You Spin Me Right Round

Our household has been quite a buzz this week because my aunt and uncle are visiting from the home country. We have all survived five people sharing two bedrooms and using one toilet after eating my cooking. Surprisingly, they seem to enjoy my culinary repertoire (my uncle especially has no love for food), so I must pat myself on my back and say a big ‘whoop di do and haha in your face’ for all those who thought my family and I would starve after our move to Canada (since I never cooked before that).

Childishness aside, I have been surviving on pure adrenaline these days since my four year old, Lanes, and I have been rather delighted to have our house guests.  Lanes, in particular, was super attached to my aunt and uncle before we left Sri Lanka. We lived next door to them and she would spend a considerable amount of time in their  house rearranging and putting back their ornaments, listening to Scottish music of all things, and making my aunt and uncle dance to her tune.

My long suffering spouse, P, and I were hoping to take them around and for all of us to see and experience as many ‘tourist’ type things as possible. As I have still not secured a driving license, and Lanes has preschool, while P is struggling to keep his temp job during the week, we technically only have about 3 hours to do stuff.

I say technically because before we get out the door, I have to sort out my geriatric relatives and a bouncy four year old. I don’t even have time to give myself a once over.  By the time we trudge to the bus stop with my aunt giving me a running commentary about combing out my  hair, my uncle fretting about Lanes walking near the edge of the sidewalk, and Lanes stopping to find every dandelion on the way, we miss about two buses.

We save all the sightseeing for the weekends and I decided I’ll engage in my favorite sport, shopping, with my aunt, who dutifully follows me everywhere. Sadly, her idea of shopping is hopping off the bus, speed walking across the mall, and jumping back on the bus to pick up Lanes—thirty to forty-five minutes early! I am left with no time to dawdle, which really bummed me out.

Speaking of dawdling and using buses, I temporarily broke up with my driving instructor. It’s been a roller coaster of a time for us while everyone is here, and as much as I enjoy it, I feel a little tired since I’m cramming more into a day than usual. Also, with us sharing a toilet, there was no room for me to have indigestion over an upcoming driving class.

The center I was supposed to take the test at is closed from September to December, and the one right by where I live is apparently notorious for failing people. So I opted to resume my classes leisurely. I must say my stomach and esophagus have been most grateful for that. As for my driving instructor, he genuinely sounded disappointed.  I guess I must have been good for his low blood pressure.

Lanes and I are going to be bored and sad when everyoen leaves at the end of the week. We will miss all of us having four different conversations at the same time, my aunt shivering and my uncle swearing whenever the elevator in our building skips our floor, and an endless supply of cereal in our apartment (my relatives love to buy a new box every other day despite my vehement protests that I have no room for them).

I have taken to raising some plants, all named after the Scooby-Doo gang (to give Lanes a thrill). P is still snickering and waiting for me to bump them off, but so far they seem to like me: ) What's not to like? Or as they say here, 'what's not to like, eh?' More musings from BC next week...