Blizzard

This week I had a ton more Indonesian words thrown at me. Some of them sound really similar! I guess it doesn't help that a lot of verbs begin with the same prefix "ber-". I figured out how to enter words into this computer application that is like flash cards but drills me on them in all sorts of different ways until I get them. When I miss a word it shows up more often. It is great. I really have a hard time stopping or putting it down when it's time to quit. I have words that will just pop into my head and I want to remind myself what they mean. I dream about some of the words sometimes all night long and have to look them up as soon as I can after I wake up. It's like a blizzard of words going on in my head.

On Friday night it started snowing and during the night got really heavy. It snowed a ton all day Saturday and didn't stop until Sunday morning early. When it was all done, it turned out to be the 7th biggest snowstorm to hit the area since they started keeping track almost 140 years ago. Usually here the snow comes in January and February, not December so much. This was officially the biggest snowstorm in December ever in the DC area. We had at least 18 inches of snow here, likely more. With the large population, the rarity of big storms like this, the skinny streets, the lack of much equipment to clear things fast, and people from all over who aren't necessarily used to driving and being in the snow, made it a little crazy. We had fun playing in it yesterday and taking a walk today. They cancelled everything that was scheduled on Saturday, including our ward temple trip, and even the temple! Our church meetings were cancelled today and tomorrow work for Federal Government employees in the area, which includes me, is cancelled, and school for my children is cancelled. It will take a few days to clean everything up and dig out. It was kind of funny watching people here, who are here temporarily for training, all using the same black dust pans from our apartments as shovels to try to clear snow off of their cars and from around their cars. It's kind of funny that we are getting such interesting winter weather when we thought we would not see much snow. I am enjoying it, though. I love snow. I will also love having summer-like weather for a couple of years! It is exciting to experience a history-making blizzard.

"Comprehension Phase 1"

Sekarang saya belajar bhasa Indonesia. I am now studying Indonesian.
This week I started the first week of what they describe as "Indonesian Comprehension Phase 1". It's pretty intense, but I love it. I have dreamed for many years about the idea of being able to study a language full time and get paid for it. Well now I'm living it. It's still a lot of work and it's hard, but I love it because it's living a dream. They have thrown a ton of words at us and some of them have even stuck! Indonesian has very little in common with the other language I know well, Russian. In some ways that is difficult because I have to learn everything new, but in some ways that is easier because I don't have as much interference. There are some similarities to Spanish, of which I know very little, but that helps. There are little things like the adjective comes after the noun and sepatu, like Spanish zapato, for shoe or pesta, like Spanish fiesta, for party. That makes it a little easier. I am good at figuring out patterns and grammar and such, but memorizing is a little more difficult for me. That will be my challenge. I'm excited for the challenge, though. It's sometimes hard to stop doing some kind of studying and do something else. At the end of this week we gave a presentation about a fictitious family, their home and car and where they live and we also created a dialogue with a partner using things we've learned like where we're going, eating, family, etc. Wish me luck going into my second week! I'll need it.
Sampai nanti!

Paper

The theme this week is paper: paper that I write, paper that I read, paper-back books, paper decorations, paper in my wallet, and paper puzzles.

I spent the week working in an office and helping review and draft and just reading "papers," some interesting, some not as interesting. It makes for long days, especially when I am by far the first one to leave at 5:15 p.m. It was a good experience. I am glad that I feel I was able to contribute in a few ways during the short time I was there and for what I learned from different experiences there. I am also glad that I get to start language training on Monday.

I was tired after the commute every day since it involved walking for 10-15 minutes to the metro, standing on the metro for 20 minutes, and walking another 15-20 to the office. I finished reading a book, Book 2 of the Lord of the Rings, in part during the commute. I regained my speed-walking skills. And I got a little exercise too, just enough for someone recovering from the flu. Oh, my book was made of paper.

There was more tissue paper this week, but I am feeling much better than last week and not sick any more.

In honor of the coming winter and the new snow we had on Saturday, my girls put up paper snowflakes and other winter and holiday pictures up all over the house.

