Who Loves Ya, Baby? フォールズチャーチのコジャック物語...

Rainbow Serpent (Dan-Ayido-Houedo), by Beninese artist Romuald Hazoumè, a serpent swallowing its tail made from jerry cans. At the National Museum of African Art

Curse you, practitioners of the inexact science of weather forecasting! For the three-day Presidents Day holiday weekend, I really wanted to take advantage of the paid day off (no government shutdown!) to go out of town for a much-needed (in my mind, at least) break from frustrating rut of "learning" Amharic. My significant other, employing her Yunlin medical background, proclaimed that all my delicate psyche needed was some manning up, and announced that she didn't want to go anywhere for the three-day weekend. Oh well, there's always my daughter, so I went ahead with making plans for the two of us to spend Sunday and Monday in Richmond (avid readers of this blog, if there are any, might recall that the family made a day trip to Virginia's capital at the end of December, visiting the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and picking up a pizza from Papa Murphy's - the fun never stops). The plan was to rent a car and see more of what Richmond is rumored to offer (Confederate memorials, hipster cafes and shops etc.).

Unfortunately, the weather forecast called for snow on Saturday and Sunday in this area. Although the prediction for Richmond was better, as Amber pointed out, we wouldn't want to return to Falls Church on slippery, uncleared roads - based on past experience with DC-area snowstorms, it was a pretty astute observation. So instead the decision was made to stay home for the last extended weekend until Memorial Day. Well, as it turned out, it didn't snow over the three days - parts of Saturday and Sunday were sunny (until it started to rain beginning on Sunday afternoon), and Monday was bright for the most part, though gusty at times.

Speaking of the holiday Monday, at Shu-E's suggestion we had lunch at a so-so Asian buffet restaurant. At the end of the meal, I broke open my fortune cookie to read the following:

"Take a vacation, you will have unexpected gains."

Son of a b....

In the meantime, the struggle to learn Amharic goes on, as I continue to lag behind my classmates. Being a small language in comparison to the likes of French, Spanish, Mandarin and Russian (even though it's spoken by more than 22 million people), there aren't that many teaching resources available for our instructor to use, so a lot of class time is spent discussing grammar structures. I'm the kind who needs rote exercises, drills and homework assignments to even have a chance at mastering some sort of proficiency in a language, and being left to seek out activities on my own isn't the best approach. There are also some neuropsychological issues that are in the process of (hopefully) being addressed, so at least I have some flimsy excuses to fall back on in the worst-case scenario. If you think I'm just whinging, you're probably right, but this BBC article does note that FSI considers Amharic a Group 3 language - only Group 4 languages like Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Japanese are considered more difficult for English learners.

Ah well, life goes on. Like when we went to Eden Center on one Saturday afternoon to see if any Tet-related activities were taking place. There weren't, but my daughter did get to pose in front of some decorations, while I got to sip a Thai iced tea on a cool, breezy afternoon:

The following day we returned to Eden Center for lunch at Gom Tang E, where the broth is apparently so delicious it's worth risking a zombie apocalypse:

At least something was happening on that Sunday, even if it was just a small lion-dancing team going from shop to shop:

The Saturday of the Presidents Day weekend saw Amber take part in the 2019 Chinese New Year Go Tournament 中國新年圍棋賽 at the National Go Center in Washington:

A reproduction of a Song Dynasty 宋朝 ink drawing called The Merchant, featuring scenes of Go playing, was hung on one of the walls during the tourney. The original is in the possession of the National Palace Museum 故宮博物院 in Taipei 台北:

During the lunch break, Amber and I went to District Taco. The sachet was a gift given to all the players - it reads píng'ān, meaning "safe and sound":

Walking around Tenleytown after lunch, we came across this mural illustrating scenes related to the area. If you have keen eyes, you'll notice Kermit the Frog in the upper right. Jim Henson's creation made his TV debut at a local station in 1955:

Amber ended up finishing second in her bracket:

On Sunday the two of us returned to the same area, this time having lunch at Seoul Spice. One can never have too much bibimbap. Apparently, the same is also true of kale, according to a one-star review of the restaurant I read online. The reason for the poor rating: the shop had run out of the trendy leaf cabbage. Life can challenging at times when you're a privileged white suburbanite:

My daughter shows off a purchase she made at Politics and Prose, one of the best independent bookshops in the District:

