Trip reflection and first day back home

Our return travel went well overall. Girls had fun taking selfies

After Miami stopover, our flight back was 7 hrs. Lizzy watched Harry Porter series, Sofia read and reviewed her photo album, and I watched Friends and Neighbors (recommended by a friend and quite good!).

10 min before landing, Lizzy was super excited to finally see Bubble!

Everyone slept SUPER well in our own bed, especially the girls, finally in their rooms and sleeping with their cats. Also, it’s so cold here compared to the US, in the 50s F.

I enjoyed 6 miles easy run in this cold weather. While I miss Rock Creek Park trees, I can’t complain about brasilia running scene. The sunrise here is the best in the world.

After my run, I called mom, unpacked (both US bags and things from China that husband bought back), then made lunch. Lizzy got new company

Then we left for Physio (both for husband and me) and girls for swimming. They are easing back to it after 1 month of break. When I got home, I worked a bit and had my little stuff toy as company. She’s so sweet.

I then made dinner for the girls, made tofu (EXPERIMENT went well!) with this new kit, and crepes using the pulps (nobody can taste it!).

I finished everything almost 8pm. Girls came to my bed and we talked. I asked them what they love about coming back home. Lizzy said Bubble and all her toys, yet she feels like it’s too quiet and black to sleep alone. Sofia said her bed and the fact that we have many rooms for one to go, not like our DC place that is basically living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Here at home, we can all be “alone” at home because together as a family.

My reflection of this DC trip.

• So grateful that nobody got sick. I was close (coughing and fatigue for few years) but nobody needed to go to doctor. That’s a big plus.
• Everyone was safe. I was worried about open campus for Sofia. Fortunately the camp was well run and had many RA to escort kids around campus. While in one occasion she felt the homeless guy was looking weird but followed RA’s advice and passed by no issue. Lizzy and I also encountered a suspicious guy at the bus stop and we managed the escape quickly. Lizzy felt it too but said nothing, but after the incident, we crafted our code word to escape a suspicious moment. It was a good moment to teach her to be cautious, always.
• We relied almost exclusively on public transportation and girls didn’t complain much. Despite how hot it was, we only took uber once on the last day as I felt we were getting dehydrated and were going to get home late for the Argentina game. I am a firm believer to “teach” family values through action over talking.
• Trader Joes and amazon fresh made meals so easy. I rarely spent more than 10 min making meals thanks to convenient food readily available. Lizzy’s favorites were soup dumplings, potato tots, scallion pancakes, pork buns, bagel egg white sandwich. I relied on avocado toast until day 15 when I got sick of it and went back to my oatmeal, vegan sausage stir fry with vegetables, high fiber cereal with cold almond milk, tons of fruits. Sofia loved orange chicken of trader joes, chipotle, Cheerios, and Nossa yogurts.
• Not every walk led to conversations, but most of the time thanks to the space of 30 min in the fresh morning, Lizzy and I got to talk more than usual.
• Sofia found her people. Two of her camp friends are already thinking to go back next year. This is the biggest benefit of this camp, finding her people. Although they have diverse cultural backgrounds (one girl is 50% chinese, 25% Czech Republic, and 25% Russian), they share curiosity, drive for excellence, hunger for good books, humble, kind, and loves French nails. I am so happy to see how she enjoyed the camp and know that there are like minded people out there.
• Our little home in DC. I love everything about this place. I am trying to talk to the person who sublet us to do it again next summer!
• Rock creek park, no words to describe it, absolutely in love with is.
• My friend Sarah and her girls. I just love them. I find it interesting that I generally don’t like other people’ kids but somehow I love my best friends’ kids. I love the dynamics of my girls with them together. Losen up is probably the best way to describe it. And my friend Sarah is just amazing so many ways. Although we rarely talk over the phone, every time we get together, we got right back into where we left of.
• How easy is to live like a locals again. By the end of second week, I felt like we never left DC. I find it interesting that going to Shanghai, Buenos Aires, Manila, DC, feels like going home. The concept of home just got more complicated.
• My body was not happy with higher mileages while doing almost none heavy lifting. I got niggles here and there, one day was left knee, then right, then heel, then lower back the calf. If we go back next year, I’ll need to find a better solution.
• I didn’t have to-do list in mind, I didn’t feel like planning for my day. Somehow days became simpler. I wonder why as I was still working but lots of households tasks like scheduling appointments, school things, bills, were all in pause for a month. It felt liberating but I don’t think I can escape those.

This weekend will be about more unpacking (two lost luggages arrive today), trying a new helper, World Cup final, pack for next week’s family vacation as I have a 2 days work trip before that so need to prepare the family before I leave on Monday morning.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Are you cheering up for Argentina or Spain? I won’t get mad if you say Spain as almost everyone here is against Argentina.