lpappas

Last Friday, the Embassy called me and informed me that my conference would be by telephone. This concerned me slightly (see previous entry) since I knew that I wouldn't be able to find anything out over the weekend. I am a planner. I like to know about things long in advance, so not being able to have this event nailed down was making me anxious.

I talked to Aris on Sunday at church in DC and he told me that he had not received any new news. Therefore, I resolved to call the Embassy Monday morning to discover the status of my conference.

On Monday during break, I went to call the Embassy and found out that I had received a voice message from them. It was a call confirming my meeting with the Ambassador. After listening to it twice, I was confused. I couldn't figure out if the meeting was face-to-face or a teleconference. I called the Embassy back and the Secretary verified that, although it would be brief, the meeting was at the Embassy at 4:00 p.m. This surprised and excited me. I was happy that the Ambassador had changed his mind and anxious because I wasn't sure if I was fully prepared for the meeting. After talking to the Secretary, I made sure it was possible to get a ride up to D.C. and called Aris to ask him if he could still come. He said he could and asked us to meet him at his house in Arlington at 3:30. So, after lunch and some quick pointers from my dad, we started on our way around 2:30. In the car I briefly rehearsed what I was going to say. I had two main goals:

• 1) Confirm that the Ambassador will come speak.
• 2) Assure the Ambassador that he will be the only one attending.

When Aris and I arrived at the Embassy, we were led upstairs to wait for the Ambassador, who was on the phone. The Embassy itself is really pretty; however, it is probably one of the smallest in Washington, D.C. (but it is so pretty!).When the Ambassador finally came out and let us into his office (most likely the biggest room in the building), he greeted us warmly and directed us to the sitting area of his office. (Have I mentioned it was pretty?)

The meeting itself was approximately 15-20 minutes. Once we were in the office, he immediately jumped into business (after apologizing for his exhausted appearance-he really did look like he was tired-because he just returned from Seattle). I explained the presentation: the topic, the audience, time frames (morning, 45 minutes), and asked him if he was still interested. He agreed to do the presentation, but he started to tell the official way of asking him - write a letter requesting his presence - so I informed him that I had already done so. I felt really good when he gave me a surprised look and then walked out of the room to ask his secretary about the letter (which she apparently hadn't given him). Then, we talked about dates. I gave him the dates Mr. Durso had approved and I also gave him all of my contact information again. [Goal number one: Complete!]

The next question he asked me was if he would be the only one speaking. I informed him (quite steadfastly) that he would be the only one at the presentation; that it was completely focused on him. (After I left I wasn't sure whether or not he even knew about the possibility of the Turkish Ambassador attending - either way, it worked out) He gave a nod and said that he would love to come. The only thing that would prevent him from attending would be a crisis (imagine this word said with a Greek accentJ, it sounded really neat), in which case he would send a delegate. [Goal number two: Complete!]

After all this the meeting was basically over. The Ambassador talked to Aris for a few minutes, thanked me for coming, and then walked us to the door of the Embassy. I think the meeting was very productive. I may have been able to accomplish the same objectives over the phone, but it would not have been more memorable. This way, the Ambassador knows who I am; I will stick out in his mind among other similar requests. It was really important to being able to meet him at the Embassy. Now I just have to wait for him to contact me with the date and time he would like to come.

Since I have been swept up into my senior exhibit with all my correspondence issues, I have not had time to reflect on any other aspects of senior exhibit thus far. I would like to, in this entry, discuss some other components of the project. This is just a lighthearted arrangement of my ideas for these issues in order to divert from the hard-core, seriousness of other occurrences. (It is an evaluation blog, I am writing it because I feel like it. I might as well write one for fun!J)

During our last senior exhibit class, Mrs. Aldrow discussed the importance of 1) our invitations, 2) picking our panel members wisely, and 3) putting together our written documents. Since she stressed these points over and over again, I have thought about them so that they don't sneak up on me later and I have something to work with when it really comes down to making a decision.  

While conversing about invitation designs with Matt (Hussmann) the other day, I came up with quite a few ideas. One idea was that my invitation could be a peace sign. On one side would be Turkey's flag; on the other side would be the flag of Cyprus. Then it would open down the middle to reveal the information inside. It would symbolize the attempt to bring peace between the two countries, which is essentially the main point of my project-to come up with an acceptable compromise. Another idea, and the one I would really like to do, is to put the invitation on a flag (the flag of Cyprus of course). The Cypriot flag is white with a big orange figure in the center. The figure is in the shape of the island. Underneath the island are two branches. I would cut out a sheet of orange paper the same shape as Cyprus and attach it to the flag so that the invitation is actually Cyprus. (It is probably really hard to picture from this description, but it's a pretty cool idea).

