Our Life

Our Life as a Military Family...

We've made very dear friends here and as with every place we've lived, due to the nature of military life, friends come and go. This week, as school draws to a close and summer approaches, moving crews are in and out of houses in the compound and crates are being loaded with years' worth of belongings.

This week, two of our dearest friends are departing Beijing and it's hard to see them go. Saying goodbye is hard enough for us as adults with experience, but it's just as hard, if not harder, for our children. Jed, especially, is hit hard by the transitions. He still mourns the loss of his two closest friends who left Beijing and moved to Manila last summer. This year, two more of his closest friends are leaving. The other day, he was having a particularly difficult time with the losses and he shouted, "how would you feel if your best friends were moving away from you?" I was able to show empathy by saying I know exactly how he feels because two of my best friends are leaving as well. He was surprised to hear that. I try to make him see that it's better to have had the friends and the time with them and then have them move on, than not to have shared our lives with them at all. He seemed to understand but it doesn't make it easier. I hope that these experiences enrich their lives and make them more well adjusted adults. I see success of this in Jack already. When I asked him if he wanted to go back to the camp he went to last year despite the fact that most of his friends would not be going back, he said "that's ok, I'll make new friends."

Our Life in the Diplomatic Corps...

Last night, we attended a dinner at the home of our friends, Vim, the Dutch Defense Attache and his wife, Joke. There were 14 of us at the dinner, including the Swedish Defense Attache and his wife, the British Attache and his wife and several Dutch Embassy employees. Vim made introductions and we mingled over cocktails for about an hour before dinner. Then he led us into the dining room, told us to sit boy-girl and we had the first course- fish. After the first course, he instructed the ladies to each move two empty seats around the table. Then the second course was served- beef. I am a vegetarian, so I eyed the beautifully laid out plate, planning my attack, trying to remember what we were taught to do at attache school when something was served that we did not want to eat. In the end, I ate the carrots and potato puffs and pushed the beef and it's garnishes around the plate a bit. After the second course, the men moved two empty seats in the opposite direction. I was lucky to be able to spend one course seated next to Tom but the rest of the meal was spent making small talk with strangers. It was pleasant enough, but not very relaxing.

After two years of diplomatic life, these dinners have lost their luster. I enjoy seeing our friends in the corps very much but would rather spend time at home than in a formal set up schmoozing strangers. This was our second night out this week, we have two more next week, plus we had two dinners in our home this week. In May, we hosted 7 events in our home!

While I will miss Tom and certain things about our life here while the boys and I are back in the US this summer, it will be nice to be able to set our own schedule.

Now, if I can just put the 7000 mile plane trip behind us...