Day Sixty Five

We're cruising along pretty well.  Only three weeks until he comes home for his first R&R.  The girls had a Halloween party at school over the weekend.  Jack's class put on a haunted house and everyone had a relatively good time.  My little ladies looked very precious:

Olivia had wanted to go as Alice in Wonderland, but she just wasn't loving it when she tried the costume on.  She played around a bit and was very happy with her new costume:  Malice in Wonderland.  Grace is the ethereal Corpse Bride.

Olivia ate a bunch of junk at the Halloween party. An entire bag of candy, filled with color dye and all kinds of chemicals and gross crap.  She was sick for three days and missed a bit of school.  I missed work, but we had a great time laying in my bed watching old episodes of Little House on the Prairie.

She is on the mend and went back to school today.  Our little compound is hosting a Trunk or Treat on Friday and the embassy Trick or Treat is on Thursday, so I hope my darling girl will make it through the next week without getting too sick.

Oh, and I wrote this little piece about the critters we live with down here for work:
http://papagaiobrasilia.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/brushes-with-nature-horrible-horrible-nature/

Day Fifty Seven

Fifty seven days, yo!  Only 299 to go. It's been a disappointing week for Jack, who was supposed to go to Ecuador with Global Issues Network, a volunteer group he leads at school.  We didn't have the proper paperwork from both parents and it was impossible to make it happen in the short amount of time we were given.  I wasn't about to chance just sending him and having him get stuck in Panama or Ecuador with no parents and a government shutdown, so I made the difficult decision to cancel his ticket.  On the bright side, I took him out for shwarmas, and I'm pretty sure savory meat wrapped in flatbread was just as good as going to Ecuador.

The girls went to an insane birthday party for one of their classmates on Sunday.  Seven-piece band plus a deejay for during the breaks, a bar manned by four bartenders for blended concoctions, full dinner set-up, and dessert bar.  Then, there were massage tables lined up and the girls all got massages by professional masseuses.  Swimming, dancing, a photo booth with a bunch of zany props, and personalized Havaianas (Brazilian flip flops) for each girl.  And puppies to play with.  Nope, I am totally not kidding.  I love that my kids get to go to these over-the-top Brazilian parties and still seem happy with the lame-ass American style parties I throw.

Henry is still a vegetarian.

I helped my friend Katie throw a cowgirl ladies' party on Saturday night.  I think we had a really good time, judging by the way I felt the next day.

Day Fifty

"Henry, did Jack help you figure out your math problems?"

"Yeah, he's a really good teacher.  If I miss a problem, he punches me, so I'm really motivated to learn."

Day Forty Eight

I'm happy to report that Henry returned from the Amazon alive and in one piece.  He seems different. Older, I guess.  He brought gifts back for everyone and showed us an impressive new skill: the natives taught the kids how to make blow dart guns (I KNOW!) and Henry blew a dart right into our concrete wall with his gun.  He also went to a meat market in Manaus and came back a total vegetarian.  Will not even consume fish.  Here's a few pics the school sent:

Swimming with pink dolphins.  You may need sunglasses to pick out which child is mine.

According to Henry, these guys taught them some dances and the women wore coconuts so the seventh graders "wouldn't have to see their boobs".

There appears to be a monkey on my kid

Jack returned from Sao Paulo Model UN in one piece as well.  He and his partner won "Best Delegation", representing Syria.  So proud of my blow dart-wielding, argument-winning boys!

Day Thirty Six

 I just got this email update from the seventh grade Amazon field trip:

'After our two preparation meetings yesterday, we left the hotel for the forest around 15:30.  As we walked towards our camp our guides (called the Jaguars) taught us how to trap animals and to direct ourselves using the sun or small rivers in the forest.  Then after 2 hours of walking through the heat and humidity, we arrived at our camp.   

At the camp, each student went to see his or her hammock and then our guides taught us what fruits from the Amazon forest are eatable.  We ate many fruits and among them were maracuja, castanha do Pará,and many other that I can't write or even pronounce because they are words from the Tupi Guarani language.  We ate fruits rich in vitamin C and other vitamins and also rich in fiber.  

We came back to our meeting place at the camp and our guides taught us how to make fire with gun powder and Bom Brill and batteries.  After that we ate chicken, beef with farinha and fruits.  Our plates were leaves of Palmeiras and we ate with our hands.  We then reflected on our journey so far in the Amazon and then went to sleep in our hammock in the middle of the forest.

