October is over, isn't everyone thrilled? I lived through a Oktoberfest event in the rain, a bus trip to a bazaar, and Halloween. Of course, November is gearing up to be busy, and I'm already looking at ways to call in sick for the entire month of December, but hey, at least Halloween's over.
The Halloween event turned out well. We had about 300 people attend and great complements. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Afterwards, I headed straight home, walked right into my bathroom and into a hot bubble bath and crawled into bed. After a full day of sleeping, I was almost recovered.
Joel got to go back to the States for a few days this month and ate Chinese without me. Yeah, I almost didn't speak to him for a whole day about that, especially when he went to my favorite pancake house too. I couldn't go because of the Halloween event. Well, all marriages have their little quirky times, right? I guess we're lucky if our main problem is Chinese food. Seriously good Chinese food. And he did get to say hi to the Rumbaugh clan, too. Sheesh.
Yesterday we had a day off, (Italian/Catholic holiday, All Saints Day - the day after Halloween), and we went and had lunch in Frascati, a small town right outside of Rome. It was pretty good, a little different than Roman pasta. It's amazing, after a year I can actually tell the difference between the pasta and sauces in the different regions of Italy. Joel and I will never be able to eat in Olive Garden again. There wasn't much more to the town, except where we ate, so we headed back home.
This month: We have the Marine Ball this weekend (Can you all join me in praying that my new dress arrives in the mail by tomorrow, and also fits?) , and Thanksgiving at our place. I'm having folks over to scrapbook one weekend, and my office is organizing a wine tour. We have Veteran's Day off next Friday, but no clue what we're going to do for the weekend.
On other news, there is a reason why Dell Computer's stocks are down. Their customer service is awful. After 6 months of hassle trying to get our laptop repaired, it's finally all back in one piece. However it runs worse than molasses. If it wasn't a 1 year old computer, I'd throw it away and start over. Sheesh again.
The cats are doing well. For a month or two they seemed to be having a fight as they literally refused to touch each other or be in the same room. I think they've gotten over it thought, this past week they are back to bathing each other and licking each other to death. It's so funny, Puzza will actually hold Obe down so he can wash Obe's head for him. Okay, maybe not funny to you, but it is when you're seeing the martyr look on Obe's face.
Now that I've bored you all enough, I will say Happy late Halloween, and Happy early Veterans Day!
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Flag of Croatia
And here is the flag of Croatia.
(Aren't you proud of me, I figured out how to add pictures to the blog.)
Map of Croatia and Zagreb
Hi everyone - I wanted to show you where Croatia was. We'll be living in Zagreb, the capital. Now you can't see it, but across the Adriatic sea is Italy, and we can still drive to Northern Italy by going through Slovenia. (Thank goodness, I will need my pasta fix.)
Oh, and Split is where we went on vacation last summer.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Mendez October Email to the Masses
Yes, it's the middle of the month already. I was trying to wait until our laptop and DSL lines got fixed, but sadly it's going to take a few more days to get all of the kinks worked out.
The most fun thing we did in September was go to London. LOVED it. LOVED it. (Did I say that already?) Did the double-decker bus tour, Shakespeare tour (I can now show you the empty lot where a house that Shakespeare once slept in stood), a tour of the Globe theater where I got to have my picture by the stage, ate Indian food galore, and saw two shows, Mamma Mia and Death of a Salesman with Brian Denehy. It's really expensive in London with the British pound compared to the dollar, but we had such a wonderful time, we just have to go back again. This is us at the Tower of London.
At work, September was also the great month of orientation. We had a BBQ at the DCM's (2nd in command under the Ambassador) residence for all of the newcomers, and our Tri-Mission Orientation to orient everyone to living here in Rome. The Ambassador started showing monthly movies at his residence (September's was Madagascar, this month is Bewitched). We spent most of the month also working on Halloween and Oktoberfest planning for October, and my Co-CLO went to two weeks of training back in the States. September also saw one of my biggest work goals being realized - the start of the SNAP program here in Rome. This was a grant through the State Dept to hire a Local Employment Advisor, who helps family members find jobs outside of the embassy. So, she finally started last month and she is rolling right along, which is great.
Oh, and I took this jazz singer workshop for a week at a local university with this American jazz pianist who was in town. Very cool.
So last week we had Oktoberfest which was nice event. Would have been much nicer if it hadn't poured down rain all throughout the event, (we were trying to have it outside on a patio, but ended up under a large covered walkway) but hey, get enough German beer in folks, and they don't care too much about the weather. I ended up with a cold that I'm still trying to kill.
This month we are already finishing up with Halloween, and working on plans for a Thanksgiving reception, a Christmas market, Tree Lighting Ceremony, and a Children's Santa Party to round out the year. We've got a lot going on event-wise as you can see. We are at Mgmt workshops all this week, and we start going out to visit the schools again next week. Oh, Saturday we went back to this cool bazaar at the NATO base that I went to last year with a huge busload of people. It's a crazy time in the CLO office.
Joel, that guy? Yeah I see him around occasionally. He tries not to be a workaholic though his job does tend to lean that way. But lately I've been lucky enough that he comes home at reasonable times. He's started playing basketball with a group of men once a week, and has become the unofficial poker game organizer for the embassy. He's gotten pretty good, and has even won me some spending money at the last game.
So, that's it for us. You guys write back, and tell me how everything is there! I hope you are all getting less rain than we are right now. It rains more here, than it did the weekend we were in London. Sick of the gross weather.
Love,
Julie and Joel
The most fun thing we did in September was go to London. LOVED it. LOVED it. (Did I say that already?) Did the double-decker bus tour, Shakespeare tour (I can now show you the empty lot where a house that Shakespeare once slept in stood), a tour of the Globe theater where I got to have my picture by the stage, ate Indian food galore, and saw two shows, Mamma Mia and Death of a Salesman with Brian Denehy. It's really expensive in London with the British pound compared to the dollar, but we had such a wonderful time, we just have to go back again. This is us at the Tower of London.At work, September was also the great month of orientation. We had a BBQ at the DCM's (2nd in command under the Ambassador) residence for all of the newcomers, and our Tri-Mission Orientation to orient everyone to living here in Rome. The Ambassador started showing monthly movies at his residence (September's was Madagascar, this month is Bewitched). We spent most of the month also working on Halloween and Oktoberfest planning for October, and my Co-CLO went to two weeks of training back in the States. September also saw one of my biggest work goals being realized - the start of the SNAP program here in Rome. This was a grant through the State Dept to hire a Local Employment Advisor, who helps family members find jobs outside of the embassy. So, she finally started last month and she is rolling right along, which is great.