Choosing panel members is kind of fun. I already have a partial list. (Mrs. Clark-Evans is positively going to be there because she is my mentor, but here is a list of others I would like to be present at my presentation.) 1) Mrs. Nobles - she is my advisor and I feel really comfortable with her on the panel. 2) Ms. Wilbrandt - she teaches government and seems like she would be interested in attending my presentation (we have talked about my topic). Also, I like her so I wouldn't be uncomfortable with her on the panel. 3) Ms. Jensen - I just like her. Since I have to request three people, I think Ms. Jensen would just be fun to have on the panel. (Am I allowed/obliged to invite my parents? Whenever we talk about my presentation my Dad always mentions that I better invite him.)

I believe I have already talked about my plans for my written document in a previous journal. I feel solid with the direction it is taking. I just need to commence my research and find out exactly how many treaties I have to understand. Then I can start managing my time - how long am I going to allot myself to complete analysis of each treaty and how will I bring them together for the ‘ultimate treaty' at the end. It is something I plan on thinking a lot about over Thanksgiving break. I want to start now because the draft is due at the end of February and I know I have a lot to accomplish.

One last thing I would like to discuss in this blog is the use of the website for journals. I think this blog is a really neat way of doing journals. It is interactive and fun to use. It is also super efficient (for me). I am able to log on, post journals, and see what I have and what I need. It's great! The one downside is that sometimes I forget to upload my journals. I write them all in word on my computer first and sometimes I forget I am supposed to post them on the website. However, I title all my blogs with the date they are written because I might upload two or three on the same day. It is an easy obstacle to overcome, but it means that there is an expanse of time where nothing is posted, then, all of a sudden, four entries are up in one day. I think I need to come up with a way of reminding myself to post my journals the day I write them. It's something to work on.

Anyways, once I figured out how you can change the format and add pictures and documents, it became even cooler. One thing that I really like about it is that I can stick all my links to online sources in a blog instead of storing them all in My Favorites (which can sometimes get disorganized-right now its good, but, you never know- and doesn't make it clear which site is which). The blog just makes it easier to know which site you want to visit because I can write a description beside the link. I am looking forward to trying link posting out and seeing how it works. I have figured out how to upload documents, but I am not sure how anyone looking at my blog would be able to view them, so I plan on fooling around with that later on. Overall, I give the blog site 5 out of 5. J

That is all for my evaluation blog. I basically laid out an outline for the rest of my senior exhibit throughout the year - just some food for thought. It also proved an excellent diversion from other homework and chores. Now that the smaller issues are out of the way for the time being, I must turn back to major issue at hand.

* I have just noticed that all my smiley faces come out as 'J's. So, anywhere you see a 'J' it is meant to be a smiley face. :)

I would like to call this journal entry 'Road Block' or 'possible set back' or 'I'm confused because I am not exactly sure what this means or where to go from here'. Anyway, the basic point of naming this blog is to convey my current frustration.

After school, I noticed I had a voice message. It turned out to be from the Secretary of the Ambassador. I called her back and was informed that the Ambassador would do a conference call instead of a meeting. Personally, I must say I was a little confused. Is this change the result of him not wanting to waste my time (driving up and driving back) for what he thinks is going to be a short meeting, his thinking it is just I who will be coming to the meeting and not wanting to meet a high school girl alone (I didn't mention to her that Mr. Chronis would be attending the meeting with me because I wasn't sure about it at the time), or that he doesn't view my request with too much importance? I am not sure the reason; however, I respectfully answered the Secretary's question. Since I believe the change had something to do with her finding out that I was obliged to invite a Cypriot-Turkish Representative, I decided to try to explain to her the situation. I informed her that it was the TURKISH Ambassador I was required to invite. I also told her that there was a small likelihood of him actually accepting the invitation and that it was a formality. (she said, "ohhh, that changes everything.") Despite me saying all this, I still felt an extremely bad vibe. Her attitude was very concerning to me.

After ending my call with the Secretary, I immediately called Aris Chronis. I was not about to let a face-to-face meeting with the Ambassador slip through my fingers. When I finally got in touch with Aris, he shared the same concern. He said that the Ambassador might not view this issue as incredibly important to him, although it is of the utmost importance to me. He said that I definitely needed to get the face-to-face meeting back. After discussing it some more, he promised me that he would call the Embassy, on my behalf, tomorrow in order to re-establish my meeting. Letting the Embassy know 1) the importance of this matter, 2) that I will not be going alone, Aris will be attending as well (he frequently visits the Embassy and is a big part of the Hellenic community in Washington) and 3) that it is not a waste of my time or an inconvenience to me to travel up to the Embassy (even if the meeting might be short) might convince them to agree to a meeting at the Embassy. Aris told me he will do what he can and get back to me tomorrow afternoon. I really hope that he is able to help me with this. I think a face-to-face is very important and will be more productive and effective than a phone conference (although I will not refuse the teleconference, either way I am still getting to speak with the Ambassador). Another thing Aris says that needs to be cleared up is the issue about inviting the Turkish Ambassador. Since this seems to have changed the enthusiasm level of the Ambassador (and his secretary), I need to clarify that it is extremely unlikely that he will be attending and that the focus of my project is actually on Cyprus and Ambassador Kakouris. He will help me clear this up if he can. Aris is proving to be extremely influential and helpful as this process goes on. I sincerely hope this all works out. In the end, I am confident that it will have a favorable outcome; the problem right now is how I am going to go about obtaining that outcome.

