Это правда?

I speak Russian.

At least that was the determination of the examiners at my end-of-training Russian exam last Thursday. While I didn't feel that I did all that badly during the two hour-long test (thanks to the extra coaching I'd been receiving during the week leading up to the exam), at the same time I was sure that I hadn't reached the required threshold for passing, especially in the reading portion. So it came as quite a surprise to learn late Thursday evening that I had, in fact, been given the 2/2 score (on a scale from one to five) in speaking and reading, respectively, that was specified as a passing grade for a beginning student in Russian. There are only two possible conclusions to be drawn from the unexpected result:

1.) The criteria for receiving a 2/2 was much lower than I'd thought, or

2.) The Russian department at the Foreign Service Institute wanted to get rid of me as quickly as possible.

I'm leaning toward the latter interpretation.

 

So now thirty-two weeks of Russian language training is over, and we are due to leave Falls Church, Virginia for Vilnius, Lithuania is less than a fortnight. There's a lot to do in the limited time we have left here, and, frankly speaking, my passing the language test has caught me off guard. After a disastrous progress evaluation back in late February, my training time was actually extended by an additional eight weeks, as the powers-that-be determined at that time that I wasn't going to pass the final exam penciled in for April 21. I wasn't upset by the extension that would've kept us in the D.C. area until the middle of June, because it would've meant my daughter could've finished the school year here. However, the original test date wasn't rescheduled, and now I'm officially supposedly proficient enough at Russian to do my job when I get to Vilnius.

I'm not so sure about that. Despite more than seven months of intensive study in speaking Russian and reading Cyrillic, I'm actually very weak at the language skills that I'll need to use when I'm on the job in Vilnius, namely interviewing applicants from Belarus and Russia seeking visas to travel to the United States (by contrast, most Lithuanian citizens are eligible to participate in the Visa Waiver Program). It's highly unlikely that I'll ever be called upon to give a presentation in Russian to an audience in Lithuania on education or health care in the U.S., yet this "skill" is an important component of language training at FSI. The fault lies not with the instructors, who are very good at their jobs, but with the content of the curricula and the structure of the all-important end-of-training exam. Giving vent to my frustrations and criticisms with the way languages are taught in the State Department would require a long and separate blog post (in probable conjunction with a letter of resignation), so I'll leave all that for the feedback I'm expected to provide now that my training is finished. In the meantime, I feel spectacularly unprepared for the real world that awaits me when we arrive in Vilnius early next month.

Russian misgivings aside, I'm looking forward to Lithuania. Everything I've heard about both the country and the embassy there has been nothing but positive, and I've been getting good vibrations from the various emails between myself and some of the people I'm going to be working with. My wife is also excited about the move (although not knowing the situation regarding the existence of Asian grocery stores in Vilnius is making it difficult for her to determine what comfort foods need to be shipped from Falls Church). Even my daughter doesn't seem to mind having to finish the fourth grade at a new school in a new country. The next week-and-a-half will be busy for us, but we're eager to get a start on our second posting.

The paucity of blog posts during the last three weeks has been mainly due to my having to prepare for the final language exam, but we did do a few things aside from the usual routines (Pamela and Amber take zither and Mandarin lessons, respectively, every weekend at a Chinese school in Falls Church). My daughter, for example, was one of the winners in her division at the Cherry Blossom Go Tournament, held at George Mason University earlier this month:

We also took advantage of the warming spring weather one weekend to visit the historic mill town of Occoquan, in Virginia's Prince William County:  

The compact downtown district has around sixty residential buildings and non-residential structures that have been preserved for visitors:

These days in America you can find any number of "historic towns", just as you would come across an ever-increasing number of "old streets" in Taiwan. But while the latter mostly consist of food stands and the resulting hordes of snacking visitors (at least on weekends and national holidays), the preservation of the former has taken the form of antique shops, art galleries and restaurants offering al fresco dining. And, of course, shops selling fudge and ice cream:

Our time here is winding down, and there's a lot to do in preparation for the move. If I can find the time, I'd like to do a hike before we go, and perhaps see an Orioles game at Camden Yards (though the weather forecast for next weekend doesn't look promising). Despite the stress that comes with having to learn first Mandarin, and then Russian, the FSI way, we like living in Falls Church - it's a nice area, the schools are good and Washington, D.C. isn't far away. Hopefully we'll be back in a couple of years.

