Summer in the States

Before getting to Baku, I wanted to give a quick rundown of the four months we spent in the U.S. en route from Russia to Azerbaijan.   Looking back through the pictures, it seems the common theme was trains, since that's what gets Aiden most excited, but there was a lot more to it than that. 

In addition to catching up with friends and family, one of my favorite parts was the food.  Eating all the things that we couldn't get in the U.S. was a delicious and highly caloric (as the tightness of my suits reminds me) adventure.  From korean chicken wings to Eastern Shore raw oysters to creole gumbo, it was great to  be reminded of the culinary delights that only home can provide. 

We spent most of the summer in Washington D.C., where I went through three months of training for my work as press officer, and a smidgen of Azerbaijani language training.   Having a three year old in tow was a great reminder of all the great (and free) things to do in the D.C. area.  From the Washington Zoo, to the Smithsonian Museums, and even a trip up to the B&O Railroad museum in Baltimore (not free, but worth it), we got to see a lot of really cool stuff. 

Aiden also made his first acquaintance with swimming pools and it was pretty much love at first splash. 

Before we knew it, training was over and we had just a few more weeks before leaving for Baku.  We spent 10 days of that time driving from Washington to the Alabama gulf coast to see my grandparents.  Despite being constantly on the move, we saw a lot of things we probably wouldn't see otherwise and had a good time doing it. 

On our way out of Virginia, we visited a safari park where the animals are free to approach your car and eat out of buckets you hold for them...

That included this creepy llama below, who scared the bejeezus out of us with his murderous stare.

We then made our way to Chattanooga in Tennessee, where we toured Rock City - a mish-mash of kitschy tourist trap and natural beauty that actually works well enough to make it worth the high entrance fee.

One of the most spectacular parts is actually underground, where they've constructed a huge diorama of fairytales all lit by blacklight.

We also made a stop at a railroad museum where Aiden got to ride a real train, complete with a trip through a Civil War-era tunnel!

In Chattanooga itself, we didn't find too much to do, although the views over the river were impressive.  That, and we discovered a moon pie outlet store because Chattanooga is where moon pies are made.  Who knew?

As we continued southward, we stopped in Birmingham, AL, where in addition to some great examples of  20th century industrial architecture and creole cooking, we explored some very poignant reminders of the sacrifices of the civil rights movement.

I also got to check something off my list, which was a visit to the Sloss Factory National Park - a national park set in the remains of a huge iron factory, that is really just amazing in terms of its scope.

Then we finally made it to Fairhope, AL, where Aiden got to spend a few days getting to know his Great Grandparents, which was fun for everyone.  We also got to see some of the sights in Fairhope, including this fairytale house, dolphin-watching in Mobile Bay, and a trip to the impressive Foley Railroad museum.

Before long, we were on our way north again, with a first stop in Montgomery, AL, where the blazing heat wasn't enough to keep us from sights like the first White House of the Confederacy, a lunch of fried chicken and fried green tomatoes, and a tour of a living history museum based on antebellum Montgomery.

That evening, we made our way to Atlanta, where we got to see the birth place of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It was great for Stephanie and I, and hopefully in the future, we can explain the importance of these visits to Aiden.

We learned shortly before starting our trip that Aiden needed ear tubes to be inserted again, so we had to shorten our trip by a day and pick up the pace a little.  On our race back north, we stopped at a South Carolina historic plantation, that was one half pre-Revolutionary War and one half Pre-Civil War.  A good history lesson for Stephanie and I, and a great chance for Aiden to run around unfettered.

That evening, we made it to Charlotte, NC, which has some great public art, a compactness that puts a city skyline behind single family homes, and some great soul food!

Our final stop on the trip was Old Salem, NC, which is a town that dates back to some of the earliest settlements in the new world.  We had a delicious lunch at tavern where Gen. Washington once stayed.

And in a little feat of nostalgia, we made a pit stop at this retro Arby's in Virginia, which also happens to be a test kitchen for the chain, allowing us to try some new offerings.

