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B.L.O.G.

Forever friends... Before and after!

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Monic (17) and Laure (16) in Thakhek, Laos 1966 and together again in Normandie, France 2010

Riad and Laure, OASIS Reunion, Paris/France October 2010
Laure (Patrick) Riad @ the ferry at Rosso, Mauritania/Senegal Border 1980

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My love affair with the African continent...

What do you do when you are married to a Foreign Service officer? You travel around the world. And if you are with USAID? You travel around Nations of Rising Expectations. Sure we have posts in Rome and Paris, but my husband does not get sent to those places. Except for one time he was sent to Paris for two weeks to evaluate the one and only house owned by USAID in Paris, near the Place Concorde, in a cul-de-sac; otherwise inhabited by Arab Sheiks and Princes all having more money that USAID can count. We were in Afghanistan when Barnett told me that our next assignment was going to be Mauritania. “Mauri-what?,” I said. To simplify the matter, he showed it to me on a map. Since then, we had a globe, and he would point out our next assignment each time. As an Asian/French teenager, you know about Africa because you studied geography. Even then, it was not the best subject while I was in school. I landed in Senegal in 1978, I looked around, and except for the fact that there ...

Loose tongue… (Another faux-pas of a Foreign Service Spouse!!!)

Laos was not exactly an assignment for me since I was home, and I didn't depend on the American Community, and what was in itself a great thing. Afghanistan was our first post, and back in 1976, spouses were not allowed to work. Therefore, it was a lot of gatherings, shopping, book club meetings, thrift shop visits, traveling around the country (which was a good thing) , cooking sessions, and of course parties. Those parties that ended in the morning, and I remember having to carry my shoes home I danced all night. Then there were the "dreaded" luncheons. I was in one of those dreaded luncheons at my neighbor's home. The Ambassador and the Director’s wives were there. I was about 26 years old, young, hot-headed, and quite obnoxious, “the hoity-toity princess” with a very loose mouth, I might add. Now that I think about it, I was not sure why they invited me to begin with. I was not always a pleasant person. And...

The Tale of Ile Ste Marie ~ Getting Old...

Getting old is not the problem, it is part of life; and it is not what scares me the most. What scares me about getting old is not being able to protect the people I love because I am too weak, I am too tired, or in one short sentence, I am too old and slow. You guys are probably wondering why I am writing about getting old all of a sudden! Wonder no more and read my tale... Valentine weekend, my husband and I decided to take a trip to ile Sainte-Marie, a little island located off the east coast of Madagascar, just to get away from Antananarivo, and to take my husband out of the office before the big move to the NEC (New Embassy Compound). We arrived early morning and decided to tour the tiny island. The hotel manager said that we could rent scooters. Great, we had not done this in ages. So, before we got on the road, we tested the scooters around the hotel yard Barnett decided that he is so out of practice that he was going to ride with me instead. You might not understand this, but...

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Laure and I...: Spotsylvania, VA, United States; ~ Barnett wrote: We officially met each other in 1966, when I delivered a case of milk to her parents' home in Central Laos- as payment for one of the family's German shepherd pups. Though she said nothing to me that day, it began a four year off-again on-again courtship ending in Marriage in 1970. Educated in the Couvent Les Oiseaux in Dalat, Laure had no intention of marrying an American; becoming a U.S. citizen; or eventually becoming the grandmother of three young Virginians. We have since traveled much of the world together for 40 years. A Marine; Peace Corps Volunteer; a Bushrod Washington Scholar at Georgetown; and, eventually, an itinerant Foreign Service Officer- I am still surprised that Laure stays with me; and continue to try to find ways to ensure that Laure can continue gallivanting in strange places. Now, we have decided to write about the lives we have lead, and the changing world we grew up in. ~ Laure wrote: Barnett is the serious writer of this family; I will keep our B.L.O.G. on a lighter note generally. All the weird things that I remember gallivanting around the world, but still fun just the same.

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