Settling in

 

Along the Potomac Heritage Trail

It's been only five days since we left Addis Ababa and landed in Washington, D.C. Five days in which I'm still getting over the jet lag, and five days going through the limited amount of clothing I brought over with me. And yet we've already done much to get settled into our new-yet-familiar home (while spending a large sum of money in the process) - the fridge is now well-stocked, and as I write this the girls are at Target, replenishing my daughter's paltry summer wardrobe. I've already completed two days of General Services training, and online learning will be taking up many of my waking hours for the next eight weeks or so. All things considered we've gotten off to a good start, with the hope everything continues to go well.

The flight from Ethiopia was long (17 hours in total), but uneventful with the exception of some brief turbulence. For this trip I splurged, paying for the upgrade to business class in order to make travel a little bit more comfortable for my long-suffering family. It isn't something I can do very often (and it helped considerably that my employer footed the economy-class portion of the fare), but it made a big difference in comfort, from snacking in the lounge at Bole Airport...:

...to enjoying the leg room and sleeping space that our seats allowed for. For once I was actually able to doze on a long-haul flight:

The Irish landscape. We had a one-hour stopover in Dublin, but of course everyone had to remain on the plane. Visiting one of my ancestral homelands is on the bucket list:

As we had arrived in Dulles early on a Tuesday morning, we had a lot of time to kill before our mid-afternoon check-in at our residence. We used that time (and the car we had rented at the airport) to do a lot of shopping, set up cell phone service and just enjoy the simple things we couldn't do in Addis Ababa, like savor a large milk tea 奶茶:

For my wife, being back in Falls Church (and temporarily having a car) means the chance to shop at some of the many Asian supermarkets in the region. Since we've gotten back, Shu-E has hit up 99 Ranch Market, Super H Mart and Good Fortune (the latter several times), enjoying the far greater range in familiar goodies (and not to mention the lower prices) than was available at the China market in Addis:

"LKK" in the Taiwanese dialect is an abbreviation for "láu khok-khok 老扣扣/洛可可/老硞硞, meaning "out of touch" or "old geezer". Shu-E failed to find the label as humorous as I did:

Unpacking after checking in, and modeling the necktie featuring old Ethiopian coins that I was given as a parting gift from my colleagues:

Prior to boarding our flight we spent ETB8000 (about $180) at Bole on various keepsakes and souvenirs, as individuals are not allowed to carry more than ETB1000 in cash out of Ethiopia. One of the things I picked up in the attempt to lighten our wallets of birr is this Ethiopian-themed face mask. Although most businesses in our area appear to be open again and vaccination rates in this part of Virginia are high, people are still being urged to wear masks while inside restaurants and shops:

The view from our balcony. This is the fourth time for us to stay in this apartment complex (and the second time in this particular building). We like it because management is used to State Department families moving in and out. It also means Amber can attend school in a district ranked as the best in the state of Virginia, while my wife can easily walk to a large Asian shopping center:

Speaking of Shu-E, here she is after picking up some Taiwanese goodies in the parking lot of a Whole Foods, impatiently waiting for me to unlock our rented Ford Expedition:

Lunch in a local Thai restaurant. Shu-E is playing Pokémon Go while waiting for our entrees. Apparently that's still a thing here:

As if any evidence was needed the northern Virginia suburbs are some of the most affluent in the nation, here's an electric car charging station with all its spaces taken up with Teslas and the like:

Being back in the U.S. means being able to shop for English-language titles at bookstores (at least at those that haven't gone out of business yet). Amber shops for manga 漫画 at a local Barnes & Noble, eventually deciding on the first volume in the Mieruko-chan 見える子ちゃん series:

Yet another milk tea. I've lost about 8 kilograms (18 pounds) recently (though that may turn out to be a less-than-positive development), but all those bubble tea shops within walking distance of our apartment might reverse that:

With the car due to be returned soon, Shu-E suggested Amber and I use it to go hiking (and so she could have some time to herself on a Sunday morning). The SUV we've been using since Tuesday is a behemoth that was useful for transporting our nine pieces of luggage from Dulles Airport, but presents a challenge when attempting to squeeze into narrow parking spaces. Our own car will take around 6-8 weeks to reach us in Falls Church, so we'll be using public transport and the occasional rental in the meantime:

For our Sunday morning walk my daughter and I drove to Turkey Run Park, located along the George Washington Parkway. It had been a while for us to see so much greenery in one place:

Holes in the ground made by emerging cicadas. Apparently there had been a large brood in the area a few weeks ago, but we only heard a few of the insects while walking this morning:

We spent most of our time in the area walking along the Potomac Heritage Trail, admiring the river scenery. At least I was - Amber was more concerned about ticks for some reason, especially in those sections of the path that were at risk of being overrun with vegetation:

One creature I wasn't able to photograph was the snake I saw swimming in the Potomac:

Amber crosses that bridge when she comes to it:

Our walk completed, it was time for lunch at one of my daughter's favorite local chains, Elevation Burger:

This will be our life for the next year or so. GSO training will run up to Labor Day, after which the Mandarin course (which should be in-class, barring another outbreak of the coronavirus) will start. Amber will begin the 10th grade in late August, while my wife will wait for our car to eventually turn up so she can take advantage of the many Asian businesses in the region. I'm looking forward to releasing all that pent-up travel energy and explore more of the sights in the DMV and beyond. The past two years have had their ups and downs (mostly downs), but here's hoping the next twelve months will be comfortably uneventful.