Happy to be Back or Miss Being on Vacation?

The kids are most definitely the former, while I am decidedly the latter!

Just got back from our family vacation to Vietnam and it.was.freaking.amazing! I fell in love with Saigon from the moment we drove from the airport to our hotel, and my love affair has not abated. Saigon is one of the coolest cities I've been to in a very long time. Being there among the mix of old and new reminded me of why I fell in love with Asia in the first place. The neon lights and the smells of street food cooking in the hot summer night, the public parks (well maintained and brightly lit with lovely bushes trimmed into various animals and other objects) teeming with people enjoying their evening meals, taking a stroll, or doing some tai chi. The streets filled with motorbikes, taxis, and pedestrians, yet actual traffic jams are few because everyone follow the basic rules of the road. And the food. Oh the food! I gained 8 pounds in a week (no joke!) gorging myself on bread (Banh Mi is my new most favorite food ever!) and rice noodles (our guide delighted in taking us to local, off the beaten path places once he discovered our penchant for adventurous eating) like Pho Bo and Bun Bo Hue. And then, of course, there's the coffee. Even the shitty coffee in Vietnam is still pretty fucking good. The French influence in the food is astounding. A delicious mix of East meets West with a little cafe culture thrown in. It was so incredibly exhilarating. It was everything I had hoped Manila would be. I knew from the minute we touched down that this was a place I could live. So, yeah...I fucking loved it. :)

Besides just getting to hang out in Vietnam for 8 days, the other half of our vacation awesomeness was hanging out with my little sister and her husband and my little niece, L, who is about 1 1/2 now. It's always difficult vacationing with others, especially when you're doing it as an entire family, since everyone has their own needs and desires, but I think we managed ok. And I was thrilled to have the chance to hang with them a bit and really get to know my niece since we hardly ever get to see them thanks to our crazy lifestyles (we live in Asia, they live in Europe, and we all have family in the US that we also need to allot time and money to seeing), and I don't think we'll be seeing them again in person until Christmas 2014. So that was really, really great.

We started out our tour in Saigon for a few days, taking in the sights and sounds, and visiting the various war monuments and museums.* We even took the kids to a traditional Vietnamese water-puppet theater, which I was worried they might be bored with, but turned out to be highly entertaining. All of them were entranced! Then we left Saigon for a two day tour of the Mekong River. We cruised up the river stopping at various tourist-y sites (here's where the indigenous people make rice paper, here are some local fisherman making their daily catch, and here's a traditional song performance while we serve you hot tea in the sun with no aircon while it's 37 degrees out, etc. etc.). It was soul-suckingly hot, but everything we saw was interesting and I really felt no pressure to buy things (even though we did) as we left. We bought a crap ton of the coconut candy we saw being made (we got to try the fresh out of the pot stuff - it was soooo yummy!).

Then we stayed overnight in Can Tho and left very early the next morning to see the floating market where we had one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had ladled to us from the side of the boat by a floating mini-market dude. Crazy. We also crammed in a whole buncha Buddhist pagodas, although my sis and I were both surprised to find that most of these had been built within the last few hundred years. Not a lot of old stuff seems to be left in South Vietnam.

From Can Tho, we returned to Saigon for a day where our awesome guide, Alex, took us to a local joint in a different part of the city for Pho Bo. Hands down one of the best meals I've ever eaten! 

After that we were off to Mui Ne for a few days of beach relaxation, which we managed to turn into another marathon of activity by packing on the tours. First we went to the red sand dunes and fairy stream, which was a 2km hike through some truly gorgeous countryside. This was by far the kids' favorite tour. A got so dirty he practically blended in with the dunes, which made it difficult to pick him out when they went sand sledding! Bizarrely, this is also where the kids had the opportunity to ride an ostrich.** C's favorite part of the whole vacation? Getting to ride and then eat an ostrich all in one day.*** The Pu foodie genes run deep in that one!

