As I mentioned, when we were trying to find housing in the US, we had a hard time getting a place. We finally decided to get something in DC for a couple weeks before moving on elsewhere. There were a few quirks with our apartment, however: a leak in the ceiling of the girls' bedroom during a rainstorm (luckily not over their bed); a parking pass that only worked several blocks away; a front door that wouldn't lock (we could lock the screen door, thankfully); bedroom doors that wouldn't close all the way; uneven floors in every room, including the staircase (it drove Brandon crazy that his desk chair kept rolling towards the wall); and a window that didn't have anything to block the streetlight from shining into our bedroom all night. Although we did complain about the leak, the parking pass, and the lock, nothing ever came of it. So, it wasn't an ideal experience, but we were so jet lagged for the first week of our stay, it didn't matter too much.
View from the dining room/Brandon's office into the living room.
The decor was a little eclectic.
But for all it lacked, our apartment made up for in its location. There was a little sidewalk library right next door (and two more we discovered within walking distance) that we took full advantage of! We read so many books in those two weeks! And we were right next door to a really great park; we could just look out the window to see if the playground was empty so they could go play. And for kids who haven't been able to play outside in four months, that was amazing!
This mural was on the side of our AirBnb
The biggest adjustment, however, was Brandon's work schedule: in order to overlap with India, he began his work day by 3 am--although it could sometimes be earlier if he had a meeting. While the rest of us slept until 6:30ish, Brandon would have already been working for several hours. He stopped working sometime in the afternoon and then there were a few hours to hang out, have an early dinner, and he was in bed before the kids. Even the weekends were similar hours because he didn't want to mess with his sleep schedule too much and have to re-adjust all over again. Honestly, it kinda sucks.
Jet lag....
With everything else going on, why not start school? The Monday after we arrived in the US was also CJ's first day of kindergarten! We are trying to do distance learning with their schools in India, but CJ's school decided to start a week earlier than usual to make up for any gaps in learning from last year. Her first day--ok, her first week--was pretty lackluster; she was so excited for school to start thanks to those weekly get-to-know-you zoom calls she had been having with her teacher, but she didn't really get much to do all we. I ended up doing more work with her on my own than the school gave her, but I realized that this might just be how it is until we go back to Bangalore again. I even forgot to get a 'first day of school' picture until half-way through the day, when she finally got an email from her teacher and was able to do something school-ish.
First day of kindergarten!
(Except they call it Prep 2 at her school)
For the first two weeks of our stay, we tried to isolate ourselves, but until we changed our phones to American numbers, getting things delivered wasn't possible, so going out was sort of a necessity. Plus, we wanted take advantage our location and show the kids some of the sites! Lucky for us, jet lag meant that we could go early in the mornings. And who should we see within our first half hour at the mall? Senator Warren and Professor Mann! Brandon took classes from both of them back at HLS and recognized them right away. I, on the other hand, didn't know who they were until I heard Brandon talking to them. They were so gracious and kind; Professor Mann pointed out my fortuitous shirt and Senator Warren kept telling us we should take a selfie with them in the background. I didn't think to take out my phone, and Brandon was too amped up to comprehend what Senator Warren was saying, so this was the only picture we got:
The girls love dogs!
Of course, we saw other cool things at the mall, too, and it's pretty fun that the kids are old enough to appreciate it. Well, most of it. Their American history knowledge is a little lacking, so this gave us the opportunity to talk about the people these monuments commemorate.
I found out that the DC Zoo had recently reopened via reservation, so we went first thing on a Monday morning. There were almost no people, but also not very many animals. Still worth it, though, because it was so nice to just walk around outside!
We walked the grounds of the National Cathedral on a Sunday afternoon after at-home church; we hadn't visited there since we had family pictures taken in 2013 and it is just as beautiful as I remember it. (Also--when did my kids get so big?!)
And we spent some time with Chelon! SO fun to have family around!
We spent some time (outdoors) with friends that still lived in the area, too, but somehow we didn't get any picture-proof. Really, 2 ½ weeks went by pretty quickly and then it was time to move on. But we couldn't help stopping at some places on our way out of town, like the Air Force Memorial. We even saw our old apartment buildings (although somehow didn't get any pictures of it); the lobby had definitely gotten an uplift, but otherwise it looked pretty much just like we left it.
Next stop: Orange, VA.