Time with family? Check. Lots of unnecessary/necessary shopping? Check. Visit to the beach? Check. Our "vacation" is drawing to a close, but we've certainly packed quite a bit in. Why the quotation marks, you ask? Well... and this might sound silly to some of you hard core military types who have spent years (literally) away from your spouses, but this is the longest I've been away from my other half in a while. We've been extremely fortunate in our assignments, and with all of the school time required for this job, we've had quite a bit of time together recently. So while it's nice to be stateside hanging out getting a tan, I can't relax completely knowing that one member of our family is missing. Granted, he's spent some of this time hanging out with guy friends in Nepal (taxing, right?), but it's been a bit lonely without him.
Enough on that, though. My sister's wedding was really wonderful and I was so pleased to have the opportunity to come home and celebrate with her and her new husband. Best wishes to both of them as they head out to the great state of Texas to begin their new life together. Finally, some of my knowledge about moving has come to good use!
We followed that up with a quick drive to Florida to hang out with the in-laws and managed to sneak in an absolutely idyllic stay in Rosemary Beach. The Destin outlets were conveniently close (and really, why vacation anywhere unless there are good outlets nearby?) and I even managed to pick up a few things I think I'll be able to wear in Dhaka - assuming of course it hasn't gotten even hotter since I left. B spent a bit of time in the pool and is quickly becoming proficient in swimming, though I think we're going to leave his vest on for a bit longer. K had an "adventurous" time coming home with 2 chipped front teeth, plenty of mosquito bites, a black eye (from unknown causes), 2 scraped knees, and 1 scraped elbow. She's really not that clumsy, but she does everything big.
I meanwhile have been completely spoiled with plenty of adults to mind my children (like having 3 full-time employees in my house in Dhaka hasn't been good enough) and enough free time to get out and enjoy myself. I find I have an increased appreciation for home-cooked food, though I'm always up for some Costco cheese pizza. Yum!
Just a few days left to pack in all the fun we can handle before we head back to the 'Desh. Catch you guys on the other side of the world!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Journey to the Center of the Earth!
Forget that - how about Journey halfway around the world with 2 kids and no husband! Yeah, you're right. It just doesn't have the same ring to it... But it's no less adventurous, I assure you. And for those out there who have done this before, all I have to say is how much I love video on demand. To a certain extent, international flights are much easier to bear than domestic ones. At least you're pretty much assured to have some sort of entertainment and food which work well as distractions. You're also guaranteed to have a pillow and blanket - which for us just means that we'll be sure to have plenty of stuff stacked up on the floor where I'd love to put my feet, but can't quite seem to manage.
Last Friday in the wee hours of the morning, we left Dhaka without Josh to head back stateside to attend my older sister's wedding. Anticipating significant jet lag after the experience we had flying to Dhaka, I planned to arrive a week before the wedding - hopefully we'll be able to avoid significant melt-downs. I think at this point (after 4 days of recovery) we're pretty close to normal. The flight itself was fairly manageable. The kids both behaved as well as can be expected in a close confined space for 20 hours. Our layover in Istanbul was extremely short - just long enough to walk from our arriving flight upstairs to the departure terminal and then walk quickly to our gate. Part of me really would have liked to stop in the food court and pick up some really yummy looking stuff, but I have a slightly longer layover on the way home, so maybe I'll take advantage of it then. We were in the middle row of 4 seats on both of our flights and happened to have particularly accomodating grandfatherly types occupying our spare seat on both flights - totally lucked out. In fact, the man who sat next to K on our first flight was also on our second flight. During his first bathroom break on the second flight, he saw K, reached for her, and took her back to his seat to play for a while. I suppose in another culture, I'd be concerned about this, but Bangladeshis really seem to love kids. B made a fast friend on the second flight convincing his seat-mate to play some of the on-board video games with him. Really, I couldn't have asked for more. It was perhaps even better than having the seat empty. Perhaps.
K is recently potty trained, so I was convinced we would have issues on the plane, but I'm pleased to say that things went fairly smoothly. Of course, they never had to pee at the same time, so I probably had to get up about 6 times per flight, but I have to say I was pretty pleased nonetheless that they both did so well. I got to watch plenty of movies - the second Sherlock Holmes movie, Moneyball, Eragon, and one other that clearly didn't make a huge impact plus about 6 episodes of Big Bang Theory. Very pleasant ride. The food was fairly decent as well. It might not have been quite as tasty as the food on Qatar Airways, but they definitely made every effort to produce healthy meals - grilled vegetables, fresh salads, fish... I was very pleased by the food presented and look forward to the return trip. The only real downside was that the provided headphones didn't really fit into the headphone jack on the armrest - it was shaped strangely and just wouldn't sit securely. Time number 12 million that I'm pleased that we bought airplane headphone adapters for $1 a piece off the internet. I was able to just use my adapters with the kids own mini headphones and everyone was happy. But really, what's up with an airline that provides headphones that don't even work??? That was kind of weird. I might bring some tape on the return trip just to hold the jack into the outlet.
