Planning and canceling--ugh!

January 2020

In January, we started planning to visit Uzbekistan, in part to participate in celebrating Navruz, the spring festival that also is a sort of new year's holiday. We bought plane tickets and started making hotel reservations. We did not have to do any research to decide on hotels, since Paul had visited last year and wanted to stay in the same hotels. We tried to make train reservations, but it was not possible to use the Uzbekistan Railways site to pay for tickets, as they apparently do not accept credit cards from outside the country. So we were planning to buy tickets once we got to the country and could pay cash. Our first transportation was to fly to Urgench (near Khiva), giving us several days to arrange the train trips or get a car and driver if the train was not available.

Not long after we made our initial plans and reservations, the first hints of the expansion of areas affected by the "novel coronavirus" were hitting the news, though the focus is still on China.

February 2020

We are reading guidebooks and online information, making plans to bring fabric back for backpacks made by Taluuma Totes, and starting to gather things we would need for the trip. Trying to decide what to take for the potential variations in temperature was the most difficult issue. Winter coat? Jacket plus sweater?

Also, Paul's foot is still giving him trouble, so should he take the orthopedic boot in addition to the  smaller brace. Then a "pop" in his other foot raised the importance of that question. He went to urgent care, where an x-ray showed there was no broken or dislocated bone, and a visit to the podiatrist a few days later suggested that rest and continuing to use the crutches would probably be all that was needed. Hobbling, not driving, and spending more time sitting down made for a slower life.

Conavirus is becoming more of a concern, but we felt like our plans were sufficiently protective that we could continue with the trip.

March 2020

Now we were getting our backpacks out and becoming more serious about things like how much money to take, getting fresh bills from the bank, etc.

We were three days away from leaving for Uzbekistan and about to finalize our packing when we saw information about that country quarantining people from many countries, including the United States. Apparently, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 there, and they are trying to keep it that way. So we would have to spend 14 days in a hotel. But what does that mean when you are staying in small hotels with no restaurant? Could we fly to our first destination or would we have to stay in Tashkent? Would anyone actually be checking?

An email exchange with the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent did not provide much reassurance, and the wording of the notice was pretty specific that if you had been in the United States (and some other countries) you would have to self-quarantine for 14 days. The information on the website includes the following statements:

• Visitors subject to self-quarantine must be kept in their place of residence (house, hotel, hostel, etc.) for up to 14 days, not be allowed to communicate with people other than family members, and not be allowed to visit public places.
• Disciplinary sanctions will be imposed in the event of disciplinary violations by quarantined individuals.

The first statement is pretty clear. While I am not sure about the meaning of the second, I am not one to risk violating something in a country such as Uzbekistan.

So we were forced to cancel our trip. It is disheartening to have to put away all the travel items we had gathered in preparation for this trip. The small benefit is that we don't have to deal with the problems people have had in reentering the country, and we are here in case anyone in our family comes down with this illness, but every-day things like cooking dinner are not what I expected to be doing today! I would much rather be writing about and posting photos of mosques and markets and large kettles of plov (rice and meat and spices, oh my!). Another day....

Let's hope we can find a time to go when things calm down. It looks like a place with many beautiful and interesting places to visit, as well as lots of great food to eat.

2019 in Annandale

A lot of our activities this year have revolved around two of Sarah’s friends moving to Virginia. One friend moved here at the beginning of March, with Paul driving to Arkansas, loading up Sarah’s car, and driving back to Virginia. The second came in June, and involved Sarah flying to North Dakota, renting an SUV, helping her friend pack up her things, and driving back to Virginia. We have been helping both friends navigate the health care, employment, and housing issues that one faces upon moving across the country. They have enjoyed the attractions here, especially the Smithsonian museums and are settling in.