Oh, and I took this jazz singer workshop for a week at a local university with this American jazz pianist who was in town. Very cool.
So last week we had Oktoberfest which was nice event. Would have been much nicer if it hadn't poured down rain all throughout the event, (we were trying to have it outside on a patio, but ended up under a large covered walkway) but hey, get enough German beer in folks, and they don't care too much about the weather. I ended up with a cold that I'm still trying to kill.
This month we are already finishing up with Halloween, and working on plans for a Thanksgiving reception, a Christmas market, Tree Lighting Ceremony, and a Children's Santa Party to round out the year. We've got a lot going on event-wise as you can see. We are at Mgmt workshops all this week, and we start going out to visit the schools again next week. Oh, Saturday we went back to this cool bazaar at the NATO base that I went to last year with a huge busload of people. It's a crazy time in the CLO office.
Joel, that guy? Yeah I see him around occasionally. He tries not to be a workaholic though his job does tend to lean that way. But lately I've been lucky enough that he comes home at reasonable times. He's started playing basketball with a group of men once a week, and has become the unofficial poker game organizer for the embassy. He's gotten pretty good, and has even won me some spending money at the last game.
So, that's it for us. You guys write back, and tell me how everything is there! I hope you are all getting less rain than we are right now. It rains more here, than it did the weekend we were in London. Sick of the gross weather.
Love,
Julie and Joel
Thursday, September 01, 2005
September 1 and Alls Well!
Hi everyone! So, Happy Labor Day weekend! (And happy birthday to my sister Nancy!)
We found out where we are moving to next year: Zagreb, Croatia! We are very excited - this is a great place, right across the Adriatic from Italy (and where we went to the beach on our vacation). Of course the capital, Zagreb, is not on the beach and that is the only bad part about it. It's in the northern part of the country, but it does have five different thermal baths (heated springs) within driving distance. (Can you say "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday"?) I probably won't be able to work at the embassy there, it's pretty small and doesn't have that many family member jobs, so I'm starting to investigate working for myself while there. We will be just a five hour drive back over to northern Italy and the military base in Aviano (Yeay, I still have access to the PX!) and we can easily travel to Italy, Austria, Germany, Hungary, etc. It's going to be fun. It's definitely cheaper to live there than Rome. And maybe it doesn't sound as cool as Italy, but it will still be a very neat place for you to come visit!
That's the major news for the month. I went on a major scrapbooking rampage over Faragosto weekend (It's the Italian 3 day weekend for the summer, kindof like Memorial and Labor Day rolled into one.) and got 42 pages done. Then I ran out of pages, so I'm stuck until I get more. My goal is to get completely caught up before the end of the year. Kindof a monumental task. I'm half-way through the wedding album and got up until March of this year.
What does Joel do while I spend all this time scrapbooking? Playing Major League Baseball on the Playstation. I'm not sure I should have gotten him this game. He plays a general manager and not only plays the games, but trades and runs the stadium. It's great training for the day when he becomes General Manager of the New York Yankees (while I'm famous on Broadway). Please, whatever you do, don't buy him any playstation games for Christmas!
School starts next week here, which means I lose the teenager that works in my office. And we are drowning in event planning again - I've been enjoying my break from all that. My partner has to go back for training for two weeks in DC; we've got 2 major orientation events this month and the new Ambassador decided to throw a reception next week at the last minute; and we have Oktoberfest and Halloween coming up in October. Aah, my leasurely summer is over. I already miss it.
Joel and I are heading up to an agriturismo in Tuscany tomorrow. An agriturismo is a "tourist farm", kind of a B&B on a working farm. They're all different, some of them are on wineries or serve meals of their local crops (fresh olives, etc.) and it's very cool. The one we are going to has a pool and we can rent horses, and we're close to this town called San Gimingnano that makes THE MOST AMAZING WHITE WINE. I'm not kidding. It's the only white wine I've ever liked. And we are going to take our bikes so we can ride around in the hills of Tuscany. It just sounds cool.
So that's it for me. I've got to go pack and get us ready for the weekend!
Julie and Joel
We found out where we are moving to next year: Zagreb, Croatia! We are very excited - this is a great place, right across the Adriatic from Italy (and where we went to the beach on our vacation). Of course the capital, Zagreb, is not on the beach and that is the only bad part about it. It's in the northern part of the country, but it does have five different thermal baths (heated springs) within driving distance. (Can you say "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday"?) I probably won't be able to work at the embassy there, it's pretty small and doesn't have that many family member jobs, so I'm starting to investigate working for myself while there. We will be just a five hour drive back over to northern Italy and the military base in Aviano (Yeay, I still have access to the PX!) and we can easily travel to Italy, Austria, Germany, Hungary, etc. It's going to be fun. It's definitely cheaper to live there than Rome. And maybe it doesn't sound as cool as Italy, but it will still be a very neat place for you to come visit!
That's the major news for the month. I went on a major scrapbooking rampage over Faragosto weekend (It's the Italian 3 day weekend for the summer, kindof like Memorial and Labor Day rolled into one.) and got 42 pages done. Then I ran out of pages, so I'm stuck until I get more. My goal is to get completely caught up before the end of the year. Kindof a monumental task. I'm half-way through the wedding album and got up until March of this year.
What does Joel do while I spend all this time scrapbooking? Playing Major League Baseball on the Playstation. I'm not sure I should have gotten him this game. He plays a general manager and not only plays the games, but trades and runs the stadium. It's great training for the day when he becomes General Manager of the New York Yankees (while I'm famous on Broadway). Please, whatever you do, don't buy him any playstation games for Christmas!
