What's up with Elisabeth & George?: Penang -- Week 11 -- Little Penang Part 1

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Penang -- Week 11 -- Little Penang Part 1

SATURDAY, May 24th
I've decided. I'm taking up babywearing again, for real this time. Mostly I don't want to spend the outrageous money it would take for me to buy a babycarrier here for hikes and such, and I've had it in my head that we will soon hike up Penang Hill with Regin in the sling. Well, I have to train for that! So I'm going to start carrying him for lengths of time on my back. I wonder how many days/weeks of this it will take before I am ready for a multi-hour hike. Today we walk to lunch at a Chinese restaurant a few streets away. When Regin finally gets to sleep I switch him the front so I can sit and eat, but I end up keeping him that way for his whole nap because it's so yummy to snuggle like that with him it's amazing.

It's like what a pregnancy is in your dreams: a baby that you can really feel, snuggled and warm, but with none of the physical complaints, though it does wear out your back after a while. Regin seems to like it too. He's taking to it much better than when he was an infant.

SUNDAY
Today I'm slinging it again.

And it's our sight-seeing/cultural experience day today, so with Regin on my back (for a few minutes), we visit Little Penang Street Market. It's a small arts & crafts and performing arts festival that happens once a month.

There's a little tent with some artwork hanging.

Oh thank goodness for art. I have been missing my First Fridays in Denver! There are some other tents with food and crafts for sale.

There are portrait artists and a performance area where, right now, there is a group of kids performing music.

Get this, there is also a table where a girl is selling handmade slings! She invites me to a babywearing group meeting. Can you believe it? Right when I decide to take it up again! I'm especially excited about this. I have been really wanting to connect with local people more and connect Regin with more kids, plus it's tremendously thrilling to find some like-minded people when you feel so disconnected from what you know.

I'm taking tons of pictures, mostly of Regin with his balloon (post to follow), but I'm not the only one who wants to take pictures of Regin.

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How we're doing right now.

April 6th, 2009
Oh man, moving back home has been quite a transition! For Regin especially. It has taken him three months to return to being fully, or almost fully, potty trained. But we're home and happy to be with friends and in an environment where things are easier.

But of course, not everything is easier. George's first day back to work he learned that the company was exiting the business and he and all the other people that work on that product (including all those people he trained in Penang) were told to look for other jobs.

His last day was March 31st. No time for that cozy little 'sabbatical' though; after he finished his last day of work, his family called and told us they are coming (from Florida) for a visit on the 10th! This would be no big deal (other than being terribly exciting) if we were fully moved back in, but of course, until now, we've had VERY little motivation to fully unpack! So now we're preparing the house at warp speed!

You know, I do miss Penang. Hard to say what I miss exactly, because I know it's more than our friends there, but I feel a certain pang. And all the time we were there, other than missing family, friends, easy living, and snow, I never once actually missed 'Colorado.'

When we got back to Colorado, I expected to have a new and complete love for the place. I do appreciate some things a lot more, especially visual things. I see beauty where I didn't before. But it hasn't been the feeling of home that I expected, and I still have some of the same issues with the place. But what I do love IMMENSELY and will always love IMMENSELY is the people we have here. And it's been absolutely amazing to see how Regin has picked right back up where he left off with his loved ones here. There's no doubt in my mind that he somehow remembers them.