travel – Life Off Headset

Welcome Home and to a New Year. Hello, 2026!

We got back from Taiwan yesterday morning, leaving Taipe at 11:45pm on Saturday night and pulling into our driveway in Maryland at 7:30am on Sunday morning. International travel across the date line is kind of a mind warp, right? On paper, it only took eight hours to get home from Taiwan, but really it was twenty hours of travel. I mean we landed in Seattle, our connecting city, at 6:00pm on Saturday, which is before we left in Taipei. It’s almost like getting time back. But those hours gained are jet-lagged discombobulated hours; I can’t say it did us much good or that any of us were at our best…

The journey home was full of mishaps – we lost a beloved teddy bear and a travel pillow, the last leg of our flight (SEA —> BWI) was delayed an hour, and one of our suitcases came off baggage claim with a wheel missing. We were too exhausted to deal with trying to find someone to file a claim or a lost item report. The cost of exhaustion seems to be apathy mixed with helpless despair, it seems. International travel does not bring out my best ability to deal with a crisis. (Unlike my cousin, who didn’t realize until he was checking in for his flight that he and his family needed Visas for Vietnam. It’s a wild story, but they ended up in Singapore instead. I admire their sense of calm and ability to pivot.)

Anyhow, we got home and, despite my best intentions to unpack and try to get us back on Eastern Time, we all fell asleep around 11am and slept for several hours. I did get up before the others and started unpacking the suitcases. The rest of the day, between us, the Husband and I did six loads of laundry (folding most of it!), I made waffles for dinner, the Husband did a quick essentials only grocery shop (did you know Lemon Oreos are essential?), we watched Indiana play basketball before pouring the kids back into bed. Despite having taken that enormous nap in the middle of the day, they were so very tired by 10pm. (Which was 11am Taiwan time).

Of course, not so very tired that they weren’t up at 3am, coming into our bedroom.

“I’m bored,” the six year old said.

“Go play in the toy room,” the Husband suggested groggily, half asleep.

She went away.

Around 5:15am, there was some kind of sibling squabble. One child wanted to play, one child wanted to read. (The 13 year old slept on… teenagers and their sleep…) I told the 6 year old she could come cuddle in our bed.

“How long?” She asks.

“Until six o’clock,” I say, snuggling her down and going back to sleep.

Then every five minutes she sat up to look at the clock. Until…

“It’s six o’clock!” And she springs out of bed.

“Go see if your brother wants to play,” I murmur sleepily.

Off she goes and I go back to sleep. In my dreams I hear them playing with the 8 year old’s new chess set – are they really playing? Who knows? And foot steps up and down stairs. And no more fighting.

Some indeterminate time later, I hear some one shout, “Bloody nose!!!”

Then the 8 year old: “Go to the bathroom! I’ll help you!”

And he did. When I woke up another indeterminate time later, there were bloody tissues in the trash can and on the floor in the bathroom and the Clorox wipes sitting open on the counter. I did step on a gob of blood, but you know… getting to sleep through a bloody nose is kind of a win in my book.

And then it was morning. Going to school 24.5 hours after getting off an international flight is hard, so I drove the 13 year old to school instead of having her walk. And 90 minutes later, I took the 6 year old and the 8 year old to school, though we were pretty late, squeaking in just as the doors were closing. The 8 year old has school testing this week, and we were a little concerned about him being able to stay awake and focus in class, so we wrote the teacher and she agreed to let him take the test on the make-up days. (Who schedules school testing for the week after vacation???).

I, on the other hand had grand plans of setting up my planners and journals, logging a few hours of work, picking up the house, and folding more laundry, and hanging out with the Husband since he had taken the day off. But… I got home, had breakfast and then ended up taking a three hour nap on the couch. I do feel a little guilty that I made my kids go to school while I came home and napped, but that’s a perk, of being a semi-employed adult. We’ll see how long it takes to get people back on schedule. We went out to an early dinner tonight since it was half price burger night, and the kids ate half their burgers then were like:

Trip Highlights
Here are some photo highlights of our time in Taiwan, in case I don’t get around to doing trip recaps (My track record for trip recaps is pretty paltry.)

*Sunset at Tamsui, a coastal suburb of Taipei. It’s at the end of the trainline, and where my cousin lives.

+So much food! Dumplings on Christmas Day:

*Visiting the cemetery where my grandmother’s ashes are buried.

Night Market – this one in Chia yi, where my family is originally from:

*View from our boat tour of the coastal waters off Tainan, where we learned about fishing, and spoonbills:

*Fish Market in Kaoshiong:

*Dragon Fruit at a produce vendor’s stall:

*More Night Market Food – this one also in Kaoshiong.

*Selfie with my grandfather – he is 100 years old and the reason for this family reunion:

*We took a two night trip to Bietou, where there are hot springs and hiking. (Though it ended up being to wet and windy to really hike.)

And on our last day, we followed a string of red lanterns and found a moment of calm in the gardens of a Buddhist Temple:

The photos don’t really capture how full each an every day was – full of family, full of new sights/smells/tastes, full of new discoveries of how life on this island nation work. Also, though, full of chaos and noise, full of long bus rides, full of feeling lost in a language that I don’t quite speak, a culture I don’t quite belong to. Yet ultimately, full of love and bonding, meories and conversations, and that kind of discomfort that opens my eyes to other ways lives can be lived.

Oh so fittingly of the universe, this poem by John Updike showed up in my apoemaday feed yesterday:

How beautifully Updike captures the return to the mundane – I, too, feel like I’ve put the yoke back on, even while knowing that the world is not so small as it once felt and sometimes still feels.

Return Trip Gratitudes:

-That the kids kind of slept on the flight home, and that they are pretty good travelers in general. I feel so lucky – they didn’t complain, went where we asked them too, didn’t get lost, carried their own backpacks, pulled their own suitcases.

-Airport play areas. I am so grateful for these areas for kids to run off some energy while waiting for flights. (The play area in Taiwan has a baby’s area attached that comes with a hot water dispenser, a fully stocked wipes warmer, and extra diapers!) I think the eight year old is technically too tall for the play area, but we let him play there until there were too many toddlers as well. And in SEA, they made some friends and played tag and said “Six seven” to each other.

