A Couple Days Behind

This week has been a little busier than in past weeks and yet I'm neglecting staying up to date on my blog. I hope you'll be able to forgive me. Wednesday afternoon, I was at Mount Vernon with the President and President Sarkozy of France. It was rather chilly but George W. (the original)'s house made for a great background. Don't get too concerned. While we were freezing in our seats, they brought out space heaters for the two leaders. I ended up sitting next to the executive director for Mt. Vernon and a representative from the Mt. Vernon's Womens Association so I got even more background information than most of my colleagues. They were telling me the historically significance in Wednesday's meeting- it was the first time two world leaders had met inside Mount Vernon since Washington and Rochambeau planned the Battle of Yorktown. I can't wait until the next time I go to Mt. Vernon and see the pictures of Wednesday on the wall and I can say that I was there.

Then yesterday, I spent the day in San Antonio at the Brooke Army Medical Clinic and the Center for the Intrepid. Bush met with wounded warriors and toured the facilities. We got to take a tour of the place after he did and it was fascinating. Everyone at that center has lost at least one limb in either Iraq or Afghanistan. It was a bit difficult for me to not stare but the more soldiers I saw, the more moved I was to see what they had gone through. One of the cool things about the Center for the Intrepid is they have a fake wave maker thingy (like on a cruise ship) for therapy. They also have a couple of rock climbing walls. We saw a soldier scaling the wall. He had lost both legs and is now legally blind (he had a fake eyeball with a University of Kentucky logo in place of the iris). It was amazing considering I can't do that with two legs and two eyes. Anyway, the whole place is funded completely by private citizens and it's definitely a state-of-the-art facility.

Now I'm spending the rest of the weekend in sunny Crawford, TX. The weather is actually really beautiful. President Merkel of Germany is visiting the Prez for the next couple of days. I'll see her tomorrow when they have a press conference. In the meantime, the Texas German Society provided us with pastries. Even though I've already had three meals and two servings of ice cream today, I felt that it would be good for international relations for me to eat the pastries. Someone told me they were Danishes but for some reason the term "German Danish" just doesn't sound right.

Parade of Nations

This week has been a busy one at the WH and it's only Wednesday! Three different world leaders are meeting with the big guy this week and it looks like I will see all of them. On Monday, we kicked the week off talking turkey with the Prime Minister of Turkey. Ok, they probably didn't discuss the bird but it was a big news day in that we knew that Bush would respond to the crisis going on in Pakistan. Usually the meetings last about an hour and the press gets to go in at the end. On Monday, we waited and waited and waited for the travel pool to go in (we were travel pool and my colleague Ed went in as the TV representative). Finally after about two hours, they let the pool in and the President and Prime Minister gave some comments. It threw my afternoon off and I ended up having to eat out of the vending machine. But I realized it was for a good cause... they were literally discussing world peace and on the scale of important things, my lunch rates way at the bottom!

Yesterday, the President of France came to town. They had a social dinner and entertainment last night which I wasn't here for. But today they are spending the day at Mount Vernon. As you've seen in a previous post of mine, I love that place! So I volunteered to skip my afternoon nap and go there this afternoon for the press conference. I probably won't be able to show my Mt. Vernon members card today to get in but I've already used it three times this year. Come to think of it, I should have volunteered to give Sarkozy (French pres) and Bush the tour. I think I remember most of it! Thanks to the wonderful museum there, I understand exactly why Bush is taking Sarkozy there! I think it will be a pretty cool experience!

Across the country and back!

On Thursday, I went with the Prez to San Diego for the day to tour the damage of the wildfires. Except that I didn't get anywhere near a wildfire.

Generally flying across the country and back is not recommended as a day trip but when you're with the Prez, anything is possible. Actually, I wasn't on the plane with Mr. Bush- we were on our chartered plane that left at 5a ET. Luckily I was able to get in a couple of hours of good sleep on the way out there or I wouldn't have made it through the day!

Anyway, as we flew in to the San Diego, you could see all the smoke from the fires (actually we saw smoke as far away as Arizona) and as soon as we got off the plane, the stench of the smoke just filled our lungs (and as I mentioned earlier, we weren't really that close to any fires). I'm not sure where the closest fire was but the smoke still knocked you down where we were.

Speaking of where we were, we hung out at Miramar MCAS, better known as the location of the filming of Top Gun. I spent some time looking for Tom Cruise but no such luck! Actually we did our liveshots right in front of Air Force One which was slightly unusual for us but made a pretty shot.

The best part about my long day, besides the fact that everything went very smoothly, was that our chartered plane was Jet Blue which meant I didn't miss any of my TV viewing (which by the way has decreased significantly over the years!) Since we have our own row, we have control over three TVs. So I had one on the World Series game, one on the Office, and the other one on the Virginia Tech game. I hardly slept on the flight home since I had so much to keep me entertained! However, I'm still very bummed about the Tech game. I watched the whole thing and when I got off the plane, it was 10-0 with a little less than 3 minutes in the game. By the time I got to my car (five to ten minutes later) we had lost the game! I can't believe it!! What happened to my Hokies???

