To our dearest family and friends:
Greetings once again from South India! While I'm not in favor of starting letters out with I'm sorry, I must apologize for
the poor job I've done in keeping in touch over the past 6-9 months or so. We
started the year off with good intentions, but.. In any case, I'm planning on
2004 being an improvement in that category as I should have a bit more time to do website (www.johnandmariko.com) updates and write letters home (see more details below as to why).
2003 has been a busy, busy year, both
professionally and otherwise. During the year, I continued to manage the Non-Immigrant
Visa operations in Chennai (for those of you who have no idea what that is, its the visas that non-U.S. citizens get to travel
to the U.S. for temporary purposes, such as study, tourism, etc.). Although on
the surface it would appear quite different from what I was doing at HP, it was surprisingly similar. Chennai is one of the busiest places in the world for visas and processing applications (and applicants)
in a secure, expeditious and efficient manner has been the hallmark of our operations.
In short, our work is all about doing things better and quicker even as we see a much larger percentage of our applicants
in person than we did 2 years ago when I arrived. I've been very lucky in that
I've had the opportunity to manage a section that would normally be run by a much more senior foreign service officer.
In addition to my responsibilities running
the visa operations, I've also spent my time in the past year on a variety of other pursuits.
In the spring, I was fortunate enough to have an article published in my hometown newspaper about my experiences here
in India. I'll try to remember to post a copy of it to the website one of these
days. Also in the spring, I won a couple of prizes in a competition for photos
of India that I have taken (these, ultimately, will also make it to the website). Since
then, I've also been lucky enough to have several other photos published in a local newspaper for the expatriate community.
Mariko has continued to stay active
with the Japanese community here in Chennai. It's not large, but it seems like
there are constant activities. She has also worked on her flower arranging talents
and thanks to this (and the availability of cheap and beautiful flowers here in India) our home is constantly filled with
a variety of floral displays. On top of this, Mariko has also volunteered at
a local home for destitute children, been active in the Overseas Womens Club of Madras and, since June of this year, has worked
at the Consulate.
On top of our local activities, we have
stayed busy with tremendous travel opportunities this year. In January we visited
Sri Lanka, an island that happily appears to be sincere in its attempts to move beyond its troubled past. In February, we traveled with some friends from Japan (Shimpei and Sayaka) to Rajasthan and Agra in northern
India. The desert scenery and Rajput palaces of Rajasthan and the Taj Mahal of
Agra are truly amazing and one of the few parts of India that I could visit over and over without getting tired of them. Then after no breaks for the next 6 months, we were able to get out and travel again,
this time back to Thailand in August. A short rejuvenation trip, Thailand never
ceases to be fantastic (the people, the food, the beaches, etc.). In September,
Mariko and I went to Vietnam and Cambodia to visit our good friends Gustav and Pauline.
Pauline joined us in Saigon from Tokyo and from there we traveled up to Siem Reap in Cambodia where we spent several
days visiting Angkor Wat. After our time there, we went on to Sydney and Cairns
in Australia where we met up with our good friends Ken and Kim. During nearly
two weeks there we went scuba diving, played golf, visited the Australian wine country nearby Sydney, climbed the Sydney Harbour
Bridge and, in general, had one of the best vacations weve ever had.
While the work here in Chennai has kept
us busy and living in India has DEFINITELY been a challenge, Mariko and I feel very lucky to have had the opportunities to
travel and experience places that we might never otherwise have. I think weve
done pretty much as much as we possibly can in our two years here and will leave satisfied in knowing that.
Speaking of two years, it really is
amazing how time flies. It was February 2002 when Mariko and I first moved to
Chennai (formerly Madras) India to take up my first posting as a diplomat for the U.S. Department of State. We really can't believe how quickly things have gone but its rapidly starting to hit us as we prepare to
leave India and head to our next posting. Seems just like yesterday that I was
leaving HP, driving across the U.S., experiencing the tragedy of 9/11 up close, moving to India, etc. It's been an interesting 23 months or so and we wouldnt trade the experience. However, after having led one of the busiest and high-pressure visa operations in the world, its time for
me to move on to something different.
So where is something different? While I think many of you reading this may already know, for those who don't, here
are the details. Beginning in September 2004, Mariko and I will be moving to
Ljubljana, Slovenia where I will take up a posting as the economic and commercial interests officer at the US Embassy there. Pat yourself on the back if you didnt have to look at a map to figure out where Slovenia
is. Most people confuse it with Slovakia.
However, Slovenia is a country that was formed in 1991 during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Its located in Central Europe and is surrounded by Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea. And no, it's not going through the struggles and strife that other former Yugoslav
republics have. On the contrary, Slovenia is one of the more successful new EU
countries (joining in May 2004) and is a definite bright spot in that part of Europe.
A small place (only about 2 million inhabitants in an area roughly the size of Israel), Slovenia has a lot to offer:
great outdoor activities (skiing, golf, hiking, rafting, etc.), well regarded wineries, excellent food and a fabulous location
(Venice is a two hour drive, Vienna is about three). We expect to be in Slovenia
for about 2 years, until mid-summer 2006. We hope that many of you will have
the opportunity to visit as our door is always open.
Between India and Slovenia, Mariko and
I will be in DC for about 6 months learning Slovene, the language spoken in Slovenia.
A southern Slavic language, its closest relatives are Croatian and Serbian, with Russian being a more distant cousin.
We expect to arrive in DC in late February and will be there until about mid-September.
We are planning on leaving India on
January 14th and will be on home leave in California for about 6 weeks. We plan
on spending much of this time with family but will also be traveling to San Diego, L.A. and the Bay Area to visit friends. We hope to have the opportunity to get together with many of you and catch up. We can most easily be reached via email at marijohn96@yahoo.com.
Mariko and I wish you the best that
the holiday season has to offer and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the very near future.
Happy Holidays!
John and Mariko Nylin
(and Tora, Tomo, Tomi & Toku)
