Snowlough

A lone snowflake holds out against melting on the glass of a bus stop in Falls Church

A snowstorm + a government shutdown = a snowlough. I can't take credit for this equation as I saw it on Facebook on Sunday morning, but it is an apt description for the current state of affairs. This weekend has seen heavy snow on the east coast of the U.S. In our area, it was predicted that a cumulative total of at least 8 inches (20 centimeters) would fall from late Saturday afternoon to Sunday night. The photographs below show that the forecast was pretty accurate. Here in Falls Church a "snow emergency" was declared at 1000 hours on Sunday morning. My daughter has seen her Saturday evening swimming lesson and Sunday afternoon Chinese class canceled as a result of the snow, with the icing on the cake (so to  speak) being the closure of all public schools on Monday.

Waiting for a bus on Saturday evening

This is all a far cry from when we were living in Vilnius, Lithuania just a year ago this time. There, the policy at Amber's school was classes would continue to be held until the temperature had fallen to below more than -20° Celsius (-4° Fahrenheit), while her swimming coach insisted on having practice unless the temperature was colder than -30°C (-22°F)! In contrast, the coldest it has gotten in the daytime here over the weekend was -2°C (28°F); at the same time, roads have remained open, buses and trains are still running and most stores still appear open for business (except for the local Barnes & Noble bookstore, much to my disappointment Sunday afternoon). Much ado about nothing?

A snow-covered park

A hypothetical question would concern whether or not my Amharic class would be held on Monday. But as you're probably aware, the reason the question is only a hypothetical exercise is that the federal government has been partially shut down since December 22, and I am one of the approximately 800,000 federal government workers who has been furloughed. I didn't mind at first, as it meant I was no longer required to submit daily independent study plans from home (classes weren't scheduled to be held during the period between Christmas and New Year's Day). But now the shutdown has dragged on to the point where it's now the longest in U.S. history, and, more importantly, I'm not getting paid.

Though it may appear to have been taken earlier in the day, this photograph was shot at around 2300 hours on Saturday night. I don't know why camera makes it look otherwise

I'm fortunate in that our housing is being provided for while I'm in training, and that hasn't been affected by the lack of funding (yet). So the financial effects of not having an income won't be felt immediately. But there are many federal employees who are already struggling to make rent payments, pay bills and so on while being furloughed; it must be especially difficult making ends in meet in the Washington, D.C. metro area, where housing costs are among the highest in the country. I can only imagine the impact the shutdown is having on this region in particular, where so many are employed by the federal government, and where tourism, a major industry, has no doubt been effected (all the Smithsonian museums are now closed, for example). There have been a number of media reports on the effect of the shutdown and the furloughs - see here, here, here and here (or just do a Google search).

The view from our balcony as I went to bed on Saturday night/Sunday morning

Considering my employment situation, I'll refrain from assigning blame for the current state of affairs. Let's just say certain promises were made during the last presidential campaign that do not appear to have been kept. Ahem. I will, however, point out that the guidance being given out by the government to its affected employees borders on the offensively oblivious - see here, here and here for examples. Then again, on the advice of a friend, I should enjoy my free vacation and rest assured that a strong border will be my safety net!

The view on Sunday afternoon

I, for one, just wish for this "vacation" to be over so I can get back to learning Amharic. I've tried to keep up with my studies, but without the structure of a teacher and a classroom, it's a struggle just to maintain what I've already learned. On the bright side, I can blame my future failure on the final Amharic exam later this year on the failure our executive branch's leadership (oops).

So can we please end this ridiculous situation sooner rather than later, and stop playing politics with the livelihoods of so many people? Or, as Montana Senator Jon Tester puts it, there's a lot of work to done and that work starts with opening the government.

Fountain at Eden Center

I went for a stroll in the snow after dinner on Sunday evening:

Right after taking this selfie, two large deer ran by me before crossing a creek and disappearing into the woods:

A Monday morning street scene in Falls Church:

The Falls Church Presbyterian Church has some history behind it - the Gothic-style structure with its bell tower was built in 1884 from local granite and was the town's first stone building (modifications were carried out in 1925 and 1966):

Go here for much better photos of the snow in Washington, D.C.