With our last couple weeks, we visited our families one last time, including more trains for Aiden, wine tasting for Stephanie and I, and a great party with friends and family at my parent's house, which I don't have any pictures of because I was too busy talking to everyone (a better use of time in my book). 

And since New York will always be home, we spent a couple days in the Big Apple on our way out of the U.S., including a neat trip to Governor's Island, which was host to a tree house and mini-golf course free to the public.

We then took a ferry up the East River to Brooklyn, where I discovered a salted-caramel donut sunday topped with popcorn ice cream and caramel sauce.  Does it get any more foodie than that?

We rounded off our visit with a trip down to the Freedom Tower and a stroll along the High Line Park, with it's great views and quirky art exhibits.

And that's how a summer goes by between overseas assignments.  We made an overnight stop in Vienna, visiting the beautiful Schonbrunn palace gardens and staying in a nice hotel that upgraded us to a full suite when our reserved room wasn't ready.  It definitely made the trip a little nicer.

And then we were here, in Baku.  We're off to a good start, and I'll have an overview of our first weeks shortly. 

Parting Shots

I've taken a long hiatus from the blog for a number of reasons... because we've been busy with the move, because I've been lazy, but mostly because by the end of our assignment, I couldn't find much to say that was nice.  And the old adage about not saying anything if you can't say something nice holds particularly true in the Foreign Service.

Now, with several months of separation behind me and the prospect of our next assignment rapidly approaching, I'm ready to add the closing chapter of our Russian adventure to our story.

By the time I got back to Moscow from Sochi, the situation in Ukraine had gotten much worse, and as everyone now knows, Putin annexed Ukraine.  At the time, I was feeling very frustrated with the situation.  Everyone knew that the Russian narrative was false, but there was relatively little I could say publicly about it.  When the State Department came out with the list of the top 10 lies coming out of Russia, I was thrilled.  The Russian propaganda machine is clearly formidable, but now there are concrete things I can say to contradict them.  I've linked to two of the lists from the State Department's website for posterity:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/03/222988.htm

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/04/224759.htm

While the conflict in Ukraine continues to simmer, at least international coverage is no longer focused on the things the Kremlin makes up about it.  Pushing back in a misinformation war like that is one of the things I signed up to do when I joined the Foreign Service.  With my upcoming tour in Baku as Information Officer, I'm looking forward to taking a more hands-on approach in the effort to get our story out and combat the false narratives spun by others.

The sad thing about leaving Moscow at the end of March was that we never got to see another Moscow spring, but we did get a couple of nice days to do a farewell tour.  One weekend we trekked up to Moscow State University for views over the city.  It was easier said than done since the hillsides were still dangerously icy.  We had to abandon our walk in the Sparrow Hills area and take the metro up to the famous university.

For our final date night, we spent a long afternoon and evening out to see a ballet based on a classic Russian fairytale by Pushkin - Ruslan and Liudmilla - at the Kremlin State Palace theater.  Aside from being another chance to slip inside the Kremlin walls, the ballet was fantastic.  We followed up with dinner at our favorite restaurant - Vatrushka.

The end of our assignment also saw the end of my Early-Medieval Christian Music singing group as the British DCM and his wife, who were co-creators of the group, were also leaving.  We did get to say a fitting good-bye as we were invited to their farewell reception at the British Ambassador's residence.  It's possibly some of the best real estate in the city, located directly across the river from the Kremlin in a 19th century mansion.  The interiors are incredible with beautiful dark wood paneling and brocade in the entryway.

Unfortunately, photos weren't allowed inside, but I managed to find one photo online for a small glimpse.

The farewell also gave us an excuse to take one last walk past the Kremlin, which seemed a fitting farewell.

Looking back, it's still fairly easy to see the negatives more than the positives;  unfriendly people, rampant anti-Americanism from the government, seemingly never-ending winters, pushy babushkas in the grocery stores and metro, overpriced restaurants with bad food, lack of privacy, and so on.  And I guess in a lot of ways, the bad parts obscured the good.  At least, moreso than in Dushanbe, which we remember far more fondly.  But that doesn't mean that there aren't good memories. 

