What I'm going to miss

It's been a funny week, we are in the midst of returning to Colorado for a one month dose of home before shaking the snowglobe that is our family again and setting it down in Venezuela. It's hot, windy, dusty, the kids are tired, Lisa and I are beat- and on the one hand we ARE SO READY TO LEAVE THIS SANDBOX! But on the other- I am feeling a bit melancholic about the whole thing- so what will I miss? Here goes:

things I will miss:


Friends
this one is the obvious one- we have met so many amazing people and feel so lucky to have gained them as friends.  I keep telling Luca to not be too sad because once you have a friend you get to keep them and then go make more somewhere else- but Luca is right-its sad to be leaving good friends. And how did I get thru 2 years here without one good picture of Andre?

Camels 
Yup, Camels- I don't know what it is about them but call me a fan.

Drivers-
Yeah- I would have thought that I would put this on the not going to miss column but it is kind of a case of so bad its good. The drivers here are just so bad and rude it makes me laugh. Mike Simpson said he has started to be able to read the body language of cars and know when he is going to get cut off- its true... or just the it's just that you are always going to get cut off so you always expect it. Also- they paint the sweetest cars the weirdest colors: I have seen orange land cruisers and tennis ball green mercedes.

bouncy castles
they love the bouncy castle in this country- they are everywhere- and I am intrigued because if you invite me to your birthday party and it is over 95 degrees and you tell me to play on a bouncy castle inferno I might just politely decline. but the kids love em.


call to prayer
especially the one right at dusk- makes me feel like I live in a far off distant other country or something

smiles- my first time in new york Nate told me :you don't have to say hi to every single person" I guess I've always been a head nodder- a smiler. That doesn't happen as much here- there seems to be a lot of just walking by other people. I have walked, biked, or ran past many a fierce looking construction worker just staring at me- I smile... and they smile. They don't worry about U.S.- Pakistani relations- they just smile. So I'm going to keep being my own little naive country mouse and keep smiling- What's the worse thing they could do?  Don't answer that

Just smile to turn this...

into this.

It also helps to have Luca or Wilder with you to get people smiling.

learning to wear new styles of clothing
not saying I'm going to start wearing these new styles but it sure is fun to try them out.

   

                                                                         

hummus- they do have really good hummus, and baba ganouj, and moutabel, oh and the sunsets are nice as well- I've always been a sucker for watching the sunset with a good bowl of hummus.



What I won't miss-wind, beige, hot


Thanks to everyone who has made this adventure a blast- I so look forward to keeping in touch- and to continuing the stories from Caracas. We love you all