Kate Update

Kate is settling in to her new home. She worked at the Special Education Center for a about a week before they started their month-long vacation. This has given her some time to explore the neighboring towns and buy items for her household. Plus get her house hooked up to THE INTERNET!!! Yahooey! She has a very slow connection, so she usually just emails. Somehow she managed to upload some pictures the other day. I like to see them so I can "see" her living conditions.

Her house from the front. The right door leads to the formal sitting room (separate from the house to avoid mixing genders). The door on the left leads to her house.

She had to purchase her bed, rug and heating sources (gas heater, electric heater). That took up the bulk of her housing budget.

Some village women have helped her make curtains for her windows, and she has since purchased a desk and wardrobe to add to her room. It seems a little lonely, yes?

This is her kitchen. Note the faucet up high on the wall! The sink is quite shallow, so I guess the faucet is up high so a pot could be fit under it? She has a little fridge, big enough for one vegetarian person!

At least I know she's eating healthy! I keep sending her candy treats and ramen noodles so she won't miss dorm life too much!

Here is the view from her house.

And a blanket for her bed....she says, "That's right, folks, 100% Vergin Acrylic. No recycled fibers here!"

The villagers are very protective of her, as they are of all unmarried women. She is not allowed to walk to the village market alone. She spends her time "visiting", which may last anywhere from 4-14 hours long! "Visiting" is the main past time in Jordan. It usually involves a meal (or three), so she has not had to cook very much!

We miss her, but, as she says, it's only 23 1/2 more months.....

On Her Own...

Yesterday Hannah had her 6 month check-up at our family dentist. She did fine, as usual (we spent several years brainwashing her when she was little, so she really likes the dentist now). The dentist did find a cavity though. Hannah has deep fissures in her back teeth, and they are perfect places for cavities to grow. All of her molars have sealants, but her bicuspids don't. This cavity was in her right top bicuspid.

On our way home we talked about what a cavity is, how it grows and how to remove it. I told her about the shot, and the noises she'd hear from the tools the doctor would use, and how they'd feel in her mouth.

So this morning we went back for the filling (and getting sealants on her 12-year molars). We were in the waiting room for a bit, then the assistant came to get Hannah. I have always gone with her in the past, but lately I've given her the option of going alone. Today she decided to go by herself!

I sat in the waiting room eavesdropping (it's a small office). I heard her chatting about Narnia, so I knew she was comfortable (I've been reading The Magician's Nephew to her). Then all was quiet. So I went to take a peek. She was just getting her shot. I couldn't see her head, but her hands were relaxed and calm (I always have white knuckles when I get dental shots or drilling). She remained calm through the entire procedure! The staff could barely believe it (me too!). She came out happy, without any stress at all.

My favorite part was when we were driving home. She was being silly--her mouth felt funny from the numbing medicine. She said, "Hey! DumDum! Give me some Numb Numb!!!" (If you've never seen the movie Night at the Museum, this won't make sense.)

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Soon after we got home, Kate called from Jordan! Yay! She was traveling near Petra over the weekend, so she couldn't call until today. She sounded great! She is tiring of pita and hummus. And she will be switching host families. Her new family does not have hot water...hmmm. We'll see how that works out! But she only has a month left of training.

Tomorrow her group will be meeting the US Ambassador. She is excited about that. I told her that if the Ambassador isn't prompt enough she should say, "If this is a consular building, then WHERE is the Ambassador???" (a la Star Wars).

She feels like she's been away for six months, but it's been just less than a month!

She has had the opportunity to meet with other Peace Corps Volunteers who have been in Jordan for a year or more. This weekend she went to visit a volunteer who helps young adult women with disabilities with job training. They are sewing and knitting. Kate commissioned a knitted hat for Hannah, made by a woman with Down syndrome!

Last week she got to go to a field day to meet some students in another area of Jordan--she was happy to be with her peeps!

I'm sure once she gets through her training she is going to have so much fun with her students!

Odds and Evens Ends.

Even though all this stuff is WAY past due, here are some odds and ends that I think will fall through the cracks if I don't get it posted soon. So be prepared for a non sequitur post!

