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I finally caught up with photos on flickr through Sebastian’s first adventures, not including Christmas shots. As always there are guest passes to view the full albums, leave a comment or send me an email if you need the link. I’ve also posted them on facebook.
Happy, originally uploaded by kara melissa.
Most recently we went to the states to introduce Sebastian to his family there. He got so much love an attention, I think he was a bit confused upon returning to Cairo. We seem to know a lot more folks in Michigan! Sebastian experienced Thanksgiving, which was also my first stateside in eight years. On the way to Michigan, there was a stop in London, so you’ll see a few photos taken in East London. We spent some time in Holland, Mi. visiting college friends and introducing our kids to each other! We also celebrated my nephew Ethan’s 8th birthday and spent some time in the snow.
Prior to leaving London, we spent some time visiting tourists sights (Piccadilly, Mayfair, Pall Mall, Horse Guards Parade, Big Ben, Hamleys Toy Store, Abbey Road) and snapping photos of Sebastian and I in front of them.
Two weeks before leaving London, we took Sebastian on his first plane ride with Swiss Air to visit some of my old friends in Schaffhausen from my time teaching there. There’s a bit of a story with that adventure, but I’ll leave that for another day.
Some of the photos are public, but most are private with a guest pass only. Drop me a line and I’ll send the links on to you.
Happy holidays!
So, the Sharp Family moved to Cairo, Egypt at the end of August. I’m still getting my head around this as prior to leaving London I had a lot of other things on my mind involving taking care of Sebastian. So now we are in Cairo. It happens like that. Life. And you don’t know what hit you until there you are working your way through something new.
Culture shock. I’m in it. It’s been awhile since I’ve lived in a hot polluted city. I guess I likened the experience to living in Bangkok before I arrived and let me tell you Cairo is no Bangkok. First off, there are not enough malls and air conditioning does not exist in every shop. The Metro is no Skytrain and although it seems to run well we find ourselves overheating each trip between downtown and Maadi, where our new flat is. Our new flat is no studio on Thong Lor. First of all, while I saw many cockroaches roaming the streets and alley ways of Bangkok, I did not see them in my flat, EVER. I cannot say the same for here as I chased them around the kitchen, bathroom and hallway. Not to mention the ones which seem to live in our refrigerator. Sidewalks in Bangkok had me tripping over my own feet endlessly, but at least they existed. While downtown there are some sidewalks, in Maadi it’s the roadside walking most of the way. Which brings me to the taxi’s. Oh they are cheap here like in Bangkok, but they are not shiny and new and they certainly are not air conditioned. Think black and white painted ‘muscle cars’ from the 70’s in America. Each equipped with a loud horn that seems to be honking relentlessly, no matter what. Turn the radio on, honk. See people walking, hong. Turn, honk. Stop, honk. Go, honk. While Cairo is no Bangkok, they do share high temperatures and insane air pollution levels.
It’s impossible to even compare Cairo to London. When you leave a city, you only remember the good things. So right now I can only see a big green place in my mind when I think about living in London. I think about the parks Sebastian and I spent our afternoons walking though. I don’t recall how bored I got of those parks by the end of the summer living in South London. (There is no place like Hackney, it must be said. Ahh. The good ole’ days.) I don’t recall the grey skies when I search through constant brown haze hovering over the city buildings and eventually see a bright blue Cairo sky. I don’t recall the layers of clothing Sebastian had to be put in before heading out in London when I am slathering him with sun screen. I do recall wearing long pants because I was cold and not because I was trying to dress conservatively in the SWEALTERING heat. I recall the unlimited, high speed internet I had ALL THE TIME while I am counting the minutes every time I log onto the internet here. The connection slowing to a crawl at times. All making it impossible to post pictures of my gorgeous little son who is now four months old and spending his days smiling when he’s not taking a respite from the heat and sleeping. I recall the old buildings that were clean and even the ones that had turned a bit gray over the years which do not compare with the brownness of every building there ever was or is in Cairo.
It’s true, someday I might paint a relaxed and lovely picture of my life here in Cairo, today is not that day. In fact, this week is not that week either. And I’m done pretending it is. I’m just working on accepting it as it is. Thank God for a wonderful husband and son.