-Wifi at the airport. The 13 year old definitely is not into airport play areas, but luckily in each airport she had wifi and a comfy seat so she was well occupied.

-That our fruit didn’t get taken away when we got home. Before we went to the airport, we bought a bunch of fruit and snacks for the trip home, remembering the time last year when we were stuck in Seattle for nine hours. Taiwan is super strict about letting fruit and vegetables into the couttry, so I half expected that the US would be the same. I declared them and everything, but no one took them from us. We came home with a bag of bananas, three passion fruits, and six or seven wax apples. Wax apples are one of my favorite Taiwanese fruits, and you can’t get them in the US. I cut them up for a late night snack last night, and the crisp juicy slices were a wonderful reminder of our trip. The 13 year old ate the rest of the passionfruit this morning. I’m a little annoyed I didn’t get one of the last two, but I reminded myself how much I love it for her that she easily slices and scoops out and eats this fruit that was so foreign to her a week ago.

-The Mobile Passport Control app, allowing for easy re-entry into the country. We don’t have TSA Pre-Check or Global entry or anything like that, but I found that airport security lines are pretty streamlined these days and moved pretty fast. The nice thing in Seattle, too, is that even though we submitted our info via the app, there was still an agent who directed us to the right line and scanned us through and said, “Welcome home.” Having someone say, “Welcome home” is one of my favorite parts of international travel.

-That the Qdoba in the Seattle airport is open 24 hours. After that nine hour at SEATAC episode last year, when were were in a tiny terminal without any food, I was really glad we decided to stay in Terminal B where there was a Qdoba and it was still open at 7:30pm. I don’t know if it was the two weeks away from America or what (seriously, I think we had cheese maybe twice the whole ten days), but the 13 year old declared Qdoba “even better than Chipotle.” This is quite a statement from her.

-That the Husband had the foresight to pack the kids’ winter coats in the car for the ride home. Also – he went to pick up the car while the kids and I tackled baggage claim, so that when we got in the car with our luggage, the car was toasty warm. In Taiwan, the 50 degree weather was considered frigid, so coming back to 30 degree weather in Baltimore was quite a shock.

-That it didn’t snow at home, so we didn’t have to shovel out the driveway or anything to get back in the house.

-That the house was clean and the fish were alive when we got home. Our cleaner was scheduled to come while we were away, and it was so nice to come home to a clean house – which admittedly was not the state it was left in when we departed two weeks ago. Also, our friends came over to feed our fish and also played Santa. The Husband, like he did last year, left our friends with a box of Christmas presents and some holiday decorations, and while we were gone, they decorated the little potted fir tree we keep in our living room, and put the presents out. The look of delight and wonder from the 6 and 8 year old when they realized that Santa still found a way to us was absolutely precious.

-That eggs and buttermilk keep for up to two weeks in the fridge. Before we left we had two dozen eggs and half a container of buttermilk in the fridge I contemplated throwing them out, not knowing if they would keep. I’m glad I didn’t throw them out. They did indeed keep and we had waffles for dinner. There is definitely stuff in the fridge that didn’t survive the two weeks, and throwing it out will be a project for tomorrow.

=That we even got to go on this trip at all (BIG thank you to my parents) and that we went to the other side of the globe and back safely. I mean I believe in science and physics and all that, but sometimes I look at air travel and think, “Oooooookay… I’m just going to have to really trust that this is huge hunk of metal is going to stay up in the air.”

Looking Forward To:

– All the planner, journalling, and 2026 goal setting that I meant to do today, but napped instead. I’ve started Susannah Conway’s Find Your Word 2026 workbook – I’ve never really been one about having a word for the year, but I see a lot of chaos and uncertainty coming up, so I do find my self drawn to creating grounding principal for myself. (Conaway also has a 2025 end of year/2026 monthly reflection workbook that I really enjoy working through – I discovered them last year, and they are free to download.)

– Firepit date with friends.

= Lenten Reading Group happy Hour.

-Cooking food, doing laundry (not in a laundromat), Taco Tuesday, Family movie night, Sunday night football… basically all the every day things that we didn’t get to do in Taiwan. I asked my cousin what she was most looking forward to when we got home and she said, “Doing laundry when I want and not having to drag my clothes five blocks.” So true

– enjoying all the snacks I brought home from Taiwan.

-A New Year! Yay 2026!

Weekly Recap + what we ate: school’s out, packing, pre-trip frenzy

Hello from South Africa! I’ve had such an amazing time so far, and look forward to writing trip recaps. Here is a preview of the adventures so far: (Okay, truth, I started this post last week, but then the tour got busy, and I am now at the tail end of our trip… so think of this post as a kind of Time Machine…. Taking you all way back to life before the trip.)

And in the mean time, some other things that have been going on before we left…

The school year finished up, limping to the end. The 13 year old did not go to school the two half days, and the middle kid were a little salty about having to go. But when he got off the bus the first days, he stay excitedly, “I’m so glad I went to school! We watched cartoons all day!”

Last week was mostly taken up by packing, and logistics for the trip and for being away. And the pool.

Sunday morning we had a swim meet. We had to be at the pool by 8:15am and the meet ran until 12:45pm – it was a long long time to be in the hot hot sun. Luckily I wasn’t assigned a job this meet so I could sit in the shade for most of the meet. The 13 year old swam a great meet – she finished 2nd in the IM and 1st in the butterfly. She also swam the freestyle, breaststroke and IM relay. There aren’t a lot of girl in her age group this year on her team, so she ends up swimming a lot during meets. Afterwards we went to get boba to celebrate then we went to run some last minute errands for our trip.

Packing:
I had aspirations of packing carry on only, but the realities of going to a colder climate made that difficult for me. Cold weather clothes just take up so much more room than warm weather clothes. I also ended up putting all of the 13 year old’s clothes in my bag so that she could travel light. Anyhow, because I’m obsessed with other people’s packing lists, here’s what I ended up bringing from clothes:

3 pairs of pants – Navy Uniqlo Airism joggers, Freen Uniqlo sweatpants joggers, and grey Duluth Trading Noga pants. (I didn’t end up bringing the Navy wide legged pants in the picture; even though I love how they are a little more polished of a pant, the reality is that wide legged pants are not great for travel, specifically for various public bathrooms.)

