Number Seven

We are have having a wild and wonderful, family-togetherness Saturday of ---- just reading! No, not all sitting in the same room and staring at our own books. Not that. Our final Rowling book came in the mail on Monday and on Tuesday we started a family adventure of ending the series together. We decided to read it aloud as a family. With only one copy, we had thought that we were going to have to take turns, but this is so much better. During the week, we managed 167 pages, after dinner until bedtime and after breakfast until the bus came. Today, we have been reading for hours and hours. We started a tradition of taking a break at the end of each chapter during which we do -- wait for it -- calisthenics. Yup, push-ups, jumping jacks, squats and sit-ups. It breaks up all that sitting around. So far, Doug has been very generous and done ALL the reading. I knit, Maggie draws and Aidan runs in circles.

That's all for now. Gotta get back to the book.

Oh, did I forget to mention that our massage therapist came by the house this morning? Yeah, well, our lives are very, very hard.

Finally Blogging

I have been back more than two weeks now, so I guess I should be feeling settled. I guess I am. I have acclimated myself to winter to the best of my ability. It is very odd to leave for work in the morning and have it be 30 degrees outside – in August! It doesn't feel like any August I remember. I keep thinking that this weekend is the village festival, Harbor Days, in my hometown of Elk Rapids (where we spent our R&R). It makes my head hurt to try to put it together with where I am now.

I am already missing Elk Rapids, as well as all the people in it. I find I am terribly frustrated with not having made enough time to connect enough with all my important people there. That isn't to say that I had a bad time! I had an incredible visit. I just have several things to learn about managing my time while stateside. As with everything in life: live and learn.

One of the things I am missing most about ER is walking around. I don't think there is a more beautiful and walkable place to live. It is so incredible to walk from main street to my parents' home – gorgeous sights and sounds in all directions – river, lake, harbor, flower gardens, breeze. Here, I have to drive half an hour for a pretty walk and I can't incorporate it into doing my daily errands (dentist visit, post office, eye doctor).

The kidlets seem to be settling into school pretty well. They both like their teachers so far (and, as far as we can tell, they are very good and warm teachers). Maggie was sick three days this week, so she hasn't has as much exposure to her teacher. (She is all better now.) Aidan has already presented a Power Point on himself to his class! Both kids have had the great good luck of being placed with their best friends – hooray!

I went back to work last week and managed to work two days this week too. I still haven't started my new job. I have a lot of loose ends to tie up at my current job while I await my security clearance for the new job. In the meantime, I have announced the start of a book club and will soon kick-off a knitting group, even though I haven't started my job yet!

With regard to knitting: I have continued to work on sweater projects with a brief foray into baby hats. My beloved niece is expecting a baby and wanted me to teach her how to knit a baby hat. I had to knit one in order to remember how! It turns out to be such a quick and easy (2-3 hours) project that makes an incredibly adorable item. My friend and I are hoping that the knitting group, when it starts, will want to make items for donation – maybe picking an organization (like an orphanage) that we can donate to regularly. That way, I can make as many baby hats as I like!

We arrrived!

Michigan! It is hard to believe, but it is even more beautiful than we remembered! At the same time, it is exactly the same as we remembered. We are so happy to be here! On our very first day, we were met by both sets of parents, several siblings and nieces and nephews (cousins) at the airport. Traverse City airport is a pretty small place and we just let our kids run ahead of us, through the crowd to their family and the family let up a great big cheer. All the other folks walking through the airport gave us happy glances. Everyone settled us into our cabin on Elk Lake and then my parents had us and Doug's folks and all of the rest of my family over for a big cookout that same evening. The next morning we woke up to cousins dropping by the cabin and bringing extra boats and playing with us. As Aidan says, "so far, zero disappointments!" Other accomplishments so far: breakfast at the local diner, visiting friends from previous jobs, Doug had dinner with his old Rotary club, a lovely trip to the village library where Maggie got her library card, lots of American foods (raisin bran! english muffins! pretzels! klondike bars!), a bonfire on the beach with s'mores and swimming in the lake. Can you believe we have only been here three days??? Actually, not quite three days??!!

More on Smog - technical

My associate, Bonnie Quezada, and I spent some time yesterday morning doing some basic research on air quality. We wanted to share some of our results with others who may be interested. Here is a version of the email we sent to friends and associates (I wasn't able to keep the charts, so you will have to look at the links). I know this is messy, but we are in a hurry to leave the country!

Overview
Terminology:

• Several abbreviations are used that can be confusing – Here are some of the terms used and what we believe (based on our research today) they mean:
• AQI = Air Quality Index (calidad del aire): this number arises from an analysis that looks at both particulate matter and ozone content; here is a brief explanation.
• PM10 and PM2.5- Particulate Matter – of the inhalable variety has a range of sizes. PM10 refers to the largest that are inhalable (10 microns across) and PM2.5 refers to the most dangerous PM as it is only 2.5 microns wide (very small). The annual geometric mean of particulate matter is called the ug/m3.
• O3 and PPB – O3 refers to ground level ozone and PPB refers to the annual mean of ozone.
  Advisories and Warnings using AQI Different Indices are difficult to compare as they refer to different standards. The U.S. AQI is a composite index using ozone, particulate matter and many other pollutants. The EPA has a good explanation of their AQI composite index at http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=static.aqi. This page also shows the chart used by the EPA.

