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lucia

i've been wanting to get a dog since last year but put it off knowing i was coming to russia.  i didn't want the dog to have to endure the trama of going through quarentine and the like.  but now that i'm settled in vlad, the time was right.  a friend at work put me in touch with someone that had discovered a new litter of puppies.  i say discovered because the mom was a stray and the puppies were now at the mercy of living on the streets.  knowing i could give one a home, i immediately said yes.  no sooner than i agreed were the wheels put in motion.  within a couple days i left with my friend to meet her friend that knew the girl with the puppies.  there were only 3 puppies left and i thought i was going to pick one of them up.  but it turned out she picked me out instead.  when i got in my friends car, she immediately informed me that to save time we were going to meet her friend at a bus stop.  her friend had picked out the one she thought was the most "communicative".  i knew this wasn't the ideal way to bring a new dog into a home, but i decided to let fate take control and go along with it.  i had committed to taking one in and i wasn't going to go back on my word.  we met the girl at the bus stop who had my new puppy.  it was wrapped in a blanket and covered up.  i finally got a peek at her as i was standing there next to the car.  she was a scared little pup. i remember that the most.  the girl handed her over to me and thanked us. she asked what i was going to call her. and i said i hadn't decided yet. they had been calling her lucia, which after a couple days i finally decided it sounds fitting. 

after the first night of bringing lucia home, it started raining.  it didn't stop for 2 days.  this has made house breaking her a little difficult.  but otherwise she has been very happy and content to explore my house and sleep when the mood strikes her.  but picking up a stray also brings with it problems, namely parasites.  i wasn't fully prepared for both the internal and external critters she brought with her.  so now i'm on the fast track to getting her to a vet.  the number one problem right now is worms.  i discovered them today and it isn't pretty as you can imagine.  the first thing i noticed was her lack of diet after the first day of eating all her puppy food.  so tomorrow i'm going to try and get her to a vet for an entire workup.  fleas and lice are also being dealt with with several baths, but i'm going to need some stronger remedies from the vet to make sure i kill them off right.

hopefully, i can catch all this in time.  with all the strays i see running around here, it's frustating to think what they must be carrying and transferring to each other.  wish me luck.

brats, burgers and the boss

the small group of american foreign service officers and families in vladivostok, celebrated the fourth of july yesterday in true fashion.  although no one had any fireworks, i noticed later on that evening, some one in our neighborhood fired off several displays of pyrotechnics.  as it usually happens one of our staff decided to host the party and put the call out for everyone to bring some pot luck to the little gathering.  we held it on a large patio next to the townhouses, which worked out well,  since the weather was taking a break from its typical rainy day forecast.  bruce springsteen was slipped into a boombox and patio furniture was consolidated while the cooks started up the grills.  i brought out some coronas, tostitos and salsa, i know its not typical american holiday cuisine but no one seemed to mind.  by the time everyone arrived, the brats, hamburgers, and chicken were ready to take off the grill.  potato salad even made an appearance, which fit in nicely to the theme. i almost forgot to bring out a couple batches of homemade ice cream after lunch.  the oatmeal raisin cookies k brought went nicely with it. as the afternoon slipped by, the last residents of the townhomes decided to finish the night up with some poker.  i held off on going bust and even made a semi-valiant comeback into the plus.  by the time we split up for the night it was already saturday morning.   

these boots are made for walking

before coming to russia, i had heard women's footwear tends to be of the high heel variety. now that i'm here and see it first hand, i have to agree. i was amazed at how they can walk in them through snow, ice and rain. i almost fell over once just wearing my dress shoes when i slipped on an icy curb. anyway, my hats off to them.

i've almost finished my packing for my trip home. i'm giving myself a couple days extra to remember anything i might have overlooked. i'm excited to pack for a 100% casual trip. usually i have to include attire for training or work. so this time they'll be plenty of extra space in my bags to for stuff i'll buy back in the states.