I can't believe how fast our paper money, our cash, goes. This is especially true when I pay for 3 haircuts with it! The haircuts are fine, if not just a little short. It is tough to go to a different person every time I get my hair cut and have to explain how to do it and wonder how it will turn out. I have been spoiled having the same person cut my hair every time before moving here.

Some of the money disappeared for another really good reason; I went on a date with my wife! It was great. It has been a while because of sickness and other reasons. She is great. I love spending time with her. We had fun and got to eat some really good ice cream together.

I also had fun putting together a couple of puzzles this week with my wife and most of my children. I have never done much of that, but it's pretty fun! The one we did over the last couple of days was pretty tough!

My favorite holiday?

I think that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

So many of the things I like are part of it. This includes eating, watching football, playing football, watching the BYU-Utah football game, being with family, having a short work-week, enjoying a long weekend, eating Cranberry Cream, eating my mother-in-law's and now my wife's amazing pies, thinking of all of the things I am thankful for, relaxing in general and probably a bunch of other things. So many good memories.

This year was different.

I can't say that the biggest reason was because I now live far away from family. Unfortunately, the biggest reason this year was different is that I got sick. I started feeling really unwell on Wednesday at work and stayed as long as I could stand. I left at about 2:30 and rode home on one of the most packed Metro trains I have ever been on. I was pressed on all sides by at least 4 people and they were all jammed in too. It is a 10-15 minute walk from work to the Metro, I stood waiting about 10 minutes for the train to come, stood crammed on the train for the 20 minute ride to my station, and waited about 5 minutes outside for the shuttle to come. I was miserable.

I was sneezing, had a cough, was congested, was sore all over my body and had a fever. I rested after I got home and took some medicine and still didn't feel any better that evening. To spare all the gruesome details, I can just say that the only time I left my apartment from Wednesday through today was to go to the InstaCare for 2 hours and have them tell me I likely have H1N1 since I tested positive for the type of flu that includes that and some seasonal ones that don't start until December. It has been pretty miserable.

I feel bad, but also for my family. We had some pretty fun things planned. At least they got to go down to our Thanksgiving get-together. I did not get to play in the Turkey bowl, have Thanksgiving dinner, go on a Friday-night date with my wife, watch the BYU-Utah game (since they don't show it here or on the internet and you have to have satellite TV to get it), spend any time with extended family or friends, or do something fun as a family on Saturday.

The good news is that I am starting to feel better, I did get some of my wife's pies, my children already had the H1N1 vaccination, my wife is very helpful and caring, Kleenex works, OJ is good, BYU won and I could listen on internet radio to the game, I finished reading a book, I have a family, and I'm still alive.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. But, I wonder what future ones will be like?

Creative and Flexible

The theme this past week had to be creative and flexible.

Four of my days were in workshops that had something to do with that theme. I was even in an actual creative problem solving workshop a couple of days. Added some tools to my pack for getting the creative juices flowing. One idea I liked that is apparently scientifically proven to help with creativity is humor. Sometimes it helps to look at things we are dealing with and find what could be funny in them and laugh at them. I think that's something I can do. It's okay to look at it in a strange way because sometimes that's when new ideas and breakthroughs start to happen. One of my workshops was emergency medical training, which I found out could require a lot of creativity. If some serious situation happens and I don't have splints and bandages readily available, I can create them! It's sounds a little like McGyver, but you can make a splint and bandage out of so many common things, sticks and shirts, etc. I also learned that tourniquets might be making a comeback since it's so much better to save a life than lose a limb. Hmmm. I agree with that but do hope that I don't have to make that choice for someone.

Also, in some big news, I found out late Friday that there is a change in my training schedule and I will be starting language training earlier, in just 2 weeks! I am excited about that.

In other creative news, I went to the National Art Museum and saw an exhibit of armor and helmets from Europe. There were some truly amazing ones there, like the helmet that looked like an animal's head. I loved the exhibit.

It's all about being creative and flexible sometimes.

New-nique Week

This week was full of new and unique experiences for me, and I love new and unique.

