schedule time but they told us no problem because they were letting anyone in that could make it downtown. The exhibit was very interesting and the boys seemed to like it as well. We got 1 audio tour and took turns listening to different areas. Leo was listening to something where they made mention of the "milky way" and was stuck on that and telling everyone who would listen about the "milky way". As many of you know Leo loves space! We also looked at a photograph of the actual site of the Terracotta Warriors where they were excavating and he asked if there was a "rover" on that planet. We told him that it looked like Mars with the waves of land but that it was here, on our planet Earth, in China. Very cute!

Aidan and Leo playing one of the Terracotta Warrior interactive computer games

After the museum we went to Bertucci's in Dupont Circle for lunch. We were the only people in the restaurant for most of the time. On our way home we were interviewed by abc news but unfortunately we didn't make it on. I guess we just were not exciting enough to make it. Cute most definitely, exciting I guess not!

We finally made it home. We stopped at the REI because I could really use some snow boots and they had NOTHING. The boots I have are getting my feet totally wet so I am looking for something warm and waterproof. I may go out in the morning to find something else because, brace yourself here, we are supposed to get 10-15 more inches of snow!!! I know! It is unbelievable. I just don't know where we are going to put it. Our island outside our house has 15 feet of snow piled on it. We have the same amount on the bench to the right of our house. I can not imagine where we are going to put this snow.

Aidan doesn't have school tomorrow and they have just announced that my office is closed tomorrow as well. The snow is supposed to begin around noon tomorrow. We will keep you all up to date on what is going on.

On the down side, I have had WAY too much time to watch QVC. I want to buy everything. Don't worry. I have not bought anything but I can't tell you how tempted I am. I wanted to buy the TSV (Today's Special Value) but I am resisting. Jason thinks I'm insane because I am torturing myself but I just can't help it!

New Recipe and Wednesday

Last night we got about 5 inches of snow. I was hoping for a day off of work at the very least a 2 hour delay. I brought work home and my computer fully expecting to be out a day. Completely preparing myself for not being able to make it in.

As I am laying in bed this morning at about 6:30am, just starting to wake up, I am thinking "oh please, oh please, oh please let us be closed today". Jason was already awake and I know he already knows but I am afraid to ask him for fear of being disappointed but I have to know. Imagine my disappointment when I hear we are on "unscheduled leave" which basically means nothing -- well okay something -- you can ask for the day off without advance notice. What a royal bummer. I ended up staying home anyway working for part of morning and then taking the rest of the afternoon off because I had a doctor's appointment around lunch time.

Aidan had the day off and he was thrilled. After my doctor's appointment, Jason went to the movies. He went to see "Up in the Air". He won't tell anyone about it and just says, "you'll have to wait to read the blog". I'm still waiting for the review of "Youth in Revolt" and "Avatar". By next Oscars we should get a good review of the movies for this years Oscars :)

I tried a new recipe tonight. It was really flavorful and hearty and quite good. I give it 4 out 5 stars. Here is the recipe:

Smothered Beans with Leeks and Collard Greens

Ingredients
1 cup dried Great Northern beans
1/4 cup dried pinto beans
1 quart water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced leeks (about 2 large)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 pound collard greens, chopped
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped

Preparation
Sort and wash beans; place in a large saucepan. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours. Drain beans. Add 1 quart water and return beans to pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Cool. Drain beans in a colander over a bowl, reserving cooking liquid; set beans aside. Add enough water to cooking liquid to equal 3 cups; set aside.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add leeks, oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until leeks are tender. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer leek mixture to a large bowl; add greens. Toss well to combine.
Place half of greens mixture in bottom of Dutch oven; top with beans. Spread remaining greens mixture over beans. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Pour reserved liquid over greens. Cover and simmer over medium heat 1 hour or until beans are tender, stirring once. Uncover and stir in tomatoes; simmer 10 minutes.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 153 (24% from fat)
Fat: 4.1g (sat 0.6g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.6g)
Protein: 7.5g
Carbohydrate: 24g
Fiber: 7.8g
Cholesterol: 0.0mg
Iron: 2.3mg
Sodium: 382mg
Calcium: 158mg

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2002

I used can beans because I can never prepare well enough in advance. Since I didn't have the bean liquid I just used leftover low-sodium chicken broth and water which worked great. I also used diced tomatoes and not whole. Who needs the extra step of cutting? It's good. I had a lot of leftovers but it will be good for lunch. The kids were not fans but we really liked it.

