My Apples Cause National Security Alerts

We left Karachi at the end of August, just a few days before my third year of law school was scheduled to start.  We had three days to fly from Karachi to Dallas, then get in a car and drive 12 hours back to Atlanta.  We were young, we could rough it, we thought.  What we didn't expect was that I would get massively, disgustingly sick on the way home.  Yep, I spent seven weeks in South Asia without so much as a gurgle, but when I got to the airport in Karachi, I started to get the hint that I might not be having a nice flight home.  The worst thing about it was that we got perks all the way home that I wasn't able to enjoy.  We got upgraded to first class for the flight from Karachi to Muscat, but I was feeling so sick, I couldn't even take a bite of my gourmet first-class meal.  Then, when we got to Muscat, we had a nine hour layover, so Gulf Airways put us up in a hotel.  We were standing in line to get our room in the hotel lobby, there were a lot of people in front of us since it appeared our whole flight was transiting.  As we waited, I was feeling worse and worse.  Unexpectedly, a hotel worker whisked us out of the line, and took us up to the penthouse suite of the hotel.  (I have suspicions that we were not "randomly" selected for the royal treatment, that maybe it is some special "blue passport" treatment that we got because of me, but who knows...)  Any way, the suite was gorgeous, with a giant balcony overlooking downtown Muscat, with (according to M) wonderful views.  I don't know about the view, because I spent the entire nine hours either lying on the floor of the (very nice) bathroom, or lying in the bed.  I have never been that viscerally sick in my life (I will spare you the disgusting details).  I was still really sick when we left to get on our next flight (although at least I wasn't puking anymore).  Before we left the hotel in Muscat, I slipped a few apples in M's carry-on bag, since they were the only thing I thought I might be able to eat. 

A view of what I missed in Muscat.  Maybe one day we will get to go back.

Photo Credit

We transitted through Germany, and finally got to Dallas.  As we were going through customs, M, of course, had to be specially screened, or whatever they call it when you have to go into a little room to the side and get questioned extra because you come from the "wrong" country.  Anyway, I waited for him the waiting room while he was taken back to a private room.  I always get kind of anxious waiting for him to come out (key reason why I refuse to watch the movie "Extraordinary Rendition").  Finally he came out, looking quite a bit perturbed (with me--anyone who has been married for a while can tell when their husband is not too happy without a word having to be said).  Turns out that the immigration officer had asked him whether he was carrying any food on him, and he said no, not knowing that I had stashed some apples in his bag.  Then the officer searched his bag, found the apples, and berated him for "lying."  Then he took out our customs form and wrote APPLES on it in big red letters with a permanent marker and told M it would be a $500 fine for illegally bringing fruit into the country.  M was so mad at me!

When we got to the customs inspector, he looked at our form, and said "I see here you have some apples, how much do you have?" obviously holding back a smirk.  "Three." I said.  "Three apples?" he said incredulously.  "Well, it seems like you all have had a long enough day already, so why don't you just give me the apples, and you can go on your way."  I gratefully gave him the apples, and we finally made it out of the airport and met my dad, who was wondering why it was over two hours since our flight had gotten in, and he still hadn't seen us.  A few days later, after recuperating at my parents' house, we made the drive to Atlanta, and it was the only time in my life I ever missed the first day of school.

Treasures from Karachi

One of my favorite things about visiting Karachi is the shopping.  I love the atmosphere, the variety, and of course, the prices!  The first time I visited Karachi, since I was there for six weeks, I had a broad variety of shopping experiences, including Zainab Market, Tariq Road, Millennium Mall, Dolman Mall, Pak Towers, ZamZama, to name just a few.  One of my favorite things to buy is home goods, because I like the style of traditional Pakistani textiles, and the home goods are just so much more affordable in Pakistan compared to here.  The first time we went, we brought back a lot of rugs, wall hangings, etc.  Of course, I also like to go clothes shopping, and shoe shopping (ZamZama day was nothing but shoes, I think I bought 8-9 pairs in one go).  Zainab Market is great for souvenirs, especially pashmina shawls, I always go there to pick up some pashmina shawls as gifts for people back home (I have quite a nice collection of my own as well).

Here is some of the stuff from my first trip that we use at our house.  I love all this stuff.

Rug in the foyer of my house.  We bought this from a rug sale that was going on at a hotel that M heard about.  This is an Afghani rug. 

   

Wood carvings from Zainab market, the top says "Allah" and the bottom one says "Muhammad."

This smaller rug is in my downstairs hallway.  We received this rug as a wedding present

Wall hanging in our family room.  This is also from Zainab market

We use these large pillows as floor pillows in our bedroom.  We also got these covers as wedding presents. 

This rug is in our bedroom sitting area, we also got it  from the same rug sale.  This is a handmade silk rug.  The ja namaz (prayer rugs) are from Pakistan too.  M brought back the small one for Little D last time we went to Karachi.  

Last year we went to Karachi again, and, although I didn't go out as much, we did manage to pack our bags full of treasures once more.  This time, we decided to get curtains made for our house.  Having custom made curtains done in the States costs thousands of dollars, and takes weeks.  But in Karachi, you can have them custom made in just a few days, and for only a couple of hundred dollars.  The curtain man came to our house and brought tons of samples.  I looked through all the books and chose the patterns I liked.  Then M went back with him to the store and told him how he wanted them finished out, and they were done and back to us by the next day.  

Dining room curtains

Living room curtains

Bedroom Curtains

                                                                                  

Last time, I left early because I had to get back to work, and M and Little D stayed a week longer.  M went shopping some more and brought back some pottery, and other knick knacks as well. 

Sindhi style pottery that I display in my kitchen. 

Decorative animals.  Little D is always very sad that he can't play with the "booo" (elephant).

A decorated toy truck for Little D's room.  This is what big trucks in Pakistan actually look like.  I have a miniature rickshaw too, that I keep in my office.  On the back of it, it says "Look at me, but with love" in Urdu.

A sampling of my pashmina collection.  These are just the first few I happened to pull off my shelf. 

Why? (Weekly Rant)

Why is there an ugly purple couch in the women's restroom on my floor?  Why are there stupid little teddy bears on it with dumb cutesy sayings on them?  Why do I have to maneuver around it everytime I want to go to the bathroom?  This isn't the frickin' Neiman Marcus bathroom!  I have never seen anyone sit on this couch, ever.  Why would anyone want to?  I'm a mean intimidating woman litigator (ha!)  I don't want cutesy teddy bears in my office bathroom.  If I went to another firm and there were teddy bears in the women's restroom, I would make fun of the women attorneys at that firm.  (I'm mean that way, ha!)  Sometimes I hide the bears behind the cushions of the ugly couch just to see if someone will find them and take them out.  After a week or so, they always regain their postions of honor.   

Thank God it's Friday...