After 35 days away, I am finally reunited with my family and back in my own bed again! And boy oh boy does it feel good. As you might imagine, being away was quite novel at first… no demands from anyone, loads of free time, reunions with old friends and all the U.S. restaurants and shops a girl could possibly want! I reveled in my good fortune for about a week and then the loneliness and boredom began to set in. Yeah, I had a dinner with a friend 5 nights out of the week, but I still had to return home to an empty hotel room at the end of the day. And I was shocked by how much I missed my husband and daughter (and was equally irritated by how much they did NOT seem to be missing me!!). The novelty of it all wore off very quickly and I found myself grateful to actually have class to go to every day – I mean, at least I had a little structure Monday through Friday!
Seeing old friends was a highlight of the trip. DC is a “hometown” of sorts for Foreign Service people, meaning that we all pass in and out of there with relative frequency. What’s great about that is that there are always friends to reconnect with when I’m there. I kept a little tally for the fun of it. Not surprisingly, Malawi came out on top. :)
Manila Friends Seen – 2
Lima Friends Seen – 3
Malawi Friends Seen – 6
Mumbai Friends Seen – 4
DC Friends – 5
Another highlight was flying to Minnesota for a month to meet my 7 month old nephew for the first time! His name is Graham. He’s smiley and good-natured and an absolute delight to be around. ALMOST made me want more, but not quite. Nia still manages to be the emotional/energetic equivalent of two children and is freaking me out with her recent obsession about death. This obsession started while I was gone and is literally all she wants to talk about and everything seems to remind her of it. Nothing I say seems to reassure her. Am open to any and all suggestions folks! I’m sure some of you have handled this before…
I arrived home at 2 AM on Friday, June 26th and jumped right back into Mumbai life at full speed. I unpacked and slept a bit in the morning hours, then took off with Nick around lunch to check-in to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in South Mumbai. Would have been a lovely romantic gesture, but twas not to be, as we had a big USG National Day Event (read: 4th of July party) to attend.
I busted out my favorite gold sari, combated jetlag with a few shots of espresso and headed to the party for a night of celebrating. It turned out to be a stunning evening. The food was delicious and creatively presented (that’s a table of truffles and macaroons people!!), the band rocking and I was shocked to find that I’m starting to know a fair amount of people in Mumbai! I love that feeling – it’s always a sign that I’m starting to settle in to my new home (not so new anymore, we just crossed the 10 month mark!). Anywhoooo….was a marvelous night. I felt like a celebrity. Was asked to be in soooooo many pictures, with strangers even! Guess a white girl in a sari is still a pretty novel thing here. Was happy to oblige though. Anything to be a good representative of the USG! ;)
Nick and Nia fared surprisingly well without me. Single parenting is exhausting and I’m grateful that he supported me in my professional development, even though it was a huge burden on him. And except for thinking she’s going to die, Nia held up pretty well too. I’m proud of them.
That’s it for today. I’ll try and write again soon but first I have to get packed for our month-long R&R trip back to the States that we’re leaving for later this week! Expat life is tough but someone’s gotta do it…. (j/k – I wouldn’t feel bad for me either)
