Life After Jerusalem

Decorating With Stories

2012-01-29T04:03:00.005-05:00

Perhaps more so than in other professions, people in the Foreign Service tend to visit their co-workers houses when they are overseas.

As an example, when I was in DC, I visited one person's house in a total of four years. I've been here six months, and have already visited four. Plus the Marine House. And I will visit another next week.

There are two reasons for this.

First, you want to see what kind of housing they got. We get very limited input into our housing. You generally tell the housing board kind of what your needs are and they try to assign you to one from the housing pool that meets those needs. Whether you like your house or not, chances are good you will live there for your entire tour.

So with my house, I told them I wanted to be in the city. I wanted to be able to walk to work. And it had to allow pets.

I got all that. And aside from the fact that I hate my (lack of a real) kitchen, I love this place. And since I don't really cook, I can deal with it. Because everything else is great...underground parking, walking distance to the Old City and the Embassy and tons of cool places to see, restaurants, etc. Seriously love it. Even the quirky artsy glass wall has grown on me.

But you still want to see everyone else's place, to make a mental assessment of whether they got a better deal. (I'm four for four...all my colleagues have aspects of their housing that I like better than mine, but none is a total package that I would chose over mine. Big score!)

The other reason is to see where they have been.

One of the cool things about the homes of those of us in the Foreign Service is that the decorations tell a story. We all have the same drexel heritage boring furniture. So we make our houses into homes with the stuff we bring. And what you generally see in other folks' homes is a little from where they are from and a lot from where they have been.

M and I went to a friend's last night for pizza and cards. And to see all the stuff she got from her last tour. She has just tons of interesting nicnacs plus this cool coffee table that rises up so you can use it like a tv tray. Her house, like all of ours, is a record of where she has been.

Ours, for example, has lots of carpets from Azerbaijan. Plus some paintings we got there, including the famous (to us and our friends) cow painting. M and I walked into a gallery in Baku and basically didn't agree on anything. Except this one painting. She thought it was loaves of bread...and upside down.

I said, no honey, its cows.

After some debate, she agreed with me that is was cows...we both liked it for its whimsy. And the PAO there, who was also an artist, proclaimed that it was meant for us to have that painting. so we took it home. In the states, it hangs over our fireplace. You can see it in the picture below. Here, it gets a prominent place in the living room.

Like that painting, each thing has a story. The carpets remind us of shopping in the Old City, drinking tea with the merchants who were willing to let you take the carpet home and see if you liked it in your room before you bought it. The butcher block table with the Armenian tile-work inlay that I had custom made by the Armenian artists in Jerusalem brings up stories of walking that table through the Old City of Jerusalem, and of working with the tile maker to make it just perfect. There is a Palestinian tile tray my local staff in Jerusalem gave me, or the carpet we picked up on a vacation in Turkey with friends from America. Like these things, most everything that decorates our home has a story. And like our home, most everyone in the Foreign Service decorates with stories.

I got a new story to decorate with this week.

Our local guards each come with interesting stories of their own. One studied at the Moscow Conservatory and is a gifted musician. And another is an artist and Reiki master.

To look at him, you might just think he is an old grandpa who has been a guard his whole life. But this week, our CLO organized a showing of his work. He described his work with Reiki and how he uses the energy he sees and feels in his artwork, drawn in beautiful pastels.

And one piece particularly appealed to me. It was a smaller piece called "Ullatus" or "Surprise." The bright yellow orb surrounded by flowing purples and radiating pinks and blues just drew me in. The picture doesn't do it justice.

It currently sits in my office, and no doubt at my next post, will be one of the stories I decorate with.

And You Thought Gas Was Expensive Where You Are...

2012-01-27T08:07:00.004-05:00

I'll start with saying I love USAA.

A friend of mine here went to purchase gasoline the other day.

She doesn't drive an extraordinarily large car. She filled it up, and used her US debit card to pay for it.

Now when I fill up my car, it usually costs about 50 euros. Or about $63.

Hers cost $70...plus another four zeros.

Yes, SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS! For ONE TANK of gas!

And you were complaining about $3-4 a gallon?

The crazy part? Her bank let it go through. And didn't put a hold on her account.

That's just nuts!

USAA put a hold on my account for a weird looking charge of just under $3. And they were right, it was a "test charge" by someone who had stolen my number.

Which is why I love USAA!

Welcome to the 165th!

2012-01-24T11:08:00.003-05:00

I think it is the 165th anyway!

I have only found one blogger in the new A-100, so welcome to:

The Alavis Abroad.

And in the meantime, blogger is fighting with me on updating my blogroll. Not sure why. But I have stumbled upon a couple new (to me at least) blogs, and I want to post them here (at least until I can get my darned blogroll to update!)

They are:

Foreign Service Thurows

and

How The Heck Did We Get Here?

Welcome all!

You Know You're an FSO When...

2012-01-24T10:37:00.002-05:00

Matt over at Just Another Fool For Christ cracked me up with You Know You're a Foreign Service Officer When....

I particularly like "You can’t watch an election campaign debate on foreign policy without throwing a shoe and/or yelling at the television set" and "You have household effects stored in Hagerstown but can’t for the life of you remember what any of them are."

Be sure to read the comments too.

Fire and Ice

2012-01-21T12:57:00.006-05:00

It is well known that the Estonians are not terribly religious people, unless you count maausk, or earth beliefs. They were among the last in Europe to adopt Christianity, and the presence of paganism after a fashion is still very real here.

This was pretty obvious at the Fire and Ice Festival tonight.

After Christmas, Estonians gather all the dead Christmas trees, and artists use them to construct huge sculptures. Then, they set the sculptures on fire in Toompea park against the backdrop of the frozen pond and snow covered park and the beating of drums.

The scuplture above is a dragon. Others were small buildings with rotating interiors or abstract pieces. You can see from the people near by that these were huge sculptures...they lit up the night sky.

Pretty awesome.

Second Verse, Same as the First

2012-01-18T08:00:00.003-05:00

I found an interesting piece today thanks to Vermont Freedom to Marry. It had struck me how similar all of the arguments were against same-sex marriage to those made against interracial marriage in Loving v Virginia.

For those of you not familiar with the case, ultimately ruled on by the Supreme Court, Richard and Mildred Loving were an interracial couple married in D.C. and then arrested in Virginia in 1958 for being married and violating the "Racial Integrity Act." They were each sentenced to one year in prison, suspended if they moved out of the state. They did, but fought to get their criminal records cleared. There is a short piece in the UK's Daily Mail Online today showing some photos taken of the couple.

At any rate, 45 years ago, in my lifetime, interracial marriage was illegal in 16 states. But the Supreme Court overturned those laws in 1967 (some states, including South Carolina, kept them on the books until into the late 80s, early 90s...I actually got to vote to remove the ban from the SC constitution...shocking that it was still there, more shocking that nearly 30% voted AGAINST removing it).

Even when I got to vote on expunging this shame from my state's constitution, some of these same arguments were being trotted out. Which is why I find the arguments below so interesting...is there anyone out there who still thinks interracial marriage is going to bring about the apocolypse (don't answer that), or is this just second verse, same as the first?

Same-sex marriage runs counter to God's plan:“If God had intended for same-sex couples to marry, he would have made Adam and Steve, not Adam and
Eve.” (Source: Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 1/25/00, 2/1/00)

Interracial marriage runs counter to God's plan:
“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.”(Source: Virginia trial judge upholding conviction of Mildred and Richard Loving for interracial marriage, quoted in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 3(1967))

If we allow “gay marriage,” then the next thing you know we'll have brothers and sisters wanting to marry each other, or demands for legalization of polygamous marriages. (Source: Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 1/25/00, 2/1/00)

“[If interracial couples have a right to marry], all our marriage acts forbidding intermarriage between persons within certain degrees of consanguinity are void.” (Source: Perez v. Lippold, 198 P.2d at 40 (Shenk, J., dissenting, quoting from a prior court case))
“The underlying factors that constitute justification for laws against miscegenation closely parallel those which sustain the validity of prohibitions against incest and incestuous marriages.”(Source: Perez v. Lippold, 198 P.2d at 46 (Shenk, J., dissenting, quoting from a prior court case))
“[T]he State's prohibition of interracial marriage . . . stands on the same footing as the prohibition of polygamous marriage, or incestuous marriage, or the prescription of minimum ages at which people may marry, and the prevention of the marriage of people who are mentally incompetent.” (Source: Excerpted United States Supreme Court oral argument transcripts from Loving v. Virginia, from Peter Irons and Stephanie Guitton, eds., May it Please the Court (1993) at 282-283, quoting Virginia Assistant Attorney General R. D. McIlwaine, arguing for Virginia's ban on interracial marriage)

Gay people are free to marry just like anyone else, as long as they marry a member of the opposite sex. (Source: Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 1/25/00, 2/1/00)

“Each [party seeking to marry a member of a different race] has the right and the privilege of marrying within his or her own group.” (Source: Perez v. Lippold, 198 P.2d at 46 (Shenk, J., dissenting, quoting from a prior court case))

Same-sex marriage would precipitate the breakdown of society.(Source: Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 1/25/00, 2/1/00)

“Civilized society has the power of self-preservation, and, marriage being the foundation of such society, most of the states in which the Negro forms an element of any note have enacted laws inhibiting intermarriage between the white and black races.” (Source: Perez v. Lippold, 198 P.2d at 40 (Shenk, J., dissenting, quoting from a prior court case))

Allowing same-sex couples to marry would degrade “traditional” heterosexual marriages. (Source: Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 1/25/00, 2/1/00)

Allowing interracial marriages “necessarily involves the degradation” of conventional marriage, an institution that “deserves admiration rather than execration.” (Source: A U.S. representative from Georgia quoted in Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune, May 19, 1996)

Same-sex marriages have adverse effects on the parties' children, and those children are apt to suffer stigma.(Source: Vermont House and Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearings, 1/25/00, 2/1/00)

“It is contended that interracial marriage has adverse effects not only upon the parties thereto but upon their progeny . . . and that the progeny of a marriage between a Negro and a Caucasian suffer not only the stigma of such inferiority but the fear of rejection by members of both races.”(Source: Perez v. Lippold, 198 P.2d at 26 and n.5 (summarizing the State's argument in favor of ban).

And this is just a sample. You can read the rest of the arguments here.

And one final thing to keep in mind, one argument they didn't mention. Those against marriage equality say the majority of the country opposes marriage equality (not true anymore, actually, the lastest polls show a slight majority favor marriage equality). In 1967, when the Supreme Court ruled that marriage was a civil right, that denying it denied due process, and that the distaste of the majority was not reason enough for the state to prohibit a marriage, more than 75 PERCENT of the country opposed interracial marriage.

And the Supreme Court did the right thing anyway.

My Inner Duck

2012-01-18T02:04:00.004-05:00

The thing that scares me most about Estonia is the weather.

Specifically, the ice.

Snow is a pain, but so far, we haven't had so much of it for it to be unmanagable.

But the ice!

It doesn't help that folks here dutifully clear away all the snow (and traction) from the ice, but seldom put down salt. Then it warms up, melts, and refreezes into sheets several inches thick. You could seriously ice skate to work (hey, there's a thought!).

There was an article in the press the other day that said something like 1 of 3 people will fall on the ice, and the bumps, bruises, and broken bones end up costing the country a onsiderable amount in lost productivity, to say nothing of the medical bills.

I am in fear of being one of the casualties.

I took a nasty fall when I came here in March for my language immersion, but luckily, I landed on my most padded part. So the worst of the pain I suffered was emotional (because it is pretty embarrassing to end up on your back side...). But one of the folks here at the embassy this winter has already been less lucky. The result is a broken bone. I feel really badly for this person.

And I worry about being next. In more than four decades of life, I have never had a broken bone. I hesistate even as I type that, worrying I may jinx myself. I have had some really nasty strains, the result of which is that my ankles are not as sturdy as I would like. So I wear boots to work every day and am always on the lookout for boots for work that are warm, waterproof and offer ankle support while still looking work appropriate. Oh, and that will fit on my weirdly short calves. Not an easy find. I did find a pair the other day at Stockmann's, but they rubbed my heel when I wore them last night...maybe with thicker socks...

And in the meantime, I am just channelling my inner duck, waddling slowly across the ice.

What Was That Sound??

2012-01-13T03:45:00.002-05:00

I was having a meeting in my office this week, when I heard this weird sound outside.

It sort of sounded like someone trying to start a motorcycle or leaf blower.

Both would be pointless this time of year. The leafblower, obviously, because there are no leaves. And the motorcycle...well, unless you like sliding to the ground.

The ice here is just treacherous.

Folks make a good faith effort to clean the sidewalks. The trouble is, we are having a mild winter. Okay, not mild by my winter standards, but really mild by Estonian ones.

What this means is that there has not been enough snow. It keeps getting warm and melting the snow, making icky slush (I have learned two new words - lörts (sleet or slush) and libe (slippery) - of neccessity), and then getting cold and refreezing said slush into a solid sheet of ice.

You can't walk on ice. And I suspect you can't really drive a motorcycle on it either (as a side note, I really like the metal-studded snow tires they require here. Every bit of extra traction you can get is a good thing!).

Which brings me back to the sound.

Every March or April, as spring arrives, people get injured, sometimes critically, by falling icicles and mounds of snow coming off the roofs as the weather warms and the snow melts. Usually, at least one person gets killed per year.

And that sound? That is this phenomenon happening NOW. Because of this weird weather, the snow accumulates on the roofs, melts, and slides off. So instead of having this danger IN THE spring, we could have it ALL WINTER and THROUGH the spring.

So okay, the Estonians are right. It probably needs to be colder and snowier.

Gay Rights are Human Rights

2012-01-10T09:17:00.002-05:00

I have the best boss on the planet. But you already knew that.

White Christmas

2012-01-07T08:32:00.006-05:00

We are finally getting some snow in Tallinn, just in time for Orthodox Christmas today. So at least someone got a white Christmas!

Actually, I kind of like the snow so far. Not too much of it (maybe 3-5 inches) plus I don't have to drive anywhere at the moment. Of course, if it keeps snowing between now and say, April, like it did when I lived in Syracuse, I will be less jazzed about it. But for the moment, I'm enjoying how pretty it is.

My wife and I used the opportunity to walk over to the Old City and get some pictures of snow in the Old Town. I particularly wanted to get a picture of the Christmas market in the snow, since that ends this weekend.

Of course, all that snow is also kind of cold, so we stopped at a local place known for its hot chocolate. Specifically, its cup of hot chocolate that is basically a melted chocolate bar.

So tell me again why visiting me in the winter is so bad?

So It Wasn't Just Me

2012-01-06T10:19:00.002-05:00

You know how I told you that I was having a different experience in Estonia that others said that were having?

How I was not finding it to be true that people all spoke English, or automatically switched to English, or refused to speak Estonia with you once you made a mistake?

I wondered and wondered why I was having a different experience.

Turns out, it isn't just me.

My wife makes a concerted effort to use her Estonian in public. She has only had four months of study, so not even as much as I had by my immersion trip.

And you know what happens?

People speak Estonian to her. And if she stuggles for a word, they give it to her.

In Estonian.

And then they keep talking to her.

In Estonian.

So it isn't just me.

It really is that people appreciate you making an effort. And that they will be nicer to you if you do.

I am still glad I learned the language. I am glad my wife is, that my APAO learned it and that my incoming APAO is learning it. I think it matters. Because we are diplomats. It isn't our job to make people to do things our way by force. Our job is to convince people to work with us, as partners. To explain the American message. To serve the best interests of America.

You can't do that if you come at people from a position of disrespect. Learning their language is a huge step in showing you appreciate and respect them. And it yields fruit, not just now, but in the long run.

Maybe this proves you can have to much stuff

2012-01-05T05:18:00.002-05:00

Well really, of course you can.

Anyone in the Foreign Service can tell you that.

But it shouldn't be your UAB that teaches you that lesson.

Let me back up. My wife's UAB arrived yesterday. Because I had already gotten my UAB and HHE, we were pretty well covered in terms of "needs," so her UAB contained her clothes plus some "wants."

One of the wants was our PS3. In preparation for that, I had attempted to plug a surge protector into the transformer. Although there was nothing plugged into the surge protector, it blew it and a fuse.

I assumed that it was because the surge protector was old.

You know what they say about assumptions...

But no worries. I knew I had a newer one in good shape in the UAB.

The GSO here is my friend...we spent a year together in language and that kind of close contact either makes you good friends or makes you despise each other. I was really lucky, given how small this post is. I really like both him and his wife (our consul).

So I felt really bad about having to call him after work hours.

I felt worse when I told him what happened, and he sighed deeply and said, "How big is the fire?"

There was no fire, fortunately. What I had done was attempt to plug the new empty surge protector into the transformer. It too blew the transformer and the fuse (clearly the issue is the transformer...just saying). My wife, before I could tell her not to and before I could unplug the transformer, reset the fuse.

And blew out the whole house.

Let me tell you, Tallinn in the winter is dark. An apartment in Tallinn in the winter with no power any time after say 3 pm is REALLY DARK. And this was well after 3 p.m. Well after work hours.

Neither of the breaker boxes in the apartment worked. Nor could I find the mysterious third breaker box for which I was given a key and the tag on the key says "ceiling breaker box." Yes, I looked at all my ceilings.

Finally, after some guidance from my friend (who I clearly owe lunch), I discovered a FOURTH breaker box in the hall outside the apartment and a key in the mass of keys I got when i checked in. And inside there I found the tripped breaker.

So the story ends well...but probably wouldn't have happened if I had been happy with only using the wii.

Settling Into the New Old Normal

2012-01-04T07:51:00.003-05:00

One of the most consistent aspects of Foreign Service life is change.

You are always either moving, just arriving, bidding, or preparing to leave. There used to be a blog called "Six Months of Settled," a moniker that aptly describes our lives. When they say that the Foreign Service isn't for everyone, this is part of what I mean. If you can't handle lots of change, lots of unsettled, this may not be the career for you.

Need an example? As some of my FS friends of facebook pointed out today, since it is now 2012, they can refer to next year being in post X. I can even think in terms of leaving Tallinn the year after next. Not a thought I want to dwell on.

Because I really like it here.

And I am settling in to what is my new (old) normal: life living with my wife again.

We are riding into work together, having lunch together, spending evenings together.

It is exactly how I prefer my life to be.

Of course, I also prefer my life to be settled, though given my proclivity for getting bored pretty easily, this is probably a pretty good compromise for me in terms of careers.

This is Why Making New year's Resolutions is a Bad Idea

2012-01-03T08:01:00.000-05:00

I saw someone call New Year's Resolutions a "To Do List for the first week of the New Year."

No kidding.

I made a New Year's resolution years ago not to make any more New year's resolutions and I kept it, except for a little fudging last year. But I called them "goals" instead of resolutions.

Want to know the only thing dumber than me making New Year's Resolutions/Goals? Putting them in a place (like my blog) where I can easily find them a year later.

Dumb. Really dumb.

And those "goals?" EPIC FAIL.

Of the five goals, I only accomplished one. On really a half if you count that I said my secret goal was to get a 3+/3+ instead of a 3/3, which was my actual goal. but I'll take the one.

As for the others:

* Getting back into running: FAIL (unless thinking about it counts)

* Decluttering Before the Move: FAIL (I did take some stuff to Goodwill, but not enough. And mostly I procrastinated, figuring we can declutter all the stuff from storage when we retire!

* Finishing my dissertation: EPIC FAIL. At this point, it seems I am unlikely to finish, a realization that makes me sad but I think is for the best, at least for now. I have a good job, with good prospects, good pay and good security. A job most people would love to have. My degree won't change that for better or worse. But I still hope to finish it one day, maybe when I retire.

* And finally, settling my grandmother's estate: FAIL. Though really that was always mostly out of my hands. If I had the money to pay off her few debts, I could. But it would mean transferring into my name property that has a HUGE balloon payment coming due in July. And that is definitely something I can not afford, either in terms of the amount of the payment or the hit to my credit for not paying it were it in my name. So realistically, unless that sells, closing the estate is out of my hands.

So yeah, mostly a fail on the goals thing. Which is why making New Year's Resolutions is a bad idea.

My one and only goal for 2012? Enjoy life. Hopefully I can report back next year that I succeeded on that one.

Bidding Farewell to 2011

2011-12-31T11:58:00.002-05:00

I know there are a lot of people for whom 2011 has been a really bad year.

But I am not one of them, and I feel extremely fortunate.

Yes, 2011 was a year in which my wife and I endured a four month separation, bringing to nearly three years we have spent apart for the needs of the service.

And yes, 2011 saw a freeze in our pay and so much animousity aimed at Federal employees that I sometimes wondered why I bothered to serve.

But the truth is, my life is pretty great, and 2011 was a pretty good year for me.

For while the American people may be in an anti-federal employee mood, I still feel lucky that I get to serve the country and all that it can stand for. and I am lucky to have a job, and one which is relatively secure. That isn't lost on me when I know that members of my own family are suffering. And this year, I got paid to learn a new language, something I love doing. And I passed my test with the necessary score to qualify for language incentive pay. Which helped me not take a substantial pay cut to serve overseas.

I started my new position as the Public Affairs Officer in Tallinn. And it is better than I could have ever imagined. I LOVE my job. And I love all parts of it. I like managing my excellent staff, doing cultural events, and working with the media. I have a great Ambassador who seems to trust me and value my experience and opinion. I look forward to going to work each day.

