There are often days when I feel like my day--the experiences, the joys, the struggles--aren't really all that different than my friends' back in the US. And then there are days like today...days that are so radically different than life in the US...days when all I can do is laugh at all the craziness...days when I realize I must be nuts to live a life like this. Today was one of those days.
Today we needed to go into town to take care of some stuff. We expected the trip to be relatively uneventful...go into town, run errands, pick up some things from Walmart, eat lunch, and come home. Ahhhh, but that would be far too simple and uninteresting. Life here is often more exciting than I want it to be. For a variety of reasons, I'm not going to go into all the details, but let's just say it was NOT a normal day. But in the end, everything turned out ok, so we're grateful. Perhaps the most frustrating part of the day was when our driver got lost and ended up taking us off-roading for about an hour. Since we were in the city, we should have been able to stay on paved roads...but somehow we ended up on roads that made me feel like I was on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland...except that it kept going and going and going. The road was so bumpy that I jumped out of my seat numerous times. Noah was in my lap the whole time, and he must've gotten bored because somehow he managed to fall asleep during the ride!! While I was frustrated at the fact that we were taking such a detour, just to get to Walmart, I couldn't help but smile to myself about the absurdity of it all. I realized why I no longer have any desire to go on roller coasters or to theme parks...because I often get that same sense of adventure, thrill, fear, and excitement just living my "normal" life here. So if you are itching for some adventure in your life, come visit us...we get it free here! =)
Through all the craziness, I'm incredibly thankful for a son who laughs for no apparent reason when I'm stressed, sleeps when the ride gets too bumpy, and seems perfectly content just to come along for the ride. After all, he knows no other normal...this IS his normal.
These aren't the best pictures, but I figured I'd share some moments from our day.
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| Noah playing with some friends while the parents took care of business. |
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| The highlight was getting to try a new restaurant, LA Grill, for lunch. Our favorite was the "San Diego Fish Tacos." The portions were small (I confess that we had to order multiple entrees to satisfy our appetites), but the food was pretty good. |
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| Unfortunately I didn't capture it on camera, but just moments earlier, Noah's left hand was stretched out as he helped hail a cab. It was hilarious! |
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| Noah was very excited about the pot (or box, rather) that we bought. |
