Hello Everyone – Happy Holidays! I realize I have a lot to catch you up on since I haven’t written in so long. I guess I just haven’t felt like I have much to report lately.
Our big news is that Nia and I came to Minnesota for Christmas. Yes, you read that right. Nick isn’t with us. He’ll be heading to Oregon to see his parents later this week. So we’ll be split for Xmas for the first time ever. However, this will be my first Christmas with my family since we joined the foreign service and Nia’s first with her cousins (I should clarify that the three years we lived in D.C. before, we celebrated with family a bit earlier in the month, then returned to D.C. This is the first celebration that will be on the actual holiday.) So while we are sad to be apart from Nick, we are thrilled for a snowy, winter Christmas! So far, we’re getting a bit more than we bargained for . . .
Owing to the fact that we only got to bring 600 pounds of stuff to D.C., the ornaments unfortunately didn’t make the cut. In lieu of our normal tree, I found a makeshift tree-in-a-bag at Whole Foods as a stand-in this year, but I found myself greatly missing our annual tradition of unwrapping ornaments and decorating of the tree. Thankfully, my sisters and parents have plenty of beautiful trees to enjoy.
Nia is at the perfect age to be in D.C. She’s interested in seeing EVERYTHING and begs us to go to the monuments and museums. I do love her insatiable curiosity, though at times her relentless pursuit of knowledge is exhausting. We sadly spent most of November sick at home with lingering respiratory issues but we made up for it in December with a few trips to museums, and a circuit of all the monuments. Here are a few pictures from our stops at the monuments:
Then one Sunday, we set out on a walk to see the Iwo Jima Memorial, which is set apart from the rest of the monuments, over on the Virginia side. It happens to be just a 10 minute walk from our apartment, so it’s nice and easy to visit. The memorial butts up against Arlington National Cemetery, which she’s refused to go to since we arrived (she has a thing with cemeteries). That day, for some reason, she decided she was ready to go in, so I jumped at the opportunity, despite the fact that it’s rather large and I didn’t remember where the significant sights were inside. Google maps saved the day, leading us to Abraham Lincoln’s tomb, Justice Ginsberg’s grave, the eternal flame for the Kennedy’s and the tomb of the unknown soldier.
It was a blustery day, so I was surprised that she wanted to keep going but she seemed quite taken with it, even commenting, “Mom, I want to come here every day after school. It’s sooooo peaceful.” The cold weather scared the crowds off too, so we got to enjoy the sights mostly to ourselves. When I tried to take pictures of the guard marching in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, she chastised me, saying, “Mom. Put your phone away! That is so disrespectful.” I couldn’t help but laugh. She’s definitely got strong opinions. :) Glad the respect lessons are getting through.
I continue to write most days and just finished a short story about my journey to becoming a mother. I so enjoyed reflecting back on that time and–with distance and added perspective–laughing at all the ridiculous expectations I had and the many, many things that went wrong. It’s a story I intend to include in my Foreign Service Memoir, should it ever get finished. Yet again, it’s taking far longer than I anticipated. I have mad respect for anyone who has ever published a book because I way underestimated the amount of time and effort it would take. I am resigned to just continuing to plug along with a bit each day and it will be ready when it’s ready.
I’ve also been doing Russian lessons on Duolingo for 38 days now and seeing some progress. That Cyrillic alphabet is a killer! I can’t help feeling worried about the lack of English in Almaty and want to get the rich experience I’ve had in my other posts. Besides, it feels like a good challenge.
Well there you have it, my random update. Sorry it was a bit disjointed! Enjoy your time with loved ones!