Yep. That’s us. Relocating to Cairo. Ali’s job begins on September 1. We believe we will be moving sometime the week before. We haven’t gotten our flights sorted, as the company will take care of that as well as packing up our things for moving. That should be fairly easy for them since we packed everything up before leaving our beloved flat in Hackney. They will have to repack everything though, in order for it to be insured. Here’s hoping everything survives the move and I don’t have to remember that box of goodies from Bangkok I opened upon return to the states, only to find each piece broken in some way.
We’re just coming out of Ali’s week off work; it’s been a busy one. Sebastian and I love to have Ali home during the day, even though we spent a lot of time out and about. We also went on our first road trip with Sebastian to Little Gidding (where we got married). It took us all day to get things organised and to get there. I never realised how much stuff you need to take along for a baby. He wasn’t so keen on being in the car seat for the first time either, so that was a challenge. The weather was beautiful and I am working on getting the photos onto flickr. We also went to a nearby nature reserve with endangered animals being bred and rehabilitated. It was Sebastian’s first zoo experience which he slept through. It was too sunny and hot for the little guy. Later in the week we attended a wedding reception of Ali’s coworker, where Sebastian stole the show. We also made a couple trips out to Hackney for a follow up doctor’s appointment and physio. It’s always tough taking the bus past our old place, we sure did love being in that hood.
Ali has two more weeks of work and then a week off-site for Hostile Environment training. Sebastian and I will be on our own for a week. We were hoping we could go to the states for a few weeks, but we are still waiting on Sebastian’s passports. We’ve applied for the British one and have an appointment on the 13th for his US passport. So we are looking at the calendar to see how soon after moving to Cairo we can head to Michigan for a visit. So stay tuned.
Sebastian had his first smile with me on July 25th. It was such a blessing. Of course I cried, I was so happy. He has been smiling as he falls asleep since he was born, and no that wasn’t gas. We’ve seen a couple of those ‘gassy’ smiles too and of course the pursed smiles during a poo. He isn’t smiling all the time, but each time he does, it sure is special. He’s really getting into ‘tummy time’ with his dad as well. Lots of fun to be had at the Sharps household!
People keep asking if we are getting ready for our move. We are kind of in an interim at the moment. Most things are packed. We have to decide on a leaving date and then Reuters organises the rest. I’ve signed up for a couple Cairo mom groups and have been looking online at places to live. A good friend of mine has a brother who lives there with his wife and he has been providing plenty of advice. Just kind of living day to day here. I’m still working on finishing my letter to all the important people about my birthing experience so what happened to me doesn’t happen to someone else. That’s a tough one. I’m also looking into Dr. Sears alternative vaccination schedule after reading an article he wrote in Mothering magazine about the amount of Aluminum found in vaccinations and how too much can affect babies brains.
Lots of loose ends. Lots on my mind. Haven’t had much time to organise all my thoughts. So perhaps I will revisit some of these at a later time. That’s all for now. Want to get some more pictures posted.
Lots going on in the Sharp household. Even that is new. We moved to South London this weekend, as our lease was up on our flat at the end of June. We are living in a nice flat in a green area with our friend Mark whom we first met and lived with upon first arriving in London three years ago. It’s an interesting change from where we were in East London and I definitely miss our old neighbourhood, but the flat is really nice and the sunshine streaming through the windows on the second floor has been wonderful the past few days. We will be here until the end of August, when we are moving to…
…Cairo, Egypt! Ali finally found out from Reuters that his posting is in Cairo. We will be living there for one year. I will not be working, but taking care of Sebastian, which is my new full time job. How do I feel about the move? I’m happy to finally know where we are going, as we have been waiting for the past couple of months to find out. Cairo is a large, busy and polluted city. We visited while we were living in Nazareth. I don’t really know how I feel about it, as I feel like I am so focussed on the now, that the future seems like something we will get to and I will experience it then. Besides, it’s just for a year, so why not? We are looking forward to visitors!
Sebastian is nearly two months, just now eight weeks old. He is doing well. His wind (gas) in his tummy is getting much better and he seems to be burping without our help sometimes. He still has acid reflux, but the medicines he is taking are helping to keep him a bit more comfortable. Yesterday we went to his first music festival at Hyde Park and listened to Mason Jennings, G Love and Special Sauce, Ben Harper and Jack Johnson. We did a lot of dancing in the sunshine, but he was asleep by the time Jack Johnson came on, so we left a bit early. Our favourite was Ben Haper, what a talented man.
