We were severely jetlagged, first time in our
lives! We never have a jetlag, we always adjust very easy. But usually it is a
time difference of 7 or 8 hours, now it was 12 hours… We had a fabulous holiday
in Singapore (more about that later) and flew back to Doha (about 7 hours). The
flight was delayed, so we checked in in the hotel in Doha around 1.30 am local
time, and left at 6.30 am local time back to the airport. (quite an expensive 4
hours sleep) Luckily we flew business to Houston, because that was our
relocation trip (about 16 hours flight).
Houston airport was well organized. Because two of
the kids are American we could enter the much shorter “citizens” line and soon
we were in our rental car (with dvd player much to the joy of the boys) on our
way to the service apartment. The apartment has two bedrooms, the 3 boys sleep
together in two beds, as they have done for our holiday in Singapore as well,
they are used to it. The living room is spacious and there’s a washer and dryer
in the kitchen.
Poor Romke went straight to work, and after a
couple of days the boys went to school in their new school uniforms. They were
happy to start school, and all of them like the teachers and class mates. They
make friends easily, and it is a seamless change from Doha to Houston. The
teachers told me “if I didn’t know any better, I would think he was in this
school for years”.
We have done a lot of shopping. And with “a lot” I
mean really “a lot”. It is nice we know our way around already, we know what
shops to go to, even the layout of the big DIY stores are the same as a couple
of years ago. But there is so much to buy… Cars, lamps, ceiling fans,
telephones, desks, bed, washing machine, dryer, vacuum cleaner, iron everything
with a plug (tooth brush, hair dryer, water kettle, citrus press…) We are not
even half way there. It is nice to pick new things, but it doesn’t feel right
to have to buy it all in one week time. I would feel better if I had more time
to look around and do some more comparing.
Also, it is so hard to find nice things here. The
taste of the average American is still about 50 years behind with Europe. It
literally is like walking in your grand mother’s house when you enter a
furniture store. Enormous stores, and not one piece comes even remote enough to
our taste to buy. So you have to settle for a ceiling fan or desk or bed that
is “ok” instead of “nice”. And you keep thinking: “maybe there’s a store that
we haven’t visited yet that has nice stuff”.
Luckily Romke had spotted a lighting store with
quite some contemporary light fixtures when he was in Houston on his own. So we
bought a gorgeous light fixture for the two-storey foyer, and also in the
kitchen and dining room. When it hangs properly I will post pictures, it will
be quite a sight. Because the foyer is that high, they have to build scaffolding.
Just hoping the halogen bulbs will never burn out, because there’s no way to
change them myself…
