In the past few months, we have learned a lot about how to game the summer, as it were, and get the most out of the yearly expat exodus here. Some of this we learned too late to help us this year, unfortunately, but we will definitely be applying it all to next summer's vacation.
For example, as I noted in an earlier post, this year Ramadan happens during the summer. One of the hallmarks of Ramadan here is a shortened work day for everyone, Muslim or not. It's like paid time off everyone takes, basically. Sadly for the husband, we are leaving just after Ramadan starts, so he doesn't get to take advantage of many of the shortened days, though he does come back before the month ends, so he will get a few. But if we had been smarter or known more, we would have had him stay here for the entire month and then join at the end of our vacation, rather than at the beginning. Silly, silly us!
The same is true of school schedules. I mistakenly thought that the children would need to be in school until the very last day, like they have to be in the States. Instead, we could have left anytime after the middle of this month, apparently, and not really missed anything or been held accountable for leaving. (I read somewhere before we moved that there are expat children out there who have never attended a full year of school. Now, I believe it!) In fact, I've been told that no one expects anyone but the teachers to be around on the last two days of school since Ramadan will already have started. Of course, none of this is official, so how were we to know when we were making our travel arrangements months ago, but we'll be ready for next year, when Ramadan happens even earlier...and so does our summer break, I guess!
Several families have also told us that the working parent flies out with the family for a week or so at the beginning of vacation and then flies out again at the end of vacation so he or she can fly back with the family as well, meaning that one parent isn't left to fly alone with the kids. While this sounds like a great idea in theory, in practice it just wouldn't work for us, because it takes almost a week just to get back on a livable schedule in the States. However, if we were vacationing in Europe or Asia, where the time differences are much smaller, this would be a fabulous idea! So we will just tuck away that little tidbit of information in case we might need it some day.
We have finally learned the beauty of airport lounges since we've moved here, and we intend to take advantage of every last one of them we can while we are traveling this time around. Places that have free food, kid's rooms, comfortable seats, and even showers all available as perks because of frequent flyer memberships or credit cards? Genius! We have a long layover in JFK on the way over, and I plan to milk those lounges for all they are worth!
Another thing we have learned is that most folks seem to wait until the last possible moment to return, even the night before school starts, and then just toss the kids into class and hope for the best. We are coming back about 10 days before school because I remember with dread how hard it was for us when we came here the first time, but we might learn that's a mistake as well. On the other hand, I also remember how loud and long J cried when we came back from spring break the night before school started, wailing that he needed another day of vacation to get used to the idea of going back to school, so maybe we will need all the time we can get for readjustment.
We are such novices! Maybe by the time next summer rolls around, we'll be expert expats!
For example, as I noted in an earlier post, this year Ramadan happens during the summer. One of the hallmarks of Ramadan here is a shortened work day for everyone, Muslim or not. It's like paid time off everyone takes, basically. Sadly for the husband, we are leaving just after Ramadan starts, so he doesn't get to take advantage of many of the shortened days, though he does come back before the month ends, so he will get a few. But if we had been smarter or known more, we would have had him stay here for the entire month and then join at the end of our vacation, rather than at the beginning. Silly, silly us!
The same is true of school schedules. I mistakenly thought that the children would need to be in school until the very last day, like they have to be in the States. Instead, we could have left anytime after the middle of this month, apparently, and not really missed anything or been held accountable for leaving. (I read somewhere before we moved that there are expat children out there who have never attended a full year of school. Now, I believe it!) In fact, I've been told that no one expects anyone but the teachers to be around on the last two days of school since Ramadan will already have started. Of course, none of this is official, so how were we to know when we were making our travel arrangements months ago, but we'll be ready for next year, when Ramadan happens even earlier...and so does our summer break, I guess!
Several families have also told us that the working parent flies out with the family for a week or so at the beginning of vacation and then flies out again at the end of vacation so he or she can fly back with the family as well, meaning that one parent isn't left to fly alone with the kids. While this sounds like a great idea in theory, in practice it just wouldn't work for us, because it takes almost a week just to get back on a livable schedule in the States. However, if we were vacationing in Europe or Asia, where the time differences are much smaller, this would be a fabulous idea! So we will just tuck away that little tidbit of information in case we might need it some day.
We have finally learned the beauty of airport lounges since we've moved here, and we intend to take advantage of every last one of them we can while we are traveling this time around. Places that have free food, kid's rooms, comfortable seats, and even showers all available as perks because of frequent flyer memberships or credit cards? Genius! We have a long layover in JFK on the way over, and I plan to milk those lounges for all they are worth!
Another thing we have learned is that most folks seem to wait until the last possible moment to return, even the night before school starts, and then just toss the kids into class and hope for the best. We are coming back about 10 days before school because I remember with dread how hard it was for us when we came here the first time, but we might learn that's a mistake as well. On the other hand, I also remember how loud and long J cried when we came back from spring break the night before school started, wailing that he needed another day of vacation to get used to the idea of going back to school, so maybe we will need all the time we can get for readjustment.
We are such novices! Maybe by the time next summer rolls around, we'll be expert expats!
Ah, the little things no one tells you...
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