Springtime in the local cemetery

Full moon over Falls Church. Unfortunately, my tripod is in storage somewhere in Europe, otherwise this would've been a pretty atmospheric photo...right? 

 

Amber going solo with crab legs for the first time...sort of. Mom still had to crack open some of the legs for her.

 

Sunset over Leesburg Pike. It looked more impressive in real life. For some strange reason, shooting through the front windshield didn't yield the desired result. Go figure...

 

 

...just a bit too late.

I know, I know. With my Russian exam scheduled in less than three weeks' time, I should be devoting all my waking moments in preparation. But with spring finally here, and the girls back from Taiwan, and baseball season upon us, and March Madness almost over, as well as any number of other excuses, motivation to concentrate of cases and understanding news articles written in Cyrillic is somewhat lacking. Besides, it's still cherry blossom season...

...or so we thought. Three weekends ago, my wife, daughter and I had ventured down to the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. to look at blooming flowers, only to find out that we were too early. Two weekends ago, Amber and Pamela left for Taiwan to visit family and attend a wedding. While there, they had planned on going on a bus tour to Alishan 阿里山 in order to see the sakura 桜, but unfortunately for them, constant rain turned that idea into a washout (whereas I, on the other hand...) Now back Stateside, my wife was determined to see some cherry blossoms before it was too late, and this weekend was her last chance. And so on Saturday we rode the Metro to Foggy Bottom, then walked past the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool, pausing only briefly at the District of Columbia War Memorial:

Upon reaching the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, it was quickly apparent that the blossoms had passed their peak bloom. Instead of an explosion of pinks and whites, the trees surrounding the Tidal Basin were giving off an aura of muted greens and off-whites. Still, there were a few cherry trees that hadn't packed things up yet, so digital cameras and cell phones were put into action:

Irrespective of what the flowers are doing, the National Cherry Blossom Festival is scheduled to run until April 17th. On Saturday the main event was a kite festival, held by the Washington Monument. The windy conditions yesterday may not have been too kind to cherry blossoms, but were gladly welcomed by the hundreds of kite-flyers who turned out to launch their tethered heavier-than-air crafts upwards:

Blame it on the cherry blossoms for attracting the visitors, but our plan to visit the National Archives Building in the afternoon was foiled by the long line people outside waiting patiently to go indoors. We'll just have to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Magna Carta on another occasion:

We'll always have the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden:

Joan Miró, Personnage Gothique, Oiseau-Eclair (1974/1977)

Robert Indiana, AMOR (2006)

Barry Flanagan, Thinker on a Rock (1997)

Depending on how well I do on my upcoming Russian exam, we will either be packing up and leaving for Lithuania by the end of this month, or sticking around in Falls Church until the middle of June. Whatever happens, I hope what few Russian comprehension skills I've developed so far will not be as fleeting as the short but brilliant lifespan of the flowering cherry blossom. 

Time to sip some sake and compose a poem...

 

 

 

Walking into the past

A different sort of bloom

All attention this weekend is no doubt focused on Washington, D.C.'s cherry blossoms, which are at the peak of their bloom. On a day as sunny and warm as yesterday (Saturday), many people made plans to visit the Tidal Basin to see the Somei-Yoshino ソメイヨシノ trees at their finest, and it wasn't surprising to see bumper-to-bumper traffic in the morning on Interstate 66 going into Washington. I, however, was headed in a different direction, having already seen the blossoms earlier in the week. My destination was Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksburg, Maryland, a thirty-minute drive from my apartment complex. Though far from a challenging workout (I hesitate to even call it a "hike" as there was only one section that had any elevation or steepness to it), it felt good to be in the outdoors again, especially now that spring has arrived.

