Out & About

There once was a girl who drove a car.  A car big enough for three car seats for three little boys.  

Then the girl moved to a place where she didn't have a car.  She traded her wheels in for something a little more economical.  It doesn't look like much but it gets great gas mileage.

But it only seats two so #3 gets strapped on for the ride.

Ergo plus sherpa fuzzy bag, and she's ready to hit the town.  As an added bonus, baby gets rosy cheeks & a rosy nose to add to his charm.

But terror strikes this family on the move when #2 realizes that it's cold outside.  It's cold and all the kid sized gloves have gone MIA.  Frozen fingers and a half mile walk until a cab comes results in a sizable fit, which probably convinced the cab driver that the one-child policy is the way to go.

Then Girl has a Dumb & Dumber moment and remembers she's had an extra pair of gloves in her pocket the entire time.  Sorry, son.  

Out of the cab, back in the stroller, and on the move again.  Now the true test of stroller agility begins.  Narrow doorways, no ramps, and stairs aplenty.  Backwards, forwards, weaving in, out, and around.  If there were an Olympic sport for stroller pushing, expat Asian residents would certainly be gold medal recipients.  

Finally, this girl who once had a car arrives at her destination.  Her children, though missing a shoe and wearing oversized gloves, appear to still be in one piece.

Though this might seem to be the end of the tale, this is in fact just the beginning.  Girl then drops of the two oldest children and hops in yet another cab to head south to a furniture market.  She meets up with a local friend who knows everything there is to know about this city, and they head to the market, only to find that twenty or so steps are missing from the middle of the staircase leading up to the market's only entrance.  "The stairs are broken," shouts a man from above (who perhaps has the ability to fly because there is no other explanation as to how he got up there), "so we're all taking a vacation for 10 days."  

So Girl takes a ride in the friend's tiny clown car (fondly named Little Blue) to another furniture market that possibly moonlights as a meat locker because the temperatures were about the same.  Girl's husband then reminds her that markets never have heat and that she should have worn more clothing.  This would have been a useful reminder, thought Girl, before we left the house.  Nevertheless, she stiffens her chin (though it was already stiff enough since it was near frozen to begin with) and offers little to no help in choosing bunk beds for the children.  Husband did the shopping, bargaining, and paying while she danced around trying to keep her toes warm to the peppy tunes provided by a stereo for sale complete with fake fire place and disco balls.

Beds bought, her shoes housing 10 tiny popsicles, Girl hobbled to the street corner to hail another cab.  She reminded Husband again that she was cold.  He gives a tired smile and shoves her into a taxi. 

A taxi with heat.

It was a good day.