New Quito Pics--Marine ball and more

Here's a few pics from the past week. We went to the Marine Ball on Saturday to celebrate the 234th Birthday of the Marine Corps. It's an Embassy tradition as the Marines guard the mission and make sure we're safe. I wasn't feeling great as I was starting a bout of South American belly, but we had a good time.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

Presentation of the cake

Presentation of the colors

For Mom, who hasn't seen me pregnant yet! All dressed and ready to go!

Cocktail hour at Eric's house. Cheers!

View from Tristan's flight to Guayaquil--Volcano Pinchincha

Not a bad view from our room: Cotopaxi.

Washing the vegetables after Friday shopping at the veggie market.

First thoughts, Ecuador

Over ten years ago when I was promoting Illinois Programs Abroad in Ecuador, I never thought I would actually live here. I had merely hoped to visit Quito and see what the city had to offer. Back then, it was a great place to send students on study abroad--fairly safe for a major South American city, good language instruction and universities, and a unique city and country that was easy to travel in.


Here I am over 10 years later taking in all Ecuador has to offer. We've been here almost three weeks and so far I think we're going to like living here. While it's not as safe as it once was, taxis are cheap and we're extra careful at night. Walking around during the daytime seems ok but street crime is much higher than Russia where organized crime was the issue.

The food is fabulous and we've enjoyed eating out and sampling the local fruits and vegetables. Tristan has found a new favorite in the local specialty of seviche which I hope to sample post baby.

Our first few weeks have focused on house hunting. Quito is different from other Foreign Service posts in that we have to find our own housing. Most folks take about a month of searching before they find something that suites their family needs. We've gotten lucky (or are a little less picky) and found a house halfway between where we are now and the Embassy that we submitted for inspection today. The process is fairly daunting overall. We're given a list of agents from the embassy, some of whom speak English and some don't. Then we go out and see what is available. I've posted some pics from our house hunt which was quite amusing. I saw about 15 properties--condos and houses. We're avoiding the compound areas since we're not big fans of gated communities. After being wooed by some condos with amazing views, we both realized after 4 years in apartments that we really missed living in a house and having a garden. We're keeping our fingers crossed that everything moves forward easily. As a family of 2, we're allotted 119M2 and an ample budget for Quito. The challenge here is that often what you can get within the expat price range is out of our size range and the housing board rejects it. Since we'll soon be a family of 3, we move up to 174 m2 (1873 ft2) so we have a little more room to work with and the housing board has been receptive to that appeal in the past. (The evidence grows everyday in my belly!) The embassy also checks for safety/security issues--all first floor windows have to have metal grates and the house must have a good wall around it.

What else have I been up to--wrapping up a little work that has been lingering during the day. I've also found a Spanish teacher within walking distance of the hotel. The school has a funny name--Banana Language School--but the teachers seem nice and patient and at $5 per hour Spanish lessons are a great deal. Sunday we went to the Cultural Museum about 10 blocks from the hotel and looked at artwork spanning the last 3500 years in Ecuador. Styles changed drastically as the Incas and Spanish entered the picture. Worth an afternoon visit. Otherwise the weekend was very quiet as Monday and Tuesday were national holidays and those who could left town.

I've got a month left until I leave on Maternity Medivac. We were hoping to get settled in our permanent housing before I left but the Russian movers put our HHE in an uncertified crate (I don't know what that means exactly) and it got to Miami where Transportation said it had to be repacked. It missed the boat that left on Halloween so I probably won't see it until I'm back in March with the little one.

Happy Día de los Desfuntos!

Quito Market

One of the great things about travelling is visiting local markets and tasting what is fresh and local. Ecuador is really fascinating because it has three distinct climates and can grow just about all fruits and vegetables. Coastal, mountains and jungle. I've been feasting on fresh tropical fruits and luckily there's a fruit and vegetable market every Friday just across the street from our hotel. Here's a couple pics--I spent about $7.50USD and walked away with a couple bags of goodies. The next week I spent close to $10 and it was almost too heavy to carry. Apparently, this market is a little more expensive due to location and more organics available but I haven't actually tested the reliability of the organic claim. I used to spend $50+ at the Arlington Farmers' Market so this is heaven!

3 small pineapples, Granadillas, apples, peppers, 5 mangos and sunflowers.

View of the market from my window.

The views in this city are amazing!

First pics of Quito

Here's a few pics from our house hunting expeditions in Quito. I think in the end I looked at about 12-15 condos or houses. We're putting in for an inspection on the first house this week so fingers crossed everything continues to moved forward smoothly!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2504037&id=10734476&l=2c195f8696

Yekat Ice Sculpture Festival--January 2009

I think I posted these to FB but didn't put them up on the blog. I walked from our apartment up to the main square where the annual Ice Festival was in full swing. It's a Siberian tradition with artists coming from across the region to celebrate the winter. It was -8F and I lasted about 2 hours outside with several layers on to keep me warm. The festival theme was China to honor the Shanghai Summit which happened this summit in Yekat.

As much as I wasn't a fan of our time in Russia, this is one of the cool things about living there.

Kyrgyzstan 2007

I can't believe it's already been two years since we took this amazing trip to Kyrgyzstan to visit our FIUTS Friendship Connection, Timur. We are so grateful to Timur and his family for their incredible hospitality. It truly was an amazing trip and they were incredibly gracious hosts. We will remember it as a trip of a lifetime.

Grand Canyon--Home Leave 2009

Moscow street musicians

Well, our days are numbered in Russia and we are bidding farewell to friends, colleagues and our home for the past two years. In the coming days, I'll be posting bits and pieces that I have failed to do over the past two years, either due to crappy internet connections or my own laziness.

Here's a short video clip from these guys who used to sing in the perehod, underground walkway, near my apartment in Moscow.

New First Family

A Portrait of Change
New York Times
January 21, 2009
Nation’s Many Faces in Extended First Family



By JODI KANTOR
Published: January 21, 2009
The new president was sworn in while surrounded by a clan that redrew the image of the first family.

Yekaterinburg Ice Sculpture Festival

Yesterday was a beautiful day to see the annual Ice Sculpture Festival on the main square. This is one of the best parts about living in Siberia/Urals. I lasted about 2 hours in the cold; it was -7C or 19F. Click on the slide show to see larger versions of the pictures.

Obama Names Disciples of Christ GMP Watkins to lead National Prayer Breakfast!

I'm so proud of Sharon and the Disciples of Christ and take some pride in being part of the search committee that selected her!

U.S. / Politics
Obama Names Minister to Lead Prayer Service

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: January 11, 2009
Barack Obama has selected the Rev. Sharon E. Watkins to deliver the sermon at the national prayer service that is held the day after the inauguration.

Ms. Watkins, the first woman ever selected to lead the service, is the president and general minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a small, liberal-leaning Protestant denomination with 3,754 congregations and about 690,000 members in the United States and Canada. Ms. Watkins was elected to the post in 2005, the first woman ever chosen to lead a mainline Protestant denomination.