Anastasia, Pirates, and Plans

Mother and Daughter...Sharing a special moment together. She looks really cute here...and so does Anastasia!

Anastasia celebrating TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY (19 September for you landlubbers) with her dad...She only started screaming when we took the camera out (I promise!). Her shirt, by the way, says, "BORN TO BE A PIRATE." Those of you who know me, you know I like my pirates. They're even my college alma mater! Go AASU! Arrrrrr!

Anastasia makes lots of funny faces...At least she isn't crying in this one! She's yawning...but it's a happy yawn!

And here she is smiling. She's chillin' with her homies in her crib. Anastasia loves mornings (she gets that from her mother, definitely NOT from dad). This is the time when she smiles and coos the most.

AND NOW A FEW NOTES AND ASIDES:

1. Anastasia is legal! She's had her passport for over a month now, but this week, she received her residency visa. You may recall Christine's blog entry about my attempts to get that visa. It involved a few trips to the Ministry of Immigration (not the US Embassy) and several hours of waiting in line. But she has it now! We're ready for our first trip out of the country...to Oman of course. Christine's friend Kim is coming to visit over our Eid break, a week-long break to celebrate the conclusion of Ramadan and the return of normal business hours. I can't wait to enjoy coffee at a reasonable hour...

2. My sister Rebekah is thinking of coming to visit. Everyone, please encourage her! Especially Brian and Alan and Lucy, tell her what a wonderful time you had, how it was well worth the expense...Her email is...well, I won't publish it here, but write me and I'll give you her address. Yes, I'm making a shameless plug here. I want visitors from my "side" too, darnit!

3. We are often asked what our plans are for next year. The simple answer: We don't know.

The more complicated answer: We may stay in Abu Dhabi one more year after this; otherwise, we would look elsewhere overseas. Right now, we both would be willing to do Oman or Georgia, and I think I could convince Christine about Lebanon, Jordan, or Syria easily enough. Christine has been thinking about Saudi Arabia, mainly for the money. With a baby, we don't get out much anyway, and in two or three years, we could earn some serious cash. It would be an interesting experience too. I could do Saudi for two years...

We would both be willing to try out Cambodia as well. I think there are places in India that could be promising, and of course I love the Czech Republic, one of the few places in central and western Europe I'd be willing to move to. That and Ireland. And Scotland, but so cold! Anyway, I doubt that I could convince Christine to move to any cold parts in Europe...

We're not sure yet what we'll do at the end of this year. We might sign on for an additional year, especially if our wonderful nanny Misrak will still be here. Otherwise, there's Oman (I have connections there), Beirut (my dream job), Georgia (the country, not the state...again, we have connections--last year's assistant principal now works outside Tbilisi)...Other possibilities include Jordan and Syria. I'd really like to stay in the Middle East for a bit longer, just to give us an opportunity to travel in the region with ease...

So that's the more complicated answer to "We don't know."