Derek on leave

Last weekend I went to Charleston to see Derek who was on leave from Afghanistan. It was nice to see him but hard to say goodbye for another 8 months. At least he's going back as a general.... ahem I mean sergeant and he may have a more interesting job this time around.

Joanne and Avea dancing at a dinner Joanne and Dad organized for Derek
All of us at dinner

My two brothers

Maman and Derek at the airport on Sunday

France

Now that I'm somewhat (though not much) more awake, here are some pictures of what I did in France before the wedding.

Right after getting off the plane I went to the market with my uncle Bernard.
This is where we got our cheese.

My cousin Tim after lunch.

My cousin Nicolas with his daughter Manon.

Isabelle and Bernard after a long walk in the woods to this lake and old hunting lodge in the background.

View from my cousin Segolene's house.

About to take a Velib. This is one of the best new things in Paris. The city has put tons of bikes like these all over the city and you can rent them for 1 euro a day as long as you don't keep the bike for more than 30 minutes at a time (after that it costs a little more). All over the city there are racks where you can return and take bikes. DC needs this!

Segolene at a cafe

With Agathe

Elliot and Agathe

This is a place where lawyers and judges can buy the robes they all wear to court. This one's for judges but if you ask me it seems like it would be better in the lion king than in a French court. This is the first time in my life I'm happy I'll be wearing lots of suits.

Severine, Benjamin, Agathe and Elliot.
Miam! (Yum)

Aperetif in Reims with my aunt Francoise and Geoffroy (the one who's now married)

My aunt Marie-Christine on the way to the wedding.

My uncle Antoine.

Jobal's Wedding

I just returned from my cousin Geoffroy's wedding in Normandy. Before the wedding I spent a week visiting with my family. Although it was a bit of a whirlwind trip (sleeping at different people's houses every night), it was wonderful seeing my family again especially individually. Everything about the wedding was beautiful - from the church, to the people, to the reception afterwards). Plus it was great seeing Geoffroy and Caroline get married. They make a wonderful couple! I'm completely jet-lagged right now so although I have lots more to say, I'll just end this post with some pictures.

Some of my cousins at mass

Agathe (my cousin's daughter) ready to be a flower girl

Caroline, Geoffroy, Francoise (my aunt) and Jacques (my uncle) leaving mass

Alban (the youngest of the cousins) after mass

The coctail party - what a view!

My aunt Francoise

Caroline et Geoffroy

Lots of young cousins (most are just a bit younger than Derek)

Saskia and Benjamin

Dinner

All the hats!

The cake with sparklers

Geoffroy (approx. 4 am) The bride and groom danced until 6am... I'm sorry to say I was off to bed at 4:30 - before even the pregnant women!

With my little cousin Louis (Delphine & Arnaud's baby) the day after the wedding.

Geoffroy day 2
Louis

Caroline (or should I say Mme. Balland!)

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night with the help of lots of friends I pulled off one of the most successful surprises of my life - Sohail's surprise birthday party. Almost all of his close high school and college friends came as well as his sister Sara. Unfortunately we didn't capture the surprise on camera but it consisted of Sohail coming to my house for "dinner" and his friends jumping from behind the counter in my kitchen. Then we went to my roof deck to hang out and a few even went for a swim.

The birthday boy and his buddies

Sohail checking out the mask Nate got him for his birthday in Mexico.
Nate's the one to the right of Sohail.

Happy Birthday!

Swimming with the new mask!

Puerto Rico

My Hollywood debut as a blonde Spanish gitana!
Old San Juan at night

View of Old San Juan from a fort build by the Spaniards
Lots of kids were flying kites here and families were picknicking.

Vestiges from the Navy's presence on Isla Culebra

Playa Flamenco

Hello all! So sorry I haven't posted in such a long time but I have a new camera that works and something to talk about so the time seemed opportune for another post.

I just got back from 10 days in Puerto Rico where Sohail and I visited old san juan, helped his sister with her film (she's in film school) and went to an island called Culebra. On Culebra we stayed at a beach called Playa Flamenco which is the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. There is fine white sand with no shells or rocks, clear water, some coral for good snorkeling, and very few people (sometimes we had the beach to ourselves during the week). Fortunately hurricane Dean avoided hitting Puerto Rico but things did close down for a few days (ferries, planes, school, and ... internet access!). We got a few clouds but still spent all day on the beach making sand castles and picking a coconut from a tree.

On our last night we went on a kayak tour of a bioluminescent (glow in the dark algea that light up the water when touched) bay. That was incredible. It started to rain half way through the tour and the water lit up in every spot a raindrop dropped.

finally doing something!

My new workplace....

My office (ok, just kidding, that's the main entrance)

I was almost certain my next post would be entitled "doing nothing - week 3" and I almost made it but fortunately I started my job today. It's much more exciting than I thought it would be to be working at the World Bank - probably because I don't have to go through a metal detector to get in anymore and because the cafeteria has a city wide reputation for being amazing and I can eat there all I want now (though I already made my sandwich for tomorrow...). There's also the minor detail that I momentarily feared I'd be unemployed all summer long and that the job I got is going to be fantastic.

For those of you who've never been, the World Bank building is amazing. Even though I have a cubicle I feel like I have a huge office with windows because all the walls are glass so I get tons of natural light and can see the city all around me. My co-workers seem great and the project is interesting so I really couldn't ask for more - except for larger water glasses. There's everything you could want as an employee (fancy pens, about 15 printers for about 5 people, beautiful Asian artwork in the the office) but the cups at the water cooler are about the size of a thimble! Strange...

doing nothing - week two

Those of you who know me well know I'm horrible at having nothing to do. This weakness is vastly magnified after two years of studying for about 15 hours a day. It turns out that you can visit a lot of museums in 15 hours (also turns out they're not open for 15 hours a day). So I've been trying really hard to find things to keep me busy now that I'm unemployed and out of school.

The good news is that I have been offered a job in the East-Asia Pacific Vice-Presidency of the World Bank that should start next week if all goes well (but as anyone who glances at the newspapers these days knows, things are not going particularly well at the WB... hopefully I won't have another job fall through at the last minute).

In any case, here's a quick summary of my last two weeks of fun: spent lots of time making lists of what I should do, found an apartment in Dupont Circle, tried to sell furniture on craigslist, went to a Japanese movie at the Freer Gallery (Ken Watanabe starred in the film and was there to introduce it - he's also in Memoirs of a Geisha, the Last Samurai etc), played lots of soccer, read (for pleasure!), cooked (also for fun!), went to a congressional hearing on HIV/AIDS for the ILO, went shopping, went to dinners with friends, looked for the job that I found (see above)...

Last night Alicia and I got together for a Spanish dinner that consisted of chorizo, cheese, olives, and wine. We were going to go to an art exhibit afterwards but that plan fell by the wayside as the conversation got funnier and wine bottle emptier. Now I'm about to go to a soccer game and hope to still be able to run today after last night's less than balanced meal!