And I live in a great city. I find this place beautiful and interesting, and I like the people here as well.

And as of Christmas eve, my family has been reunited. They all made it safely to Tallinn, for which I am eternally grateful.

So yeah, 2011 has been pretty good to me. I am looking forward to the new year with hope and anticipation, but I am tremendously thankful to have had the 2011 that I did.

And because I can, here is a picture of Oscar, the newest addition to our family (as of the very end of 2010) celebrating the new year. Or planning to kill me for putting a bow on his head. I am really not sure.

The Civil Service Recognition Act

2011-12-28T09:14:00.002-05:00

Here is a nice piece in the NY Times by Andrew Rosenthal about the Civil Service Recognition Act.

Flags for Civilians
By Andrew Rosenthal

[...]

I am not generally in favor of largely symbolic legislation, but the Civil Service Recognition Act doesn’t fall into the solution-in-search-of-a-problem category. Federal workers often end up in dicey and dangerous places, like embassies targeted by terrorist organizations. Thousands of federal civilian employees have died over the last 20 years while performing their official duties, and it’s worth recognizing their sacrifice.

I was also glad to see this official recognition since the right wing has not, of late, shown much respect for civilians in government. As my colleague David Firestone has written, Republicans have consistently countered Democratic plans to raise revenue by taxing the wealthiest Americans with proposals to cut government by reducing the size of the federal workforce — all while insisting that jobs are their Number 1 priority. (The logic is that government jobs are not really jobs.)

According to The Washington Post’s Joe Davidson, an earlier version of the bill attracted some grumbling from the American Legion and right-wing bloggers, because it seemed to equate civilian sacrifice with military sacrifice. The bill used to read: “A flag shall be furnished and presented…in the same manner as a flag is furnished and presented on behalf of a deceased member of the Armed Services who dies while on active duty.” The amended version strikes the comparison.

This editing process is the only thing that makes the Act a little bittersweet for me. The men and women who choose to join the military deserve our respect and gratitude, but so do people who choose to become diplomats. If a diplomat dies in an embassy bombing, I’m not sure why it’s wrong to suggest that he should be honored in the same way as a soldier who died on the battlefield.

You can read the whole piece here.

The Tree Is Down But Things Are Looking Up

2011-12-28T04:06:00.002-05:00

Normally, I prefer to leave the Christmas tree up until after New Year's. I tell people it is for the Feast of the Epiphany, but really it is just because I really like have the tree up.

But not enough to leave a fire hazard in the house.

When we got home from the states, the tree was seriously dry. There was water in the stand, but none of that seemed to have made it to the branches. Touch the tree, and a shower of needles fell. Touch a single branch and it was instantly bare.

So we took the tree down last night.

But everything else is looking up. We are all safe and sound under one roof. Cayenne is back to happily calling out to the cats, and Noostie is back to herding them around the house. Oscar is asserting his dominion over his new digs by resisting all attempts to keep him off of the table (and the buffet, and the bookshelves, and the radiators, and the counters...), and Pishik has discovered a nice nook in the shelves in my closet that makes for cozy sleeping (on my clothes...sigh...I should have color coordinated my pets better so that I could match clothing to fur color).

And my wife and I are back to dinner together at the table, evenings on the sofa chatting and watching tv (or surfing the web, but at least it is together) and reading in bed at night before going to sleep.

Life is good.

Americans Will Still Be Serving in Iraq

2011-12-27T08:51:00.002-05:00

I am glad someone has noticed that not all Americans serving in Iraq will leave with the soldiers.

As soldiers leave, U.S. diplomats face huge Iraq challenge

By Andrew Quinn

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the last American soldiers leave Iraq, the U.S. State Department assumes the reins of a complex and risky operation, the success or failure of which could determine whether the costly nine-year U.S. engagement with the country finally bears fruit.

U.S. diplomats, shielded by thousands of security contractors, will seek to monitor Iraq's fragile political evolution and push ahead with civilian aid programs designed to demonstrate the benefits of U.S. friendship.

Their aim is to secure an alliance with a nascent democracy neighboring Iran that, as a key oil producer, has seen its strategic importance to Washington increase sharply amid the political turmoil engulfing the Middle East.

But analysts say that, without U.S. military protection, they may end up trapped in fortified diplomatic bunkers while bureaucrats at home struggle with the logistics of organizing and securing one of the biggest U.S. diplomatic endeavors ever undertaken.

[...]

A handful of U.S. military personnel will remain in the country, working with the embassy to help with arms sales and training for Iraqi forces. Talks could resume next year on whether more U.S. troops can return for future training missions
In the meantime, U.S. officials say there will be roughly 16,000 people involved in the American diplomatic effort in Iraq.

About 2,000 will be diplomats and federal workers. The remaining 14,000 will be contractors - roughly half involved with security while the rest will be doing everything from keeping the kitchens running to managing the motor pool.

The operation will focus on the fortress-like U.S. Embassy in Baghdad -- the largest and most expensive U.S. diplomatic mission in the world -- as well as at consulates in Basra, Erbil and Kirkuk, each of them "hardened" to resist militant attack.

[...]

For U.S. diplomats and other federal officials working in Iraq, a day at work is likely to involve working the phones from behind blast walls and under heavy guard.

Potential threats include a much-diminished, but still lethal, Sunni insurgency; Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia groups; and the possibility of resurgent ethnic conflict.

Diplomatic facilities will be equipped with their own radar to detect incoming mortars and missiles, while rare movement around the country will be likely be severely restricted.

"They are not going to be able to move around much. That's obvious," said Dov Zakheim, a former senior Pentagon official during the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations who has specialized in looking at U.S. contracting in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Of course they are in a combat environment. As long as they deny that then there are a lot of issues they are sidestepping."

[...]

You can read the entire article here.

No Tigers Here, Just Packouts and Holidays

2011-12-26T04:08:00.004-05:00

First, I want to wish you all the happiness of the holidays, whichever holiday you celebrate. And general happiness if you don't celebrate at all.

Second, yes, I have been gone a while. But no worries...I haven't gone dark or even been reprimanded. It is just...well...have you ever tried to blog via ipad?

I have, a while back, and it was a pain.

So when I went to the states last week and only took my ipad with me, I knew I wouldn't be blogging. I should have told you. Sorry about that.

I went to the states last Friday for a whirlwind packout tour.

Yes, that is right, a packout. But not mine. My wife's.

We are all together again!

I arrived on Friday. Saturday we went to her folks for a few hours. Sunday we orgnaized. Monday I packed out the HHE and UAB while she was in class, then moved the two of us and the cats into a hotel. Tuesday I packed out the storage shipment. Wednesday, I spoke to the Estonian class and Thursday I met with new property manager. Plus got a new washer, turned in the cable box and did last minute cleaning of the apartment so we can rent it out.

Friday we got back on a plane for Estonia, arriving here Saturday.

And yesterday was Christmas.

So you can that I wouldn't have been able to blog even if I had taken my computer.

But all's well that ends well, and I am back in Estonia, with my wife and the cats, as well as the dog and the bird. Our whole family got to be together for Christmas.

And that is the happiest ending I can think of.

I hope your Christmas was just as happy.

"A life can never be repaid, but it can be honored."

2011-12-12T10:32:00.002-05:00

It is nice to know that should I be killed in the line of duty, my wife will at least receive a flag honoring my (and her) sacrifice. Now if she could also receive my pension and social security like opposite-sex spouses...

Congress passes bill giving flags to families of federal employees killed in the line of duty

Civil servants killed while on the job will receive honors and their agencies will give an American flag to their next of kin, under the Civilian Service Recognition Act, which the Senate passed Thursday with unanimous consent.

[...]

The Office of Personnel Management has estimated that since 1992, nearly 3,000 federal employees have been killed in the line of duty.

"This benefit may seem modest, but it's significant to our federal employees who work within this nation and in countless overseas posts," said Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., who introduced the bill in the House. "A life can never be repaid, but it can be honored. This bill ensures that."

You can read the whole article here.

The Tree Is Up...and I'm a Little Down

2011-12-11T11:12:00.005-05:00

No surprise, finding a Christmas tree here is definitely a lot easier than it was in Jerusalem.

Thanks to a recommendation from one of my colleagues, I drove south of town to a nursery with a great selection and great prices. I found a nice 6.5 ft tree for 25 euros. And although the price was not as good as in Jerusalem (Israel gives free trees to diplomats), it also didn't remind me of Charlie Brown's tree.

Today my goal was to get the tree set up.

I cranked up the Christmas music (thanks to 97.1 WASH FM's 24 hour Christmas music and the I Heart Radio app) and started decorating. The lights were a bit of a challenge...I decided to get 220v ones rather than using a transformer and our old lights, but they are not a string so much as a circle. It took a bit to figure them out and the make them work (because I loosened some of the bulbs getting them out of the package...taking lights off the tree that worked before you put the ON the tree...not fun).

Once the lights were up, I put the ornament pictured above on...we bought it from the Hallmark shop in Chapel Hill, NC for our first Christmas together in 1999. I always put it on the tree first.

Each of our ornaments is a memory. Before my wife and I got together, I had a tree of stuffed teddy bear angels, and the tree still bears some sign of that. The tree topper is still the teddy bear angel and there are still lots of stuffed angel bears all over it. But there are fewer than there have been in the past, and each year the number decreases as we add other ornaments. Each place we go for vacation and each place were we spend Christmas, we acquire an ornament. So there are ornaments there from Chrleston, SC, Chimney Rock, NC, and Ft. Pulaski, Ga., but also from Baku, Istanbul and Jerusalem. And now Tallinn. This was the last ornament to go on the tree.

I always loved Christmas as a kid, though it has periodically taken some hits. My first Christmas after my parents separated still makes me a little sad, and the Christmas after the death of my great-grandmother, with whom I had spent ever Christmas of my life until then, was also a hard one. Hardest of all was dealing with Christmas after the death of my mother. It took a long time for me to feel the joy again. Losing my grandmother two years ago was less hard, because we managed to have all of us together with her, including my brother and his kids, on her last Christmas.

This Christmas too will be good, because I will be with my wife. But I will miss Christmas with my dad and his side of the family, and that makes me a little sad. And being apart from all of my family, especially my wife and dad, right now has me a bit in the dumps. The tree is pretty (though I forgot to pack the garland...I vaguely remember that I thought it was in crappy shape and that I'd get more here...wish I had remembered that when I was at the store today...), but it makes me miss everyone.

I know we'll be together soon, but forgive me if I am a little misty all the same.

"All I want for Christmas is you."

Michael Guest Op-ed: A Changed U.S. State Department

2011-12-10T11:41:00.000-05:00

Ambassador Michael Guest, the first openly gay appointed to serve as a U.S. Ambassador, wrote an op-ed for the Advocate. You should go take a look.

Michael Guest Op-ed: A Changed U.S. State Department

"For those of us in the hall, Clinton’s speech seemed powerfully spoken from the heart. To me, a gay former diplomat, it also demonstrated the resilience of our diplomacy to respond to real and urgent needs. The speech, indeed, represents only part of a powerful legacy she will leave on LGBT rights at the State Department. Her early efforts to end discriminatory workplace policies for gay and lesbian diplomats set the standard for other federal agencies. The department’s attention to LGBT problems in its annual human rights reports has strengthened. Passport procedures have been changed to benefit transgender citizens and gay and lesbian parents. International speaker and exchange visitor programs now consciously reach out to LGBT populations, helping make the case for equal treatment in even the most skeptical overseas audiences. Funding for antidiscrimination and hate crimes–related projects has followed. And U.S. embassies now interact increasingly with LGBT groups at all levels, giving the latter greater visibility and respect in their communities. "

You can read the whole op-ed here.

Secretary Clinton: gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights

2011-12-07T02:55:00.006-05:00

This is one of the reasons I love my boss and love my job.

Hopefully I can get this video to work at some point today. But until then, here is a link and the entire transcript is also below.

Transcript: Secretary Clinton – “Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights”
Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

December 06, 2011

Good evening, and let me express my deep honor and pleasure at being here. I want to thank Director General Tokayev and Ms. Wyden along with other ministers, ambassadors, excellencies, and UN partners. This weekend, we will celebrate Human Rights Day, the anniversary of one of the great accomplishments of the last century.

Beginning in 1947, delegates from six continents devoted themselves to drafting a declaration that would enshrine the fundamental rights and freedoms of people everywhere. In the aftermath of World War II, many nations pressed for a statement of this kind to help ensure that we would prevent future atrocities and protect the inherent humanity and dignity of all people. And so the delegates went to work. They discussed, they wrote, they revisited, revised, rewrote, for thousands of hours. And they incorporated suggestions and revisions from governments, organizations, and individuals around the world.

At three o’clock in the morning on December 10th, 1948, after nearly two years of drafting and one last long night of debate, the president of the UN General Assembly called for a vote on the final text. Forty-eight nations voted in favor; eight abstained; none dissented. And the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. It proclaims a simple, powerful idea: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. And with the declaration, it was made clear that rights are not conferred by government; they are the birthright of all people. It does not matter what country we live in, who our leaders are, or even who we are. Because we are human, we therefore have rights. And because we have rights, governments are bound to protect them.

In the 63 years since the declaration was adopted, many nations have made great progress in making human rights a human reality. Step by step, barriers that once prevented people from enjoying the full measure of liberty, the full experience of dignity, and the full benefits of humanity have fallen away. In many places, racist laws have been repealed, legal and social practices that relegated women to second-class status have been abolished, the ability of religious minorities to practice their faith freely has been secured.

In most cases, this progress was not easily won. People fought and organized and campaigned in public squares and private spaces to change not only laws, but hearts and minds. And thanks to that work of generations, for millions of individuals whose lives were once narrowed by injustice, they are now able to live more freely and to participate more fully in the political, economic, and social lives of their communities.

Now, there is still, as you all know, much more to be done to secure that commitment, that reality, and progress for all people. Today, I want to talk about the work we have left to do to protect one group of people whose human rights are still denied in too many parts of the world today. In many ways, they are an invisible minority. They are arrested, beaten, terrorized, even executed. Many are treated with contempt and violence by their fellow citizens while authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse. They are denied opportunities to work and learn, driven from their homes and countries, and forced to suppress or deny who they are to protect themselves from harm.

I am talking about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, human beings born free and given bestowed equality and dignity, who have a right to claim that, which is now one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time. I speak about this subject knowing that my own country’s record on human rights for gay people is far from perfect. Until 2003, it was still a crime in parts of our country. Many LGBT Americans have endured violence and harassment in their own lives, and for some, including many young people, bullying and exclusion are daily experiences. So we, like all nations, have more work to do to protect human rights at home.

Now, raising this issue, I know, is sensitive for many people and that the obstacles standing in the way of protecting the human rights of LGBT people rest on deeply held personal, political, cultural, and religious beliefs. So I come here before you with respect, understanding, and humility. Even though progress on this front is not easy, we cannot delay acting. So in that spirit, I want to talk about the difficult and important issues we must address together to reach a global consensus that recognizes the human rights of LGBT citizens everywhere.

The first issue goes to the heart of the matter. Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct; but, in fact, they are one and the same. Now, of course, 60 years ago, the governments that drafted and passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were not thinking about how it applied to the LGBT community. They also weren’t thinking about how it applied to indigenous people or children or people with disabilities or other marginalized groups. Yet in the past 60 years, we have come to recognize that members of these groups are entitled to the full measure of dignity and rights, because, like all people, they share a common humanity.

This recognition did not occur all at once. It evolved over time. And as it did, we understood that we were honoring rights that people always had, rather than creating new or special rights for them. Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.

It is violation of human rights when people are beaten or killed because of their sexual orientation, or because they do not conform to cultural norms about how men and women should look or behave. It is a violation of human rights when governments declare it illegal to be gay, or allow those who harm gay people to go unpunished. It is a violation of human rights when lesbian or transgendered women are subjected to so-called corrective rape, or forcibly subjected to hormone treatments, or when people are murdered after public calls for violence toward gays, or when they are forced to flee their nations and seek asylum in other lands to save their lives. And it is a violation of human rights when life-saving care is withheld from people because they are gay, or equal access to justice is denied to people because they are gay, or public spaces are out of bounds to people because they are gay. No matter what we look like, where we come from, or who we are, we are all equally entitled to our human rights and dignity.

The second issue is a question of whether homosexuality arises from a particular part of the world. Some seem to believe it is a Western phenomenon, and therefore people outside the West have grounds to reject it. Well, in reality, gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world. They are all ages, all races, all faiths; they are doctors and teachers, farmers and bankers, soldiers and athletes; and whether we know it, or whether we acknowledge it, they are our family, our friends, and our neighbors.

Being gay is not a Western invention; it is a human reality. And protecting the human rights of all people, gay or straight, is not something that only Western governments do. South Africa’s constitution, written in the aftermath of Apartheid, protects the equality of all citizens, including gay people. In Colombia and Argentina, the rights of gays are also legally protected. In Nepal, the supreme court has ruled that equal rights apply to LGBT citizens. The Government of Mongolia has committed to pursue new legislation that will tackle anti-gay discrimination.

Now, some worry that protecting the human rights of the LGBT community is a luxury that only wealthy nations can afford. But in fact, in all countries, there are costs to not protecting these rights, in both gay and straight lives lost to disease and violence, and the silencing of voices and views that would strengthen communities, in ideas never pursued by entrepreneurs who happen to be gay. Costs are incurred whenever any group is treated as lesser or the other, whether they are women, racial, or religious minorities, or the LGBT. Former President Mogae of Botswana pointed out recently that for as long as LGBT people are kept in the shadows, there cannot be an effective public health program to tackle HIV and AIDS. Well, that holds true for other challenges as well.

The third, and perhaps most challenging, issue arises when people cite religious or cultural values as a reason to violate or not to protect the human rights of LGBT citizens. This is not unlike the justification offered for violent practices towards women like honor killings, widow burning, or female genital mutilation. Some people still defend those practices as part of a cultural tradition. But violence toward women isn’t cultural; it’s criminal. Likewise with slavery, what was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights.

In each of these cases, we came to learn that no practice or tradition trumps the human rights that belong to all of us. And this holds true for inflicting violence on LGBT people, criminalizing their status or behavior, expelling them from their families and communities, or tacitly or explicitly accepting their killing.

Of course, it bears noting that rarely are cultural and religious traditions and teachings actually in conflict with the protection of human rights. Indeed, our religion and our culture are sources of compassion and inspiration toward our fellow human beings. It was not only those who’ve justified slavery who leaned on religion, it was also those who sought to abolish it. And let us keep in mind that our commitments to protect the freedom of religion and to defend the dignity of LGBT people emanate from a common source. For many of us, religious belief and practice is a vital source of meaning and identity, and fundamental to who we are as people. And likewise, for most of us, the bonds of love and family that we forge are also vital sources of meaning and identity. And caring for others is an expression of what it means to be fully human. It is because the human experience is universal that human rights are universal and cut across all religions and cultures.

The fourth issue is what history teaches us about how we make progress towards rights for all. Progress starts with honest discussion. Now, there are some who say and believe that all gay people are pedophiles, that homosexuality is a disease that can be caught or cured, or that gays recruit others to become gay. Well, these notions are simply not true. They are also unlikely to disappear if those who promote or accept them are dismissed out of hand rather than invited to share their fears and concerns. No one has ever abandoned a belief because he was forced to do so.

Universal human rights include freedom of expression and freedom of belief, even if our words or beliefs denigrate the humanity of others. Yet, while we are each free to believe whatever we choose, we cannot do whatever we choose, not in a world where we protect the human rights of all.

Reaching understanding of these issues takes more than speech. It does take a conversation. In fact, it takes a constellation of conversations in places big and small. And it takes a willingness to see stark differences in belief as a reason to begin the conversation, not to avoid it.

But progress comes from changes in laws. In many places, including my own country, legal protections have preceded, not followed, broader recognition of rights. Laws have a teaching effect. Laws that discriminate validate other kinds of discrimination. Laws that require equal protections reinforce the moral imperative of equality. And practically speaking, it is often the case that laws must change before fears about change dissipate.

Many in my country thought that President Truman was making a grave error when he ordered the racial desegregation of our military. They argued that it would undermine unit cohesion. And it wasn’t until he went ahead and did it that we saw how it strengthened our social fabric in ways even the supporters of the policy could not foresee. Likewise, some worried in my country that the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would have a negative effect on our armed forces. Now, the Marine Corps Commandant, who was one of the strongest voices against the repeal, says that his concerns were unfounded and that the Marines have embraced the change.

Finally, progress comes from being willing to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. We need to ask ourselves, “How would it feel if it were a crime to love the person I love? How would it feel to be discriminated against for something about myself that I cannot change?” This challenge applies to all of us as we reflect upon deeply held beliefs, as we work to embrace tolerance and respect for the dignity of all persons, and as we engage humbly with those with whom we disagree in the hope of creating greater understanding.

A fifth and final question is how we do our part to bring the world to embrace human rights for all people including LGBT people. Yes, LGBT people must help lead this effort, as so many of you are. Their knowledge and experiences are invaluable and their courage inspirational. We know the names of brave LGBT activists who have literally given their lives for this cause, and there are many more whose names we will never know. But often those who are denied rights are least empowered to bring about the changes they seek. Acting alone, minorities can never achieve the majorities necessary for political change.