We made great friends in Moscow.  And the stunning architecture and faintly echoing grand history are everywhere.  There was great food, which we found with a bit of effort, and we saw some amazing places - I'm thinking specifically of St. Petersburg and Siberia.  All in all, I am glad it's over, but I wouldn't undo it.  There is greatness and beauty in Russia and hopefully someday it will be more readily apparent with much less digging. 

In terms of my job, working in the Consular section was far from easy.  And yes, it was often draining and sometimes monotonous.  But it could also be engaging and was frequently very meaningful.  I think back to my work in immigrant visas and particularly our efforts on behalf of adoptive families from the U.S. before the adoptions were shut down as part of a local political stunt (that's still how I see it).  And I got to interact with some really interesting people.  I've kept a list of some of the more unexpected background among the applicants I interviewed for non-immigrant visas.  The include, but are not limited to; Science fair participants, Fake crab stick manufacturers, Horse breeders, Astronauts, Hot dog manufacturers, Arm Wrestling Coaches, Trout Factory Managers, Rogaining Participants (not baldness fighters - look it up), Sex toy company representatives, Cheerleaders, Eyebrow Tattoo Artists, Cross-country Motorcyclists, Rock opera singers, Movie stars, Chernobyl Victims, Concordia victims, M-1 World Champions, Doctors Practicing Telemedicine, Gold prospectors, Murderers, Mass spectrometer salesmen, Snowmobile Congress participants in Summer, Wheelchair curlers, Attempted murder victims, DNA electronic researchers, Race car mechanics, Hip Hop Dance groups, International bread conference, Assassins, participants on the Russian version of The Bachelor, Mannequin dressers.  

These are just a few examples that stood out to me and I think they demonstrate just how broad the ties between our countries are if you get below the surface political issues.  I hope those connections are strong enough so that when political change comes to Russia and relations thaw, we will still have a solid base to build on.  In addition to that, I'm proud of my work protecting American citizen and ensuring our national security.  I wish more people at home understood all the things the State Department does abroad to promote American interests. 

Since we returned from Moscow, it's been a busy summer and I'll try to summarize all that's gone on since then before we get to Baku in August. 

Short Trip to Sochi

I thought I would escape Sochi madness altogether, but at the beginning of the Paralympics, I was asked to go down and help out in our temporary office over a long weekend, so on relatively short notice, I got tickets and headed down.  It was an interesting first hand look at the Olympic city even thought I didn't have much in the way of free time. 

The first thing I did was drop off my bags at the hotel -- which was far from being worth the $700+/night they charged during the Olypmics - although there were posters all over the place detailing the upgrades they were planning with the money they got by overcharging visitors to the Games.  Still, it was comfortable and had a good breakfast. 

I then headed out to the train station to visit downtown Sochi - the Games were actually held in Adler, about 40 minutes away.  Security was very heavy so I ended up just emptying my pockets into my bag like I do at the airport and had little trouble after that. 

The biggest impression I had was that it's like any modern city in Russia, but with palm trees...

Of course, Olympic fever was prominently displayed.

In Sochi, I picked up the tickets I had purchased to the Wheelchair Curling event on Monday.  Tickets had to be bought in advance so that I could apply for a spectator pass, which required another trip to the other side of Moscow to pick it up before I left.  It was supposedly a security feature.  I needed to have both a ticket and a spectator pass to visit the Olympic venue and then could only visit on the day of the event.  During the Olympics, you could buy a pass just to see the Olympic Park, but they didn't offer that option for the Paralympics.

With the rest of my time there, I did a little sightseeing.  The dendrarium - sort of a botanical garden/park, was highly recommended and actually pretty nice.  The nicest thing was that down in Sochi, Spring was already well underway, so it was a nice change from the dreary gray that's been plaguing Moscow all winter.

They even had ostriches and a rabbit sitting under the shade of a palm.

After that, I made my way back into town to take in the Riviera Park, which is nothing like any other riviera I've ever heard of, but still interesting.  I was welcomed by Comrade Lenin on my approach and even though I couldn't frame it right in the picture, there were enough palm trees nearby to be thoroughly incongruous.  It is next to impossible to imagine Lenin on  a beach.