3 Short Sleeve shirts- Pact yellow striped, grey Uniqlo v-neck (they don’t make this shirt anymore and I’m sad – it’s the perfect for me smooth cotton, slightly boxy t-shirt), and Universal Threads loose black t-shirt.
3 long sleeves shirts – Striped Duluth shirt, wine colored Duluth wool blend hooded tunic, blue dolman sleeved shirt (not sure where this is from – I’ve had it forever)

For warm layers: Peanuts sweatshirt from Uniqlo, biege and white striped sweater from Teat and Cosset (a now defunct company that makes elegant nursing clothes – yes, it’s a nursing sweater), and purple fleece from Duluth. Also blue Wool& dress.

Other things: for cold weather – green beanie, wine colored silk/cashmere scarf, purple buff, Uniqlo puffer vest
For sleep/exercise: t-shirt, plaid sleep pants, running shorts, long sleeve running top.

Extra/back up outfit for plane; blue Duluth leggings, t-shirts, plaid Duluth flannel button up

Not pictured: swim suit, 8 pairs of underwear, 1 sports bra, 1 regular bra. 1 pair of running shoes, raincoat.

Not pictured what I wore on the plane: striped linen shirt dress, black leggings, ankle boots, with tank top (w/ built in bra). What to wear on the plane was a little bit of a conundrum because we would have a couple hours trip into London during our layover and it was 80 degrees in London and 60 degrees in Johannesburg, so I wanted to wear something that would be appropriate for both climates. (It turned out to be 70 and cloudy in London, so the outfit was actually perfect, and I wasn’t sweltering.)

other non-clothes things I packed in my checked bag: Binoculars, toiletries, plug adaptor power strip, water color set (kind of my luxury item I always pack on special trips) , travel alarm clock, luggage scale, period supplies, snacks (ramen and hot chocolate), laundry detergent sheets, an extra book, extra ziploc bags, extra caribiners

Now conceivably I could fit all that into my carry-on rolling suitcase, but I ended up also packing the 13 year old’s sweatshirt, raincoat, and fleece and empty day pack in my stuff. And I wanted to have room in case I wanted to bring back souvenirs. So the big suitcase it was. I wish I had a suitcase that was slightly smaller than out big one – there is a lot of empty space currently, and it’s not easy to get up and down stairs by myself. Oh well.

And for posterity, in my backpack which I carried on: Snacks, toothbrush, tooth paste, wipes, advil, electronics (cables, charges, iFly, power bank), journal, planner, book to read, red flashlight (for use in the dark), iPad, change of clothes (listed above), slippers (which I actually accidentally left on the plane), water bottle, travel mug.

I’ve started keeping a packing list with Google Sheets, and I just copy the previous list into a new tab for the current trip and build off of that. I thought it was useful because I copied the list from Amersterdam because that weather was more similar to South Africa than Taiwan/ Malaysia.

I’ll give a packing post-Mortem after the trip, mostly because I like to make notes for next time on what worked and what didn’t. I’ll report back afterwards on how it all shook out.

Grateful for:

-Tickets to the opera. A friend got us tickets to a production of the Marriage of Figaro and I took the 13 year old. This is one of my favorite opera but I rarely get a chance to see it since I’m often working on it. This production was directed by someone I’ve known for twenty years- she was an assistant director on my very first opera internship. And now she runs her own opera company. It was awesome to see her show.

-Patio umbrella. I ‘m trying to embrace morning patio time this summer, but our patio gets full blazing sun in the morning, so I’m very grateful for our patio umbrella.

-my mother. She’s come to hang out with the two younger kids while I’m in South Africa a with the oldest.

-the pool. Because in ninety degree weather going to the pool is blissfully refreshing

-invitation to help celebrate a friend’s birthday, and the nice people I met there. I’m always a little nervous going to parties where I don’t know anyone, but this is a dear friend and the littles like to see her, so we went out to her birthday party and it was a perfect low key gathering with people who had good stories to tell. One lady brought her dog and when we walked in the door, she said to us, “Two things you need to know about Mazy – Number One: she lies. She might act like she’s hungry but she isn’t. Number two: I don’t’t beat her so don’t fall for her sad dog eyes.” It was a perfect way to break the ice.

-Getting to go on this trip to South Africa!

Looking forward to (The SA edition)

-being in a new continent, where it is winter

-learning about South African history.

-safari and bush walk

-trips into London during our layovers

-spending time with the 13 year old

What we ate (the last week of school/week before travel edition):

Monday: Dump,inns and endamame. This has become of the favorite pool dinners

Tuesday: above mentioned birthday party – our friend had a sandwich bar. I brought mini Brie and apple quiches, that weee easy to make and really tasty. And also garlic endamame. We are eating a lot of endamame these days.

Wednesday: Fish tacos- we are out after getting haircuts and before going to the opera

Thursday: snack dinner at the pool and pasta with jarred red sauce at home for those who wer still hungry after swim practice.

Friday: pizza and Glee- the Husband made pizza.

Saturday: we went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant; I had ceviche

Sunday: burgers and tater tots and green beans. The Hsuband cooked

Monday: Terriyaki tofu and broccoli, brown rice on the side. This is the recipe for tofu from America’s Test Kitchen Vegan for Everyone cookbook. It is easy and very tasty.

Hope you have a good rest of you week! See you State side for some trip recaps. Tell me what “luxury” item you always pack!

Winter Break 2024-2025: Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur

Happy New Year, everyone!

It’s been a little quiet here lately, I know. We are currently on our way home after a week in Taiwan followed by four days in Kuala Lumpur. The trip has been beautiful, exhilarating, exhausting, eye opening, and full of loved ones. I think I realized on this trip, the most important thing is family.

Here are some highlights, in case I don’t get to write recaps.

There was so much food:

Night Markets in Taiwan:

Temples:

Visiting Family:

Amazing hotel breakfasts:

Such well thought out family bathrooms:

Even a few quiet moments:

And in Kuala Lumpur, iconic sights:

Animal sightings:

Islamic Art:

And even more food:

There were definitely times when I thought we made the wrong choice to come this far, to be in a part of the world so different from home. There were tears and arguments and lots of people being hangry. We’d never travelled so far as a family of five, and I have to say I am so proud of how everyone did. It hasn’t been the most comfortable or relaxing trips- I wouldn’t even call it a “vacation”- but it’s certainly been an adventure.