School starts next week here, which means I lose the teenager that works in my office. And we are drowning in event planning again - I've been enjoying my break from all that. My partner has to go back for training for two weeks in DC; we've got 2 major orientation events this month and the new Ambassador decided to throw a reception next week at the last minute; and we have Oktoberfest and Halloween coming up in October. Aah, my leasurely summer is over. I already miss it.
Joel and I are heading up to an agriturismo in Tuscany tomorrow. An agriturismo is a "tourist farm", kind of a B&B on a working farm. They're all different, some of them are on wineries or serve meals of their local crops (fresh olives, etc.) and it's very cool. The one we are going to has a pool and we can rent horses, and we're close to this town called San Gimingnano that makes THE MOST AMAZING WHITE WINE. I'm not kidding. It's the only white wine I've ever liked. And we are going to take our bikes so we can ride around in the hills of Tuscany. It just sounds cool.
So that's it for me. I've got to go pack and get us ready for the weekend!
Julie and Joel
Monday, August 15, 2005
Happy 1 Year Anniversary in Rome for Mendezes!
Yes, it's official, we've been in Rome for over a year now (only a week over, but hey.)
I'm still trying to work out the kinks in this blog website, sorry guys. It only cooperates to a point.
July was a month of travel for Joel and me. He had a business trip in early July to Milan, and I said, hey what the heck, and went with him. I hung out in Milan while he worked, and then we played around Milan together. And no, I didn't do anything exciting or see anything important. I tried to get tickets to see "The Last Supper," but they were sold out. Joel and I did take a boat trip on the weeked on Lake Cuomo and looked around Bellagio. George Clooney owns a house on the lake, but we were too busy sightseeing to hang out with him. He was heartbroken, I'm sure.
Then surprisingly, Joel and I actually got a week of vacation! We didn't expect to get any time off this weekend, so it was a bit of a scramble trying to get everything booked in time. This is what I wrote for our community newsletter.
"We just got back from a week in Split, Croatia, and had a marvelous time. After a "leisurely" (aka. a local) train ride to Pescara, we boarded a catamaran ferry over to coastal town of Split (www.snav.it); which was a great boat and only took about four hours. The best way to get your place to stay is to step right off of the ferry and speak to one of the many people holding up signs that say "Sobe" or "Rooms." These are very inexpensive, and almost always have their own bathroom, AC and often have a little kitchenette also. The other possibility is to call the hotels directly -- (in Italy, travel agencies book only in "packages" and can take a while to confirm and book). We tried calling a hotel that was full, however the receptionist gave us a great referral to someone who rented a small studio right beside the hotel. We were right on the beach, and also were allowed to use the hotel's pool. The beaches in Croatia are mostly rock, but the water is very warm and very clean. It was wonderful and we spent most of our time laying out or in the water.
Eating and shopping are great in Croatia as it is very cheap! For every American dollar, you get about six Croatian kunas. It became a game for us to do the math on our purchases and realize that after a five course meal with wine, we only spent about $30-40 for both of us to eat! We purchased some very interesting pottery at the huge bazaar next to the Diocletian palace, and the island of Hvar is well known for their fields of lavender and lavender products. Dining out is more casual than Rome, being more of a beach town atmostphere, and there is no reason to get very dressed up for dinner.
If you are interested in historical or seeing the sights, Split's Diocletian palace is in fantastic condition and very interesting. On our last night there, there was even a "Diocletian Festival" celebrating the city's Roman history.
Croatia's cultural influences are very mixed due to their history of being "ruled" by other groups; from Rome, Venice, the Turks, Austria and Hungary. Did you know that Marco Polo was supposed to be Croatian? According to our guidebook, he was "taken" from the island of Korcula when the Venetians took over control of the area. These influences are reflected in their food also. (By the way, please don't try their pasta. If you've eaten in Italy, you will be sorely disappointed.)
We were very happy with our time in Split, and if you are looking for a laid-back, relaxed vacation with a great beach, we recommend it. It would probably be a location for families also. For more information on Croatia, check out www.Croatia.hr."
Anyways we went to Croatia and had a fabulous time. Wonderful warm beaches and lots of sun. I got a tan. Not a dark one, but a tan nonetheless. If you know me you know what an amazing accomplishment that is. Joel was almost unrecognizable he got so dark.
Other than that, we've not done much other than work. My new partner in my office started, and has been a great addition. She's been trying to get caught up, and I've been just trying to get projects that I've started accomplished. (By the way, if you wrote New Year's Resolutions, you only have 4 1/2 months left to complete them.)
Coming up: Our new Ambassador arrives, and we work some more. Joel's boss is out of town for the next few weeks. Trying to get all of the pre-planning done for the rest of the year in my office before the end of the month and the busy season starts up again.
Love,
Julie and Joel
I'm still trying to work out the kinks in this blog website, sorry guys. It only cooperates to a point.
July was a month of travel for Joel and me. He had a business trip in early July to Milan, and I said, hey what the heck, and went with him. I hung out in Milan while he worked, and then we played around Milan together. And no, I didn't do anything exciting or see anything important. I tried to get tickets to see "The Last Supper," but they were sold out. Joel and I did take a boat trip on the weeked on Lake Cuomo and looked around Bellagio. George Clooney owns a house on the lake, but we were too busy sightseeing to hang out with him. He was heartbroken, I'm sure.
Then surprisingly, Joel and I actually got a week of vacation! We didn't expect to get any time off this weekend, so it was a bit of a scramble trying to get everything booked in time. This is what I wrote for our community newsletter.
