Car Talk

Foreign Service life is full of pros and cons. I'm reminded of some now as we struggle with our out-of-commission vehicle. Our Landcruiser has been sitting inert at "County Motors" for a couple of months now. Hazzard County? I don't know, but it's been a real saga, so I'll stick to the essentials.

The diagnosis by the folks at County is a malfunctioning "fuel pump assembly." Are they right? Who knows? It's tough to take it anywhere else for a second opinion as I've never seen a tow truck in this country. Just a bigger car and some rope. Anyway, I'm told that normally a fuel pump assembly could be fixed for a few (several?) hundred bucks in the U.S. Probably in a matter of days. In Nepal...not so much. First County tried to repair it. The test drive was a failure. Then we took the fuel pump assembly to the one Toyota dealership in town. I'm not sure if they even looked at the old one, but they said they could order a new one...for $8,000. I'm not exaggerating. So back to County. Elyse found a used version of this very particular Landcruiser fuel pump assembly on E-Bay for around $500.  (Most on-line were actually about $2,000.)  We waited 3 weeks for delivery from the UK, via Dulles, VA. It looked old and busted. County installed it. It doesn't work. (We asked the E-bay seller how to return it. He said it wouldn't be necessary as "It works." I beg to differ...my Nepali mechanic says it doesn't. And I have complete confidence in him.) Meanwhile County tells us the original fuel pump, unlike the E-bay one, "passes fuel."  So if the fuel pump is pumping fuel, why doesn't my car run?!?! No answer. They want to send the pump to Singapore for "servicing." How much will that cost and how long will it take? That brain teaser was made 6 days ago. No response has been forthcoming.  

Where, you might ask, are the "pros" in this story full of "cons"? Well, they are in our foreign service community. Over these many frustrating weeks, we have never been without wheels. At some point, someone is always out of the country, either for a training or well-deserved R&R. And without solicitation, someone has always offered their keys while away. Also, we live in the Embassy's apartment building, so our awesome neighbors have basically made their cars available. We have the pick of the litter. "Hmm, honey, should we drive the Nissan SUV, the Toyota hatchback, or the tiny Hyundai Santro? I think the Hyundai makes sense for that part of town, don't you?" Where else, and in what other lifestyle, can you do that? We look out for each other and depend on each other. We are each others' home away from home.

So wish us luck in this ordeal. We've heard of another good mechanic. It's the garage the Embassy uses across town, "Leon's Garage"...run by Prakash.  We've been calling them for 3 days. One day they'll answer the phone, right? Right?

Momo on the gogo

This kid really gets around. In one week she rode on...

planes,

trains, and...

long tail boats.

Then we stayed in the penthouseth in Krabi Town.

3 Nights in Bangkok

Elyse, Ryan, and I had a very nice week-long holiday in Thailand. What a great country. I'm not sure I can truly make that pronouncement since we really only saw Bangkok, Krabi Town, and Railay Peninsula.  But if those places are representative of the country as a whole, it's a real gem. In Bangkok we loved the, how should I put this? Development. Organization. Efficiency. Sanitation. Cow-free roads. Non-honkingness. All the things Kathmandu lacks. (Of course Kathmandu has other worthy attributes...just not these.) And on Railay, we loved everything. Picture a small peninsula with only foot paths, three top notch beaches, and limestone karst cliffs jutting from the sea. In the distance are more islands. And you...you just sit and drink pina coladas as the sun sets. That's Railay. The best thing about Railay for us is the climbing. After all, what is my pigment-challenged self going to do, sit on the beach?! This is a world class climbing destination. Momo has seriously cramped our climbing style. So we chose this as a holiday destination and simply hired a belayer so we could take turns climbing and watching her. It worked out great. I also now know Thai is hands down my favorite type of food. If you love coconut, pineapple, and nuts, this is the food for you. We were in the country for 7 days and I ate Thai for every meal but one. Delicious. Now, enjoy some envy-inducing photos.

