A beacon that currently isn't beckoning to people in my situation
Like an old Seinfeld episode, another blog post about nothing. Today is Bastille Day; it's also Day 100 of our
There's no point any longer is getting outraged over the government's handling of the crisis, or of society's numerous ills. The daily video doses of anti-mask imbeciles or privileged Karens going off on perceived slights or supposed human rights violations no longer hold much entertainment. Even Facebook hasn't given me much to rant and rave about. The closest argument I've had recently was on YouTube, with a woman named "Susan Murray" who felt the need to point out a black person and a slightly obese woman in a video taken in the Enoshima 江の島 area, to the southwest of Yokohama 横浜. Her response to my query was to write that "black people have chips on their shoulders" and that "the best amongst them rise above their peoples' history", W(ever)TF that means, and then to share a link to a video showing a black guy getting angry at a Japanese Starbucks. It just boggles the mind how people like Ms. Murray seemingly function in the modern world. Not worth the time nor the trouble...
So I spend my days when I'm not sleeping or teleworking by spending way too much time online, to the point where I now have to use an elbow support pad due to the nerve damage in my fingers from too much typing. Even the view from our 21st-floor balcony is starting to lose its luster, with only the occasional brilliant sunset...:
...or passing rainstorm to break through the ennui:
Perhaps I'm slowly losing touch with reality due to this lockdown, but a few weeks ago I had a "Twilight Zone" moment. Looking from west to east from our balcony you can see the highrise buildings in Bethesda, several antennas and the Washington National Cathedral:
However, on one overcast morning, all those familiar landmarks seemed to have vanished in the mist (they were apparently returned via a dimensional slip later that morning):
Another break from the monotony came with the 4th of July fireworks on the National Mall, which we could partially glimpse from our balcony:
About the only thing still keeping me (arguably) sane is walking. Though I've stopped going for morning walks due to the heat (temperatures are now routinely in the low 90's F, or over 30° C for those of you in the rational world) and humidity, once a week I wake up early and go for a lengthy stroll to generate some sweat and further wear down my shoes. These days I'm up to 90 minutes one-way, and my usual route takes me from Ballston down to the Potomac River:
On the way back I sometimes pass by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea Chancery Annex, representing one of many countries difficult for Americans to visit at the moment (with the fault, of course, being entirely ours):
For a change of pace, last week I took my walk in the opposite direction, i.e. away from the river. Other than the occasional historical marker (like this one for the Travers Family Graveyard, located in an otherwise nondescript suburban neighborhood), there was little of interest to see, so I'll stick to the water on future walks:
This license plate sums things up nicely:
I suppose if we had a car things might be a bit more interesting. We do occasionally rent a vehicle so the wife can do some shopping at Asian supermarkets - our affluent white neighborhood has plenty of cafes, gyms and nail salons, but for some reason the white hipsters haven't demanded any Asian grocery stores be sited within walking distance of our building. I used one of the times when we had access to a car to drive to Windy Run Park in order to take what the Japanese call a "green shower" 森林浴:
The scenery wasn't quite as soothing as the photos suggest, for the sounds of traffic from the George Washington Parkway and the planes from Reagan National Airport flying overhead were a constant reminder that I'm sharing the NOVA region with approximately 3.2 million other souls. The trails themselves turned out to be a tease. One branch supposedly led to the Potomac Heritage Trail, but deadended on a small cliff:
Military helicopters are a common sight along the Potomac:
The path did parallel the road but apparently isn't much used, because the trail soon became too overgrown to continue. At least there were views of the Potomac:
Despite the trails to nowhere, and the 79°F (26°C) and 76% humidity weather, it was good to bathe in the forest:
Another reason for renting a car was to drop off the application forms at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) 臺北經濟文化辦事處 in Washington D.C. to renew my daughter's Republic of China 中華民國 passport. In true teenage fashion, Amber was less than thrilled to be pulled away from her computer games in order to have a proper passport photo taken at a studio near our residence:
Due to professional courtesy, I'll only briefly describe our morning at TECRO. Considering the building is Taiwan's unofficial embassy, it was surprising to find only two women working in the Consular section. One was seeing to Taiwanese visitors, while the other was taking care of non-citizens, and both were also answering telephone calls. Although Shu-E had called ahead to make sure we had all the proper paperwork in hand, the woman at the Taiwanese counter told her they couldn't accept our daughter's birth certificate because she couldn't be sure she could "trust" it. She was also hesitant to accept Amber's Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA). Following a discussion with her colleague, she informed us they could accept the CRBA, but not the photocopy that we had brought with us. This meant we had to drive home (fortunately only 20 minutes away) to retrieve the original document. However, upon returning to TECRO, the same worker wouldn't take it at first because it wasn't notarized! Finally, in true universal bureaucratic fashion, she announced that she would send all our documents back to Taipei 台北 and let the home office decide if all was in order:
Shu-E was contacted by TECRO a few days ago and told everything was fine, which means Amber's passport will be ready...in 6-8 weeks' time. I don't ever want to hear anyone complain about American Citizens Services again.
And so that's how things stand 100 days into our departure from Ethiopia. How long this will last I have no idea. The longest period of time I can be reimbursed for our housing expenses here is 180 days. After that, it's anybody's guess where we go from here.
In the meantime, I know where I'm going right now...
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