The best possible news of the world reached me today via Skype from Jo who told me that Z and F got their passports with the much coveted visa for the USA. They are leaving Kabul on Saturday. What an adventure! I can’t wait to reunite with them. They will attend an English immersion program in Rhode Island and then go off to their respective high schools. Their victory is a reminder that perseverance pays off.
Two other people I know have applied for a Fulbright Scholarships, one has been rejected once but is trying again (and I told her, again and again and again!). Another young colleague of mine applied for a fellowship that my organization makes available competitively each year. He got rejected last year and this year he got it.
I have to think this positively about my painful joints, shoulder and ankle, and expect that one day things will be better. Now with Axel incapacitated my right arm/shoulder is doing double duty – I should ‘baby’ my right arm, but when you are right handed this is a bit of a challenge.
A heat wave has come over us. We are lucky to be living by the sea where there is a breeze and (very) cold water. Our beach and Singing Beach seem to be the only ones on the North Shore not invaded by stinky red algae that have drifted in, allegedly released unintentionally by a ship/ships coming from Japan; an equally unintended side effect of our consumption of Japanese products that come by boat. Once it has dried on the beach is smells like sewerage. We are told it is not a temporary condition.
Axel is improving day by day, off the pain pills now. This meant he could have a glass, two even, of cold beer on his first outing. We met an informal group of French and Francophones who live on the North Shore and who are getting together monthly to chat in French and meet new people. The waitress was rather befuddled by all these requests for drinks in French – it’s hard to switch languages all the time.
Sylvia's Journal 
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