Our second tour took us to an 8th century Hindu temple of the Champa people (the indigenous peoples of that region), which satisfied our need to see old stuff. I find the incredible mix of religions and cultures in Vietnam to be fascinating. Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity sit side by side, along with a good amount of old Chinese beliefs like ancestor worship. I never realized what a veritable mixing pot it is. We also saw local fisherman, a fish market, and a temple to the whale god with a 500yr old whale skeleton, along with other local markets in the area where we stopped to haggle over some rubies and jade.

To top it all off, the 4 girls all took a cooking class and learned how to make Pho Bo. It's a bit time intensive but actually pretty simple to make. It was really fun for the girls to make their own food and then slurp it down! Best of all? They videotaped the whole thing for a promotional tool for their hotel, so we'll get a copy when it's all done.

Our final day was spent traveling back to Saigon from Mui Ne where we said goodbye to my sis and her family (they were headed on to Hanoi for another week of holiday). We hooked back up with our old tour guide Alex, who took us back out for some intense market shopping (and a stop at a Hello Kitty store!) and a hearty meal of Bun Bo Hue, which I thought was even better than Pho Bo.

It says a lot about the Vietnamese people that Alex not only offered, but happily came along for our last few hours of tour. He did it solely out of the kindness of his heart and his desire to show us more of his city ( and his food - he's from the Hue region!). We tipped him anyway since it meant a lot to us, but this was just one of several things that struck me about the Vietnamese people. Everyone was so kind, and they love children (as in most Asian cultures). There was one restaurant in particular in Mui Ne where we stopped for dinner (fresh fish and scallops on the grill for sis & I!), J was upset about something and crying when we walked in. The elderly owner fussed over her for a while, fixing her hair into a traditional bun, showing her the restaurant's puppy, Lucky, who hung around under our table throughout the meal (much to J's delight), and even painting her nails! It just blew me away.







Anyway, since no one will ever read all the way through this anyway. I guess what it boils down to is, we had an awesome time and had to come home way too soon. I absolutely fell in love with Vietnam, and Saigon in particular. The vibrance, color, and culture of the city just sung to me in a way I haven't felt since the first time I went to China. I would live there in a heartbeat! Too bad Vietnamese is even harder to learn than Chinese!!

*Pu review: very depressing, and totally worth seeing, but naturally a bit one-sided. It's much like seeing WWII historical sites in Japan. 
** A: Nooooo, I don't want to. Get me off, get me off! *ten seconds later* THIS IS AWESOME!!!! Buy me an ostrich, mama!!!
***She also tried alligator among other local delicacies.

Hello, Konichiwa, Very Nice to Meet'cha

Spent all last week and some of this one in Okinawa, Japan. It was so, so great being back in Japan. Husband and I have long debated whether or not we'd be willing to bid on a Japan post sometime in the future, and this trip really drove home the point that, yes, we would fucking bid on Japan in a heartbeat!* Everything about Japan is pretty much awesome. The food, the cleanliness, the order, the polite yet distant people. Oh, and I didn't even get to vending machine hot coffee yet. Japan freaking rocks.

Anyway, I was actually there for work purposes since I somehow managed to score a sweet TDY to help out at the Consulate there. It was really cool to experience such an incredibly different environment - small Consulate vs. large Embassy. I got to do a little of everything, and I really felt like my presence made a difference, which I guess is to be expected in a post with just a handful of officers. Every one is needed! I also got to attend a citizenship ceremony**, which is one of the coolest things I've ever witnessed. As Consular officers we see people at the start of their journey towards citizenship. We see them through the craziness that is American immigration law and get them to the point where they can legally enter the U.S. as intending immigrants, but that's pretty much where our role ends. So it was super cool to see the swearing in of some 30+ new American citizens.*** Bonus - the key note speaker was a Marine Corps O-4 Fil-Am who achieved his citizenship through the military. Then they played "Proud to be an American" (natch), and I was pretty much a sloppy mess. God, I love that patriotic shit.

So after my week of work, Husband flew out and we made a long weekend of it by pretty much seeing everything the island of Okinawa has to offer, and then spending an entire paycheck at the BX (one of the benefits of still being part of the military!). The weather cooperated for the most part, and we managed to avoid getting rained on even during the periods of occasional downpour.