More soon!

I hope you have had a beautiful New Year!

A Trip to Maine- Summer 2024

We just got back from a trip up to Maine. I’m always so slow to write trip recaps, so here are some highlights…

Eating lots of seafood-

Portland Maine- cobblestone streets

Ferry ride

Historic Mansions

Then on up the coast.

Our home for four days on Swan’s Island, near Acadia National Park:

We went to the beach:

Saw the lighthouse-

Went to the quarry swimming hole.

And generally relaxed and watched many, many, many hours of Start Trek: The Next Generation. There were lazy days, sandy treasures, bug bites, hot tubs, saunas, and beautiful sunsets.

Then we came home, stopping in Jersey City to visit a friend on the way. There were many long days in the car, but also hotel pools and hotel breakfasts and hotel tv, which, let’s be honest, the kids love. The drive home down I95 on a Sunday was hard, and the Husband is a hero for doing all the driving.

And now it’s summer and back to summer camp schedules and swim meets and in a few weeks, a summer opera gig for me. So many things to look forward to this summer- some tedious, and some exciting and some just new rhythms. These little life shifts are sometimes hard for me, but I think it’s good to keep me from getting into mindless ruts. When time opens up or is obligated in different ways, it is a chance to see where the important things fit.

Friday, as we were driving home- a very long car ride on a very long day- literally the longest day- I realized that the year is half over. I wonder if this is just how time goes- 2024 seemed to stretch endlessly before me six months ago and now I can see the shore. (Forgive the clumsy metaphor, but I have been in Maine looking at shores for the past week.). These markers are arbitrary, which seems like both a gift and a burden. A gift of freedom to mark my path however I want, but also a burden to know that I am responsible for navigating myself to that shore. I want this week, amidst feeding the family and driving them places to have some time to think about what the rest of the year can be.

Amsterdam- Arrival and Day 1

For Spring Break, we went to Amsterdam and here are the start of trip recaps! It was our first time on a plane since January of 2019. Also our first time on a plane as a family of five, which the calculus of sitting on an airplane with five people is a lot more complicated than as a family of four. Like do we sit 4+1? or 3+2? Do we split the family across the aisle? or front seats and back seats? Decisions!

We chose Amsterdam because the Husband’s sister lives there and we hadn’t seen her and her family since they came to the States in August of 2019. The Husband and I aren’t great at vacation planning and tend to do things a month or two out. I think because I sometimes book work at the last minute, I’ve always been wary of booking vacations too far in advance, trying to keep my calendar open for work. This trip, we had been talking about for a while, and I think we booked the Air BnB last fall because I was pretty certain by then that I wouldn’t be working during Spring Break. The flights were booked in January which my mind screamed, “TOO SOON!!!” But in reality we probably would have gotten cheaper tickets if we had booked sooner. Oh well, as it was, I think each step gave us considerable sticker shock and we had to recover before we could take the next step.

We had a 5:30pm flight out on Thursday. At first, to save the cost of a cab, we considered taking the Metro to the airport since a new Metro line just opened that goes all the way there. That plan would have required us to leave at noon. My friend told me that many of the hotels by the airport offer long term parking and a shuttle to the airport, and that was way cheaper than the airport long term parking – <$10/ day vs. $14/ day

Why did I not know about this before?!?!?

So that’s what we did. Getting to the airport was super smooth, except we didn’t check and the six year old had a full water bottle going through security and had to go through again. I was surprised how things have changed and you no longer have to take your electronics and liquids out of your bag to go through the x ray machine, and you only have to remove boots, but not Crocs or running shoes.

Random thoughts on the flight:

-We had packed to be able to travel carry on only, but the flight was full, so when we checked in, the airline offered to check all our bags for free. I was fine with that. I don’t mind checking at all; I prefer to pack carry on only because I don’t like having to lug big suitcases.

-We ended up deciding to get the four seats in the middle + one single seat across the aisle. I sat with the three kids in the middle and the Husband sat in the lone seat across the aisle. I think this was the best way to go – I didn’t feel like we wanted to subject anyone else to sitting next to my kids. The 11 year old and I sat on the aisle seats of the middle section and the two little kids sat in the middle, which I think worked out well.

-I’m always worried about food and entertainment for the kids when we take trips. I had packed everyone their own snack bag and bought them all activity books and packed crayons and markers and books. I think we used one activity book while waiting for the flight and the three year old did about ten minutes of her sticker book at one point. But really all the kids just used the in flight entertainment, and the 11 year old also had her own tablet. They mostly watched movies and once in a while played games. The six year old really got into playing Angry Birds which I thought was hilarious. As for food, I definitely overpacked on that front because there were lots of snacks and drinks and meals on the flight, so a bunch of the food I packed actually ended up coming home with us a week later. I know I overpacked in the food and entertainment front, but I feel like if the in flight entertainment hadn’t worked or if the kids didn’t like the airplane food, I wanted to have a back up.

– I had forgotten that the in flight entertainment required wired headphones. I had packed them for the two little kids, but didn’t pack any for myselft. The airline did hand out earphones, but my set weren’t great. So I mostly read on the flight. I did watch about an hour of a Mrs. Harris goes to Paris, but didn’t finish it before getting to Amsterdam. I finished it on the way back – it’s a delightful movie, even when watched with bum earphones. For Christmas, I did buy the Husband this Airfly dongle that allows one to use bluetooth earphones with any earphone jack. Unfortunately I didn’t try it out until the return trip back.

-The flight itself was a direct overnight flight – we arrived in Amsterdam at 6:30am. I think I managed to get the kids to sleep for an hour or two, and so did I, but it wasn’t really high quality sleep. I don’t think the 11 year old slept at all, to be honest.

