Well-Matched Mismatcher

Not a bad little Friday. First, passed Arabic exam. Second, ran off to a courthouse with a lovely little lady. Third, realized I was wearing a pair of pants that did not match my jacket. Finally, celebrated the evening away with a remarkable gathering of friends and family. :-)

The Great Bastille Day Birthday Canal Camp

Inspired by the great bike trip last month, we booked a lockkeeper's house along the C&O canal for the big birthday bonanza with Hyderabadi friends. Lockhouse 22, twenty-two miles upstream from the start of the canal, where a little ole lockkeeperman and his family used to operate one of the 200 or so locks on the entire project. The only catch? It was renovated to suit the period. No electricity, no plumbing.

Great evening of merriment and grilling, even though on-and-off rain made it a bit difficult, and rather muddy to boot. Upstairs bedrooms were pretty darn muggy and stuffy overnight...and the period-piece beds not all that comfortable. When we woke up, for some odd reason, all three ladies were covered with hundreds of bug bites. As for the five gentlemen? Not a single mark. We still haven't figured it out yet if it was mosquitos or bed bugs...we didn't see any of either during the day or night. Peculiar.

First Sip of Wisconsin

Kirsten's first trip to Wisconsin, gotta give her the full treatment!

Polka dancing and boot steins at Essenhaus. "You guys sure have a lot of state pride." Sailing on Winnebago. Carol's surprise retirement party. "You start to wonder if any of our stories don't involve beer." Telugu family dinner and dessert. Barn quilts of Green County. New Glarus brewery and homesteads. Minhas brewery. Sugar River tubing -- $12 at S&B Tubing in Albany, 3 hours. "Anyone wanna trade a Huber Boch for...anything?!" Madison professional ultimate frisbee.

The final verdict? "You have more beer than internet in Wisconsin."

Family Sightseeing #2

(or How to Rent Bikes and Peddle from DC to Great Falls)

Last time, it was a bike ride out to Mt. Vernon. This time, the bike trip during mom and dad's father's day visit was northwest into Maryland to Great Falls. A great 30-mile loop, doable even for amateurs

Rentals at Big Wheels Bikes in Georgetown. Good deal of only $21 per bike, with helmet and lock.

Depart Georgetown 10:30 am
Arrive Great Falls 1:00 pm
Depart Great Falls 2:30 pm
Return Georgetown 4:30 pm

Steadily uphill on the way to Great Falls, but you don't really notice it until the return trip is consistently and comfortably downhill, alhamduallah. Such a scenic trip, I'm embarrassed that I hadn't ever been out there before the bike trip! Great place, especially widewater and the falls themselves.

Family Sightseeing #1

Great way to spend a memorial day weekend with Megan, Andrew and Kirsten. An 11-mile tourism marathon around just about all of DC!

miss anne smedinghoff

i ignored kaitlin's call. i was enjoying a saturday morning brunch with lilly. it would have been silly to take the call. it would have been rude to take the call.

i ignored kaitlin's second call. weird, i thought.

jeremy, she texted. call me immediately, the second message read. the third explained the urgency. anne is dead.

anne and i joined the Foreign Service three years ago to live a dream. and while each of the 90 of in the 151st A-100 class knew full well that our dream involved sacrifice, it's hard to really imagine a dream ending in the final sacrifice. i was stupid enough to brag about the rather reckless approach we took to our adventurism and our invincibility: I join the foreign service not to die, but to live; it's just that sometimes in the pursuit of the former, the latter sadly happens too soon, i willed.

i haven't had to learn how to eulogize well in life. but i found that the typewriter helped when i finally turned to write to Anne's parents. in short, in retrospect, she was one of the greatest souls i knew. the youngest in our class. the most daring in our class. Anne was killed while delivering books to a school for Afghan girls. she was 25. i have a new hero always.

Back in the Swing

Feels great to enjoy the warm almost-spring sunshine in DC with a return to the M Street courts with Andrew. Strange to think, but this spring marks the start of the fourth year of our Rafa-esque rivalry!

Here's the statistical update since 2010:

2011 - or "Enjoying Hyderabad's one outdoor leisure activity to the max"

Hot damn, 194-290 in an amazing 62 sets. That's a whole lot of tennis, and a increasingly getting-better 40% win percentage.

2012 - or "Somewhat more distracted and/or reluctant to leave the house"

Well, way less tennis for whatever reason, but 71-89 is at least a wee improvement to 44%. It's even better when you take Steve, who way outmatches me, out of the mix. How does 49% sound?!

ski weekend

wisp resort in deep creek, maryland is a great weekend trip from DC. a relatively scenic 3 hour drive to the great little resort community nestled pretty close to the mountain. the hill's really nice, has a good variety runs and a nice lodge. best part, of course, a great two nights in a beautiful rental cabin with Darren, Kaitlin, Sean, Andrew, Chris, Al, Barrett and Katie.