The Ocean Expo Park and Aquarium is interesting, and the grounds are lovely, but we thought it was overpriced considering the rest of the island is pretty cheap (compared with mainland Japan, that is). Plus, the main draw of the aquarium are their pair of whale sharks and, well, we've already seen those up close and personal. :)

My favorite part of our visit? The various off-the-beaten-path castles. What can I say? It's in the genes. Stuff that hasn't been restored yet is always more interesting to me.

My other favorite part? The Okinawa Peace Park and the Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters. World War II stuff is always interesting to me, and it's even more interesting to see it from a different cultural perspective. The Okinawans really got screwed - caught between the Japanese and the Americans. Seeing some of those pictures and reading the testimonials made me tear up. No one likes war, but I think it is important for all of us to be reminded of its consequences every so often.

We also just generally enjoyed the food and the ambiance (and the vending machines!) :)

*We're booked through at least 2016, so the point is moot for now.

**Where I was one of the guests of honor! No, seriously!! They even said my name and made me make a little wave.

**Plus, that oath they take? It is no fucking joke! All citizens should have to take that oath when they hit 18, IMHO.

Fitness Friday: Burn Out

Oh mah gah, haven't done a fitness Friday in foh-evah. I know, you're all devastated. Well, tough shit. I can't blog about worky work* so you're stuck with this. Still pretty fucking awesome, huh? 102 and kickin' ass. What's your excuse?

Ok, so I've actually toned it down a bit lately. After all the marathon training, I was sooooooo burnt out that I kinds just didn't want to do anything. I actually ended up gaining a few pounds following our race because I just didn't feel like getting my butt out of bed yet I was still eating like I was in training mode. Not a good combination! Anyway, I've kind of been muddling through the last couple of month just doing whatever I felt like, which mostly wasn't cardio (especially after my AF pt test - now I had nothing to motivate me to keep the cardio going!). So when I tried to do an old tried and true HIIT workout a few days ago and I just about died, it hit me that I need to get back on the cardio train. The heart is like any muscle - it needs to be trained appropriately in order to keep functioning at its peak.

So, how do you get back in the saddle again after a major burn out? For me it's all about shaking up my routine and getting out of my comfort zone. After much cajoling, I sucked it up and overcame my fear of being trapped under the water and took up scuba diving. Turns out that I'm pretty fucking good at it and the fear is nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. We've finished our pool classes, so now it's on to underwater dives. It doesn't seem like you're moving around the much when you're under the water like that, but I am ravenously hungry after our lessons, so I must be burning some pretty good calories. I also decided to take my on-land fitness back in an old, familiar, and much-loved direction by adding dance back into my regime. I managed to score a used set of Dream Body workouts from Fitness Fusion. I think in conjunction with my Buti classes, these are seriously going to kick me in the ass. I need a little funk in my fitness to keep me happy! Plus, these are the perfect workouts to keep me company while I galavant off on my mini-tour of SE Asia. First up? Japan. Konichiwa, bitches!

 *that just auto-corrected to wormy work, hah!

Don't Panic!

Still getting out of our comfort zone. Stay tuned for more video when we go for our first open water dive in April!
 

*Sorry, can't figure out how to flip the picture the right way up, so you'll just have to tilt your heads!

Adventuring

Well, I can definitely say that Husband and I are stepping it up in the getting out-of-the-house department. We spent a lovely evening out last night at the historic Manila Hotel with some friends from work. Our friend P did such a great write-up, that I'm just going to link to her post in hopes that it distracts you from my lazy-ass refusal to write my own synopsis. We've been on a foodie roll lately. The Champagne Room at the Manila Hotel had excellent service, good drinks (at least I thought the signature cocktail was pretty good, and we were impressed to see a 2006 Chilean wine on the menu considering this is the land of Yellow Tail). I enjoyed my main course, which was a mixed seafood grill over risotto (the rice was not great but certainly the closest thing I've had to real risotto in the Philippines, while the seafood was excellent). The only real disappointment for me was the foie gras starter, which originally emerged from the kitchen doused in some kind of sugared coating similar to the crust of a creme brûlée but even sweeter. It was so overpowering that I couldn't even taste the foie gras, so I sent it back. They asked if I would like it without the sweet toppings, and I agreed, so they ended up bringing me out a cold version that basically tasted like the canned foie gras that you can get at the market. All in all, most of the food came out a winner (the rest of our party seemed pretty pleased with their choices) and the ambiance and service were really nice, so I would recommend a stop at the Champagne Room. Too bad we didn't get a chance to see the MacArthur Room!

