Recently in Travel Category

The Tates and I are back on US soil. What an interesting trip; I am still processing so much of it. We managed to work in visits with *almost* everyone we wanted to see, although I felt everybody got shortchanged to some degree. C'est la vie. One week in a country is short -- especially when you have to include naps.

I will get into the details of the trip later. For now, it is 6:30 am on Monday and I have to go to work shortly. I also may or may not have an exam this evening, that I only realized was a possibility around 4 in the afternoon yesterday. Mateo woke up at 4 this morning (jetlag + time change = early wake-up). He is now back in bed but I am a little wired. There will be significant crashing this evening, I am sure.

Highlights of our trip include:

- Spending quality time with Kathypath. She is such an amazing friend and it was wonderful to share with her, and watch her interact with Teo
- Seeing Teo with his dad, even if we had a bit of a rocky start
- Dancing with above people. Repeatedly.
- Our visit to Aimee's teahouse, which is truly delightful and I suggest all Parisian-based readers head out there as soon as possible. Aimee's brother entertained Mateo with the guitar, the sun was shining, and it was really a pleasant afternoon
- French desserts
- The many, many visits we got to enjoy over the week - The Little Guy and his mom, Teo's Grandma, TheKnitter, Vegas & Soph, S&D, Becs, Maga, A&C, La Fille en Rose, and all of my former coworkers. I love you all muchly an wish I could have spent more time with each and every one of you!

For now - Photos on flickr start here:

Our visit to France has been quite a whirlwind -- we have been very busy indeed. Spending one week in a city where you spent eight years results in having lots of people to see. Everybody seems shortchanged, only getting in a few hours at best, but I hope they understand.

We have visited thus far with nine people on my list of people-to-see, and this afternoon we will spend with two more. Tomorrow will be crazy with fitting in visits and shopping with Teo's papa, and Friday I am hoping to see some other friends and manage to stop by the bookstore. It is exhausting but rewarding, and we have been on-the-go from the start.

Teo still hasn't adjusted to sleeping yet, but I am sort of giving up on trying. He fits in naps in his stroller and he is currently snoozing in the port-a-crib we set up in the bathroom. There is a lot of flying by the seat of our pants when it comes to the sleeping question.

It is still great to be back, but the visit has been an emotional one -- both in good ways and in bad. I think it was absolutely necessary for us to come out here again, though it has been hard at times to work through some of my feelings about our departure and the break-up with The Boy. Overall I can feel the trip has been good for me in finding some sort of closure of the French chapter of my life. It doesn't mean I won't ever live here again in my life, nor that I won't always miss it and feel nostalgic for Paris, but it does mean that I can be more at peace with my new life in the US. That is a good feeling.

So three more days of crazy and then what I am sure will be a difficult goodbye. Then it's back home where I pray we will recover from jet lag with more success than we have here.

Mateo and I made it in one piece to France. The trip was sort of hellish, as Mateo opted not to fall asleep AT ALL during our first nine hour flight. We spent much of it walking up and down the aisles. Of course, he fell asleep minutes before we boarded our second flight, and had to be woken up and strapped into a seat belt before take off. Note: he did not enjoy this one bit. No thank you. Ohhhh... the screaming was terrible. We were in the last row, and the two rows ahead of us cleared out, as people moved to empty seats that were not near the bellowing child. Good times.

In the end, we made it in one exhausted piece. Well, two exhausted pieces. Upon arrival, we got settled at Kathy's house and promptly passed out for almost four hours. Mateo is all over the place sleep-wise, but we managed to sleep from 3 am to 10 am this morning, so that's looking pretty good. I am sure we will both nap later.

Meanwhile, it is so wonderful to be back here. In lots of ways, it feels like we never left. Paris still feels like home more than anywhere else in the world. At the same time, I can tell I have changed a lot since our departure, and I am looking at the city with different eyes.

Last night, Kathy made us a delicious four zillion course meal, and Teo's dad came over to eat with us. Teo was amazingly not that fussy, given our previous 20+ hours. He danced and danced and danced, and nobody found that amusing at all. He took a nap midway through the evening, woke up at some point, and then we didn't go back to sleep until 3. But hey - no complaints. As I said to my sister once, I feel like sleep deprivation is an entirely different animal after having survived those first few months of motherhood. I'm sure most mamas would agree.

Today we are heading out to see Teo's brother and his mom, and maybe just visit the city some. It's cold and dreary, but Paris is still beautiful, of course. I am committed to recording as much of this trip on "film" as possible, so get ready for pictures! pictures! pictures!

