So, today, all the photos you see in this post aren’t taken by me. I don’t really have a good reason except that I have had an extraordinarily busy day at work, and I was taking photos all evening after work, but since they were all from the embassy camera, I don’t have access to the photos (though I hope to back post some of them soon–I stole some from the Embassy facebook to show you).
I realized this morning that including today, I have 15 days of work left. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but I have so much planned and there’s so much on my plate for upcoming projects and ongoing activities–I am kind of overwhelmed. Then today, after work, I went straight to Rami and Patrick’s home, where they got ready for tonight’s festivities at the Ambassador’s residence. I was to take photos of the event on the camera, since many previous embassy functions didn’t have photographers, so it was a bit of a heavy lift to make up for past neglect. However, it was a lot of fun because I got to meet many of the embassy’s contacts and talk to a lot of staff at the embassy, as well as the Ambassador and his wife.
Their garden, largely thanks to Mary Glass’ expertise (her training is as a Landscape architect), is gorgeous and enormous, considering it is in the center of Lisbon. However, it was a part of the Open Gardens of Lisbon event, whose facebook I pirated these photos from. I was instructed not to take photos of the garden lest I accidentally photograph something I shouldn’t, so I am hoping these photos are approved, at least:
The event itself was a welcome reception for 3 members of the senior staff (the “country team”) and 2 others. It was a lot of fun, and the catering at these things is always delicious. I had quail eggs, bacon wrapped dates, little breads, and a number of other things–I’m worried that these will leave me a little hungry tomorrow, but I made EXTRA oatmeal for tomorrow morning in case I have a large appetite. It’s kind of interesting, but I’ve been slowly increasing the amount of oatmeal I eat in the morning, and I feel like I’m just constantly getting hungry. I don’t know if it’s because I am missing some nutrients (though I have been eating fine!) or if it’s because of the times I’ve been eating, or something else. I noticed this last summer, too, though, that I had a much more intense drive to snack on large amounts of food between normal-sized meals. Here I go, talking about food again, even though I don’t even have any food photos! wow. Here’s a photo of the Ambassador, Mary, and the new arrivals to the Embassy!
Much love!