Wednesday, June 4, 2008

What? Change my plans?

It is difficult for me to live at the mercy of others’ schedules. Today I left my apartment to go to IKEA. To get there it requires a bit of planning if I’m going to do it cheaply. Doing things cheaply is always my main goal. My two older boys walked along side me and my baby was in a kid carrier on my back. My baby weighs between 25-30 pounds now. He’s kind of porkish but super cute still. So there I go down the street to the bus stop hoping that the wait for the bus won’t be too long. The kids get antsy. Shermy always ends up brushing people with his dusty sandals as he swings his legs on the bus stop bench. Atticus eventually will drop his head like a lead ball on my lap if we have to wait too long. We waited, and waited, and waited for about 30 minutes. Not so bad. The bus ride was great. No one was in the bus when we got on. We arrived at our destination. We walked a little farther to IKEA. Almost the best part about going to IKEA for my boys is the little tunnel that we walk through to get there. It is here that all hell breaks loose. It will strike fear in every Turks heart. Atticus and Shermy scream at the top of their lungs until the veins pop out on their necks. They do this all the way through the tunnel and the whole time I let them. I let them be completely free for those 4 minutes. Cinci laughs the whole time too. Anyway, we enjoyed our stay in IKEA and Real. We hurried to get back to the bus stop by 1, which we did. We got there five to one. No bus. No bus at one. No bus at 1:40, which was when the next bus was supposed to have arrived. No bus at 2. By this time Cinci was a wild stallion, galloping back and forth down the little walkway in front of the bus stop. I had to corral him snugly into the kelty and sway for then next 10 minutes until he fell asleep. During this whole time I was asking myself what could I have done differently to make it work out for us. What will I do next time I come to IKEA? Will I not come again? Will I fork over 25 lira to take a taxi home? Finally, I decided I would take a different bus to another location I was familiar with. From there I would either catch Jonathan as he got off work or take a different bus home. Either option was favorable to waiting and waiting and waiting some more. So I took a different bus. It all worked out. I caught Jonathan just as he finished his class. I almost slapped one of the secretaries because he told me that Jonathan wasn’t there. Just as he said that Jonathan left an hour ago, Jonathan walked around the corner “Hi guys!”. I glared at the secretary from the other side of the desk. I’m sure he didn’t want to get attacked by a sweaty, tired, disheveled, perturbed mom who had to carry a 72 pack of diapers around Istanbul along with a baby on her back and two other kids scurrying behind. Slap, slap!
The secretary is alive and so my family and me. IKEA was fun and I now know I need to be like MacGuyver. In addition to plan A I must have a foot of dental floss, a paper clip, and a piece of already chewed gum handy for a plan B just in case the bus doesn’t come.

2 comments:

Sonja said...

oooh, all that for Ikea atmosphere and diapers?? I hope you at least got some chocolate out of it.

Christine, I've aways thought of you as McGyverish. :)

Aimee said...

You're living the life I had twelve years ago, but mine was in Japan. It is stressful and exhausting--I remember lugging strollers, babies, toddlers, and groceries up and down the subway stairs wondering if life would ever get easier. Well, it does. But you have a few years to go. Hang in there, friend.