We came home to a house full of people at 5am in the morning. 12 cars and 50 relatives met us at the airport like it was some party. It was nice to sit in the air conditioned Range Rover with my husband's cousin who now claims his residence is in Dubai. I was too tired to ask why he was wearing sunglasses in the night. But I am sure it was all part of the outfit - designer clothes, nice car and pakistani pop tunes playing in the background. The hubby was escorted into another waiting car so we were separated, much to the dismay of the girls who were wondering if they would ever see their father again. They were extremely quiet in the backseat, taking in all the sights as we drove past military checkpoints, slums, commercial buildings and crammed neighborhoods. I tried joking with them to settle their uncertainty but only my uber-cool cousin laughed at my lame jokes and then proceeded to crank the tunes.
We reached our UK cousin's house in a suburb called Gulberg and when we entered, the table was full of food and more relatives came to receive us. I just wanted to throw myself on a bed but they insisted we sit down and eat. Five kids followed me into the bathroom where I went to wash my hands. I realized then that I would have an entourage everywhere I went. The girls were hot and bothered and didn't refrain from showing their pouty faces. I could understand - the last thing we all wanted was to be smothered by food, affection and people.
The house we stayed in was a summer vacation home owned by our UK cousins. They came every summer to relax. So there were eight of them, grandparents, parents and kids and our whole family along with my motherinlaw. We were situated behind a main market and commercial area. The house was beautiful and big. More than enough room for all of us and these relatives were well known since we stayed with them in the UK back in 2004 so we were very happy in their company. And I didn't think anything of it until Day 3.
That's when I realized we were just a bunch of sitting ducks.
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