How many languages are spoken by that crew of globe-trotters? great question, glad you asked: Arabic, Chinese, German, Farsi, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Tajiki, Telugu, Urdu. Or, when you do the math, an amazing 54% of the world's population...

surprise headlines

orange you glad it's 2013?

a new year, a new city, a new adventure. as the black book of all things important from three years of diplomacy, telugu and india is now more than full, it's time for a new way of organizing, analyzing and commemorating the adventures ahead. thanks rhodia.

debrief by collage

how to understand two of the most amazing years of your life? the ups and downs of the extremes of india? only the best way i know: collage. A Scotched and Taped Evening.

until i find a scanner:

one last goa-round

one last trip to goa, my only three-peat destination in India. overnight bus from HYD-Panjim was do-able. unfortunately we had seats rather than a sleeper berth, but it didn't become uncomfortable until MULTIPLE folks started to vomit as we enjoyed the sunrise while snaking down the Western Ghats just a dash after dawn. the reason for the trip? David Guetta on the beach. nicely played, india, even if the disasterous entrance line and bar set-up were enough to be my final-straw of sorts here in india. it's simply time i go home now, i think.

a semi-charmed kind of life

Wait. THE third eye blind? Yes, THE third eye blind, in Hyderabad, on a four-stop swing through the Hard Rock Cafes of the world's largest democracy.

Hyderabad turned 1998, give or take a few years, for a brief evening. the lead singer man might have said it best..."Wow, this feels like a basement party from years ago." truly a semi-charmed kinda life.

the rotary dial

and when friends-of-friends pass through Hyderabad on the Rotary circuit? well, that calls for jump shots at Golkona Fort, no? Luckily, michelle was more than game. :-)

thankful redux

a grand hurrah, of sorts, welcoming back IDEX fellows and friends (and including visiting friends, of course!) for a thanksgiving abroad. so nice to be amongst familiar faces and tasty dishes, even far from home. the turkey on the wall may be the same as last year, but i now know how to tie a bow tie...

berta and brian bonanza!

so nice to welcome berta and boyfriend brian to Hyderabad for a short stint of the two-week expedition around a nice little swing of india. friends #20 and #21 over the course of these two years, wow. sehr impressiv, my friends, sehr impressiv!

Berta and Brian do the world's largest wardrobe in the Purani Haveli

Thai thai thai!

I'm a little embarrassed it took me 22 months to get to Thailand. It's just a cheap, direct flight from here...but literally a world away. Happiness and hedonism and healthiness...not words you'd usually use with Hyderabad. Makes for a great destination, you'll definitely want to spend more than a week there.

I wasn't overly impressed with Bangkok, compared to the other cities i've been to of late. The metro is nice and the malls are fun, but the river cruises and monuments are only alright. The city itself didn't seem to have a distinct, unique culture to it. The new night market Asiatique was actually cooler than the ladyboy burlesque show. Highlights were a great (strangely enough, diwali) rooftop part and a great tour guide-ess helped us explore the city and find some good Thai food.

But the beaches, oh those beaches! This is the reason to go to Thailand. The most amazing coastal geography on this planet, lined with perfect beaches. We flew to Phuket Island, picking Kammala Beach as our destination of choice. A good combination of pretty and peaceful, but close to the chaos and color of Patong and the more happening hubs of southern Phuket. Best side trip? Ko Phi Phi. Incredible little island and great little town, definitely would recommend spending a few days there, rather than just taking the tour boat over for an afternoon.

The strangest thing, though? As beautiful as Thailand was -- and it's stunning -- i was rarely tempted to pull out my camera. Beautiful, just not as photogenic as my home for the past two years. so it goes.

Big Brother

My new favorite picture from two years in India:

Number Three

Happenin’ Hyderabad!! Lonely Planet just named Hyderabad the NUMBER THREE city in the world to visit in 2013!! Congrats to Vanessa, Nick, Janani, Jen, Ann, Laura, Bekes, Rachel, Sara, Barrett, Jess, Earl, Carl, Kristine, RJ, Gaby, Kate, Sha, Berta and Brian for beating the rush!

#1 San Francisco

#2 Amsterdam

#3 Hyderabad

No freaking lie. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/themes/best-in-travel-2013/top-10-cities

This is particularly funny because Lonely Planet wrote a whole book last year on the 25 best places to go in India..and Hyderabad didn’t even make the table of contents. See also: http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/asia/discover-india-travel-guide-1/?lpaffil=lpdest-shoppod

up in knots

what's harder...learning to tie a lungi or a bow tie?
first lungi? check.
first bow tie in life? check.