Ten days in Ohio

Nothing against Ohio, but I don’t like it. This is mostly because I’m mad that Masud’s company is located here and not in Madison. Masud’s little one-bedroom apartment is located right next to the NFL Hall of Fame, and overlooks a pile of rubble that used to be a bowling alley. The Hall of Fame is great if you care about football (which we don’t), and the pile of rubble is a depressing view out the living room window. Canton is bigger than I thought, and has all the big stores, and even some of the small ones, but I find it depressing because my Dear Husband has to be here all by himself.

We did have a nice, nearly fight-free visit, though. The first three days were mostly filled with naps. On Christmas morning, Isaac was pleased to discover that Santa had found us all the way in Ohio, and left a magician’s kit, a pirate telescope, and a fun card game under the table where we left the cookies. (No Christmas tree in this Halal household!)

The day after Christmas, we foolishly decided to go shopping. We first went to Masud’s very favorite store, “The Dollar Tree”. Upon entering, I noticed that Masud had been to the store before, and equipped his kitchen from the wide array of flimsy utensils and cookware on display. Isaac made a beeline for the toy department, and promptly filled his basket with Yu-Gi-Oh! Marbles. I’m not sure what he’s going to do with them, but they are in his new Star Wars Pencil Case that we bought at Target later that day. We had planned to visit several stores, but we were nearly killed several times by erratic drivers and wayward shopping carts. I had forgotten that the day after Christmas is the Second Worst Shopping Day of the Year. And the sales were not even that great!

By far the highlight of our trip was our visit to Michigan and Canada. We drove up after Masud got off work on Friday and met Tanya at her sister Sonya’s place in Ann Arbor. I consider Tanya my Best Friend Who Has Been To Bangladesh and Who Therefore Understands. We had a great meal at this place called Seva, where everything on the menu was vegetarian and I became dizzy trying to decide what to order. I usually have the choice of the house salad or cheese pizza from the kid’s menu. I settled on some kind of enchilada with pineapple salsa and it was oh, so good. Tanya also has beautiful long black hair and I’ve decided to try to grow mine out. I know it won't be the gorgeous silken blackness that I envied, but I've never had long hair so I figured I'd give it a try.

We then continued on to Canada, via the aptly named “Bridge to Canada” between Detroit and Windsor. I found Canada to be very much like the US, only more expensive and a little weird. Case in point: Tim Hortons, Canada’s version of Starbucks, is found on every city block, but when we went in and I ordered a skim latte, the woman behind the counter looked at me like I was speaking Bangla and asked her boss, “What’s a latte?” They serve plain coffee, coffee with cream, sugar or both, or mochas. And donuts. Good donuts.

We had a great visit with my buddy Shompa, though. Shompa used to live with us back in the day, and she’s up in Canada with her hubby Shumon. They are presently either on the plane or sleeping off their jet lag in Bangladesh, in preparation for their THIRD wedding celebration. They sure know how to party.

Anyway, some of you may know that Isaac is a tad particular about which kind of adult he will allow to touch his gameboy. Said adults must be extremely calm, soft-spoken and NOT aggressive. Shompa and Shumon both fit the bill, and Isaac had a great time with them this weekend. Masud ate lots of spicy Desh food (we even stopped for some misti on the way home), and I got to reconnect with a good friend with whom I had lost touch. It was a great visit, and now I can say that I’ve been to Canada!

The last two days of our trip were sad, because the three of us kept thinking about the fact that our time together was almost over. Isaac has cried because he doesn’t want his baba to be alone, and I’ve cried because I miss hearing Masud sing his ridiculous Rabindra one-liners.

We’re all trying to focus on the future when we’ll be able to live under one roof again. It was good to visit, and I can’t wait for the next one, but somehow these brief connections make the pain of separation more acute than ever.