"We just got back from a week in Split, Croatia, and had a marvelous time. After a "leisurely" (aka. a local) train ride to Pescara, we boarded a catamaran ferry over to coastal town of Split (www.snav.it); which was a great boat and only took about four hours. The best way to get your place to stay is to step right off of the ferry and speak to one of the many people holding up signs that say "Sobe" or "Rooms." These are very inexpensive, and almost always have their own bathroom, AC and often have a little kitchenette also. The other possibility is to call the hotels directly -- (in Italy, travel agencies book only in "packages" and can take a while to confirm and book). We tried calling a hotel that was full, however the receptionist gave us a great referral to someone who rented a small studio right beside the hotel. We were right on the beach, and also were allowed to use the hotel's pool. The beaches in Croatia are mostly rock, but the water is very warm and very clean. It was wonderful and we spent most of our time laying out or in the water.
Eating and shopping are great in Croatia as it is very cheap! For every American dollar, you get about six Croatian kunas. It became a game for us to do the math on our purchases and realize that after a five course meal with wine, we only spent about $30-40 for both of us to eat! We purchased some very interesting pottery at the huge bazaar next to the Diocletian palace, and the island of Hvar is well known for their fields of lavender and lavender products. Dining out is more casual than Rome, being more of a beach town atmostphere, and there is no reason to get very dressed up for dinner.
If you are interested in historical or seeing the sights, Split's Diocletian palace is in fantastic condition and very interesting. On our last night there, there was even a "Diocletian Festival" celebrating the city's Roman history.
Croatia's cultural influences are very mixed due to their history of being "ruled" by other groups; from Rome, Venice, the Turks, Austria and Hungary. Did you know that Marco Polo was supposed to be Croatian? According to our guidebook, he was "taken" from the island of Korcula when the Venetians took over control of the area. These influences are reflected in their food also. (By the way, please don't try their pasta. If you've eaten in Italy, you will be sorely disappointed.)
We were very happy with our time in Split, and if you are looking for a laid-back, relaxed vacation with a great beach, we recommend it. It would probably be a location for families also. For more information on Croatia, check out www.Croatia.hr."
Anyways we went to Croatia and had a fabulous time. Wonderful warm beaches and lots of sun. I got a tan. Not a dark one, but a tan nonetheless. If you know me you know what an amazing accomplishment that is. Joel was almost unrecognizable he got so dark.
Other than that, we've not done much other than work. My new partner in my office started, and has been a great addition. She's been trying to get caught up, and I've been just trying to get projects that I've started accomplished. (By the way, if you wrote New Year's Resolutions, you only have 4 1/2 months left to complete them.)
Coming up: Our new Ambassador arrives, and we work some more. Joel's boss is out of town for the next few weeks. Trying to get all of the pre-planning done for the rest of the year in my office before the end of the month and the busy season starts up again.
Love,
Julie and Joel
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Happy Early July
Hello everyone! So this is my first official "blog" out to you all and I hope you enjoy the website. Still having a few issues and getting the kinks worked out.
Yes, I'm much later in the month than usual, but the joy of this blog is now I don't HAVE to wait until the beginning of the month to post something to you guys. And Joel should be able to post blogs too, if I figure out the managing the site part.
June marked our 1-year anniversary. One year ago this weekend, umm . . . I think I was packing! Hehehehe. We spent our anniversary weekend pretty quietly, just hanging out a bit. I have Joel a small album of pictures of when we were dating in NYC (thus fulfilling two things - the traditional "paper for 1st anniversary gift" and using up a lot of those extra photos). And he gave me a trip for both of us to Viterbo and massages. Viterbo is a town with hot mineral baths that spas have built up around. It was an awesome totally relaxing day, like sunbathing and sitting in a natural hot tub all day long eating ice cream and getting massages. (We got paper tickets for the massages, so that counts, too, right?) Then we headed out to another town nearby called Orvieto where they have GOOD CHINESE FOOD. (Our friends in DC will laugh because they know about our obsession to find good Chinese food.)
What else went on in June? Jeez, I don't really remember. I've been by myself in the office while my old partner left and my new partner was getting her paperwork dealt with. She starts Monday, so I'm ecstatic. I had two teenage guys working with me for the past month and we've done a lot of cleaning out. Purging, reorganizing storage closets, in fact Thursday we spent the entire day going through old files and shredding stuff we don't need anymore. Like files that are almost ten years old. Crazy. Not that the files are the least bit organized but at least they are cleaned out. And you can walk in our office and find things now. It feels wonderful. They also created a kids activity book for kids coming to our embassy and it's very good. Crossword puzzles and color the flag of Italy and connect the dots and stuff like that. It turned out great. Mostly I've been enjoying actually taking my day off like I'm supposed to be doing. As much as I can, anyway.
And I helped out with the 4th of July event for the Ambassador's diplomatic event. Not really a choice. Would much rather have been at the beach watching fireworks, but oh well. We did a BBQ the day before in our apt complex and had some fantastic food.
Last night a group of gal pals and I went to this thing called "Festa." It's a music/food/shopping/boarwalk kind of place on the south end of Rome. Oh my I had so much fun. There was latin food and music everywhere, and concerts happen like every other night. And the food was SOOOOOO good. I'm making Joel take me again tonight. We watched this belly dancer dance at this arabic food place, and all of gals have decided we are all going to take belly dancing. I mean, you should have seen this woman s-h-a-k-e her stuff. My eyes almost popped out. If that doesn't give you abs of steel, nothing will.
Yeah so that's it for now.
Yes, I'm much later in the month than usual, but the joy of this blog is now I don't HAVE to wait until the beginning of the month to post something to you guys. And Joel should be able to post blogs too, if I figure out the managing the site part.
June marked our 1-year anniversary. One year ago this weekend, umm . . . I think I was packing! Hehehehe. We spent our anniversary weekend pretty quietly, just hanging out a bit. I have Joel a small album of pictures of when we were dating in NYC (thus fulfilling two things - the traditional "paper for 1st anniversary gift" and using up a lot of those extra photos). And he gave me a trip for both of us to Viterbo and massages. Viterbo is a town with hot mineral baths that spas have built up around. It was an awesome totally relaxing day, like sunbathing and sitting in a natural hot tub all day long eating ice cream and getting massages. (We got paper tickets for the massages, so that counts, too, right?) Then we headed out to another town nearby called Orvieto where they have GOOD CHINESE FOOD. (Our friends in DC will laugh because they know about our obsession to find good Chinese food.)
What else went on in June? Jeez, I don't really remember. I've been by myself in the office while my old partner left and my new partner was getting her paperwork dealt with. She starts Monday, so I'm ecstatic. I had two teenage guys working with me for the past month and we've done a lot of cleaning out. Purging, reorganizing storage closets, in fact Thursday we spent the entire day going through old files and shredding stuff we don't need anymore. Like files that are almost ten years old. Crazy. Not that the files are the least bit organized but at least they are cleaned out. And you can walk in our office and find things now. It feels wonderful. They also created a kids activity book for kids coming to our embassy and it's very good. Crossword puzzles and color the flag of Italy and connect the dots and stuff like that. It turned out great. Mostly I've been enjoying actually taking my day off like I'm supposed to be doing. As much as I can, anyway.
And I helped out with the 4th of July event for the Ambassador's diplomatic event. Not really a choice. Would much rather have been at the beach watching fireworks, but oh well. We did a BBQ the day before in our apt complex and had some fantastic food.
Last night a group of gal pals and I went to this thing called "Festa." It's a music/food/shopping/boarwalk kind of place on the south end of Rome. Oh my I had so much fun. There was latin food and music everywhere, and concerts happen like every other night. And the food was SOOOOOO good. I'm making Joel take me again tonight. We watched this belly dancer dance at this arabic food place, and all of gals have decided we are all going to take belly dancing. I mean, you should have seen this woman s-h-a-k-e her stuff. My eyes almost popped out. If that doesn't give you abs of steel, nothing will.
Yeah so that's it for now.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Happy June from the Mendezes!
Can you believe we made it?? It's June and the month of Joel's and my anniversary. About this time last year, I was trying to get all the last minute things done oh like figure out the ceremony program and get the reception favors made. What a world.
To start things off, if you want to continue to get monthly email updates from us, please email me. I probably won't be doing them in this format anymore. Joel and I will probably start one of those "blog" websites that both of us can post on, and that you can go look at anytime. Haven't really decided yet. But I don't want to keep bothering anyone who doesn't want these emails, so just let me know.
May was madness. The first half of the month was taken over by the community Auction. I vow to never do one of those again. At least unless I can get out of it by next year. But, it was a resounding success, over 100 attended (maximum capacity) and we raised $10K, after costs. That's about 3 times the amount raised in the past. So it was a fantastic event. Still never want to do that again. What insanity. The current issue is where all that money that we raised is going. Part of it will be paying for the lifeguards, etc. at the pool, but that still leaves about $4K unaccounted for. There will be a meeting this week of the Association, and I'm hoping that my arguements are persuasive enough that my office gets those funds for events.
The following week I hosted two "wine and cheese" receptions for work, and then I was off to Florence for a week of language training and immersion. I stayed with an Italian family and then went to individual language classes for 6 hours per day for a week. Very intensive and hard. But, I would say that I speak on at least a third grade reading level now. When I got out of my classes at 4pm I ran around and did the sightseeing stuff before I headed home for homework. Oh, and apparently I now speak Italian with a "Florence" accent. One of my teachers thought this was funny, so I thought I would pass this along.
So since I was in Florence and all, and we had bid on, and "won" a 2 night stay at a 4 star hotel in Florence at the auction, Joel came up to join me for Memorial Day weekend. We did alot of sighseeing and just enjoyed the city. This was our early anniversary celebration. Joel got me an "Nomination" charm bracelet (very popular Italian charm bracelet thing, pretty) and I got him a leather briefcase. Very grownup looking. It still amazes me that I'm now a grown up.
In the midst of all of this, my partner ended her time in our office (her husband is being transferred to his next post) and we had to sit in on interviews for my new partner. Wow, that was stressful. But they chose a really nice person to sit in with me, and hopefully her paperwork goes much more quickly than mine did and she starts SOON.
Poor Joel had to put up with me through all of that, on top of his new boss arriving - who has turned out to be very nice and a really good guy for Joel to be working for. Joel is still working long hours, but this week we've both resolved to leave by 6pm. His boss will be out for a few weeks to go back to the States to bring his family back over here now that school is over, so we have to take advantage of it while we can. This will be my first full week alone in the office, but hopefully next week I will have two of my "summer hires" begin. Summer Hires is a fancy way of saying highschool and college go-fers and lackeys. Just kidding. But at least that will take some of the menial work off of my plate.
I'm trying to keep June a quiet month, after all the insanity of last month. Probably won't happen, but it's a nice try. Joel and I won't be traveling much this month with his boss being out of town, and then I get the fun job of working the "official" 4th of July event at the Ambassador's residence (fancy thing, not a fun one), so hopefully it will be a quiet summer around here.
Talk to you all soon!
Julie and Joel
To start things off, if you want to continue to get monthly email updates from us, please email me. I probably won't be doing them in this format anymore. Joel and I will probably start one of those "blog" websites that both of us can post on, and that you can go look at anytime. Haven't really decided yet. But I don't want to keep bothering anyone who doesn't want these emails, so just let me know.
May was madness. The first half of the month was taken over by the community Auction. I vow to never do one of those again. At least unless I can get out of it by next year. But, it was a resounding success, over 100 attended (maximum capacity) and we raised $10K, after costs. That's about 3 times the amount raised in the past. So it was a fantastic event. Still never want to do that again. What insanity. The current issue is where all that money that we raised is going. Part of it will be paying for the lifeguards, etc. at the pool, but that still leaves about $4K unaccounted for. There will be a meeting this week of the Association, and I'm hoping that my arguements are persuasive enough that my office gets those funds for events.
The following week I hosted two "wine and cheese" receptions for work, and then I was off to Florence for a week of language training and immersion. I stayed with an Italian family and then went to individual language classes for 6 hours per day for a week. Very intensive and hard. But, I would say that I speak on at least a third grade reading level now. When I got out of my classes at 4pm I ran around and did the sightseeing stuff before I headed home for homework. Oh, and apparently I now speak Italian with a "Florence" accent. One of my teachers thought this was funny, so I thought I would pass this along.