We may get up to 24 inches of snow this weekend. We're a bit concerned because cousin Jesse is coming to visit us on Friday. Aidan can not wait for him to arrive. He keeps asking when he is coming. It is very cute.

Bugs and Bats

So I am ready to go back to Jakarta to the comforts of the Grand Hyatt. I am constantly tired, dirty, sweaty, sun burned, puzzled by the toilet situation, sick of bugs and thirsty. Yesterday was the day to end all of days we were constantly on the go talking to people here and there through an interpreter. It was exhausting. We ended our day with dinner at a restaurant on the sea which would ordinarily be beautiful and a lovely experience but instead the restaurant was covered in stink bugs.

They were miniature versions of the stink bugs we have in DC but there were thousands of them. They were landing on our clothes, in our hair, smacking in our face, and landing in our food and on our table. It just got exhausting. At that point I was done with Aceh and ready to leave. As wonderful as the lime and pineapple juice was, and the fresh shrimp and fish and of course the company, the dinner was not pleasant because of the contant bug attack. They are harmless bugs but incredibly annoying. I don't do bugs well.

Alternatively, yesterday I had a fruit called rambutan (check it out Aidan and Leo it has a fun outter cover) which was delicious though the shells were a bit covered with ants which was annoying. Also I had my first fresh coconut, cut directly from a tree and opened with a machete. It was good, surprisingly tart, and it seemed like it had a bubble like a weak seltzer. I also had this delicious and amazing honey bread which melted in my mouth.

Also Aidan and Leo I saw a Fruit Bat today, actually I saw lots of them flying in the sky. They are huge and look to be the size of a crow. I took a picture but in the picture they look only like a speck. There must have been 10 of them flying around. I couldn't believe I saw it. Remember Aidan when we were looking in your bat book and we saw the fruit bat and I made you quickly turn the page because it was so ugly and big? That was it!!!

Today we have more meetings, visit one more school, and then we head to the airport to go back to jakarta.

I had some pictures but I am down in the breakfast area and they are up in my room. I will share them with you soon. It's too hot already at 7am to want to go back up to my room.

Aidan and Leo: your last surprise before I get home is somewhere in the house. I will give you one hint: it is upstairs in mommy and daddy's room. You can search all over our room to find it! I hope you love it and I can't wait to see you in a few days.

I'm missing you so much. Love you all day! Love you to the fartherest star in the sky and back.

Mommy

Banda Ache

A view from the top of a barge that landed about 2 miles aways from the water.

A beautiful Mosque in the center of the city.

I don't have a lot of time because my computer is running out of power but just wanted to let everyone know that I am now in Banda Aceh. We made it safely yesterday (it's a 2.5 hour flight from Jakarta), went to our hotel, went shopping a bit, and then had meetings all afternoon. After work some one from the Save the Children Office took us around to see some of the wreckage and impact from the Tsunami that occured the day after Christmas in 2004. There are no words to decribe what we see here today. It is unbelievable the impact the Tsunami had here (it was the closest place to the epicenter) and yet people from here speak about how amazed they were with all of the help that came to this area after the Tsunami. It's hard to imagine the toll that it has taken on people mentally. The person taking us around said that it was still hard to see it all.

The area is beautiful. There are big mountains, some 10,000-12,000 feet, right on the water, and with lots of palm trees. It is not covered in cheap tourist stores like Bali and it is has a busy, vibrant downtown.

A veiw of homes that were destroyed by the Tsunami that were never

claimed or never rebuilt.

A large ship that landed on tops of homes. The Mayor bought this land and is turning it into a memorial or museum.

The other half of the ship on top of a home.

We leave here tomorrow to return to Jakarta. It feels like we have been here for months rather than a week and a half. I am definately ready to go home.