In March, Paul traveled to Uzbekistan, visiting the cities of Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. He enjoyed it more than he expected and wants to go back in 2020 with Claire. He was there for the Navruz holiday (first day of spring), when there are celebrations all over. The architecture and crafts were very interesting and he came home with some amazing knives and beautiful paintings on antique paper that is quite old. Meeting the artists also was a highlight.

Paul was invited to join a group meal during Navruz.

Some entertainment during Navruz celebrations.

We had some great food in Albania, including these fried sardines.

This is typical of the scenery and the amount of traffic.

In June, Claire and Paul visited Albania, which has been on the list for a long time. Paul was able to get an assignment to escort FLEX students back to Albania, giving him a free airline ticket. Claire found flights at a reasonable cost and spent a couple of days on her own near Tirana, the capital, before Paul’s arrival. We rented a car and visited several towns and drove on some challenging mountain roads, mostly paved, often not two full lanes wide. Fortunately, there was very little traffic, and we only had a couple of close calls with oncoming vehicles that were not really paying attention to what they were doing (probably counting in the lack of traffic!). We stayed in small, local hotels, found interesting restaurants, and walked a lot. Albania is best known for the resort towns along the coast, but we found the mountain areas more to our liking. 

There are castles all over Albania. We had a view of this one from our hotel in Girocaster.

A view of the Adriatic from a restaurant in Himara. The coast is lined with resorts.

What better way to spend a summer day!

Daniel spent two weeks at the Easter Seals/UCP camp in the mountains near Roanoke that he has attended for several years. He had a very good time. The camp always has great staff who are so attentive to the campers, and the camp activities are adapted for the needs of each camper. Swimming is always a favorite activity. 

Daniel with camp staff.

He also participated in a camp for people who use AAC (augmentative and alternative communication). The camp is held at a hotel near Pittsburgh. Activities are designed to give the campers opportunities to interact using their communication devices in a variety of situations. In addition to sessions at the hotel, we went on a tour of the baseball stadium (beautiful view from the press box!), took a boat trip on the three rivers, and visited the National Aviary. 

The Willie Stargell statue at PNC Park.

He has been participating in a day program three days a week since his school days ended in 2017. He also enjoys a number of programs set up by the Fairfax County Therapeutic Recreation program, such a a dance club, Saturday morning activities, etc. One of his favorite activities is bowling, which is does with a group called KEEN twice a month. We have a bowling alley less than a mile from our house that is in the process of being renovated. We plan to take Daniel there to bowl when they reopen. He also participates in some local activities sponsored by other groups, such as swimming and parties by the Joey Pizzano Memorial Fund. 

More swimming for Daniel.

 

Sarah has made great progress in her academics. She is on track to finish her associates degree in May, so now she needs to decide where she wants to go for her bachelor’s degree. It has taken her awhile to get there because of her wide-ranging interests. She is now focusing on policy development, environmental issues, and process improvement and is trying to decide how to implement these interests. 

She has done a lot to help her friends who have moved here.

Some of her time goes to some work in the Minecraft environment, where she is a lead moderator, trainer, and does other things her parents don’t actually understand. Minecraft is where she met her friends who moved here, as well as other online friends with whom she has been able to connect in person, including via a trip she took to England in July.

This fall, Claire became gallery director for the artists' cooperative where Paul and Sarah sell their work (Artisans United Craft Gallery). There are a lot of things to do to help the gallery be successful, so she just needs to make sure this does not become all-consuming.

One of the activities that took a lot of time and energy this fall was deciding on a new van that is adapted for wheelchair access. There have been a lot of changes in these vehicles since our first van, which we obtained in 2004. It was about to completely fall apart, so we are very happy to have a new one. (Claire was stranded in traffic in August, which was pretty much the last straw. We did not want to have Daniel and his aide in that situation and felt fortunate that so far all the bad breakdowns occurred when he was not in the van.) Claire picked up the new van on December 19th. It is such an improvement! 

So as we happily drive off into the new year, we hope yours is happy and healthy.

Claire, Paul, Sarah, and Daniel