So since I was in Florence and all, and we had bid on, and "won" a 2 night stay at a 4 star hotel in Florence at the auction, Joel came up to join me for Memorial Day weekend. We did alot of sighseeing and just enjoyed the city. This was our early anniversary celebration. Joel got me an "Nomination" charm bracelet (very popular Italian charm bracelet thing, pretty) and I got him a leather briefcase. Very grownup looking. It still amazes me that I'm now a grown up.
In the midst of all of this, my partner ended her time in our office (her husband is being transferred to his next post) and we had to sit in on interviews for my new partner. Wow, that was stressful. But they chose a really nice person to sit in with me, and hopefully her paperwork goes much more quickly than mine did and she starts SOON.
Poor Joel had to put up with me through all of that, on top of his new boss arriving - who has turned out to be very nice and a really good guy for Joel to be working for. Joel is still working long hours, but this week we've both resolved to leave by 6pm. His boss will be out for a few weeks to go back to the States to bring his family back over here now that school is over, so we have to take advantage of it while we can. This will be my first full week alone in the office, but hopefully next week I will have two of my "summer hires" begin. Summer Hires is a fancy way of saying highschool and college go-fers and lackeys. Just kidding. But at least that will take some of the menial work off of my plate.
I'm trying to keep June a quiet month, after all the insanity of last month. Probably won't happen, but it's a nice try. Joel and I won't be traveling much this month with his boss being out of town, and then I get the fun job of working the "official" 4th of July event at the Ambassador's residence (fancy thing, not a fun one), so hopefully it will be a quiet summer around here.
Talk to you all soon!
Julie and Joel
Sunday, May 15, 2005
It's May in Rome! Don't You Wish You Were Here?
Finally the weather has gotten warm and downright beautiful. It's about time. Short sleeve shirts, skirts and my little black pumps, yeay! Frankly it's getting too nice of weather, I should be at the beach tomorrow! (Almost, anyway)
I hesitate to even talk about May coming up because it's so nuts. Our Community Auction is next Friday (which my office is running, but do we get the money? No. Explain that if you can.) plus two wine and cheese thingees the following week, and then the week after that I get to go to Florence for a week of intensive language training. _That_ I'm very excited about. Also right now our newsletter editor broke her leg and is at home in traction, so I'm doing our community newsletter weekly. I actually enjoy it, I just wish I didn't have so much else to do. But the good thing is many of the projects and initiatives I've been pushing for for months are really starting to come to fruition. A grant that I applied for (for our Embassy) was accepted and is really rolling now, and if they can figure out how to rewire one tiny office next to mine, we'll have a Local Employment Advisor on staff at the Embassy very very soon. This person would be responsible for assisting family members in finding jobs outside of the embassy. Plus our office intra-net site will be moved to the inter-net site in the upcoming months. This is a really big deal for us. I wrote our Sponsor handbook and will be hosting a reception for them this month (one of the wine and cheese thingees). It's good because I'm getting to see the fruits of my labor, and yet it's all happening at the same time! Thankfully, I was able to stay out of the whole Old Pope/New Pope thing in April. Much more than I expected, frankly. Okay enough of about my job. How's Joel doing? Oh he's doing great. Except for working too much and too late (like I should be talking), and his new boss is rotating in next week and we're very excited.
Joel's surrogate wife (our 2x week housekeeper) is working out well. She is great in the kitchen, irons our sheets, folds our clothes and everything. If we could just find where she puts things away, we're set. Best €50 a week I've ever spent.
This past month we went down to Naples for a day and because they were having great sales, and then this past weekend we went to Aviano, which is in northern Italy and hungout around there. There is an Air Force base there that is really nice and we bought all sorts of things - like cat litter and stuff. We found "our" brand of cat litter in Italy! It's amazing. We checked out a couple small towns like Udine and Pordenone while we were there.
We also went down with a bunch of friends to a town called Guglio on Liberation Day. That's the day the Italians celebrate being liberated from the Nazis in W.W.II. All of Rome apparently goes to little small towns for the day, eats, and then comes home. At least that's what I've figured out so far. Perhaps these towns are supposed to be their original hometowns??? So we trekked through this one town and it was pretty cool.
We've decided that if you want to live in Italy, the last place you want to be is Rome. Pick a town that's 1/2 an hour past the GRA (their beltway) and you're golden. Right now the Italian countryside is GORGEOUS. So luscious and green and beautiful. I can't wait to get out of Rome more often to see the towns. And beaches. Definitely have to do the beaches this summer.
Oh and we did go get our first glimpse of the Vatican (in between Popes).
The cats are good too. We're trying to train Puzza into behaving at night so he doesn't have to be locked up. It doesn't work too well, he tries to cuddle up with you but ends up sitting on your face while you're sleeping. Poor thing tries so hard to be good, and just can't quite pull it off. I'm pretty sure he's bipolar or schizophrenic or something.
Can you believe it was about this time last year that Joel and I found out that we were coming TO Rome? How wild is that? And in June we'll be married a YEAR. Now that is wierd.
So that's it for me. I've not been very good with emails lately and I apologize if it's taken weeks for me to write you back. I've been getting 20-30 emails per day at work and am really sick of the computer and the phone by the time I get home. Still write me though, I am working on getting better at it!
Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Julie and Joel
I hesitate to even talk about May coming up because it's so nuts. Our Community Auction is next Friday (which my office is running, but do we get the money? No. Explain that if you can.) plus two wine and cheese thingees the following week, and then the week after that I get to go to Florence for a week of intensive language training. _That_ I'm very excited about. Also right now our newsletter editor broke her leg and is at home in traction, so I'm doing our community newsletter weekly. I actually enjoy it, I just wish I didn't have so much else to do. But the good thing is many of the projects and initiatives I've been pushing for for months are really starting to come to fruition. A grant that I applied for (for our Embassy) was accepted and is really rolling now, and if they can figure out how to rewire one tiny office next to mine, we'll have a Local Employment Advisor on staff at the Embassy very very soon. This person would be responsible for assisting family members in finding jobs outside of the embassy. Plus our office intra-net site will be moved to the inter-net site in the upcoming months. This is a really big deal for us. I wrote our Sponsor handbook and will be hosting a reception for them this month (one of the wine and cheese thingees). It's good because I'm getting to see the fruits of my labor, and yet it's all happening at the same time! Thankfully, I was able to stay out of the whole Old Pope/New Pope thing in April. Much more than I expected, frankly. Okay enough of about my job. How's Joel doing? Oh he's doing great. Except for working too much and too late (like I should be talking), and his new boss is rotating in next week and we're very excited.
