Urban Assault

Overall, I'm loving DC from being able to see the sun most days to reveling in free concerts at Kennedy Center and the National Cathedral to the beauty and history everywhere.  But, I think living on Vashon for most of the past nearly 8 years has made me move to a a slower beat.  I crave quiet, calm and nature.  The community where we live is as close to that as I think you can get and still be in the city.  I find that the morning routine of driving the less than 2 miles to Sophie's school, then the mile or so back towards home to Xavier's school and finally driving around in circles to find a place to park to take the subway and the reverse in the evenings (made more complicated by needing to find a place to park at each school in the evenings) leaves me feeling practically assaulted.  The defensive driving skills I learned in Ghana are coming in handy.  The sirens, lights and the fact that it feels like yelling is the major form of communication is dizzying for me.  I sometimes find myself paralyzed int he midst of it all.  By the time I get home in the evenings, I want to hide away in our quiet apartment and sit in silence.  Not something that happens very often with 2 kids and a hyper dog who all have so much to share about their days.  Today, Xavier, Rosie I walked in the woods near our house.  The area is a ravine with a creek running through it and I felt like I could breathe.  Xavier delighted in the mud, sticks and rocks and Rosie was in heaven being able to dip herself in the water.  I almost forgot I was in DC - until the police helicopter flew overhead!  We will all find our little pieces of the island quiet we love wherever we can!

The Person Behind the Dog

Another part of the DC culture that we're trying to get used to is the love of dogs.  While we absolutely love ours and come from Vashon, where dogs' rights are a point of intense community discourse, we also are used to humans interacting with each other as well as the dogs.  We've found that here, many in the community knew Rosie even before she arrived and enthusiastically greeted her on the street and in the dog park.  During most of these encounters, I'd watch as the person talked on and on about their dog, asked questions about Rosie and, as they were about to depart, I'd introduce myself.  The first time I did this the woman said "Oh, I'll remember the dog, you know how it is". Another woman spent some time telling me about her dogs and admiring Rosie, then launched into a long and very personal story.  At the end, I felt awkward that she had shared so much without even telling me her name, so I asked her name and gave her mine.  She seemed a bit taken aback, like it hadn't occurred to her to introduce herself.   Others haven't been quite so blunt, but it is clear that the people aren't so interested in knowing the person behind the dog, they just want to know the dog.  I have to wonder if this is some "safe"way to be out and about and have social interaction without having to actually put yourself out to another person.  I'm not sure, but I find it intriguing.  

Feeling Very "Secure"

DC is a beautiful city - gorgeous architecture, historic sites everywhere, the weather has been wonderful and it feels so much like an international city that the kids occasionally ask things like "do they use metric here?" because they forget they're still in the US!  One of the things we all noticed immediately and is slowly becoming a "normal" part of our lives is the high security everywhere.  We live literally across the street from where the Obama girls go to school and we are now used to seeing Secret Service at every corner in the mornings and afternoons and occasionally having to slow for motorcades dashing by.  Beyond that, both kids have security at their schools.  Xavier's school is monitored by a guard at the main door who diligently watches the perimeter on screens and dashed out to question me when I was taking pictures outside one day.  Meanwhile Sophie's school goes many steps further and has metal detectors at the doors, security guards in every classroom AND the bathrooms!  It's a really beautiful, well-run school but there are many kids from embassies and high net worth families that go there and all we can guess is that they are just really careful to ensure there aren't any incidents.  Sophie says it makes her feel really safe, so I guess that's good.  And, I'm getting used to showing my ID and having to have someone sign me in to any office building I enter.  I also take the subway to work and there are often police officers and K-9 units patrolling.  At a concert at Kennedy Center last night, officers with a K-9 unit swept through several times as just a matter of course.

So, we are feeling quite secure here and it's another element of life in DC that we're getting used to.  

Another Adventure

We are in DC and finally getting settled in.  We are here for a year or two, for my job as the Global Partnership Director of the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action - MAMA www.mobilemamaalliance.org.  It's a partnership between USAID, Johnson & Johnson, the United Nations Foundation and the Mobile Health Alliance.  My office is in Dupont Circle at the UNF buildings.  The kids and I have a beautiful, light-filled apartment in McLean Gardens, a 23 acre community in Northwest DC, just blocks to the National Cathedral.  We have lots of open space, a dog park and community garden nearby and it feels like a nice mix of urban and a bit of nature.  We've just finished our first full week of work and school and so far, we are all adjusting pretty darn well.  Xavier and I arrived a week ahead of Sophie and Rosie, accompanied by my Mom, who is here helping out for a couple of weeks.  Xavier and I spent our days juggling incredible logistics to get thins in place - balancing rental cars, buying a new car, getting furniture delivered and shopping for everything from toilet paper to pans to bedding.  He was truly a trooper and we both found ourselves generally exhausted and speechless at night while we ate dinner and dropped into bed.  But, the basics were in place by the time "the girls" arrived a week later and the kids were able to start school last Monday while I started my regular in-the-office work days and Rosie started getting used to having scheduled dog walks by a dog walker.  My mom spent her days getting us organized at home and we now feel like we are fully launched into this particular adventure.