She's back!

And then it was over! And for her it all now seems like a dream. I know what that's like. Sometimes it's hard to imagine that there are all these worlds out there, and us not a part of any of them, but every one just as real as the one we're existing in, whether it's the vast savannahs of Africa, the turquoise waters of the Greek isles baking in the sun, or the cluttered chaotic streets of Jerusalem.

It's over, and she's missed The Gadget Man's family Christmas -- which for the first time ever they moved from Boxing Day (to the day before she came back). How unfortunate -- especially as this was the one year where she would be bursting with things to tell them. I can't tell you about the maternal outrage this roused in me -- a most interesting thing in itself, as I'm not particularly given to maternal outrage.

But it is lovely to have her back: the excited girl who has been dying to tell us how she ate dog and snake's head, but who stood (sadly for me to witness) somewhat aloof from the other girls, not quite fitting in, as is usual for her. It leaves me to wonder how we managed to have two children who are both outside the box. I know this should be a good thing -- what's wrong with raising individuals, after all? But it is hard when you see all the other kids with invites and not your kid, and it happens again and again and again. Still, I was never the most popular in class either. I had a few friends who were intensely loyal, and that was enough.

She has the prospect of starting at a new school next year, but that must all be the stuff of another post. In the meantime, let me dwell for a moment on just how wonderful it's been to have her back. Let me have that moment, for no doubt in a few more, she'll be fighting with her brother again, and I'll be left wondering what happened to the peace of the last four weeks and longing for that peace again.

Lack of communication

Now the funny thing about travel in the modern world (compared to when I travelled some twenty-five years ago) is the availability of email. When I went away it was a few addresses on your itinerary where you would hopefully wait for mail (and get it if you were lucky), or otherwise a post restante address. I do remember searching the V to W box at The Walkabout Club in London on the hunt for mail, and missing opportunities because my Dutch aunt wrote my name in such a way that my post was filed under D rather than V, and I only found my letters accidentally several months later when looking for mail for a friend of mine.

I wouldn't necessarily have expected any communications between Princess Sleepyhead and home because she's not that computer savvy and hardly ever uses email at home. But when we did have a few communications and knew that whenever she was going to be in Hanoi (which they're using as a home base) that she would have access, I became more hopeful. Only they've been told not to communicate, not to tell us anything about what they're doing until they're back.

Now, I understand this directive. The world can, at times now, seem too small a place, and not having communications adds to that sense of isolation, that sense of distance, of being in the wilderness, if you will, of being independent. But someone I teach with also has a daughter on one of these expeditions, and her daughter has been told the same things, but is emailing regardless. Oh, if only mine were as rebellious. Not often I'm wishing that from her.

I ought to have known. A few years ago, we were in Sydney and running late for a lunch appointment, prior to seeing Fiddler on the roof. So, there was my brother, crossing a deserted road on a red light, and me and his wife following, and PS standing resolutely on the kerb, unwilling to budge from it until the little man turned green. Neither my brother's entreaties nor his threats could make her move, and he was pulling his hair out with frustration. I had to admit is was funny to see him lose his temper, but even funnier to see her unmoved by it.

I should be glad she is not easy to persuade to break rules -- after all, ADD kids have a high rate of unwanted teenage pregnancy, and for many years this was The Gadget Man's fear for her. Now I see she is too much cast in my mould: too reserved and risk-averse (though she hasn't been risk-averse in physical situations that may have benefitted her to have been risk-averse -- but so far she has been lucky). So I shouldn't be cranky about not hearing. I really shouldn't. But I am. Well, not so much cranky, as frustrated. Just like my brother, really. 

Astronomy

How cool is this? Tonight (yesterday as I write this) we had a sliver (crescent) moon and two planets in close proximity: Venus and Jupiter, giving the appearance of a smiley face in the sky. Here's some photos I took on my new camera -- without a tripod. I do have a very old and slightly wonky tripod somewhere, but I'm not sure where it was. Image stabilisation helped me handhold (with the help of a post) with a 1.6 second shutter speed. These aren't perfect shots by any means but for handheld, they're pretty amazing. So we have the regular shot showing the smiley face, the close up, where you can see the moon's disc (and a ghost of it -- some kind of interference), and then one with a reflection, though it's too dark to see the water.