Didn't those people realize I was using the panaroma setting?

"Nice holiday choice mom and dad!"

Long tail boats dropping off tourists.

Mom takes Momo for a dip.

RyRy's stoked about her new beach outfit.

That's just cool.

We decided not to stay in the $10, no A/C bungalows. Right choice.

Even when it rained it was great.

Still got the skills.

How high? My 60 meter rope almost ran out.

Nothing to add.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

Randomly throughout a normal day in Kathmandu, I think about what I would do if there were suddenly an earthquake.  We are due for a big one any day now.  Would I stay put and cover my head, run for the door, hunker down next to a heavy dresser so debris would fall on it and not me?  What if Ryan was in another room, would I be able to get to her?  I come up with all sorts of plans for how to get down the fire escape with Ryan if one of our carriers weren't close by.  I think about what I would break a window with if I couldn't get it open.  I ponder different scenarios under which I would or would not grab the cats and the "go" bag.  Then I wonder, would I really DO anything that I planned?  Would I be able to think straight, would I be able to physically or mentally go anywhere?  Well tonight I got my answer.  I was nursing Ryan to sleep in her room around 7pm when the bed and everything else began to shake.  I immediately scooped her up and ran for the door.  Keith met me in under the door frame of Ryan's room, where we stayed for a few minutes to assess the situation.  Everything seemed to be ok.  It turned out that I did not think about any previous plans I had made and my instincts to grab my baby and run completely took over.  It ended up being a very short, small (4.6) earthquake centered just over the border in China.  No damage was done to our apartment that we could see.   As Keith says, nothing really moved, even a birthday card on a bookshelf in the living room stayed put.  Although, I think my heart rate did budge a bit.  It felt like a test.  A reminder that a big one could hit at anytime.  At least now I know what to do if that happens.  Trust my instincts, as if I have a choice.

8 Months Old?!?!

So, I've been a major slacker with these blog posts.  As the cliche goes, time is going by so fast.  It seems like as soon as I get ready to do a monthly update another month has gone by. Before that happens again, I'm determined to get something down on paper, err, screen.  Here we go...

In the last 4 months you've gone from an adorable little lump that sits in the corner of the couch to a little lump on the move!  You haven't crawled "properly" yet, but you're getting mighty fast at the army crawl.

You're getting more chatty in a babbling sort of way.  Here's a video of you chatting and crawling at the same time! So far you've mastered the mamama, bababa, and dadada sounds, but I don't think you've attached any meaning to those sounds.  We're betting your first real word will actually be cat.  You love those cats (unfortunately, they don't love you as much back)!

You got your first 2 teeth in (finally!) around 7 months and we think the next 2 are on their way!  You started off slowly with eating solid foods, liking everything we've given you, but not getting all that excited about meal time.  Now you eat with more enthusiasm, opening wide for each bite.  You still don't have any favorites, but pears, apples, and raisins are all a bit hit.

You are a well traveled baby, that's for sure.  A trend that I'm sure will continue.  Right around the 1 year anniversary of our being in Nepal, we visited some sites that you had been to before as a wee little baby in my tummy.  Here we are at Bouda 1 yr ago and today. 

We also took trips to Shivapuri....

 

  

Swayam Bhunath (the monkey temple)...

Pokhara...

And Haatiban...

You also were a big help with our first attempt at beer brewing.  You were so helpful, in fact, that we named the beer 'Baby's First Brew.'

Can't wait for more traveling, brewing, and to see what you come up with next!