-Lesson learned – have the kids pee about an hour/45 mins before landing. I didn’t do this and just minutes after the fasten seatbelt sign went on, the 3 year old declared, “I have to go potty!!!!”
“You have to wait,” I told her. “We have to keep our seatbelt fastened, but the plane will land soon and then you can pee.”
“I HAVE TO GO POTTY!!! I HAVE TO GO POTTY!!!!” she started screaming. Over and over and over. For the twenty minutes it took us to land and taxi to the gate. If you were on our flight, I sincerely apologize.
At one point, she said, “I’M GOING TO PEE MY PANTS!!!” And I tried to get her to sit on a towel, but she refused. “I PEED MY PANTS!!!!” Loudly. Everything was said loudly. It was epic.
The moment the fasten seatbelt sign went off, the Husband took her to the bathroom with a change of clothes. Guess what? She lied. She did not pee her pants.

And so we arrived bright and early in Amsterdam. We took the bus to our Air BnB. There seem to be many options to get to and from the airport. We chose the 397 bus because it had a stop about a 15 minute walk from our AirBnB, but got off at the wrong stop and actually ended up wandering around a little bit. In my failure to plan, I did not get international data on our phone plans, so it was a bit of an aimless wander. With all of us toting our luggage. At one point, I just took the six year old’s rolling suitcase too. Everyone was a little cranky and a little tired and a little hungry, so it was kind of a drudgery of a walk. Even still, I was so excited to see my first glimpse of Amsterdam canals and bicycles. The morning was rather quiet – we discovered over the course of the week that Amsterdam is not a city that rises early.

The first picture I took after we got off the bus from the airport.

At one point, though, I did decide to stop and ask for directions and some very nice people pointed us in the right direction. We were staying in the Oud-West, which was about a fifteen minute walk from the Museumplein where all the famous art museums are and from Vondelpark, one of the major swaths of green space.

We finally made it into our AirBnB, which featured the first of many steep steep staircases we would traverse. I was originally a little nervous about the kids going up and down the stair, but over the course of the week they got really good at walking up the stairs sideways, one slow and steady step at a time.

The AirBnB was rather spartan – one big room that had a eating area, living room/tv and two beds, and one little room with another bed. There was no kitchen, which I don’t know why I hadn’t realized that when we booked the place. But what the place lacked in amenities, the hosts more than made up for with their kindness and generosity and attentiveness. They took our dishes and washed them, and also did our laundry a couple times during the week; and – the kids’ favorite thing – the hosts gave us two huge bins of toys – duplos, trucks, picture books, activity books, pencil crayons. The kids would be well entertained.

What with it being 3am back home when we arrived, I immediately took a little nap. I knew we would battle jet lag, but I hadn’t slept much on the flight, so I needed to catch up a little bit. Mean while the kids played with their duplos and with my phone, taking some snapshots to keep things real:

Random slice of life shot of our Air Bnb.

Kid’s always take the most flattering pictures. Hah!

While I napped, the Husband ventured out and came home with sandwiches, which we ate, and then we set out for our first adventure. (well, not counting getting lost.) I had booked us a canal boat ride for 2pm the day we arrived, figuring that it would be a nice easy activity for the first day when we might be tired. Only we couldn’t quite find the place where we were to meet our boat and missed the tour. The company was very nice and re-booked us for Sunday. At first they offered to walk us down to another part of the canal and try to get on the boat, but it was turning into a drizzly, rainy day and they said that we would have a better time on Sunday when the weather was nice.

So now we had a few hours suddenly free before we had to meet my sister in law for dinner. We decided to take a wandering route back to our AirBnB. We somehow ended up wandering down Pieter Cornelisz Hooftstraat, where all the high fashion stores were – Gucci, Hermes, Dior. It was fun to peer in the windows at all the fancy clothes. And the Cybex stroller store. So fancy.

We got back to the AirBnB and rested for an hour or so then walked to my SIL’s place. On the way, I was really obsessed with the architecture of the buildings around us – the houses all so tall and skinny had such a distinctive profile. the Husband pointed out how all the houses have these pully hooks up top to help with moving furniture in since the stairways are too narrow to bring anything in through the front door. Later on my sister in law told us that no one uses the pulleys anymore – when they want to bring in furniture, they have to hire a special lift and take out a permit because the lift will block a big chunk of the sidewalk/ road.

Also on the way, I wanted to find some kind of dessert to bring and we ended up stopping at a bakery and wine shop with the cutest name: Levain et Le vin. All of their bread is sourdough bread and I picked up a loaf for breakfast the next day as well as some pastries for dinner while the Husband got himself a coffee.

Then it was off to my SIL’s house. It was really interesting to see their place – so different from our home back in the States – much more compact and economical space-wise. They also had the steep steep stairs. My SIL had ordered pizza, so we had that and the grown ups chatted while the kids played – she has two young kids too and it was so heartwarming to see the cousins play together even though they hadn’t seen each other since 2019, and the three year old not at all. But I guess Hot Wheels is a universal language.

Around 7pm, we headed back to our AirBnb. It was really drizzling hard, and I had forgotten to pack a raincoat for the 3 year old. However, before we left, my neighbor had given us one of those ponchos that fold up super small and I had thrown it into my purse. I pulled it out and put it on the three year old. Obviously it was waaaaay too big, but it kept her relatively dry!

When we got home, we changed into our pjs and just hung out watching some American tv with Dutch subtitles. I can’t remember what it was – something on the Discovery channel, I think. Pretty soon, though, the littles fell asleep:

Around 9pm we packed everyone to bed. We were all so exhausted from not having really slept on the flight that bedtime was easier than I thought it was going to be.

So that was our flight and first day on the ground in Amsterdam. It was a little strange being in a foreign country, but also there was a lot that didn’t feel foreign. On the one hand, visually we were clearly in a different country – the architecture, the canals, the bikes. So many bikes, whizzing by. I was really envious of the speed and ease with which I saw people getting around by bike. On the other hand, everyone spoke English and we could just use our credit cards everywhere. The Husband noted that “It just doesn’t feel like I’m in a foreign country.” I agree with him. I completely see why a lot of English speakers who want to move abroad chose Amsterdam.

More recaps to come! Tell me, haver you ever been these Amsterdam?

Weekly recap + what we ate: pre-trip version

We are home from our spring break trip! Where we went:

Recaps to come. I hope. I still think I want to write recaps from our Montreal Trip too, so clearly I am behind.

