Small Town Adventures

"Ducks going to duck school, mama?"

My son always jokes when a group of 6 ducks walk past our car during the school run. I go along with him and tell him that he's right, there's a duck school. Everyone goes to school in the morning like you do - my lousy attempt at keeping him motivated.

It's moments like these which make me fall in love with the slow pace and simplicity of small towns.

^{We found their school/home during a zoo visit whose details are shared later in the post.}

I have spent all my life in small towns; first due to my father's job and now because of my husband's. I don't count the college years which were spent in a big city as they were mostly spent sitting behind a computer screen. Now that I look back, those four years feel like a blur. One thing that I realized from that time is that big city life is not for me, not because I didn't get to enjoy it fully but a glimpse of it was enough for me to know I'm not wired for it. Certainly, there are pros and cons of both lifestyles, I don't intend to go into that debate and will only speak for myself and my preferences.

Keeping aside, all my inclination towards small towns, it's a little challenging to entertain guests when you live in a remote area. You somehow get used to the living situation over the time but when your guests ask you to show around, for a minute, you get blank. Not because you can't think of the two obvious and only spots that are something close to what can be called recreational but because that's all your town offers.

There are not many options for dine-outs or even take-aways and you end up doing most of the cooking at home. I'm all for home-cooked meals but sometimes you simply don't want to see the kitchen. All this preface is to tell you about how I had some guests over for the winter holidays and how I tried to be a good host and a cool guide of my small town.

I don't know about other cultures, but in Pakistan, guests are a serious business. Even if they appear uninvited, someone would silence your protest by saying mehman Allah ki rehmat hotay hain (Guests are the blessings of God). At that moment, you feel guilty wipe away your treacherous thoughts and start showering them with your hospitality. Fortunately, this wasn't the case with us, we have been looking forward to these guests for weeks.

Since they were family, I didn't have to worry about meals much. I tried to keep things simple but delicious and also managed to check the box of one dine-out-night at the sole café in town.

The beauty of small towns is that they allow people to talk - a lot because there's not much to do. During these holidays, we did two things in abundance, eating and talking. Relishing citrus delights in the winter sun and cracking peanuts in the cold nights.

The town doesn't offer much but there are some activities to keep the residents entertained. I realized things are not that bad; we have boating, dirt biking, archery and even a horseriding school. I made a mental note to appreciate this place from now onwards.

We took the kids to the lake area where most of the activities are organized. I was impressed by how effortlessly they tackled paddle boating, whereas it was exhausting for me. It sounds boring to some to row slowly but it was fascinating for kids to experience the old ways of fishermen and sailors.

We paid a visit to the horseriding school. They were closing up but kindly let us visit and even ride the horses. The coach tried to convince my first-born to learn the skill but he made sure to avoid him and his lecture on how horseriding can be good for his muscle strength and bone density. On the contrary, all the guest-kids showed immense interest in the horses.

^{Meet Izzana}

All kids and even adults enjoyed the dirt bike but we missed archery due to the setting sun.

There's a small zoo in the town which isn't luxurious but serves a good purpose as a top choice for educational field trips for elementary kids. The next day, the kids wanted to go there. There, we found "the ducks", which we meet almost daily on the main road during school runs. The pond was empty at that time; the ducks were hanging out on the end.

^{Those are little duck sculptures around the pond... to give company to the 6 ducks?}

We saw rabbits, ostriches, monkeys and a variety of birds. I couldn't help but take a picture of this cute little lamb who was wobbling around his mama. The site put a smile on my face and reminded me of chriddi.

Just like that, the town tour ended. We ran out of places to show and went back home to do a little more talking and eating because that's what we do.