Bagless in Bangkok

I arrived safe and sound to Bangkok after a long and boring night flight, only to discover that my luggage didn’t fare as well. Apparently, my backpack went to Hong Kong.

I always knew that one day my backpack would be old enough to go traveling without me and off she’d go. It’s just part of being a parent – our children aren’t our own, we’re just borrowing them for a while. Like with anything one borrows, the idea is to take good care of it and return it in good condition, preferably with a full tank and the oil and water topped up.

Still, I hadn’t expected my bag to fly the coop so soon; after all, she’s barely two years old! The good people at the airport baggage services counter assured me that should my backpack be recovered, it will be returned to me. But like any runaway, one can only hope that after a crappy night or two out in the cold, they will come back – sadly, many of them are never heard from again.

I would very much like to see my backpack again, because there’s no way I could replace my fetoscopes and stock of herbal tinctures and other assorted midwifery whatnots before I will need them next.

On the bright side, I still had my carry-on bag with my computer in it, my passport and wallet. And I’m in Bangkok, so I could easily get a room at my favourite guest house, buy some clean clothes very cheaply, go eat a yummy meal at Pen Thai - my favourite place to eat in the whole world,

And spend an evening drinking a beer on Khao San Road, watching the people go by and chatting to interesting strangers.

Backpack, if you’re reading this, please come home; everything is forgiven and I promise never to over-stuff you again!

Capoeira Cats

All packed up again and ready to leave Israel. It’s been nice to visit, a little short, but so good to see everyone!

On the weekend we had a lot of friends over for a little get-together, we all sat around chatting and we got into playing capoeira.

Littletree has been really getting into playing again – she begged me to do some training with her every day :)

Loads of fun!

Sadly, Littletree’s cousin found some abandoned kittens mewling in the woodpile. One of them was already dead and the surviving three weren’t in good shape; hungry, cold and wet from the rain.

Everyone took turns in holding them on hot water bottles and feeding them special milk from a dropper.

Tonight I fly to Bangkok to await Littletree and Purple, who will be coming in two more days, then Littletree and I fly to Malaysia for a month :)

Jerusalem Butterfly

On Friday we drove up to Jerusalem to see one of my bestest friends, Butterfly. Twas so awesome to see her again, after three years!

Littletree loves her to bits as well :) We all went out into the old city in Jerusalem in search of the best hummous ever in the Muslim Quarter. I love walking around in the old alleyways, on stone pathways that twist in and out; I would get lost in there within 30 seconds!

Eventually we found the best hummous, and oh my goddess! It was worth the walk. Seriously delicious, still warm and served with fresh pita.

We walked around the markets, buying bits of this and that, and catching up

Then we went to another place for the best knaffe ever. Knaffe is a kind of dessert made with goats cheese and sweet stuff somewhat related to baklava. Actually, I can’t explain it, you just have to go try it for yourself! (be warned though, it’s sweet enough to curl your toes!)

Purple and Butterfly sat being silly and we all laughed a lot

Then we went up to a lookout, just to be a bit touristy, and take funny photos while admiring the view. Yay for the good zoom on my camera

And Butterfly showed off her new-found acrobatics skill, in perfectly irreverent style

A fantastic day :)

Best Olive Oil Ever

The one thing I really love about Israel is my family here. They’re all very close, and most live in the same little cooperative village that Purple’s mother grew up in. I love that there’s a 75-year-old-tree on the street that she planted when she was little, and Purples brother, sister and some cousins all live within walking distance, all with their assorted children. Littletree LOVES playing with her cousins and having them so close.

And I love that the family all work together. The family grows olives for olive oil, Bird of Paradise flowers and mandarins. Everyone helps with what they can.

The last time we were here, Littletree and I went out with all the other kids to help picking olives. This time we helped bottle the olive oil.

The bottle tops have a shrink-wrapped cover on them – it’s really cool to watch the plastic shrink onto the bottle under hot water

Littletree and I helped put labels on the bottles

Which isn’t as easy as it looks

The finished product

The most delicious olive oil I ever had! mmmm

Enough Matzah

It was still Passover when I arrived to Israel, so of course, there was an abundance of matzah around. Yay. I hate matzah; haven’t the Jewish people suffered enough?

Purple did succeed in making a damn fine tiramisu with matzah flour, and I do kind of like the matzah ball soup Purple’s mother makes.

Apparently, Littletree was hankering for some wafer biscuits, and her grandmother, aunt and cousin were all trying to explain why she can’t have any. They went through explaining the stories from the bible, and why we can’t eat any “Chametz” during Passover.

“But why” Littletree kept asking, “why can’t I have wafers?” Finally her cousin had enough and said to her “Just because! We do it because we always do it and we’ve been doing it for 3000 years!”

Littletree replied: “3000 years? I think it’s time to stop now!”

LOL The unhindered honesty of children :)

Anyway, it’s over now and I’m muchly enjoying a good fix of pita and hummous of the like you can’t get outside of the middle east. mmmm

Five countries in one day

I finally arrived in Israel. It’s been a long and exhausting day, but it’s good to be here at last.

Starting at quarter to ridiculous, I started out from home to catch a flight at 8:40am… 32 hours and five countries later, I landed in Israel at just after 9am the next day.

For a long and exhausting journey, there were lots of wonderful glimpses along the way.

The gaggle of teenagers off to backpack in South East Asia for Easter break, who were a riot of laughs, debating why the sky is blue.

The satay chicken roti I got in KL airport that was folded over in a way that looked like a perfect yoni-flower (and silly me I didn’t photograph it before hunger got the best of me).

People-watching in Bangkok airport

In Amman airport, crouching on the floor of the bathrooms, handing out toilet tissue, was a woman with the most beautiful smile. I wanted to take a photo of her, but I figured that would not only be weird, I’d never manage to capture her amazing glow with a camera. So I just smiled back at her.

My plane to Jordan

Seeing the Dead Sea and then Israel from the air

Arriving home so aching, and getting a massage from Purple and Littletree (who is exceedingly skilled at walking on backs)

And of course the best thing of all: getting to squeeze my little girl (who is, apparently, not so little any more and wont let me smother her in kisses as much as I’d like.)

And now I’m just waiting for it to be night so I can sleep for about a week.

Update from KL

Well, I made it! I got myself all packed and everything organised and my kitchen cleared out and all the renovations organised and my client birthed and all the everything I had to do.

I even managed to get myself up at quarter to ridiculous and get to the airport on time. I didn’t forget my passport, or my iPad or my fetoscope.

And now I’m in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Well, I’m in the transit lounge at the airport at least!

The flight to here was just over 8 hours, I have a 3 hour wait here, then a 2 hour flight to Bangkok. Then 4 1/2 hours in Bangkok, followed by a 9 hour flight to Amman, Jordan, 90 minutes in Jordan and then another flight to Tel Aviv. Assuming I’m still conscious by that time.

I’m already so tired!

Capture from my webcam, oooooh I look tired. Thankfully they have free wifi in KL airport, and soon I will get to see Littletree!

Beautiful Belly, Perfect Placenta, Midwife Mayhem

At exactly midnight last night, just as I was drifting off to sleep, the phone rang. My client, calling to tell me her waters had released. She said she wasn’t having any sensations yet, and nothing was really happening, but she wanted to give me a “heads up” and suggested I drive out and sleep there rather than getting woken up and have to rush over at quarter to ridiculous in the morning, or whenever things got really happening.

Good idea! I’d rather drive the 40 minutes to her house up a winding, dirt road at midnight than in the wee hours, so I extricated myself from my cosy bed and went out in the rain to go… only to get my car bogged in the mud in my own driveway! Oh goddess NO!

So after a fair whack of swearing and spinning wheels, and jacking up the van and digging under the tyres and putting a few boards down… I was out. Just before I got the van out of the mud, I stood up and said to Ariad (thank the goddess she was there to help me!), “why am I even bothering, I bet she’s birthing a little girl at this very moment”.

A minute later my phone rang – my client’s partner telling me they’d birthed a little girl, all healthy! Only 40 minutes after the original phone call, no less! So I wouldn’t have gotten there anyway.

They asked me to come out and check to make sure everything was fine, and help with the placenta (which took three hours in the end!). Isn’t she a beauty! Nutritious and restorative too :)

So no birthing photos, but I do have yummy pics from when we did the belly cast when the mama was 39 weeks.

Yay for women’s bodies and babies, yay for beautiful birthing!