Pakistan Trip!

I think my first blog was about my Pakistan trip? Or was it my 2nd?  I could go back and look, but since I've already started typing - I'm just going to continue.

I went to Pakistan about 2 years ago with my mom.  It was fun, except the fact that I got really sick.  And by the end of my 4 week stay, I just wanted to get home.

This time around, my whole family went for my brothers wedding. And I had an absolute freaking blast! I was there for about 4 full days (crazy, considering it takes about 18 hours to get there.)  My parents, older brother and sister had went beforehand - and the three younger siblings came afterwards.  We had work and school and couldn't get enough time off to go earlier.  But even then, I think it worked out perfectly.

The trip itself was so much fun because my family (with 4 siblings, you never do get bored) was there, a few aunts and cousins too.  We would go to the wedding events at night, come home and stay up the rest of the night playing board games or cards.  It was fun because all of us were competitive and if we lost, we would want a immediate rematch.  My aunts and parents joined in too, so the group was big and loud and cheating all around. During the days, usually my sister, cousin and I went out to try out food places - as Karachi is the place to eat! We tried out some amazing cafes and restaurants that we had heard of. 

I was afraid that I was going to get sick again and avoided anything that looked suspicious.  I brought my own blanket and pillows from home, so I could avoid any possible allergic reactions.  I still did manage to get an allergic reaction, but immediately went to the doctor and he was able to sort it out quickly.  Other than that, I avoided the whole stomach problems while I was there.  My siblings, not so lucky. 


We then flew out on a Monday to Istanbul.  Our plan was to stop by there and do some sightseeing for three days before flying back to good ol' Houston. I had managed to get online visas for my family beforehand, so we wouldn't have to wait in lines.  When I tried getting one for me, it gave my some issues because of my expiration date - I called and asked them about it, and they told me not to worry as I will get my visa on arrival - that didn't happen!

I wasn't allowed to enter the country and they told me to go back to Pakistan.  I told them, that I would rather just fly home.  I was able to get them to change my flight from the Friday to that same day - it was quite a struggle.  My family was upset and didn't want to stay without me.  My mom refused to let me go home alone, so I asked them to change my mom's flight as well.  I managed to talk my family into staying without the two of us and told them to have fun!


I wasn't as upset about the visa thing - as I understand the government rules.  The had a rule that if the passport was expiring within 60 days of entering the country, then that person could not get a visa.  I asked if I could pay the penalty fee, but they told me that it was too late for that.  I was fine with that!  - I just did not like the way the airport officials and the Turkish airline folks spoke to my father and I.  They were rather rude and weren't as helpful.

When I had asked them to go ahead and move up my flight so I could leave Turkey, they booked me on a flight that was scheduled to leave on Thursday (I was originally leaving on Friday morning).  I then asked them what I was supposed to do until Thursday considering they were not giving me a visa - was I supposed to stay at the airport for 2 nights? The man told me yes, that is what I had to do, considering they had no flights until then (Obvious lie, I checked online and they have a flight leaving from Turkey to Houston, almost everyday at 2:45 PM).  I told him the same and he argued with me a bit - which I told him that would be fine - they would have to provided me a two day visa - as this was a special circumstances and they have a rule about providing visas for people who are stuck in the country.  After that the guy then went ahead and booked me on the next flight to Houston.


Since I was still inside the airport (and my family had already done baggage claim), they told me I could not get my bags.  I argued a bit and told them that, that wasn't fair.  They could at least have it picked up for me, or my mom - who had already gotten through immigration, and was going to check in again as she was coming back to Houston with me - could bring it in with her.  They told me that would be fine and my mom could explain the situation at check-in.  I had my doubts, but was all argued out.  So I went ahead to the gate to wait for my mom. 

Of course, my brother called me and told me that they said that my mom would have to pay for my two luggage's as they were not able to see me at check-in.  I then had to talk to them over the phone, explain the situation a couple of times.  I told them that I would give them my passport number and they could use that to check the status.  At first they refused, but finally my brother was able to get them to use my passport number.  Once they checked that, they allowed my baggage in.  My mom then had 45 minutes to get through security and meet me at the gate.  She got there just in time and we were able to board.


When we finally got home - I was so happy.  The Houston immigration and baggage claim people are so nice!  They were all smiles and told me to have a great night - I missed that at the Pak and Istanbul airport.


Once we got home, I got sick - I think it was because I didn't have enough day sin Pakistan to get sick, so it followed me home.  I got home on the Tuesday, and had taken off until Friday.  I decided to just stay home for the next few days, as I wasn't feeling well and it would be my time to just relax.  It was a good few days.  Their was no work, just my mom and me in the house, so things were tidy.  We just hung out mostly.  I went to pick up the rest of the family when they flew in on Friday.

Over all, it was a great vacation - a bit bummed at not being able to see Istanbul, as I heard it is beautiful!  But next time!

 

                          

Catch up

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas/Holiday!  This year feels like it just flew by, and it's hard to believe that the holidays are over!  It's been a while since I posted.  Last time, I told you guys about the fun little bachelorette trip we took to Austin.  Here are a few snip bits of my life since then.