Love you all!

Bali and Happy Halloween

Sunset view from the hotel bar "sunset bar" at about 6pm


View of the beach from the hotel (10am)

View from my balcony

We went to the airport on Friday for our flight to Bali leaving at 6:15pm. The flight was delayed by about two hours which totally stunk because Bali is also 1 hour ahead of Jakarta time and 12 hours ahead of DC time. So, I didn't end up getting to the hotel until after 11pm. We had some issues with the taxi but in the end didn't fight the $7 extra cab far. It was too late to bargain or fight. Friday was an exhausting day. We spent all day at two centers that work with children (street children and children at high risk of working in exploitive labor). We meet the center staff, parents and students. It was inspiring, fun, interesting, totally hot and utterly exhausting. You can imagine how annoyed, tired, and dirty I was when I arrived.

Children in a center for street children singing and playing guitar

However, once the taxi (finally) dropped me off I was in completely beautiful surroundings. My hotel is fabulous. When I got to the front desk they offered me a refreshing lime drink, the offered me a lower price than I had expected, and they upgrade me to a better room. Now I have the room one down from the presidential suite. Not bad! Plus they gave me free laundry service for 5 pieces which I was totally excited about (sad but true).

Breakfast area

My room is great. I have two bathrooms, a nice king bed, a living room and a dining area. I have an enormous balcony and wish my family were here so we could stay in Bali forever. I showered and slept well and got up on Saturday morning at about 8am. I went to breakfast and had an amazing breakfast with the best Mango, loads of other fruit and guava juice. Some of the fruit I had never scene before and it was quiet fun! After breakfast, I went to the beach and sat on the beach for a few hours and swam in the Indian Ocean. I never thought I would swim in the Indian Ocean. After hanging out on the beach I went to the hotel pool and stayed for a couple more hours, had some lunch and a dip in the pool. The sun is so hot here. I got burned. I have to stay out of the sun tomorrow. After the pool I went to the spa and had coconut scub, flower bath, and balinese massage. It was so fantastic. I went to my room and just vegged out on my bed so relaxed and calm.

Swimming pool

Another sunset view

Not wanting to miss the sunset I forced myself out of bed (at 5pm) and went to the sunset bar. I had a Bintang Beer and watched the sunset. It was quiet romantic, missing Jason and the boys but absolutely beautiful. When I asked for a table the waiter said, "Are you alone?" like what's wrong with you. I proudly said "yes" and we talked for a bit. I finished my beer and now I am sitting in the hotel's cafe that has free wireless and watching soccer on ESPN. I am debating going shopping this evening but to be perfectly honest I think I am just going to go back to my room, lay in bed, and read. I am reading the last book in the twilight series. hoo-hah!

Tomorrow, I have another appointment for the spa (you really can't beat it), then I think I will hang at the pool a bit and then shower, check out of my room at 2pm and then maybe do a little shopping. The spas are great here. They are not cheap at the nice hotels like mine but quite a bit cheaper than at home. You can go to some smaller places and get a massage for like 5 bucks but that's not very convenient and I don't know how much I trust the cleanliness with those places. I'm sure it's great but whatever.

Sadly, our flight leaves at 8pm to go back to Jakarta. After that we head three days to Aceh in the northern part of the island. I may not have internet connect there but let's see.

Happy Halloween Aidan and Leo. I hope you have a good time trick or treating. Save some candy for me and the good candy! Not just the kind you don't like. I can't wait to see snake eyes and buzz lightyear holma!

Miss you and love you lots. On Monday, Grandma Joan and Grandpa Russ come to visit you. They will be so excited to see you! I hope you have lots fun. See if Grandpa Russ can help you learn how to ride your bike, Aidan without the training wheels! Leo be sure to show Grandma Joan your collection of bats.

Love,

Momma

Thursday: Meetings Inspiring

Can you guess where I am? Keep reading...

Today we had more meetings. This email will be quick because I have to pack for Bali. We are leaving straight from our site visits tomorrow. There is a slight change in plans for Bali. I was planning on travelling with someone but as it turns out we have different expectations for our trip. She is looking for cheap $12/night villa and I am looking for Spa and Luxury (D and Becs keep it to yourself). We are flying together but then splitting up. C'est la Vie.