A 1929 blend of Tudor and Gothic Revival on Connecticut Avenue. According to Redfin, condos in this complex go for more than half a million dollars. Earlier, we walked by a three-bedroom, 2½ bath house on Nebraska Avenue that was valued at almost $1 million by Zillow. Like in many other metropolitan areas in the U.S. (excluding the Rust Belt, at least), housing prices are reaching ridiculous levels in Washington's desirable neighborhoods, pricing out people like us. Zillow says the rent estimate on such homes would eat up most of my monthly income, meaning that should I ever accept (or have forced on me) a domestic assignment, we'll either go broke or have to live far out in the suburbs:

A sentinel at a window along Connecticut Avenue...:

The snowstorm predicted over the President's Day weekend did eventually materialize, and it had the courtesy to come in early on a Wednesday morning, leading to the cancelation of classes for both Amber and myself (Shu-E, naturally, was less than overjoyed at this turn of events). This was the scene that greeted me as I went out onto our balcony at half-past eight that morning:

In total, Falls Church received 3.9 inches (9.9 centimeters) of snow, a trifling amount for someplace like Minneapolis or Vilnius, perhaps, but enough to cancel schools and shut down the federal government in this region. It's on days such as the one described that I don't miss having a car. We were here when Snowmageddon hit in January 2016, and it took us nearly 2½  hours to dig out our vehicle. The accumulated snow was much less this time, of course, but I still saw cars having difficulty maintaining traction in the Eden Center parking lot when my daughter and I went out for a walk after lunch:

Finally, on the first normal weekend following the three-day break the previous week, my family and I went out and did something meaningful...or at least my daughter and I did. On a chilly, wet Saturday morning, Amber and I rode the Metro into the District to visit the National Museum of African Art, a Smithsonian showcase of ceramics, masks, textiles and old and modern art from all over the continent. First things first, however, we headed over to the Smithsonian Castle for lunch, popping in to pay our respects to James Smithson, whose generous donation following his death led to the creation of the Smithsonian Institution. Surprisingly, Smithson, a British subject, never visited the United States during his lifetime - his remains were relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1904, nearly 75 years after his death:

The Castle Cafe was crowded, and all seats were occupied, so instead we walked several blocks away from the National Mall to have lunch at the Pennsylvania Avenue branch of the Elephant & Castle. I had the Yorkshire pudding (hidden underneath the roast beef strips), while my daughter ordered her Anglo-Irish favorite, shepherd's pie:

Bellies filled, we returned to the Mall and entered the National Museum of African Art, established in 1964:

Some of the highlights from the displayed collection included this magnificent face mask from either modern-day Angola or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It represents a young woman incised with several examples of tattoos that are the work of the Chokwe people:

Apartheid Laboratory (1995):

The Blue Bra Girls (2012) by Egyptian artist Ghada Amer:

Untitled (2009) by Ghanaian artist El Anatsui, a wall sculpture made from discarded metal objects:

This 18th-century commemorative head of a king was fashioned out of copper alloy and iron by an Edo artist during the time of the Benin Empire:

This mask was fashioned by a Bamum artist sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The eyes are made from the silk of earth spiders, giving the figure an alien-like appearance:

An exquisite salt cellar dating from the 16th century. It was crafted by an Edo artist out of ivory:

This ceramic jar was made by a Nyoro artist in the mid-20th century. The reflection on the glass display case comes from a pool of water filled with coins:

Amber stands next to a Bamum male figure from Cameroon. It dates from the late 19th century:

The oldest piece we came across at the museum was this archer figure from Mali, which was made sometime between the 13th and 15th centuries:

Naturally, I was curious to see what the museum had from Ethiopia:

The answer was "some items, but not as many as I was hoping". These two panels depict the Battle of Adwa (1896), in which the Ethiopian forces routed Italian troops and preserved the country's independence. Ethiopia and Liberia were the only two African states not colonized by the Europeans during the Scramble for Africa:

An Amhara አማራ artist crafted this shield in the late 19th-early 20th century. The cloth and silver flourishes on it were unique to Ethiopia:

Homage to Russian Ballet, an oil-on-canvas work from 1968 by Afewerk Tekle አፈወርቅ ተክሌ, the first Ethiopian artist to garner attention in the post-World War II period:

Hallucination (1961) by Skunder Boghossian. The woman's crossed hands and seated posture evoke an association with the Virgin Mary:

St. George is often depicted riding a white horse and slaying a dragon in Ethiopian art. This woodcut-on-paper by Falaka Armide Yimer was created in 1960:

Auguries (2010) by Julie Mehretu:

Homme Carapace (1968), a ceramic sculpture by Etiyé Dimma Poulsen, a Danish sculptor born in Ethiopia:

