It's Official!!

You may (or may not) be pleased to know that I have finally received my airline tickets to Beirut. I leave tomorrow (Wednesday the 26th) at 10:25pm. I will have a sadly brief layover in London, and will arrive in Lebanon at 6:40pm their time. It is all feeling a little more real now. I also found out today that my friend who got me this job should be in town when I arrive. That will ease my nerves, I am sure.

I am not sure when I will get to post my first Beirut blog, so please be patient. I will write as soon as I can!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Big Move Update

I bet you are wondering when I take off. I am too! I actually don't have my tickets yet. The new boss is purchasing them, and he as promised me that I will finally have them Tuesday morning. I hope so; I am supposed to leave on Wednesday!

So in the meantime, enjoy some blogs about NYC.

Galletas and Despedidos.
In order to move to a far away locale, one must have a going away party. I did; I had a cookie-themed party, although from the looks of the above photo, I should lay of the treats. One of the first guests to arrived is my four-year old bff in the above picture. Sometimes I get to babysit her and her little sister, and I usually sit with her on Sundays. She was a huge help with the party preparations. She helped me by taking cookies of the (cooled) sheets, and by putting dough onto the cookie sheets to be baked. As you can see, she really got into it.

Her cookies turned out pretty good. Everyone dug the out of the ordinary shapes.

Below, is the proud mom af that future cookie baker.

A lot of my favorite people came to the shindig. My favorite colleague came. She is, in fact, the person who interviewed me and trained me. She is also from Washington state, thus solidifying her coolness.

At the party, I also had to say good-bye to Magnus the Lemon Tree. It was really sad, even though know he is going to a good home. I miss my little tree, even though his thorns gashed the heck out of my arm that day.

Although I am excited for the opportunity that awaits me, it is going to be hard to let go of god friends.

I also have to say good-bye the Young Women in my ward. They were very kind to throw me a party. We played a very fun version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey;" instead of pinning any tails, they taped images of me on a map, while blindfolded. The closest to Lebanon won a prize.

I think this girl taped me on the Mediterranean. Close.

The girls made nice "recuerdos" for to remember the by. I need to remember to eat less goodies. Look what happens when you don't exercise for a month. Egads!

I think I am going to miss these girls.

The Cliffords go to West Point
One of the beauties of the autumnal parent visit is the trips upstate with all the gorgeous fall leaves. After our fun-filled Halloween in the Hudson Valley, the folks and decided to go back to the valley the following day to see the area we were lost in that night. Actually, we have a family friend who lives in West Point, so we decided to go up and visit her family and see the fortress-like military campus. Besides seeing good friends, this was an appropriate activity for dad, who is a retired army officer.
That day that we went was also the day of the Army vs. Air Force football game, which we didn't go to, but were treated with a military review and skydivers.

After the soldiers marched off the field, we walked around campus and caught the views of the colorful Valley.

West Point Academy is also part war museum as the grounds contain cannons from each of the military conflicts in which our country has participated. Here is a picture of my dad inspecting the weaponry.

The usually closed-off campus library was open to visitors on game day. The building, named after our country's third president (that would be Thomas Jefferson), contained his old desk, a pair of his boots, and his letter-writing invention. There was also a really nice statue where I learned that Jefferson had an interesting way of tying his bootlaces.

The library was lovely, but I had the most fun showing my friends three-year old daughter how to use the camera. (Aren't digital cameras a lovely toy?) The following images are her masterpieces. I think she has a gift. (I did erase about twenty pictures of one car.)

Here is the parental unit.

This is the artist's self-portraint. I can't even do self-portraits this well.

Her little, itty-bitty shoes.

That would be me.

And those are my feet.

After our lovely fall day in upstate New York, my parents and drove through the valley checking out pretty homes and quaint villages, and increasing our ability to not read NY road signs very well. Oh yes, we got a little lost again. Fortunately all roads lead to NYC.

Before Life Got Weird, I Celebrated Halloween
I mentioned in a previous post that my parents came to visit me, for the holidays. OK, just one holiday, but Halloween is one of the coolest holidays ever so the parental visit during this time of year was very important. (Plus it was nice that they were around when Beirut came calling.)

Anyway, this Halloween with the parental unit (the first since 1996 btw), was a fun one. First off, mom and dad took me to Fairway to fill up my cupboards with tasty food (food that I will not really be eating because I don't have room in my luggage for it all). Afterwards I got the folks on the subway for a delicious meal at the Chip Shop. We went to SoHo so mom could do some birthday shopping at SoHo Patch. We then grabbed a quick bite of dessert at The Bakery. Then we rushed back home to have a quick bite to eat before heading to our Halloween festivities.

The beauty of living in NYC, is that I also live close to the Historic Hudson Valley that has charming Stars Hollow-esque festivals like "Blaze" an amazing jack-o-lantern festival that had been featured in some of Martha Stewart's media.