But a quick rundown of the week before, since I selfishly like having these accounting of my days…

It was a week off of work, which was great because I could get some last minute errands and pre-trip things done.

some Highlights:
– Going for a cherry blossom run. I had always heard that the Kenwood neighborhood also has beautiful cherry blossoms, and it was less crowded than going to the Tidal Basin, so I thought I’d check it out. When I looked it up, I saw that there is a trail next to it, so I decided to combine my run with a cherry blossom wander. I parked at one of the lots off the trail that lead to the Kenwood neighborhood and had a little run then spent the rest of the morning wandering the streets. It was not as crowded as the Tidal Basin, so I felt like I was able to amble and savor at my own pace, though the blossoms in Kenwood are not the panoply of colors one sees downtown. It’s so interesting that this little neighborhood becomes such a cherry blossom hot spot. It was at the tail end of cherry blossom peak bloom and there was a light breeze, which sent cherry blossom petals drifting through the air and scattered on the roads.

-The six year old had a concert. The French Immersion students put on a concert every year, though apparently it hasn’t happened in a while because of the pandemic. Each class presents some kind of musical performance in French. The kindergartener show involved singing and dancing to a song about chocolate. I know I put on shows for a living, but I am seriously impressed by the coordination that it takes to organize 200+ kids to sing and dance in French. It’s always funny for me to go see school shows because there is a certain level of chaos that I would never see at my work, and yet… things always work out and people get onstage and offstage. I mean I just have to stage manage, but the teachers have to direct, choreograph, child wrangle, cajole, cheerlead… what full jobs they have… on top of the every day teaching.

The black light and fluorescent vests made me laugh.

– I got a discount on a book! I went to Barnes and Nobles to pick up a book for my flight. I usually like to read a book by someone from the country that I was visiting, so this is the one I chose:

Anyhow, as I was leafing through it, I noticed that the inside blurb page was upside down – you can see in the picture how the strip of the stepback is white and it should be red. I would have bought the book anyway because I wanted to read it and this gaffe wouldn’t have affected reading the book. But I took it to the front desk, pointed out the flaw, and they gave me 20% discount!

Giggle of the week –
This sign, seen in the neighborhood, which abounds with Little Free Libraries:

I feel like the six year old would take advantage of that too.

Grateful For:
– Public Transportation – I had lunch with a friend one day and I could take the metro there. It was just as fast as driving, but much more relaxing, and I could read my book a little.
– A friend for lending me a suitcase. I was going to buy a new suitcase since the wheels of my carry on rolling suitcase have come apart. I’ve had that suitcase for almost twenty years, so I guess it was about time to replace it. But when we went to look at suitcases, I was so overwhelmed by the options and couldn’t pick one. Relating my suitcase woes to my friend, she said, “I have one that you can borrow!” So I did. It saved me money and it saved me the mental energy of having to choose a suitcase. Sometimes having something just given to me is even more perfect than having to choose it myself.

-Time. Last week, I had more money than time, what with being unemployed and all. I think about this a lot. Sometimes when I’m unemployed I find my spending goes out of control because I finally have the time to browse/choose/buy those new shoes to replace the ones with holes that I have been making do with, or catch up on house projects, or refresh the kids’ wardrobes. I find when I’m thick in work, I don’t tend to throw money at things, rather I just decide to hobble through and replace things when I have time to think about it. But of course it means that I tend to have the time to spend money when I’m not making any money – which doesn’t even out as much as I would like. I suppose the answer, somewhat, is to increase my income. But also I think I should lean into thinking about how to spend time not money when I’m unemployed. Some things do need to be replaced, but maybe some things can be repaired? I sewed up a hole in a sweater that I wanted to take for vacation rather than buying a new one. And also – I went on the abovementioned run to see the cherry blossoms in Kenwood. It’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t have had time to do while working, but when I don’t have to be in at work, I can do these things. I can use time to buy moments of beauty. I can use time to buy moments of connection, like when I have lunch with friends. (Okay, also it took money to pay for lunch, but we could have just as easily gone for a walk and visit, or she could have come over for tea… the food wasn’t the important part.) Anyhow… when I’m feeling money poor and time rich, maybe I need to think about the things that time can buy me. On that note, I realize how lucky I am that I do have time – there are many people who have neither time nor money and that must be so stressful and hard.

What We Ate:

Monday: Chickpea noodle soup from Vegan for Everyone by America’s Test Kitchen. The six year old wanted veggie soup and I had celery to use up- I feel like I make this a lot when those two boxes need to be checked. Vegan.

Tuesday: Waffles. Quick dinner before the six year old’s school concert. I had heard a hack earlier this year of measuring two batches of dry ingredients when you make/bake something so that you just have to add the wet ingredients later on for a second batch. I thought this brilliant so last time I made waffles, I measured a second portion of the dry ingredients into a container and put it in the pantry. When I needed a quick dinner this night, I just tossed in the wet ingredients and everything was came together super quickly. I know measuring the dry ingredients doesn’t take that much time, but when you factor in finding things, hauling it out, measuring, and then putting it back away… to be able to just dump it in a bowl… pre-making the dry ingredients has the ease as if we were making our favorite waffle recipe from a box mix.

Wednesday: Dinner out with friends from out of town. I had pasta with mushrooms. There was parker house rolls with bacon jam involved.

Thursday: Off in an airplane!

Weekly recap + What We Ate: Peak Bloom!!!! and Lists for Travel

First of all… mystery solved! I found the waffle batter! We have some shelves next to the fridge in the basement, and I was looking for something this past week on the shelves. I moved a bag of flour, and waaaaaay at the back…. was the container of waffle batter, a good two weeks after it had gone missing.

Truth to tell, it wasn’t as disgusting as I thought it would be; when we opened it up, it wasn’t moldy or anything. I half jokingly said that it looked fine and we should try to make some waffles from it. The Husband vehemently disagreed. Food waste bothers me, but I begrudgingly agreed.

We’ve hit peak bloom here in DC! Yay! There was one day last week, when I was at work for a morning meeting and decided to run down to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. It was actually a few days before peak bloom, so the trees weren’t quite iconically fluffy, but they were still very pretty. I will say, running around the Tidal Basin during peak bloom is … not ideal. There are so many people there, and you never know when someone is going to stop and take pictures. Plus there is no railing on the Tidal Basin side of the path, and I was concerned that I was going to fall into the water at a couple points because the walkways were so crowded. I actually ended up mostly running on the grass, which were riddled with tree roots from the cherry trees. So running amidst the cherry blossoms during peak bloom = do not recommend, unless you do it at 7am or something.