In Chile

How do you find out the current air quality according to Chilean authorities? You can see their reporting here. If you are interested in the history of smog in Santiago, go to statistics on air quality. Their Chart is based on a rating figure called the ICAP, explained below. This index seems to be based only on particulate matter. Chilean authorities gauge the ozone levels separately. The Chilean Advisory Chart looks like this.

Their definitions used in defining their ICAP (Indice de Calidad del Aire Particulado):
ICAP: Indice de Calidad del Aire por Partículas. Es un indicador creado por el artículo 1, letra g, del Decreto Supremo 59, de 1998, del Ministerio Secretaria General de la Presidencia y la Resolución 369, de 1988 del Ministerio de Salud, basado en la cantidad de partículas respirables (PM10), medidas en microgramos, presentes en un metro cúbico. Derivado de la función lineal segmentada definida por los puntos 0 ug/m3 = 0 ICAP, 150 ug/m3 = 100 ICAP y 330 ug/m3 = 500 ICAP.

As a basis for real comparison, the EPA also has a chart for quantities of just Particulate Matter: It seems that the U.S. EPA has a much higher standard based on this chart. The U.S. standards do not even reach 300 (Chilean Pre-emergency), nor 500 (Chilean emergency levels).

Other Good Sources of Information:

Ministry of the Environment (Ontario, Canada)
American Lung Association has some very clear fact sheets:

• Fact Sheet on Ozone
• Fact Sheet on Particulate Matter Pollution
• Overview of Information on Outdoor Air Quality

U.S. EPA

• Air quality guide for Bangkok levels are based on PM and are well below Santiago, currently.
• China -- Beijing is currently at 194 based on particulate matter.
• Mexico City – skies are currently much clearer than here in Santiago.
• The Indian air quality index and standards.

flu and FS culture

Doug and I are valiantly battling the flu bug, but I am afraid that I, at least, will be its next victim. I hope that Doug will not because he actually got the flu shot. Of course, that may have been total crap; they may have given us some stupid north american shot from last fall while some super virulent strain massively annihilates the southern cone. Did I mention in my last blog that 17 out of 23 students in Aidan's class had become sick? Luckily, Aidan seems to be recovering: he is still coughing and above average temp, but he says he feels more than 100% better than he did earlier this week. He even put on clothes today (sweats and a t-shirt).

I had a really nice morning. I have met a couple of friends (one who leaves forever in three weeks) and we occasionally go out for morning coffee or shopping. Sounds so blase and middle class. It is super fun. This morning we talked about acculturating to the foreign service -- is its own culture. Ellen got me thinking about this when she said that FS folks often have a particular type (very nice) of art collection (third world art gallery, I think she called it). I love you Ellen. (Ellen is an anthropologist.) Anyway, Julie and Shelly and I got to talking about what we are noticing about our new culture (as all relatively recent to the service, although this is Julie's second post). We talked about things that distinguish this culture from other cultures - both experiences and constraints. Ellen, please feel free to comment as I have forgotten the vocabulary of anthropology. Some of the things we came up with include:

• we all have the same furniture (thus the art collections)
• the experience of arrival in a new place with just the nuclear family unit, over and over (tight family units result)
• the language of FS -- yes, the acronyms, but also all the different community members we have: there is a whole set of roles (filled by different individuals in each place) in the community that we all depend upon -- people who fix things, people who acquire the things, people who set up the social gatherings
• everyone in the community knows people all over the world
• normalcy around family separations - of up to or more than a year
• social gatherings where at least 3 first languages are present

I am sure we could come up with a LOT more. We also talked about how the culture of the FS is even more distinct for our kids than it is for us -- babies growing up in this could be said to be "from the Foreign Service" more than from any one place. I shared that this has been the bigger cultural adaption for me -- much bigger than adapting to the San Diegoan culture of Santiago. Anyway -- I invite your comments. It was great to be out with girlfriends waxing philosophic.

Gotta' go -- Doug made a lovely pot of tea!

Smog is Back,but...

Well, the smog came back, but I bet the general air quality is better. I took a few pictures when I went for my walk this morning, because it was so incredibly beautiful this morning. I guess I will have to take pics of the smog too sometime, but I find it so depressing.

Here is the view from the neighborhood playground, before the smog returned.

Clear Skies

Aidan is still quite sick and I learned yesterday that almost half his class is out with the flu. On the bright side, yesterday's rain cleared the sky up here and we even have frost this morning. Here is the view from the sewing (guest) room window. Hopefully, I will slip out for a walk later this morning and get some better pics before the weather changes or smog returns.