Well then

I wouldn't be surprised if all of our readers had given up on us entirely by this point -- and who'd blame you?! But I've been feeling as though our blog is unfinished, and wanted to put it to bed.

So: we've been back in the US for almost two weeks, and life is the same and yet entirely different post-trip. There are some aesthetic changes (a new rug and some elephant-themed pillow covers in the sunroom, a fancy new duvet set on the bed) and some differences in routine (a lot more chai in our lives and four packages of paratha in the freezer), but for me the biggest shift has been one in mindset.

In a lot of ways, or trip feels as though it was one part reality, two parts crazy dream. I refrained from getting too personal on this blog, but it was my first time seeing my Dad (and many, many members of my extended family) in sixteen years. I left Karachi 100 lifetimes ago -- before Smith, before Chicago, before I found a man (and a career!) that I love. And yet as so much has changed in my own life, I found that many things -- though not all -- had stayed the same over there. Over the last few weeks, it was incredibly gratifying to have the opportunity to rediscover the city I grew up in. As someone who's always prided herself on her independent ways, I also loved being able to introduce Nick to my humongo extended family. We've agreed: it's nice to know there's a gang of people on the other side of the world who've got our backs.

Finally, there was a tremendous, unexpected corollary benefit to this trip. I had untold amounts of down time (as you may have guessed from the number of blog posts that appeared here) and it allowed me and Nick to just...hang out in jammies. Read magazines. Play Scrabble. Talk. We slowed down and enjoyed each other's company in a way that, sadly, probably hasn't happened since our dating days. Even as the demands of real life creep back upon us here in Racine, we're committed to keeping the TV off and some of the extraneous things at bay, just so we can keep getting in front of each other in a real way, just as we did while we were on vacation.

So now, what's next for the Traveling Pittses? This is another tough question. Pakistan is far, far away (REALLY far) and American working culture sports a real distaste for anything resembling true vacation time. We're both committed to going back in the future, but nobody knows when, exactly, that will be -- which is a bit sad in and of itself. So the ol' blog is going into hibernation for a bit (although I think you should all try and convince Nick to share his parting thoughts as well). We were shocked and humbled by all the people who confessed to following along, and owe a huge thank-you to the people who kept track of our comings and goings this past holiday.

Knock wood

Today was the 1-year anniversary of the death of Benazir Bhutto, a revered political figure in Pakistan and also the country's first and only (to date) female leader. She was assassinated at this time last year, immediately prior to a national general election. Her husband, Asif Zadari, rode the aftermath of her death into office and is now the President of Pakistan.

There was much discussion over the past few weeks about what today would be like, and although everyone always hopes for peace we all know what can happen. I'm pleased to report that, as of 8:00 p.m., all's quiet in the city. It was a federal/bank holiday and most shops were closed, although restaurants and a few other places remained open.

But if it's not one thing, it's another -- if you read the paper, you likely saw this. The belief here is that these events are happening for one of two reasons: (a) because it needs to -- i.e. there are legitimate intelligence concerns precipitating the troop move, or (b) because Pakistan may be trying to show the West what happens when its soldiers aren't guarding the Afghan border (open floodgates!). I think it's safe to say that Nick and I both feel at ease here, and that things in Karachi are normal for now.

I bring these things up not to scare anyone, but to try and demonstrate the strange paradox of life in Pakistan. Everyone has to proceed as usual, because otherwise 150 hardcore terrorists hold a nation of 165 million people in the palms of their hands. At the same time, one's usual day can be interrupted at any time with some sort of crazy news. Being here, it's easy to see that I take my normal American life for granted.

And, to give you an idea of population, here are a few quick Google stats:

*Population of Karachi: estimated to be between 17-19 million.
*Population of New York City, America's largest: 8.3 million (excluding the wider metro area).
*Population of Pakistan: approximately 165 million.
*Population of the state of Texas (comparable in size to the nation of Pakistan): 23.5 million
*Population of the US: approximately 301 million.

Not surprising that things get stirred up quickly here, eh? Lots of people in close quarters can make for some interesting surprises.

Instructive photography

This is a picture of the pool area at the Boat Club, the site of both our Christmas-Day lunch and the reception being held in Nick's and my honor. I'm posting it because:

(a) it's gorgeous;

(b) male and female members are allowed to swim there; nonmember female guests are allowed to swim there; nonmember male guests are forbidden from swimming there; and

(c) Nick got in trouble for snapping this -- no photos allowed!

In sum: beautiful, but the rules give you an idea of some typical Islam-influenced restrictions.

General thoughts and feelings

Due to [more] technical difficulties, we're having some issues uploading photos. Nick has a blog post ready to go recapping our day yesterday, but in the meantime I thought I'd fill space and time with these general observations:

*I had a conversation last night with my dad's cousin's wife, Farhan, about how in Pakistani culture food = love. I could not agree with this more. I'm seriously going to weigh about 300 lbs. by the time we get on the plane home. But, oddly, my cousins claim that they lose weight when they come here...? This may be due to the fact that although we're consuming tea and snacks at alarming rates, we've also completely cut things like processed food, cheese (they have it here but, unlike at home, it's not considered a staple), soda (diet or otherwise) and booze out of our daily intake.

*The food/love equation is directly related to the importance of good hospitality. This is a theme we'll probably be writing about a lot in the coming week or two; everywhere we've gone, people have welcomed us into their homes in a way that a lot of Americans might find over the top. I, personally, find it incredibly charming. I think Nick does too -- how could we not?! Every time we walk into someone's house, they roll out the red carpet. [Note to self: this makes people feel awesome. Emulate and repeat.]

*We met a fabulous couple yesterday (their kids go to school with my half-siblings), Fatima and Ali Kazi. Nick will be writing more about their incredibly beautiful home, which they custom-designed in a Spanish style with an up-and-coming local architect. Fatima commented to me that the class divide in Pakistan comes with knowledge of English: fluency means you are upper-class. She's personally taken on education as Her Cause by creating a trust to adopt and oversee a local government school. Even better, rather than simply throwing money at new facilities, the trust is helping to improve programming for students. Yes! So simple.

*Most private schools in Pakistan are for-profit, a concept that had my mouth hanging open when it was first told to me. Really? For profit? Like DeVry University? Egads.

*Labor here is ridiculously cheap; so much so that I would estimate that all upper-class individuals have servants. This is unnerving in many ways -- here are these people whose job it is to cook our food, wash our laundry, make our beds, clean our rooms, guard our homes, etc. -- it seems very un-American to me. And yet, Nick and I have a cleaning lady (two, actually! A mother-and-daughter team) come to our home every other week back in Racine -- so how is that different?

*Language barrier: if we can ever get beyond our IT problems, I'll try to post a video we shot today where I gave Nesreen, my dad's housekeeper, a pantomime tour of our wedding photos. In a way that only the video can explain, it was equal parts awesome and frustrating.