Home, Safe and (Not Sleeping So) Sound

I keep thinking I should pinch myself. I cannot believe I am really home. More than that I think I am having trouble believing that I don't have to return to Taiwan this time. No offense Taiwan, I just really missed my homeland. As expected, I am in the throes of jet-lag. On travel day I went at least 25 hours without sleeping. You would think then that when you finally get to lay down you would sleep a good long time, but you don't. The kids and I all slept 4-5 hours and were awake by 10 p.m. Yes, we went to sleep in the early evening. We couldn't stay awake any longer and I have vowed not to fight the jet lag this time but just ride it through. By 2:00 in the morning, when I was certain all of us were fully awake, we headed out to a 24-hour Walmart to pick up a few necessities. You know, things like Cap'n Crunch, donuts and Zingers. The kids thought it was great to be shopping in the middle of the night. So did I because we had the store practically to ourselves. At 5:00 a.m. I declared it was bedtime. I slept a few hours and the kids slightly more. I really thought that would carry us through to a regular bedtime and a quick recovery but it didn't - at least not me. By 7:30 I couldn't keep my eyes open so I went to bed and told the kids not to stay up too late. (What a Mom!). I have no idea when they went to bed, but when I woke up all of 2 hours later they were asleep. I am betting they will sleep all night and be completely recovered by tomorrow. Kids are annoying that way. So anyhow, here we are. It feels indescribably wonderful to be back in my home country. For the time being we are staying in a furnished apartment. I think I could happily stay here permanently. Right outside our front windows is the river. I can hear it at night. It is such a wonderful, peaceful sound. So much better than scooters, police whistles, "singing" garbage trucks, road construction and the continual roar of air conditioners. In the morning there is the sound of many birds singing. I am so happy. We will not stay here forever, though. We have rented a house. I got my first look at it yesterday and was slightly disappointed. I won't go into all of the details, but I will say it's probably good that I do not love the house as much as I expected. We can only live there for 12-18 months and I thought it would be really difficult to leave. Now I think it might not be as hard as I thought, which is a good thing. And the house is certainly not bad, just not all that I had built it up to be in my mind. This means my gypsy existence will continue and that suits me fine. I just hope that we can stay in the same city for a good long time now, for the sake of my children. This move was pretty hard on them and I hope they can now make and keep some very good friends. I will try to include pictures next time, after the jet lag is gone.