Thinking Allowed: New continent!

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog post, so here's a quick catch-up on the last chapter of Australia, to the tune of 'California Girls':

I sold our car in Cairns but didn't see a single cent,

Until I chased the slimy dealer ten times, maybe the next time we'll just rent

Tamar and all the girls saw sharks and coral on the Reef

Zadie learned to dive from Tova using a swimming pool and a leaf

We headed back to Canberra to say one last goodbye

Sophia disappeared into her world of friends, Aurora gave Cain's Jawbone a try

We socialized a bit too much, then drove back Sydney way

Stayed in a moldy, lightless dump in Surry Hills until the time to fly away...

I wish we'd not forgotten our Covid tessssstssss....

There we were, in Sydney airport. I was reading Harry Potter 5 out loud when it transpired that proof of vaccination for 3 of us might not actually suffice as evidence for all 6 of us. We sweated bullets...how could it not have occurred to us that the little ones should have done RATs?! Luckily, the Scoot Airlines agent had mercy on us and waved us through. Over and over, Scoot managed to be a totally no-frills, ultra-budget airline that was also totally awesome at the same time.

Our first flight was eerily empty, there were like 30 other people on a giant plane to Singapore. We stretched out on 3 seats apiece and I read a novel and a half, and did the occasional Turkish flashcard. Tamar and the girls presumably did other things, including eating $5 Ramen that was both overpriced and delicious, and blitzing through the excellent activity books we got in Kinokuniya.

In Singapore Zadie lay prone under a giant orb representing all of humanity. Tova and Sophia ran back and forth along the Travelators. Tamar shuttled back and forth to the food court which was a solid km away. We had a joyous reunion with onigiri, but otherwise all the ethnic options were closed for Covid so we had to eat Subway. Aurora stayed up until the equivalent of 4 am without batting an eyelash, and was the only one to skip out on 8 hours of jet lag.

Then came the really long journey to Athens. I read another book and a half, which is remarkable given that one of them is Ilium, by Dan Simmons, which clocks in at a cool 752 pages. We ate more Ramen. My back grumbled contentedly to itself. Tamar took care of any kids who might be awake through 11.5 hours while I neglected things. We met a baby named Calypso. The girls watched their first anime movie, My Neighbor Totoro ("It was so good! There was Saski and Mei and Totoro, and this boy who was really shy, and the mama and papa and granny, and like who else? And her Mama went to the hospital (hilarity). And they got to go in the cat bus.")

And then we were in Athens! We have been here for three days now, and it has been quite marvelous in many ways. Enough so that I might save a proper description of our Athenian adventures for next time.