About Foreign Service Life

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19575689

The BBC article in the link above is about diplomatic life and some of its restrictions.  We're lucky in that we live in a low threat post, and our previous one was too.  Andreas post before that was not low threat - it was a war zone at the time - and the security was much, much higher.

The main danger to us here in Moldova is traffic accidents.  People drive rattletraps, violate almost every traffic law, and drive drunk or while talking on their cell phones.  Usually all at the same time.

US citizens living overseas are -always- targets.  We're stable, easy to find, and have routines.  We're more accessible here than in the US.  Diplomats are merely more high value targets.  

This is one reason diplomats get some of the benefits (but by no means all of them) that the military get.  

Just a little note to help you all understand life in the foreign service.

Color Studies

I'm currently taking a class from StitchMAP, their color theory class.  This is the class that -everyone- has to take, no matter what you know about color.  As part of that, I've been doing multiples of the same design.  This is something I -hate- to do.  I hate it even more when I have to restart one of them due to flaws in the fabric.  That's the reason for the two whites: one of the threads in the fabric was broken, unweaving a part.  I hadn't had a pair of scissors near the fabric, so it just came that way.  There were a few other random broken threads in the piece of fabric, too.  Yuck.  Anyway, the design itself is from the Stitch! magazine I bought while we were in the States in May, and is called A Precious Gem.

Back To Pegas

 Two days after our initial visit to Pegas, we went again - with friends!  John and Theresa were geographically single that day, so their spouses didn't go with us.  We did have a lovely dinner on the terrace that they missed, though.  Andreas ordered this pineapple-based drink.  It was non-alcoholic, but had things like parsley and basil in it.  He said it was definitely weird, but good.  John had a bacon ceasar salad.  His opinion of it is in his picture later in this post.  Andreas also had a (surprise!) Greek salad and an identical meal to the one he'd had previously.  When he likes something, he sticks with it.  Theresa had an eggplant salad and chicken salad as her meal.  Both were elegantly presented and tasted good, although the chicken salad could have had more spices in it.  John liked his steak, as you can see in his picture, and Corrin had pasta alfredo, which she enjoyed.  My steak salad was also very good, and I truly love the way they present their cappucino.  It even tastes wonderful!

None Of Your....

beeswax!  It's all mine!  I've been using my ladybug beeswax for the past few months, and it's helped enormously.  The lady who made them came back  to the embassy, so I got two more.

First Visit To Pegas

 Pegas is a chain of butcher shops around town.  They stock pork, chicken, beef, rabbit, and deli items.  They also have a wonderful restaurant at their main location.  We finally went on a warm July evening and ate outdoors.  It was good!  They make their own mint lemonade; I had some wine, too.  Andreas had his usual Greek salad.  I had a roast vegetable one, some fried cheese!, and mushroom soup for my dinner.  The soup had wonderful body and large slices of mushrooms.  Andreas had stuffed chicken breast and white wine risotto.  He said they both were good, and that the stuffing in the chicken kept it moist.  Overall, such a wonderful experience we repeated it two days later.

Working On Ribbons

I've got most of the ribbon part done.  I'm thinking I'm going to take the backstitching on the right out and leave both sets of ribbon without it.  I think they look better that  way.

Beer House For Sean

Since Sean likes beer, we took him to one of the local microbreweries.  Unfortunately they were out of their dark beer.  He did like this one, at least.  The guys were hungry, so few photos of uneaten food!  I really do need to remember to take ranch dressing to this place for the fried cheese.  The stuffed and fried mushrooms were pretty good, too! First time I'd had them.