So when any part of humanity is sidelined, the rest of us cannot sit on the sidelines. Every time a barrier to progress has fallen, it has taken a cooperative effort from those on both sides of the barrier. In the fight for women’s rights, the support of men remains crucial. The fight for racial equality has relied on contributions from people of all races. Combating Islamaphobia or anti-Semitism is a task for people of all faiths. And the same is true with this struggle for equality.

Conversely, when we see denials and abuses of human rights and fail to act, that sends the message to those deniers and abusers that they won’t suffer any consequences for their actions, and so they carry on. But when we do act, we send a powerful moral message. Right here in Geneva, the international community acted this year to strengthen a global consensus around the human rights of LGBT people. At the Human Rights Council in March, 85 countries from all regions supported a statement calling for an end to criminalization and violence against people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

At the following session of the Council in June, South Africa took the lead on a resolution about violence against LGBT people. The delegation from South Africa spoke eloquently about their own experience and struggle for human equality and its indivisibility. When the measure passed, it became the first-ever UN resolution recognizing the human rights of gay people worldwide. In the Organization of American States this year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights created a unit on the rights of LGBT people, a step toward what we hope will be the creation of a special rapporteur.

Now, we must go further and work here and in every region of the world to galvanize more support for the human rights of the LGBT community. To the leaders of those countries where people are jailed, beaten, or executed for being gay, I ask you to consider this: Leadership, by definition, means being out in front of your people when it is called for. It means standing up for the dignity of all your citizens and persuading your people to do the same. It also means ensuring that all citizens are treated as equals under your laws, because let me be clear – I am not saying that gay people can’t or don’t commit crimes. They can and they do, just like straight people. And when they do, they should be held accountable, but it should never be a crime to be gay.

And to people of all nations, I say supporting human rights is your responsibility too. The lives of gay people are shaped not only by laws, but by the treatment they receive every day from their families, from their neighbors. Eleanor Roosevelt, who did so much to advance human rights worldwide, said that these rights begin in the small places close to home – the streets where people live, the schools they attend, the factories, farms, and offices where they work. These places are your domain. The actions you take, the ideals that you advocate, can determine whether human rights flourish where you are.

And finally, to LGBT men and women worldwide, let me say this: Wherever you live and whatever the circumstances of your life, whether you are connected to a network of support or feel isolated and vulnerable, please know that you are not alone. People around the globe are working hard to support you and to bring an end to the injustices and dangers you face. That is certainly true for my country. And you have an ally in the United States of America and you have millions of friends among the American people.

The Obama Administration defends the human rights of LGBT people as part of our comprehensive human rights policy and as a priority of our foreign policy. In our embassies, our diplomats are raising concerns about specific cases and laws, and working with a range of partners to strengthen human rights protections for all. In Washington, we have created a task force at the State Department to support and coordinate this work. And in the coming months, we will provide every embassy with a toolkit to help improve their efforts. And we have created a program that offers emergency support to defenders of human rights for LGBT people.

This morning, back in Washington, President Obama put into place the first U.S. Government strategy dedicated to combating human rights abuses against LGBT persons abroad. Building on efforts already underway at the State Department and across the government, the President has directed all U.S. Government agencies engaged overseas to combat the criminalization of LGBT status and conduct, to enhance efforts to protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers, to ensure that our foreign assistance promotes the protection of LGBT rights, to enlist international organizations in the fight against discrimination, and to respond swiftly to abuses against LGBT persons.

I am also pleased to announce that we are launching a new Global Equality Fund that will support the work of civil society organizations working on these issues around the world. This fund will help them record facts so they can target their advocacy, learn how to use the law as a tool, manage their budgets, train their staffs, and forge partnerships with women’s organizations and other human rights groups. We have committed more than $3 million to start this fund, and we have hope that others will join us in supporting it.

The women and men who advocate for human rights for the LGBT community in hostile places, some of whom are here today with us, are brave and dedicated, and deserve all the help we can give them. We know the road ahead will not be easy. A great deal of work lies before us. But many of us have seen firsthand how quickly change can come. In our lifetimes, attitudes toward gay people in many places have been transformed. Many people, including myself, have experienced a deepening of our own convictions on this topic over the years, as we have devoted more thought to it, engaged in dialogues and debates, and established personal and professional relationships with people who are gay.

This evolution is evident in many places. To highlight one example, the Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexuality in India two years ago, writing, and I quote, “If there is one tenet that can be said to be an underlying theme of the Indian constitution, it is inclusiveness.” There is little doubt in my mind that support for LGBT human rights will continue to climb. Because for many young people, this is simple: All people deserve to be treated with dignity and have their human rights respected, no matter who they are or whom they love.

There is a phrase that people in the United States invoke when urging others to support human rights: “Be on the right side of history.” The story of the United States is the story of a nation that has repeatedly grappled with intolerance and inequality. We fought a brutal civil war over slavery. People from coast to coast joined in campaigns to recognize the rights of women, indigenous peoples, racial minorities, children, people with disabilities, immigrants, workers, and on and on. And the march toward equality and justice has continued. Those who advocate for expanding the circle of human rights were and are on the right side of history, and history honors them. Those who tried to constrict human rights were wrong, and history reflects that as well.

I know that the thoughts I’ve shared today involve questions on which opinions are still evolving. As it has happened so many times before, opinion will converge once again with the truth, the immutable truth, that all persons are created free and equal in dignity and rights. We are called once more to make real the words of the Universal Declaration. Let us answer that call. Let us be on the right side of history, for our people, our nations, and future generations, whose lives will be shaped by the work we do today. I come before you with great hope and confidence that no matter how long the road ahead, we will travel it successfully together. Thank you very much.

Roadtrip!

2011-12-06T02:19:00.002-05:00

I finally got to go to Saaremaa, the largest of the bazillion Estonian islands, yesterday.

It is a long trip, and not one I would ordinarily recommend as a day trip. We left the embassy at 11 am and were back by about 9 pm. Next time, I think I will stay overnight.

But the visit was a good one...we went to the American Corner there and I gave a talk on Thanksgiving and American Indians. We had a great turnout...maybe 50 or so folks, though I took Noostie and I think she was more popular than I was!

After the talk, we had an Estonian rendition of American Thanksgiving dinner...very tasty! And just in the nick of time...I was starving!

The weather on the trip there and back was a bit bizarre, literally changing every few minutes. We had bright sunshine, drizzle, pouring rain, sleet, fog and eventually snow, all in the space of a few hours.

And speaking of snow, clearly I need to be more specific. When I said the snow would come once I left Tallinn, I meant when I left Tallinn to go to the U.S. But it decided that it would come when I left Tallinn for Saremaa. Not cool Tallinn weather! We had a deal!

It is pretty though.

The Rise and Fall

2011-12-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

It is back up, though four meters shorter (now it is only 17 meters tall).

Christmas Came! It Came Just the Same!

2011-12-01T11:29:00.006-05:00

You remember the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas?

That was kind of my day today.

Today was the day for our annual holiday party. We've been planning it for a while now. And by we, I mean people other than me. Like my colleague from language class who worked her butt off (AND welcomed people in English, Estonian AND Hebrew...because she rocks like that).

My only roles were to try to get media coverage and then to show up and be jolly.

But dealing with the media in general is my role, and yesterday evening, about 10 minutes after I left work, we had an incident.

A 19-year old Estonian threw a molotov cocktail at the Embassy.

I don't know why he did it, but given that it happened the night before the Holiday Party, it could have spoiled what is a really cherished even both at the embassy and among the community.

But considering, everything went as well as it possibly could have. It was a really minor incident, and I doubt it will even make the U.S. news. No one was injured (thank God), no damage was done to the embassy other than a black smudge on the wall, and the kid has been arrested. In fact, one of our Estonian neighbors grabbed him right after he did it, handed him over to our local guards, who detained him until the police arrived. And they arrived quickly, arrested him, and have him in custody.

And there was no need to cancel the party. It came all the same!

We had clear, crisp weather with no rain (or snow). We had a great turnout. We had cookies and egg nog. We had cute kids singing Christmas and Hanukkah songs. We had decorated trees that lit up on cue when one of the cute kids helped the Ambassador push the button.

It was perfect. Just like these ice ornaments (that in an normal Estonian winter would not have melted until spring!).

I feel a little like the Whos in Whoville.

Oops! It Happened Again.

2011-11-29T02:21:00.002-05:00

I went to the Christmas tree lighting in Raekoja Plats on Sunday.

Of course, since I didn't bring an umbrella, it was POURING.

By standing really close to a guy with a really big umbrella (which said something about some socialist website on it...I worried about being under the umbrella of socialism!), I was able to make it through three songs and two speeches.

But by then I was drenched, so I gave up and went home.

I checked on Postimees (the largest local paper), to see if they had pictures or video of the lighting.

Instead, they had pictures and video of the tree falling...AGAIN.

You can check out video of it here, and a story about the incident here.

The rumor mill says the tree was sabotaged by squirrels...the squirrel is the mascot of the ruling Reform Party, and the tree was put up by the Mayor of Tallinn, who is from the opposition Center Party. But if you ask me, I think it was the wind.

And fear not, the tree will be back...but it will be a bit more modest...only 17 meters tall instead of the previous 24 meters. Which is still a pretty frickin' big tree!

Fixing the Christmas Market Postcard

2011-11-26T07:36:00.006-05:00

When we were in Estonian language training, we watched this miniseries called Tuulepealne Maa, or Windswept Land.

So I shouldn't have been surprised that it is occassionally windy here. Really windy.

Yesterday the wind was just howling. From my office at the embassy, it sounded downright spooky.

When I got home, I posted about all the cool things going on this weekend...the Christmas Market in the Old City, the Tree Lighting, the International Women's Club of Tallinn Bazaar...and that is just the stuff I plan to go to!

And then my Estonian teacher commented on the post to be careful, because the Christmas tree in the Old City had FALLEN OVER! The tree in Helsinki apparently did as well!

Sure enough, I went to the local paper online, and it had several stories and even a video (which I watched last night but doesn't currently want to load). Luckily, no one was hurt and none of the Christmas market stalls were even damaged.

The stories said the tree would be back up by last night, and given Estonian efficiency, I believed them. I'd have gone last night to look, but it was raining. And in fact, despite the fact that they were calling for sunny and 43 degrees today, when I tried to go this morning, it was pouring rain and then snowing (and then raining again).

So I waited a bit and headed over this afternoon. Sure enough, the tree is back and men in a large crane are redecorating it.

Noostie and I walked around the market for an hour or so, even though the weather was cold and kind of crappy, watching the tourists and letting Noostie fantasize about herding the reindeer (I originally typed that raindeer...which I think was a freudian slip).

Tomorrow is the tree lighting. I'm hoping for better weather for the pictures...and that the tree is still upright!

Living in a Christmas Card

2011-11-25T04:05:00.003-05:00

Because I work in Public Affairs, of course there was work to be done on Thanksgiving. So after I had stuffed myself senseless, I drove in an tryptophan induced coma to the Solaris Cinema for a viewing of A Marine Story and subsequent discussion on Don't Ask, don't Tell.

The movie was great, and the discussion was great. It was particularly awesome that Erinevus Rikkasab (Diversity Enriches) was able to secure the film's lead actress, Dreya Weber, to sit on the panel as well.

Now that Thanksgiving is done, we can dive into the Christmas season in full force.

Which of course means that my office is now adorned with two tiny and slightly tacky (especially the purple one) Christmas trees.

It also means that this weekend marks the tree lighting and the opening of the Christmas market in the Old City. I will definitely be there for that!

This is picture I have seen many places of the market...I posted it on Facebook and got a bunch of comments on how it wouldn't be real. But it is, and I will be taking some pictures myself this weekend and in the weeks to come. With or without snow depends on the weather...so far my Southern warmth has kept any substantial snow away.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T09:27:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving is one of the weirdest holidays for me as an American overseas.

I think I am most homesick over Thanksgiving, because only other Americans really "get it." Christmas, Easter...if you are in a country with any Christians at all, someone understands. But Thanksgiving? That is all us.

Thanksgiving is especially hard this year because I am also separated from my wife (though only 23 days to go, not that I am counting). And Thanksgiving for me is very much about being with my family. So this one has me a little in the dumps.

Luckily, my friends from language class have invited me to their place to share in the wonderful turkey goodness, so I won't be sitting in my apartment sulking. Plus, I am participating in a discussion on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" tomorrow evening (Why yes, I AM working on Thanksgiving...why do you act shocked?). So I will hopefully be too busy to be sad.

And today, I spoke to kids from the Jewish School here about Thanksgiving. I told them a bit about the history, a bit about the Indian perspective, and they read some poens they wrote for the occassion, did a presentation, and a group of girls sang a song (not a holiday song, but it was cute anyway).

Now, things I am thankful for:

A job I love.

That I will see my wife in 23 days and we will spend Christmas together.

That I just completed my first week as duty officer here without a single call (that NEVER happened in Jerusalem).

What Do I Look Like?

2011-11-19T06:27:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a good day, but it left me still puzzled about the whole language thing.

First, the good parts.

My shipment from the commissary arrived. There was a mistake though...they DOUBLED my order of Diet Mt. Dew!

I now have TWENTY cases of Diet Mt. Dew.

This is NOT a bad thing.

I ration. One a day. I got through Jerusalem that way...only went one or two days without one.

Don't judge me. We all have our addictions.

So that means I have 240 days worth of Diet Mt. Dew. Plus I got a case of blueberry bagels. One bag in the fridge, the rest in the freezer. So I have bagels for a while (side note: why the hell doesn't Estonia have bagels? They don't even have bad bagels. I totally do not get it...this is a first world country, for heaven's sake!). My car still has a lovely blueberry smell from bringing them home.

So life is good.

And at the end of the day, I got an email from the PA section in Vilnius asking if I was interested in joining in with them to bring BETTY to the Balts.

Oh hell yeah!

For those of you who don't know, BETTY is pretty famous in the LGBT community. They did the theme song for the L Word and performed on the show numerous times. They are an alternative rock group and they will represent American culture and LGBT tolerance. And folks in my section tell me it has been a while since we have had a rock band here, and that this should go over really well. So it is still tentative, but I am really excited about it.

Now for the puzzling part.

Many folks tell me that people here just start of and stay in English with them here. I always figured they just weren't trying hard enough to use Estonian.

Now I am less sure.

Yesterday, I went to the sub place in the mall near the Embassy. There was a line, two guys and two women who seemed to be together. The guys were speaking Estonian, and though one appeared somewhat Asian (maybe Russian from the Steppes), he was speaking Estonian with his friend way more fluently than I do. And then the cashier came to take his order and spoke to him in English (after having spoken to the other guy in Estonian). He did his order in English and then she proceeded to take the women's orders, also in English.

Then she got to me...and spoke Estonian.

And I placed my order in Estonian. At one point, she asked me something in English, apologized, and switched back to Estonian!

Seriously...I am confused. I have noticed in the past that wherever I have gone, I had a cameleon-type tendency. By that, I mean that people usually I am mixed with something and whatever they are. Indian communities know I am mixed Indian. But it has happened among African Americans, Hispanics, and Jewish people as well (yes, I know that is a racist assumption that Jews somehow look alike, but it was Jewish people, not me, making that assumption, both in the states and in Jerusalem).

But I don't look Estonian. I have been told that I could look like someone from Saaremaa. And lately some have said that maybe they think I am Russian. I suppose that is possible...a couple Russians here have spoken to me in Russian, but mostly the Russians also speak to me in Estonian.

So I am at a loss...I am beginning to think that people are right that people speak to them in English. And I am happy that they don't speak to me in English. But I no longer have any idea why.

What I've been up to

2011-11-18T05:17:00.002-05:00

Aside from about five foot.

You remember that line in the movie Airplane where Leslie Nielson says he picked the wrong week to give up smoking (and then drinking, pot, crack...)?

I picked the wrong week to let my APAO go on training!

You may or may not have seen that the U.S. joined the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence. That center is here in Estonia, and is something we have been working on for a while. For us specifically in Public Affairs, we have been working on trying to get press attention for the announcement. Based on the number of hits on google, I am satisfied with our efforts.

And if that was all I had to work on this week, it would have been a long week.

But Monday we had a reception at the Ambassador's house for Educators. Tuesday night, I showed a film to some 60-70 students at KUMU. Wednesday night we had a rehearsal of the cyber center ceremony. When I got back from that, I worked on finishing some texts I had been trying to find time to work on for WEEKS. And then last night, we had the cyber center ceremony AND THEN and reception for Afghan diplomats.

I am hoping to leave on time tonight. And to sleep this weekend. A lot.

Lunch with Ambassador Guest

2011-11-16T12:04:00.002-05:00

If you hurry, you can join in the GLIFAA lunch with Ambassador Michael Guest.

Ambassador Guest and his colleagues from the Council for Global Equality were at the Department for this morning for a briefing on LGBT issues for EUR Desk Officers. Immediately thereafter, they've agreed to join GLIFAA members for a brown bag lunch in Room 4517. So if you are at or near Main State, head over, lunch in hand, at 12:15.

Ambassador Guest served as the first out career Foreign Service Officer to be confirmed as an Ambassador by the U.S. Senate in 2001. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor at the Council for Global Equality, a non-profit serving to advance LGBT rights as part of U.S. efforts to promote human rights.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

2011-11-13T03:57:00.003-05:00

I generally don't like balls (no comments from the peanut gallery).

This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me.

I don't like dressing up. I particularly don't like wearing dresses. I don't own one. And since I did not wear a dress for either my college graduation or my mother's funeral, I can't think of an occassion where I would be willing to put one on at this point in my life.

I also don't drink. Or dance.

So yeah, balls are not really my thing.

I do, however, LOVE our Marines. They are great guys, and I sincerely appreciate that they put their lives on the line to guard the embassy. I feel better knowing they are there.

Plus, with the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," I feel better knowing that LGBT can serve in dignity. I feel better knowing that I could serve (well...if I weren't so darned OLD), something I always wanted to do when I was younger. I feel included now.

So I felt like it was important to go to the Marine Corps Ball...important enough to miss listening to the South Carolina-Florida game (we won - yay!).

I am glad I went. The ball was very well done...our Gunney did a fabulous job with it...it was very tasteful and dignified. Everyone there looked stunning (you'll have to take my word for that since I don't put pictures of people from the embassy on here)! The food was excellent. The music was great (and for those of you who dislike 80s music...too bad!). And I got to meet a lot of interesting people...like an Irish guy working for the British Embassy who attended Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC!

And before you ask...no, I didn't wear a dress (pantsuit...but my jacket had a tiny bit of sparkle, and my shirt was shiny blue silk) and no, I didn't dance.

I didn't drink either...well, not intentionally anyway...I did reach for my water glass and take a drink of someone's really sweet white wine (seriously, this wine had NO COLOR...I did actually look at the glass before I drank from it).

So Happy 236th Birthday Marines...I am happy I got to celebrate with you!

St. Martin's Day Market

2011-11-12T05:00:00.016-05:00

This week, Estonia celbrated Mardipäev, or St. Martin's Day. The day is named for St. Martin, a Roman soldier who was baptised and became a monk later in life. He apparently cut his cloak in half to give to a beggar to keep the beggar from dying from the cold, then that night had a dream where Jesus was wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. Martin heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clothed me."

The feast day is, I think, November 11, but I know that Estonian kids went out on Wednesday night. I think because of the history of the day being associated with the end of the agrarian year and the beginning of winter period, and associated fairs where the men went looking for work, children now dress men and go door to door, singing songs in exchange for candy. Like Halloween but different.

No kids came to my door, largely because I live in a building with security and such, but I did get to go to the St. Martin's Day Market. The market is filled with vendors from all across the country who come in to sell their handmade crafts. It is a chance to get some beautiful handmade work for a little less than it sells in the Old City and with much greater variety than you can find there.

The market was packed, and in addition to getting to watch folk dancing of all kinds and getting to see President Ilves' wife sign books, there was everything there from knitted sweaters and gloves, to iron work, baskets, woodwork, blown glass, and then some. There were, in addition to craftspeople from Estonia, also folks from Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Georgia, Turkey and Slovenia. Needless to say, my Christmas shopping is nearly complete...and my checking account is a bit lighter!

AFSA Responds to Insult to Diplomats

2011-11-11T07:38:00.000-05:00

AFSA (the American Foreign Service Association), put out this response to Governor Rick Perry's insulting claim that diplomats do not have America's best interests at heart. (To their credit, they did not use any of the expletives I had in mind.)

Texas Governor Rick Perry's comments about members of the U.S. Foreign Service during a Nov. 7 radio interview (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/7/perry-questions-intentions-of-american-diplomats) reflect a serious misunderstanding of their role in promoting American interests overseas. Diplomacy is rightly recognized as the first line of defense and a vital instrument for ensuring national security, along with the military. Foreign Service professionals carry out their role with exemplary dedication all over the world, including war zones and other dangerous regions.

