Home for the Holidays

On the morning of December 20th I left St.Laurent for Congo. The trip began with a boat ride across the Maroni to Suriname in pouring rain, followed by a two hour taxi ride to Paramaribo (the capital) in an overly air-conditioned car. Needless to say I was very wet and cold by the time I got to the airport. Having packed at about 4 o'clock in the morning in a state of semi-consciousness, security had a field day with me when they discovered scissors and a sharp nail file in my toiletries bag. Luckily I don't look like a terrorist so I was allowed to go with only a pat down.
From Paramaribo I flew overnight to Amsterdam then to Paris where I met my brother and my soulmate, Jenna, who had flown in from England to meet us. We checked into a hotel, I changed into warm clothes, and we headed out to explore Paris! First stop was the confusing metro...we made it through alive and reappeared on the busy and beautifully decorated streets of Paris. It was absolutely freezing (or at least it was for me, coming from tropical weather) so we quickly found a lovely Lebanese restaurant, and washed down shawarmas with street-side prepared French crepes, drenched in butter, sugar, and lemon juice...what a marvellous place! We once again navigated our way through the subways and got to the Louvre...it was already quite late so all we could do was admire the architecture and the glass pyramids from the outside, which are in themselves astounding!


We saw the Eiffel Tower light up in the distance but it was just too cold so we looked, took some pictures, and chose instead to navigate our way back to the hotel, where we spent most of the night looking at pictures, eating baklava, inventing card games, and giggling.
The next morning, we woke up early to get back to the airport. After a painfully long check-in process with a trainee, we had our last meal together, after which we said our goodbyes and Dylan and I headed for the gate. Going through security, one of us remarked how weird it was that we had become the kind of family where the kids come home for the holidays....we're kinda grown-up! It's a little weird...
After 8 hours, three movies, 15 cups of orange juice, and one great meal of salmon, we landed in Kinshasa on the night of December 22nd, and were welcomed by the usual chaos at the airport and two beaming parents. Luckily, our bags arrived too, and we arrived home, exhausted but joyful. There was a delicious meal of potatoes and steak waiting for us, followed by one of mom's special chocolate cakes.
The past few days have been a lovely mash of being with family again...


seeing old friends...


and chilling with our new cat....


It sure is good to be home! It's back to St.Laurent on January 6th!