The Itch

I might not like to move, but I also don't really care for ... stagnating - for lack of a better word.  As I write this post, I have not left the city of Dhaka (and specifically a very small portion of that city) since July of this year.  I suppose that's not totally true.  I did just get to go on an all day picnic experience with the Staff College in the days before Christmas.  And to do that, I had to get up early, get the kids up early, ride a bus for 5 hours, and got sick from eating the contaminated (yes, contaminated) food they served us.  So ... that was the last time I left the city.  Might make you think I wasn't  anxious to do it again, but truly, TRULY I feel the need to go somewhere.

Here I was thinking our IRT year was going to be all about exciting travel, but really, all I get to do is stay home.  Part of this is my own doing of course since I spent a large portion of my fall - and plan to spend a large portion of my spring - working on my masters program.  Having an online program is great, but I definitely don't have the flexibility to take off for a week (or longer) when I'm supposed to be contributing 3-4 times per week to online forums.  Internet reliability in hotels in the region is questionable at best in some locations.  Additionally, B's school schedule doesn't really facilitate us going with Josh when he travels.  The other overseas families all live at Mirpur Cantonment, and there is a school there which exists solely for the kids of students attending the Staff College.  So the school year runs from April until February and the holidays match those of the Staff College.  Of course, this school is not accredited in any way, so it's really not an option for us even though it would be nice to have Josh's school breaks line up with B's.  And so with a very few exceptions, B and Josh are not home at the same times.  

We anticipate at this point that we'll be sticking around for a few months at the completion of Staff College to allow B to finish out his school year, and that would be a great time to travel since Josh won't be on a strictly defined schedule, except for the fact that, you know, B is in school.  And when he's on break (for Spring Break), I've got 2 classes going on.  So I'm about to pull my hair out realizing that I might never actually leave this city.  Ever.  Okay, now I'm just being dramatic.  Obviously I get to leave.  But I feel ridiculous thinking that in the 16 months we will live here, I will have left Dhaka to travel on only one occasion.  No India, no Nepal, no side trip just to relax somewhere.  Instead, the two week trip we took as soon as we arrived here, to Sri Lanka, will be the sum total of my overseas travel.  And that just makes me feel... itchy.  I mean, who comes all this way and doesn't at least get to see the Taj Mahal, right?