Kentucky Country

The family and I took a stroll through the countryside the other day, and I took some more photos of KY for you all to enjoy.

Red barn against blue sky.

View through the barn of farmland.

Tobacco hanging up to dry.

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! And yes, we're celebrating both again this year!

Tonight's Christmas Eve/4th Night of Hanukkah dinner consisted of fondue with baguettes homemade by my Dad. Extremely delicious.

Christmas in Kentucky

Hello from Kentucky! Yep, I'm home for the holidays. Of course, I caught a cold the minute my plane landed, but I've still had time to enjoy the pretty outdoors:

And wandering around town:

No snow yet, but there are still a few days before Christmas!

Thanksgiving Tahoe Hike

On our last day at Lake Tahoe, we took the dogs on a several hours long hike near Fallen Leaf Lake. It was a cool, gorgeous sunny day.

Nighttime at Tahoe

It's late at night and 30 degrees F here at Tahoe. The insides of the windows are covered in steam from the heater that has been going full blast. We took the dogs on a midnight walk down the street a little while ago. It was pitch black (no streetlights here) and we saw a million stars. I heard coyotes howling for the first time ever, and it made me shiver--a very plaintive sound. Now I'm cuddled up in the cabin with three blankets and my computer. Too bad the bed isn't big enough for the addition of a dog or two for extra warmth!

A New State

Proof that we were actually at Lake Tahoe: the lake!



Also, proof that we drove into Nevada to check out Carson City: the cool tunnel through a mountain!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The last two days have been lovely and peaceful. Tuesday we took the pooches for another hike through more golden meadows and snow-tipped mountains.

On Wednesday we woke up to drizzly rain, so spent the day inside watching movies and playing board games.

Tomorrow we plan to cook and eat!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello from Tahoe!

Hello from South Lake Tahoe!

The boyfriend and I (and the two German Shepherds) are staying in a rented cabin for the week. Although we're very close to Lake Tahoe and the accompanying casinos/resorts/rich people, our cabin is located in the middle of the National Forest, so we're surrounded by wilderness, hiking trails, and hippies.

Here is the cabin and a shot of the cozy interior (with cute puppy accessories):

Today we went for a hike through this amazing countryside:

The dogs enjoying being off-leash:

And we ended the day by playing in the beautiful river:

More tomorrow!

Foreign Service--Where to Go?

I've been thinking about what countries I would prefer to live in if I get into the Foreign Service. My official answer to this is that I'd love to go anywhere new and interesting.

But there's something to be said for having some previous experience in a language. So, a list (from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute website for some reason) of countries where French is the national language (or one of the national languages):

Belgium
Benin (Africa)
Burkina-Faso (Africa)
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros (Indian Ocean island east of Africa)
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti (Africa)
France
Gabon (Africa)
Guinea
Haiti
Ivory Coast
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Mali
Monaco
Niger
Republic of Congo
Rwanda
Senegal
Seychelles (Indian Ocean island east of Africa)
Switzerland
Togo
Vanuatu (in the South Pacific)

And there are other countries where French is commonly spoken, even though it's not a national language.

So I could just become fluent in French and live in at least 27 different countries!

Foreign Service Stats (from 2004)

I finally found a website that talked about how difficult it is to get into the Foreign Service. These numbers are from 2004, but I imagine they aren't too different today.

People taking the written exam: 19,100

People passing the written exam: 4,400

People taking the oral exam: 3,900

People passing the oral exam: 700

People passing the medical/security clearances: 450

The entire class of officers ranged in age from 22 to 56, and the average age was 30. So although I am a little young, the real reason I might not make it into the Foreign Service is because only 2% of people pass!

Foreign Service Test: FINITO

MY ANTICIPATED GRADE: A/B+

Of course, the test isn't really graded. But I think I aced 5 sections and only dismally failed one. I hope this is enough to pass!

ACED

-Job skills
-Character traits (if one can ace such a thing....)
-Reading comprehension
-Reading analysis
-Essay

FAILED

-Trivia (who really remembers what the Monroe Doctrine said...)