Wednesday was the first time I have ever had the day off for Veteran's Day. And not only did I have the day off, but it was right in the middle of the week and my children were in school, except for the youngest. My wife convinced me it was a good time to shop for some new shoes. I bought some new casual shoes, which has been very rare for me over the last few years of wearing suits 6 days a week. I caught my oldest as he got home from school early and we played a game we have never played before, St. Petersburg, for a couple of hours and had a blast.



Another unique first for me was the work schedule around the mid-week holiday. The first two days of the week I did not have anything in particular scheduled in my training so I am supposed to find productive things to do. Monday I went in to the training center and did some administrative business most of the day and also read up on Indonesian history and culture. The really unique day was Tuesday because I really didn't need to go in for anything. Instead of wasting an hour of my day commuting, I stayed at home and read and did other work. I have never had that experience before. I liked it and did manage to get a full day in with almost no interruptions and a much more comfortable place to sit.

I had a negotiating class on Thursday and Friday and had a good time being selected by my group to be in the final negotiation scenario. I probably could have been better at interest-based negotiation except that sometimes I am a little stubborn and I like to pick at details for fun. I think I may have had more fun with it than I was supposed to. The only sad thing about these two days, besides all the rain, was that my children were out of school while I was in!

Saturday was a beautiful day and we were lucky because we had chosen that day to visit Baltimore. I have never been there before and will have to go back. We did something we thought our children would love and we were right. We visited a children's museum near downtown. We stayed the entire day from near opening time to closing time there and went through everything. I was happy that they encourage the adults to accompany their children since they had some really fun stuff like a huge climbing jungle thing. I am happy to report that I can keep up with them and fit through small spaces almost as well as they can. We also took some time to walk along the dock and go to a restaurant. It was such a beautiful day and we had a good time.  It definately tired me out.

Something else I did this week that I have not done in years is exercise, running or weight-lifting or both, every day this week. Usually I just go running three times a week. This week I added weights and my wife helped me figure out how to get something in every day like she has been doing.

There are probably a few other things I am forgetting, but I have really enjoyed my new-nique (new and unique) week.

Kick Sick

So part of what I have been learning this week is how to kick being sick. I think sleep is one of the absolute best things. I also believe that it is possible to minimize the possibility by eating healthy, getting regular exercise, and sleeping the right amount.

There are so many people all around us right now who are, or have recently been, sick. Mostly it is colds but there have also been some people with strep and some with fevers and other symptoms that may indicate H1N1.

This week after not sleeping very well one night I also started sneezing and needing to use a lot of tissues, etc. I still felt pretty well and even did my usual run that morning. So I didn't think twice about going to work and did my best to stay away from people. It helped that there were only 7 others in my class and we could spread out in the classroom. I also tried to get a lot of sleep that night and all those after that. I slept between 8 and 9 hours a night and got to rest before going to sleep for a while. This is the most I have slept for more than a couple of days in a row since "I-can't-remember-when." Besides feeling more tired than usual for a couple of days and needing to use tissues at the breaks those days it wasn't too bad.

I think it was on the same day this happened that we had all received what I would call "an Email lecture" at work about not coming to work sick because it is irresponsible. I totally agree. But where do you draw the line? I have a hard time staying home from work, especially when it is literally impossible to do it again, when my symptoms don't seem that bad. Do I draw the line at a cough, a sneeze, a headache, a fever, a stomach-ache, a doctor visit, a stay in the hospital? I don't want to get others sick and I do want to be responsible. I was glad I went and don't think I made others sick. (But that's probably what someone else said who got me sick.) What do you think? Where do you draw the line?

I was able to take all but my oldest to get the H1N1 vaccine yesterday. They are still only offering it to adults who are "high risk." It went pretty quickly. I was grateful for that. My youngest threw a fit because he decided just before arriving at the mass vaccination that he did not want the nasal vaccine, only the shot. Great. He wouldn't talk for about 20 minutes, only scream, grunt, and gesture. We finally persuaded him that it was okay to spit so he could talk to us. The good news is that everyone was in good spirits again after a Slurpee.

I loved learning more about Southeast Asia again this week. I had a ton of reading at the beginning of the week, but it was interesting. Learning is a wonderful thing. I am done with the course and received a certificate of completion! Now on to other training, formal and informal.

