Spring semester of 2013 - begin!

I’m having a cup of (decaf) tea after having sent the (almost) four year old off on a play date for the day. It’s the calm before the storm. Today, the second part of the academic year 2012-2013 starts at AUB, and we are faced with a new semester, new schedules and new challenges.

Prof. Husband was planning out his classes yesterday, and I helped him with scheduling (because I am the only one of us who owns a calendar). At a certain point he looked at me and asked in earnest, “So… When is the baby coming again?” and added that he would probably want to take a few days off for that, maybe a week. I don’t think the university grants any kind of paternity leave, but he can certainly schedule and reschedule classes to make room for the birth. Of course, we don’t really know exactly when the baby will come. If there are no complications, it will be the first week of April, but at this point, there are so many uncertainties that I’d rather not speculate.

In the meantime, we’re starting off this first week of the new semester with a typical Monday morning: the little one is off on a play date, I’m taking the oldest one to the doctor, our fourth grader is getting ready to take a science test, and Prof. Husband is teaching a new class this morning.

In the afternoon we’ll all switch around. Like musical chairs.

Happy Spring of 2013.

The art of procrastination

My dear professor is still finalizing his book manuscript. I will not comment on this extensively. It is painful to watch, that’s all I’ll say, although there are some not-as-unpleasant parts about it.

Yesterday when I came into the kitchen to prepare a meal for our dinner guest later that night, I found that my husband had got our nicest cut of meat out of the freezer and proceeded to start making salted cured beef. The other night I was working on a translation when I smelled the sweet aroma of homemade caramel apples from the kitchen, also the creation of my man. He even threw in some caramel popcorn that the boys and I enjoyed with a movie. All the while the dear professor went back to his work, of course.

Me? I just clean up afterwards, and enjoy the treats his procrastination produces.

It's that time of the year - the quiet before the storm

Prof. Husband left for the US a couple of days ago. He is presenting a paper at some North American Kant Society event in Tulsa, OK, and is stopping by his parents on the way. It’s a long trip to their house in Nowhere, IN. From Beirut, you first have to fly to a European city with connecting flights to Chicago, then take a bus to get out of Chicago, and then get picked up/drive the rest of the way. From door-to-door it usually takes about 28 hours. Yeah, that’s right. But at least this time he didn’t have to travel with kids, which makes it easier, I imagine. He said the trip went well, in any case, and now he’ll get a little time with family and struggle to fit everything I ordered into his suitcases (who would have thought that a grammar book could weigh 5Lbs?!) do some light shopping before continuing to the conference.

In the meantime, my mother is still here visiting, and several of my friends’ husbands are also off traveling before the semester begins, so tonight the ladies will get together for some food, a chat, and to relax in this quiet-before-the-storm intermission. Like a ladies launcheon. Ha ha. Get it? Launching the upcoming year. Ladies luncheon. He.

Summer plans

OK, that’s it for the weight loss blogging. I won’t bore you with it for a while. In the meantime, let’s talk about this summer.

For a young professor with ambitions, the summer is normally the time to write papers or books – publish – and to visit conferences. Every summer for the past four or so years however, Professor Husband has taught extra summer classes instead to earn extra money so that we could visit our family in Sweden and in the US. Eight weeks of hard work has been enough to – together with savings - cover the cost of our tickets and give us enough to travel and spend a few weeks with our family.

This year we have decided to put career first however, and Professor Husband will not be teaching the summer, but spend the time getting publications out and finishing his book instead, which is due in September. This means we will not be able to visit any family, which is sad, because two years, not to mention three years, between visits is so much longer than one year, and far too long in general. We miss them.

As not to be completely stuck in our apartment all summer though, we are thinking about using what little extra money we have to travel to Italy; go on an actual family vacation, like a normal family. Not that traveling to visit family isn’t fun, but it’s not exactly a sightseeing, culturally enriching, educational, vacationing kind of experience.

Italy will tie in very well with our current studies, and to be completely honest, it’s the closest destination (cheap tickets) we can think of that will grant us a bit of a break from the Middle Eastern culture. Don’t get me wrong; I love the people here and in Egypt, and the culture is fascinating, the politics interesting, to say the least, the food not bad, and art, history and architecture captivating. It’s just that it’s very different, and challenging, and I feel I can appreciate it better if I get an injection once in a while of the familiar, western life that I am more accustomed to. Just that. So we are thinking about going to Italy for a couple of weeks.

Prof. Husband returns home from yet another philosophy conference

Professor Husband comes home tonight after a five-day conference in Istanbul. Since he’s rarely ever gone (only a couple of hour/day tops), it’s a big deal in our house. I think it’s a nice thing to be apart once in a while, but in the mind of the boys, there’s something very wrong in the universe while he’s gone and until he’s back.

It seems most disasters happen while Courtney is away as well. There’s always a computer or [enter your preference here] crisis or someone getting sick. This time, I couldn’t get my work program going, and Abraham spent 24 hours puking, meaning I got exactly 0 work done. I always make these grand plans for what I’m going to do while Courtney’s away (this time I was going to finish a big translation job, ha ha!), but then end up just muddling around, keeping the kids occupied, dressed and fed, and continuously wishing he’d come back to help me solve all the problems and keep me company.

I don’t wish he wouldn’t have gone though, because I’m desperate for some exciting stories about the conference, his friends, conversations, impressions and whatever else he’ll be telling me about.

I guess the ultimate thrill is the thought of him being here soon to solve all our problems, bring exciting conversation and thoughts into the house, and rejoining our everyday life. And then there’s nothing so wonderful as some physical affection after a few days apart, is there?