Sylvia's Journal

I started the day guiding a frustrated Steve to his new job by phone. He got lost in the Fenway around 7:30, not a good place or time. Having two Google maps in front of me I led him all over the BackBay until that big sigh of relief: destination in sight. Then he discovered he did not have to be there until 1 and suffered that most common illness of organizations: a lousy induction of new employees. I hope this does not omen badly. Steve is not doing work because he likes to but because he needs to – all of it a necessary evil until he has saved enough money to buy himself a goat farm. That is the long term vision and he is willing to suffer through much to get there.

I feel fortunate that I do like my work. My attention is beginning to converge on two countries, out of the 10 or so I had something going on in. Now it is just Ghana and Afghanistan. I thought I was all set with my upcoming Ghana trip and discovered only yesterday that the business ticket I had requested because of my arm had not been bought and is now getting too expensive. This is a trip that has been on the books for about 2 months. I am tired of having this kind of stress just before a trip. Five days before departure tickets become hard to get, especially when vacations are ending and I have lost my flexibility of dates and time. The only ticket I can get brings me home 3 days later than I had planned and only one week before my departure to Afghanistan. Not a nice prospect.

Yesterday I learned that my hearing in my right side is bad; a suspicion of this was picked up by my recent physical. The audiologist tested my hearing and showed me the resulting graph: right was a red line, below normal. I wonder if this is yet another delayed effect of the crash. There was no infection and no obvious reason for the hearing loss and so I have to squeeze in yet another visit to a specialist before I go.

Once again it was hotter than Hades. I tried to focus on my work in our non-air conditioned house, sitting right in front of a fan while on the other side of the wall our fireplace is being installed. It required major reconstructive and noisy surgery on the house. Axel rushed to and fro trying to line up workmen and dealing with the fallout of our incompetent electrician who had made yet another mistake. I think we will drop him from our list. In the meantime I can hear the architect and contractor’s cash registers go ‘Gaching!’ with each passing hour.  That is the hole in which I will pour all the danger pay that is rightfully mine for serving in Afghanistan.

We had our neighbors on both sides over for drinks to meet my relatives, something Axel always insists on even though it adds yet another task to an already frantic day.  These neighbors are related to each other and so we had a lot of relatives chatting and drinking in the shade under the maple tree. Andrew and Woody were the only non relatives but they might as well have been:  close and dear friends are family.

Andrew stayed for dinner which consisted once again of lobster and corn. Our Dutch visitors are running out of opportunities to eat this coveted crustacean. Reinout dug the potatoes for our dinner straight out of our garden. Over dinner Andrew hatched a plan for a boat trip exploring the mouth of the Essex River. I could see Maurits’ eyes light up – it sounded so much more fun than an engagement dinner with the new in-laws tonight. I told him we would happily excuse him and his dad because sunset on the Essex waters is pretty neat and a chance not to be missed.