1. Hannah (and I) have been thoroughly enjoying her new Girl Scout Troop. There are about 6 or 7 girls in the Juniors, a couple of Cadettes and 4 Brownies. I primarily work with the Brownies (no, I am not a leader, I just pretend I am one, yet, I have no responsibility, which keeps me very happy!). By keeping myself busy with the younger girls, I am out of Hannah's way, but still available to lend a hand if necessary. Hannah is doing well, starting to make friends. All the Juniors have jobs in running the troop, and Hannah is the Troop Photographer. It's a job she loves and takes very seriously. So far the girls have earned 2 badges and 1 activity patch. Which is three times as much as she earned in 6 months at the old troop.

Last week there was a Halloween party, that was actually hosted by her previous troop (uh-oh!). It was half-(insert past-tense expletive here=derriere), as I was expecting. Most of the girls who attended from our troop were disappointed, but Hannah thought it was great! Of course, she had never been to a Halloween party before. They had a cupcake walk, played musical chairs, had a "fortune teller" and a couple of other games. Here's Hannah on the cupcake walk gallop.
She was concentrating pretty hard!

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2. Kate called last week, and emailed briefly today. She is staying with a family in a town. The family has 5 children, ages 18 months-13 years. The oldest three are girls, then the little ones are boys. The family is pretty well off as things go in Jordan. Kate is enjoying the homemade food much more than the "dorm" food she had earlier. She says that her host mother literally shoves food into Kate's mouth. I guess they think she is too thin....but how can they tell if she's wearing all those loose clothes? Water is a problem. The family receives delivery of water once a week and they have to ration it to last. That means there are showers only on the day of delivery. That's taking some adjustment on Kate's part! To use the internet she has to take a 20 minute bus ride to get to an internet cafe. They don't have wireless, so she has to use the cafe computers. Hence, no pictures until she can use her own computer.

Kate has 6 hours of language and culture lessons every day (maybe Saturday off? I haven't figured out which is the day of rest). Two of the days she travels to a larger town to have classes with the entire Peace Corps class (42 volunteers total, but only 6 in her smaller town). She is surprised how much she is enjoying not having to deal with men! She says it makes things much easier! (May I now put in a plug for single gender colleges? I went to a women's college and not only was it great fun (plenty of male visitors on the weekends), but it was a very nurturing environment. I even met James there!)

3. Chris is doing well at school. I know he's working hard because he usually is in the library when I call him! His friends gave him a surprise party at midnight. Which was good, since his cafeteria birthday pie arrived a day late and his gift from us was nearly a week late! We are ready to have him home for Thanksgiving--it's getting a little quiet around here!

4.Hannah has been doing some cooking and she wants to add a "Cookin' with Nan" feature on the blog. I have plenty of footage, I just haven't had time or energy to sort through it!

5. Hannah had her last soccer session today. I couldn't find her warm-up jacket, so I looked around for a sweatshirt. I found one of Kate's, and hoped it would do. Sure enough, it perfectly fits Hannah. James and I were remarking about it, and then I realized that the girls are definitely shaped differently, but they are only 7 pounds apart.

6. Swimming lessons are going full speed ahead. Hannah is a "sinker", but she's finally getting the hang of the backstroke. That left arm isn't behaving quite as well as the right, but she's moving, and not sinking!

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7. The day Kate left for Jordan we had tickets to...

Disney on Ice! Hannah invited "Sheena-my-partner-from-dance". The three of us had a great time. I was surprised that I actually liked the show! Sheena kept saying she felt like she was 7 years old again! It was lots of fun, and great to see the two of them together again. (You might recall Sheena from Hannah's dance performance here.)

And there you have it. More than you wanted or needed. And, if you can believe it, I deleted two other items, to save you from incessant Hannah-ing.

Peace Corps: Intro to Amman, Jordan

I got to speak with Kate briefly today! The connection was terrible, but we did manage a few sentences before giving up. But, I had a treat on Facebook this evening--she was able to download some pictures from the past couple of days!

Kate has been in Amman since Saturday and will be leaving tomorrow for Mafraq. The PC group took a short tour of the ancient ruins surrounding Amman. (No hijab required in Amman.)

Amman

Mosque in the background

I guess they like satellite dishes!

Ruins of a Roman Amphitheater

My Favorite!

I can tell that she's having a good time (so far!). The hard work begins soon, but she's got her sunny attitude at the ready!

*****To read more about Kate and Peace Corps, click here ******

Kate Update

Yay: We've heard from Kate!

