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.

No photos yet

So, we haven't taken any pictures yet (sorry!) because we've spent most of the last 24 hours either eating or sleeping. My family is doing a great job at taking hospitality to new heights, and I think Nick and I have both consumed our weight in snacks, tea, and other local delights (like raw sugar cane, yum -- Nick's new favorite).

Our transition from plane to house was made easy thanks to my dad's foresight; he engaged the services of a local firm whose representatives meet travelers at the gate and expedite their way through Customs (translation: we skipped the HUGE line and felt like total V.I.P.'s). After our 30+ hours in transit, this gesture was much appreciated. We arrived at the house, had chai and breakfast with my stepmom (Rabia) and two half-siblings (Malika and Mohammed) before the three of them left for a few days in Lahore. Like June and July in America, December is wedding season in Pakistan. Since two of my cousins are getting married this week, my dad and stepmom decided to split family duties -- she and the kids are off seeing her nephew get married up North, and incidentally that celebration will be attended by the one and only John Legend.

We took it pretty easy yesterday and totally crashed for a long nap in the afternoon -- my internal clock is TOTALLY messed up right now. Last night, after a drive-by to show Nick the house I lived in before going back to the US, we stopped by a custom tailor shop to get him fitted both for an American-style suit and a traditional outfit to wear at a reception being hosted in our honor on our last night in town. And now, I'm off to breakfast -- but we'll report more, and with pictures, as soon as we can.

Nick's POV

Hello family and friends. As you can see from Aliya's post, we just landed in Dubai after a LONG 14 hour plane ride. We are using our laptops to email because we can't find a signal on our iphones. We have a 5 hour layover until we leave for Karachi, so we won't reach our final destination until around 6pm Racine time.

The airport here is very nice; many stores, restaurants, gift shops, etc. Very similar to O'hare. Altough the flight was long, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Each passenger had his/her own personal tv screen, so we basically watched tv and a movie for the first 3 hours. We both slept for 8 hours after that which was crucial to maintaining our sanity. Not much leg room though. I had to adjust my sleeping position almost 40 times during the 8 hours I slept. Both knees were digging into the steal frame of the chair in front of me. Very frustrating. Greg, you would have ripped the seat out in front of you after 2 hours.

We will check back in once we land in Karachi. For now, here's a live picture of ourselves after traveling for 16 hours. Can I get a Speedstick?

Technical difficulties and other adventures in transit

Greetings from Dubai! As I type this, Nick and I are parked in the Arrivals Hall (better seating, according to the online reviews I read before we left) and are both typing merrilly away on our laptops. Free wireless internet is always welcome in any language, especially when you can't get a signal on your iPhone.

I think we managed to leave the house without forgetting anything major (on our last international trip -- to Costa Rica -- our departure date fell one day after we closed on and moved into our new home; we were so harried and disorganized that I managed to lock us out of the house on our way to O'Hare). Big ups to our friend Brendan for loading our four (!) suitcases into the car and shuttling us to the airport.

MKE-ATL was completely uneventful. I learned that I do not like Woman's Day magazine -- I had been gifted with a few back issues that I'd saved for this trip under the erroneous assumption that Something To Read is a good thing. Not so much. They promptly found their way into the onboard recycling bin.

We had about two hours to kill in Hotlanta, and spent much of that time eating what I like to call the Last [American] Supper at that bastion of chain dining rooms, TGIFriday's.

Notice the very empty plates and the two Bud Lights on draft:














Except for the tiny seats and lack of leg room, our 14-hour flight wasn't too bad. We had our own TVs, on which you could either watch movies and American TV (Nick was happy to see his buddy Dwight)...

...OR you could track your way to Mecca. Are we there yet?

Chaos

We leave in less than 24 hours and our house looks as though it's been blown up -- stuff everywhere, suitcases wide open, piles on top of piles next to piles. Complete and total chaos!

Although we could probably get by with one checked bag apiece, we're traveling with three -- which roughly breaks down to one suitcase apiece + one suitcase for gifts and other items requested by friends and family abroad. Witness:

SC Johnson represent!

Welcome readers!

Thanks to the wonderful world of cyberspace, we'll be chronicling our 2+ week trip to Pakistan (or, as my mother used to say, "as far as you can go around the world without coming back around the other side) right here on the internet for all to read. We promise to share the good, the bad, and not too much of the ugly with all of our friends and family back home -- and hopefully with plenty of pictures!















The Brooklyn Bridge: so foreign, and yet not even close.

Three days from now, we'll be on a plane out of Atlanta headed East. So sit tight, and we'll check back in when we're on the other side.