The local cemetery on a misty weekday morning
All has been quiet on the East Coast blogging front since we arrived in the NOVA area on Labor Day. I've been in Amharic class for more than two weeks now, in preparation for my next assignment in Addis Ababa. So far I haven't been able to string together many coherent sentences, although that can be partially explained by our having to learn a new writing system. First hanzi 漢字, then Cyrillic and now these - someday I'll actually study a language that uses Roman letters (Amharic, by the way, is the only written language in sub-Saharan Africa that isn't rendered in the Latin alphabet). The similarity of some characters with the phonetic kana 仮名 syllabary also forces my aging cerebellum into having to perform some mental gymnastics in order to read them correctly. But I have made a lot of progress in reading comprehension in only a short period of time - hopefully I'll do the same when the focus in class turns more toward conversing.
We're living in the same apartment complex in Falls Church as we did the first time we were here six years ago when I joined the Foreign Service, and during the period between Shanghai and Vilnius. I'm not going to gripe considering our housing is being provided, and living here puts my daughter into one of the best public school systems in the country. However, it was a bit unfortunate that we were given a one-bedroom unit upon checking in on Labor Day, which meant Amber's "bedroom" for the first twelve days here was a corner of the living room floor, next to the TV:
Space also got tighter when our unaccompanied baggage (five large boxes) was delivered shortly after arrival. We've since been relocated to a two-bedroom apartment, overlooking the most popular place in town - people are dying to get in there:
The uncertainty over living arrangements, and the settling down into study routines (Amharic for me, middle school for Amber), combined with the lack of a privately-owned vehicle, have combined to limit our free time activities. Our car is currently in storage somewhere in western Europe, waiting to reunite with us next summer in Addis Ababa (at least that's the plan). Fortunately, a lot of places are within walking distance, and the Arlington/Fairfax area seems to have a decent bus system, at least by suburban American standards:
There's also a Metro station around 10-15 minutes on foot from here, which my daughter and I used the first Friday we were here to travel to Nationals Park, and to see the Chicago Cubs-Washington Nationals game that was supposed to have taken place that night.
The weather had other ideas. The start of the game was delayed by around 80 minutes due to the persistent rainfall:
It was Foreign Service Night:
The game finally got under way...:
...but play was suspended in the top of the 2nd inning when the deluge returned:
My first rainout, followed by my first rain check (see below). It hasn't been a good season for Washington's team, which was predicted to win its division, but has struggled to keep above .500:
Amber remained in a good mood throughout the rainy evening:
I was able to take a rain check for another game two weeks later, this time against the New York Mets. While walking around the concourse prior to the start of the game, we came across this plaque to Washington Senators Hall of Fame great Walter Johnson:
Despite some rain on that Friday morning, the weather had cleared up for the most part by gametime that evening:
An unexpected benefit of using rain checks was that each ticket gave us $10 off on food purchases, saving us $20 on usually expensive stadium concessions:
The game started off badly for the Nationals as the Mets went up 1-0 in the top of the first inning:
An almost-full moon shone over Nationals Park for most of the game:
Nationals games are noted for the Presidents Races. This one was a disgrace as a woman dressed up for Oktoberfest (that night's promotion) ran onto the warning track and knocked down Abe's rivals, allowing the 16th president to romp to an easy victory. The fix was clearly in:
The Nationals' mascot tries to stir up the fans with the home team down 4-1. I've had closer encounters with Screech in the past (here and here):
My daughter was more into this contest than the blowout we saw in Seattle last month. Cotton candy no doubt played an important part:
Tossing shirts into the crowd between innings. Amber wants to sit closer to the field next time to increase our chances of getting free swag and foul balls:
Bullpen carts, which were common at games when I was a kid back in the 1970's (not a typo) only to die out starting in the Eighties, appear to be slowly making a comeback. This one was used several times during the contest:
Bryce Harper, the Nationals' biggest star, has struggled this season, but is still expected to command a princely sum when he becomes a free agent this winter. He came close to hitting one out in the bottom of the ninth, sending a long fly ball to the left field warning track in his last at-bat of the evening:
The Mets won 4-2 in a game that saw a Nationals runner picked off of first, a Mets runner thrown at home and a masterful performance from Mets starter Jacob deGrom, who despite a 9-9 record has a stellar 1.77 ERA, setting a record for most consecutive quality starts (23) in the process:
As mentioned earlier, we're trying to do without a car during our stay here. It's a good thing that we live close to a well-known dining/shopping center that caters to the regional Vietnamese community. One of the newer businesses there (at least for us) is ViVi, which offers passable versions of Taiwanese dishes and drinks:
The close proximity to several Asian food markets means nattō 納豆 can be procured when the mood strikes:
Non-Asian food, of course, is also available. One of the places in Falls Church that Amber was looking forward to visiting again is Elevation Burger. The food tastes much better than it looks in this photo. Really:
One late afternoon my daughter and I took a bus into downtown Falls Church in order to pick up a rental flute (she's in the school band) from a music store, then had dinner at one of Amber's favorite local restaurants, Caribbean Plate:
Afterward, with the sun still out, we decided to walk home instead of catching the bus. En route we passed an historic church site where none other than George Washington once worshipped (according to the sign):
Falls Church is an old city by American standards, with historical markers noting events that occured during both the American Revolution and the Civil War:
