I'll let you into a secret. People like us often don't like talking about (whisper it) holidays.
When we first mentioned in an update a couple of months back that we were looking forward to a holiday I actually didn't want to mention the h-word at all. Until my husband pointed out I was being ridiculous and we might have moved country but we are still human and people at home know that we will need a holiday now and then.
Deep down, I know he is right. But I've read enough blogs and books by others like us to know that I'm not alone in feeling like this sometimes. There is the temptation to feel like we have to at least appear, and preferably be, strong and effective, which somehow translates as not needing a holiday. There's a pressure to be seen to be spending money in a wise and thrifty manner and a holiday is a luxury. There's the nagging feeling that we haven't done enough to earn a holiday - we're only language learning right now.
I know (at least I hope!) that most of this is just in my head. And there's part of it that is based on good principles. We should be conscious of how we use our resources, and want to use them well. There is a not-so-great part as well, that highlights tendencies of pride and people-pleasing. There is also a more complicated part to it where sometimes the best/cheapest/most logical course of action here doesn't necessarily look like that from 2,000 miles away but neither is it practical or necessarily helpful to explain or justify those decisions to everyone who we update on a regular basis.
So, we went on holiday to Cyprus. I could throw in here that we went by plane, but that flights to North Cyprus are treated a little bit like domestic flights, and domestic flights are cheap here, and we don't have a car anyway. I could also add that a couple that we don't even know directly allowed us to stay in their home on very generous terms. Which perhaps demonstrates the point that while on the surface of things, going to Cyprus might not look like the most logical thing to do, it really was a very good option. And also allows me to sneakily make sure that you know some of the reasons why this holiday was a very good option.
We got to spend lots of time with L's parents, who were staying close by to us at the same time (another reason we went to Cyprus). We took J to the beach a few times and he delighted in playing in the sand fortresses that his father and grandfather built, trying to pick up as many stones as he could carry and attempting to run into the sea whenever possible. J discovered Lego at the house we were staying in and L enjoyed making Lego models for J (so much so that quite a few times I found L "building models for J" whilst J was napping...). We read books, rested, relaxed, and even braved the cold outdoor pool (but not for very long). We enjoyed spending some time outside of Istanbul, and indeed Turkey. And we came back refreshed and ready to get stuck into language learning again.