Yesterday was also the twelfth anniversary of Josh’s death, and as Ali had purchased our concert tickets for me for Christmas, I had an opportunity to look forward to the day for a happy occasion as well as a day of remembrance. When I lived on Saipan I bought a journal created by a mother and daughter who had lost their son/brother, Dan Eldon. The journal was a place to record thoughts and feelings but it was also a place with advice about dealing with a death of a loved one. The advice that stuck with me the most was to do something special on anniversaries like his birthday and the day he died. It’s difficult to explain, but by doing this the day becomes more peaceful and much easier to get through. Yesterday, I felt happy, at peace, and loved.
I’m still pretty tired, but the schedule we have gotten into seems to work for us. I usually nap with Sebastian in the afternoon, which gives me more energy for the night feeds. We look forward to the weekends, when Ali is around to take care of us. Family fun. We love it. I still don’t have much time for emails or phone calls, but I am trying to catch up little by little. Thanks to everyone for the emails and comments of support, especially after my recent post about breast feeding. I know I haven’t had time to thank you individually, but it means so much to have that support from afar.
I’m back at work this week: week 37 in pregnancy. It’s absolutely the most exhausting thing ever. After my first day back yesterday, I got home and felt like I hadn’t slept in two days. I also had flash backs to the time Katie and I returned from Japan to Saipan just two hours before we had to be at school and had absolutely no sleep beforehand and were still somehow able to teach for the day. I was younger then and not pregnant. Even though I have started this week with the teacher who is taking over my class, I still feel ready to drop after lunch. I leave right after school and am already depending on her to take on some of the planning and teaching. I am not in any condition to play the ’super teacher’ role as I have played in the past. We are going to try to make it another two and a half weeks, so I’ve got to pace myself. Yes, that’s right, working right up to the due date, if possible! I love my job, but I also don’t get maternity pay since I just started said job in August. I get home and crash on the couch for at least an hour and feel ready to do so just an hour later. So much for getting that paperwork done at home!
Our housing situation has gotten even better since I last wrote. Not only have the landlords given us an extension until the end of June, one of our good friends that we lived with when we first arrived in London over three years ago has been able to offer us a room in his large flat for the months of July and August. The rent is also half what we pay here, so that is a huge bonus for a soon to be single income family! We are still waiting to hear from Reuters about Ali’s posting, but we no longer need to worry about where we will lay our three pretty little heads come end of June and again, this is another blessing.
We are getting excited about baby Sharp arriving. And spending lots of time together, relishing in our couple time, like everyone says we should and like we love to do.*
Time to get dinner ready.
* Due to being ‘heavily’ pregnant and experiencing loss of energy issues, my brain has also taken a holiday and at times I lose entire strings of words that I have just placed together in my brain to make a sentence. This also produces garbled thoughts at times. It’s true. This does happen. After all, there’s a lot of blood pumping through my body and brain to help this baby grow. But just in case I don’t make complete sense, well, that’s why.
We had a bit of a stressful evening last night in regards to our housing situation. We thought all was lost but today the tables have turned. Our landlords have decided to allow us an additional month on our lease at our current rental rate, taking us to the end of June. This is a blessing. It came after an offer to extend for 4 months with a rental increase of nearly 25% per week, which both not being possible would have out us in the ‘out on the street’ category quickly. I digress. As of today, paperwork has to be sorted, but a verbal agreement has been made in which we will get the paint this weekend and organise to have the builder paint the two rooms or take care of it ourselves, as soon as possible. This will be followed by the paperwork for our lease extension, which will give us TIME. Which is what we need. Thank God.
The sun is shining. The air is on its way to being warm and I am sitting at the computer –in the sunshine– catching up on emails and staring at my beautiful pink tulips which Ali brought home for me after work last night. We be alright.