Indeed, hundreds of American diplomats have given their lives in the line of duty, including six ambassadors: John Mein (Guatemala, 1968), Cleo Noel (Sudan, 1973), Rodger Davies (Cyprus, 1974), Francis Meloy (Lebanon, 1976), Adolph Dubs (Afghanistan, 1979) and Arnold Raphel (Pakistan, 1988). Other Foreign Service professionals who have made the ultimate sacrifice at the hands of terrorists or drug traffickers include Charles Robert Ray (France, 1982), William Buckley (Lebanon, 1985), Gary Durell and Jacqueline Van Landingham (Pakistan, 1995), George Tsantes (Greece, 1983), Leamon Hunt (Italy, 1984), Barbara Green and Laurence Foley (Pakistan, 2002), James Mollen and Edward Seitz (Iraq, 2004), Barbara Heald, Keith Taylor and Stephen Sullivan (Iraq, 2005), and David Foy (Pakistan, 2006). The bombings of our embassies in Beirut in 1983 and 1985, and in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, killed scores more.

Wherever they are posted, American diplomats are dedicated to serving their country, promoting U.S. national interests as articulated by our country's elected leaders. Drawing on invaluable expertise accumulated over decades of living and working in countries all over world, often separated from family, they provide sound advice for policy decisions regardless of which party is in power, in keeping with high standards of professional excellence. They serve at the pleasure of the president, are confirmed by Congress and need the informed support of both branches of government to be effective.

In an ever more uncertain, complex world our diplomatic personnel deal with the entire spectrum of our interaction with the rest of the world. So to keep America strong and secure, we need more diplomacy, not less. And we need more, not less, support from our political leaders and citizens for their work to defend and advance our interests abroad.

The Washington Post also covered AFSA's response: Diplomat's Respond Bluntly Rick Perry.

Better Than I Did

2011-11-09T02:21:00.002-05:00

You need to go over and check out this post by Donna over at Email From The Embassy. She takes on the comments about questioning diplomats' motives far better than I did (and we all have our fingers crossed for her as she submits her QEPs...because she is awesome).

Here is just a bit of it:

"People don't always agree with each other in the Foreign Service, and people don't always get along on a personal level. But Foreign Service officers always advance the agenda of our government, without fail. And they work together, no matter their personal beliefs. Because that is what they were hired to do. Imagine that, if you will: Democrats and Republicans, all working together on behalf of our nation - it happens every single day in the Foreign Service.

[...]

And here's the kicker: if he somehow manages to pull off a victory, those very same Foreign Service officers whom he just mindlessly insulted will stand up and support his policies across the globe.

Because that's what the Foreign Service is about. Diplomats support American ideals in every country across the globe, often at great risk to themselves and their families. Diplomats (and their boss, the Secretary of State) don't set their own policies. Rather, they serve as boots on the ground, the eyes and ears of the President in every corner of the globe. Diplomats report back what they see and hear and think in these countries that Rick Perry has probably never considered visiting. They present the facts - and yes, they present their own educated opinions - so that our President has the information he needs to create and direct policy. Once the President decides on policy, these same diplomats work to advance his agenda. Not their own agendas, mind you. Never their own agendas."

I recommend you read the whole post.

We Deserve Better

2011-11-08T04:40:00.002-05:00

Nobody joins the Foreign Service to get rich.

We join for a miriad of reasons, but scratch most of us in the Foreign Service and you will find a deeply patriotic American.

We endure harsh conditions in war zones and other inhospitable places. We endure separations from our loved ones, sometimes for years. We endure diseases and environmental conditions most Americans would never consider subjecting their families to.

We earn, according to a recent study, 26% less than we could in comparable private sector jobs, and yet we endure the seemingly endless accusations that we are just overpaid bureaucrats who are the cause of our country's economic crisis. And to that end, lately we have endured pay freezes and pay cuts, and we live with the fear of job cuts and government shutdowns.

And still we serve.

We serve because we believe. We believe in this country. We believe in serving it. We believe that in order to be strong, this country needs both military and diplomatic strength.

So we deserve better than having a candidate for president of this great country question our intentions.

We deserve better than someone saying "I’m not sure our State Department serves us well...I’m talking about the career diplomats and the Secretary of State who, all too often, may not be making decisions, or giving advice to the administration that’s in this country’s best interest."

Trust me. Everything we do...EVERYTHING WE DO...we do because we believe it is in our country's best interest.

That is why we serve. FOR our country. PERIOD.

Welcome to the 164th!

2011-11-07T07:56:00.002-05:00

It is that time again, time to welcome the new FSOs to the Foreign Service! The 164the A-100 class began today!

So a special welcome to the following bloggers:

FSO Wannabe (who I hope actually accepted the offer!)

That lady, There

and

You Can't Get There From Here.

Your blogs have been moved to the FS blogroll.

Let me know if I have missed anyone.

Welcome and congrats!!

Don't Hate Me Because Tallinn's Beautiful

2011-11-03T10:35:00.003-04:00

You know you are jealous.

I still think it is pretty cool that I get to live in a place like Tallinn for three years.

And that I get to do the work I am doing for three years (exhausted though I already am).

I took this picture yesterday from Lounge 24, a bar on top of the Radisson Hotel. I was there because we are planning an event for next month, and we hope to hold it there.

I had a picture of me taken from up there as well (which I won't be posting here, even though lots of you clearly already know what I look like), and I swear it looks like I am standing in from of one of those fake tourist posters.

So yeah, don't hate me...come visit!

It is not that I don't care

2011-11-02T03:18:00.004-04:00

(about the blog, that is...) I have just been slammed.

By the end of the week, I *might* have gone home on time one night...Friday, I am seriously counting on you!

I was in Pärnu Monday night for the close of Pärnu America Weeks. We spoke to a high school class, a college class and went to the closing ceremony. They had a ginourmous cake which was pretty good (cakes here are different than in the states but they are pretty good if you aren't expecting a U.S. style cake. The same could not be said for most cakes in Jerusalem, so I will take it). I got home about 10:30.

Yesterday, I was at the Ambassador's residence first for an interview with his wife by Eesti Naine, the oldest and most respected women's magazine in Estonia...it was Eesti Naine (Estonian Woman) during the first Estonian republic, then it became Soviet Woman then went back to Estonian Woman after re-independence. So it has been around since 1923 I think.

After that, we had a reception at the residence, an econ thing I wouldn't have normally been involved with had there not been a press component. So I got home at about 9.

Tonight, we are having a Town Hall for the American citizens here in Estonia. My guess is I will make it home 8:30ish.

And tomorrow we have a film screening...again, I'll likely get home 8:30ish.

I am defending my Friday evening like a mother bear.

Visiting Helsinki

2011-10-29T14:52:00.009-04:00

I am officially old.

Last night, I went to a Halloween party at the Marine House. Lot's of folks were there, many in costume, but I knew I was going to Helsinki today, so I left early. I knew I wanted to get a good night's sleep. Plus, I wanted to go to the party at Shimo (a bar in the Old City) with some folks tonight.

I am so not going to that party. In fact, you would be hard pressed to make me get out of my sweatpants for any reason at this point.

But visiting Helsinki was awesome.

(Well, except for the part where people were speaking Finnish. Because it sounds like Estonian, except that I could only understand about half of it. So it made me feel like an idiot.)

The ferry ride to Helsinki is only about 2 hours and costs about 33 euros. A friend and I took the 7:30 ferry (entirely too frickin' early) over and the 2:30 ferry back. We spent five hours wandering around Helsinki, visiting the market by the water, the Russian Orthodox cathedral (pictured above), and the National Museum. We walked tons of places, I took tons of pictures, and I saw more of Helsinki in five hours than I got to see of Brussels in the five days I was there.

Which is why I am going to bed right after I post this!

Icon inside the Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Inside the Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Parking Turtles

National Museum

Bear at National Museum

P.S. Anyone else notice how sunny it is in these pictures? It was also 50 degrees. D.C.? Snowing. Yeah, I think that is funny too!

Oh, you do speak Estonian

2011-10-28T03:23:00.004-04:00

Last night, I attended a dinner at F-Hoone that was part of the the Estonian Atlantic Treaty Association’s "Hea Kodanik" (Good Citizen) program. The program lasts for three days and is geared toward giving Estonia’s youth both the motivation and a forum to discuss important and occassionally troubling aspects of their society. Leading Estonian politicians, experts, and opinion makers like Mart Laar and Sven Mikser are participating in the event this year (though the Ambassador was the featured guest of last night's event). These leaders talk about the importance of the state in addressing society’s needs, and more specifically, the role that the Estonia Parliament can play in shaping citizen societal engagement.

In other words, how to be a good citizen.

There were about 100 high school students from both Estonian and Russian schools from across Estonia there last night, all around 17 or 18 years old. The group was about 50-50 Estonian and Russian.

It was pretty interesting...a nice mix of kids...some from Narva who had never had an Estonian friend, some from Saaremaa who had never met a Russian. They were eager to talk to the Ambassador and were ready to have interesting, thoughtful conversations with him, me and my APAO.

I had one funny thing happen last night...I was talking to a table of kids, mixed Russian and Estonian. We were speaking in English because one of the Russian kids didn't speak Estonian (the other Russian girl, who was from Tallinn, switched back and forth between Russian and Estonian with great ease...her English wasn't as good as the others', but she often defaulted to Estonian when she couldn't get out what she wanted to say). Anyway, one kid asked me what languages I spoke, and I said "English, obviously, Estonian..." and he chuckled and said Estonian? And I looked at him and said, "Jah, ma räägin eesti keelt." And the look of shock on his face was awesome! He said (with no apparent hint of irony), "Oh, you do speak Estonian."

Tintin

2011-10-27T03:05:00.002-04:00

Last night, I attended the premier of the new Steven Spielberg movie, Tintin, with the Ambassador and a number of folks from the Embassy.

We co-sponsored the event with the Belgian embassy because the film is based on the cartoon by Belgian cartoonist Hergé.

It was the first 3-D movie I have been to since the really crappy 3-D of my childhood. I was a bit concerned that it would make me quesy as those old 3-D flicks did. But technology has really advanced. It was pretty awesome.

After the movie, we had a reception, complete with Belgian beer and California wines (not for the kids though!).

The movie opens here for the general public tomorrow (I understand it opens next month in the U.S. because Spielberg felt this story belonged to Europe) at Solaris Center and at Coca Cola Plaza.

and just on a side note: Holy Cow! We are not far from being able to make films that look like living people acting with no humans involved!

Alec Ross

2011-10-25T05:22:00.003-04:00

I've had an interesting and busy couple of days to start off my week.

Alec Ross, who is the Secretary's Senior Advisor for Innovation came in yesterday for a whirlwind visit to Tallinn (1.5 days) before he jetted off to other locales, hopefully to tell them how awesome we are!

This was not my first time meeting Alec...that happened back when I was in the Public Affairs Front Office. But this was first (and second) time I heard him speak. First was at the Estonian Policy institute at the MFA. The auditorium was pretty packed and they asked some great questions. I live tweeted his talk and some of the answers. This is something I hope to do with some of the Ambassador's future speeches.

I tweeted on the Embassy Tallinn's twitter account. But something he said has me thinking...people prefer to follow people rather than institutions. So I need to think about whether I should have a twitter account as PAO (we all know Digger has one) or just keep things as is (with the Ambassador having a twitter account in addition to the Embassy account. I'm not sure yet.

At any rate, before yesterday's talk, we held a country team meeting to tell him some of the things we are up to here in Tallinn, and I think he liked a lot of our ideas and approaches. After yesterday's talk, he did some interviews and met with some folks at the MFA before heading to dinner with at the Ambassador's. I wasn't there, so I'll have to assume it was awesome.

This morning, I live tweeted Alec again at the e-Governance Academy's Social Media Seminar. The guy is seriously tweetable. I told him so, and he took it as the compliment it was intended.

By the time you read this, he will be well on his way to his next stop. But I was impressed with his presentations and I feel more than ever that we are on a good path with Social Media.

Freedom!

2011-10-24T13:09:00.004-04:00

There are many ways in which I am a typical American, but one is certainly how much I love my car.

(Yeah, yeah M, YOUR car. Possession is 9/10th...come to Estonia if you want it back! :) )

So I jumped at the chance to speak at the European Youth Parliament Sunday. The topic was one near and dear to my heart (LGBT issues), and it meant a chance to get outside of Tallinn on my own.

Several folks were surprised that I was willing to drive 2.5 hours each way to speak at this event, but given how little I have gotten to drive lately and that M is not here to spend my spare time with, I figured it was a great chance to really test out the European maps on the GPS my dad got me (verdict: Not bad...though it was convinced on a new portion of the road that I was driving in the fields NEXT TO the road). And I just love getting out driving alone. For someone who is pretty extroverted, I really value a chance to be alone on the road, just me, my thoughts, and a blasting ipod.

An added bonus was that I enjoyed speaking at the Parliament. If these are the future leaders of the EU, Europe is in good shape. They were smart, asked thoughtful questions, and were thoroughly prepared. I was impressed.

And on the way to the Parliament, I spotted some local farmers selling their goods on the side of the road. I managed to procure myself a pumpkin despite not having the amount it costed in small change (it was 2 euros and something, I had one euro and something and a 20 euro bill). He decided to let me have it for the change I had, and I promised to come back and give him the other euro later.

And I did...I got back before all the other vendors had left, and one older lady said she would give him the euro. So I bought a kilo of apples from her.

All of this was in Estonian...the folks in the country clearly do not speak English...I felt pretty good about my skillz...

(until I got home and could not understand the metro cop who was trying to be friendly and I gather was telling me I should take my dog out to the woods to potty instead of on the rocks. I got the words dog, forest and stones out of it, and asked him what he said. He repeated it, I still didn't understand (men are hard to understand anyway, plus I understood the words but not the meaning at first), and he asked if I spoke Russian. I said no. He said, oh, you don't speak Estonian or Russian. I said no, I speak Estonian a little. So he repeated to me what he had said and I finally understood that he was suggesting I take Noostie to the woods rather than let her potty on the rocks.

Which she was doing at that moment.

BECAUSE he had stopped me...I normally take her to a grassy area.

Language skillz fail.

And finally, I snapped a shot of this, that I hope you find as funny as I did...driving along and I look up and WTH? It is the Hollywood sign! In Estonia. I pulled in to take this picture and spotted the little restaurant that I'd have otherwise passed before I saw it because of the way it is situated. I definitely will stop to eat there next time.

So advertising win, little restaurant!

Out In The World: U.S. a beacon for LGBT rights globally

2011-10-22T04:13:00.004-04:00

This Press Release comes from the Bay Area Reporter (Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971):

Out In The World: U.S. a beacon for LGBT rights globally

by Heather Cassell

The Obama administration is rolling up its sleeves and putting muscle behind its promises to LGBT individuals and women to uphold rights not only domestically, but globally, a gay State Department official said.

"America has a long record of being out there on human right issues and standing up for universal values, they are American values, but they are also universal," Daniel Baer, openly gay deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the U.S. State Department, said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter.

"It is beneficial to our national interest for America to be seen as a beacon of moral leadership in the world. The fact is we are strongest when we are leading and when we are leading from principle," said Baer, 34, who has been working on international human rights issues for two years.

An estimated 80 countries continue to criminalize same-sex behavior. Hate crimes against LGBT individuals continue to afflict countries. Discrimination against and hatred of queer people continues to cast these individuals off as outsiders. The end result is bad for economic development, public health, communities and bad even for the perpetrator of hate and of course the victim, Baer noted.

There is a moral price paid for perpetrators, societies, and victims of hate and prejudice, Baer believes.

"We've seen time and time again that in societies where one group of people is denied to express themselves ... those societies are not stable societies and they are not as successful societies," said Baer, who oversees Asia and Africa. He was on his way to catch a flight to Ivory Coast to address human rights violations amidst unrest, as he spoke to the B.A.R. on the phone.

"Societies are more stable and more successful when they give everybody a chance to claim their future and when they take advantage of the full range of talents across society," he continued.

Baer's speech to religious leaders at the Compass to Compassion Conference in New York City on October 13 was the first indication following President Barack Obama's address at the United Nations last month that the U.S. is making moves on recent global policy on LGBT rights passed by the UN earlier this year.

The U.S. is moving to implement toolkits to assist embassies with handling human rights violations against LGBT individuals. Communities won't be left out in the cold; local leaders will be provided with high-tech tools by the State Department to document hate crimes against LGBT individuals in their communities. Information gathered will be compiled in Baer's department's annual human rights report.

America is firmly positioning itself to be a lifeline to people who are "engines of change" in their own societies by, "really supporting these people who are the change-makers on the ground and who will be building stronger societies for themselves and their neighbors and their compatriots," said Baer.
Religious leaders are part of his outreach.

"Religious leaders play a very important role in shaping the way that people see and understand their societies around the world," said Baer, who believes that religious and secular leaders need to "engage" each other in dialogue about human rights issues for LGBTs and women. "They have a role to play in the tolerance agenda," he said.

In Baer's vision the "world is stronger if we support human rights," he said, calling global human rights an American issue.

To read Baer's speech, visit here.

My Gargoyle

2011-10-21T01:07:00.000-04:00

NOTE: I wrote this entry on Wednesday, and then couldn't decide whether or not to post it because I wasn't sure anyone would care. And then my Dad emailed and asked to see a picture of my gargoyle. So I decided people would be interested...or at least the really important ones would!

So I thought I'd tell you a little more about my gargoyle...mostly so I have an excuse to put his picture on the blog.

His name is Wilbur. Only one, or possibly two, people know why that is his name. And I am not sure they both read the blog.

One of my best friends in grad school and I got invited one Christmas before I joined the Foreign Service to a party. At the party, we played the white elephant game.

You probably know this game. Everyone brings a "gift," usually something odd and perhaps unwanted. Some people also bring good stuff, but they just don't understand the game. Usually there is a price limit of say around five dollars.

So not having anything interesting to bring, he and I stopped on the way to the party at the local Goodwill outside of Durham. We scoured the place looking for odd and funny finds.

I don't remember what my friend found, but I found Wilbur. I was delighted with my find. What a perfectly odd present for the party!

Wilbur the gargoyle is maybe 7 inches tall and made of white plaster.

Gift in tow, we headed to the party...and then something weird happened.

I started to really like Wilbur. I decided I wanted to KEEP Wilbur.

But I had no other gift for the game, so I placed him in a gift bag and put him with all the other presents.

And then when it was my turn, I picked my own gift bag.

I don't remember if anyone else tried to take him...I just know I ended up with him.

And he has travelled with me ever since.

He guarded my fireplaces in Chapel Hill and Arlington, the living room in Jerusalem.

Now he is the door stop on my bedroom door (the weird, distressed wooden door that won't stay open), guarding my bedroom.

He is a little worse for wear, having gotten a few dings in the process of moving again and again and again. But he has become one of the weird things that I take with me each time I love to a new place, one of the things that makes it home.

All of which I told you, like I said, so I could put his picture on the blog. Thanks for your patience. We will resume our regular blogging topics next time.

I Am Wearing Purple

2011-10-20T03:35:00.003-04:00

I am wearing purple today.

I am wearing it to show my support for bullied young people, particularly LGBT young people who account for a far greater percentage of teen suicides than their percentage of the population.

To those teenagers, I want to tell you that the folks who are telling you that these are the best days of your life are WRONG. It only gets better from here.

To those teenagers, I want to tell you that the folks who are telling you that there is something profoundly wrong with you are LYING. You are the way you were born. There is NOTHING wrong with you.

Being a gay teenager is hard, even before you realize you are gay. Other people often figure it out before you do, and they make your life hell.

I know. First hand.

I was bullied.

I believed their hate. I believed there was something so fundamentally wrong with me that I couldn't even tell my parents, who loved me unconditionally.

I wanted to die. I prayed for the courage to kill myself.

I believed at the time that if I killed myself, I would go to hell. I don't believe that now, because I can't fathom a God who would punish for all eternity a person who was in such anguish.

But I am glad that I thought so then. Because every moment of my life since those days has been better than those days.

There is nothing about my life today that I would change (well, except that it would be nice if my wife and cats were already here...). I have an awesome job. I get to represent my country as an American Diplomat. I get to live in and visit places most just dream of. I have an amazing wife and an amazing family. I consider myself one of the luckiest people on the planet. Sincerely.

One of the reasons I am as out as I am is because I owe it to the younger me, and to all those younger me's out there today, to show how much better it gets. I owe it to them to provide them with what I wish I had had at that time...an out, open gay person leading a happy, successful life. Not a superstar, but an ordinary person, someone I could imagine myself becoming.

So I am wearing purple.

Because it gets better.

Puppets and Pärnu

2011-10-18T15:18:00.004-04:00

If I hadn't had so much to do this week, me and this creeping crud I brought home from the conferences in Brussels would have stayed home yesterday and today. But alas, not only did I have too much to do, but it was all stuff I really wanted to do.

Yesterday it was the NUKU puppet theatre and museum in the Old City. Silly me, I forgot my camera, because they have REALLY COOL stuff in there! They currently have a production going on of a Japanese puppetry play from the 1700s, and are building the puppets (and gargoyles! Did I mention I have a gargoyle that I won in a white elephant party as a doorstop...and that I actually bought him at a thrift store for said party and then did my best to win him?) for a vampire play. I am so going to that!

And today was the kickoff of Pärnu America Days. It was my first trip to Pärnu (though I expect the first of several over the coming two weeks). The Ambassador spoke to students and teachers at the local library to kick off the event, which includes films, a teepee in the center of town, a car show, pumpkin carving and lots of other stuff. It is organized by a local American, and we support the event. It is pretty awesome.

And the town is really beautiful, or what little I got to see of it. I hope to see more. But what got me right off the bat was that as you cross the Pärnu River into Pärnu, they have a monument of five flags of the city. But they had taken down the center one and replaced it with the American flag.

After the event, we drove quickly back to Tallinn to present a screening of Boys Don't Cry, the 1999 movie starring Hilary Swank based on the true story of Brandon Teena, a female-to-male transexual who was raped and murdered. I think the movie touched a lot of people there tonight (there were 50 or more in attendance), many of whom thanked me and some of whom left the theatre with tears in their eyes.

I used my introduction of the event to say a bit about my own background as the victim of bullying, and about the It Gets Better project aimed at combating teen suicide by the victims of bullying. I said that while the stories of teens who take their lives as a response to bullying and the story of a young man who was murdered are not identical, both stem from a lack of societal acceptance of LGBT people.

Because it does get better, and I think the most powerful story I can tell to illustrate that is my own.

Rumors of My Death...

2011-10-15T07:26:00.005-04:00

Oh, you know the rest.

I do feel kind of crappy though.

The reason for my absence, as I mentioned, was that I was in Brussels for a conference. Two conferences actually. The first part was the EUR (European Affairs) PAO (Public Affairs Officers) conference. That conference was a gathering of all of the Public Affairs Officers from all of the European posts.

The second conference was the EUR Policy Conference, which included all of the Chiefs of Mission, Political Chiefs and Public Affairs Officers from all of the European posts.

And you know that in a crowd that large, at least one person is going to be sick. And when you are locked in a room with that crowd for five days, chances are good that you too will end up sick.

So I have a cold. Fortunately not a bad one, but my "nap" yesterday did last four hours!

So let's see...some random notes from the conference...

* I got to meet the owner of the Steelers.

* one of the speakers sounded just like Derek on Grey's Anatomy.

* some political officers will leap into their Ambassador's seats when the Ambassadors are in a different session...ambitious much?

* One of the speakers at the PAO conference was talking about race in America vs Europe and seemed to have bought into every stereotype he had ever heard...all Americans are descended from immigrants (hello? American Indians are Americans!) and our oldest monument is the Alamo(?! um...Cahokia anyone?) while Europe has 1500 years of culture. And Europe has only had internal immigration for 200 years and immigration from outside Europe for 60 years? Seriously?

* One non-American speaker kept saying "eeeeyyyyyy" as a filler...sounded like Arthur Fonzerelli.

* Leonidas White Chocolate (in fact, all chocolate there)...OMFG!

* Also, mussels in white wine sauce...OMFG!

In all, I found the conferences useful and interesting. I made some new friends and got to spend time with some old ones. We had dinner one night at Ambassador Ivo Daalder's residence, which is just an amazing historic manor house. We spent time at NATO and at a very ornate former French club built in the 1700s...blown glass chandeliers, antique mirrors, carved columns, statues of cherubs playing musical instruments...and chairs that were comfortable for no more than 30 minutes.

The city itself is amazing...such beautiful old buildings!

The traffic is a bit insane, and unlike Estonia (which I found myself missing after a few days), crossing the street, even with the light, is, shall we say, an adventure.

Everywhere you see reproductions of Manneken Pis, which is a statue of a little boy peeing and was built in the early 1600s. I wandered upon it my first night there, but sadly, without my camera (hence the chocolate representations of him above), and was unable to re-find him my last night there (the only other time I had to wander around much...I took my camera that time to prove I had been somewhere other than the Sheraton and a conference room!). There are a number of legends about him, the most famous being about the two-year old Duke Godfrey III of Leuven. In 1142, the two-year-old's troops were battling against the Berthouts in Ransbeke. The troops put the boy in a basket and hung the basket in a tree to encourage them. From there, the boy urinated on the troops of the Berthouts, who eventually lost the battle.

But the one I like better is that he was the son of a prominent lord and he wandered off. The distraught father promised to erect a statue of however his son was found...and they found him urinating in the woods...

I left the conference more certain than ever that I am a PD officer and feeling I had found my people. And I certainly hope to return to Brussels, hopefully with more time to explore this amazing place.

Hullud Päevad

2011-10-15T07:26:00.004-04:00

I always worry that when I don't post for a few days, people will worry that the Tigers have gotten me and I have gone dark.

No worries...no tigers in my life so far (knock wood), though apparently, there are some ghosts there...at least at my local supermarket/department store.

So no, I haven't gone dark...but like Stockmann, I have been having hullud päevad, or Crazy Days.

I have spent the last week in Brussels for a conference. And I am wiped out (and a little sick...nothing like being locked in a conference room with coughing people for five days to give you the crud.

So I will post about my hullud päevad in a bit...probably tonight...after I take a nap.

There will even be pictures, I promise (though not great ones...it was challenging to get time away from the conference to see anything!

Church Chat

2011-10-09T15:39:00.002-04:00

I went to church this morning for the first time in too long.

But the church I went to was not of my current denomination (United Church of Christ), nor of the denomination I was raised in (Catholic...which is sort of like an ethnicity...even if you no longer practice Catholicism, it is still a major part of you. I went to a Catholic Mass in Ramallah, completely in Arabic, and still understood most everything).

But no, this church I attended this morning was the Kaarli Kirik, a Lutheran church, which is the denomination of my mother's family and a church I have attended on many occassions.

But the Lutheran service is far less regularized than a Catholic Mass, and this service was in an Evangelical Lutheran church.

And it was entirely in Estonian.

So it was different.

I learned a couple of things.

First, I do not speak Estonian well enough to know the Lord's Prayer in Estonian.

However, I do speak Estonian well enough to find it quickly in the hymnal so that I could read it while everyone else said it from memory. I also know it well enough to find the Apostle's Creed, which is much harder in my opinion, and even to sing along with the hymns if I already knew the tune. AND to find the hymn not listed on the sign that was added later when they told us the number during the service.

So I will consider it a success.

In other news, it will come as no surprise to either of my Estonian teachers (or probably anyone who has known me more than five minutes) that I speak fluent dog park.

Noostie and I went to the park again today, and today, two children without a dog were playing in the park. The girl was maybe 9, the boy about 5 I'd guess.

I explained to them that Noostie did not understand Estonian (this was necessary because she was completely unresponsive to the boy calling her Koer! over and over.)

I also explained that her name is Noost-IE, not Noost-IK (which is some sort of sponge in Estonian).

The girl finally asked if Noostie understood English. I said yes, and she said, I am studying English (in Estonian). Then she looked at Noostie and said "dog."

Which is exactly the same thing that happened in Jerusalem. Because I speak fluent dog park Hebrew too.

Spending bills threaten Foreign Service pay and hiring

2011-10-07T10:04:00.002-04:00

Government Executive has an excellent piece on the spending bills before Congress and what this could mean for the Foreign Service.

These bills would cut my pay by 16% while I am overseas, on top of the fact that my pay is already frozen for the next two years at least.

This is difficult for me and my wife to bear. Yes, we get free housing overseas. But we still have our mortgage to pay at home. And renting our place doesn't cover that.

But it is even harder for most Foreign Service folks. Because most in the FS are not tandem couples like M and I, going overseas means the loss not just of that 16% but of one spouse's ENTIRE income. Most spouses who work in the states have a limited ability to do so overseas, and even when they do, it is for substantially less pay.

Especially for those with children, this is an nearly impossible loss to bear.

None of us mind sacrificing for the country. We know that this is part of the nature of our service. We willing leave our homes, our stability, our families, for the good of the country.

But please can we make the cuts more fair? Particularly when you carve out 16% of our pay, bear in mind that the senior levels of the Foreign Service do not experience this cut. The other agencies serving with us at post do not experience this cut. The military and their civilian employees do not experience this cut. Their base salaries are their DC salaries, not some fake base salary with DC locality pay.

It is only those of us in the mid and lower levels who must take a pay cut to serve you overseas.

And do you really believe that those who are serving in Libya, Egypt, and Syria should earn LESS than those in DC?

Can We Clone Her?

2011-10-06T13:06:00.003-04:00

My coming out was admittedly pretty easy.

Sure, my mom wigged out for a bit, mostly because she blamed herself (she sent me to a shrink and told the shrink I was "confused" about my sexuality. I told the shrink I wasn't confused, and the shrink agreed and said she wasn't going to tell me I had a problem when I clearly didn't), but she eventually came around. And I always knew she loved me.

My dad never made me think for even a split second that he didn't love me.

And my conversation with my grandmother, who I didn't realize at the time was also gay, went like this:

"Your Mom says you think you might be gay."
"No, I know I am."
"It is a hard life to live."
"It is easier than living a lie."
"That's true."

End of story.

But I know for many, it is not that easy. I know that for many, they truly do lose the love of their family. Some are subjected to violence or are thrown out of their homes. Some choose to end their lives (I love the "It Gets Better" campaign targeted at these kids, because it really does get better).

So when a friend posted this on facebook, I knew I had to share it with you.

The article is written by "Amelia," who has a six year old son who might be gay. She wrote a blog post about her son's crush on one of the gay characters on Glee. About he just loved the scene where they kissed. She and her husband are perfectly comfortable with it, and said to themselves that either he was gay or he was straight and they had the best blackmail ever for their future 16 year old son...so much better than naked baby bath pictures!

He even said to them that the characters on Glee liked to kiss other boys and not girls, and that they were just like him.

She posted it as what she thought was a cute story. She got tons of support when it went viral, many from folks like me who knew they were gay when they were her son's age or younger.

But she also got a lot of vitrol, from people who assume that sexuality is only about sex. She responded:

"Of the criticisms, the most common is that my son is six years old and doesn't know anything about sex. While I fully acknowledge this may not be the end-all-and-be-all to my son's sexual orientation, I object to the idea that being gay is only about sexual acts. Our emotions and feelings, our attractions and compulsions, all contribute, not just our body parts. If my son had a crush on the star of iCarly, I doubt people would be saying he was too young to have those sexual feelings towards a girl. I think they would think it was an innocent schoolboy crush, which is exactly what it is."

And she said it got her thinking:

"...and after awhile I started to feel like I knew this big secret that shouldn't be a secret at all: Every gay adult used to be a gay kid. It's not as if all children start off as straight until some time later when someone flips the gay switch. We are who we are from the very moment we are born."

And then she imagined that every hate-filled thing that every hate-filled person said about gay people was being said to a room full of kindergartners. And she was disgusted, not with gay people, but with the hate aimed at kids. And she vowed that if someone ever says those things in front of her, they will not go unchallenged. That her son will see her defend right, and defend love, and defend him.

My wish, this coming out day (October 11) is that every gay kid can have a mother just like Amelia.

Estonian and Russian Cooperation

2011-10-05T10:08:00.002-04:00

Actually, it is even bigger than just cooperation between these two nations.

This is about a joint Russia, Estonia, U.S., Canada, Sweden, Mongolia and China cooperative project.

This is big. Really big.

How big you ask?

Bigfoot big.

It seems that sightings of the Yeti, otherwise known as Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman or Sasquatch, have increased three-fold in the Siberia's Kemerovo region over twenty years ago, and some have found what they believe is evidence, including rudimentary twig huts, twisted branches and trees and footprints of up to 14 inches.

Because a Bigfoot would have big feet, right?

So the governor of region has developed this theory that the Yeti is really Homo neanderthalensis, or a Neanderthal, and he is having a conference to get scientists from the above mentioned countries to come check it out. (Of course, his theories about neanderthals having "No clothing on them, no tools in hands and no fire in the household" suggests he is not up on the most recent research on neanderthals either...but anyway).

Of course, skeptics are certain all the "evidence" is the result of hoaxes. And the conference could just be an attempt to build up Yeti tourism in the area.

As my seriously funny APAO said, the truth has Yeti to be discovered.

You can read more about this cooperative effort here.

Probably A Sign

2011-10-04T10:10:00.002-04:00

It is probably a sign that summer, and the nice weather we have had so far in fall, is really over.

I walk to work every day. Yes, even today, even after I got my plates for my car, I still walked. I also walked home to let GSO in to hang my pictures and then I walked back. (and did I mention I have lost weight here...and not because the food isn't good...it is awesome, and I eat it!)

Each day on my way to work, I pass a little cafe. I keep meaning to check them out, but haven't managed to so far.

The cafe has little tables on the sidewalk.

Or, I should say, HAD.

They were gone today. Completely.

Because no one will be eating outside any more.

Because the nice weather is gone.

Sad. Wonder how long I will have before I have to try out my new snow pants.

Have Plates (and GPS), Will Travel

2011-10-03T12:50:00.003-04:00

Diplomatic Plates: I has them.

I continue to be amazed at the efficiency of this country.

I have been here for 50 days. I got my UAB on about Day 6.

I got my HHE (AND my car!) nine days ago. The embassy arranged for the inspection two days later.

Today, they completed the registration process and gave me my tags. I could drive tonight if I wanted to.

That is just amazingly fast!

I know places where they don't get their UAB that fast!

Oh yeah, and tomorrow, GSO is coming to finish hanging my pictures in my house AND my office.

Holy Cow!

2011-09-30T11:21:00.005-04:00

I feel like I have been running a sprint this week.

All week.

Thank God it is Friday.

I had Monday off, though by off, I mean that while the plan was to stay home to wrap up my HHE, I was really working from home. That's okay though, because I had some writing to do for work, and there are fewer interuptions at home.

The rest of the week has been a blur...I know I gave a talk to Tallinn Tech yesterday, and met with some reporters from ERR on Wednesday. Plus all week we were working on getting the word out about an award the Baltic American Freedom Foundatin is giving out in conjunction with the American Chamber of Commerce and the Embassy, as well as on our events today in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy here.

Today we had an event at Solaris, a local mall, where we have posters displayed as part of the "Picturing America" campaign. We had the Ambassador come by to shake hands and talk with everyone from the media to school children. We gave out brownies and cookies and cokes, as well as flags, hacky sacks and wristbands. The media was there in force. I did three television interviews, two of them partially in Estonian (the other was for Russian language news and will be dubbed into Russian...I asked him to find someone with a better sounding voice than mine!). The Ambassador and DCM were also interviewed.

After the event, we had just a few minutes to eat some food before we had to dive into working on an ad for that award, getting it translated into Estonian and editting the copy we had that was in English...before this is over, I will be very familiar with Corel Draw.

Then tonight, we has a film screening, and I had to introduce that...in Estonian (okay I didn't have to do it in Estonian, but it seemed like a good thing to do).

I am wiped out...I came home and put on my Marine Corps 10K shirt...because I feel like I just finishing running one.

Almost Home

2011-09-28T11:46:00.003-04:00

Everything has been put away.

Yes, everything.

The apartment looks less like a corporate rental and more like a place where I live. There are rugs on the floor, pictures on the wall.

There are two guest rooms ready for guests. The beds are even made.

I even cooked last night now that I finally have stuff from my own kitchen.

All that needs to be done is for GSO to come hang a couple pictures on the plaster walls (could have sworn I had concrete nails...), and then it will be home.

Almost.

It still lacks the most essential thing for it to be home.

My wife.

And the cats.

But mostly my wife.

Christmas!

2011-09-25T03:13:00.008-04:00

Stuff! And a car!

I has it!

My HHE arrived yesterday...and for once, I think I got the balance of stuff right. Those of you who have done this, especially multiple times, know how hard that can be.

The movers arrived promptly at the hour they said they would (and this was not a surprise...I love this country!) and started unloaded all my stuff...and the car! I am really excited to be able to drive around some!

I am not sure what of what arrived yesterday. Certainly the bed it high on my list. Even in as much pain as I was in last night (I unpacked ALL of the boxes so they could take the boxes and paper away), I slept great! For the first time since I have been here.

But I am also really happy about Cayenne's cage arriving. (The packers had put heavy stuff on time, which dented the top tray, but luckily, I also brought a took kit so I could straighten it back out). Her travel cage is adeqaute but terribly small. Her real cage (she actually has two...we leave one in the states for when we get home...part of our home "welcome kit.") is about as tall as I am and about three feet wide...much better for a bird of her size.

And I am excited about the carpets and art...instantly they transform this from a corporate apartment to our own place.

And books...my empty bookshelves made me feel like a Philistine! The shelves in the foyer and living room are still largely empty because M is bringing a bunch of her books with her. But I have my books in the office, and this makes me happy.

And on a language note...yesterday, the woman supervising the movers started out speaking in English. But I responded as much as possible in Estonian. The movers themselves seemed happy enough to make that switch quickly.

But you know how they tell you people will switch into English? Well yesterday, I asked a question in English and the supervisor didn't understand. So I switched into Estonian, and she understood! Woo!

True to form, I have made good progress and will have everything (yes everything) put away properly before I head back to work on Tuesday (I took Monday off to deal with the stuff). It has even worn out Noostie!

Out of Office

2011-09-23T12:48:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, my section and I travelled out to Vihula for a section offsite.

Vihula Manor is a 16th century manor house that has been turned into a spa and lodge about an hour outside of town.

It is a very relaxing place...definitely need to go back there with M when she gets here...because seriously, even going to the potty was zen.

I admit when we first started talking about an offsite, I wasn't entirely convinced of the need. But you can officially consider me sold.

We didn't do any of those silly ice-breaker exercizes or anything like this. This is a team that has been together for years and they are awesome together. I am the only newbie.

So instead, we had dinner together. We talked. We planned. We discussed. And all away from the office, where every meeting is interrupted. Every. Meeting.

So what I came away from the offsite with an increased respect for my team. They are every bit as awesome as I thought. We came up with some ideas for some new directions too. So I am pleased. I hope they are too.

And an added bonus? Noostie got to come. Even to our dinner at the restaurant (she even got to see some sheep, but was less enthusiastic about the horses!).

I love this country! And my job. And my team.

I am a very lucky person.

Eesti Keeles

2011-09-21T05:50:00.004-04:00

Last night, the Ambassador and his wife kindly hosted a reception for me so I could meet my new contacts.

I suppose I should have known I would be expected to make remarks, but I admit that I was surprised when I was asked yesterday morning if I had prepared a few words "eesti keeles."

In Estonian.

I use my Estonian every day. Really. With my staff, in restaurants, with the guards, in the grocery store. Seriously, every day.

But not usually in front of about 50 people I have never met.

So I went back to my office and thought about what I wanted to say. Then about whether I could say it in Estonian. I wrote it up, had it checked for errors in grammar, and spend the afternoon trying to memorize it.

Because I both love and hate speaking in public (yeah, I know, how is that even possible?), and I know that I do a better job when I am not reading from a script. I am a much better speaker if I just speak from what I know.

So in case you are interested, here is what I said, eesti keeles:

Tere õhtust! Ma tahaks tänada teid täna õhtul tulemast.

Minu nimi on Michelle Schohn ja ma olen uus pressi ja kultuuri attaché Ameerika saatkonnas. Ma olen parit Lõuna Carolinast. Ma olen pool-Indiaanlane ja pool-Sakslane, ja sada protsenti Ameeriklane. Enne diplomaaditööd, ma olin arheoloog ja ma tegin oma doktoritöö Põhja Carolina Ülikoolis (ja ma loodan ükspaev lõpetada!). Ma olen siin kolm aastat oma abikaasa ja meie nelja "lapsega"...meie koer, kaks kassi, ja papagoi.

See on selleparast ma olen Indiaanlane, et mul on hea meel olla eestis. See on selleparast et ma olen Indiaanlane et ma saan aru kui tähtis teile eesti keel on. Minu inimestel oli keelatud rääkida meie keeles, ja praegu, meie keel on surnud. Teie keel on elus, sest et teie hoidsite seda, ja see on teie kingitus teie lastele ja nende lastele.

Veel kord, suur tänu tulemast. Mul on teiega siin eestis põnev töötada.

And here is what that means, at least I hope so!

Good evening. I would like to thank you for coming tonight.

My name is Michelle Schohn and I am the new Press and Cultural Attache at the American Embassy. I am originally from South Carolina. I am half American Indian, half German, and 100% American. Before my diplomatic work, I was an archaeologist and I did my doctoral work at the University of North Carolina (and I hope one day to finish it!). I will be in Estonia for three years with my spouse and our four "children": our dog, two cats and parrot.

It is because I am an Indian that I am happy to be in Estonia. It is because I am an Indian that I understand how important the Estonian language is to you. My people were forbidden from speaking our language, and now our language is dead. Your language is alive because you took care of it, and this is a gift to your children and their children.

Again, thank you for coming. I am excited about working with you here in Estonia.

And yes, I was able to do it without reading it. I hope I made my Estonian teachers proud!

Religion in Tallinn

2011-09-19T02:09:00.003-04:00

A recent article on BBC claims that Estonia is the least religious country in the world, with only about 16% of people believing in the existence of a Creator.

Another article today in the Guardian, questions that slightly, suggesting that Estonian neo-paganism and belief in a spirit or life force of some sort means that about 70% of Estonians believe in something. Just not necessarily the Judeo-Christian God.

I have seen Mormon missionaries in my neighborhood, and have thought they must be incredibly frustrated here.

But last night, I had an encounter that surprised me.

Part of the security of my building is that you can't just walk in off the street. You either have to have a fob or someone has to let you in. So I was surprised last night when my buzzer rang. I wasn't expecting guests.

I answered the phone, and a woman in English said she was conducting a poll on whether people thought it was reasonable to believe in a Creator.

I said yes I did (and I do, though that said, I really like that Estonia is not religious because no one feels the need to convert me to their particular brand of belief).