another busy weekend ahead. i'm meeting a friend for coffee today and also getting together with an american friend that's going to be leaving russia by the time i return from holiday. sunday has been set aside for giving a visiting coworker a tour of the city in the afternoon. i still have a few little side trips to the store i'd like to fit in sometime. before i know it i'll be on a plane again.

thank god it's пятница

i'm looking forward to my first free weekend in a while.  i plan to use it wisely by shopping, sight seeing and doing some photography.  since i arrived last october, my shopping has consisted of buying groceries and occasionally on-line purchases.  guilt has over taken me a bit, since i promised friends a few local items from the far east.  And there's my dad, who would like a hat for his collection.  i've found a few department stores that i've been meaning to explore.  unfortunately, they'll also be a bit of sticker shock associated with it, especially when it comes to electronics.  even though i've gone out with friends to see the city, i've never had a chance, since my first week, to really walk around and not be on a time schedule. so hopefully you'll be seeing more of vladivostok through my eyes as i get more photos loaded.

unfortunately, with free time also comes mandatory time.  i still need to do my taxes for the year even though i'm working and leaving abroad.

i bought an electronic dictionary / phrasebook recently.  i still enjoy using my paperbacks that i acquired prior to coming here.  but there's something to be said for a dictionary that comes with a back-light, like when you're trying to find a word at night in a dark club or restaurant.

some friends have also loaned me a few russian movies and cds that i haven't had time to play. i'm not sure if i'll like any of the russian bands since i've heard a few already.  some of the russians i've talked to, give me a cringe when i mention the groups i've heard.  there are a few bands that come up frequently that seem to have a big following in vlad.  most of them seem to be from the classic rock era like; nazareth, queen, ac/dc, scorpians, etc.  it's quite the change from what's on my ipod at the moment.

happy birthday leapies

sorry bout the presents...

archive move from "couponthemovie.com" completed

it's taken over a month but i've finally finished moving all the archives from the old blog to this one.

with the move to russia this fall, i'm looking into purchasing a vehicle more suited to rougher roads and inclement weather.  more on that later.

most places the foreign service takes a person have food that is easily obtainable, but some rate shipping what are called consumables (groceries and hard to find items) to make life a little easier. fortunately, vlad is one of those. i've been told most anything i want can be found there, but sometimes i crave food that reminds me of life back in the states.  so i'm going through a massive grocery list to check off what i predict i'll eat in one year.  and you thought buying enough food for a month is hard. not only do you have to keep expiration dates in mind, but you have to buy in bulk.  most quantities available are in lots of 12 / 24 / 48.  so you have to decide if you really want to eat twenty four 18oz containers of quaker oatmeal along with sixteen boxes of 14oz lucky charms. and how much olive oil can a person consume in a year. when i did my tour in africa, i really didn't ship enough of a mix. i ended up vowing never to touch some of that food ever again. sadly, oreos were  a casuality in that tour. 

another factor in the fall move will be a change of wardrobe. up to now i've stocked my closets with summer and fall attire.  all my winter clothes died a slow death and ended up at goodwill, salvation army or st. vics.

last week, i completed watching an eight dvd documentary on the russian empire. it gave me a good refresher on russia's history starting in 1721 to the overthrow of the monarchy in 1917.  i never thought to look as i queued it up in netflix, but when the first volumes arrived, i discovered it was all in russian with english subtitles. normally not a problem, but the content in each was enough to be distracted away from the text to watch the narrator as he literally led his audience through many of the russian locations and sites. if anything it forced me to listen to russian more.

they all scream...

these are the usual suspects, most of them by themselves is enough to make a calorie watcher run for the nearest self-help book.  when all are placed together, the end result is definitely evil..  as evil as homemade ice cream.

my plan was simple, make ice cream and bring it to work.  a couple of flavors to start with, chocolate and vanilla. nothing wrong with that. 