Joel's surrogate wife (our 2x week housekeeper) is working out well. She is great in the kitchen, irons our sheets, folds our clothes and everything. If we could just find where she puts things away, we're set. Best €50 a week I've ever spent.
This past month we went down to Naples for a day and because they were having great sales, and then this past weekend we went to Aviano, which is in northern Italy and hungout around there. There is an Air Force base there that is really nice and we bought all sorts of things - like cat litter and stuff. We found "our" brand of cat litter in Italy! It's amazing. We checked out a couple small towns like Udine and Pordenone while we were there.
We also went down with a bunch of friends to a town called Guglio on Liberation Day. That's the day the Italians celebrate being liberated from the Nazis in W.W.II. All of Rome apparently goes to little small towns for the day, eats, and then comes home. At least that's what I've figured out so far. Perhaps these towns are supposed to be their original hometowns??? So we trekked through this one town and it was pretty cool.
We've decided that if you want to live in Italy, the last place you want to be is Rome. Pick a town that's 1/2 an hour past the GRA (their beltway) and you're golden. Right now the Italian countryside is GORGEOUS. So luscious and green and beautiful. I can't wait to get out of Rome more often to see the towns. And beaches. Definitely have to do the beaches this summer.
Oh and we did go get our first glimpse of the Vatican (in between Popes).
The cats are good too. We're trying to train Puzza into behaving at night so he doesn't have to be locked up. It doesn't work too well, he tries to cuddle up with you but ends up sitting on your face while you're sleeping. Poor thing tries so hard to be good, and just can't quite pull it off. I'm pretty sure he's bipolar or schizophrenic or something.
Can you believe it was about this time last year that Joel and I found out that we were coming TO Rome? How wild is that? And in June we'll be married a YEAR. Now that is wierd.
So that's it for me. I've not been very good with emails lately and I apologize if it's taken weeks for me to write you back. I've been getting 20-30 emails per day at work and am really sick of the computer and the phone by the time I get home. Still write me though, I am working on getting better at it!
Talk to you all soon!
Love,
Julie and Joel
April 2005- April in the Mendez house
Hello and Welcome from Rome at the beginning of April.
Last night the Pope died. "The Pope" is "IL Papa" in Italian. The past few days this has been the big news here in Rome - justifiably. Interestingly, most Romans generally seem to take the availability and freedom of their faith for granted I guess, like America. I mean they are living in the home of Catholicism itself, but most days churches are practically empty, a few old people and of course the nuns. Not this week, and definitely not today. Churches have been packed and with 100,000 people right now standing for mass (and over here mass can last three hours or more) at the Vatican this Sunday morning honoring the Pope. IL Papa is the right name for this man here in Rome. Even though I'm not Catholic, I hope you all join with me and pray for the those mourning, and as they choose the new Pope.
Now, what this all means for Joel and I is that work is about to stink for several weeks. You're looking at multiple VIP visits at the same time and that sort of thing for the funeral and the following coronation. Behind what looks like the Pres just getting on a plane and arriving in Rome, is us, and everyone else in the embassy, working for a billion hours preparing. A simple Meeting takes hours and hours of meticulous planning. It stinks. This stuff is my least favorite part of the job. It becomes downright painful.
March was a great month - though Joel and I have seen more of plane and airlines than we wish to see again for a very long time. I went to Vienna, Austria for training for my job, and it was COLD!!! Everywhere you went had Easter decorations displayed, and outside there were two feet of snow on the ground. It was so weird. I really liked Vienna, and hopefully Joel and I will go back when it's warmer.
Then it was leaving the next day to fly back to the States! It was great being home, even if I did gain 10 pounds that one week. It was worth all the nutty plane rides to get to take a break and come home. Oh, that and the Starbucks. I have been dreaming about frappucinos. And Target. And Old Navy, and Walmart, and Ann Taylor, and the Birkenstock shoe store. I introduced Joel to southern delicacies such as Jambalaya and fried pickles. He loved them.
Once back, Joel and I were thrust right back into work. The day I arrived, so did the Regional Education Director for Europe, so I and my partner served as his "hosts." I got to visit three of our schools here in Rome, and then there was an Educational Town Hall meeting that we hosted at the Embassy for the parents, and many individual parent appointments with him that we arranged. It was a busy week.
Easter was quiet for us. Europe went to daylight savings time a week before you all in the States, and we overslept and missed church. Yep. Missed church on Easter Sunday. Never done that before. But we made a nice dinner and sat outside on our balcony in sun and enjoyed the nice weather.
And it's finally turned spring here in Rome! We got off the plane to lovely weather and Joel and I have started to buy some flowers for our balcony. We got one pot that sort of looks like Azaleas, and then yesterday I bought a really beautiful yellow rose bush. It's about to bloom already, so I should have some great pictures to share in the next few weeks.
In the middle of all that was Joel's birthday! I have to say, Joel has had a great birthday extravaganza. Joel had a surprise birthday cake in Miami and in Fairhope, and then on his actual birth-day, we went out to dinner to a Mexican place here in Rome. Last night, we had a birthday extravaganza at our house. I made entirely too much food, we had about 15-20 people over and Joel got another birthday cake. But not just any cake. Our friend Marla is a pastry chef and I got her to make the mother of all birthday cakes. You see, Joel's favorite candy in the whole world are these things called Snowcaps (you can find them mostly at movie theaters in the States). Marla made Joel a cake decorated with Snowcaps. You should have seen the look of pure joy on his face, it was hilarious. And other than the Snowcaps, it tasted like sugar-coma heaven. I also brought out our new fry-daddy (Thanks Nancy) and made hush puppies and fried pickles for the party. HUGE HIT. Southerners, you are going to take the world over!