Outside the park, there was also a "Taxophone" stand, which I thought was very clever - a place where you can just pick up the phone and order a taxi.  I've never seen anything like it before. This may be the only one.

The park itself was another odd collection of incongruity.  From dilapidated childrens' parks, to figures from Avatar overlooking the aquarium, to signs showing the locations of all the other Winter Olympic Games, to a ride called Colorado that featured scenes of Mount Rushmore and surfing - neither of which, I'm fairly sure, are accessibly in Colorado.  There was also a double copyright infringement called "Pizza House" that used the trademark Disney "D". 

I made my way back into town to see the Seaport, but there wasn't much going on since all the boats were forbidden from sailing due to security measures.

That evening, I met up with some colleagues for dinner at a place inside the seaport building where they showed the opening ceremonies before catching the train back to Adler.

The next two days were spent working.  Our office was in a great location with views of both the mountains and the ocean.  Unfortunately, the weather was either hazy or cloudy and I didn't get to enjoy the views much. I did get to do some exploring on my lunch break.  I found the local market and a small restaurant serving delicious Caucasian food, like Kharcho (below).  The food was definitely my favorite part of the trip - so much more flavor than you normally find in Russian cuisine, but I guess that's because it isn't really Russian.

The market provided other attractions like traditional Georgian fruit treats, pre-made spice mixes in souvenir configurations, and of course, cheap Olympic Souvenirs.

The souvenirs were actually pretty disappointing - overpriced as expected, but very low in quality and variety.  I found the same things wherever I looked, but eventually found a small memento that wasn't too outrageously priced.

That afternoon after work, the weather cleared a bit and I got to appreciate the view from my hotel, which was rather nice.  I found that in general, things in Sochi look better from a distance.

For dinner I enjoyed some grilled local trout (amazingly good) and then spent some time on the very rocky beach enjoying a beer.  The beaches aren't very accessible because the rail line between Adler and Sochi runs right along it, and it isn't particularly nice because it's broken every hundred feet or so by crumbling cement breakwaters, but once I found the underpass to get there and got settled, the sound of the surf on the pebbles was relaxing enough.

The next day at lunch, I branched out and had a soup called Khash, which is a cow foot boiled until the connective tissue becomes tender along with some tripe.  It comes with garlic, salt, and pepper because it is unseasoned. Once I got the seasoning right, it was really quite good.

And of course, I should mention, I had khachipuri po adjarski with almost every single meal - a delicious cheesy bread with a fried egg and melted butter.  It really doesn't get much better than that!

I didn't have to work on my last day, so I headed out early to the Olympic Park to watch some of the wheelchair curling.  It was much more interesting than I expected, and I think I actually understand it a bit now.  The U.S. was holding it's own and there were even a small group of other American spectators cheering them on.  Unfortunately, the Russian spectators far overwhelmed everyone else and this one woman in particular was so loud and shrill that I couldn't stand it and left to take in the other sights at the park before it was time to head to the airport.

Generally speaking, I didn't find the park all that impressive, although other people have told me that it's much nicer at night.  Overall, the venues were very far apart and between them was basically area of asphalt with no trees or places to sit.  It takes almost 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other and there isn't much to see, but let's focus on the positives.

There was a neat Russian "folk" show that started while I was there, but when the lead singer kept stopping to shout "Russia Forward!" (something of a nationalist sentiment), I got tired of it, particular giving the goings-on in not too distant Crimea.

The Olympic flame, was of course, worth seeing.  Just to be there in person was very cool.  I was amazed by how loud it was - it really is an enormous structure.

I had just enough time to breeze through a large exhibit showcasing the different federal districts of Russia, which was fairly lacking in depth.  But they had a chunk of the meteorite from Chelyabinsk on display and that was worth seeing all by itself.

So that was my trip to Sochi.  I loved the food, but can't say I see what all the hype is about in terms of being a tourist destination. Still, I'm glad I got to see it for myself and see a little part of history in the making.  The rest of our time here has been fairly stressful with the events in Ukraine and trying to pack out, but our team in Russia is nearing the end and I'll be back before long with some parting thoughts before we head home for a short break.