This morning we had quite the adventure trying to find the Philippines version of the DMV. In order to get a rental car for my TDY to Japan, I need to score myself an international drivers license. I'm got an American one and a Filipino one, but no international license for me. Apparently all that's required is filling up a form (that's right, filling up not filling out), paying a fee, and voila! international drivers license. Unfortunately, this simple process is made less simple by the fact that the DMV is hidden using some kind of invisibility spell and guarded by security who turn you away when you are hot on its trail. We spent a good two and a half hours driving around Manila on the hunt. We actually found it within the first half hour but were foiled by the security guard at the front desk who informed us that "this is just offices" and turned us away. Then we tried to locate the address on the actual form, which was on the other side of Manila, and it turned out to be the old address that the DMV had moved from some months or years ago (it was not clear given the dinginess and fading of the old sign we managed to find hanging above the brand new drug store that had taken its place). In spite of our relative failure (still no license), I was actually pretty proud of our navigation skills considering that we actually found both buildings.

We spent the rest of the day shopping (oh the money I dropped at S&R today) and doing some spring cleaning. So I am pretty much wiped out. We were supposed to meet up with some other friends of ours in the Fort for dinner at a tapas restaurant called Las Flores, but I was just too damn tired after our crazy day. Baby steps, people, baby steps. Tomorrow I think we'll hit the Legazpi Market early and then spend the rest of the day just relaxing in the pool. Summer is full on here now, and it is freakin' hot!

Travel Bug

So after not going anywhere for our 1st 6 months here, my travel schedule has exploded. Since the beginning of the year we've gone to Palawan and Donsol locally, and I did 2 weeks in Hawaii. Next month I'm headed on TDY to Japan, then we're going on family vacation with my little sister & her family in Vietnam. Then we're going to Baguio (for fun and not for work this time!) and Guam before we head back to Hawaii for our R&R in June. And that's just the first half of the year! It only took me three weeks to finally catch up on my e-mail after my trip to Hawaii, so I think I'll have a full time job just keeping on top of my e-mail.

In other news, Husband and I are battling back against the inertia of Manila. The traffic here is so, so bad that people tend to get entrenched in their neighborhoods. It's hard to make plans, play dates, or any kind of dates with other people because it requires actually leaving your house and facing the Manila roads. But, we've recognized that we're are sick and tired of being trapped, and the lack of human interaction is wearing us down. So this weekend Husband held a poker night and I went out for ladies night on the town (my girl T and I struggled to stay out past 1am, but whatevs!). Then on Sunday we had three other families over for a big cookout and swim fest. It was a lot of fun to spend the day just hanging out with people whose company we enjoy, and the kids swam their butts off. I think that pool saw more action in one day then its seen since we moved in! The bummer is that two of the three families, along with a few other good friends, are all getting ready to PCS this summer *sigh*. Such is life in the FS, as soon as you make friends one or the both of you are headed off to new adventures elsewhere. The good news is that you always have friends all over world!

Clean Air & Whale Sharks

Oh. My. God. Has it really been so long since I posted?? In a nutshell, went to Hawaii for 2 weeks to do my annual military training - so freaking awesome being back in the US where people follow traffic laws and you can breathe the clean air. Plus, cherries! Yum! I think I ate a few pounds while I was there. The cleaning ladies in my hotel room must have thought I had some kind of weird cherry pit fetish. My orders came super late (I mean they arrived on a Friday and I left of a Saturday kind of late), so I ended up in one of the downtown Waikiki mega hotels, which would have been great if I was there to relax, but was kind of annoying when you're commuting over to Pearl Harbor (about an hour each way, boo!). Still, an hour commute in Hawaii is still infinitely more pleasurable that being in the car for five minutes in Manila. Also, I learned that it takes approximately 3 days for your sinuses to stuff back up upon return to the Manila pollution - so I can't say I haven't learned anything here!