For me, the most interesting examples of Ethiopian art are the religious symbols, such as this copper alloy processional cross from the 14th-15th centuries, crafted by an Amhara artist:

Amber poses with a couple of items we picked up from the museum gift shop. I haven't tried the coffee yet, but the music was surprisingly good, much better than the commercialized popular pap our Amharic teacher likes to play for us in class:

As for the National Museum of African Art, I would liked to have seen more examples of art from before the 19th and 20th centuries. Also, there seemed to be a disproportionate number of items from the region that is now Nigeria. Still, the museum is worth a visit and whetted my appetite for what I hope to see after we finally arrive in Addis Ababa አዲስ አበባ.

If you're wondering about the title of this blog post, here's the story: I went for a walk this afternoon on the Custis Trail, sucking on a See's Candies butterscotch lollipop. A woman remarked as I passed by that I looked like Telly Savalas, to which I replied in an appropriate manner, much to her amusement. If you're too young to understand to what I'm referring, just scroll down a little further...:

Capitalizing on the start of a Boarish Year

Hockey Night in the District of Columbia

It's been an eventful few weeks since I last posted something on this blog in the middle of January. Conversely, I haven't had anything to blog about because of those eventful few weeks. As you may or may not recall in this age of short media attention spans, the U.S. was wracked by a government shutdown unprecedented in length - 35 days from December 22 (2018) to January 25. During most of that period I was forced to stay at home as FSI was closed and my Amharic class was suspended. Actually, I returned to work on the 22nd as the State Department announced to its employees that enough funds to cover one pay period (meaning for two weeks) had been "found" (were department sofas thoroughly combed for all loose change?), but the shutdown ended soon after - or at least until Feb. 15, the next date to note on your crisis calendar. I will refrain from commenting on this national disgrace idiocy issue until after I retire from government service.

I didn't do much during the latter half of the furlough (including studying Amharic), except for taking some long walks on the local bicycle trails (and even those were curtailed after it started snowing more frequently). Financial concerns and the closure of many museums and sightseeing spots in Washington during the shutdown limited our leisure options. At least one good thing has come out of the disruption to my studies - my classmates aren't as ahead of me as much as before the furlough!

Another big news story of recent note has been the unbelievable cold affecting large swathes of the United States. Our area has been spared the worst of the freezing temperatures, with the lowest thermometer reading according to my Smartphone being 9° Fahrenheit (-13° Celsius, which sounds much colder!). Still, the temperature was below freezing for days at a time, enough that my daughter's school had two-hour delayed starts for much of this past week. As a parent I appreciate the school district's looking out for the well-being of my child, but I can't help but feel it's all somewhat of an overreaction. Recall that we spent the previous two winters in Lithuania, where the schools never closed due to snow and the benchmark for keeping students home was -20°C (-4°F) for elementary-age children, and -25°C (-13°F) for middle- and high-school students. Amber's swimming coach was even tougher - his rule was practices would be held as usual unless the outside temperature had fallen to -30°C (-22°F)! A hardy lot, those Lithuanians...

The Year of the Boar (sounds better than the Year of the Pig) 豬年 began on Feb. 5. According to my wife, this year will be an auspicious one for people of my Chinese Zodiac sign (hint: I ain't no pig), so let's hope for once superstition turns out to be true...

Finally, this article from The Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ brought back memories of the time Shu-E and I lived in Yokkaichi 四日市 from April 2004 to September 2005 (my wife actually moved back to Taiwan three months before me to prepare for our daughter's birth). Though we never went on one of the factory night view cruises mentioned in the story, we certainly saw enough of the コンビナート, including once the sun went down. Looking west from our fourth floor balcony not far from Ise-Matsumoto Station 伊勢松本駅, we had a nice view of the Suzuka Mountains 鈴鹿山脈; looking east could be seen the oil refineries and petrochemical complexes lining the Yokkaichi waterfront, source of the Yokkaichi asthma 四日市ぜんそく cited in the article, as well as a unique odor if the wind was blowing our way. Despite being eyesores and potential health hazards, I was (and still am) fascinated by the factory complexes, especially at night when the lights come on - just take a look at the images on the sides of this blog!. In Yokkaichi Shu-E and I one evening took a bus out to Kasumiminato Park 霞港公園, where there is an observation tower that provided a decent view of the コンビナート - I remember it being an almost otherwordly experience. And it wasn't just in Japan - in Taiwan, my wife drove me once to see the massive oil refinery in Mailiao 麥寮, in her home county of Yunlin 雲林縣, to see the sci-fi aura emanating from the complex at night. 