Now, if only I can keep the sickness away from me and my family as it swirls around here. I better stop writing and go to bed so I can keep kicking the sick.

Getting Acquainted

This week I spent getting acquainted with "someone" new: my future-new-home and it's neighbors in Southeast Asia:

There are so many things I didn't really understand about this region of the world and one of the beautiful things about this week is that it is now coming into focus.
One of the "aha's" during my learning was the point that each country in this region is so very different for a variety of reasons: political, economic, geographic, religious, ethnic, linguistic, and historical. There are some commonalities, but the influences aren't of the same mix for different countries and places. Most of the region has an ancient influence from India and also an influence from China to varying degrees. They also have influences from ancient kingdoms that existed at various times. Some are Buddhist, some are Muslim, some are Christian, some are Hindu, all have their own flavor of the religions. There are many historical tensions from the past that don't necessarily meet up with today's borders. They have governments that range from democratic to communist to military dictatorship and even a monarchy. There are tens of thousands of islands and peninsulas and mountains and volcanoes and jungles and rivers great and small. There are at least three different, unrelated, language families.
The beautiful thing is when they somehow get along and understand each other. Hopefully in our everyday lives, even though we are so very different from each other and different experiences and families, we can figure out a way to get along and communicate. We can begin to understand others when we first try to "get acquainted" and to understand them and their experiences.

My Pick

This week was filled with training and reading and Email coordination. Two days of the week I had training that was scheduled for me about security and safety overseas. The other days of the week I had to figure out something on my own. It is a good challenge to have. Even when I wasn't scheduled to be anywhere, I still got up and went to work to make sure I did something productive. It is a rare opportunity to be able to choose what I will study and when. It was surprisingly difficult! I feel like I spent the time well attending lectures, reading, sending and reading Email, doing research, finding out more about resources available to me for future reference, and working on my schedule for the next couple of months.
Oh, and one exciting thing for me . . . I picked up a map of the world that shows the time zones and U.S. Embassies and other posts overseas and ordered a big wall map of Indonesia!
We had a couple of crazy days this week, too. The craziest was the day the power went out at 8:30 p.m. and didn't come back on until 2:30 p.m. the next day. I went for an early morning run that morning only to realize afterward that our water heater has some kind of electrical component. I had to take a shower anyway. It was VERY cold. After a couple of minutes it wasn't too bad, because my skin was numb by that time. It would have been 100% torture if I hadn't run that morning and been really hot. Anyway, I'm thankful for electricity for sure. I was thinking that maybe when I live in Indonesia and it is 95 degrees every day, I might pick cold showers every day to cool off!

Oath

On Friday I finished orientation and was officially sworn in! I am an official of the U.S. Government, a commissioned officer. It is exciting and amazing to think about it. I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution and do my best ("well and faithfully discharge the duties of the Office"). I will do my best to serve my country and the citizens of my country; that is the reason I pursued my job and now it is also the promise I have made.
I have noticed that whenever oaths of service are taken that it is no longer about the individual in the office, but about something bigger and more important that needs to be done. The individual plays a part, but it is about serving the greater good and sacrificing one's own interests for the benefit of others. This kind of selfless service, (isn't service always supposed to be selfless?), interestingly also builds the individual engaged in the service. I think it is one of the secrets of life--understanding the power of service to lift and enrich all those involved in it, particularly if it is done selflessly and for a cause greater than one's own interest. The words "swear" and "oath" come from Old English. They are words that have been around a long time--more than a thousand years. They also have a lot of layers of meaning. When I swear in, which is to take an oath, I feel a weight to fulfill a big responsibility whatever the size of my particular job at the moment and to work for the success of the whole.
I pray that I will "well and faithfully discharge" any and all of the duties I have taken or responsibilities that may be mine. And I pray that I will remember the significance of taking an oath to do so.

What's the news?

The news is . . .

I have been assigned to Surabaya, Indonesia!

Indonesian Flag

Surabaya symbol:

A shark and an alligator battling for dominion

I will move next year, at the end of summer, and will do training of various kinds until that time, including learning Indonesian.

