And our next tour is… Plus tourism in Islamabad

Our life overseas requires constant planning and adjusting often years ahead. While in some ways it feels like we only just got to Pakistan, in fact we are already over half way through our time here. A’s job here is just for one year and then it’s off on fresh adventures. After what felt like a lengthy and stressful job hunting process, we finally found out where we’re heading next… And yes, it’s overseas again.

Drum roll please….

are

heading

to….

MOROCCO!

To say we’re thrilled is an understatement. Thrilled, excited, relieved, thankful, and, as always with any new place, a little nervous.

It won’t be for while. Over a year and a half in fact, since we’ll finish up our time here, head back to Washington DC for a bit, and then end up in country in summer 2021! It feels good to know where we’re headed though.

As for me, I’m now starting my own job hunting with a few options on the table. I’m sure that there’ll be Arabic language learning somewhere in there! And possible yoga teacher training… We’ll just have to see. I have a good amount of time to figure it out and as usual I’m staying flexible.

Meanwhile, we still have a lot of time left in Islamabad. It was fitting then that shortly after finding out where we’re heading next, we got a lovely reminder of the many things still to enjoy, see, and do here through a rare opportunity to experience some tourism right here in the city.

We recently enjoyed a fantastic trip to visit the Lok Virsa heritage museums and famous Islamabad Monument. If you look up Islamabad in a Google image search you’ll undoubtedly see pictures of this famous monument, after several photos of the striking Faisal Mosque backed by gorgeous mountains.

Islamabad Monument

Faisal Mosque backed by gorgeous mountains

Interestingly, you might also come across this article that claims that Islamabad is the most livable city in the country… Though as a reminder, Pakistanis also consider Islamabad as being 20km away from the rest of the country and as a somewhat sterile government center, entirely lacking in culture, history, or good food beyond kabuli palau (delicious Afghani mutton rice dish with plump raisins and nuts that is supposed to be best in Islamabad, as my friends from other cities somewhat begrudgingly admit after pointing out that otherwise all other food is best in Lahore/Karachi/Peshawar/etc.).

We started out at the heritage museum where we learned about the incredible number of different cultures, traditions, and ethnic groups in Pakistan- apparently there are at least 15 different major ethnic groups in the country and a least 73 different languages! Then we headed to the Pakistan Monument Museum that focused on Pakistan’s history leading up to partition and then its independence. Finally, we stopped by the stunning and wonderfully symmetrical Islamabad Monument, which was a joy to photograph.

Since I took my good camera along, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves and continue this letter with a photo account of this fun outing that reminded me of how much Pakistan has to offer: