August 5, 2009
Today was our mandatory Embassy briefing and badge making routine. We now can come & go with diplomatic status providing Ethan doesn’t lose his ID as often as he does his room keyJ Later we will get the card that says we may not be arrested or detained…THAT, I gotta have! Our briefing was actually quite brief. We did learn that we’d be issued a rubber necked head mask to use in case of chemical or biological warfare. After discussing the low risk of crime and terrorism, he covered the most life threatening activity of all: driving! Coming from a country where not being in the proper lane in a roundabout before exiting is a highly “honkable” offense—it is with shock & awe that we watch speeding cars from the inside lane (for lack of a better word; they don’t observe this convention) cut abruptly across all traffic to exit the circle.
Here are a few things this culture does not appear to be bothered by:
>Securing children in car seats while driving
>Signaling intentions in traffic
>Recycling & proper waste disposal
>Truth…at our hotel, if an answer to a query is not known, one is made up)
>Asking for clarification if there is confusing communication: better to ignore the matter than
admit you didn’t understand
To our great disappointment, we discovered Molly can’t get a permit to work anywhere (not just the embassy as we thought) until her 18th birthday in Jan. Now we must get creative with options such as private tutoring, as sitters don’t seem much in demand with the common use of hired help to do both cleaning and childcare. This unexpected finding has put a dent in her plans and will require some re-thinking.
The heat & jetlag have combined to suck the life out of me today…All I want to do is sleep
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