In other news, I talked to Mr. Durso about the school calendar. When I talk to the Ambassador I want to have more than one week available for him. Mr. Durso gave me the February and March calendars and we pinpointed good weeks and bad weeks and which days are completely out of the question. Right now, I am prepared to talk about dates. My mission over the weekend is to prepare how I will address the Ambassador on the Turkish Ambassador invitation issue and the presentation conditions, and then (if I get this far and I deem it appropriate to bring up) the reception. I need to make sure I have everything together on Monday because, regardless if it is face-to-face or over the phone, I will be speaking to the Ambassador.

Today I called the Cypriot Embassy during break/third period. I had previously prepared exactly what to say, just so I wouldn't slip up. However, I ended up not needing it. When I called, the phone was immediately answered by a woman with an accent (which was expected) who turned out to be the Ambassador's secretary. I told her my name and that I was with the AHEPAcademy group sponsored by Aris Chronis. She surprised me when she remembered exactly who I was and what I wanted. I told her about the fax and then had to wait for an agonizing three to four minutes (which seemed like forever) while listening to Cypriot folk music. When she returned to the line, she informed me that she hadn't received it because the number I faxed it to was not the direct line to the Embassy. She gave me the Embassy's direct fax and told me to resend it to her and she would give it to the Ambassador. I did that tonight when I got home from school. I attached my previous fax memo to a new letter I wrote confirming my appointment on Monday. When I asked to speak to him, she told me he was traveling but he will be back on Monday. Then, she told me I could make an appointment and suggested that I come by Monday! So, now I have an appointment with Ambassador Kakouris for 4:00 p.m. on November 19!!!!!!! I am STOKED! I am also really surprised that she set it so soon, but I am not about to complain. When I mentioned to her my obligation to invite the Turkish Ambassador, she sounded concerned and asked if I meant the Turkish Ambassador or a Turkish-Cypriot Representative. I told her I meant the latter, but I wasn't exactly sure. I need to talk to the Ambassador about that on Monday, I couldn't really explain the entire thing to her (besides, she was starting to intimidate me a little bit at that point-she can be very dominant/pushy almost) Now, I just have to prepare for Monday. I need to come up with a plan for the presentation if he agrees and I need to figure out how to politely mention my obligation to invite the Turkish Ambassador.

I also talked to Aris Chronis today. He said he would be able to attend the meeting with me on Monday. This is great because he knows the Ambassador and will be a good conduit/ice-breaker. He sounded really excited about the meeting. I need to send him an e-mail about what I want to discuss with the Ambassador, just so he has it (in case I need back up J ).

Right now things are really starting to move along on the scheduling front. I feel like it will all work out. The only thing I am slightly concerned about at this moment is my written document. I know I need to start my research, but it is going to take a long (long) time. I am wondering if I should trim the amount of information I want to put in. I was thinking of a brief history, and then going through the main points of each treaty since 1974. I need to find out how many there actually are before I make any decisions. I think the hardest part is going to be knowing the treaties well enough to analyze them and come up with my own main treaty points. I will think about this some more later on in the week and talk to my Dad and Mrs. Clark-Evans about it. I think it is going to be really fun to create.

Last week I e-mailed Ersagun Keskin to touch base and to ask him how he could help me. He replied saying the "there is unfortunately not a terrible lot that the Turkish embassy could do on my behalf or for me." This leaves me stranded and uncertain about where to go next with my attempts to contact the Turkish Embassy (they haven't answered my fax either). I think I am going to put the Turkish side on hold for now and concentrate on the Cypriot Ambassador. I still need to call the Embassy to follow up on my fax, I am not even sure they received it now. Right now this is all making me anxious and little worried, but it shall pass once I am able to call the Embassy.

I also talked to Mr. Durso last week. We talked about the presentation and he asked me to narrow the two week time frame I had proposed to one: March 3-7. I am not sure how well that is going to work, but I am going to try. I will see how it all goes after I call the Embassy. He also said that if I meet with the Ambassador, I need to come with a plan, but make it flexible so that I can change it according to the Ambassador's schedule and preferences.

Bottom line for right now: NEED TO CALL THE EMBASSY!!! Which I will do as soon as I apply to college. (eekkkkkk!)  Right now I am not too hip on what is going on, but I resolve to pick it up next week!