By the Orioles' Early Light

The action at Camden Yards as photographed by my daughter. She was very pleased with herself for having caught the ball in flight on its way to home plate.

Four days to go until we depart for our next post. Naturally, things have been very busy, with many loose ends needing to be tied up before we go. Tomorrow I'll officially check out, the day after tomorrow we'll sell the car that has served us so well (and taken us across a continent) since we returned to the U.S. from Shanghai, and  Wednesday the movers will come and take everything away that we won't be bringing with us on the plane on Thursday. Still, we managed to find the time for one last family outing before we leave the Washington, D.C. area for at least the next two years. Despite the fact that Baltimore is only an hour's drive or so from Falls Church, we hadn't visited one of the most important port cities in the entire country. It wasn't because of any biases held against "Charm City" (other nicknames include "Harm City" and "Bodymore", due to the high murder rate), but rather the fact that Baltimore is easy to overlook with all the attractions to be found in Washington. Citizens of Baltimore will be pleased to learn that this oversight on our part was partially rectified yesterday.

Like most tourists, we began our Baltimore sojourn at the Inner Harbor, the very epitome of a "waterfront renewal project", highlighted by our first destination of the day, the National Aquarium: 

Lonely Planet crowns it "the best aquarium in America", and many would seem to agree, as the seven-story high structure that serves as home to 16,500 specimens of 660 species, was packed with visitors all day yesterday. Amber enjoyed the rooftop rain forest, multistory shark tank and 4-D Immersion Theater (Sea Monsters 4-D: A Prehistoric Adventure), while I admired the glass pyramid that caps the main hall of the aquarium:

Another area of the aquarium reproduces the Umbrawarra Gorge in Australia's Northern Territory...:

...while a special exhibit focuses on jellyfish:

My LP guide describes the Inner Harbor district as being "Disney-fied", and there's a lot of truth to that observation. However, the restaurants and shops are a major source of revenue for the city, and might be worth a future visit to the area (especially for the seafood, a favorite of my wife's): 

From the Inner Harbor, we made the short drive to the Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine. Despite being an American citizen, Pamela preferred to take a nap in the car; my daughter, however, was more than eager to learn the story behind The Star-Spangled Banner. The visitors center has a film and exhibits on the successful defense of Fort McHenry in the face of a night of intense shelling by a British fleet during the War of 1812. It was the sight of the tattered flag still flying the morning after that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that opens every professional baseball game (more on that later):

Outside, a National Park Service ranger was having visitors unfurl and furl a replica of the huge flag that flew over the fort during the Battle of Baltimore:  

The two of us then explored what remains of the fort itself:

Amber couldn't get enough of the crab she'd purchased as a souvenir at the gift shop back at the National Aquarium, giving "Crusty" a tour of Fort McHenry:

She was also happy to have participated in the furling up for the night of another flag, which was ceremonially lowered at the end of the day. Sharp-eyed observers will note the presence of fifteen stripes on the flag. The ensign that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814 was the only one with the extra stripes - Congress later mandated that, while the number of stars would reflect the number of states admitted into the Union, the number of stripes would be fixed at thirteen:

From Fort McHenry, we drove to another shrine, albeit one a little more modern in age, though not in design: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home ground of the Baltimore Orioles. Camden Yards was the first of the "retro" ballparks of the 1990's and beyond, and I'd always wanted to see a game there. We arrived around 90 minutes before the start of the night game, and parked our car in a reasonably-priced garage (only $10) only a few blocks from the stadium. As we walked toward the ballpark, we passed Babe Ruth's birthplace, now a museum (and closed by the time we got there; I'll save it for another visit):

Oriole greats are celebrated inside and outside the stadium; here, Amber poses in front of the statue of Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson (and his literally gold glove):

Baltimore hasn't won a pennant in 33 years, but in recent seasons the team has been competitive. Going into Saturday's game, the Orioles were in first place in the American League East, with the second-best record in the league (their opponent last night, the Chicago White Sox, currently have the best mark):

M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL Baltimore Ravens, is visible from the upper levels of Camden Yards:

As we made our way toward our seats in the upper-deck, a woman asked my daughter is this was her first time to attend an Orioles game. When Amber answered yes, the woman gave her some commemorative gifts, including a signed certificate. The Orioles are a class organization:

The view from our seats. Despite this being my first visit, it was a familiar sight from numerous photographs, and from watching Orioles games on MASN:

#20 is Frank Robinson, #5 Brooks Robinson, #4 Earl Weaver, #22 Jim Palmer, #33 Eddie Murray and #8 is Cal Ripken, Jr. All members of the Hall of Fame, their numbers have been retired by the organization. #42, of course, belongs to Jackie Robinson, whose number has been retired by all 30 Major League teams:

The groundbreaking B&O Warehouse beyond right field, but incorporated into the design of Camden Yards (note the placement of the light fixtures):

As you can tell from my wife's appearance, it was a chilly evening. There was also a constant drizzle throughout the game, though we were fortunate in that our seats had a roof above us, while the rows in front of us didn't. Which meant the fans in those seats got wet, while we stayed relatively dry. The rain was never heavy enough to delay the game, and the attendance last night was close to 30,000:

The action gets underway. Amber was very animated throughout the contest, asking lots of questions and enjoying the between-inning activities, especially the condiment race on the scoreboard (ketchup trounced mustard and relish last night):

The game itself was a sloppy (both teams had two errors each) but exciting, back-and-forth affair, with the White Sox emerging victorious in the end by a score of 8-7. There were four home runs, two reviews upheld (had one been overturned, it would've resulted in a triple play by the White Sox) and a manager getting tossed (Chicago's Robin Ventura). The three-hours and forty two-minutes of play meant it was after midnight by the time we got home this morning, but for me, at least, it was worth it (wrap of the game here, box score here): 

Last year it was Wrigley Field, this year Camden Yards. The Star-Spangled Banner and baseball - two icons of Americana as we prepare to leave for the Old World...

 

 

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...