Once fully recovered, I flew to Portland and back to visit my sister and brother-in-law (and their band of amazing friends) over the weekend. It was an absolute success -- everything a visit with family should be. My sister and I were on the same page in most ways, and I think we both felt that it was more just like I was hanging out with everyone for a bit instead of making an official visit. We just chilled, and it was awesome.

I also got to see my sister 'in action' at her job. She is a high school math teacher, and I am so glad I got to see her classroom and some of the students who fill it. I found some of them so endearing that when she was grading papers on Sunday night, I requested she keep me up-to-date on a few students' progress. I am so happy that I now have the visuals to go along with her stories, so that now when we talk about her job and how it's going, I can actually picture her standing at the wipe-off board. Also, she's the advisor for the high school's trivia club, a group composed of such freakishly dorky and excited-by-trivia types that we were both giddy with excitement. They are just flat out ADORABLE.

Portland is such a nice place. I say this every time that I come back from there, but it really is. On Saturday, we went to the farmer's market with some friends (and toddler! Oh the cuteness!) and I just loved it. The weather was perfect: a little crisp, but sunny, and the leaves were falling all around. Everybody at the market was so chill and relaxed ("We're just trying to race through the market...") that I couldn't help but compare it to the Parisian market outside my apartment. They both have their merits, but damn if the Portland market didn't want to make me just sit around and sip coffee on a park bench for awhile. It was just beautiful, and the atmosphere was lovely.

The highlights from the trip abound, but probably the ultimate high point was that my sister got the coolest boots ever. We did some serious damage with the credit card, but all were excellent purchases. Embarrassingly, I have to go back with an extra piece of luggage. But I got new shoes, new pants, and a snazzy new coat.

Tonight I am off on the plane that should get into Paris tomorrow morning. I am excited to see The Boy, and Kathypath, and even to just be in my own bed again, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to stick around for a few days. This last week has more than made up for the hell of my first three days here, and I am so happy to have been able to spend time with my family. They are great people and they make me laugh constantly.

Also, it's in the mid-70's and sunny here, and for some reason the dog is cuddling more with me than usual. When you take everything into account, it makes it pretty hard to leave.

Landing in Delhi at 5.00 am in 1.5 days. Next update will be from India...

So I am pretty much ready for the heat thing to be over and done with. My magic feet are swelling so much it's becoming painful, so I know a rainfall is coming soon. Thank God, too, because I just can't handle this shit anymore.

Ironic, I know, seeing as how I'm leaving for India two weeks from tomorrow. India, where the air is mountain fresh and humidity is never a problem -- especially in August.

This morning, I went to the doctor to get my assorted medecines for the upcoming trip. I said I was there for malaria pills and she said, "Right. But I'm going to prescribe you stuff for diarrhea and vomiting, too, because you're pretty much bound to need them."

I laughed and said, "I know it's a risk, but hopefully I can avoid it."

And she sort of jerked her head up and said, "No. You can't, really. I was being very careful, but I puked for three solid days. I still don't know what did it to me. I think it's just the spices they use. I mean, the water is one thing -- you can be sure to avoid fresh fruits and vegetables. But the spices are not exactly created in sanitized conditions, and pretty much everything you eat has spices, so... yeah. I ate chapati and yogurt for the rest of my trip after that."

OK!

I also went to H&M to buy myself some fake-linen pants to move around town in while a-travelling. During the Southeast Asia Trio, I wore the same two pants throughout the trip, as they were pretty much the only thing my sweating body enjoyed having stick to it. I bought them at H&M, alongside a few 5-euro t-shirts that I threw away at the end of our travels. As I don't really have a lot of clothing, I prefer to just buy three shirts and two pants knowing they'll be pitched, that way I don't destroy any of the more durable things I own. Plus, word on the street is that women shouldn't look like skanky hos around India, so I thought I'd buy some shirts that cover my shoulders and breastesses.

Surprise of all surprises. I haven't been shopping since last December (no exageration), and I was positively overwhelmed by the awesomeness of H&M's t-shirt selection. They're long (refreshing change for us tall girls) and in great colors, and they cost 6 or 7 euros. I picked up a bunch - V-necks and normal necks - and then I threw in a sweater for this winter. My total came to 48 euros, which really felt like a lot to me, especially since I sincerely cannot remember the last time I bought myself new clothing without the presence of my mother. But damn if it's not cool having so much new clothing for that price.

So now I have a dilemna - I actually REALLY like most of the shirts I got. So I no longer want to wear them to India and pitch them. I want to incorporate them into my pathetic wardrobe permanently.

I'm thinking I'll go back to H&M and buy two more t-shirts (no sweater) and suck it up. Pay the 12 euros and make those my throaways. Everything is on sale. Everything is cheap. And that's how H&M just lures you right on in...