Brunch at the Ambassador's house

On Wednesday last week I was forwarded an invitation from our relo agency, ORI, to attend a welcome coffee hosted by the US Ambassador’s wife. It said family members of embassy employees welcome, so I wasn’t convinced it would be open to me, but I called anyway. I was initially told I could attend future events, but not the one on Friday morning at the Ambassador’s house. However, I was given information about the International Women’s Club of Israel which I followed up on. Then I received a call back on Thursday inviting me, pending clearance via my passport #.


I drove to Herzilya Pituach, about 25 minutes north of Tel Aviv via car, for the 10am event on Friday morning. There was an interesting mix of about 40 women there. Most were wives of embassy employees, a few were employees themselves. Some had grown children and have lived around the world in places including Rome, Belarus, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq. A few were on their first assignment abroad like us. Many were from Texas, most have lived in Washington, D.C. for some period of time, and a couple had lived in the Seattle area (UW grad and Fort Lewis).

I also met the Community Liason for the Embassy (the only man there), who is a BIG fan of the Sea Bear smoked salmon from the Skagit Valley – so much so that he gets it shipped here, and he plans to retire to Orcas Island.

The event was an informal networking opportunity, except for a brief introduction and presentation from the International Women’s Club President and the lead for the Embassy Wives Club. Apparently this summer brought one of the biggest turnover’s of embassy staff in a long time, which explained the large number of attendees who were as new as me. All of us newbies introduced ourselves, and the women who have kids at the American School knew Dan’s predecessor well, as he had 5 kids attending there during his assignment.

It was nice to spend time with people who understand the challenges of tiny Israeli kitchens, inadequate wiring, and limited storage space. I hope to find more meaningful commonalities as I get to know them better.

On a side note, just before we left the event, clouds moved in, thunder took over, and we got our first REAL RAIN STORM!! The streets were flooded as Dan and I drove out to run our Friday errands. Fall is finally here!