Besides the chance to go back to work I love (outside the politics, which is why I left it in the first place) and the chance to wear my uniform again, I was also able to tack on a few extra days to visit a very old and very dear friend who I hadn't seen in almost 15 years. M was one of my high school bff's and my roommate before I joined the military (in fact, we share matching tattoos!). I never imagined we would fall out of touch, but I suppose that's what happens when life intervenes. Anyway, I got to hang with her and her moms (who was like a 2nd mom to me - I can't count the number of times she stitched me up when I didn't have health insurance!) and M's son, who I had never met before. It was awesome.

Even better? Coming home to almost 1,000 emails! Okay, just kidding about that last part (the enjoyment that is, not the actual number, which was pretty damn close and I am still working my way through them all!). Actually, this last weekend was a long one for us federal workers, so we took advantage of the CLO* trip to Donsol where we swam with whale sharks in one of the most intense and awe inspiring experiences of my life. I knew this would be a trip I enjoyed, but I had no idea how much it would affect me. It was really a life changing experience to be so close to these incredible animals. On our first day, C and I were one of only two groups of swimmers to actually see a whale shark. Our guide took us out on the banka and as soon as they sight one they start screaming at you to JUMP! JUMP! JUMP! I slipped out of the boat and looked through my goggles - right in front of my face, not two feet away from me was the immense mouth of the biggest freaking thing I have ever seen.   The whale sharks, of course, do not give a crap that someone of people-size has suddenly dropped into their orbit, so he continued swimming along right underneath me. I was able to swim over top of him for a couple hundred yards just sort of hanging out in his shadow. And since no other boats were near us, it was just me and the whale shark. It was so exhilarating! Of course, once we got back to shore we found out that almost no one else had gotten to see one all day, which made me feel kind of guilty. However, the following day we were in the water no less than 10 times (9 sightings)! Everyone in our group got at least one good look at a whale shark, which made me feel a whole lot better after the disappointment of the previous day! Our friend R is an excellent underwater photographer and got some really amazing shots of our experience (which I have stolen off of his facebook and shared here because my photos look like ass**).

*Community Liaison Office
**In my defense, that shit is hard!

On Peeing

Received from school today:

"Unfortunately today at break time A made the decision to urinate in the garden near the Kindergarten corridor.  Another Kindergarten student from another class also did similar.  I have spoken to A about making wise choices and the inappropriateness of his actions."

My response: Oh.My.God. 
Husband's response: That's my boy!

*Also, let me say that this has never been an issue with the girls!

Loss

Mourning an amazing and complicated man (as so eloquently put by my lovely lil sis). To know something is coming for such a long time, it's surprising how much it still hurts. It's difficult being on the other side of the world and unable to support the people I love. Sometimes the expat life is hard.

Back from Vacay

Every time I go on vacation, I discover a new favorite place in the Philippines. Sabang Beach, Palawan was absolutely stunning. Sometimes the view literally took my breath away. Getting away from stinky, overcast, smoggy Manila is always rejuvenating. I was so looking forward to two weeks in Hawaii back in uniform to add to that feeling, but it's looking more and more like that's going to be delayed til who knows when. No orders yet, and I can't get plane tickets or hotel reservations until I have orders, so the likelihood of leaving on Saturday is pretty slim at this point. *sigh* Well, at least I have Donsol and its whale sharks to look forward to in Feb, and then we're headed to Vietnam with my little sis at the end of March (still debating Hanoi vs. Ho Chi Minh,* any opinions?). So things are looking up. Oh, and New England lost, which was awesome, hahahahhahaha! I'm pulling for crazy ass killah Ray Lewis to finally win a Super Bowl in his last game evah. What can I say, I've got a soft spot for hardened criminals. Double oh, and freaking hockey's back!! Watching the Sabres/Flyers game right now on NHL Game Center. Thank god for technology. What did people do before the internet?? I was alive long before the internet, and I can't even remember!