We woke this morning with the sunrise at 5:30am and came straight to the hotel where students took showers and are enjoying a little bit of free time.  We will go fishing for Piranha soon and this afternoon we will visit a native family from the Amazon. Tonight we will go with canoes to see the alligators in the river.'

Fishing for piranha and going in canoes to see the alligators in the river.   Learning to make fire with gun powder and batteries.  Sounds effing awesome!

I still have zero desire to do any of that stuff, except for the eating part, but, you know, with utensils and plates and a glass of wine and not in the jungle.

Day Thirty Five

Today my baby boy swam with pink dolphins and swam in the Amazon river, and is currently on a two-hour hike into the jungle where he will sleep OUTSIDE in a hammock.  I'm writing this from inside my 500 thread count sheets and I can honestly say I'm not jealous in the least.

Day Thirty Four

Henry left for a week in the Amazon with his class this morning.  Jack is leaving for São Paulo later this week for Model UN, and then it will be just the ladies.  Field trips in the Foreign Service are definitely no trip to the waste treatment plant like they were back in my day.

Day Thirty-Two

Yesterday was dumb.  I only had to run in to work to hit 'publish' on the embassy newsletter and then I was done for the day.  I threw on my frayed jeans, flip flops, and a tank top. My office is separate from the main embassy building, and right by the parking lot, so I was confident I wouldn't even be seen.  As soon as I was settled in I got a call at my desk. "Hi Kate, can you come up to the front office to interview the new Ambassador for the newsletter in about an hour?"  I looked down at my classy outfit.  "Of course, I would love to!"  Fortunately, I live 25 minutes from the embassy, so I rushed home and changed, forming questions in my head as I drove.  The new Ambassador was so easy to talk to that the interview itself was a piece of cake.

Last night was the elementary school talent show.  All I'm going to say is that it was 745 hours long.  I brought the girls, because several of their friends were performing and they begged to go.  As soon as we got there, Grace headed off with her posse of girls and boys and they spent the night laughing and moving around the auditorium.  Olivia refused to leave my side all night.  "Don't you want to go hang out with your friends?" I kept asking.

"No, I'm fine right here."

Fifth graders kept coming up to Olivia and asking her to join them, but she refused.  Finally her very good friend came and sat down on the other side of her.  "Olivia, why aren't you hanging out with us?"

And now for your daily sad:

Olivia whispered to her friend, glancing my way to make sure I couldn't hear (I could), "I don't want my mom to be lonely because my dad isn't here with her."

Day Thirty

Day thirty! That's a month. The longest we've gone being apart before this is a week, so yay, us. I've been sick this week, but as usual the kids have rallied and helped a lot around the house. The big news is that last night I finally slept through the night, seven straight hours (drug free, I might add). That is all.

Day Twenty Four

I usually wake up several times a night and check my messages.  Mitch knows I'm a little psycho about the danger he's in every day, and he's very good about leaving me frequent updates so I know he's okay, then I usually can go back to sleep.  My 3:45 am message was this:

"All is well here. Consulate Herat is being evacuated to Kabul. No Americans were harmed. 2 Afghan consulate security and 1 police were killed. Undetermined number of Taliban were all killed. (All of them). I'm fine. No activity here."

Today is not one of the days I was able to go back to sleep. I turned on the news and hit the internet. After I read everything I could about the attack on the US Consulate in Herat this morning, I spent the next few hours lying wide awake in bed with my thoughts. Is bringing diplomacy to parts of the world where your life is constantly on t he line worth it? Is there any Xanax in the house? Did I remember to bring the dog in last night? What if Kabul is next? What if they go for a 'soft target' and hit Brasilia? Will the gardener get the hint of a bucket and sponge left by my car and wash it for me before I go to work? I need to remember to pick up lightbulbs at the commissary. Why hasn't Mitch called me so I can hear his voice? Why is level 29 in Candy Crush so flipping unbeatable? Did we make the biggest mistake of our lives?

Finally, the alarm went off and I tried to pull my shit together to wake up the kids. I had to tell them what had happened and reassure them that all was okay, that their Dad wasn't even involved. As tempting as it is to pretend nothing happened, I know that they go to a school full of diplomat kids, all of whom know their dad is in Afghanistan, and chances were high that they would hear of a "US attack in Afghanistan". Also, I had to do it without bursting into tears. I put on my big girl panties and was casual and quick about it. And they were fine. Mitch finally called, and everyone got to talk to him before the bus arrived. The gardener showed up and he did get the hint about washing the car.

I am doing okay. Turns out, there was Xanax in the house.