That doesn't mean I would want to live anywhere near one of those complexes. 

Some recent photos: One of the bike trails where I went for long walks while furloughed:

Do you remember the hubbub over the "super blood wolf moon" a couple of weeks ago? My sad attempt to get a photo of the unusual phenomenon ended up looking like a blurry picture of Mars as seen through a cheap telescope. Much better photographs can be seen here:

Towards the end of January my daughter officially became a teenager. God help us all:

I was pleased to learn that a nearby supermarket stocks Habesha Cold Gold ሐበሻ ቢራ. I'm looking forward to more in-depth research of the Ethiopian beer market beginning this summer:

Enjoying the snowfall from our balcony:

Taken at work when the temperature was 19°F (-7°C). Poor Ben Franklin was feeling the chill more than I:

A Lunar New Year (I won't say "Chinese" in deference to the Koreans and Vietnamese, for whom it's also an important holiday) celebration at the Tysons Corner shopping mall:

The Confucius Institute, where you can learn about Chinese culture and language. Just don't expect open exchanges of ideas on Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang or human rights in general:

Amber at the mall...:

...and at a Taiwanese-style tea shop:

A wintry sunset:

The penultimate day of the Year of the Dog 狗年 was the sunniest and warmest seen in a while. So while Amber and Shu-E were out of the house in the afternoon for my daughter's Chinese class, I took a walk downtown to check out the graveyard at the historic Falls Church Episcopal. The church's history dates back to 1734, and it once counted George Washington among its parishioners:

A pamphlet is available which points out some of the more notable burials in the churchyard. The oldest identifiable grave is that of one John Carolin, who passed away in 1805. The rounded indentations in the headstone are believed to have been caused by musket balls fired by soldiers who were quartered there during the Civil War:

Henry Fairfax was a West Point graduate who was killed in Saltillo, Mexico in 1847 during the Mexican-American War:

Daniel Dulaney's (1780-1848) barn was used to store gunpowder to prevent its capture by British forces when they attacked Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812:

Union and Confederate soldiers, both known and unknown, were buried here in unmarked graves during the Civil War:

From the pamphlet: "Anti-slavery activist John D. Read (1812-1864) was a lay minister of Columbia Baptist Church. Before and during the Civil War, Read and his daughter Betsy helped run a school for free and enslaved African-Americans in Falls Church. He was a member of the interracial Falls Church Home Guard, a militia of Union loyalists organized to protect villagers during the Civil War. Accused of being a Union spy by "Mosby's Raiders," under Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby, Read and his black companion Jacob Jackson were kidnapped, shot execution style, and left for dead on October 24, 1864. Jackson survived but Read succumbed.":

The tallest monument in the graveyard is the headstone of George F. Bailey. He was a member of the Bailey family who ran a circus that ultimately found fame as the Barnum and Bailey Circus:

And on the first night of the Year of the Boar, my family and I welcomed the new year in that most time-honored of traditions - taking in a National Hockey League game:

OK, admittedly it wasn't the traditional Taiwanese activity, but we attended the game at the Capital One Arena at the suggestion of some friends of ours. It was a first for the girls, but the second NHL game for your humble scribe. Way back in 1982, thanks to a friend's family connections, I attended Game Three of the Clarence Campbell Conference divisional semifinals, pitting the host Los Angeles Kings facing off against the Edmonton Oilers (and Wayne Gretzky, aka  The Great One). Sitting in the VIP section of the old Fabulous Forum and rubbing elbows with Jimmy Connors and Buddy Ebsen, I was witness to what Wikipedia describes as "the greatest comeback in NHL history" as the Kings fought back from 5-0 down to win 6-5 in overtime:

Monday's regular season contest wasn't quite as dramatic, but the hometown Washington Capitals are the defending Stanley Cup champions, and were playing host to the visiting Vancouver Canucks. The introduction was certainly dramatic:

Our game made some history of its own as Alex Ovechkin's assist on the Capitals' 1st period goal gave him 1180 points, making him the top-scoring Russian player in NHL history. That goal in the first three minutes of the game was the only scoring for the first two periods. The view from our seats:

In the third period both teams scored two goals, resulting in a final score of 3-2 in favor of Washington: 

Occasionally while walking around, I will come across something that reminds me of Taiwan, like this small shrine in the window of a local hair salon:

And on that note I and mine wish you and yours a heartfelt 新年快樂 and 恭喜發財! 

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.