Today we had meetings to disucss our project. These are three girls who were rescued by our projects from trafficking. They have amazing stories and happily they are going to middle school now. They are all beautiful. The picture below is of a young man who was working as a child in the footware industry in the early 2000's. He was working in dark, dusy and hazardous conditions and he is now at the University. He is also an artist and a writer. He was doodling a beautiful drawing on a piece of paper and I asked him if I could keep it and he said "yes". It was significant to me because he was doodling the name of my office. They are all really special kids.

Our meetings were being held at another government office and they had the same kind of toilet I wrote about earlier. This time I took a picture. I had to use the bathroom so I tried it out. I am just no good at this. It was disgusting and a mess and I won't say anymore about that! You squat down and pee in that hole and then use the water in the bucket to flush it down. The whole floor is wet and messy. Uck!

After our meetings ended at about 5pm today we went back to the office with the driver. We decided to go out to dinner with a colleague and on our way he stopped off at Obama's elementary school. It was great. There is a plaque right outside the building, you can see it on the left. The school is beautiful and really well kept for the visitors/tourists I'm sure. In one of the classrooms I peaked in they had a huge movie sized poster of Obama right in the middle of the class. It was really fun.

Bec's this is for Jake. He will be happy to know that Chili's is in Jakarta. Isn't that crazy. They are also really BIG on dunkin donuts. The shops are EVERY WHERE. I think they have more dunkin donuts than Boston. They also have oddly KFC and Tony Roma's. Wierd right?

Wednesday: Down Pour

This morning I got up at 6am and went to the gym. They have an awesome gym with individual TVs for every machine. I did the eliptical machine for 30 minutes and then went to the whirpool which is only luke warm and then into the steam room which was hot, hot, hot!

We had a breakfast meeting this morning at 9am and then we left for a meeting in Bandung at noon. We thought it would take no more than two hours but the traffick here sucks so we got there an hour later which was fine. We had no role in the meeting and just went to hear what other were doing on trafficking. Bandung is a bit up in the mountains and we had a down pour. We were drive in the back roads trying to find the hotel that was hosting the meeting and water was gushing down the road like an active river. Imagine a DC rain storm with 3 more feet of water. I thought our car was totally going to get stuck. We were in a small SUV so the water came up to my car door. A little car had water half way up the door and some people were riding on motorcycles soaked and stuck! It was crazy. I was a little nervous we would get stuck and I would have to get out in the gushing river but we didn't and once we got to the hotel the rain stopped. On our way from Jakarta to Bandung we saw a lot of tea plantations and rubber trees. It was interesting.

The meeting was fine. We had dinner at the hotel of the meeting with some colleagues and drove home at 8pm. We arrived back at the hotel at 10:30pm. It was a long day so I am off to take my nyquil read some breaking down and catch some zzzz's..... We bought our tickets to Bali today and now we just have to figure out where we want to stay.

Love you all.

Tuesday: More Meetings

This morning I went down to breakfast at 7:00am. After taking some Nyquil I slept great and woke about at about 6:00am. I promised I would take a picture of these beautiful juices. They thought I was crazy but it is such a beautiful rainbow of colors. I had my usual american breakfast of coffee, juice, eggs, toast but today I tried a few indonesia dishes. One was noodles with eggs, carrots and cabbage. The other was fried rice. It is so weird (to me) to eat these foods at breakfast. I'm hoping at some time I become a little more adventurous and have the Udon noodle soup for breakfast!

Orange, watermelon, honey dew, pineapple and cucumber juices.

View from the ILO offices on the 22nd floor.