Video Killed the Radio Star

If you happened to listen to 97.9 Image Radio Nepal Monday morning, you might have heard a familiar voice (for those who know me). Or, more precisely, you would have heard an American's sad attempt to speak about the Diversity Visa in Nepali. Wow! That was a humbling experience. The station apparently has more listeners than any other in Nepal. I'll bet they don't anymore. For about 30 minutes I tried to explain a large portion of our immigration law in Nepali. The key word there is, tried. I do dozens of visa interviews in Nepali daily. Due to their repetitive nature, I've gotten pretty good. This was a whole new ball game. It was different subject matter combined with the stress of a microphone and fast talking radio personality. (He told me he'd speak slowly!) And of course Nepali and Yoda still have the same syntax:

Host: "To you the U.S. government upon arrival in America a job will arrange?"

Me: "No. You upon reaching America your own job must find."

Thank goodness my Nepalese coworker was with me to answer those questions I struggled with...which is to say most of them. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose. In this case, I ventured my pride and I gained a blog topic. Seems fair.

Memory Lane

Last week I proctored the Foreign Service Officers Test (FSOT) in the Embassy. As I watched the test takers, it brought on a strong sense of nostalgia and lingering disbelief. Three times I sat where they were. Having somehow made it through myself, now I was proctoring the test for others. I reflected on the whole process and how lucky I still feel to have made it.

For those who don't know, getting an invitation to join the Foreign Service is like running the gauntlet.  The test is only the first step, with cryptic essays, an enervating oral exam, and, in my case, a foreign language test still to come.

I took the written exam twice around 2003-2004. I failed both times. To pass you must have a broad scope of knowledge. Questions cover topics as varied as the 13th Amendment, Georgia O'Keefe, and the Ottoman Empire. (There are also essay, grammar, and biographic info sections.) Many people maintain "You can't study for the FSOT." I didn't...the first two times. But 5 years later I tried again. This time I read history books, the Constitution, and an atlas. And I was 5 years more experienced. I passed. Step 1, done.

Then you have to respond to five essay prompts via mail. In 200 words each, if memory serves, I tried to demonstrate how I possessed the 13 dimensions that State believes make for a good Foreign Service Officer. You must be pithy to set the scene and answer the question in just 200 words. I guess I did it, because I received the invite to "The Orals" (dun, dun, duhhhh). Step 2, complete.

The Oral Assessment is intimidating. It took about 6 hours to complete the entire day. There are three phases: the group exercise, structured interview, and case management exercise. On my day there were 18 of us. Some extremely impressive people, which can also be intimidating. But fortunately you aren't competing against each other...although a few didn't seem to grasp that. Theoretically, everyone can pass. But few do. In the end, we all sat in a room and waited for the examiners to call us out, one at a time, to discover our fate. That's a moment I will never forget. It was like waiting for the hang man. Ultimately, I was led into a small room where three of us received the good news. Step 3, over...kind of.

Everyone who passes the orals receives a score and is put on "The Register" in rank order. If you get a low score (5.3 is minimum) you'll probably never get the invitation before you cycle off in 18 months. In that case, you start all over again. My score was moderately good, even though I only passed one of the three Oral Assessment phases: the structured interview. (There must have been some returned Peace Corps volunteers on my panel who liked my stories.) With federal budgets tightening and hiring slowing, I saw my chances dim. To get a whopping .17 additional points, I decided to brush up on my Portuguese and take a language assessment by phone. Fortunately I lived in Providence, RI, home to the Lusophone diaspora in America. For only $10/hour Joe from the Acores spiffed up my Portuguese. And since I didn't have the required landline for the test in my house, I took it in my pastor friend's church offices. Perhaps I got some divine support because I passed. Step 3.5...acabado (finished).

Finally, I was through and guaranteed to get an invite...depending on a medical exam and background check. I jumped from around #75 to #17 on the register and got "the e-mail" in days. Elyse and I remember it like it was yesterday. That was September, 2010. Joining the Foreign Service certainly changed our lives. And the adventure continues.

If you are interested in becoming a diplomat and representing the U.S. in a new country every few years, give it a shot. The process is challenging, but it's free. And you can take the FSOT once a year, and just keep trying until you make it. It may be hard, but at least it's an objective selection process, which is more than I can say for most jobs. Good luck.