From the parking lot, a flat and wide trail led to an old schoolhouse named after one Luther King, who operated a whiskey distillery in the region. The building served as a classroom between 1893 and 1935:

From the schoolhouse, the walk proper commenced. Much of the initial route ran parallel to the clear waters of Little Bennett Creek:

Ignoring the yellow warning tape strung between two trees, I trespassed walked onto the Beaver Valley Trail, through a marshy area made wet by beaver activity and across a wooden bridge cross-crossed with more Do Not Cross tape. This soon led to the Mound Builder Trail and the following sign:

The nests referenced in the sign are built up in order to receive sunlight, which serves as incubation for the ants' larvae. There were a number of visible mounds along this trail, all of them teeming with ant activity, but proving difficult to photograph:

Crossing that meadow when I came to it:

A pine grove of dead trees would look fascinatingly eerie on a foggy morning, but in the bright afternoon sunshine, they appeared far from menacing. They were also alive with bird sounds, including one very active woodpecker hammering away at a trunk:

Most of the trails I used this afternoon were relatively flat:

Water on one side, shale boulders on the other:

Another historical relic. As the sign explains, the original mill was in operation between 1783 and 1918, when it was destroyed in a fire. A new building was quickly put up in its place and now serves as an arts center:

The adjacent miller's residence is still privately-owned and not open to visitors:

Notice anything missing in the below photo of Little Bennett Creek? How about a way to get across? No bridge or rocks acting as stepping stones meant the only way was to ford it on foot. The water wasn't deep but did go up to my ankles, resulting in a soggy walk the rest of the way back to the car:

It took a little less than three hours to cover 6.9 miles (11.1 kilometers):

The girls are due back from Taiwan this Tuesday, bringing an end to my temporary bachelorhood, a state of affairs I'll be glad to see pass. 

Sakura Clinic

Learning the Russian language can be demanding at times. I've seen the doctor recently about heartburn and gastrointestinal discomfort, which she said is most likely related to the stress that comes from studying. Stress was also given as the reason as for why I've been feeling lethargic lately, for which she prescribed a certain kind of medication that I''m somewhat apprehensive about using over a long period of time. The kitchen counter in our apartment now resembles a mini-pharmacy, with all the different medicines and supplements that I've been prescribed or recommended to take. The upside to this is that I now have a valid(-sounding) excuse reason for when I won't be able to reach the required level of Russian proficiency, a sort of get-out-of-FSI-and-go-to-your-next-assignment-at once card. 

If the above photo of my daughter and wife looks as if were taken in an airport, there's a good reason: it was. The girls left last Saturday on a trip back to Taiwan, taking advantage of Amber's spring break. They'll be there for about nine days, and leaving me here all alone with my Russian textbooks. I would've liked to have gone back to Formosa as well, but language students are not permitted to take regular leave during training. It's a good opportunity for Amber and Pamela to see the Taiwanese side of the family before we go to Eastern Europe, but at this point in my life the "freedom" that comes from "being single again" is not something to relish. 

But with spring upon this region, it's possible to set aside the emotional and physical challenges, and get out and enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of the new season. Taking advantage of today being an administrative day (meaning I only had two classes in the morning, leaving the rest of the afternoon free; this happens twice a month), and the weather being sunny and warm, I went into the District to see Washington's famed cherry blossoms. After lunch I boarded the shuttle that leaves from the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, and rode the bus to the main State Department building in Foggy Bottom. From the Harry S. Truman Building, I walked toward the Tidal Basin, pausing for a moment to watch kids clambering on the Albert Einstein Memorial outside the National Academy of Sciences:

My route also took me past the Korean War Veterans Memorial, where it appeared that some South Korean military officers were presenting a wreath:

The cherry trees around the Tidal Basin haven't reached their peak bloom yet, but they were a lot more colorful this afternoon compared to our visit there a week-and-a-half ago. The blossoms and good weather brought out a lot of visitors for a weekday afternoon, and I joined the throngs as I made my way around the water, going from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and past the Jefferson Memorial, before moving off in the direction of the Smithsonian Metro station. When in Rome, do as the tourists, and so I snapped a few pictures:

In Japan, the blooming of the cherry blossoms is an excuse occasion for celebration, a time to join family, friends or coworkers under the trees, and consume mass quantities of food and alcohol. In the U.S., "keep off the grass" signs and regulations on drinking alcoholic beverages in public places make for a more sedate outing. 

Needless to say, I miss 花見. 

The girls will be back next Tuesday. Before then, they'll probably have their own sakura-viewing excursion later this week, when they're planning to go on a day trip with family members to Alishan 阿里山, Taiwan's premier (and therefore horrendously crowded) cherry blossom spot.