Christmas in St Louis

As anyone living overseas knows, coming 'home' for the holidays is always wonderful but exhausting. This year was now exception but amplified by a couple unique circumstances. First I left Kosovo with the kids 'alone' since Pranvera had to remain behind and work an extra work. Under the best of circumstances this was going to be a challenge. Surprisingly, the kids were amazing and Adi is old enough now to even help out when things start to get rough. And they did... A good trip would involve about 31 hours of travel and a 6 hour time difference. But the night we flew from DC to StL an ice storm had hit and they diverted our plane to land in Indianapolis.  So we touched down to wait in an empty airport that had already closed all its food stands and even turned the heat off in our terminal. 4 hours later they canceled the flight for the night and we had to wait a collective 3 hours more to get hotel vouchers, wait to pick up 1 bag and file a lost luggage for the other and wait for the hotel shuttle to take us 30 minutes away to a 2 star hotel with no food. Wait, it gets better. We only had 4 hours to sleep before returning to the airport to wait another half day since the pilots had to rest, our flight was not supposed to be at that airport so did not appear on schedule and they eventually did not have enough staff to even open the door to get to the plane. BUT eventually, 41 hours later we arrived. And it took another 4 days to adjust to the time change before mom arrived to help out;-)

We Airbnbed an apartment right next to my dad centrally located in St Louis near all the shopping. St Louis hospitality included a tree in the apartment, chocolate cake in the fridge and presents for the kids under the tree. It was a great home away from home and my sister stayed with us till Pranvera arrived so was nice to have family close by.

Well the holiday schedule was anything but relaxing. But it was certainly fun. Blues hockey game, The Magic House, Monkey Joe's, swimming, the library, ice skating, transportation museum, riding the Polar Express train to the North Pole, play dates with my friends kids, Christmas service and opening presents. Not to mention great visits with old life long friends (Alex, Adam, Mark, Sidney, Hank). These trips are always hard as it reminds me on what great friends I have that I can only see once every couple years. The kids loved being around grandpa and their Aunt Stacey each day. The two weeks there was not enough but at that pace seemed long enough. Luckily our next flight was a short one just to DC to enjoy the New Years with our dear friend the Kaisers out at their house on the shore...

Sleeping in the Indi Airport

Transport Museum

Monkey Joe's

 Polar Express

 

Christmas (finally)

 

Alex and Nicole

 

Christmas Cheer

 Magic House

Singapore Business Trip

Although the timing was too close to the holidays, my 12 days training and consultation for the launch of a new Public Private Partnership Water Hub that I have been advising for 2 years was a great change from my typical Africa field visits. And Pranvera was able to join me as we left the kids with her parents and we enjoyed a nice hotel, great meals, humid tropical heat and great tourist sights. The project staff I worked with and the many other businesses and clients we trained we excellent and it was a great learning experience for me as well. Aside from our late departure and missing our connection flight back home, everything went like clockwork. Which is exactly how Singapore would have it as it is the cleanest, most organized and monitored city I have ever seen.

Happy Thanksgiving

It was so nice to be invited to a traditional Thanksgiving feast at Joshua and Belene's house. Mateo is Adi's classmate and Rea loves to follow Maja around. Of course American football was not on the TV but plenty of toys, stories and friends accompanied the incredible meal followed by home-made Twinkies and a mouthwatering cheesecake. Fortunately it was my only meal of the day so I had no trouble minimize any leftovers. Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and the kick-off of the holiday season.

Fall Fun

We love this time of year. As the leaves change and fall, we prepare for Halloween, attend a cousin's wedding and play host to our long time friend Jimmy (also saw us in Maputo) all is good in Pristina. It has been nice to not travel for awhile for work and to spent much quality family time. As the weather has gotten quickly colder we are preparing for a long winter of spending time at the play centers in the few shopping malls around the city. Stay tuned for the re-emergence of the tiger and pirate...