Boo: We missed the phone call.

She also briefly emailed and posted to Facebook, so we know:

1. She's safely there.

2. She's tired.

3. She figured out how to buy a phone card.

4. She sounds happy.

5. She's met interesting people in the Peace Corps.

We're so glad to get this little bit of news!

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I have to brag on My Friend Wendy. Boy is she ever nice to me! Look what she sent to make my day brighter last week when I was down in the dumps with Kate's departure.

I never had an Edible Arrangement before, and it was just delicious! We gobbled it up. See those white things in there? They are chocolate dipped bananas. At first I thought they were marshmallows, so Hannah ate the first one. She hates bananas, but didn't say anything about it (it's been a long time since she ate one). Later, when I ate one (I hate marshmallows, but love chocolate), I was happy to discover it was a banana. We laughed about that, and Hannah even ate some more (but she's still not willing to try a plain banana again). They were so GOOD!! Just like My Friend--so good!

Kate Update

I spoke with her while she's en route to JFK. She's pretty happy with the team of volunteers she's with--already made friends. She's the youngest of the bunch (as she said, "No surprise there."). About a quarter of the volunteers are retirees.

They will stay in Amman until the 28th, then move to Mafraq for 2 months in language school.

She's feeling better (she's had a cold), and she's looking forward to what's ahead.

My Wild Thing.

:(

This is hard.

Kate just went out the door.

The tissue box is being put to good use, catching tears.

I'm so proud of her. But I don't want to be this far apart. Sending her off to college was pretty easy, even if she was 1300 miles away. Letting her go to Spain by herself when she was 16 was easy too. I knew I'd see her three weeks later.

Amman, Jordan is 6,013 miles from home.

It was a restless night for all of us. I dreamed of haikus of Kate leaving. Of my feelings, and how I imagined she was feeling. Of her wiped-clean computer, awaiting a new owner. Of the third car we will sell since we have no driver for it. Haikus of Hannah not understanding how long two years really is. And tears.

As much as it hurts to think about her being gone, we are all very excited for her. It's amazing.

I just saw her Facebook status: Let the Wild Rumpus Start!!!

That's my girl. The adventure begins.

Deo volente.

20 years ago....

...we lived on Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay. James was a Naval Officer, and I was a new stay-at-home-mom to a very demanding baby. We lived in Officer's housing on the island that anchors the middle of the Bay Bridge. The bridge actually tunnels through Yerba Buena Island. Attached to the island is a man-made island, Treasure Island, which was was the Naval Base where his ship was stationed. It was a lovely peaceful place to live, hills and trees, and a gorgeous view of the Golden Gate Bridge from our living room window. It was a million dollar view of the city, Alcatraz and the Bay.

Our house is one of the ones on the second tier to the left of the picture.

This picture is looking towards the East, to Oakland.

On October 17th, 1989, James was navigating the USS Roark on a three month deployment in the Gulf of Alaska. Kate and I were flying back from North Carolina from an extended visit to my parents to celebrate Katie's First Birthday. While in North Carolina, Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston, SC, and then worked its way quickly up to Charlotte, NC. My parents lived in the country and had no electricity and no water for 10 days. It had been quite an adventure!

When Kate and I landed, weary and bleary, I decided to go the long way home because I feared the traffic from the World Series would be horrendous (Oakland A's and SF Giants, both local teams!). So I headed South and took the San Mateo bridge and came up the East Bay, on Route 880, then across the first span off the Bay Bridge. I had considered stopping along the way to get milk at the store, but was too tired, so we went directly to our house. We had been away from home for a month.

So we pulled up to our house. I took Kate into the house and stepped out again to get the luggage. As I was going out the door, she started crying, so I went back to get her. Then, the earthquake hit. I grabbed her and scurried out the door.

It didn't feel like a big one (we'd had several small ones in the year previous), but it was the first time we were on the island. The island is solid--a rock.

All my neighbors came out, and we chatted a little, compared damage (none for anyone). I went inside and called my parents, leaving them a message that we were home safe and that we just had an earthquake. I didn't think much about it, but it was very fortunate that I called, since within a few minutes all the phone lines would be out from overloading and fires. My parents had heard about the quake on the radio (they knew more than me). It was sweet relief for them to know we were safe.