Wow. I took a look at the calendar and it seems the month of April has crept up on me. The Divozzos left yesterday after a week filled with excellent conversation, laughter and lots of walking! I’ve been having some Braxton Hicks (we call them BH) contractions, although they have slowed down since I have slowed down as well. I had my 36 week antenatal appointment yesterday and according to the midwife, the baby’s head is engaged. She said that it could be two weeks now for the baby to come, depending when it became engaged. I think it was Monday night. I felt a lot of movement down there and then when I looked in the mirror before bed, it seemed the belly had dropped a bit. I don’t understand how this baby has any more room to move around, but it does! We are really hoping it will continue to roost and grow, as my mom arrives on the 24th and we really want her to be here for the birth. Of course, it’s not up to us, so I will do my best at putting my feet up when I can.
It’s hard to believe I have to go back to work on Monday! I love my job, but as we all know the commute is horrid, so I’m not looking forward to that. It will be strange as well to be working alongside the new teacher, but I think the transition will be smooth and it’s necessary. I have some paperwork to do at home this week as well. I’ve been looking through more baby catalogues as we are still gathering necessary bits for the arrival. I have my hospital/labour bag nearly all packed, just a few bits and bobs to add to it. My goal is to have it all set this weekend, just so I don’t have to think about it. The crib was delivered last week, but we are waiting to put it together until the room is painted.
Ahh, painting the room. We, the Sharps, in our glorious and adventurous life are in for another one. Our lease is up at the end of May. We thought it was end of June, but alas, it was not. Our baby may not even be a month old by then, depending on when it’s born! We’ve asked for an extension to stay through the summer, but our landlords are ‘thinking about it.’ We need to have the living room painted since we hung a few things on the walls and want to have the bedroom painted as well since it is filthy and last year the landlords refused to paint it. The filth comes from all the dust which comes in off the street through the window, which even though it is closed most of the time, the dust still accumulates. Not exactly excited about our newborn sleeping there, but this is city living! We have been waiting for weeks to hear from the builder that the landlord sent over to get a quote about painting both rooms so we can decide whether Ali will do it himself or if it will be reasonable (financially) enough for the builder to do. But our baby is due in four weeks, we can’t really wait much longer to get it done!
So. It’s a long story with the landlords, but we may have to move at the end of May and we have no where to go!!! We are still waiting to hear about Ali’s posting with Reuters, both the where and the when. So don’t ask. As soon as we know, we will sigh a breath of relief just for the knowing. And then take another deep breath for the planning of it all. Yes, we Sharps, love to live a life of spontaneity! I try not to stress or worry and Ali has done a great job at taking everything on board and doing his best to get everything sorted. Everything that he can do without knowing what we can do. I think back to every time I have finished up a job and gotten ready to move. Saipan. Thailand. Israel. Switzerland. With the exception of leaving Switzerland, each one before I had no idea where I was going or what my job would be when I left or until the week I was leaving. And. It all worked out. So I trust. I have faith. And I let go. As my mom would say, “Let go, let God.’ It’s pretty tough sometimes, but some things are just beyond our reach.
As always, life moves forward. Even when we aren’t sure of the direction.
My commute to work varies between 45 minutes to an hour. About a month ago I began altering my route to work in order to make it a more pleasant experience, if that’s possible on the London Underground during rush hour. I used to take two trains directly to work, the first being the busiest and without a doubt, the most challenging. I was no longer able to squeeze into that last square in front of the near closing doors. I certainly couldn’t rush on as they closed behind me. I needed to have something to hold on to that I didn’t have to reach above my shoulders to grab. I needed people not to push me and also to notice the ever expanding belly, despite the obvious fact I was wearing a ‘Baby on Board’ button. Opening my jacket and making the button visible rarely alerted other passengers to my ‘condition’ and I often found myself being pushed on and crowded around, with nothing to hold onto. As I was only travelling one stop, I did this as long as I could, and at times needed to stop and kindly let Mr. So-and-So know that I was pregnant and could he please stop pushing me into other passengers. But about a month ago, this short part of my commute became too much to bear and I switched to taking a bus and a train, making my commute last closer to an hour.
I leave about 15 minutes earlier now and my bus takes about as long as the second leg of the journey on the train. I would say that my commute has been one of the most challenging things to deal with during my pregnancy. To put it simply, it SUCKS. As always, the best part is reading and I’ve just finished an excellent book (The Glass Palace by Amitav Gosh) that helped me look forward to my commute, as much as that was possible. Some days my commute passes without a glitch. Other days there are problems with the trains or the people on them.