She said, well you know, living in Estonia, most people do not think it is reasonable.

Yes, I know that.

Can we leave you some literature?

Yes, leave it outside the door.

Then I hung up and attempted to go back to eating my late lunch.

The phone buzzed again.

This time, the woman wanted me to buzz her in so she could leave her literature in my mailbox.

Uh, no. I don't let people in who I don't know. That sort of defeats the purpose of having security.

I told her to leave the brochure outside the door. A friend on Facebook suggested they might be Jehovah's Witnesses. Really? In Estonia?

I went downstairs later that evening and found the literature.

Sure enough, it was Watchtower, aka Jehovah's Witnesses.

I bet they are just as frustrated here as the Mormons.

I Didn't Forget

2011-09-18T09:49:00.007-04:00

I just had the date wrong.

So....Welcome to the 163rd A-100!

Apparently they started on the 12th...could have sworn it was the 19th. That is what I get for being overseas...you people gotta help keep me informed!

So I week late, I want to welcome the following bloggers and move them to the FS blogroll:

Aloha FSO

FrankLovie.com

If I'm lost, it's only for a little while

Moments and Musings

Next year In Jerusalem

Rhubard and Rhetoric

Let me know if I missed anyone.

Welcome to the Service!

Wandering

2011-09-18T09:27:00.007-04:00

I attempted to go to the Gay Christian coffee this morning...

I was the only one who showed up.

Actually, that isn't true. One other person showed before I got there, plus some reporters from Tallinn TV. But the organizer overslept. So there was no coffee.

I did get to spend some time chatting with one of the organizers of the gay center, where the coffee was to be held.

My plans for the morning scrapped, I headed towards home. But a band playing in Vabaduse Valjak drew me into the Old City. I listened to them for a while (it was a concert supporting recycling), and then decided to wander through the Old City some more. This time I just went whichever way the mood struck me, taking pictures.

I have discovered that no matter where I am in the Old City, it is pretty easy to find your way back to some place that you know. So I wandered for a couple hours, checking out galleries and listening to all the Russian tourists. You'd think they had a sign somewhere...yesterday was French tourist day, today was Russian tourist day. Occassionally you hear an American, British or Irish voice, often accompanied by another person speaking Estonian-accented English.

I also got to watch a glass maker plying his trade.

Yes, I know there is a no photography sign there but what they meant was no flash photography while he was working. I asked.

I stopped at the store on the way home to pick up some cheese and orange juice. I have a favorite brand here already, Cappy, which always makes me think Crappy. A woman asked me something about the cheese (why she asked me, I don't know) and I didn't catch what she said, so I said "Kuidas?" (which means how but is the Estonian way of asking what did you say). She started asking me something in a mixture of Russian and Estonian, so I just answered as best as I could in Estonian. Finally, she asked, "Is good?" about the cheese. I said I thought it was...only because Estonian cheese is generally good. I wasn't buying that brand...I was getting cheddar...

And what a beautiful day here today...the days are getting shorter by six full minutes each day, a noticable difference, but still, I love it here. A friend said if you can't be happy here, you can't be happy anywhere.

And I agree. (Not sure this section of the city wall does though...)

Strange and Wonderful

2011-09-17T11:30:00.009-04:00

Today is the first day I have had completely off in two weeks.

I'm not complaining, just tired.

Last night after work though, instead of going home and going to bed, I went out to dinner with a group of women from the Embassy.

We have done this several times now...we are trying to make it a regular event where we invite all of the women in the embassy...employees, spouses, FSNs. I think especially for the women with children, it is a nice break from the usual. And for me, it is just a lot of fun to get out with some really strong, smart, interesting women, or as one of my friends from the Embassy calls us, "an informal group of fairly odd women."

We had dinner in the Old City at an Italian place with pretty decent food and a waiter with a command of at least Estonian, English, Spanish and Italian. Plus they had prosciutto and melon, which made me really happy.

After dinner, we went to Shimo, a little bar run by an Egyptian man who has lived here 10 years. The others drank shots named "The Smurf" (which apparently tastes like toothpaste...why would you drink that?), "Apple Pie" (vodka, apple juice and cinnamon) and "the Estonian flag" (blue curacao, coffee, and cream I think). The Old City was still hopping when I left at midnight, filled with women in devil's horns or bridal veils carrying signs in Russian. I have no idea what that was about.

I decided last night that I would take Noostie for a walk through the Old City today...and so we did. We explored for about an hour and a half, a map tucked safely in my back pocket in case we got lost. We prowled down some back alleys with shops that are much more interesting than those on the larger streets.

There were still a fair number of tourists today, including tons of French folks, but I found that with dog in tow, the usual street vendors and restaurant staff didn't call out to me like they usually do. Perhaps it was that I was alone and with a dog, and so less likely to be simply a tourist.

I even caught one tourist taking our picture as we cut through Raekoja Plats.

What a strange and wonderful place I live in.

Careful what You Ask For

2011-09-15T03:50:00.002-04:00

I said I wanted to be busy, right?

Holy cow!

Some days I worry, with the recent uptick in concern about blogs going dark, that you will wonder whether or not I have as well.

I haven't. I am fortunate to work in an embassy and for an Ambassador who is very media saavy and in fact has his own blog.

But I have been so swamped it has been hard to find a moment to write.

But let me start off with this. For you Junior Officers who are PD coned and have not yet done a PD tour and are wondering if you made the right career choice...

Don't give up!

You will get to do the good stuff. And it IS the good stuff.

You WILL get to do interesting, meaningful work in interesting, meaningful places. This is why you joined.

This week, I have been interviewing candidates for Humphrey Fellowships. Another group of really smart, impressive candidates. I wish I could send them all. Yesterday, I spoke with some of our grant recepients about their programs and then last night I went to a Nature Film festival in Lihula, a small town celebrating their 800th year of existence this year!

This morning I helped with a video of the Ambassador and this afternoon, I will attend a speech he is giving that our section organized.

This weekend...I plan to sleep!

Like Yesterday

2011-09-12T10:41:00.003-04:00

I have no idea how to write a post about the 10th anniversary of September 11th.

It doesn't seem like ten years ago to me. Or even ten days. Sometimes it is a pressingly current thing for me, like it was yesterday.

I don't want to talk about where I was ten years ago. I have told you all that before. I don't want to tell you how that day has informed the choices I have made since then, including playing a role (though certainly not the only factor in that decision) in my joining the Service. You know that already. And I don't need to tell you how fiercely patriotic I was before and am after...if you read this blog, I'd bet chances are you are too.

I don't want to see another picture or video of the planes hitting the towers or the towers coming down. And not because I think we should "heal" or "move on," but because I don't need reminding. My Service to this country reminds me every day...reminds me to do, among other things, my part to keep it from happening again.

What I do want to tell you about is how I spent the anniversary of the attacks.

We had a concert.

It was the most amazingly beautiful thing to see. We held the event in the Niguliste Church in Tallinn's Old City. The church was built sometime around 1230 and survived until it was partially destroyed during World War II. The church has been restored and was a beautiful, somber setting for a beautiful, somber concert performed by the artists of Eesti Konsert.

Their performance was beautiful, tasteful and respectful, a loving tribute to those who perished that day. And among our honored guests were the wounded veterans of Estonia who served side by side with our troops in Afghanistan, the families of those who lost their lives there, as well as Estonian first responders. Their spirit is the same that led members of the NYFD and NYPD to run in while others were running out.

This was, I think, a perfect way to mark the day that none of us want to remember on none of us dare forget.

If you would like to see some pictures from the event, click here (our Embassy's photos), here and here.

Seriously Smart

2011-09-10T14:02:00.003-04:00

You have probably heard of the Fulbright program, or at least some of the plays on the name...better to be a Fulbright than a halfbright or half wit. That kind of thing.

In case you haven't heard of what the actual program is, Fulbright is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists. It was founded by and named for U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. The program helps U.S. citizens go abroad and non-U.S. citizens come to the U.S.

Part of my responsibility as a Public Affairs Officer is the chair our Fulbright committee. We interview all of the applicants for each of the programs and make our recommendations to Washington on who we think should get the award.

I did my first rounds of these interviews, this time for Estonians seeking to study in the U.S., Thursday and Friday.

We practiced doing the interviews in my training for this position, but nothing prepared me for how seriously impressive these young people are. (I can call them young...not a one was older than me). We had some thirty applicants, and I wish I could send them all to the U.S. Really.

Our committee of five did two solid days of interviews. I obviously can't comment on individual applicants, but I can tell you that many of them were able to conduct the interview in better English than I could! And the accomplishments of some of the applicants who were literally half my age were truly impressive and humbling. This are some gifted folks, and they are the next generation of leaders in this country, in government, law, science, and the arts.

In the end, we selected three candidates and two alternates. The rest we have directed to the Baltic American Freedom Foundation, where they can compete for scholarships to study in the U.S. It would make me happy if all 30 studied in the U.S.

Of course, there is no guarantee that even our three selected candidates will all receive Fulbrights, but I certainly hope so.

Because both of our countries benefit from these exchanges.

Brain Pain

2011-09-08T01:44:00.002-04:00

Every time I have learned a new language, it has affected the ones I already knew. French altered my German, but then my college German reasserted dominance over my French.

Then there was Hebrew, which made it so that I couldn't construct a thought in German without Hebrew interference. My Hebrew was diminished by time and then a bit of Arabic and Russian. And finally, it is Estonian at the forefront of my linguistic brain.

That has never really been a problem. The last language I studied was the language I needed to use.

Except here.

Here of course, there are Estonian and Russian speakers. I know very little Russian, but I do try to at least exchange pleasantries with those who speak only that language.

Add into this mix my orthodox Jewish neighbors, who speak as far as I can tell only Hebrew (except the husband, who has some English).

So yesterday, I spoke Hebrew to my neighbors, Russian to the cleaning lady, and then Estonian to another neighbor in the space of like five minutes.

And my brain cramped.

Suddenly I was questioning whether I was using Hebrew in my Estonian (ma is I in Estonian and what in Hebrew, and as I used it in Estonian, properly, I second guessed whether that actually did mean I!). Who knows what I did with the Hebrew and Russian. Okay, I do know there was some Estonian in the Hebrew (the wife asked if I was American and I said yes in Estonian).

So this is a new linguistic challenge for me. Try to work with two languages I have an okay command of and one I know pleasantries in without having them interfere with one another.

It is either really going to make my brain work better or shut it down completely.

Kõige parem päev Eestis!

2011-09-05T09:35:00.006-04:00

Today was my best day in Estonia so far.

I am not sure if I wrote sometime back that when I was in Estonian training, I read an article about an archaeological excavation going on near my apartment here. I wasn't sure exactly how near, but I gathered it was pretty close.

Turns out, close is practically across the street.

Basically, the Art School tore down an old building and Estonian cultural heritage law requires that they do excavations before they rebuild. In their excavations, the archaeologists found a medieval suburb of Tallinn.

When I got here, I happily realized I could see the excavations from my window...so I have been watching...waiting....for any signs of work. And this morning, I noticed that one area had a new tarp. So I watched for a minute, and saw a guy walking around, and he was wearing...knee pads! Meaning he was expecting to be kneeling in the dirt....digging!

So I walked over this morning when I took my dog out and the head archaeologist showed me around a bit. I told her I was an archaeologist before I joined the State Department, and she invited me to come dig with them. How could I resist? The weather is perfect!

This afternoon, I walked over without Noostie and chatted with some of the students and volunteers. It was excellent (and exhausting) Estonian practice. The Masters student on the site showed me some of the stuff they have found...ceramics as far back as the 13th century and from all over. Wood. Leather. Bone. Wonderful stuff that never preserves on our sites back home!

Then I went down into the units and looked at what the volunteers were finding. I chatted a lot with one young guy who was digging next to an older guy. The older guy was just plowing through what looked like a burn feature, putting the dirt into a bucket and tossing it on the backdirt pile.

Earlier, a woman had walked up to the Master's student and showed her a sherd. Where did you find it, she asked the woman in Estonian. I didn't understand the word she used but I understood the expression. I said, she found that in the backdirt, didn't she?

Yep.

So I was watching the old guy toss dirt into his bucket, and I saw a sharply angled object. I pulled it out. Deer mandible. Wait, we want to save that said the young guy, and put it in an artifact bag. I started feeling though the dirt and found lots more bone, and put it in the bag. The old guy looked at me and laughed, and the young guy asked if I wanted some gloves. But I don't usually use gloves because I can feel more fragile artifacts with my hands without them. So I said I was fine. He looked at me and shook his head and asked, "What did you say you do again?" I said I am a diplomat. and he shook his head and laughed and said, you are a strange diplomat.

Truer words have seldom been spoken!

The old man said I needed to go wash my hands, and I said I was fine. And he said, no, you are putting your hands in shit. I said I was okay, and he decided that meant I didn't understand him. so he clarified. Shit means to poop. Yes, I know. But even if there is poop in this feature, it is really dang old poop and I am not worried. But the young guy then decided I really needed to wash my hands. So I went with him and washed my hands.

He has no idea how good it felt to have them dirty.

They will be there through November, and when the rest of my clothes arrive, I am totally going back out there and getting dirty.

Because even the backdirt pile is happy when archaeology is happening!

Language

2011-09-03T09:44:00.002-04:00

I can't tell you how often I have heard people ask why I "bothered" to learn Estonian.

After all, it is a language spoken by maybe a million people worldwide. It will get me to precisely one place, here, and since I am part of a tandem, likely only once.

Plus, they tell me, everyone speaks English there. Or at least Russian. I shouldn't get language at all, because that will mean I will be unlikely to be promoted if my last evaluation before promotion is from language.

And all of that is true. Including the promotion part...I was up for promotion this time and was passed over.

I would still do it all again.

I think it is important to study the languages of the countries we go to. I think it sends an important message to that country about the value we place on our relationship with them. I think it makes me a better officer.

But I think it is especially important here.

The Estonian language means a lot to the Estonian people. It is a vital kernal of their culture that they clung to fiercely through occupation, through when they could be jailed for speaking it. It is a vital part of their identity. As an Indian who comes from a people whose language is dead for just those reasons, maybe I get it even more personally.

I also think, as an officer, that I would be limited in my effectiveness without it. Yes, people here speak English or Russian. That is true. But those who speak English are either very young, very well off, or both.

So my options here, if I actually spoke Russian (I know basic pleasantries, and I use them, but I don't know much more than that), would be either to communicate with the young or well off only, which limites what I can know about the country and the people, or I can force them to interact with me in the language of their oppressors. The language that was spoken by the soldiers who came into their homes and took as much as 10% of the population away, never to be seen again. Most people here lost family, and the pain of that is still palpable.

I can't fathom forcing them to speak to me in a language that brings of that kind of pain.

It is true that the reverse is that I cannot communicate with perhaps 8% of the population, ethic Russian speakers who speak neither English nor Estonian. My building's housekeeper is one such person. I stammer my pleasantries with her and play chirades. Ideally, I wish I spoke both languages. My wife will, and I am jealous of that.

But given the option of only one of the two, I would choose again what I choose.

Because I believe it matters.

Because when I went to the grocery store today, and spoke to the woman behind the meat counter, it was clear she only spoke Estonian. And I made mistakes (really I wish the words for hungry and funny were a little more different), muttered, apologized, and corrected myself. And she said to me not to apologize, that I was doing fine and that she understood me completely.

And I could see that it meant something to her that I would learn their difficult language and try to use it with her. She was kind and forgiving of my imperfections because I was trying to respect her and her culture.

And THAT is the message that I hope using the language here sends to the people of Estonian.

That we respect them and their culture and their history enough to try.

Repeating Myself

2011-09-02T04:23:00.002-04:00

Did I mention I am loving my job?

Yesterday, I got to help with some interview prep, sit in on the interview, and then attend the opening on an LGBT center. Then I went to dinner with a big group of new friends at the Embassy to an AWESOME place in the Old City called Ribe that I had never been to. Let me just say, the word(s) of the day is smoked cheese soup!

OMG!

On those really long, cold day, I know just where I am going and just what I am eating.

Life is good.

Twenty Years of Renewed Diplomatic Relations with the Baltic states

2011-09-02T03:57:00.004-04:00

Twenty years ago today, President George H. W. Bush gave his now famous speech at Kennebunkport recognizing the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although the United States never represented the legitimacy of the occupation of the Baltic states, this anniversary still resonates here. Exactly one month later, we reopened our embassy here.

If you want to see the clip of the President's announcement, check out this link:

Official U.S. State Recognition of the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia

There is also this piece from ERR, the Estonian national broadcasting service.

US Embassy Marks Anniversary of De Facto Recognition

US embassy officials in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania issued a statement commemorating the 20th anniversary of President George H. W. Bush's announcement that the United States had formally reestablished diplomatic relations with the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

It was on September 2, 1991, several days after the coup that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union, that US President Bush announced the formal recognition of Baltic independence.

Michael C. Polt, the US ambassador to Estonia, stated on September 1: "The special ties between the United States and Estonia have only become stronger with each passing year since that historic speech."

"Fundamentally, Estonia has emerged from the darkness of Soviet occupation to become a model for others as a leader in government transparency, innovation, and economic reform."

To commemorate the 20-year milestone, the US State Department in Washington is hosting a special photo exhibition of the 1991 events in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the Department's Exhibition Hall, which will be capped by a reception on September 8.

Notably, the United States - along with many other Western states - never recognized the forcible incorporation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the Soviet Union during World War II.

This gave the Baltic independence movements both moral and legal authority throughout the half-century of Soviet occupation.

Andres Kahar

Ten Things About State, USAID

2011-09-02T03:52:00.001-04:00

These ten things and so much more. From DipNote:

Deputy Secretary Nides: Ten Things About State, USAID
26 August 2011

This item was originally published on the State Department blog DipNote on August 26 and is in the public domain. There are no republication restrictions.

U.S. Department of State Official Blog

Ten Things You Should Know About the State Department and USAIDPosted by Thomas R. NidesAugust 26, 2011

Thomas R. Nides serves as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.

Do you ever wonder what the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) do every day and what it means for you?
In the eight months since I joined the State Department, I’ve learned firsthand about the important and wide ranging work done by the women and men who work here and around the world to enhance our national and economic security. We help train the Mexican National Police forces who battle violent drug gangs just south of our border and we serve alongside our military in Iraq and Afghanistan. We negotiate trade agreements and we promote U.S. exports by reducing barriers to commerce.

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates used to say that the Department of Defense has as many people in military bands as the State Department has in the Foreign Service. With just over one percent of the entire federal budget, we have a huge impact on how Americans live and how the rest of the world experiences and engages America.

Here are a few examples of what we do on behalf of the American people:

1. We create American jobs. We directly support 20 million U.S. jobs by advocating on behalf of U.S. firms to open new markets, protect intellectual property, navigate foreign regulations and compete for foreign government and private contracts. State economic officers negotiate Open Skies agreements, which open new routes for air travel from the United States to countries throughout the world, creating thousands of American jobs and billions in U.S. economic activity each year.

2. We support American citizens abroad. In the past eight months, we provided emergency assistance to, or helped coordinate travel to safe locations for, American citizens in Japan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, and Cote d’Ivoire in the wake of natural disasters or civil unrest. Last year, we assisted in 11,000 international adoptions and worked on over 1,100 new child abduction cases — resulting in the return of 485 American children.

3. We promote democracy and foster stability around the world. Stable democracies and prosperous communities are less likely to pose a threat to their neighbors or to the United States. South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, can be a viable ally for the United States in east Africa, but right now, violence and instability threatens its success. U.S. diplomats and development experts are there to help the South Sudanese learn how to govern and develop their economy so that South Sudan can stand on its own. In Libya, we helped create unprecedented international support to help the people shed 42 years of dictatorship and begin the long path to democracy.

4. We help to ensure the world is a safer place. Our nonproliferation programs have destroyed dangerous stockpiles of missiles, munitions and the material that can be used to make a nuclear weapon. The New START Treaty, negotiated by the State Department and signed by President Obama in 2010, reduced the number of deployed nuclear weapons to levels not seen since the 1950s. And, in 2010, the State Department helped more than 40 countries clear millions of square meters of landmines.

5. We save lives. Our programs that fight disease and hunger reduce the risk of instability abroad and, in return, protect our national security. Strong bipartisan support for U.S. global health investments has led to unparalleled successes in the treatment, care and prevention of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as saved millions from diseases like smallpox and polio.

6. We help countries feed themselves. In the United States, we know agriculture. Building upon what we do best — grow and produce food — we help other countries plant the right seeds in the right way and get crops to markets to feed the most people. Food shortages can lead to riots and starvation, but strong agricultural sectors can lead to stable economies, helping countries become strong U.S. trading partners.

7. We help in times of crisis. After this year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, State and USAID sent disaster response experts, nuclear experts and urban search and rescue teams to work assist the government of Japan with meeting immediate needs. Secretary Clinton personally delivered much needed supplies to Chile within hours of a devastating earthquake. From earthquakes in Haiti to famine in the Horn of Africa and devastating fires in Israel, our experienced and talented emergency professionals deliver assistance to those who need it most.

