It’s been a fun week of vacation for our family with Christmas to start and the New Year to end with many adventures and more stories in between. Here’s a recap:
Christmas Day was different but good, many, many thanks to those of you who sent little gifts and cards (and Christmas crafts—a lifesaver since we were confined to the house due to sickness the week before!)—it’s those little things that really make the difference here. It was, of course, tinged with sadness, missing those dearly loved, but thankfully with the help of technology (and a little perseverance) we were able to see/speak to some the day of and that made it much better. Later in the day we had several other expats over for a meal and games and that added a lot of good cheer and fun.
Boxing Day saw us making a border run to the closest mall, only it was not nearly as packed as I’m sure it would have been in America—you gotta count the perks sometimes. =) The reason for our trip? After nearly nine years of marriage, Husband Dear has finally won the argument to have a TV in our bedroom—his winning point: “If we have a TV we can sit next to each other instead of with the laptop between.” Does this man know me or what?
The following four days were slated for vacation and a little travel/exploration of our country. Here is where the adventures really started.
Day one: We travelled to the capital to meet up with some friends who will be in charge of our sightseeing trip. They have family in town but managed to get us a place to stay (a sort of rental apartment). Simple, but very clean and nice—things are looking good for the start of our trip.
Day two: Travelling always renews culture shock for me to some extent. In our home I’m settled, I have my routine and I have essentially what I need for the day i.e. coffee. One of the major problems we always deal with is finding a good cup of coffee on our travels. I know it seems like such a minor thing, but for those of you who need that daily dose of caffeine bliss you know what I mean. Needless to say, the day started a little rocky, but it improved upon acquaintance (and a can of Coke later =)). Our first stop on our journey was at a town of major cultural importance in our country, where we disembarked to explore the fort and the market. It was also where I seriously considered selling my children. I love my children, but they were definitely not at their finest in these places. After a short "Come to Jesus" meeting at the car before lunch things were looking up and we were ready to head to our next stop: camping in the desert. What can I say about the desert? It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Really beautiful; and once I stopped freaking out over whether our children were going to go tumbling down every steep and high dune, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I know our kids can scramble with the best of them and have a lot of fun doing so. Another highlight: dune bashing or zooming over the dunes in 4WD vehicles—I think our kids might be thrill seekers after this. Our children also got to ride camels and all three enjoyed it and no one screamed to get down—a rousing success (compared to our experience with riding horses anyway).
Days three and four: We left desert camp and headed to a beautiful valley with hiking and caves you swim to enter. Needless to say we didn’t attempt the swimming caves, but we still enjoyed swimming in the open—the views were beautiful. The next leg of our journey took longer than expected, but we finally reached the beach at sunset. After spending the night in the desert, I was really looking forward to a nice hotel and a hot shower…let’s just say the hotel was not exactly all that I’d hoped for, but playing on the beach with husband dear and our kids the next day more than made up for it. I didn’t actually go in the water but we built sand castles and went hunting for sea shells and had a great time. After the beach we headed back to the hotel and I decided to clean out the car while husband dear helped with bathing the kids. As we were getting ready to leave husband dear reaches down to the newly cleaned cup holder of our car and asks, “Where’s my wedding ring?” which he quickly follows with, “No, you didn’t” upon seeing the expression on my face. Yes, after nearly nine years of marriage I threw my husband’s wedding ring away in the trash, but I maintain that throwing your silver looking wedding ring amongst a handful of pop tops is perhaps not the best idea. Lucky for us both, the trash had not been taken out or added to and we were able to quickly retrieve his ring—I’ll not be able to live this down for a long time though.
After several hours journey we returned to the capital and to our rental apartment. My first clue that things were not as they should be came when I couldn’t get the lights to turn on. I alert husband dear of this and he goes to look for a flashlight amongst all our things. He finds a flashlight but the batteries are dead so he’s off to look for batteries. In the meantime, I hear the sound of water splashing from the bathroom. Husband dear returns with batteries and we then discover that an outdoor pipe has burst and is spraying water against a ventilation window in the bathroom, causing the leak over the floor and the electrical wires to be tripped. We alert our friends who very graciously make room for five more in their already full home. We all went to bed exhausted but grateful for a place to lay our heads.
Day Five: We get up and thank our kind friends and then head back home. A few hours later we arrive home thoroughly exhausted and in need of a vacation from our vacation with loads of stories and laundry, and as I cannot share the laundry =) I thought I would some of the stories.
Hope you enjoyed! Happy New Year and remember all that is silver is not trash. =)