***UPDATE: I neglected to mention in my posting over the weekend on how I got the honor of going to San Diego last week. It probably wasn't my turn to travel but I had volunteered. Check that, I had volunteered because originally we were supposed to go to St. Louis for the day. So I signed up because my sister Katherine lives there and I knew it was going to work out for her to come visit me wherever I was working for the day! I haven't seen K since she and Mark visited me in April (just before my blogging days... otherwise you would have heard all about their visit!). I was really looking forward to see her last Thursday and then late on Tuesday night, I found out that we were scrapping the trip to St. Louis and going to CA instead because of the fire. While in the newsworthiness realm, it was the right decision. But in the sister realm, I was upset! Luckily, the President has rescheduled his trip and I'll once again volunteer to go see Katherine!

That's what friends are for

My computer desk fell apart shortly before I left for K-stan. One of the first things I did when I got home was to head out to buy a new, inexpensive one. On the box it said "no tools required" and "easy assembly". Now I didn't have any jet lag nor was I stressed from anything else but I just couldn't figure it out. It was maddening to me since I had put together my former computer desk. I was so proud of myself back in 1998 when I followed the 65 pages of instructions and made a beautiful, much more complicated computer hutch! This time, there were very very few words on the directions. Just a series of pictures and arrows. I think I hit the wall when I couldn't figure out where to put the glue. I got about five pages into the directions when I just stopped and had to have a good cry. I felt like a complete failure. I know they didn't have words so as not to offend illerate people putting together computer hutches but this was ridiculous. If you know how to use a computer, you should be able to put together an "easy assembly" desk. But not me.

That's where friends come into the picture. I called Joe and Katie for some help and they promise to rescue me from my fragile state. They couldn't come immediately so I left all 127 pieces scattered about my living room. They came over Saturday and made some magic. It did make me feel better that they thought it wasn't as easy as the box implied. They are masters of these sorts of things. So voila! It was assembled after a couple of hours and a break for some Chinese food. We ended up with several extra pieces of hardware that we didn't use but heck, it looks like it's put together. So far, it's been two days and it's still been standing every time I see it. I even sneezed yesterday and it didn't fall apart. So I'm confident it will last at least a couple of years which is all I ask! Thanks Joe and Katie!

Eating off the floor

Sorry folks that it's been several days since I've blogged. I've had computer problems at home. Check that. I've had computer table problems at home. The old one fell apart and I got frustrated putting together the new one the other day. I just haven't had the time or help this week to devote to putting it together!

I was trying to figure out what would be the next story from my trip would be. There are just so many! I wanted to tell you about two dinners we had in Bishkek. The first one was at the home of the parents of a student, Azima, who is actually living in Alexandria for a year. We met Azima at church and she had told her parents that a group of us were coming to her country and they invited us to dinner. Luckily, Azima's older sister was there to translate for us. Her parents are both university professors and her dad is also a former K-stan parliament member. So these people were high-class. They said they were being modest in things but I have never seen such a spread. Food literally covered the entire table. They basically treated us like royalty! Course after course kept coming. I couldn't identify most of what I was eating but it could have been sheep, potatoes, or horse meat. I have seriously never felt that stuffed, especially from identifiable foods! At the end of the evening, they gave us gifts- they gave Don a hand-embroidered robe and a colpok (the Kyrgyz hat) and they gave Audrey and Kim beautiful white scarves and then for the single ones of us, they gave us colorful scarves. Then they gave everyone slippers and handmade pillow cases! It was unbelievable! It cut my souvenir shopping in half!!

The next night we had a "cultural" dinner in a Kyrgyz home. I thought we had learned plenty the night before but this meal was rather different. It was on the floor on small cushions with no table. Apparently some people don't use utensils but they were kind enough to let us use a fork or spoon. They put bread all over the "table" (which is actually the floor) and we learned that if you shouldn't lay your bread on the table upside down. We learned all kinds of other cultural ways they serve and eat. Also we learned the correct way to sit on the floor which let me tell you, it gets painful after about an hour. My legs were both asleep, and not only asleep but with the pins and needles in my legs. Apparently the Kyrgyz are trained to sit on the floor for long periods of time because they didn't have any issues. Anyway, the food was pretty good- lamb/rice pilaf- which is apparently a staple in Kyrgyz cuisine.

The other thing I learned through these dinners is how to survive without drinking caffeine. I haven't had caffeine since a dare to give it up back in college (November 5, 1995 to be exact!) and I was doing my best to continue the streak. They said that the hosts would continue to fill your cup until you've had four cups of tea. So I found out that I could just ask for hot water and then I stirred in some of the jam that was on the "table". The jam had of course been sitting out for days and days but I figured if I was going to get sick, then I would just deal with it. Anyway, that proved invaluable during our time in the village. So I'm happy to report that my caffeine-free streak continues!

