While I still haven't finished A Suitable Boy (and who could blame me? 1400 pages what what?), I did start and finish (all in one sitting, in fact) The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. Thoughtful and oh-so-haunting--after I read it I spent the next day randomly talking about it and thinking through various parts aloud (to James, who hadn't read it)--it got so bad that I finally just made him read it on the train back from Shanghai so we could talk about it.
Also massively excited to read Haruki Murakami's reputed masterpiece, 1Q84, which my mother kindly gifted me for Christmas.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Happy New Year!
2011 had its ups and downs, but in the end, I am sorry to see it go.
We are having a productive New Years Eve thus far--woke up (relatively) early, got our yellow fever vaccines (remind me never to return to a Chinese clinic that isn't Beijing United or International SOS--no choice for this one as the government restricts who can give it) in preparation for our trip to KENYA!!! next month (where we'll hang out with this lovely lady), ate a delicious dim sum lunch at the Hong Kong import Cuisine Cuisine, shopped for ingredients at Jenny Lou's, hung out reading the internet for a bit, and are now getting ready for New Years Eve festivities.
May your 2012 be filled with glorious adventure; reasons to remember why you are still globetrotting (or if you're not, perhaps why you should be?); love, in all its forms; and beautiful things, people, and vistas.
We are having a productive New Years Eve thus far--woke up (relatively) early, got our yellow fever vaccines (remind me never to return to a Chinese clinic that isn't Beijing United or International SOS--no choice for this one as the government restricts who can give it) in preparation for our trip to KENYA!!! next month (where we'll hang out with this lovely lady), ate a delicious dim sum lunch at the Hong Kong import Cuisine Cuisine, shopped for ingredients at Jenny Lou's, hung out reading the internet for a bit, and are now getting ready for New Years Eve festivities.
May your 2012 be filled with glorious adventure; reasons to remember why you are still globetrotting (or if you're not, perhaps why you should be?); love, in all its forms; and beautiful things, people, and vistas.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
This vs. that
So... it's been a while. Hey guys. Sorry about that. The problem is, you see, I live in a city with STUFF TO DO. Blogging was, in fact, quite easy when living in Dhaka, where there was no stuff to do.
For example, here there is a Pizza Hut around the corner from my house. I am not sure to what depths of boredom and lack of imagination I would have to fall to consider eating there. In Dhaka, on the other hand, a major highlight was gathering friends and partaking in Pizza Hut's annual all-you-can-eat pizza iftar special, when Bangladeshis would camp out at tables hours before sunset awaiting the moment they could devour some cheesy goodness.
You see, life is different now.
The other night, I was at a colleague's birthday dinner in the fabulously appointed new restaurant, Temple, eating foie gras, sipping wine, and listening to another colleague tell stories of a former posting in Istanbul. And I thought to myself, wow, I've really been a sucker, haven't I?
Because all along there were these people in THIS Foreign Service, and I was over in THAT one, where alcohol was illegal, the hand-size spiders lived in my house, and THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO.
So I have to apologize for my lack of blog posts--I still owe one about Hong Kong, which would be good to write before we jet off to Shanghai this weekend. Because darlings, I am in THIS Foreign Service now.
At least until the State Department decides I am going to Afghanistan.
For example, here there is a Pizza Hut around the corner from my house. I am not sure to what depths of boredom and lack of imagination I would have to fall to consider eating there. In Dhaka, on the other hand, a major highlight was gathering friends and partaking in Pizza Hut's annual all-you-can-eat pizza iftar special, when Bangladeshis would camp out at tables hours before sunset awaiting the moment they could devour some cheesy goodness.
You see, life is different now.
The other night, I was at a colleague's birthday dinner in the fabulously appointed new restaurant, Temple, eating foie gras, sipping wine, and listening to another colleague tell stories of a former posting in Istanbul. And I thought to myself, wow, I've really been a sucker, haven't I?
Because all along there were these people in THIS Foreign Service, and I was over in THAT one, where alcohol was illegal, the hand-size spiders lived in my house, and THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO.
So I have to apologize for my lack of blog posts--I still owe one about Hong Kong, which would be good to write before we jet off to Shanghai this weekend. Because darlings, I am in THIS Foreign Service now.
At least until the State Department decides I am going to Afghanistan.
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