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What a month November has been. Vacationing is great and all, but we're looking forward to having a little time to spend around the house. About two weeks after we got back from Thailand, we left for Sri Lanka. We were lucky in that both Crystal and Adham had enough United frequent flier miles to be able to get their tickets for much cheaper than regular price, though it still ended up being a surprisingly pricey place to visit. We were there for almost two weeks, and had a car and driver taking us on little winding roads all over the island. In retrospect, driving up to nine hours a day may not have been the best idea, given the fact that one of our children gets carsick and the other can't stand to be in his carseat for more than a few minutes at a time without bawling uncontrollably. Ah, parenthood! Some of our favorite places included Colombo, the capital, where there's lots to see and lots of good shopping to boot. We even managed an evening out, courtesy of babysitters at our hotel, so that we could have dinner with some colleagues from the US Embassy there. The cultural capital of Kandy, in the interior hills, has a great Botanical Garden and is also home to Helga's Folly, an old colonial era mansion done over as a hotel and restaurant, and decorated in wildly creative ways. Hard to describe, impossible to forget. We also enjoyed our days on the beach at Bentota, despite the tiny little winged biting creatures that were almost impossible to see, yet left behind incredibly itchy welts on the skin for weeks afterward. All in all, we really liked the country and would love to put it on a future job list if it comes available. A week after our return, it was the 230th Birthday Celebration of the United States Marine Corps, also known as the Marine Ball. Adham's tux was ready in time, Crystal had a gown made for the occasion, and we joined the other celebrants in dancing and dining until all hours. Not sure who planned it that way, but the very next night was the Glitter Ball, organized by the Australian High Commission and a much more informal affair, though no less rehearsed. Each year there is a competition between groups of guests at the Glitter Ball; each group practices a skit, sometimes months in advance, for performance on the big night. We were recruited to join the group masterminded by the creative director behind the winning skit of two years ago, who had an ambitious idea for this year. It's hard to describe the concept succinctly, so you may have to read the following several times. The title of the skit was "The Wizard of Oz" (Oz=Australia, get it?), and featured a Dorothy from Dhaka who found herself in Australia, met characters including a cowardly kangaroo, and then uses her ruby slippers to whisk herself back to Dhaka just in time to join a Bollywood-style dance act. Crystal and Adham were part of the seven Bollywood dancers performing a very nice looking routine, if we do say so ourselves. Unfortunately, this year the first prize was carted away by a group consisting of Ambassadors, High Commissioners, and Chiefs of Mission from the major Embassies in Dhaka. What judge would have the guts to say that their boss was less than number one in the lineup? So, we walked away with the second prize, and the appreciation of much of the audience. The creative director from our group will be leaving Dhaka in the next year, so we're on the lookout for a new muse for next time. In other kid news, Atlas now sports seven teeth, and just in the past couple days has taken to walking across the room all on his own. We're still working on his sleeping through the night, but have high hopes. He's a wonderfully energetic little boy, and never hesitates to tell us what he thinks of things, even if we can't quite understand him yet. Tasman is still loving school, is going on playdates with friends, and continues to impress us with his vocabulary and wordplay skills. | ||||
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