NOLA

And then it was time to go back to the real world....

Oscar was overjoyed that he could watch movies
in the car without getting sick
(you wouldn't know it from his expression)

After over a month of vacation having a wonderful time reconnecting with friends and family, we packed up and drove to NEW ORLEANS!! The driving took about 8 hours, but we went at a leisurely pace, stopped to visit a friend for lunch in Houston, and stayed at a no-tell-motel (aka Days Inn) on Thursday night. Livi calls the hotel "the place with the dirty rug" and I hope to never step foot in a Waffle House again, but we arrived safely at our temporary apartment on Friday afternoon right in the middle of the New Orleans business district. It's really modern, with plenty of exposed concrete and not a single rug. While I wouldn't call it cozy, there's a pool for the kids to swim in and it has all the comforts of an Oakwood furnished stay.

our fish

Man, what a city. After only 4 days here, we already feel at home. We spent our first Saturday morning sweating it out in the French Quarter with all of the tourists. Cafe Du Monde was on our agenda, but the line was ridiculous, so we wandered around for a while and finally found some ice cream. Everyone is really nice and laid back - except for the one gallery owner who told us she had never seen anyone eating ice cream in the French Quarter. We almost walked back to her gallery with big dripping ice cream cones once we found it.  I have to admit, as snooty as she was, it was not so easy to find! (Oscar already has a business plan....) There were plenty of families roaming around mid-day, and it was a kinder and gentler Bourbon St. in the heat of the day!

Livi posing outside Pat O'Brien's

eating ice cream and making wishes in a fountain on Decatur St.

That afternoon we drove around the Uptown area and scoped some potential properties. On our way back to our hotel, we saw a whole bunch of people wearing white. We googled it and it was the Annual Whitney White Linen Night. Centered around art galleries, it's essentially a block party with drinks and open galleries. We went home to change our clothes and headed back out. I heard my first true New Orleans accent (awesome!) from the guy trying to take a picture of the whole family...we got 3/4 which is pretty good!

Our UAB arrived yesterday and the house exploded. Thank goodness we didn't pack all 700 lbs of stuff we were allowed! We were about half that weight and barely have room for it. The kids did manage to find enough room to scooter in the 900 sq ft space though!

Oscar liked this picture since I told him he looked like a zombie

To be honest, it's not all roses and sunshine. This isn't a typical "foreign service" posting. No one greats you when you arrive in a new city in the States, or invites you to playdates or parties every weekend (well, everyone is invited to a party every weekend, but not quite the same thing...) We're on our own for housing and we have to pay rent like normal people (more on that coming soon!) We drove by Oscar's school and he burst into tears, saying it wasn't anything like his old school and he hated it. I almost had a breakdown talking on the phone with the education department regarding preschool options for Livi. We have a lot of transitions this month, but these were things we expected, and are part of our crazy life!

On the upside, although this is the hottest time of the year, it's definitely not Chennai-hot. I can drive myself around, go to the grocery store and pick up everything we need in one stop, and there's a ton of things to do for the kids. Today we joined the Children's Museum which was a convenient walk from our apartment. It was pretty awesome:

this was a really cool tunnel made out of heavy cardboard that looked like trees and wrapped around the room

Mr. Bones biked when you did!

Livi Jackson

look out, behind you!

We are lucky have a few friends that live in town that have been sharing all their pearls of wisdom about the city. Livi made a new friend at their house over the weekend:

Tomorrow, we head to the Waldorf school for the interviews... fingers crossed it's a good fit for us!!!