This history is also reflected in the cemetery next to our apartment complex, which has graves from the present day and going back into the mid-19th century. Some gravestones tell a poignant story:
This is a grave of a soldier from the American Revolution who was relocated here in 1971 by the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution:
And now that we're finally settled in, we can start exploring Washington, D.C. again. My daughter and I ventured out on the last Saturday of the month on a long-overdue sunny morning to take the Metro to the National Mall. We've been to most of the main sights during our previous stays in Falls Church (that isn't to say we can't visit some of them again, especially as Amber was a lot younger at those times), but one place that had escaped our attention (other than its outdoor sculpture garden) was the Hirshhorn Museum. Originally endowed with the collection of Joseph Hirshhorn, the museum is housed in a Brutalist doughnut that screams 1970's. In front is a 1996 Roy Lichtenstein work called Brushstroke:
On the way to the entrance, my attention was immediately drawn to this Yayoi Kusama 草間彌生 yellow pumpkin, the more well-known version of which is located on Naoshima 直島 island in Japan:
Welcoming us at the front entrance was Still Life with Spirit and Xitle, a work in "Car, volcanic stone, and acrylic paint" by Jimmie Durham:
Being part of the Smithsonian, entrance into the Hirshhorn is free, one reason that makes Washington one of the greatest places in the world to visit. We made our way to the third floor, where we were greeted by views overlooking the Mall (the National Museum of Natural History and the Old Post Office Pavilion)...:
...and Pepper the humanoid robot:
The Hirshhorn's focus is on modern art, which Amber reckons to mean that "anything goes", an apt perception. One of the most striking installations was the three-screen Safe Conduct by British artist Ed Atkins, a nightmarish airport security video set to Ravel's Bolero:
Untitled (Big Man) by Australian sculptor Ron Mueck, which I'm considering to use as my next Facebook profile picture:
Untitled (1984) by American artist Ana Mendieta presents a shrouded body that resembles a dried-up riverbed:
In The Infield Was Patty Peccavi, a 1981 collaboration between American sculptors Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz:
Abbottabad (2013) by the French avant-garde artist Huang Yong Ping is a ceramic model of the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was killed:
It doesn't get more modern artsy than the minimalist Untitled (Sculptural Study, Twelve-Part Vertical Construction) by the American sculptor Fred Sandback:
Damien Hirst's The Asthmatic Escaped II (1992). "The Breakaway chocolate bar, the exposed film, and the pile of clothes with an inhaler suggest that the unseen subject of the work, the asthmatic, has escaped the perpetual prison of his disorder":
The circular layout of the museum is put to good use with Mark Bradford's site-specific installation Pickett's Charge. In it, the American artist challenges the notion of faithfully rendering history by deconstructing the famous Gettysburg Cyclorama:
The curving hallway on the second floor is currently playing host to Irish-born American painter Sean Scully's Landline series. My daughter was fascinated by the artist's use of automotive paint in bringing out the vivid colors:
Amber spent some time in the museum's basement gift shop, eventually settling on a Keith Haring notepad - her familiarity with the famed artist was a pleasant surprise to me. I was interested in the Andy Warhol items for sale, though I ended not buying anything even though the shop had a lot of tempting items on sale, including a Bob Ross landscape calendar!:
The two of us finished our visit to the Hirshhorn Museum by strolling around the outdoor Sculpture Garden, starting with Yoko Ono's 小野洋子 2007 Wish Tree. The blue sign asks visitors to whisper, rather than tie, their wishes to the tree during the spring, fall and winter seasons:
The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin:
The garden is dominated by Henry Moore sculptures, like King and Queen (1952-3)...:
...and Working Model for "Three-Way Piece No. 3: Vertebrae" (1968; cast 1969):
Our attention was drawn to this bronze Figure, as the artist (Lithuanian-American Jacques Lipchitz) was born in Druskininkai, a spa town we visited in July of last year:
Admiring Jean Arp's Evocation of a Form: Lunar, Form, Spectral. It was a case of Arp appreciation - if I'd had a microphone in my hand at the moment I uttered that to Amber, I would've dropped it and walked away in triumph:
Overlooking the garden, with a couple of Moore sculptures flanking the walkway:
We passed by one other Moore sculpture on our way back to the Metro station, Two-Piece Reclining Figure: Points:
The west front of the Capitol:
On the fitness front, things have been quieter than they should be. Our apartment complex has a gym which I haven't used yet, and the swimming pool is about to close until next Memorial Day. We did have some bicycles shipped from Vilnius, but they need to be reassembled - without a car, we'll have to wait until the occasion arises for the need to rent a vehicle in order to visit a bike shop and have our two-wheelers put together again...just in time for the cold weather:
One thing I have been doing is going for hour-long walks in the neighborhood and beyond. Suburban America isn't the most interesting place for a stroll - unlike in Japan, Taiwan, China and even Lithuania, there's very little to break up the monotony of residential streets (with sidewalks being absent in some neighborhoods around here). On the other hand, there are a lot of parks, and being an older area means Falls Church has some interesting houses, unlike those cookie-cutter residences usually found in postwar suburban neighborhoods. Affluence is also frequently on display - according to Zillow.com, the median home value in Falls Church is a cool $543,000. Which probably explains why I pass so many health-conscious white people when I'm out on my walks:
One of the drawbacks to being a bicultural child is having to study one of your mother tongues on the weekends. My daughter has "fun" learning traditional Chinese characters on Sunday afternoons. Here she is reviewing flashcards while eating some noodles and veggies during a Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節 event held at her Mandarin school:
Trying her hand at calligraphy. The character she drew was 秋, meaning "autumn", "fall" or "harvest time":
And so one month is down, with only at least ten more to go before we leave Falls Church again...
The sun sets over the cemetery
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