Went to my friends wedding and had a great time. I'm so very happy for her.  She made a gorgeous bride - and I told her so.  And she comes back with, "Ya, as if you're going to tell a bride she looks bad on her big day."  And of course I came back with, "I was talking about the clothes, not the face."  But in all honesty - as I know she won't be reading this - she looked gorgeous, top to bottom.   The wedding itself was very small and intimate and exactly what she wanted.  She has lot of friends, she does.  But she just wanted it to be her very close friends and family.  It was at this really gorgeous country club.  I do admit to ditching the wedding halfway through to go explore the area.  I also got to meet some of her friends from across the world - she was skyping them while eating dinner.  It was very funny actually.  Picture this:  New husband sitting on your right eating his little heart away, photographer taking pics of you and your husband and scolding you for not paying attention.  A group of friends standing around the table trying to take selfies with you, and you sit there skyping with people.


BY THE WAY.  I helped with decorations.  I'm not completely useless.  This was for the Dholki - dance partay.  We did go a bit crazy.  None of us are actually good at dancing, but we dominated the dance floor.  And none of us are really good at singing, but we sang out hearts out. fun times.





 







While I wasn't at the events or generally being lazy.  I was trying to meet up as many friends as I could during the Holiday season. Got to finally meet up some of my old High School friends.  We try to do a reunion every now and then.  I remember once saying we should do a hang out once a month - for all the people still in town, some friends have actually moved out to different parts of the world - and i remember everyone saying how they were always busy.  I get that everyone is busy - believe me, I do.  But we hang out with our other friends regularly - friends we've made in college and university and at work, we could take a day out of that and meet our old friends.  I like doing that and being in touch with them.  I don't want it to be one of those things, were we see each other in the future and just smile at each other and turn away because it becomes awkward.   But we did meet up - and had a great time just catching up with each other.  PLUS, JUST LOOK AT THE FOOD.  YUM!

















I was sick for a few days, and stayed at home to rest.  But my dear friends couldn't survive that long without bothering me and just showed up at my place.  It was very cool though, we stayed in and watched movies.  I also had a baking day and made some cinnamon almond cake, Mexican wedding cookies, and peppermint hot chocolate.




 Altogether, my holidays were perfect.  I had some time for just myself, time for my friends, and some for my family.  How were your holidays?  Let us know what you did!

Holiday Lunch

'tis the season to be JOLLY *FA LA LA, LA LA LA, LA LA LA*

Where am I being this Jolly?  At my work Holiday Lunch.  Okay - that is a lie.  I am not all that Jolly, but it was still fun. We had our Holiday Lunch on Tuesday for a couple of hours during lunch time and then we were free to go home and enjoy.

My Company went ahead and kept it at a beautiful ballroom of a nearby hotel.  Once we got in, we received a raffle ticket for one of the bigger prizes. *Naturally, I did not win*. After getting some punch, we were seated in the nicely decorated ballroom.  Had an introduction speech and were told to dig in by our beloved CEO.  We all dug in and enjoyed a three course meal.  We had some bread and butter, very delicious pumpkin soup with breading on top and iced tea, a lovely mozzarella stuffed tortilla with rice or steak for the main meal (depending on what you want) and lastly dessert with coffee.  And with that came conversation with the people we were sitting around.  In these events, they like for us to mingle and get to know new people.  So there I sat, me and my anti-social self, sitting next to some random people.  I sent a quick prayer up to God to save me and smiled politely at everyone at the table.   Thankfully, I was spotted by a girl who sits in the cubicle next to me in the office and she joined me at the table.  I let her do most of the talking smiling and nodding here and there.  I added some input on some things.  Mostly, I ate my food.

Once we finished our grand meal (It all looked very grand).  Came the entertainment and the prizes.  We had the directors of two parts of the company come and host the event.  They were really good.  They were making puns and and jokes left and right.  I quite enjoyed their hosting.  We were then greeted by the holiday committee, that put time and effort in getting the entertainment together for the lunch.  They performed a riveting recital of 'twas the night before Christmas (Actually to be honest, it was really funny and very exaggerated, kudos to the performers!  They did a great job in adding a humorous twist to it!).  Once they completed that, the hosts came back up to give away a few prizes *Didn't win any of these either*.

Once again the performers came up and performed a dance to show diversity in our company by performing a few different styles, genres, and language songs.  It was nicely done and seemed like they put a lot of effort into it.   After that, the hosts were back up with other prizes *nope - no winnings for me*

The entertainers were back up with a dance group (I'm sorry, I forgot what the dance group name was)  They were were good, dancing and signing and getting everyone in the holiday spirit! The hosts were back up with more prizes *once again - i didn't win*  They also did a quick trivia game, that was to be done with the table mates *didn't win that either*

And we were then dismissed to go home and enjoy the rest of the day.

It was a very nice holiday lunch.  I really enjoyed myself.  The entertainment was good, the food was good, and the whole atmosphere itself was great.

Thank you for reading.  Please share you Holiday Party stories or please leave a link below to your blog.  I would love to check it out.  Thank you!


PS. I have no idea, why I only took the below pics.  And not of the actual food.  I think once the food came I was just too interested in eating to take pics.  I'm sorry about that. 

my view

ignore my work phone

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hmm