Dolly the sheep

The jet lag hasn't hit me yet so I think I'm going to be just fine! I've spent the morning organizing some pictures on my computer and cheering on my Hokies to victory. Granted it was against Duke but I haven't been able to cheer for them in the last two weeks and I've missed them! You'll notice to the left there is a link to my pictures. I haven't gotten all the pics from the other folks on the trip but this is a start. I have to warn you. Some of the pictures are rather grotesque. I won't post the grossest within the blog just to make sure I don't offend anyone. Just think, I was actually there and survived it. Yes, me who gets queasy over the smallest thing!!

I wanted to share with you part of my experience from the village. It was something that I will absolutely never forget. On the second day we were there, the village people (not the YMCA song folks) all gathered for a beshparmak which is a big feast they have for special occasions. These people have next to nothing compared to us and they are for the most part very happy people. They opened their homes/village to us and treated us like royalty. But this is the part that I will never forget. They brought a sheep out and slaughtered it right in front of us. I had never seen anything like it. It was difficult to watch but I couldn't keep my eyes off it. It was actually a spiritual moving event. The sheep didn't really fight being sacrificed. The worst part for me was when they were skinning it and preparing it for cooking. My friend Don had to help take out the organs and then my friend Audrey and I helped prepare the intestines. Yes, that's right. I had to touch and clean sheep intestines. It's probably one of the grossest things I have ever done. Actually the women had done the first few rounds of cleaning them so by the time we got them, they were fairly clean. But still- I was basically doing a colon cleansing of a sheep! The thought just grosses me out but I figured that I would take in as much of the experience as I could because I really don't think I'll ever be in that situation again! When it came time for the feast, Don had to eat the sheep's eye because he was the oldest person in our group. I had to eat the sheep's ear (and trust me, it does NOT taste like chicken!). Then they handed me a large portion of the sheep's rear-end for me to eat. (I'm not really sure of the cultural significance of that but I'm sure that we can all figure that out!) Oh and the "soup" we had to eat was basically sheep grease/juice. Man, that could possibly be the most disgusting meal I've ever had to eat but we did so as graciously as possible. To see these people giving us their best and going out of their way to welcome us, it just made sense to pretend like we were enjoying eating Dolly the sheep! I can totally cross that off my list of things to do in life!

Start digging!

I was always told that if I started digging a hole that I would eventually end up in China. But according to my globe, I'd actually end up in Kyrgyzstan. So instead of digging, I just flew over there! I was in Central Asia for two weeks and got home last night. I don't think words can describe what an awesome trip and incredible experience I've had over the past two weeks. I'm now home and trying to adjust my body clock back to EST! We were on a plane for over 24 hours yesterday and I was so happy to get off that plane! I'm also happy to be back because you can flush the toilet paper in America! And you can brush your teeth with tap water! And even better, I have internet access and my blackberry works again! (I know, I know... I actually went two weeks without e-mail!!! I broke down and went to an internet cafe one time but it was all in Russian so it was slightly frustrating!)

I'm really struggling with coming up with appropriate descriptions of my awesome time there! I think I could blog about it for years and years to come! But I won't try to fit it all in one blog-- you'd be reading for days and days! Let me stop for a second- basically you can break the trip into two parts: the first week we went to Issyk-Kul which is the big lake there. We spent time on a retreat/vacation with American friends who live throughout K-stan. Then the second week, we spent in Bishkek and for a couple of days in there, we stayed in a village for a couple of days. All in all, we got a full view of Kyrgyz life.

Without a doubt the most unique experience was being in the village! I have to say that the idea of staying in a village was a little disconcerting but it wasn't as bad as I thought and the whole experience stretched me. I kind of went into that part of the trip with the attitude that I was probably never going to be in this environment again and just to go with the flow! Speaking of flow- they didn't have a bathroom at the house we stayed at so we used the most disgusting-ever outhouse for two days! An it wasn't really what I thought of as an outhouse. It was a shed over a hole in the ground! But I survived only due to Charmin-to-go! (WARNING! There is a somewhat disgusting picture coming up!)




Anyway, onto lovelier topics... I had never really been in a situation where I couldn't communicate with words. I saw how important non-verbal skills are! There were two translators which made things a little bit easier. The head guy of the village brought over his donkey and asked me to ride it. So I did. I thought he was just not going to go anywhere because he's a donkey. But no, he was kind of galloping. And I was riding this donkey bareback. I really thought I was going to fall off and break a bone! Instead, I was just screaming the whole time and when I looked over, all of the village people were laughing hysterically. They said they hadn't laughed that hard in a really really long time. I'm glad I could do my part to bring some enjoyment to their lives!

Anyway, from time to time in the next couple of weeks, I'll share some more stories and I'll post some pictures from my trip. For now, I'm happy to be home and in my own bed. Today I plan on trying to go through the nearly 2000 e-mails I got while I was gone! Oh and I'll probably take a short nap! I'm trying not to have any jet lag and so far, I think I'll be just fine! It probably won't hit me for another few days!