There's not much else to say about March, because I was gone for most of it. My language classes stink, basically because I haven't been in a month, and probably won't be able to go this month because of all the VIP visits in the next few weeks. But I did get a grant I applied for to go to an intensive language course for two weeks in Florence! Which is going to be so cool, but I've got to get permission to take off of work first, before I know when I can go.
I almost forgot to tell you all the best news in the world. Joel and I have a housekeeper. She comes twice a week. I can't believe what difference it has made. Not having to stress about cleaning or getting laundry or ironing done. She's amazing. She gets more done in three and half hours than would take me all day. Our house actually sparkles now, it's just sad. But I'm converted. I don't think I could ever go back now.
So for April, I think work is going to take over my life. Joel will be going to a training session in Germany for several days, and then a friend of ours from DC will be coming to visit in Rome, hopefully between VIP visits. Joel and I are very excited about doing some real sightseeing stuff here in Rome. Other than that, I will be working on all the newcomer and orientation stuff for the summer, which has to be completed by the end of the month. And our fundraising Auction will be happening in May.
As always, we miss you guys and hope you are all doing well.
Julie and Joel
Last night the Pope died. "The Pope" is "IL Papa" in Italian. The past few days this has been the big news here in Rome - justifiably. Interestingly, most Romans generally seem to take the availability and freedom of their faith for granted I guess, like America. I mean they are living in the home of Catholicism itself, but most days churches are practically empty, a few old people and of course the nuns. Not this week, and definitely not today. Churches have been packed and with 100,000 people right now standing for mass (and over here mass can last three hours or more) at the Vatican this Sunday morning honoring the Pope. IL Papa is the right name for this man here in Rome. Even though I'm not Catholic, I hope you all join with me and pray for the those mourning, and as they choose the new Pope.
Now, what this all means for Joel and I is that work is about to stink for several weeks. You're looking at multiple VIP visits at the same time and that sort of thing for the funeral and the following coronation. Behind what looks like the Pres just getting on a plane and arriving in Rome, is us, and everyone else in the embassy, working for a billion hours preparing. A simple Meeting takes hours and hours of meticulous planning. It stinks. This stuff is my least favorite part of the job. It becomes downright painful.
March was a great month - though Joel and I have seen more of plane and airlines than we wish to see again for a very long time. I went to Vienna, Austria for training for my job, and it was COLD!!! Everywhere you went had Easter decorations displayed, and outside there were two feet of snow on the ground. It was so weird. I really liked Vienna, and hopefully Joel and I will go back when it's warmer.
Then it was leaving the next day to fly back to the States! It was great being home, even if I did gain 10 pounds that one week. It was worth all the nutty plane rides to get to take a break and come home. Oh, that and the Starbucks. I have been dreaming about frappucinos. And Target. And Old Navy, and Walmart, and Ann Taylor, and the Birkenstock shoe store. I introduced Joel to southern delicacies such as Jambalaya and fried pickles. He loved them.
Once back, Joel and I were thrust right back into work. The day I arrived, so did the Regional Education Director for Europe, so I and my partner served as his "hosts." I got to visit three of our schools here in Rome, and then there was an Educational Town Hall meeting that we hosted at the Embassy for the parents, and many individual parent appointments with him that we arranged. It was a busy week.
Easter was quiet for us. Europe went to daylight savings time a week before you all in the States, and we overslept and missed church. Yep. Missed church on Easter Sunday. Never done that before. But we made a nice dinner and sat outside on our balcony in sun and enjoyed the nice weather.
And it's finally turned spring here in Rome! We got off the plane to lovely weather and Joel and I have started to buy some flowers for our balcony. We got one pot that sort of looks like Azaleas, and then yesterday I bought a really beautiful yellow rose bush. It's about to bloom already, so I should have some great pictures to share in the next few weeks.
In the middle of all that was Joel's birthday! I have to say, Joel has had a great birthday extravaganza. Joel had a surprise birthday cake in Miami and in Fairhope, and then on his actual birth-day, we went out to dinner to a Mexican place here in Rome. Last night, we had a birthday extravaganza at our house. I made entirely too much food, we had about 15-20 people over and Joel got another birthday cake. But not just any cake. Our friend Marla is a pastry chef and I got her to make the mother of all birthday cakes. You see, Joel's favorite candy in the whole world are these things called Snowcaps (you can find them mostly at movie theaters in the States). Marla made Joel a cake decorated with Snowcaps. You should have seen the look of pure joy on his face, it was hilarious. And other than the Snowcaps, it tasted like sugar-coma heaven. I also brought out our new fry-daddy (Thanks Nancy) and made hush puppies and fried pickles for the party. HUGE HIT. Southerners, you are going to take the world over!
There's not much else to say about March, because I was gone for most of it. My language classes stink, basically because I haven't been in a month, and probably won't be able to go this month because of all the VIP visits in the next few weeks. But I did get a grant I applied for to go to an intensive language course for two weeks in Florence! Which is going to be so cool, but I've got to get permission to take off of work first, before I know when I can go.
I almost forgot to tell you all the best news in the world. Joel and I have a housekeeper. She comes twice a week. I can't believe what difference it has made. Not having to stress about cleaning or getting laundry or ironing done. She's amazing. She gets more done in three and half hours than would take me all day. Our house actually sparkles now, it's just sad. But I'm converted. I don't think I could ever go back now.
So for April, I think work is going to take over my life. Joel will be going to a training session in Germany for several days, and then a friend of ours from DC will be coming to visit in Rome, hopefully between VIP visits. Joel and I are very excited about doing some real sightseeing stuff here in Rome. Other than that, I will be working on all the newcomer and orientation stuff for the summer, which has to be completed by the end of the month. And our fundraising Auction will be happening in May.
As always, we miss you guys and hope you are all doing well.
Julie and Joel
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