We left at 8:00am for our meeting at 9am. We didn't want to be late and figured it would take 30 minutes to get there at the most. We were going to the same place as yesterday but we didn't really pay attention yesterday to where we went because we travelled with a person we work with who lives in Indonesia. We had an address from an invitation we received and we did not realize it had changed. So we went to the wrong building. When we got inside they didn't speak English so they found someone in the Ministry that did. She told us they have another building and we needed to take a taxi there (our taxi driver left already). So she took us to the street hailed a taxi and she gave hime directions. She was so NICE and KIND! Finally we arrived to the right building 45 minutes later and 25 minutes late! But as it turned out everyone was slow today and the meeting had not even started. I was to present first so it was a bit of a stress but the presentation went fine. My presentation had to be translated into Bahasa Indonesia (which is the local language) and that was interesting. The meeting went fairly well and after my presentation I didn't feel like I wanted to hide under a rock and never come out.

We had about 8 minutes to eat lunch before we raced off to another meeting. This time we (directionally challenged) got to take the ILO car to the ILO offices so we didn't get lost. Again, the presentation went fairly well (no hiding) and the meeting was really worth while and interesting. I was sure if yesterday's meeting was worth us attending but today I thought was interesting and great.

View of housing area out of ILO 22nd floor offices.

After we left the ILO we walked down the street lined with trees (vertical line of trees) to our hotel. It was an interesting walk through a neighborhood. There was lots of little food stands. I'm extremely skeptical about the food in these stands so I have never had anything. There was also lots of garbage every where, dirt and dust. Some of the homes on these streets were actually pretty beautiful thought with stained glass windows. While we were walking there was a call to prayer and people were walking, bicycling, and motorbiking to the mosque.

When we got back to the hotel, I went for a dip in the pool sorry for the night time picture. There were bats flying low to the water which kind of creeped me out so I didn't stay in the water too long. After that I went to the hot pool and then the sauna. I showered in the gym and came back up to my room and decided to stay in. I feel exhausted. So I order room service and am going to read, relax and watch Thomas Crowne Affair in bed. Tomorrow we have a breakfast meeting and then we have rented a car to travel to Bandung for a meeting.

You may not get a post from me tomorrow but let's see.

Love you!

A night time view of the pool.

Monday Meetings

This is a view at 7am from the hotel lounge.

Well today is Monday. I have to work.

We spent the day at a Minstry. They kindly agreed to host the meeting. The night before I went to bed at 12:30am and woke up at 2:30am wide awake(because remember according to my body it is about 2:30 in the afternoon). My alarm went off at 5:30 right before I started to dose off. I literally think that I got 2 hours and 10 minutes of sleep last night. I was exhausted at the meetings today. They asked me at the last minute if I would like to speak. Would I like to speak? Of course not! but I did. I think my voice quivered. I hate that. It looks so amateurish but I'm trying not to dwell on it. I have to give two presentations tomorrow. I hate it but I suppose if I were trying to see bright side, it does give me more experience which certainly can't hurt.

Just one quick comment about toilets. I promise to sneak a picture tomorrow. In the government office they have 3 stalls: one stall with a toilet and a bucket of water with a ladle, one stall where you stand up and crouch to pee with a bucket of water and a ladle, and one shower area. I can't imagine anyone showering. All of these with NO toilet paper. I guess its bring your own (byotp). I couldn't do the stand up one I just don't have good aim to not pee all over my clothes. I ended up going to the first stall with toilet and ladling water down until the toilet "flushed". Also there was a toilet in the meeting room with a toilet seat and toilet paper which I used a couple times during the day but it just seemed so weird peeing in the meeting room which is why I looked for other toilets. In the afternoon I tried this toilet but I'm not sure people know exactly how to use a toilet with a toilet seat because they had taken this shower hose thing and sprayed the whole toilet and the toilet paper. It was so gross. Apparently, the stand up toilets are just "what they do". Even with all the money they would choose a stand up toilet. Whatever!

So after work, I went down to the Spa for a pedicure. It was great. Here is a picture. Afterwards, I went to the pool - OMG! The pool is awesome. I am so going there tomorrow. Aidan and Leo, you would LOVE it. It is ginormica with a fountain, fake rocks, trees, etc. I didn't have my camera but I will take a picture tomorrow. The pool is amazing.

Cool color right? I never get anything but pink. I'm all crazy!

I have to study my presentation so I am off to bed.

Love and miss you guys!