Yay! We made it to the halfway point of our time in DC. We can hardly wait for the next part of our lives and get to Dhaka, but I guess it would help to get some language training first... One good thing is that it looks like Crystal will get a chance to have some language classes too, at least until the new baby arrives. Every little bit will help when we get to our new home.

This past month saw us do a couple home improvement projects on the new house, like painting the interior and fixing the back steps, and spending a little more time getting to know the neighborhood of Falls Church City. We also continued preparing for the birth of our new little one, now only two months away - so many new things going on in our lives.

Adham finished up his short-term bridge assignment at State Department headquarters, and went back to full-time training, starting with a two-week intensive course on South Asia. A great course on a fascinating part of the world, taught by a very experienced retired Foreign Service Officer.

Another big highlight was heading back to Oakland for the weekend (pictures here), to help Suzanne and Steve celebrate their wedding. It was a small affair, held at the chapel at Mills College, and really quite beautiful. We also got a chance to get together with friends during the all too brief trip. It was fun to see family and friends, even if just for a few days, and a bit poignant too to realize that we won't see many of these folks again for quite a while. Of course we extracted lots of promises from folks to come visit us in Dhaka, but we'll see how far that goes...