The Next Week in Our Story (Part 2 of 2)

So I guess I have been procrastinating the second half of this post. I was pretty pleased with the first one, and have been telling myself that the second should be better, and it has been a little daunting. Nonetheless, if I don’t get something on this subject out soon, it will likely not happen at all, so here goes.

The rest of the daily ritual

After Zoe’s (and sometimes my) long nap, the next step usually involved finding something to eat. Years ago, when Andrea and I visited Bangkok, we found street food incredibly good, safe (at least we were never ill), fresh, and cheaper than anything in a vending machine in the US. However, we were on the (rather large) compound of a 5-star resort. That’s not a complaint, but an observation that everything around us was pretty expensive, other than breakfast, which was included. So Zoe ate a lot of banana milkshakes (more like smoothies, no ice cream), and I ate appetizers and salads to keep the prices down. We went to the library a few times, which I will describe later. We went to the front desk to look through the bootleg DVD catalog. We watched a couple movies over the week.

This was the beginning of the low season, and so the place was relatively empty. So everywhere we went, the young Thai men and women adored Zoe and wanted so much to cuddle her or hug her or pinch her cheeks or to get her to say “Sawatdee Kha” back to them. It was a bit reminiscent of Eloise: Zoe and I were like beloved orphans living at the Plaza. By this time in the day, of course, we were rejoined by Andrea, and we were even happier. It was so fun for us to reunite that it intimidated Zoe a few times, and she would just stay silent and shy for awhile. This daily schedule was broken a few times (to my relief) of note.


Then one day Zoe and I were generously invited to participate in the team-building activity of the retreat: a half-day's Thai cooking class at a school nearby. We rode there in the back of a pickup truck with a canvas cover and benches, which Zoe found very adventurous. Then we had a little instruction before diving in with making 5 dishes: Tom Yam (a delicious, chicken soup with really bright fresh flavors and ingredients), glass noodle salad, Pad Thai (the national noodle dish), chicken with cashews, and Penang beef curry. Zoe helped us with prep work (she was in charge of tearing herbs), and took turns cooking. It was really hot, and the ice-cold beer and water flowed like wine. Surprisingly to us, we were on the last trip back to the resort. Every time another bus or pickup was going back, we asked Zoe if she'd rather go back or stay and cook more. She chose well, in my opinion, because we ate very well indeed, and will likely be able to reproduce some of these another time. We also left with a souvenir of a very cheap and very sharp Thai knife. I have accidentally bent the blade several times, but it goes right back and is still really sharp somehow.


The other "excursion" for us was actually within the resort. Zoe and I were again invited to have lunch with the retreat in order to see where they spent their days and to see Andrea some more. We took a shuttle up to the top of the hill where Pimalai's premier restaurants -and views- are. It was good to see some of Andrea's cohorts. It was good to have lunch with Andrea. It was good to eat some incredible food. And it was great to enjoy the views. Then we went back, napped, etc.


The Big Breakthrough

Somehow while we were there we discovered that Zoe is a really confident swimmer. For those of you who have seen her in the water, it is not astonishing news. But during this trip, she went from being pretty good at following drills in swimming lessons to really putting it all together in practice. And she deserves all the credit. I suppose it helps that we swam at least once every day we were there.

One of the last afternoons, Zoe and I were splashing around on some of the steps leading into the pool when she had the idea to jump from the steps, pushing off, and to swim underwater to me. The first time she did this I was about 4 feet away, and astonished. I lifted her up and told her how great that was. She responded by jumping out of my arms and pushing back to the step. She immediately turned around and did it again. I think we could have continued in this manner for a few days without eating or sleeping if it had been up to her. I gradually stepped back a little further from the steps to about 6 feet away. And I gradually started more practice with kicking and moving her hands, but she just likes to be underwater and moving. When Andrea met us and got in the water, we kept going, but also swimming underwater from Mommy to Daddy. It was really a rush for all 3 of us.


All in all, a great week. To learn how the trip back to Kigali went, read the first few paragraphs of the first Thailand post in reverse order. One notable difference was that we had several hours in the Addis Ababa airport, and actually had fun. We went for breakfast then did a lot of duty-free shopping (a lot of looking, a little buying). The Ethiopian duty-free ladies love Zoe and gave her a stuffed animal/backpack that she loves. Then we came home, and now we are all back to the present!