The festival contains a gazillion pumpkins, most of which have been carved to represent a piece of a whole sculpture, like the above mammoth skeleton.

So, I don't have a very good camera for nighttime shots. (I looked for a night feature on my camera, and it still alludes me.) These are more dinosaurs.

Hatching dinosaurs.

Ok, so it wasn't just dinosaurs. I kind of got tired of taking pictures when so many turned out blurry.

The house below is Van Cortland Manor. It looks kind of eery in this shot.

At the end of the tour o' lanterns, we learned the secret to this festival is that most of the pumpkins are not real. I am sorry to reveal this huge secret, but it's probably the only way anyone would want to recreate the spectacular year after year.

The last pumpkin exhibit was the gift shop (no surprise there), but we gave in to the subtle marketing and bought scone mix...that was packaged in Spokane, WA. How ironic that my parents flew all the way to NYC to purchase scone mix they could have gotten at home.

After the festival, my parents and I participated in a time-honored family tradition of getting lost on the way home. In the past, this tradition was observed only when looking for Christmas trees, but I am glad that our inability to read road signs showed up for Halloween.

Beirut and all the Crazy Details

I am pretty sure you have all been waiting impatiently for the details, and since I officially gave notice at work today I can spill.

A couple of months ago a pastry chef friend moved to Dubai to work at a cupcake/American-style bakery. Being a girl that likes to see the world, I was immediately envious and suggested that he tell his boss about me. After all, I happen to work at an incredibly popular cupcake bakery. As it turns out, this friend told his boss about me, and last Monday I was offered a job in Beirut, Lebanon.

I wasn't exactly expecting that location, and I nearly turned them down. It doesn't sound like a very safe option for a pasty American female. However that little voice inside suggested I hear what the bakery bosses had to say, and my roommates and I immediately began to google Beirut to see if it is really as dangerous as we think.

After two phone interviews, answering questions like "will employees respect me," "what language will be spoken in the bakery," and "what voltage does Lebanon use," I felt ready to accept their offer. Don't worry, I contemplated and prayed about the opportunity. It turns out to be the odd answer to some prayers of frustration in my life. I like to travel, and, thanks to a mission and time in France, I like to live outside of the country. I also wish I spoke more French. So besides being an amazing work opportunity, it fills that need to live hors de mon pais, and use that French degree I acquired.

In Beirut I will do pretty much the same stuff that I do here, but more baking and with more travel. According to the new bosses, I will be able to visit Dubai and Amman, Jordan, as well as other future locations. Many Lebanese are French educated, and thanks to French control after WWI, French is the second most used language in the country. My boss will cover my rent, health insurance, and airfare.

Now to answer some of the questions I have received, and other things I have learned:

1. Yes, I am crazy.

2. I won't be speaking full-time French, but perhaps a nice mix of English, French and Arabic, or EngFreBic.

3. I will not have to dress up a boy to go dancing.

4. I do not have to be veiled in public. Or wear a sari. Indian women wear saris.

5. My church is an officially recognized religion, so I will not risk getting arrested while worshipping. Yes, there is a branch. And I had to contact some important people in Salt Lake to get information about the branch.

6. You better come visit me.

7. No, I will not be visiting Jerusalem. If I do, the Lebanese government would not let me enter the country again.

8. If there is another...ummm...conflict in the country, the bakery will send me to another franchise elsewhere in the Middle East.

OK, that's all I can think of right now. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I will try answer them while I am getting ready to ship out. And I will try to keep the blog posted as much as I can.

So that's the scoop!

Two and a Half Years in New York is Enough. Right?
A funny thing happened on Monday. After spending a fun day in the city with the parental unit, I cam home to find an email offering me a job in a bakery outside of New York City. And after some consideration, I have decided to take the job. I am going to pack up and leave Gotham City for a brand-spanking-new-to-me locale. That is clue #1. I am not going to actually tell you where I am going. I'm going to let you guess with some fun facts about the area, and a few pictures. So, clue #1: I have never been there before. Wait, clue #1 is the satelite image above. Clue #2 is that I have never been there.


Clue #3. There are a lot of cedar trees in the area.

Clue #4: It is often referred to as the "Paris of the East."

Clue#5: In the 19th century, the city thrived on exporting silk.

Clue #6: It is believed that this city had the very first law school. Ever.

Clue #7: Possible candidate for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Clue #8: Birthplace of Keanu Reeves, oddly enough.

Clue #9: Listed as one of Lonely Planet's Top Ten Liveliest Cities.

Clue #10: Hottest month: August, with a whopping average temperature of 85 degrees. The coldest month is January and a "frigid" 50 degrees.

I am not sure if there is going to be a prize if you guess correctly, besides the satisfaction of figuring out my misleading clues. But please note that I will be on my way in about four weeks. It is so crazy how life up and changes like that.

Anyway, in a couple of days I will post the answer and additional details about the newest adventure. And trust me, this is going to be an adventure.