John at Superior Brewery, Hot Springs
The worst thing about home leave is the jet lag that ensues upon return to Pakistan. Conventional wisdom is that it takes a day to recover for each time zone you cross – which means 10 days. Our sleep cycles are so convoluted, but I finally got a great night’s sleep last night and it felt so good.
To add insult to injury, I got some kind of allergy/virus, so I spent all day last Sunday on the sofa. The health unit at the Embassy fixed me up with some meds, so after a couple of days I started feeling much better.
We had torrential rains a couple of days this week – monsoon season. The upside is that everything is green. Wednesday was a holiday here (Pakistan Independence Day). I went to the office to try to get caught up. One thing that is really strange is the personnel turnover at post. My friend Scott had warned us about how strange it would be, and he was right! It seems like all of the people I knew have left (tours here are generally just one year; John and I are the exception since we are here for two), and it feels like I don’t know anyone anymore! That will change as we start meeting the new folks, but it is a weird feeling.
Thursday evening I had a school board meeting. The Embassy historically has two representatives on the Board, and last spring the Management Counselor approached me about doing it. It’s a lovely group of folks who care deeply about the school, and I think I will enjoy working with them this year. Even though Embassy personnel can’t bring children to post right now, there are lots of other foreigners and Pakistanis who send their children there.
This week we watched the new episode of “Breaking Bad” – it’s the last season. And we started a good British mini-series called “The Hour,” which we are also enjoying.
Saturday I worked most of the day (where does all of this work come from?!!), then ran some errands – to the Afghan bakery for their yummy goat cheese, homemade crackers, and a bouquet of sunflowers, and then to Kosar Market to pick up some odds and ends. I always seem to find a little piece of jewelry or something at the little vendor who sets up a stand there and yesterday was no exception. And I went by the tailor shop to pick up a couple of linen shirts they made for me – J.Jill knock-offs at a fraction of the price!