R and ahhhhhh

Our European adventure had come to an end, and while Oscar unfortunately had to head back to India in early June, the kids and I headed off to Buffalo for another month. The plane ride was pretty decent, but we had enough of a delay in Newark that we were in minor shambles once we arrived. The kids did their best to tear up the waiting area of our delayed flight and at one point I ordered them to sit down against a wall and not to move while I tried to remember someone's phone number in the U.S to call if we got stuck overnight in Newark. (I must've sounded pretty serious about it too since they actually did it. I also realized my rookie mistake of not carrying more that one phone number with me!) I'm pretty sure I yelled at a gate agent in Buffalo for not helping after I had to carry 2 exhausted kids and a suitcase up a flight of stairs. From my perspective, it was warranted, but it's all a bit hazy after 15 or so hours of travel.... Thankfully, alls well that ends well and travelling west is amazingly easier to adjust to than travelling east, and we settled in pretty quickly.

Gus held center stage in Buffalo

To say we had fun was an understatement. I felt the beginnings of it in Europe, and it carried through our time in Buffalo. When I first heard that they paid to fly us somewhere as a break during our time here, I was kind of surprised. OK, so I'll tell my housekeeper to make sure the laundry is done, my cook she has a few weeks off, my gardener to keep an eye on the flowers, and my driver to take me to the airport! Score! Then, we got 8 months into our tour here. Everything was going well and truly above and beyond our expectations. The kids were happy at school, we had good friends, a comfortable house....sure there were bumps in the road, like no brakes in the car, and well, literally bumps in the road...the heat, the mosquitos, some miscommunications....but really things had been pretty awesome. But eventually homesickness sets in, calling your family over Skype isn't enough, and you just want to eat some decent cheese! So you fly away and realize WHY they give you an R&R....

Once we went back to the states (and Europe too) we noticed all those creature comforts we didn't even realize we were missing. Walking anywhere, not sweating, the kids being able to ride bikes, being able to drive, the variety of food available at the grocery store. The little things that really aren't necessary, but make you feel at home. It's wonderful to see family that can't travel halfway across the world to see you and reconnect with friends. Not to mention all the cheese.... It's not like we're uncomfortable in India, we're just kind of out of our comfort zone. Our perceptive little Oscar noticed it, and announced he wants our next tour to be in North America (I love that he said it that way)...He's honestly happy wherever we are, but definitely appreciated his time in the States!

Now, I recognize that there are some not so awesome things about the U.S. (the "sparkling" personalities of numerous people in the Newark airport comes to mind....) However, you can blissfully ignore those things on R&R and bask in the glory that is american consumerism...from gorging yourself on awesome chicken wings to wandering the aisles of Target. But I digress! This was supposed to be a post about Buffalo! Hmmm, that will come next...

So here we are in Chennai, in a little bit of transitional limbo. Maybe that's why I'm finding it difficult to settle in.... Many people we know are either leaving or know where they're going next, just not us yet. The curse of our family is that both Oscar and I are always looking ahead, and are already trying to plan our next move but we don't know how to plan it! The bid list isn't out yet and we have a whole year to finish our tour here, yet we both have the "1-year itch." Our solution? We're moving upstairs. Next week! While we didn't choose to do this, we readily accepted the offer. Not quite the same thing as moving elsewhere in the world, but the act of moving all of our stuff will hopefully assuage our compulsion to move beyond country borders, at least for a few more months...

Here's a few photos since we've returned. We came back at the tail end of mango season, and little Oscar is thrilled. As the fabulous big brother that he is, he even got Livi to try one and she loves them now too!

And what's better than cake? Naked cake! Oscar is enjoying Ganthi's lemon cake, his favorite here. Livi is eating the frosting off a chocolate cake.

Next up, a plethora of photos from Buffalo! I promise.