that was last week.  now i'm approaching pusher status with co-workers catching me in the hallway.  their queries, range from, "when's the next batch?", "i hear you're the guy...", and "can you make (insert flavor here)?"

now the word has reached the captial of canberra, a few hours outside of sydney.  email and text messaging are my publicists.  today-new south wales, tomorrow-australia.

now it's istanbul, not constantinople

hands, originally uploaded by nomadically.

this afternoon i went with some friends to a housewarming/birthday party. being the only yank in the room will come up occasionally, but it's not as noticeable in australia as it is in other parts of the world. when it does, you get the warm up questions, like "where are you from in the states?", "how long are you here?" and "where are you going next?" when the waters have been tested, then the harder questions start like; "isn't the war a bit of a mess?" and "what doya think about Bush?". I'm the first one to admit I have no right to use a casual party as a forum for events that I'm not an active participant in. I'm an american that has the right to vote and base their opinions on information we gather just like every other citizen of the u.s. that still doesn't make me an expert in what should or shouldn't be done during a war. does that sound like i'm taking the easier way out? read on.

that being said, i've been anti-war all my life. but the need for each country to protect itself is self-evident since the time of man began and territories were delineated. i may be against war but i'm also a realist. i guess my involvement in diplomacy is my contribution to that ideal.

diplomacy is about bridging the communication gap with foreign governments to ensure military conflict is never considered. the u.s. department of state seal is a simple reminder of this with the side profile of an eagle whose eyes are looking upon the olive branch it's holding in one talon and not the arrows in the other. a theory that is often difficult to maintain if other measures are prematurely sought.

"the history of a war is always written by the victors" (paraphrasing W. Churchhill), but if enough time passes you're able to look back and see the who, what, where, how and why's that were really involved. i'd say that's where my fascination in conflicts comes from, not the fighting itself , but what caused it. and is history ultimately repeating itself? do we forget what previous generations have already learned for us? or do we doom ourselves to the endless cycle of fighting for reasons not often clear until the dust settles. and will those current reasons differ from what historians will ultimately document when we have gone?

i like to believe my job is to remind us of where we've been to avoid that, maybe then the historians have something new to write about.

france 0 mexico/usa 1

may 5th, 1862 - 4500 mexicans defeated napoleon's army of 6500 at puebla, mexico, just 100mi east of mexico city.

cinco de mayo is the celebration of this event. many mistakenly believe this is considered mexico's independance day, when in fact mexico claimed independance on sept 15, 1810.

since hearing of this, I wondered why the u.s. was celebrating another country's holiday.  here's the answer and a little history lesson.

1861/62 - french, english, and spanish troops arrived in mexico to settle debts from previous war support, with the newly elected democratic government. but once mexico refused further payments to france, the call to invade was given. as long as the u.s. was in the throes of it's own civil war, napoleon's army believed they could crush the mexican army with an major attack on mexico city with no interference from the neighbor to the north.

but the mexican army was able to repel the attack beyond mexico city, building successfully on a costly mistake by the french in their initial advance. for the french tried to stop the mexican cavalry (considered the best in the world) from attacking their flanks instead of concentrating on the defenders themselves. unfortunately, napoleon was able to send more troops during the following year and eventually france took over the capital and placed archduke maximilian as its ruler.

with their heavy losses, france was unable to recover fast enough to resupply the confederates fighting the union soldiers in the u.s. civil war.  by 1867, the union army had defeated the confederates, and had come to the aid of the mexicans in the now french-ruled capital. The french were then finally overthrown and the capital returned to the mexican people.

so that's why may 5th is remember by both.  a time where each of its country's armies fought shoulder to shoulder for liberty and freedom. who knows if france, in taking mexico, would have continued into the u.s. but until that time, napoleon's army had reigned supreme for 50 years.

Viva! Cinco de Mayo ..and yes, today i celebrated with american friends by eating (and drinking) traditional homemade mexican cuisine.