I went back out to the car to bring in the bags. I was surprised to see a few people walking up the hill. I was a little uneasy because there are rarely strangers on the island, and this man was walking right up to me. He asked if he could use my phone. I hesitated. Then he said the bridge had broken from the earthquake! The very bridge over which I had just driven not 10 minutes earlier.

The man tried to use my phone. But already it wasn't working. A crowd was coming up the hill, and Base Police came to help them. Kate and I went back inside. The television did work, and I gradually discovered the disaster that had occurred. I had just driven the length of Rt 880--the double-decker highway that collapsed from the quake--killing 41 people instantly.

It was a miracle. If I had stopped for milk, that would have taken 10 minutes.

That night, out the picture window, all I could see were two endless lines of light. One of white headlights, and one of red tail lights. Gridlock. And there was the fire.

The USS Roark had new orders to come to San Francisco to provide medical and logistical support to the area. None of the crew had heard from their families--no cell phones, no email. Everyone was worried. It took 3 days for them to arrive in San Francisco. Somewhere along the line they did get a telegram informing them that all families were safe.

Those of us on the island were stranded. We had no way to get off the island for a week. (It was a good thing I was still nursing Kate, or we would have been in trouble!) The Island had water and gas, but no electricity (they shut it off the next day for safety). So we were safe, warm, clean, and I could cook. With whatever I could scrounge up. Neighbors shared. It was a good community.

But we did have cabin fever. Katie wasn't yet walking, but working towards it. We took long stroller rides all around the island, frequently stopping to see all the construction vehicles (the half that came from the SF side parked on the island).

Kate took her first steps walking in the Bay Bridge Tunnel! I guess she was born to have adventures!

It was a chaotic but also, a quiet time. Another opportunity to appreciate our blessings.

Life in Fast Forward--Peace Corps Bound!

Things around here are just going way too fast for me to keep up! I feel like I've got so much to write, yet no time to write it!

It's a little stressful these days getting Kate prepared for her big move. We have four days left to get everything in order. She leaves on Thursday morning. While I'm not all that worried about her going--it's more feeling excited for her grand adventure--there are enough details to make anyone crazy.

We ordered some basic fashion essentials for her life in Jordan. She is planning on buying much of her clothing there, since it's difficult to find culturally appropriate clothing here (or we don't know where to find it!). The Peace Corps (PC) strongly encourages volunteers to wear clothes that will help them fit in to their community. So while Kate is not Muslim, she will be wearing a khimar (head covering) at first. The first two months she will be living with a family while she takes intensive Arabic lessons. The town where she's staying is one of the more conservative areas of Jordan.

Here in the States, I know that some people are offended by others wearing clothing from other faith traditions. Kate does not mean to offend others, but she does have to "assimilate" as best she can, so she can do her job. We have read blogs of other PC volunteers in Jordan (here's one if you're curious), and not all of them dress this conservatively. It just depends on the town or village. Once Kate gets her assignment within the country (to be determined after language proficiency is completed), she will adapt to that areas culturally acceptable attire. Generally, she will need to cover every part of skin other than hands and face, plus a head covering. This will be a BIG change for my girl!

Here is a first peek of her future fashion!

Weird Wednesday

I do actually like the idea of Wordless Wednesdays, it's a nice easy method to get a blog post up. But I know that I could never make myself follow the rules. So I'm making up my own version.

We'll see if I can even follow my own rules (which are, do whatever I want, hopefully odd, with little text, on some, or most, Wednesdays). I bet I can do that, ya think? I guess it will be the same stuff as usually, but without me blabbing on (but definitely including parenthetical clauses).

Happy Birthday Kate!

Whoohoo! 21 years!!!

It's hard to believe that 20 years ago she looked like this:

And now she looks like this:

Ever since she was about six years old she has shunned Birthday Cake. Instead, she gets a Birthday Pie! Her birthday is really on Friday (yes, 9-11), but we celebrated early because Kate is heading to Minnesota to celebrate her birthday with her college friends!

P.F. Changs was delicious. I think that she ordered her final Shirley Temple for the rest of her life!

Happy Birthday Kate! We love you!

Kate's Departure

This week Kate got her final paperwork from the Peace Corps. It was exciting and overwhelming at the same time! She will be leaving home on October 22nd, heading for Washington D.C. for two days, and then flying to The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan!