I'll let you all know my actual results in 10-12 weeks.

Career Update

I'm taking the Foreign Service exam tomorrow! So from 9 am to noon, I will once again be sitting in a class room taking a test. I thought my test-taking days were over after graduation, but I should have known better. Scantrons and earplugs will likely haunt me for the rest of my life.

My opinions about this whole Foreign Service thing change daily. So I have started a pro/con list:

PROS

-Live overseas/in D.C.
-Travel opportunities
-Interesting international career
-Loan repayment
-20 year retirement
-Government benefits/free housing
-Lots of vacation time to visit the US

CONS

-Live far away from family/friends
-Miss out on being a "lawyer"
-Accept a lower salary than being a lawyer
-Might have to learn a foreign language (could also be a pro)
-Might have to live somewhere boring/dangerous
-Might live somewhere with bad weather/accommodations

That's it so far. Let me know if you have anything to add!

Week 3

Okay folks, the Half Moon Bay fun is over, back to food.

Alas, this has been a sad week in health-eating history. Behold:

Thursday: 2330
Friday: no idea! (banquet lunch for work + Cuban restaurant dinner with a friend)
Saturday: no idea! (snacks from Half Moon Bay Festival--no real meals)
Sunday: no idea! (snacks from Half Moon Bay Festival--no real meals)
Monday: no idea! (home from HMB, but exhausted and slept most of the day, so didn't track calories)
Tuesday: 1920 (best estimate... Persian restaurant dinner double date!)
Wednesday: 2260 (best estimate... Persian leftovers and birthday party for dinner/dessert!)
Thursday: 2900 (best estimate... ate breakfast out, Persian leftovers, and down-in-the-dumps chocolate!)

Don't you love how honest I am?

And yes, I'm very ashamed of myself. No, not really. But again, this shows how unhealthy eating out can be. I don't feel that badly though, because this was both my "bar trip" week and my catching up with friends week, so I knew I would let the diet slide.

But starting tomorrow, we're back on track!

I'm off to stock up on carrots!

Hike to Tidal Pools

After settling into the hostel, I decided to hike along the coast back south toward Moss Beach in search of the famous tidal pools before the sun set. The path took me by some amazing houses, near some treacherous drops down to churning water and rocks below, and through some very odd and some very pretty foliage.

I found the tidepools themselves to be pretty and unique, but not as interesting to me as the surrounding landscapes.

I also found some critters!

After my hike back to the hostel, I sat and enjoyed sunset by the lighthouse:

Lighthouse Hostel

After lingering around the Pumpkin Festival for 5 hours or so, I made my way north to the lighthouse hostel where I planned to spend the night.

I was feeling tired and a little grumpy after the festival, but my first glimpse of the hostel cheered me up instantly.

Isn't it beautiful?!

The lighthouse itself is still working, and very tiny and adorable. Unfortunately, it's not open to visitors. I imagine a hobbit family lives behind that tiny green door and wants their privacy.


The rest of the grounds are lovely as well, especially the private beach.

I spent the night in "The Fog Signal Annex" building.



My room had three bunkbeds (I got a bottom bunk, thank goodness). There were five other ladies there, who were all quite nice. They invited me to dinner with them, but I didn't really feel like socializing. Instead, I went on a hike along the cliffside--see pictures in next post.

Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival

OVERALL RATING: 2 out of 5 stars.

The incredibly long line of slow moving traffic that surrounded me on Saturday morning on my way to Half Moon Bay suggested that I was in for a real treat. However, the festival was really quite a let-down.

PROS: finding free parking (but only after circling for 10 minutes), pumpkin pie/tarts/lattes/cookies, seeing the enormous pumpkin.

CONS: enormous crowds, a lame parade (involving violently thrown candy that forced me to duck numerous times), kitschy art for sale, inflated prices.

Here's a selection of photos I took.








Final verdict: not worth attending unless you have small children, who will be impressed by the festivities, but will become exhausting quickly, dropping their chocolate ice-cream cone down the hair and back of the nice lady sitting on the ground in front of them (no, luckily, this was not me).