So much else to blog about, I really need to get that Dragon whatever software that translates talk to text. But, I hear the Mac version sucks ass, so I've held off because it's kind of expensive and I am kind of cheap. I realized when looking back to see what I had actually blogged about in the last month (sorry for the slim pickins, ya'll) that I haven't posted a recipe in freaking ages. So here's what I made for dinner tonight both because it is super fast and delicious and because I am feeling guilty for imbibing an average of 4 banana daiquiris per day for the last 4 days.**

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

1lb ground turkey
Romaine lettuce leaves
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
3 shallots, minced (or 1/2 onion if you happen to live somewhere where it's not easy to get shallots!)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 tbsp lime juice
black pepper
salt to taste

Use a little oil of choice (I used coconut oil) to fry up the onion over med-high heat for about 2-3 min - just until it turns translucent. Add in the pepper strips and garlic and continue to stir fry for about 1-2 more min (don't burn the garlic!). Remove the veggie mixture and add just a touch more oil to the pan to fry the ground turkey. Cook the turkey for about 5 min or until browned then add the veggie mixture back to the pan. Add in the fish sauce and the rest of the ingredients and cook until mixed through. Then simply put some turkey mixture into a lettuce leaf and voila: Turkey Lettuce Wrap!

Okay, and here's some Sabang pics, too:

Got to add a comment to this one. This is what's known as a woodworm. It's actually a mollusk not a worm, and C ate one. Raw. This one, actually. With vinegar on a plate when we got from our Mangrove tour. Someone book this kid on Fear Factor, stat!

*Hanoi sounds more interesting, but Ho Chi Minh is cheaper to fly into.
**We stayed at the Daluyan Resort where the food was horrendous, but the banana daiquiris were the fucking bomb...except for when they ran out of fucking bananas, not once but twice...in the Philippines. 

99 Problems

Okay, so even after declaring a do-over, 2013 continues to suck my ass. I'm not sure what I did to piss it off, but clearly the end of the year must have something awesome in store for me because I cannot imagine that bad luck can follow me around this long. Between the constant construction next door (and the staring construction workers it brings), the feral cats engaging in kitty gang bang all night long, crazy karaoke neighbors who think I have no Christmas spirit*, kids puking and diarrhea pooping, and my helper borrowing 13K PhP to go home to the province the first week the kids are back in school (oh, and then not coming home on time, hahahahaha), the joke is seriously on fucking me. Now I can't get my orders cut to go do my military duty in Hawaii in two weeks because I can't update my records to reflect my new home in the Philippines (currently I can get tickets from VA to HI but not form the Philippines!) thanks to the military's lack of computer know how.** Agghhhhh!!!!! I am about to give up on 2013 and just go hibernate. Someone wake me when 2014 gets here.

*news flash, mother fuckers, Christmas ends after Dec 25th!

**everything is set to work with IE or Netscape (does anyone actually use Netscape anymore?) - but I can't use IE past version 5.something because I use a fucking Mac, so all I get are error messages. 

Gender Differences

Example Boy Pretend Play:
A: *picks up random object* This is a gun. POW POW! Mama you dead!

Example Girl Pretend Play:
J: Okay, Mommy. Pretend I am a dog, a baby dog, the cutest baby dog you have ever seen. And I am a German Shepherd mixed with Golden Retriever mixed with Dalmatian mixed with Chihuahua baby. And I got lost and then you saw me. Mooooommmmmy. Are you paying attention? Okay, I'm a baby puppy who is part German Shepherd mixed with Golden Retriever mixed with Dalmatian mixed with Chihuahua, and I got lost. And then you saw me swimming over there in the middle of the pool, and you said, 'Oh, what a cute baby puppy who is lost over there.' And then you wanted me to come over and be a part of your family so we can bake cookies together. Mommy? Mommy? Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mooooommmmmmy. Are you paying attention?

