Friday, March 28, 2008

Happy Easter!




We spent a very rainy Easter at Virginia's place where Liam enjoyed (and overindulged) a spirited egg hunt. It was the beginning of a tropical depression that eventually saw island-wide flooding that wreaked havoc on traffic and infrastrcutre Wednesday. We're back to normal now.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

A fantastic trip to Jordan


Sunset over the Dead Sea

I recently had the opportunity to spend a week in Jordan for a conference. We were fortunate to have time before the official conference start to visit the Dead Sea and then headed to Petra for a day -- definitely one of the Seven Wonders of the World and something I urge everyone to see! The scale is phenomenal and it's hard to get your head around the fact that it's 2,000 years old!



In between, we had a fantastic conference (consular leadership and development), I had a chance to meet my new boss (Mumbai), and we did a bit of sightseeing, shopping, and restaurant hopping around Amman. Fantastic city -- a nice mix of old and new (lots of Starbucks and even a drive thru) and definitely a place I'd consider for a future posting (despite the dangerous neighborhood and very visible security -- and the shooting in our hotel -- I felt very safe!).