This was one of several places on my list I thought would be good to go to. It will be good. The school is good, the assignment is good, I learn a new language. Indonesia is the 4th most populous country in the world, behind China, India, and the United States of America. Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia, after the capitol of Jakarta, and has many more people than in my whole home state of Utah! It also has a couple of branches of the Church and is part of the Indonesia Jakarta mission. When they gave out the assignments on Friday afternoon, my assignment was announced second-to-last! As assignments were announced for others I was trying to remember what was left. It was intense. This is the right one for us.

In other news this week: I had a lot going on at work. I received my Russian score, which was about what I expected and good enough to not need any additional training in that language if I get a future assignment that requires it. (Wahoo!) I also got back results of a test that supposedly assesses my ability to learn a language, not counting the all-important factor of motivation, and apparently I should be able to learn languages really well. Great. This week I also had some pretty intense practical exercises like answering tough questions on the spot and giving a speech. It was also intense waiting until Friday afternoon to find out my assignment.

We went out to eat to celebrate on Friday night and visited a couple of fun sights on Saturday, including Madame Tussaud's, which is where I got the first picture in this post.

Russkii i dom

This week much of my focus has been on two things: the Russian language and the sell of my home.

These two things have occupied any free "brain" time I have had this week.

In the evenings, and sometimes early mornings, as much as I could I listened to Russian news podcasts and read articles in Russian. At lunchtime I did not eat with others but went instead to a place where there are old Russian-language magazines and newspapers and I spent my lunch time reading them. Whenever I could remember, I prayed in Russian and talked

to myself in Russian about whatever was running through my head and I even translated in my head sometimes when people were speaking.

Why all this work and craziness? I took a 2-hour language test on Friday afternoon. Part of it was speaking and part of it was reading. The test is designed to be as difficult as possible to find out where the upper limit of ability is. It was pretty tough when they wanted to get into a technical political debate with me and I that seemed to be about my limit. On the reading they only give you a couple of minutes to read passages and tell them what they are about (not necessarily translate, but describe and give context, and so forth). It was challenging and I knew it would be.

The other thing that took up some of my brain-time and time-time this week was the sell of our

home. After what seems like forever waiting for it to happen, it actually closed this week! Since we were doing it long-distance we had to sign the paperwork on our own, fax it, and send it in FedEx. We barely made it (thanks to FedEx being a few minutes late to pick up). A lot of rushing around and worry, but it is done. Thanks to our Realtor and friend for all of her help.

I also thought it was interesting that on Wednesday night we had a notary come over to certify some of the documents that required a notary and . . . . she was a Russian!

Russkii (Russian) i (and) dom (home) -- done!

Service

Service is what my life is about.

Service has always been important to me personally and is something that I have tried very hard to enjoy since it is a big part of life. Service can be good for the one doing it as well as the one receiving it, if done with the right motivations and in the right way.

My job is also about service. I am a public servant. My job exists by and for the citizens and taxpayers. This is one reason that wherever I work, it will be to the needs of the service and not necesarily my own needs.

Whenever we serve with the proper spirit and motivation it is like that. Often our service for others involves a degree of sacrifice of our own self interest. When King Benjamin served his people he supported himself while sacrificing his own time and interests for the public good. He was able to do amazing things because he understood that service also means sacrifice of self for the common good.

When we serve in the Church we also can learn this lesson of service and sacrifice. A call to serve is a call to give up our own selfish interests for the good of others and a cause we believe in. It is not quite as important what we are called to do at church, or where I am called to serve at work, but it is important to do my best and understand what it means to serve.

Service is not about me. It's about something greater than me and for others who deserve to be served as my equals. If I have been blessed with skills or resources I should use them.

I have been thinking about these things today because today I was called to serve with my wife as a member of the "Temple Committee" and this week I turned in the list indicating my preferences on where I am sent to serve and doing what in my job, with the understanding that I can go anywhere AND I played tennis yesterday for the first time in years, which also includes a lot of "service!" :)

I will try to remember that I am a servant and to work my best while keeping a positive attitude to make a difference for good in the world and for the people I serve.

Memory

This was a great week.

It was fun, hard, boring, exciting, stressful, eye-opening, disappointing, satisfying, tiring, amazing, surprising, difficult. It was a little microcosm of life itself in a way. There was so much to it.