Despite that annoyance, there is something really energizing about being at the Tidal Basin during peak bloom – all the crowds and crowds of people who come out to see them seem so happy to be here, soaking up the wonder and beauty of it all. For years I avoided peak bloom, having thought that I’d seen it once and didn’t need to see it again. Yet when I’m there among the blossoms, I realize that for a lot of people this is a bucket list trip – my grandmother, always wanted to come see the cherry blossoms and I’m actually really sad she never did. Whenever I see the Asian grandmothers wandering the blossoms with their faces lifted to the pink light, I think of my grandmother and am always a little sad that she never made it out. Seeing the joy that cherry blossom season brings makes me feel so grateful that for me, this isn’t a bucket list thing, but a yearly event to savor.

Of course the Tidal Basin is the most famous area for cherry blossom meandering, but the whole region explodes with blossoms, really. On the actual day of peak bloom, I was supposed to go down with my friend, but she got sick and it was rainy, so I went to the botanical garden 15 minutes from me. They don’t have the explosion of trees that you find down at the Tidal Basin, but they do have a Japanese pavilion and some nice trees were blooming there too.

Work wise, last week I closed one show on Saturday and then had a supertitle gig on Sunday. I feel like every time I get through a show without a performer getting COVID, and the show having to re-shuffle, it feels like such an accomplishment – like I can finally let out this breath that I’ve been holding.

Side note – there is a notice posted in the theatre, dated March 6th, 2020 that talks about how the company is monitoring the developments of COVID 19 and how there are so far only 3 cases in the DC area and we are still going to continue with all scheduled performances. Then it gives some guidelines for good preventative measures, including cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces. The whole memo really just took me back to that time of uncertainty of March 2020. It’s kind of surreal to read the memo, and even more surreal that someone has left it up on the callboard for over three years, as if it’s some kind of time capsule or memorium.

Here’s something fun, the cast of the show is obsessed with jigsaw puzzles. One of my co-workers had brought them in for our office and when we were done, we put the puzzle out in the dressing room hallway for the singers. They did about one puzzle per show. I joked at one point that I could make intermission 50 minutes long so they could work on the puzzle – but they didn’t need the help. It was jaw dropping to me. There was one puzzle that stumped us until we realized the puzzle was missing a piece – so we gave it to the singers without telling them the trick. We made them a fake piece out of a Post It to fit in the empty slot, though:

The day after the show closed, I had a supertitle job. It was a lovely concert program – music by Black composers setting poems by Black poets. There was one song/poem I liked in particular – a poem by Claude McKay titled “I Know My Soul”:

I plucked my soul out of its secret place,
And held it to the mirror of my eye,
To see it like a star against the sky,
A twitching body quivering in space,
A spark of passion shining on my face.
And I explored it to determine why
This awful key to my infinity
Conspires to rob me of sweet joy and grace.
And if the sign may not be fully read,
If I can comprehend but not control,
I need not gloom my days with futile dread,
Because I see a part and not the whole.
Contemplating the strange, I’m comforted
By this narcotic thought: I know my soul.

I love how this poem is brimming with self confidence even as we live in a world of questions and things that we can’t control.

After the concert, I wandered around the theatre a little bit since the concert had been short and I had some time. I often just go from the parking garage to backstage, and don’t have to go through the lobby at work. Well I’m glad I took time to wander the lobby. The Center is doing a huge festival about rivers and waterways and they have some really cool large scale installation art in the lobby. I actually remember when there was an all staff email asking for blue button down shirts for this art installment – it was kind of amazing to see the end result:

Annoying lowlights this week:
– I got a parking ticket. Monday the baby was no longer sick, but since she had been out of school for three days, she wasn’t allowed back to school until she had a doctor’s note. I could only get an appointment for 2:30pm, so I took her into the office with me and she hung out and played with office supplies while I worked. But then I was running late to her doctor’s appointment and instead of parking on the street like I usually do, I parked in the metered lot which was closer. And then the appointment ran long and I got a ticket. So annoying – I was mad at myself because I should have just parked in the street and been three minutes late to the appointment.
– One day the six year old’s bus was over and hour late in the afternoon. I had left work early to pick him up and the whole time, I thought, “I could have done one more hour of work!!!” I’m not at all sure what happened – the school doesn’t really communicate about that kind of stuff really well. Oh well, at least the weather was nice and I got some reading done.
– Still dragging from the time change. The kids are usually up by 6am and now I have to drag them (and myself) out of bed at 7am. I’m wondering if we’re just not adjusting well, or if it’s something deeper than that. I’ve also been really bad at going to bed before 1am lately. So that could definitely be a factor.

Other highlights this week:

-March Madness continued. I ordered us Sweet Sixteen shirts, and we wore them. It was a little sad that my alma mater lost, but things were kind of a long shot anyway.

I’ve been in full trip planning mode. My latest preoccupation is what food and snacks to bring on the airplane. Snacks are a very important component to happy children. Also, I imagine there is a meal on board, though I’m not sure. Some ideas:
– sandwiches. I’m tempted to order Bahn Mi sandwiches to bring. They are sturdy, and if we have the pickled veggies on the side, they won’t get soggy. But will they be messy to eat on the plane? Otherwise, some variation of baguette/ciabatta + meat + cheese + spread (maybe blueberry jam?)
– fruit – cut up apple slices, grapes, clementines, mango
– cookies. I’m planning on making a batch of trail mix cookies from the Rise and Run cookbook
– chocolate
– granola bars
– string cheese
– fruit snacks or my favorite gummy candy from HMart

Another fun list – we’re going to be visiting family abroad, and I wanted to bring them some classic American treats. So far we have:
– Pop Tarts
– Cereal – maybe the individual packs of sugary stuff?
– a bottle of Ranch dressing.
– homemade chocolate chip cookies – I hear that the chocolate where they are is too high quality and melts too quickly, thus making it not great for chocolate chip cookies.
– if I had thought ahead, I would have ordered them some Girl Scout cookies… next time… There is only so much sugar that I can bring these kids without getting side-eye from a parent.
– Robitussin – I hear it’s very hard to find where we are going.