We arrived apparently just after a string of tornadoes happened through the area, so there was no circling the airport endlessly waiting for our turn to land - we just made a straight approach and were done. Immigration was a bit strange. I haven't waited more than 5 minutes to get through immigration in any of our recent travels (which admittedly are not that extensive), but it was slightly frustrating to listen to the recorded announcement welcome me back to the states while I watched about one hundred US passengers all wait to see the two border patrol agents that were open in our line. At 5:30 on a Friday night. Naturally, there were other agents there - but they were having loud discussions about how they were all going on break. Thanks, guys. Could you maybe take that discussion elsewhere since I've been up for the past 27 hours with 2 kids and I bet you haven't?? I know, I know. I get cranky without sleep.
Our bags arrived with no issues, and we went out to meet my parents with no further ado. The kids were of course thrilled to see Grandma and Grandpa and after some minor discussion in the car promptly fell asleep.
We celebrated B's birthday the following day with all family minus one in attendance - beautiful weather for lunch on the deck! In fact, we've had great weather - if cold - since we arrived. I say cold, but really it's been in the 70s. I just feel cold. In fact, I've taken to wearing a sweater when I go outside, and then I just feel silly. Warm, but silly.
I've managed to do some shopping and knock a few items off of my page-long list of "things to bring back", but there's still plenty more to find at this point. I've only tried to drive on the wrong side of the road a few times, and I've done my best to actually pay attention to road signs, red lights, and lane dividers. It's so hard, though! Oh, Dhaka, you've totally ruined me!
Last Friday in the wee hours of the morning, we left Dhaka without Josh to head back stateside to attend my older sister's wedding. Anticipating significant jet lag after the experience we had flying to Dhaka, I planned to arrive a week before the wedding - hopefully we'll be able to avoid significant melt-downs. I think at this point (after 4 days of recovery) we're pretty close to normal. The flight itself was fairly manageable. The kids both behaved as well as can be expected in a close confined space for 20 hours. Our layover in Istanbul was extremely short - just long enough to walk from our arriving flight upstairs to the departure terminal and then walk quickly to our gate. Part of me really would have liked to stop in the food court and pick up some really yummy looking stuff, but I have a slightly longer layover on the way home, so maybe I'll take advantage of it then. We were in the middle row of 4 seats on both of our flights and happened to have particularly accomodating grandfatherly types occupying our spare seat on both flights - totally lucked out. In fact, the man who sat next to K on our first flight was also on our second flight. During his first bathroom break on the second flight, he saw K, reached for her, and took her back to his seat to play for a while. I suppose in another culture, I'd be concerned about this, but Bangladeshis really seem to love kids. B made a fast friend on the second flight convincing his seat-mate to play some of the on-board video games with him. Really, I couldn't have asked for more. It was perhaps even better than having the seat empty. Perhaps.
K is recently potty trained, so I was convinced we would have issues on the plane, but I'm pleased to say that things went fairly smoothly. Of course, they never had to pee at the same time, so I probably had to get up about 6 times per flight, but I have to say I was pretty pleased nonetheless that they both did so well. I got to watch plenty of movies - the second Sherlock Holmes movie, Moneyball, Eragon, and one other that clearly didn't make a huge impact plus about 6 episodes of Big Bang Theory. Very pleasant ride. The food was fairly decent as well. It might not have been quite as tasty as the food on Qatar Airways, but they definitely made every effort to produce healthy meals - grilled vegetables, fresh salads, fish... I was very pleased by the food presented and look forward to the return trip. The only real downside was that the provided headphones didn't really fit into the headphone jack on the armrest - it was shaped strangely and just wouldn't sit securely. Time number 12 million that I'm pleased that we bought airplane headphone adapters for $1 a piece off the internet. I was able to just use my adapters with the kids own mini headphones and everyone was happy. But really, what's up with an airline that provides headphones that don't even work??? That was kind of weird. I might bring some tape on the return trip just to hold the jack into the outlet.
We arrived apparently just after a string of tornadoes happened through the area, so there was no circling the airport endlessly waiting for our turn to land - we just made a straight approach and were done. Immigration was a bit strange. I haven't waited more than 5 minutes to get through immigration in any of our recent travels (which admittedly are not that extensive), but it was slightly frustrating to listen to the recorded announcement welcome me back to the states while I watched about one hundred US passengers all wait to see the two border patrol agents that were open in our line. At 5:30 on a Friday night. Naturally, there were other agents there - but they were having loud discussions about how they were all going on break. Thanks, guys. Could you maybe take that discussion elsewhere since I've been up for the past 27 hours with 2 kids and I bet you haven't?? I know, I know. I get cranky without sleep.
Our bags arrived with no issues, and we went out to meet my parents with no further ado. The kids were of course thrilled to see Grandma and Grandpa and after some minor discussion in the car promptly fell asleep.
We celebrated B's birthday the following day with all family minus one in attendance - beautiful weather for lunch on the deck! In fact, we've had great weather - if cold - since we arrived. I say cold, but really it's been in the 70s. I just feel cold. In fact, I've taken to wearing a sweater when I go outside, and then I just feel silly. Warm, but silly.
I've managed to do some shopping and knock a few items off of my page-long list of "things to bring back", but there's still plenty more to find at this point. I've only tried to drive on the wrong side of the road a few times, and I've done my best to actually pay attention to road signs, red lights, and lane dividers. It's so hard, though! Oh, Dhaka, you've totally ruined me!
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