I memorized passwords and numbers and rules. I had experiences I won't forget, like the Secretary visiting our orientation class, and others I am trying to remember, like the presentation on the structure of the department.

Life is like this week. There are so many experiences. Some of what we experience we must remember, some would be nice to remember, and some we will remember without even trying. It's so fascinating.

I wish I could automatically turn my memory on or off. That way I could remember things I want to remember and forget things I don't want to remember or don't have any use for any more.

This week there are some things I need to remember and some things I will never forget.

Settling in?

This week I solidified a few of the streets in my mind, found some other places that we needed to find, got the youngest in pre-school, and met a few other people. These are all good and important things right now. One of the people in charge of helping with foreign service officer careers and making our assignments told us that one of the most essential things we will do is get to know the people in our incoming group or "class." We will be helping each other out in many ways throughout our careers including putting in a good word for a position we might want, warning us of places we might want to be wary of, gaining perspective, etc. Part of that is getting to know one another. I have been able to meet and interact with a few already and there have been some opportunities to meet others. There are almost 100 in my incoming class and so there are a lot of people to remember, but I'm up to the task. I specifically remember about 13 of the names and faces at the moment and there are several others that I'll have to think more about to come up with at the moment. I have studied maps of the area this week, studied Russian, unpacked the air baggage which arrived on Friday, ate at a great Lebanese place with my wife for lunch, got my son enrolled in a Baptist pre-school, met a few people who are not new to the Foreign Service who live here, helped my wife to learn a few of the routes to important places, went to a temple session at the DC temple (and got myself there and back), set up a new bank account that will work well overseas or wherever I am, almost set up insurance on the car and our belongings that will also work with our new lifestyle, endured a couple of days of rain, visited the zoo and saw pandas and other animals, ushered at our stake conference, went to a house in the northern virginia countryside and rode on a zip line and roasted marshmallows on a bonfire. It has been fun and packed, but I am also a little bored of not working and ready to start. This paragraph is way to long and breaks all rules of good writing, but feels a bit like this week. I am ready to start my new career tomorrow and very excited.

This week - Staging

In my last job I was introduced to terms that before that time were unfamiliar to me: staging server and production server. Colleagues talked about them with ease while I wondered which was which and what their purpose was. I knew they were where our new Web site project was stored electronically, but I couldn't remember the difference until one day when I was thinking about a musical and it clicked. Maybe everyone else knows this, but "staging" for the server where you put everything to check it out and make sure it works how you want it to, sort of like practice and dress rehearsals, and "production" for the server where the actual thing is running--it's the show, the real thing.

On every successful journey or hike or project there is some part of it that is staging and then some part is production. I have been in staging for my new career for a while and am about a week away from production. Because my new career also includes a lifestyle change for our whole family, this week has meant a lot of getting things ready for everyone--staging.

We registered the children on-line, visited the schools, talked to administrators and teachers, filled out more "paper-work", figured out how to drive there, found out which buses go and from where at what time, shopped for school supplies after finding where to get them. We found the grocery store and bought food, found the church building, figured out the shuttle, figured out the metro and how to purchase fares, and all kinds of other things.

We also did some fun things like visit Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial one day, visit Smithsonian Air and Space Museum another day and went swimming a couple of other days. I kind of put these in the same category since we are figuring out where to learn about what we can do and how to get there.

We're learning a lot about the area and ourselves in the process. Hopefully we'll work out any "bugs" before we launch (in stages) this week and next so things can run as smoothly as possible and we can take care of new issues as they arise after that. I'm sure I'll have more "staging" to come, but it's always a learning process and can be just as difficult as the actual "production."

Life Ascending

I am the kind of person who gets excited about the climb to the top. I enjoy moving forward and finishing something that requires effort. There is so much to be learned from the hard work, perserverance, the obstacles to overcome. Always learning is something important to me in life. It is one of the main reasons I choose to make the climb. Ascending mountains, ascending to greater heights as a husband and father, ascending to the Lord through repentance and righteousness, ascending to better service, ascending to living my dreams, ascending to understanding people and places and things I haven't known.

This blog is about my journey, my ascent.