8. We promote the rule of law and protect human dignity. Every day, we help people find freedom and shape their own destinies. In the Central Asian republics, we advocated for the release of prisoners held simply because their beliefs differed from those of the government. In Vietnam, we prevented political activists from suffering physical abuse. We have trained lawyers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help rape victims, police officers in Peru to combat sex trafficking, and journalists in Malaysia in an effort to make their government more accountable.

9. We help Americans see the world. In 2010, we issued 14 million passports for Americans to travel abroad. We facilitate the lawful travel of students, tourists and business people, including issuing more than 700,000 visas for foreign students to study in the U.S. last year. And, if a storm could disrupt your vacation plans or if you could get sick from drinking the water, we alert you through our travel warnings.

10. We are the face of America overseas. Our diplomats, development experts, and the programs they implement are the source of American leadership around the world. They are the embodiments of our American values abroad. They are a force for good in the world.
The United States is a leader for peace, progress and prosperity, and the State Department and USAID help deliver that. All of this (and more) costs the American taxpayer about one percent of the overall federal budget. That is a small investment that yields a large return by advancing our national security, promoting our economic interests, and reaffirming our country’s exceptional role in the world.

To learn more, please visit http://www.state.gov/ and http://www.usaid.gov/.
Editor’s Note: This entry first appeared on The Huffington Post.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/iipdigital-en/index.html)Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2011/08/20110829133243su0.7624868.html#ixzz1WmOgBRdy

Nine years (plus nearly another three)

2011-08-31T12:40:00.006-04:00

Today is our anniversary.

Nine years ago, we were married in our church, United Church of Chapel Hill. We had, at that point, been together for nearly three years.

Of course, we had another wedding, and another wedding anniversary, marking both our time together and our legal wedding. We were legally married that day.

But this was our real wedding. The other was important, and we honor that date too, but this was the day that we promised, before God and our community, all of our tomorrows to each other.

It really sucks that we have to be apart today. And because someone tried to fraudulently use my credit card on the day I flew to Tallinn, I am still waiting on the replacement. So I couldn't even send flowers. And she mailed me a present, but it hasn't yet arrived.

But I shouldn't complain. I am lucky to have what I do. I will just be a lot happier when my family is back together in one place.

I am happy about being here...I have been super busy, hence the lack of blogging, but I will try to catch you up.

Noostie and I took a tram over to a friend's place. Yes, they allow dogs on the tram! Our friend lives closer to the shore than we do, so we took a nice walk along the shore.

The area was interesting. Not a place many tourists go. In case you were wondering what the picture at the top was, check out this interesting art feature constructed of shipping containers that was down there. If you look to the right of the picture below, you can see part of the piece above.

After our walk, we went to the friend's house to meet her cats. Noostie liked them...it was not mutual. Her girl cats, to their credit, were brave. I never caught sight of one of the boys, and the other I saw only for a moment. Clearly they are not as into dogs as Noostie is into cats.

The rest of my weekend was spent figuring out (successfully!) how to use the washer and dryer and figuring out what was wrong with my computer (I had flipped the wireless off when pulling it in and out of my suitcase). And worrying about my wife and kitties, who were in the hurrican (they're fine...no damage...which those who know about our ceiling drama/trauma last year will understand how thankful I am for that!).

I can't even remember today what I did on Monday, except that I have been super busy. I did discover that the box I mailed myself before I left is now back in Virginia. Apparently they entered the zip in wrong at the UPS store, so my box took a tour of Amsterdam before heading home. I'm really disappointed. It had some decorations for my office, including pictures of my wife, nieces and nephews, plus some king sheets so I don't have to hunt through my HHE for sheets once my bed gets here.

I went to Tartu yesterday...the taxpayers got their money's worth yesterday! I went to work early because we have a staffdel in town (Congressional staffers) who I needed to brief, and I left after lunch for Tartu, about a 2.5 hour drive. We met with the Rector of the University of Tartu and then with our Fulbrighers (good group of folks we've got!). We got home about 9:30. So the taxpayers got 13.5 hours out of my for the 8 hours they paid for. On my "short" days, they only get 9.5 hours for their 8 hours.

Today was filled with meetings and with me trying (unsuccessfully) to register for a conference I have to attend. I did succeed finally in sitting down with my APAO so we could map out our responsibilities. He works really hard, and I would like to see him work a little less hard (don't worry taxpayers, you are getting your money's worht out of him and then some...he is a workhorse and a great officer. He is going to do really well in the service if I can keep him from burning himself out).

So slowly but surely, I am getting a handle on things. And I am really liking it. Even the putting out fires parts!

This is what I joined the service to do. One of the staffers came by my office (ours is the only bathroom near where they are meeting) and I asked how things were going. We ended up chatting for a minute about dogs and how she had been afraid to join the Foreign Service because she has a dog. I told her all about Noostie and how we travel together. And how you shouldn't give up all that makes you who you are, including your pets, because the point is to show the world the diversity of America by the diversity of those of us who serve overseas.

And she looked at me and said, "You're a Public Diplomacy Officer, aren't you?"

Yes I am.

Soap Box Derby

2011-08-28T07:40:00.011-04:00

Picking up where I left off due to exhaustion yesterday, I left from the boat trip and headed to the Singing Hall for the Ice Cream party and soap box derby.

There was an excellent turnout...I'd guess at least 20 cars, and some were just ingenious!

Our APAO was on hand as a judge, and our DCM handed out the awards. It was a highly successful event. And when it was all over, we headed to some of the vendors to get some dinner...I found a booth from Azerbaijan with roasted lamb chops. Sold! Very yummy!

As promised, here are a few photos (though what I can't show you, because we don't post pictures of other Embassy personnel, is the great picture of our APAO sporting the shirts we had made up...actually, he was showing off his six pack because the shirt was really tiny!)

The Ice Cream King

Lining Up

Incoming Tank!

Serious Racers!

Impossibly Cute!

We were all pretty tired by the end!

Sailing and Soap Box Derbies

2011-08-27T13:06:00.009-04:00

I can barely hold my eyes open. Today has been such an incredibly long and awesome day.

This morning, my sponsor took me to the Prisma out at one of the largest malls in Estonia. I was finally able to get myself an alarm clock and dust pan. Plus a trash can for the bathroom. That place is awesome. Hmmm...I think I told you this already...I am losing track of what I write to my wife in emails and what I write here.

Anyway...

I went sailing today. The weather was amazingly beautiful, sunny and in the upper 70s. We were on the water for about 3 hours. The views of the Old Town, the Singing Hall, the tv tower and the Brigita Covent ruins were amazing! As promised, a few pictures. I have pics of the Soap Box Derby as well, but that will have to wait until tomorrow...I am having trouble holding my eyes open!

Sails unfurled

Our boat, Emily

The Old City

More of the Old City

The ferry to Helsinki (riding THAT wake was fun!)

The reason I have not been in the Old City so far...that is a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship on the right.

TGIF!

2011-08-27T05:01:00.003-04:00

Clearly, I will spend a lot of the next three years in meetings.

My day basically starts out with a meeting, the press briefing. I come in at least an hour before it starts to try to prepare for it, basically searching the internet to see what has been said in the press about Estonia or us in the past day. We have someone on the local staff who does the same thing for the Estonian and Russian media here, and she does a fantastic job.

After the press briefing, I return to my office and try to sort through my email. I like organization, so I go through and sort and file what I can, direct others where they need to go and list who the action is currently with. This task is ongoing...you wouldn't believe the amount of stuff that comes in. There might be a draft of a speech or of a press release. There might be a grant request, or a meeting to arrange. Always there is the daily message and press summaries coming through. And of course, event planning.

I'll be going to one of those events later today. In conjunction with the Ice Cream Party, we are co-sponsoring a Soap Box Derby. Should be a lot of fun.

I managed to eat my lunch at a decent hour yesterday, and then had a meeting out at the Tallinn University of Technology. Some impressive folks there...Skype is out there. We talked about all sorts of visitors programs with them, as well at the Baltic American Freedom Foundation innovation award we are working on. Top prize is 10,000 euros, second is 5,000 euros. These are just the sorts of folks we'd love to see compete.

In the afternoon there were conference calls, more email sorting, and the like. I got home around six, in time to walk the dog before heading to dinner with a friend. We walked out to Kadriorg and ate at a little Thai place there. Not as good as my favorite Thai place in South Arlington, but still perfectly acceptable. It was a nice walk too...maybe 15 minutes.

Can I tell you how much I LOVE living in the city? Seriously, almost everything I need is in walking distance.

Except of course, the place my sponsor took me to today. Prisma. It is kind of like an Estonian Walmart. I was able to do some grocery shopping, plus buy a dust pan, trash can, and alarm clock! I could have also bought clothes, shoes, sporting goods, fishing equipment, towels and gardening supplies. But I don't actually need those things.

I leave shortly to go sailing. The weather for it is AMAZING! Sunny, in the 70s (the thermostat at a nearby bank said 31, which is about 87, but I am not sure I believe that.

They say the weather will change soon, so I am very glad to be enjoying it while I can!

I said I wanted to be busy...

2011-08-25T12:22:00.004-04:00

I had soup and a ham and cheese pirukat for lunch today...

I got to eat about half of it between 2:45 and 2:55.

I got to eat the rest for dinner.

I said I wanted to be busy...

I started off the day with a coffee at the Ambassador's residence. His wife had organized it for all the new folks plus the spouses.

One of the members of the residence staff made me feel good. I spoke to her in Estonian, and she said I could speak in English. But I stayed in Estonia. By the time I left, she was hugging me, telling me how it sounded like I had studied Estonian for a long time and that I spoke it beautifully (not sure my Estonian teacher would agree with that, but at least the woman was being kind!). At least that was an improvement from the movers saying that some "they" said I didn't know a word of Estonian.

So the coffee was a lot of fun. It was nice to get to meet everyone and chat some. Turns out one of my colleagues is from SC, is enrolled Cherokee Indian, and is also part PeeDee Indian. We are probably cousins!

Talk about a small world!

I got back to the embassy just in time for my security briefing, which is something all new arrivals, including those on visitor programs like Fulbright, receive.

By the time I finished that, I had a few minutes to run to the Kohvik (little cafe) near the embassy to grab my lunch. By the time I got it and got back to my desk, it was 2:45. But I had two Fulbrighters coming by at 3, and had to be upstairs for an interview the Ambassador was doing by 3:15.

It was 5 by the time I finished that. I came downstairs and was able to work a little before my email, which is in the process of being transferred, started fouling up. First, people couldn't send me anything. They got bounce notices. Then I couldn't send. And finally, I couldn't even open emails I had in my inbox.

I am frightened about what my inbox will look like tomorrow...I was just beginning to impose organization on it (I love me some color categories in outlook).

I like organization...I was beginning to feel that I could get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of what was going on and that I might drop some balls. I was in the DCM's OMS's office and I said I needed one of those big desk calendars. She said, oh, you can have mine. I hadn't even seen that she had one...it was on her back desk with stuff on it. She said she never used it. I thanked her profusely (she is super nice...we went to the coffee together today and she will be on the sailing trip Saturday), and I promptly wrote down all my meetings, all the events coming up, and all things that were due and when. Color coded, of course. And suddenly, it feels much more manageable.

I love me some organization.

I am liking this job. I am busy, but I think with my section, it is manageable. And I would much rather be busy than bored.

Stuff!

2011-08-24T10:27:00.004-04:00

I has it.

Though not a lot of it.

My UAB arrived today.

The movers truly offended me...I was speaking to them in Estonian and he said, "You can speak in English." I continued in Estonian and he said, "They told me you didn't speak Estonian."

"That I didn't speak Estonian?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, that you did not know a single word of Estonian."

"I studied Estonian for almost a year," I said to him, in Estonian.

"Oh."

I didn't say much of anything else to him in English. Whoever "they" is, stop dissing my hard work!

Anyway, it is all already unpacked and put away. In retrospect, I am glad I packed more clothes, though I wish I had been more selective in choosing them. The two weeks worth of work clothes I stuffed into my suitcase would have gotten old pretty quickly. Especially since half my shirts were for warmer weather and half for cooler. Because you never know what you will get here...lately it has been warmer, and I was running low on short-sleeved shirts.

I am happiest to have my towels, my other pillow (I brought one with me, plus sheets, because I know how bad embassy bedding can be), and my clothes hamper. I am also really happy the pet food arrived. Given that I am waiting for my new credit card (I had to cancel the old one on THE DAY of my flight here because someone had attempted to use it fraudulently...props to USAA for catching it so quickly! The bad timing wasn't their fault), I can't order more pet food just yet and what I mailed would have run out before my HHE (with more pet food) arrived. So now the pets are covered. They do have Science Diet here, so I could just switch Noostie to that, but I don't want to switch Cayenne to a different bird food. I have kept her healthy for 15 years on this food...why mess with success?

Noostie, who has no idea that food runs out, is happiest with the arrival of some of her favorite toys (including the squeeky ball my wife hates...enjoy it while you can Noostie!).

I am sure I will be glad later that I brought my wii. Right now, I'm not, because I kind of wish I had some books and more decorations (my apartment is pretty barren).

I could have been more selective with my clothes and been able to fit those in. Live and learn. Plus, I expected to be able to buy more books for my kindle...not happening now until the new card arrives.

But it is just as well. I have plenty to do while the weather is so nice. I have even managed, in just six days in country, to double book myself for Saturday. Okay, it isn't really my fault. One is an event I signed up for (sailing) and one is a PA section sponsored event that I don't HAVE to attend but I'd kind of like to (Soap Box Derby).

The plan now is to go sailing and then head a little late to the derby. I should get some more interesting pictures out of it to show you.

Do.Not.Like.

2011-08-23T14:41:00.002-04:00

This is why I hate being separated from my wife.

I am sitting at my computer, blissfully surfing the interwebs and watching CNN International and the happenings in Libya.

I was in a good mood. I had a good day, had a good dinner, and even got to watch some football (on ESPN America...sure it was from last night, but hey, I didn't know the final score!).

Then they break in on CNN: If you are wondering why we are showing a picture of the Capital Building, it is because there has just been a 5.8 richter earthquake in Virginia.

WTH??

The epicenter was near Richmond...but if they could feel it in DC, then it was entirely too close to my wife at FSI and our cats in Arlington.

Thank god for Facebook...I posted for her to let me know she was okay (because she wasn't answering her cell), and she did really quickly. Soon after that, I was able to talk to her.

The house and cats are probably fine. She said she would call me if there was a problem.

For once, I am hoping not to hear from her.

Settling In

2011-08-23T12:35:00.002-04:00

I ran into the Orthodox Jewish men in the elevator again today. This time we conversed a bit more, first in Hebrew and then in English. They were very nice and invited me to visit their synagogue. They apparently knew the last occupant of my apartment and were disappointed they had left without saying goodbye.

Today it was meetings, meetings and more meetings. But I think it is a good thing...I am getting up to speed on what is going on and what is expected of me. My section has a lot on its plate...we have a busy few months ahead of us. But I also know we are up to the task.

I am trying to get back into the habit of using my Estonian. The guards are great...they chat with me a bit in Estonian because they know I want to work on it. And today I had a reasonably long conversation in Estonian, and I understood most of it. Even the numbers. Which are HARD. Especially when they involve times, because the way of telling time is different. For example, what is translated directly as half four means 3:30. I always have to think about it conceptually as well as linguistically.

We should just start everything exactly on the hour.

Tomorrow, I have a bunch more meetings. My calendar fills up quickly! But the one I am most excited about is with the movers. They are bringing me my stuff. Just my UAB, but still, it will be nice to have some more clothes and other stuff here.

Yay stuff!

Interwebs!

2011-08-22T13:42:00.006-04:00

I has them!

As you might have gathered from the flurry of posts, I finally have internet in my apartment.

Plus I have cable!

The cable I had yesterday evening, as soon as we returned from the Elion office. Just the addition of tv and the human voices that weren't a parrot's version of mine helped immensely.

Then last night it happened...

I was asleep, when suddenly my ipad, which I had set on the bedside table, went off with a notification.

The kind it gives when you have email, or someone has played a game with you, or there is a news item you might want to read.

The kind it only gives when you are connected to the internet.

I was so excited, I started reading facebook...at 12:30 in the morning.

And then my wife noticed I was online, and Skype'd me!

And now it is like all is right with the world. I showed her our crazy glass egg wall. She agrees it is odd.

I tried to show her our view, but it was too dark outside. But the area we live in is really curious, and I can't wait to show it to her. It is considered the modern area of town, and it is, but it has a curious mixture of old and new.

For example, next door is an old wooden Armenian church. It is surrounded by modern skyscrapers but seems to have been protected from development. I am not sure whether there are still services held there or not.

Just down the road, there is a skyscraper that was build on top of an older building, or at least its facade.

Very odd.

Also odd...Estonia has a very tiny, but growing, Jewish population. Sunday, I noticed a couple of Orthodox men driving a minivan in my neighborhood, but having lived in Jerusalem, I glanced at them and quickly forgot about it. But then this morning, as I was leaving for work, the elevator stopped on the floor below mine, and in walked the same two men.

They were carrying on a conversation in Hebrew, and didn't seem to pay me much attention.

When I got off at the ground floor (they were going to the garage), I said "good day" to them in Hebrew.

The look of shock on their faces was priceless! I am sure they thought they were the only Hebrew speakers in this building in the middle of Tallinn!

Today was another good day...I am liking my job and my staff. I like my walk to work. It is looking promising for getting my UAB this week.

If I could just figure out why my laptop has suddenly stopped recongnizing wireless signals (I had to plug in an ethernet cable to blog...), I'd be set!

Craving Connection

2011-08-21T23:44:00.001-04:00

I am clearly a social creature. And even my parrot is not enough to meet my interactive needs.

After breakfast this morning, I went and sat outside a closed cafe so I could at least check my email. I felt hyper conspicious, so I didn't stay long. I can not wait to have internet at my apartment. At least then, I can Skype home to talk to M.

Lunch today was leftover pizza (yum!) and then I set about setting up my office. The apartment is designed such that when enter the front door, to your left is an area including two bedrooms, the living room, dining room, and kitchen. To the right of the door is the master bedroom and bath, plus the laudry/storage room, and two more bedrooms.

Speaking of the master bedroom, did I mention this place is owned by an artist? The master bedroom has a huge wooden door with a crack down it that seems to be there on purpose. It looks like an old front door to a house. On either side are large wooden beams. Next to it is a glass wall...opaque white with orange and red stripes. Embedded into the glass are these glass pieces that look like eggs sunny side up, and the yolk is stones surrounded by glass. Really odd...not your standard embassy housing fare.

Anyway, when I first looked at the floorplan I was sent by email, I thought that I would use those two back bedrooms as an office and a exercise room, making the whole right side of the apartment sort of a private area. The two bedrooms to the left would be guest bedrooms.

But I have decided against that, at least partially. I am still designating the larger of the back bedrooms as an exercise/entertainment room. It has a big closet where we can store games and videos, plus room for a treadmill and M's exercise bike and a tv. The other back bedroom will be a guest room for those rare occassions when we have more visitors. Or for when my inlaws come, since that room has a balcony where they can smoke.

The reason I decided that is that the back two bedrooms have a shared balcony but NO view. The balcony is over an inner courtyard which is not a courtyard at all but just the roof of the lower floors of the building. I think the first five floors are offices, but don't quote me on that.

So anyway, I thought this arrangement, while leaving the office less private, means the office and one guest room have views. And since my bird will live in the office once her big cage arrives, I wanted her to have a window so she can get natural light when there is some (we have a full spectrum happy lamp coming for her too).

Since I decided on the placement of the office, I went ahead and set up my computer. Though I can't surf the interwebs with it yet, I can at least listen to my itunes on it. Which makes this big, empty apartment a bit more bearable.

Still, it is lonely. I have ventured out a bit further each day, but exploring is less fun alone. I did find yet another grocery store and finally bought what I think/hope is dish washing soap...I am not sure what language is on the label, but it isn't Estonian! It sort of looks Turkish...why the hell the labels would be in Turkish is beyond me.

I did try to call M's friend who lives here today but got no answer. I hate calling people I haven't met, but I was hoping she might want to go to sushi tonight at the place she recommended to me on Facebook. It too is in walking distance! TWO sushi places within a block of my house! Score!

UPDATE:
I tried M's friend again, this time with success. K took me to the Elion office, where I was able to sign the agreement for internet. With any luck, I will have it on tomorrow. In the meantime, I have cable tv.

So I am already feeling more connected!

Carmen and My Hood

2011-08-21T12:43:00.000-04:00

Saturday was the 20th anniversary of Estonia's regaining its independence.

Happy re-independence day Estonia!

I wandered around the neighborhood a bit more Saturday. I took Noostie to the dog park, this time with ipad in tow in the hopes that there would be wifi. No luck, though the cafe across from it did. But since I had Noostie with me, I opted to go home.

At lunchtime, I decided to try out the sushi place across from the apartment. The sushi wasn't bad, and as a bonus, they had wifi. So I ate lunch and checked my mail. From there I headed to Stockmann's with the intent of buying an alarm clock and a trash can for the bathroom. I failed on both accounts, the alarm clock because there were none and the trash can because I am not paying 175 euros for one...must have been gold lined.

I did succeed in getting a Stockmann's card so I can save on my groceries. Like in the U.S., customer cards are ubiquitous. I was pleased with myself because the folks I asked where to go for the card spoke no English. My Estonian feels rusty after a month and a half off, but I am making due. And people aren't switching to English for me...some of that may have to do with my neighborhood. While there are some major hotels here, it isn't really a tourist area like the Old City.