Not so fun list of to dos:
– make sure bills are paid
– pause subscriptions and produce box
– grocery shop for above mentioned snacks and gifts
– pay that annoying parking ticket.
– make sure to upload all tickets to museums and what not.
– So many other things….

Part of my Trip Prep has been trying to find a pair of shoes to wear – I ordered a bunch of waterproof half boots/ booties/ Chelsea boots off Zappos and a few slip on shoes. I settled on a pair of Sorel Hi-Line Chelsea boots. I also really liked the Sam Edelman Laguna’s but on me they weren’t ankle boots, more like shin boots – maybe my legs are too short. And I also liked the Blundstones, but they didn’t have them in my size and I liked the Blondos, but they were a touch too big and also veered into shin boot territory.

The pair I went with. I might regret not getting a black pair, but I wear a lot of black for work, so I like to get other colours for non-work.

And… on a whim, I ordered a pair of Rieker boots because my current pair of Rieker boots are starting to wear thin and I’ve already had them re-soled. And even though these boots aren’t waterproof and they have a fuzzy lining, so they aren’t really all season boots, they are a fabulous colour, so I decided to keep them and they make me really happy.

Podcast Listen of the Week: This episode of the Ten Percent Happier podcast, an interview with Scott Galloway, a professor of Marketing at NYU, and whom the notes describe as a “serial entrepreneur.” I feel like a lot of the podcasts I listen to talk about finding fulfillment and satisfaction in work, but Galloway stresses the importance of being financially stable and just working really hard while in your twenties. Probably not unrelated, but a lot of the work podcasts I listen to feature women guests. It seems to me that women and men are sold very different narratives about their value in the world, and men are taught, more so than women, that their value is in earning money and being ambitious. Galloway makes a point that work has a huge impact on one’s mental health because if one is going to be successful one will be spending the majority of one’s waking hours at work. Listening to the interview really made me think about this difference, because I feel like women seek work/life balance (whatever that means), but it’s not such a priority for men, particularly men in their twenties. Of course for men, there is no time constraint on having a family via birth and pregnancy, as there is for most women.

Another point that he makes is that work, structured work, is really important for young men, whose brains are still developing – it gives them a place of structure and a formal environment to learn to be a functioning member of the human race. I had never thought of this before, but for all that we glorify mavericks and out of the box thinking, especially in today’s world of gig work and telework and work from home, there is something that really is important about learning to operate in a community – and I think women internalize this more than men do.

And even as Galloway talks about the importance of work, he also talks about importance of living in the moment, and this quote struck me:

“As humans we’re drawn towards scarcity – sugar, salt, fat – we couldn’t find these things and so so we’re wildly drawn to sweets and meat and fat because our instincts haven’t caught up to institutional production. We aspire to have a Birkin bag or a Ferrari because there is only a certain number of those. The ultimate scarcity is kids… My twelve year old trying to do a handstand when we’re on vacation together – I’m like “He’s gone, never going to have that kid again.”

The ultimate scarcity is kids. – I need to remember that when it feels like things are hard with parenting.

Grateful For This Week:
– One of my coworkers had his last show last week. I’m really sad to see him go; we had both started at the company around the same time, and I’m so grateful for his presence these past fifteen years. Seeing him clear off his desk hit me harder than I thought it would.
– Spring! It’s officially Spring, which means sunlight and sunshine and flowers blooming. I know that in many ways Spring starting on March 20 is somewhat arbitrary – I mean I get the science of it, but the weather doesn’t always align with the science – but being able to officially say “It’s Spring!” feels really nice. We had our first after school playground stop of the season and I was reminded how this is always one of my favorite parts of warmer weather – hanging out at the playground after school and randomly running into friends.
– An uneventful closing night performance and a really great run of performances. Some shows feel really special and this was one of them. I felt so lucky to have been able to work on it.
-Impromptu play dates for the kids. One of our neighbors took the eleven year old to the local high school production of Chicago. It was so nice of them to think of her. And that same night, I got a text from the mom of one of the six year old’s friends asking if he wanted to come over to play. So for a few hours we had just one kid at home in the evenings – I’d forgotten how much less chaos there is when it’s just one kid at home.

Looking Forward To:
-The six year olds’ kindergarten performance.
– Spring Break Trip – I’ve been listening to podcasts that feature our destination and loaded a bunch of books set in that country on my Libby, and that’s starting to get me excited for going.
– Starting a new show – reuniting with old colleagues and meeting new ones. The first day of a new show is always a little like the first day of school – excitement and nervousness and lots of possibilities.

What We Ate: The meal planning train continues to stall in the station, so we’ve had a few cobbled together meals this week:

Monday: Sushi take out. I was meant to meet the Husband for Lunch, but plans changed, so we decided to have sushi for dinner instead.

Tuesday: Bahn Mi Salad from To Asia With Love by Hetty McKinnon. This was really tasty – basically you make a big batch of Bahn Mi pickled veggies, and eat that with fried tofu, croutons, and siracha mayo sauce. Vegan, except our vegan mayo was not good so we used regular mayo.

Wednesday: I worked and had late lunch/dinner at this restaurant, which is also very well known for it’s Tater Tots. There were a lot of Tater Tots eaten. Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Husband made taco cups for the kids – Flour tortillas folded into muffin tins to make cups, and then filled with cheese and salsa and beans and chicken and baked. It’s a really big hit and luckily there were leftovers for me to eat when I got home from work. I’ve come to the realization that the kids are more excited for the Husband’s cooking that they are for mine because he makes things like Taco Cups.

Thursday: I have no idea … for some reason I haven’t been keeping up with my journals this week.

Friday: Mac n Cheese with sweet potato from Family by Hetty McKinnon. Mac n cheese never seems like a main meal to me, but this recipe looked easy – all make in one pot – and I had some sweet potato to use up. It was definitely on the rich side.

Saturday: I worked and brought leftover lentils from last week. The Husband made pizza. I think they also watched a Star Wars movie? Or maybe a Marvel movie? Not sure.

Sunday: Grilled Tofu and Sausages with a cucumber salad. We also make this really yummy green sauce to eat with it.

That’s been the week here – how’s life in your corner?