When the cat is away....

So, what does expat spouse do when expat hubby is away?

T has been in Panama these couple of weeks taking advance Spanish lessons (obviously he needs it more than I do - uh oh that came out wrong...for his work, I mean - I just need it for shopping - honey if you're reading this, you know how much I love you - kiss). It's one of the longer times he's been away from us (the longest being 2 months and it was V and I who were on vacation in the Philippines - chuckle, chuckle), normally just a couple of days here and there or a long weekend visiting consulates and Danish financed development projects within the region.

Entonces, expat spouse:

1. Checked V's homework - liar! Who am I kidding, it's in Swedish (why it's T the viking's job), how could I. Well, I tried.
2. Went on a dinner (Japanese) date with V.
3. Continued my Spanish classes even if I soooooo did not feel like it anymore - that should count for something.
3. Made Filipino food w/ bagoong - T loves Filipino food (believe it or not) except for bagoong and balut (google it).
4. Attended the reception for Prince Henrik.
5. Watched the award winning movie 'Das Leben der Anderen' (The lives of others) sponsored by the German Embassy together with M & E and K & L.
- Thanks S & B for the tickets, in case you're reading this. Although I doubt you'd waste precious slope time off your ski vacation and crazy after-ski evenings.
6. Borrowed about 10 DVDs and watched them in 2 days - pathetic
7. Gone to P's farm to play Mahjong, which happens to also be her birthday celebration cum despedida party with the 'Damas' (Damas de Diplomaticas - mostly). Mahjong is Thursday mornings, mainly at T's house but can change every now and then.

8. Went to M & M's (not the chocolate) bailable party that went on until the not so wee hours of the morning (unlike Manila, there's no 24 hour restaurants where one can pick-up breakfast on the way home or a 24H pølsevogn like in Denmark).

9. Shopped for 'pasalubong'. I got the Esteli cigars for L today and a little something else for M in Huembes.

10. Went to La Colonia for 2 weeks worth of dog chow.
12. Blogged away.

What expat spouse did NOT do (guilt eating away..):

1. Attend the Danish Education Minister's reception - because I didn't feel like it (yeah really selflessly helping T's career with my erratic mood swings - sigh). What honey, you didn't know... well now you do...remember, I love you.
2. Attend Salsa - I swear, I forgot.
3. Attend Tango - Sorry hons, just didn't feel like it too. M's gonna kill me.
Ooohhh memory failing...I'm sure there's more I didn't do that I absolutely had to. Oh well, It's going to rear its ugly head later, c'est la vie.

What expat spouse STILL needs to do (before Saturday):

1. Pack.
2. Pick-up t-shirts for L & M.
3. Attend PTA meeting.
4. Bring expat pets to the vet.
5. Attend this week's tango class.
6. Go to US embassy Marine house with A for happy hour - have to, have to...mu-st be so-cial...stre-ngth fai-ling....v-oi-ce...fa-ding...(I love you A, thanks for being patient with me).

See, I haven't been idle at all. But there's supposed to be a lesson here. In the expat community, there's always something to do (people do make effort), only, we need to kick ourselves to go out there and do it...butt hur-ting...