Once in Jordan she will be attending language classes for three months along with other new Peace Corps volunteers. She will live with a local family which will help her learn Arabic and acclimate to the culture. After she completes her training, she will be sent to a rural or semi-rural area to help teach at a day-care/school or residential setting for children with physical or developmental disabilities. She will remain in Jordan for a total of 27 months!

Kate will need a new wardrobe, since women in Jordan keep themselves covered with loose fitting clothes from their neck to wrists to ankles. Form fitting clothes are not acceptable there, and she will wear a head-covering (not a burkha, but a hijab or scarf). This will be an interesting transition for Kate I think, since she is somewhat into fashion.

We are proud of Kate, starting out in the world, working to make life better for children who need help! This is a HUGE adventure, with the real possibility of having limited communication (what young American adult can imagine not having internet or a cell phone???), and limited news from the rest of the world. We might even have to resort to old fashioned letter writing!

We'll (she'll) have a busy seven weeks to prepare and pack...she'll need winter clothes (yes, it gets cold there), a new laptop (power source? Unknown), and oh, I can't even think it through!

Kate's Graduation

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Home and Happy

We had a terrific weekend--very busy, but filled with fun and friends! We couldn't have had a better day for Graduation.

Here are just a few pictures to hold you over until I get a real post going, I've got a very busy day today (Dr. check-up, preparations for our vacation--leaving Saturday, iep prep for a friend, groceries, and I have to buy a new car).

The VERY cool cum laude graduate:

The Nan from the Norse!

Hannah and I were so happy to get the chance to meet Monica and Adam from mi2boys! Adam and Hannah had fun in the hotel pool while Monica and I were able to chat. There wasn't enough time together (of course, Hannah and Adam would have lived in the pool the entire day if they had the chance...)!!

And, I see I uploaded the wrong baseball video in the previous post...now I've fixed it so you could actually see a little baseball!  Because I'm nice like that.

Lord of the Strings

Today was Katie's last harp concert (at least for the foreseen future). Oh, how I wish I had been there! I would have loved to surprise her, but I just couldn't juggle everything around to get to Minnesota for just one day.

Kate started playing the harp when she was just five years old.

This picture is from her first Christmas Recital when she was six.

Here she is, age nine, playing with the Charlotte Symphony. To prepare for this concert, my mother bought her a new pedal harp. Kate wasn't tall enough to play a concert grand sized harp, so she played a Daphne. She was the youngest in the Youth Ensemble. You can see that her harp is smaller than the others.

Kate started playing professionally at the age of 13 for weddings and parties. Whenever it's time for her to get married she has everything planned out--she's learned exactly what she wants and what she doesn't want after being in 40+ weddings!

Here she is at age 14, receiving her new Camac concert grand, again a gift from my amazingly generous mother.

Kate was in an Anglican style girl's choir for many years. This picture is from a concert where she accompanied her choir (Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, for you music geeks out there!).

I think her all-time favorite harp job was when she was 15. She was hired to play for a Lufthansa party and they paid her with a free round-trip ticket to any Lufthansa destination! She chose Spain, and went to a language immersion camp for several weeks.

I can't find any recent pictures of Kate harping around, so I'm hoping someone took some today!

She said the concert was, "so great!!" I know she had adoring fans cheering her on, but I wish I could have been one of them!

Well done Kate! We wish we could have heard every note! Can't wait to hear the CD! Only 7 weeks until Graduation!!!!

Busy Week, Beautiful Weather, Beautiful Friends

Whew! What a week! Katie was home for a short break between her January term and the start of her last semester. We had fun having her home again. I think her favorite part was going out for Vietnamese food (a family passion!). But, maybe it was playing in the park on the first warm day of the year.






We also had our dear, fabulous, oh-so-cool, terrific friends Roxanne and daughter Shea visit us for a long weekend. Their new dog Sandy came to play with our two beasts.

The inflatable playground gave us all a good work out.

(Adult supervision required....hmmm, who would that be?)

The young girls went swimming at the gym while Roxanne knitted and I talked her ear off (as usual!).


Throw in some painting, sunshine, drawing, hanging pictures on the wall (finally!), cooking, feasting, watching movies (grown-ups), and we're all worn out! The week went by too quickly!