myretroperspective

That's right, and you thought I was just making an awful attempt at being a full-time blogger, didn't you? No as it turns out I've been waiting for the perfect job at the consulate and for all of the wheels to turn, turn, turn... I am now the Human Resources Assistant at the US Consulate in Shenyang! It only took 8 months after arriving at post to start my job but that's considerably less time than it took R to join the foreign service so I can't say I'm at all surprised. If you haven't noticed, I like context and details so I'll share a little bit about the step by step process assuming that at some point some EFM (eligible family member- technical term for spouses/kids in the state department) will be keeping warm in a high rise apartment listlessly wondering if or when he/she might get a job and trolling the internet in search of hope! When we were assigned to Shenyang in October we started getting emails from the CLO (community liaison office) about ...

It seems like the rhythm of life here for us toggles between travel and excursions outside the city and recouping from the travel and just living life in Shenyang. As you saw, the beginning of July had lots of travel and the rest of it was kind of laying low. I always need a few days to recoup but was starting to feel a bit restless again. The end of the summer always feels this way to me- restless. The last week or so the pace has picked up a little. We sponsored a sweet couple that arrived at post last Tuesday which has mainly involved pointing them towards the grocery store and introducing them to our friends. An excellent trip to our fabric market was also involved in which I snagged a gorgeous swath of fabric I'm using as a tablecloth for $5 (you might spot it at the right in the diplogram photo rotation). It's always a bit of a turning point in my overseas experience when I feel like I have something to share about living life well wherever I am. This weekend we skyped wi...

Hosting V for his first experience of China was a treat. Coming off of 6 years in West Africa and a month or so traveling through Spain, it was hard to guess how he'd interpret the quirks of China. We always have this schizophrenic reaction when friends actually engage with the idea of coming to visit us here in Shenyang. Of course we're excited and want to see them, but then there's an inevitable anxiety that making a trip literally half-way around the world might not meet their expectations. I can honestly say we did right by V. We showed him China in it's rawness and charm. After our adventures over the long 4th of July weekend V went to Beijing for a few days to see the sights on his own while R worked. V made it back Thursday for a few more days in Shenyang. R celebrated his return with a shirtless hot pot date (pictures deemed unfit for my blog ;)). R took half of Friday off and we ventured over to the Liaoning Museum. Aside from some beautiful stone etchings, we ...

The Fourth of July for me, typically consists of the beach, a cookout or two, and nearly always ends with sand between my toes ooohing and awwwing at competing firework displays over the Gulf of Mexico up and down the Clearwater-St. Petersburg shorelines. It's never stirred particularly patriotic feelings, just a sense of home and summer. 'merica! As far as I can remember- this is my first 4th of July spent abroad. I'm wondering if I wouldn't have been in Spain over 4th of July during my high school study abroad in 1998, but if I was, I don't remember it whatsoever. Somehow my best memories of celebrating the Fourth are home in Indian Shores. One of our dear friends from the consulate representing with me! It wasn't long after we arrived in Shenyang that we started hearing murmurings of the consulate Fourth of July event. As one would expect, the Independence Day celebration is the biggest event of the year, but it's mostly geared towards wowing the consulat...

In an effort to stay occupied and meet some other people outside of the consulate bubble I joined a watercolor silk painting class shortly after arriving in Shenyang. To be honest, I'm not at all artistically inclined. I am too much of a perfectionist and too lacking in natural ability to generally enjoy producing my own arts or crafts. And I'm fine with that. just the outlines starting with color However, drop me in frozen Dongbei in January and it was only a few weeks before I happily attended painting class if just to get out of our apartment without leaving the building. Most of the other women who attend the class seem pretty committed both to the art and the friendships. We chat about trips they've taken or things they've found around town. They paint tigers and classical Asian women and pandas. They go to bookstores to buy lots of books to paint from. They get up early to paint, and they work on multiple paintings at once. Me? Not so much. it's really kind of...

my new found love- radishes! Our Saturday morning strolls through the farmer's market defined our weekly rhythms when we lived in Atlanta. We'd inevitably walk away with artisanal bread, maybe some homemade goat cheese, organic veggies and the most amazing herbs. Today I'm going to share with you one of my favorite places in Shenyang. Most expats living in Shenyang will tell you that grocery shopping can be one of the biggest challenges here. Mostly because almost everything you could want is available somewhere in the city, but it's never all at the same store. If you are a meal planner or want to make something specific and particularly Western, you'll find yourself on a not always successful treasure hunt. I've learned to adapt a looser approach to cooking and meals, substituting out of convenience, waiting to plan what's for dinner till I'm standing in front of the stalls of vegetables and something strikes me. One of my favorite places to do this is...

After last week's trip to Taipei we were determined to have as few plans as possible for this past weekend. As much as we love travel, as life-giving as understanding a little bit of a new place can be, we generally need a bit of recovery time. So this past weekend looked as "normal" as weekends in Shenyang do. Friday we met up with consulate colleagues for a drink after work and progressed to take out pizza (Shenyang does actually have a decent pizza place that will deliver... eventually) and friends sharing about recent adventures. Saturday morning we made blueberry pancakes and skyped with family which is pretty much the norm for Saturdays home. There's usually someone around and willing to say hi at the end of their week. After a few housekeeping items, we decided to check out the Shenyang library and a side of town that we don't get over to as much. I needed to pick up a few ingredients for a chicken salad I made to host our Sunday fellowship group. We didn...