Some people are very pleasant and offer me their seat immediately. My recent favourite was on my way home, on the second train. I had asked someone if I could lean against the glass near the door. It was busy and I was going only one stop so didn’t feel the need to ask someone for their seat – I usually have to ask as many passengers avert their eyes, ‘Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were pregnant’. [Wait until you see my recent photo, it's now very obvious.] The train seats were full and the area near the door was spotted heavily with passengers. Through the tunnel of people, a man, seated with several large bags on his lap shouted past the rest of the passengers “Hey! Do you want my seat?!” I looked up at his kind offer, thinking he must be American because in my experience they are the loudest on the train, and the most forthright. I smiled and declined as the train was already moving and I didn’t think others would like me using them as buoys to get to the other side; I also wasn’t confident I would make it. Despite my inability to partake in the stranger’s kindness, it was a warm and fuzzy moment on the train. Americans are so friendly.
Some other train passengers couldn’t be ruder when it comes to engaging with pregnant women. On Wednesday I was heading home after an excruciating long day of work. We had a primary school performance in the evening and there was no time for me to come home to rest in between – since I live so far away to begin with. I was in a bit of pain, my feet were swollen and my back and pelvis were aching, so I decided to take the bus home from one of the stations. It was raining, and my day was nearing 14 hours, but I just couldn’t face a 1o minute walk home from the second station. I was waiting for the bus with several others who’d had long days at work or a few drinks at the pub on their way home. Nearest to me was a young woman with the ugliest hat on that I have ever seen. She was clearly one of the ‘Shoreditch’ type girls and thought she was the bees knees. As if. I also resented her for smoking and standing in such close proximity of me, unable I couldn’t get away due to the crowd around me, also waiting for the bus.
As the minutes ticked by, the crowd continued to grow with a bus appearing after about 15 minutes. Now, I must mention, if you think that queuing in SEAsia is an experience, try getting on a bus at Liverpool St. after work; everyone tries to get on at once, as if their life depends on it or it is taking them quickly away from a terrible place. Obviously, neither are true. Try telling everyone else that as they push past you and you find yourself stuck in a sea of strangers that aren’t being considerate of each other at all, because they must be the first one on or die. Well, the girl with the ugliest hat on I have ever seen decided to push up against me and I said ‘Excuse me’ and she looked at me and haughtily said ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ With my belly preceding me and my special button, I looked at her dumbfounded. I was so tired I couldn’t find the gusto I had in the mornings to let her know who was boss. Watch out for the pregnant lady. I imagined myself as JD on Scrubs and created a moment in my mind in which I shouted at her and told her how ugly her hat was, perhaps I even shook her by the shoulders and asked how she could be so rude and inconsiderate. In my day dream, I did everything that made me feel in control — even if it would appear I had lost control — of the situation but in reality I turned on my heal and found the nearest seat to plop down into as the tears just streaked my cheeks.
Yeah. London is a great city. But right now I am so tired of the commute, the gray, rainy and cold weather, and the people in this city that I just want to escape to a quiet place in the country. Instead, we will rent Season 4 of The West Wing and spend our four days holiday with each other, away from the parts of the city that get to me after I haven’t had a break from it since October.
The belly grows. And I grow with it.
On Valentine’s Day Ali took me along to see a play called ‘Being Harold Pinter’ at Soho Theatre. He was working on a story about The Belarus Free Theatre, who were putting on the performance. On my birthday (coincidence), he published a feature article online (and elsewhere): Dissident Belarus troupe fills London theatre.
As press, he also took a few photos during the show.
That’s Alastair Sharp reporting for Reuters.
Happy Birthday to Me, originally uploaded by kara melissa.
I’ve added some photos on flickr from weeks 26-30 as well as some photos we took while out and about in Abney Cemetary in Stoke Newington a few weeks ago.
We’ve been playing around with the black and white option on my camera recently.
I’ve finally been able to get through the photos on my computer and make some much needed room on my hard drive. So once I have some time and energy one of these weekends, I will wade through the photos we took ages ago on our trip to Cornwall in October.
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