I came home and napped so I could stay awake for the opera. Then I got up to take a shower....the space tube is growing one me. I kind of like having a radio in there to jam to while I shower!

For dinner, I hit the Italian place across the street. Excellent pizza! And wifi too! The pizza was pretty cheap for a ginourmous one, so I have lunch and dinner for a couple days!

The opera was held in the (14 century?) ruins of St. Bridget's convent and was an interesting take on Carmen...they were kind of punk or something. The opera was in French, with Estonian and English subtitles (that didn't match each other all that well...no idea which was more accurate since my high school French is definitely the worst of my languages. It happened to me again there that people spoke to me in Estonian. Some colleagues were nice enough to give me a ride out there and we were in line behind some Russian speakers. The attendant giving directions spoke to them in English (I guess she didn't speak Russian) and then spoke to me in Estonian.

I used the subtitles as an opportunity to read Estonian and then check my understanding. I felt pretty good about it...I feel more confident now that the rust will come off.

By going to the opera, I missed the festival at the singing grounds....so much for seeing Sinead O'Connor! She was supposed to go onstage at 11:30, but it was nearly midnight by the time we got home. I was able to watch the fireworks from my window though.

Welcome to Estonia

2011-08-20T23:42:00.000-04:00

Wednesday was my first full day in Estonia. The lack of internet left me feeling disconnected and alone, so I wrote some entries on my ipad so I could post them later.

I arrived Thursday, having started my travels the day before. I am not a fan of flying, but this was worse than normal because I had never had to put my bird in the hold before. Bird flu has all the airlines scared, and many no longer allow birds at all. None allow birds in cabin anymore. Aside from the disfunction of the airport in Copenhagen, where it took every bit of my two and a half hour layover to figure out how to recheck my pets, they arrived no worse for the wear than I did.

My section is the greatest, and they came with my sponsor to the airport to greet me. It made me feel really wanted here...especially the "welcome to Estonia" sign they had the intern make. She is very talented...too bad Friday was her last day.

My sponsor and his wife brought me home, and they had unpacked the welcome kit and made the place as homey as a ginourmous apartment with no personal anything can be. His wife even made me lasagna, which has been dinner the last two nights and probably will be again tomorrow. Talk about tasty! I'd ask for the receipe, but I have seen lasagna made and I am far too lazy!

The apartment, as I said, is ginourmous. The views are amazing. I can see the Old City from one window, the Baltic from another. I can also see the tv tower, which if you know your Estonian history, you know is very significant. Especially with tomorrow marking 20 years of re-independence. I can also see the top of what I think it the stage for the singing celebration. Also super important culturally. The Estonians regained their independence by singing...not a single Estonian was killed in the effort. Truly amazing. And this morning, I awoke to a rainbow over the Old City...it was fading by the time I got my camera so you can't really see the rainbow in the shot.

I meant Thursday to stay up and go to bed at a reasonable hour. I meant, after I unpacked my stuff and put my own sheets on the bed (word of advice...embassy bedding is notoriously crappy across the FS...if this has not been true for you, you have been lucky...save yourself a couple weeks of bad sleep by mailing yourself a mattress pad and sheets...they make all the difference), to just take a short nap. When I woke up four hours later, I meant to get up and go to dinner with friends. But I just had no energy after getting no sleep on the plane, so I ate some of that lasagna, gave in, and went back to bed. All together, I slept, albeit fitfully, for about 15 hours.

I went to the office for the first time Friday. My APAO came and picked me up, and we drove the path I will walk to work. It is incredibly close. My office is great. It is huge with a nice window and doors on either side which I always keep open but everyone politely knocks on anyway. My desk is well stocked already, and they even put flowers and candy on it for me. For my part, I put out the spiced pecans I bought for the section when I was in Savannah.

I spent the first part of the morning trying to clean out some of my email so my mailbox could be transferred from DC to EUR. I didn't actually accomplish that until the end of the day, however. I did manage to walk with my APAO to Solaris, a local mall, where we had a pastry and I was able to buy some toilet paper. My apartment had almost none when I got here, and I was a little afraid to eat anything because if I got sick, I'd be up a creek without toilet paper! I attended the press briefing with the Ambassador in the morning, found some sushi with one of my classmates from language in the afternoon. I was shown the mail room, where a box of wii games I sent myself had already arrived (well before my wii, which will hopefully get here next week). In the box was a Druze table decoration we got when my wife visited the Druze village near Haifa when we lived in Jerusalem. I stuck it in the box because there was a small space and it kept the games from moving around...it is now the only bit of decoration I have here.

After work, I went home, grabbed my dog and resolved to find the Stockmann's, a grocery store, and the dog park that were both supposed to be nearby. We found both, though the dog park is a little boring. I had expected that though...I had seen reviews of it online before I came here. But it is a fenced place where I can let her off lease and she can chase a ball.

Or a pidgeon, as the case may be. When we came back, there was one sitting on my doorway. My dog wanted to chase it, and it didn't fly away. Clearly it was sick, but my desire to help it was overcome by my fear of taking any disease it might have back to my own bird. It was still there after I took my dog inside and came back down to go to the grocery store we had just find, but before I got back.

I had hoped that meant it flew away, but when I took my dog out that night, I saw a woman across the street screaming at her dog, which had grabbed a pidgeon. I am pretty sure it was the same one, but the woman got her dog away from it pretty quicky and it waddled off. I hope it gets better, but I am not optimistic. It added to my meloncholy mood.

Friday night I went to bed at 8, got up at 10 to take Noostie out, and then sat to write this while listening to music I couldn't quite make out. I think one of my neighbors is having a party, though I hear the music better with my window closed than open. The music sounds alternately like American Indian music and a bar mitzvah. I'd wonder if I was going insane, but my dog seems to notice it too.

Perhaps we are both crazy!

Still Alive

2011-08-20T06:48:00.000-04:00

I just don't have internet in my house yet.

As soon as I get it (thuis week insha'allah), I'll post some thoughts and picks of my new home.

SOS, Please Someone Help Me...

2011-08-16T19:08:00.002-04:00

Did I get the Rhianna song in your head? :)

Actually, for the past two days, I have been taking SOS, or Security Overseas Seminar. And in a stroke of good luck, I got to be in class with none other than the blogmistress of A Daring Adventure!

I have taken this course before, of course, but it has been more than five years, and you are supposed to take it before you go overseas if it has been more than five years. I think the title should be different though. Like maybe, "Scaring Officers (and others) Silly." Because that is the purpose of the class, to scare you into being safe.

The course is well run, and most of the speakers approach their topics with a sense of humor (which I admit can be challenging when you are talking about how not to get blown up!). It could be very dry (I seem to recall it was last time). Thankfully it was not.

Though it was, however, REALLY COLD! Which leads me to another name for the course: "Shivering and Shuddering." They warn you in the email they send that the classroom is cold and to bring a sweater or jacket. However, that is not so very useful if you have already packed out! Which I of course have. My sweaters and jackets are on their way to Estonia.

I briefly thought I was going to miss the second day of class and have to do the online course instead (which I am sure now has you thinking, why didn't I do it online to begin with...because I didn't want to take leave these last two days. So I took the training in person).

The reason I thought that was that I was waiting for my USDA health certificates to arrive. Because I have a parrot, I had additional pet hoops to jump through. USDA certificate within 10 days. Avian flu test within 7 days. 24 hours to turn around the test. Send test to USDA. Get certificates overnighted back to you. In the meantime, 48 hours before the trip, get one last vet visit in.

If you do not have a parrot and are joining the Foreign Service, don't get one. It is doable if you have one, but it is a pain that you don't need if you aren't already committed to your feathered friend.

So yesterday, I call the USDA. They say all is in order and they will overnight it that night. Meaning I'd get it today. Great!

Then I get home from class, and there is a message from the USDA saying they had a note to wait for me to call before overnighting it and I need to call them back by 4.

Did I mention I was in training? I got home at 4:30.

So I expected to have to drive to Richmond to pick it up today.

Luckily, after leaving the message, the secretary talked to the vets there, who confirmed they had spoken with me. So she overnighted it. And it arrived today.

Hooray!

Now just think happy thoughts for me that me, the dog and the bird all make it safe and sound to Estonia tomorrow.

Do Pots Have Feelings?

2011-08-13T21:24:00.005-04:00

Before I joined the Foreign Service, I was an archaeologist. Specifically, I specialized in American Indians from North and South Carolina.

My research was on the pottery of the Catawba. My tribe was a part of the Greater Catawba Confederacy, and as a result, there was intermarriage between our peoples. Although I am a PeeDee Indian, I carry Catawba blood in my veins.

So my research has always felt personal for me. I am fond of Indian pottery in general, and I have the works of artists from a number of different tribes. But is my collection of Catawba pottery that I love, that speaks to me.

I took my whole collection to Jerusalem. But I was less aware then of how easy it is to lose your stuff. Since then, my apartment was robbed and I lost some things that were precious and irreplaceable. I had friends lose shipments of belongings, including cars, dropped in the ocean, dropped at port, or simply vanished. Others have had looters far less kind that those who robbed my place, destroy everything they own.

So these days, I have not only the desire to take less with me, but also to protect some of the things I have that mean the most to me. So while I know things can be destroyed in storage, by fire, mold or what have you, I feel the danger is less there than in travelling across the ocean with me.

So I have selected only a couple pieces of my collection to have with me.

And I feel bad about it.

I feel bad about locking away the rest of my collection in storage, unseen and unadmired for years.

It feels like I am hurting their feelings.

Is it just me (or just my impending move) or the is it the Foreign Service that is crazy making?

Done!

2011-08-12T17:07:00.004-04:00

My HHE is gone.

I had been given a window for their arrival of 11-2. So guess when they arrived?

1:50.

At least that is better than Comcast, right?

I had everything sorted in piles, each pile with a label that read "pack all the contents of this____" so they would hopefully have an easy time of it. You can see from the picture below why the cats actually did have to be put in the "safe room."

It took them about four hours to pack up my stuff, which ended up being about 2500 lbs.

I am much calmer now that it is done. I am getting all the last minute things on my "to do" list accomplished and think I will be ready to leave come Wednesday.

Except for the whole leaving my wife behind part. I'll just go ahead and apologize now if my first bit of blogging from Estonia is a little whiney.

I still have one hurdle...the EU form for birds is a bear, and it may be that I end up taking a trip to Richmond on Tuesday to pick up her health certificate. Because we had to get her tested for Bird Flu within seven days, had to overnight the test to the lab, who didn't finish it until today. They faxed the results and now THAT form has to be overnighted to the USDA.

All to prove she doesn't have a disease she couldn't possibly have.

Ah, Foreign Service life.

Sigh.

Well That Was Fast...

2011-08-10T10:58:00.006-04:00

Wow...250 lbs goes FAST!

The movers were supposed to arrive between 10 and 12 this morning. To my utter shock, they got here early!

Luckily, I was ready.

I set aside a pile of stuff on our spare bed. I told them to start with my clothes, and then we'd work through the pile in priority order.

Who knew I had so many clothes??

They packed all my work clothes, shoes and golf shirts.

And that was 150lbs!

I immediately knew I would not be getting all of my pile into the the next 100lbs. So I put in pet food, pillows, some sweat shirts, coats (gotta have the coats!), towels, extra sheets, a blanket.

And that was 107lbs!

Well crap...

So we took some stuff out. I can mail myself the sheets. I had wanted to have some office decorations early on, but that too can wait.

So we pulled stuff out, added in the wii and a few games.

The rest, including the new tv, will have to go into my HHE. Thank goodness post has a tv in the welcome kit!

Tomorrow, the HHE folks come. I am nearly done with all my sorting. I have created a "safe place" where I can stash anything I want to make sure is NOT packed.

Like my suitcases. And the pets.

Packing my UAB

2011-08-09T11:36:00.003-04:00

Whitney over at The Dubinsky's Travels said that they are packing out this week and wondered what I am putting in my UAB. Since I am packing mine out tomorrow, I thought I'd just make a new post of it.

First, it is important to get a list from your post of what is in your welcome kit and to find out whether you get to keep it until your HHE arrives. Because if you have to return it once you get your UAB, that changes everything.

My post, according to the list I got and to some friends who arrived there recently, has a pretty decent welcome kit. And we get to keep it until our HHE arrives. So I won't be packing any of my kitchen supplies into my UAB. (And as of today, it is all sorted and ready for the HHE packers...hooray!).

For my UAB, I am packing a small tv, wii and games, and a vcr. Check with your post about whether the welcome kits include a tv...this could be vital if you have kids (I don't but I still want one. My post actually includes a tv, but I am probably bringing mine in the UAB anyway if I have the weight). Also bring toys and maybe some favorite snacks for your kids and pets. It will ease their adjustment.

I am also bringing sheets, pillows and towels. Yes, the embassy provides those, but I bet they won't feel as nice as the ones you sleep on at home. In fact, I actually mailed myself a set of sheets and a mattress pad (embassy bedding is notoriously uncomfortable, at least in my experience. I am actually bringing my own bed, and I am putting a set of sheets for it in my UAB so that I don't have to unpack all of my HHE before I can make the bed when it arrives.)

I am of course bringing most of my clothes in my UAB. I am packing five or six suits and two weeks worth of work shirts in my suitcase, but the rest is going in my UAB. As are my heavy coats...I don't want the Estonian winter to arrive before my coats do! And of course my electronics...though they will be in my carry on...my computer, ipad, kindle (gotta have books!), ipod (gotta have music!)...plus all of my important documents, like passports, animal health certificates, etc, will be in my carry on.

I also put in a few pieces of art or carpets to make the place a little more homey until my HHE arrives.

I think that is everything I have in mine. Did I miss anything?

Like I said, yours could be very different depending on how long you get to keep your welcome kit and what is in it.

Do.Not.Want

2011-08-08T12:46:00.002-04:00

...to do anything.

I haven't been motivated to blog much lately.

Or do much of anything else since getting back from vacation.

Periodically I put something in my UAB pile. I took clothes to the dry cleaner and Cayenne to the vet. Then sometimes I take stuff OUT of the UAB pile (I can't decide if I want to take dishes and utensils since that will be in the welcome kit that I get to keep until my HHE arrives.

But mostly I am unmotivated.

Don't get me wrong. I am eager to get to Estonia...in January.

But I am not eager to leave my life behind. Specifically, for me, home is where my wife is. So Estonia won't be home for the first six months.

So I am moving more by remote control than anything. I am driven by necessities...vet visits have to happen at a certain time, UAB and HHE get packed Wednesday and Thursday. Last minute consultations tomorrow.

I'll get my act together eventually...maybe by January.

Hoping the Lasts Last

2011-08-03T11:04:00.005-04:00

We went back to Cherokee again yesterday.

Just so you know, I am not Cherokee*. And not one of my Indian ancestors was a princess, just so you know. Or a Chief, at least to my knowledge. Just plain old Indians here.

We went back to get some more photos of the bears of the Cherokee Bear Project. If you look at my profile photo on this blog, that is one of them, Patriot Bear. Since I am Bear clan and I serve my country, that bear in particular speaks to me.

Anyway, the Cherokee Bear Project began in 2005, and I was there in 2008 to take pictures. I wasn't able to find all of the bears, and when we were there earlier in the week, I noticed some new ones. So my wife patiently helped me track down as many of the remaining bears as we could, like this one, Winter Bear, by artist Jenean Hornbuckle:

Sadly, a lot of the bears have been broken or damaged and had to be removed. Some I have pictures of from before, some I do not. This one, for example, is Trail of Tears and 7 Clans Bear by Mario Esquivell. It touches me because I have an ancestor who died on the Trail. But the bear is gone.

And since this was likely my last trip to Cherokee for a long time (at least the next three years), it is unlikely I will be able to take pictures of the rest.

Which of course makes me think of all the other things I will miss once I leave the country. Chances are I will not make another trip to Folly Beach, my favorite place on the planet, before I return from my tour. I will likely not return to SC at all before then. And yesterday, we visited a few waterfalls (Mingo and Soco) here in Cherokee country that I will not see again. Below is a shot of Mingo Falls.

We went to the Qualla Arts Co-op, where I picked up a couple Cherokee pots made in the Cherokee style. (The Cherokee potting tradition had died, and the pots they made for tourists were in the Catawba style thanks to the government briefly trying to relocate the Catawba to Cherokee (they're traditional enemies...it didn't go so well) and the few women who married in teaching their children how to pot...but back when I was at UNC, Brett Riggs organized training for the potters by Tammy Bean, a well known non-Indian potter who makes beautiful museum-quality replicas of Indian pots. She taught them to make traditional Cherokee pottery, and the result has been a resurgence in Qualla-style pots.) At any rate, I probably won't visit the Co-op again for a long time, and I was glad to be able to support the artists there one last time before I leave.

Today we'll head into Asheville for my last visit to the town for a while. I like Asheville...this is definitely a place I could consider retiring to if NC gets marriage equality by then (you have 13 years guys, you can do it! I believe in you!).

But the thing I'll miss the most when I leave in two weeks is my wife. I won't see her again until Christmas. And I won't live with her again until January or February.

And that sucks.

* I DO have one Cherokee ancestor. She married a Catawba man, and violating all tribal traditions, moved with him to his people instead of the other way around. I am convinced her mother cursed the Indian men in that line.

Guess the Move is Still On

2011-08-01T22:11:00.003-04:00

Well, it seems I am still going to Estonia.

"Huh?" you say.

They passed an increase in the debt ceiling.

"Huh?" you say.

Well, it is like this.

I have been fretting over the debt ceiling. A good take on my thoughts was written for CNN by a life-long Republican.

You can check that out here: Wake up GOP: Smashing system doesn't fix it

Had they not passed to debt ceiling increase, chances are I wouldn't have gotten paid. And chances are even better that the government would not have been able to pay for my stuff to be shipped to Estonia.

So had there been no increase, I wouldn't have gone to Estonia, especially since my wife wouldn't be joining me for six months. Because I wouldn't have been able to work, wouldn't have had insurance, and so on.

And I wouldn't have wanted to be in that position while on the other side of the planet from my wife.

I am glad for our country that the debt ceiling increase was passed. Because to not do so would have been devastating for our nation. And I am glad personally, because I can afford my mortgage, but not if I am not getting paid.

But I can't be completely happy, because I will once again be separated from my wife.

If she were coming with me, I would be enthusiastically counting the days until I depart for what I am certain is going to be an awesome tour.

But I am not counting down until August 17. I am counting down to February 3.

Nearly Wetting Myself

2011-08-01T12:08:00.002-04:00

Four GlobeTrotters and I are facebook friends (and real life friends too), and the other day, she linked to a blog I had never heard of before.

TheBloggess

Specifically, she linked to this piece, on "And that's why you should pick your battles." I nearly peed myself.

You should know that much of what she says and does reminds me of my wife, which might explain to you why I married her. Heaps of entertainment value in my house!

I'm now reading TheBloggess ever day, and she directed me to a site I had heard about but not actually visited.

Damn You, Auto Correct!.

Now I am reading that one too...and thinking of investing in some Depends.

Where the Devil Have You Been?

2011-07-30T14:21:00.003-04:00

Hello? Is anybody out there?

Or has my lack of posting chased you all away?

Seriously, don't you think I would post if I could? And don't you think I deserve a vacation, even if that means that I don't have much internet access?

For the three of you still with me, I am back in the Carolinas now. After wrapping up what felt a lot like an eating tour of Savannah (no, we never did go to Paula Deen's, but I think we are going to try her place in Cherokee), we headed to Atlanta to spend a couple days with my dad. We took a trip to Stone Mountain...the last time I was there was like milliseconds before I came out...I went up there to see a laser light show with some friends, one of whom soon became a much better friend. She is still one of my closest friends (and probably among the three of you still reading...but since one of the other two is probably my dad, I will move along!).

Yesterday, we headed from Atlanta to Asheville, NC. We like to stay at these cabins just outside of town. This trip, we are staying in the one I looked at the last time we were here and thought, that is where I want to stay next time.

It is perfect...my idea of roughing it...a full kitchen, king bed, deck overlooking the national forest, and a hot tub right outside of the bedroom.

It also attracts the occasional visitor.

This afternoon, we headed to the French Broad to do some tubing...a nice relaxing way to spend an afternoon provided you don't direct your friend's tube into a bridge column. Sorry about that!
And now that I have updated you, I am going to fulfill another requirement...a nap.

This vacation thing is exhausting!

I Didn't Forget You, 162nd!

2011-07-25T21:57:00.003-04:00

Okay, actually, it briefly slipped my mind. I know, I'm slack.

I hope you'll forgive me...I have vacation/moving overseas brain.

Anyway, I wanted to welcome the 162nd A-100 class to the Foreign Service.

There are two bloggers that I know of in this class:

Short Term Memory, now featuring Tandem Issues!

And

DiplomaticDad

Let me know if I have missed anyone, and welcome to the Service!

ON EDIT: Wow! I missed at least TWO bloggers! Seriously, vacation brain. Look, bright thing in the sky!

So welcome as well to:

Cupcake Diplomacy

and

SubjectVerbObject

I have added both to the blogroll. Welcome y'all! (I'm in Savannah, and since Paula Deen throws in a y'all every other word - like no Southerner I've ever seen! - I thought I would too!).