Survival of the not-too-fittest

The winter solstice is still three days away, but winter has been making itself at home here since late October. Thanks to indoor heating, winter tires and a small fortune spent on coats, gloves, shoes, long underwear and Yaktrax, this California native has been coping pretty well, if he doesn't mind saying so himself (especially now that he's managed to avoid any further cartoon-like pratfalls on the ice). He...I have to admit the winter landscape is beautiful, and when the sun makes a rare appearance like it did last Thursday, a walk following lunch in the area near my workplace can be surprisingly therapeutic, taking in snow-covered Catholic shrines...

...scenic viewpoints...:

...and the occasional Russian Orthodox church (Sts. Constantine and Michael):

The sun didn't come out on Saturday, but my family and I stopped by the aforementioned scenic viewpoint to let Amber slide down the hillside there, both on her stomach penguin-style and on the cheap plastic disk we'd purchased a few years ago while in Virginia:

Dad preferred to stand guard at the bottom of the slope in order to prevent my daughter from flying over a ledge and into a grove of trees. I was also thinking of a colleague who recently tore his Achilles heel playing basketball, a reminder that men over the age of forty and recreational sports don't always make the best combination. Shu-E, on the other hand, had no qualms about letting gravity do its thing:

The icy surface  and steepness of the gradient made the going especially quick, but as you can see, Amber didn't seem daunted. Oh, to be a kid again:

The sun remained hidden on Sunday as well, but I took Amber out in the early afternoon, partly to give my wife the opportunity to finish some Christmas shopping:

The two of us had tacos for lunch at No Forks (there were, in fact, forks available). The Wostok apricot & almond fruit soda has its origins in the Soviet Union:

Playing around with some photo effects while walking past the Town Hall...:

...and down Pilies gatvė:

Amber and I stepped in from the cold, ice and snow to the National Museum of Lithuania (Lietuvos Nacionalinis Muziejus). Housed in the 19th-century New Arsenal building, the museum displays artefacts from Lithuanian life that have been collected by the Museum of Antiquities since 1855. A statue of King Mindaugas has been standing guard out front for the past thirteen years:

Among the displays are this executioner's sword from the 16th-17th centuries...:

...this impressive 18th-century sleigh...:

...a fan supposedly given by the Japanese emperor to the officers of the Russian frigate Askold in 1857...:

...an iron handprint of Peter the Great...:

...some drinking vessels...:

...religious items...:

...and some articles of war:

Speaking of military matters, the museum has a small but haunting display of artefacts retrieved from a mass grave of soldiers of Napoleon's Grande Armée, which paused in Vilnius on the disastrous retreat from the failed invasion of Russia in 1812:

Lithuanian traditional costumes:

A life-size recreation of a Lithuanian peasant family home:

If there's one thing Lithuanian folk artists know how to do, it's crosses. They do it so well, in fact, that cross-crafting is listed by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage:

The special exhibition going on during our visit today was a photographic collection of ruined churches and manor homes in Lithuania, some destroyed by war, others by the Soviet and some for mysterious reasons from a century or two ago. Urban explorers would enjoy this country:

I've managed so far to keep up my spirits despite the cold, darkness and snow, and as yet not broken out the happy light or felt an overwhelming urge to drive immediately to the airport and hop on the first plane that will eventually deposit me on a beach in southern Thailand. But there's still a long way to go before I can break out the shorts and sandals and enjoy an 11pm sunset. Check back with me after our first -25°C (-13°F) day to see how I'm coping then (and send some Scotch to warm my bones)...:

It's snowing / 雪が降っている / 下雪

In any language, it came as something of a surprise this morning. Sure, the forecast called for snow in some of the counties surrounding the District of Columbia, but the weather prognosticators on the local TV news assured us yesterday evening that Washington and its immediate vicinity wouldn't receive any of the white stuff. So I wasn't expecting to see this sight from our apartment balcony when I woke up this morning:

Admittedly, it wasn't much, but it was probably the most snow this area has seen all season. According to this evening's news report, it was the latest snowfall in the D.C. area since 1990. Unfortunately, it all fell too late to have a snow day declared, so I had to go to FSI this morning as usual. I don't usually drive there, so I wasn't inconvenienced:

The grounds of the National Foreign Affairs Training Center looked better with a light coating, and Ben Franklin didn't seem too put out:

Suburban Arlington was a lot more scenic than the mean streets of downtown Washington, where I had to go this afternoon to pick up visas for my wife and daughter. There, it was just raining, with all the snow having already melted away. 

Meanwhile, on the home front, the snow didn't put a damper on Amber's day. As you can see from the pictures below, she took advantage of the weather to enjoy the start of her spring break:

I would've gladly traded places with her.