Happy New Year

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and I thought it was very apropos considering how life has been going lately:

December 32-38th was the fuckin' pits. Happy to be starting a new year tomorrow. Happy 2013 everybody!

Fitness Friday: A Little Calm for Your New Year

So just in case none of us die tonight in a horrible, fiery end of the world inferno, I invite you all to commit to a new year of yoga with me in 2013! While I'm committing to another 108 days of the Ultimate Yogi come Jan 1, there are plenty of other awesome yoga teachers to check out if UY just ain't your style. There are so many styles and schools of yoga, that it can be hard to figure out what type of yoga is the best fit for you, which is why the American Yoga Association is such an awesome resource. They have information on where to start, how to find the right teacher, as well as other bennies like vegetarian recipes! There are so many amazing benefits to making yoga a part of your life, and what better time to start than after we've all dodged the end of the world!?

In other fitness news, some like-minded co-workers and I are putting together an Embassy wellness program proposal to help make health and wellness a priority for all of our staff. We're working with HR and MED to put together a comprehensive program that addresses physical fitness, stress management, nutrition, and other aspects of holistic wellness. Even better, there's an element of measurability so we can track progress and hopefully provide tangible evidence that a comprehensive work wellness program can have an impact on the overall health an well being of an Embassy. Now that would be a pretty cool cable to write! :)

Call Us, Maybe?

It may not be the most polished of videos, but our team is pretty freaking awesome! Wish I hadn't been on ACS Outreach when they were filming :(

Sometimes the Cuteness Just Kills You

My Out of Sync Child

So it's been a while since I last posted about our journey with A. He continues to receive speech therapy through the school (which is totally awesome, I am super impressed with the services we received at the International School here - way better than anything we got in the States!). They even offered up a return to OT when it was written out of his last IEP. Unheard of in the US public school system where it takes an act of God to adjust a child's IEP. He also receives additional out-of-school therapy thanks to the Special Needs Education Allowance (SNEA) we receive through the FS. This allows us to supplement what he gets in school without having to hassle with insurance that might not cover therapy received at an overseas location.

We are really lucky in so very many ways. A has a diagnosis, he gets plenty of therapy from appropriate sources, he has a loving family that stays engaged with his therapy team, and he goes to a top notch school. And, yet, there are still so many things that can't really be addressed through his current therapies. His proprioceptive behaviors, his inability to relate to other children his age, his complete obliviousness to the world around him.

I came across this the other night, and it made me cry. It really sums up a lot of my feelings about our situation. Except that in our case, A is the youngest child so I am constantly, painfully aware of how different things are. Normally it is not really an issue, A is a happy and loving little boy, and I feel so much joy to be a part of his little world. But sometimes those differences just up and smack you in the face, and I am often not prepared for how hard they hit. I joked about A's behavior at his school concert the other day, but in reality I was heart-broken to see how completely oblivious he was to what was going on around him. As we followed his class out of the auditorium to say our goodbyes and take pictures, I watched as he tried to engage with another little boy in his class who looked at him with such disdain in his eyes. A was completely, blissfully unaware. It made my heart ache. Sometimes the hardest part of parenting is accepting that you have so little control. I just didn't think I would have to face that so soon.

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I like you because you give us presents and bring us a lot of gifts that we want. I hope that you give me a special pillow pet that could have doggies inside of it. And I like pokemons. I was good all day. You are crazy. Just kidding. You're nice. Bring everything I want...please.

I like you because you are nice to us. I hope you send a letter to us but don't tell me to be nice to my brother because I don't want to. When I was in school I just noticed that I had a loose tooth, and now it is really wiggly. I always wiggle it when I wake up. We have been very good. We eat at the right time, and I help people in my classroom. When you come here we will give you milk and cookies...if you bring us presents.

...oh, and please bring something for the kids...or they'll steal my shit. Thanks.

Love,
Pu (and helpers)

Happy Hanukkah, Bitches!

I know it's a little early for Hanukkah cheer, but since I know I won't remember on the 8th, here ya go: