February 26, 2012
Last week I never wrote. No big loss since not much happened. It was rainy and I had a lot of migraines. That meant that the kids watched a lot of TV and played on the computer a lot.
On February 14th we did have our playgroup Valentine’s Day party. We had previously made our valentine mailboxes so they were ready to go. The children made valentines to pass out to each other. Snacks included red heart shaped jell-o, heart cookies, bugles, apples, and a few other things. Tanja had purchased some valentine picture frame kits and the kids put them together and inserted a picture I had taken of the group. Justin said that it was his best Valentine’s Day ever. That was nice to hear. Normally he builds things up in his mind so much that he is disappointed by the actual event. We had spent a lot of time making valentines so he had spent a lot of time imagining the day. It thrilled me that he enjoyed it. Making the day even better was the package Grandma Pat had sent. The boys got some valentine candy in a heart box, a couple of small toys, and a card.
Sunday, February 19th we went to a planning meeting after church. Rob went into the meeting while I waited with the boys. They were running around outside and there were a couple of other boys outside too. The older one was almost seven and his younger brother was three. The boys all played so well together. Justin often wishes that he had more friends here. The playgroup is nice, but the other child his age is a girl. He would love to have a boy his age to play with. Unfortunately, many times when he is with other boys his age, he gets upset if he is not top dog. To watch the four boys play together so nicely despite their many differences was a highlight of the week.
February 20th was President’s Day so Rob didn’t have to go to work. The boys were thrilled because they wanted to show off their swimming skills at swimming lessons. They were so excited to show him their new “moves” that they had trouble listening to Miss Estelle. Justin is proud of his diving, which right now is propelling his body forward and landing on his stomach. Oh well. Slow but steady. Ryan is able to float on his back, but lacks confidence.
After swimming lessons, Rob suggested that we go to Spur for lunch. Spur is a South African restaurant chain that serves slightly overpriced mediocre food. The boys love it. There is a bouncy castle for them to play on as well as several video games they can play. While the food isn’t the best, the boys eat well. They enjoy playing too so Rob and I get some time without them.
The rest of the week was pretty routine. We didn’t go to playgroup on Tuesday because Ryan had some sort of stomach bug and had thrown up. It ended up that no one was up to playgroup so we didn’t miss out.
Saturday, February 25th was an interesting day. Ryan had a horrible rash all over his body. When a friend dropped off some Benadryl for him, she told me that it looked like ringworm. Guess what? It was! Instead of a few little patches though it was ALL OVER HIS BODY. We decided to stay in for the weekend and keep our ringworm to ourselves.
Sunday was a very relaxing day. We stayed in all day and did next to nothing. Ryan got his cream put on him a couple of times and that was about as stressful as it got. Made me wonder if ringworm was so bad after all. :) The chorister from church called to tell Justin and Ryan that she missed them. That made their day. Not a huge thing to make a call, but a thoughtful gesture that really meant a lot.
The week will probably start out slowly while we wait for Ryan to no longer be contagious. We shall see.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
February 12, 2012
February 12, 2012
Another normal week has flown by.
Tuesday we went to the petting zoo for our playgroup. There have really been a lot of improvements made to the place since we first went a couple of years ago. It still wouldn’t meet US standards for many reasons, but since we are not in the US it doesn’t really matter. Sure, there are unsafe things, but if you supervise your children it should work out okay. It helps that the boys are older too. I am less concerned for their safety now than I was when we first moved here.
The ostriches have gotten so big. It is amazing to see how fast those things can grow. Feeding them can still be a little scary, even after all this time. They seem like flying snakes when their long necks whip their heads up and around to get to your food. Aggressive little suckers. The boys have gotten used to the goats, horses, alpacas, pigs, rabbits, and many of the other animals. Since we don’t have a pet it is nice for them to get to spend some time around animals.
We also went back to the library. I think once the novelty of that wears off the boys won’t care about it as much. The selection is small and the environment is, well, it is in a windowless storage room. It is not very inviting to say the least. It is a good place to go to get out of the house for a little bit though. I am glad Tonja showed it to us.
Swimming lessons continue. I am glad that the boys are taking them. Besides the obvious benefits of learning to swim, I have enjoyed watching Justin gain a sense of accomplishment when he masters a skill that has been difficult for him. He is moving along slowly, but he is getting it. I would like to find something non-competitive for him to do wherever we end up next. I think that it is good for his character to fail and continue to work and work until he is able to succeed. Too many things come easily to him and I want him to understand that practice and hard work are essential to progress.
There was one day this week when the boys were driving me absolutely crazy! They are getting so they can play together better, but they can also annoy each other. They know just which buttons to push. It seems like some days they would rather upset each other than have any fun. Good thing there are only two of them.
My seminary class at church is going well. I am excited to see the students coming AND making an effort to be on time. I guess the next step will be to get them to do the work at home they are supposed to do so that they are better prepared to be in class. There isn’t a lot for teenagers in Namibia to do, so I wonder why they can’t find the time to get their studying done. Hopefully I can motivate them. One step at a time.
I feel like I don’t have nearly enough time for the seminary class, yet Ryan’s sunbeam (3 year old) class on Sundays seems soooooooooooo long. The kids are very active and busy, one girl in particular. It is hard to keep them engaged in the lesson. They seem to enjoy it though. I definitely don’t have the chance to get bored.
Last Sunday Ryan locked himself into a bathroom stall. I had the other children with me in the bathroom and I couldn’t get the door open from the outside. The door goes down to the floor, so crawling out is not an option. The dividing wall between stalls, however, does not go to the top. Once I was able to find someone to keep track of the other kids, I was able to climb up the toilet, into the window, over the wall (ducking because there wasn’t a lot of clearance for my head) and then walk my arms down the far side of the other stall until I could swing my legs all the way over and climb onto the toilet. Ryan was happy to have me there. We started to leave the bathroom to get the other kids and go to class when he told me he hadn’t peed yet. What? He must have been in there for 10 minutes. Guess he forgot.
The boys are excited for Valentine’s Day. We have a little party with their playgroup planned, including passing out valentines. Hope it is fun for them.
Another normal week has flown by.
Tuesday we went to the petting zoo for our playgroup. There have really been a lot of improvements made to the place since we first went a couple of years ago. It still wouldn’t meet US standards for many reasons, but since we are not in the US it doesn’t really matter. Sure, there are unsafe things, but if you supervise your children it should work out okay. It helps that the boys are older too. I am less concerned for their safety now than I was when we first moved here.
The ostriches have gotten so big. It is amazing to see how fast those things can grow. Feeding them can still be a little scary, even after all this time. They seem like flying snakes when their long necks whip their heads up and around to get to your food. Aggressive little suckers. The boys have gotten used to the goats, horses, alpacas, pigs, rabbits, and many of the other animals. Since we don’t have a pet it is nice for them to get to spend some time around animals.
We also went back to the library. I think once the novelty of that wears off the boys won’t care about it as much. The selection is small and the environment is, well, it is in a windowless storage room. It is not very inviting to say the least. It is a good place to go to get out of the house for a little bit though. I am glad Tonja showed it to us.
Swimming lessons continue. I am glad that the boys are taking them. Besides the obvious benefits of learning to swim, I have enjoyed watching Justin gain a sense of accomplishment when he masters a skill that has been difficult for him. He is moving along slowly, but he is getting it. I would like to find something non-competitive for him to do wherever we end up next. I think that it is good for his character to fail and continue to work and work until he is able to succeed. Too many things come easily to him and I want him to understand that practice and hard work are essential to progress.
There was one day this week when the boys were driving me absolutely crazy! They are getting so they can play together better, but they can also annoy each other. They know just which buttons to push. It seems like some days they would rather upset each other than have any fun. Good thing there are only two of them.
My seminary class at church is going well. I am excited to see the students coming AND making an effort to be on time. I guess the next step will be to get them to do the work at home they are supposed to do so that they are better prepared to be in class. There isn’t a lot for teenagers in Namibia to do, so I wonder why they can’t find the time to get their studying done. Hopefully I can motivate them. One step at a time.
I feel like I don’t have nearly enough time for the seminary class, yet Ryan’s sunbeam (3 year old) class on Sundays seems soooooooooooo long. The kids are very active and busy, one girl in particular. It is hard to keep them engaged in the lesson. They seem to enjoy it though. I definitely don’t have the chance to get bored.
Last Sunday Ryan locked himself into a bathroom stall. I had the other children with me in the bathroom and I couldn’t get the door open from the outside. The door goes down to the floor, so crawling out is not an option. The dividing wall between stalls, however, does not go to the top. Once I was able to find someone to keep track of the other kids, I was able to climb up the toilet, into the window, over the wall (ducking because there wasn’t a lot of clearance for my head) and then walk my arms down the far side of the other stall until I could swing my legs all the way over and climb onto the toilet. Ryan was happy to have me there. We started to leave the bathroom to get the other kids and go to class when he told me he hadn’t peed yet. What? He must have been in there for 10 minutes. Guess he forgot.
The boys are excited for Valentine’s Day. We have a little party with their playgroup planned, including passing out valentines. Hope it is fun for them.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
February 5, 2012
The most exciting part of the week for us was probably getting the list of potential places for Rob’s next assignment. It is fun to think about the next place we will go and what it will be like for our family. We are reading up on the different places and weighing the pros and cons for each place. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we find out, at least unofficially. It is fun to think of the next adventure. Our next post will probably be one that both boys will be old enough to remember well.
On Wednesday we went to the library with the boys’ friend, Leah, and her mother, Tanja. I would have NEVER found it if we hadn’t gone with them. You go in this small back door and walk down a hallway with boxes stacked around. Down one hallway there is a reception type desk with a woman sitting behind it. She is the librarian. She opens the door to a storage room and turns on the lights. The books are lined up on shelves with very little sense of order. Children’s books are together. Adult books are separated by language. No windows, yucky fluorescent lighting and very stuffy in that room. I am assuming that it is there because the real library is undergoing a six month renovation. The interesting thing about the renovation is that it started in February 2009. Lovely. To get a library card, you have the woman make a copy of your driver’s license. You write down your name, address, and phone number and the books you are taking out along with the date. When you return them, you cross of the books you return. The cards are kept in a shoebox looking box. Wow! Wonder how well that works for them? I am sure they end up missing plenty of books. Of course, no one else was there. Perhaps they can’t find the place!
On Thursday we got to babysit Nicky and Timmy while their parents (Gilbert and Sara) went out to celebrate Sara’s birthday. My boys were so excited to have friends over for dinner. After that they played trains until I finally put my kids to bed. They all played pretty nicely together until about an hour after bedtime. I sat up with Nicky and Timmy watching Go, Diego, Go videos.
Other than that it has been pretty routine. We went to swimming lessons, had our playgroup, and shopped for food. We will see what the next week brings.
On Wednesday we went to the library with the boys’ friend, Leah, and her mother, Tanja. I would have NEVER found it if we hadn’t gone with them. You go in this small back door and walk down a hallway with boxes stacked around. Down one hallway there is a reception type desk with a woman sitting behind it. She is the librarian. She opens the door to a storage room and turns on the lights. The books are lined up on shelves with very little sense of order. Children’s books are together. Adult books are separated by language. No windows, yucky fluorescent lighting and very stuffy in that room. I am assuming that it is there because the real library is undergoing a six month renovation. The interesting thing about the renovation is that it started in February 2009. Lovely. To get a library card, you have the woman make a copy of your driver’s license. You write down your name, address, and phone number and the books you are taking out along with the date. When you return them, you cross of the books you return. The cards are kept in a shoebox looking box. Wow! Wonder how well that works for them? I am sure they end up missing plenty of books. Of course, no one else was there. Perhaps they can’t find the place!
On Thursday we got to babysit Nicky and Timmy while their parents (Gilbert and Sara) went out to celebrate Sara’s birthday. My boys were so excited to have friends over for dinner. After that they played trains until I finally put my kids to bed. They all played pretty nicely together until about an hour after bedtime. I sat up with Nicky and Timmy watching Go, Diego, Go videos.
Other than that it has been pretty routine. We went to swimming lessons, had our playgroup, and shopped for food. We will see what the next week brings.
Monday, February 06, 2012
January 29, 2012
I have a friend who writes a journal entry/letter each week. I don’t know if I will be as ambitious as she is, but I want to write on my blog more often. That should be an easy enough goal.
This week was a fairly normal week. That is part of the problem about writing. I feel like I could often cut and paste one week’s events week after week with only minimal changes. Life is fairly routine. Today, however, is my 40th birthday so it seems like a good time to start writing. We even went out today so I have something to write about today.
Monday was a regular Monday. I took the boys to swimming lessons. The boys are most definitely not natural swimmers. They have, however, made progress. They tend to improve for awhile and then plateau before moving forward again. Right now they are on a forward trend, so it is exciting for them. I don’t care if they ever get to be great swimmers, I just want them to be safe (or at least safer) in and around the water. I am so pleased that Justin is able to swim on his back for the length of a full size pool. As he works on other skills, he is able to flip over to his back when he needs and get over to the side of the pool. I love that he has figured out how to “save” himself when he gets in a situation he finds uncomfortable.
We continued on to do grocery shopping. It can be a challenge sometimes with the boys, but generally they are pretty good. They complain that they don’t like it, but neither do I. They were out of tortillas yet again and with tacos on the meal plan for later in the week I feared I might actually have to make them myself. Not that it is hard, but it is just one more thing. We ended up not only finding tortillas on Friday, but an overpriced can of refried beans. It was a fun splurge. I like refried beans rather than meat on my tacos and I had forgotten to soak the beans.
Tuesday is our normal play date day. It has been a nice addition to our schedule. While we were in the US last August, a couple more families moved into the Embassy community. We now get together weekly with Leah (mother Tanja), Isla and Eamon (mother Leslie), and Nicky and Timmy (mother Sara). Leslie and Tanja both have babies less than a month old, but so far that hasn’t disrupted our group. It is nice for Ryan and Justin. They really look forward to Tuesdays. I am happy that I have some other mothers to spend time with. They are great women and mothers. They are able to teach me a lot and it is nice to have some other people with children at similar ages to Justin and Ryan.
Wednesday is another swimming day. The boys did well and they were proud of themselves. Monday night the boys had slept all the way through the night until almost 6:00! I checked to make sure that they were breathing. Tuesday night they made up for it. They were up so early that I was just dragging. They don’t take naps, but they do have a one hour quiet time which allowed me to take a quick nap.
Thursday we went to a CLO coffee at Michelle’s house. It was a small group, but nice to get out of the house to a different setting. The boys were well behaved and it gave me a chance to relax. Later that day Justin had a dentist appointment. We were happy to learn that his cavity has not gotten worse and does not need it filled at this time. Here they seem to like to go all out for fillings in children. The dentist said that they go to the hospital and use general anesthesia. That seems like a bit much for a small filling. I just hope that Justin doesn’t have pain or other problems until we get back to the US.
Friday Mathilde came over to clean. I feel uncomfortable having someone clean my house, yet I love having my house cleaned without me having to do it. With four indoor toilets and two small boys, it is really nice to have someone clean the bathrooms. I like to get out of the house to give her some space so the boys and I took off for the petting zoo. We spent about an hour feeding the animals and playing on the playground. We will really miss it when we leave. It is definitely unique. It has the usual animals like goats, pigs, chickens, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs, and horses as well as warthogs, eland, tortoises, peacocks, and ostriches.
Friday was also the first night I taught seminary at church. I only had four students, but I hope that more start coming. I want it to be a learning experience, but I believe it can be fun too. I want to show them that teaching doesn’t have to mean someone standing up front and lecturing at them the whole time. When I am gone, it gives Rob a chance to spend some quality time alone with the boys. They spend a lot of time with me and tend to come to ask me to do things for them even when Rob is around. They enjoy spending time with him and this takes me out of the equation.
I love Saturdays. Once Rob gets up I get to go back to bed while he watches the boys. On this day, he took the boys with their bikes over to Zak’s house to ride their bikes. Zak (Rob’s boss) has a flat driveway that is perfect for riding bikes. Our riding area is brick and slopes both north and west. The boys really struggle learning to pedal bikes on it. It is either really hard to pedal or they get going too fast. Hopefully their skills will transfer and they will learn to negotiate our more difficult terrain.
Rob had noted that Alvin and the Chipmunks movie was playing at the theater. Not that he and I were interested, but Justin loves the chipmunk movies. Lately he has also been asking when we could go to the movies again. Our only family attempt at the movies occurred about 7 months ago when we saw Kung Fu Panda 2. Ryan lasted a very short time. Justin made it the length of the show, but probably only because I brought gummy candy. This time, we all made it through the 89 minutes. Justin would have been happier if it had ended about half an hour sooner, but he was able to handle it. Ryan made it that long thanks to popcorn, granola bars, fruit snacks, and a cereal bar.
And now it is Sunday. My boys have been so excited for my birthday. They have been making me all sorts of things. Earlier this week I realized that I wasn’t getting any presents from them, so I found a couple of things in my drawers that they wouldn’t recognize and had Rob help them wrap them up. They love wrapping and they love giving presents. For the past couple of days they have been telling me that I couldn’t open the presents until my birthday. They were also quite excited about the cake they purchased on the way home from Zak’s house.
I chose to go to Na’an su ke Wildlife Sanctuary for my birthday. It is about an hour outside of Windhoek so not bad for a day trip. We went on a tour to see cheetahs, baboons, and lions that are unable to be in the wild for a variety of reasons. You can choose some tour options that let you get up close and personal for a photo shot. No thank you! It was an enjoyable drive and nice to get to see some of the animals up close (with a fence). We had a lunch buffet that included kudu, oryx, chicken, and a variety of side dishes. It was a nice relaxing day.
Here’s hoping that posts in the future aren’t so dull.
This week was a fairly normal week. That is part of the problem about writing. I feel like I could often cut and paste one week’s events week after week with only minimal changes. Life is fairly routine. Today, however, is my 40th birthday so it seems like a good time to start writing. We even went out today so I have something to write about today.
Monday was a regular Monday. I took the boys to swimming lessons. The boys are most definitely not natural swimmers. They have, however, made progress. They tend to improve for awhile and then plateau before moving forward again. Right now they are on a forward trend, so it is exciting for them. I don’t care if they ever get to be great swimmers, I just want them to be safe (or at least safer) in and around the water. I am so pleased that Justin is able to swim on his back for the length of a full size pool. As he works on other skills, he is able to flip over to his back when he needs and get over to the side of the pool. I love that he has figured out how to “save” himself when he gets in a situation he finds uncomfortable.
We continued on to do grocery shopping. It can be a challenge sometimes with the boys, but generally they are pretty good. They complain that they don’t like it, but neither do I. They were out of tortillas yet again and with tacos on the meal plan for later in the week I feared I might actually have to make them myself. Not that it is hard, but it is just one more thing. We ended up not only finding tortillas on Friday, but an overpriced can of refried beans. It was a fun splurge. I like refried beans rather than meat on my tacos and I had forgotten to soak the beans.
Tuesday is our normal play date day. It has been a nice addition to our schedule. While we were in the US last August, a couple more families moved into the Embassy community. We now get together weekly with Leah (mother Tanja), Isla and Eamon (mother Leslie), and Nicky and Timmy (mother Sara). Leslie and Tanja both have babies less than a month old, but so far that hasn’t disrupted our group. It is nice for Ryan and Justin. They really look forward to Tuesdays. I am happy that I have some other mothers to spend time with. They are great women and mothers. They are able to teach me a lot and it is nice to have some other people with children at similar ages to Justin and Ryan.
Wednesday is another swimming day. The boys did well and they were proud of themselves. Monday night the boys had slept all the way through the night until almost 6:00! I checked to make sure that they were breathing. Tuesday night they made up for it. They were up so early that I was just dragging. They don’t take naps, but they do have a one hour quiet time which allowed me to take a quick nap.
Thursday we went to a CLO coffee at Michelle’s house. It was a small group, but nice to get out of the house to a different setting. The boys were well behaved and it gave me a chance to relax. Later that day Justin had a dentist appointment. We were happy to learn that his cavity has not gotten worse and does not need it filled at this time. Here they seem to like to go all out for fillings in children. The dentist said that they go to the hospital and use general anesthesia. That seems like a bit much for a small filling. I just hope that Justin doesn’t have pain or other problems until we get back to the US.
Friday Mathilde came over to clean. I feel uncomfortable having someone clean my house, yet I love having my house cleaned without me having to do it. With four indoor toilets and two small boys, it is really nice to have someone clean the bathrooms. I like to get out of the house to give her some space so the boys and I took off for the petting zoo. We spent about an hour feeding the animals and playing on the playground. We will really miss it when we leave. It is definitely unique. It has the usual animals like goats, pigs, chickens, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs, and horses as well as warthogs, eland, tortoises, peacocks, and ostriches.
Friday was also the first night I taught seminary at church. I only had four students, but I hope that more start coming. I want it to be a learning experience, but I believe it can be fun too. I want to show them that teaching doesn’t have to mean someone standing up front and lecturing at them the whole time. When I am gone, it gives Rob a chance to spend some quality time alone with the boys. They spend a lot of time with me and tend to come to ask me to do things for them even when Rob is around. They enjoy spending time with him and this takes me out of the equation.
I love Saturdays. Once Rob gets up I get to go back to bed while he watches the boys. On this day, he took the boys with their bikes over to Zak’s house to ride their bikes. Zak (Rob’s boss) has a flat driveway that is perfect for riding bikes. Our riding area is brick and slopes both north and west. The boys really struggle learning to pedal bikes on it. It is either really hard to pedal or they get going too fast. Hopefully their skills will transfer and they will learn to negotiate our more difficult terrain.
Rob had noted that Alvin and the Chipmunks movie was playing at the theater. Not that he and I were interested, but Justin loves the chipmunk movies. Lately he has also been asking when we could go to the movies again. Our only family attempt at the movies occurred about 7 months ago when we saw Kung Fu Panda 2. Ryan lasted a very short time. Justin made it the length of the show, but probably only because I brought gummy candy. This time, we all made it through the 89 minutes. Justin would have been happier if it had ended about half an hour sooner, but he was able to handle it. Ryan made it that long thanks to popcorn, granola bars, fruit snacks, and a cereal bar.
And now it is Sunday. My boys have been so excited for my birthday. They have been making me all sorts of things. Earlier this week I realized that I wasn’t getting any presents from them, so I found a couple of things in my drawers that they wouldn’t recognize and had Rob help them wrap them up. They love wrapping and they love giving presents. For the past couple of days they have been telling me that I couldn’t open the presents until my birthday. They were also quite excited about the cake they purchased on the way home from Zak’s house.
I chose to go to Na’an su ke Wildlife Sanctuary for my birthday. It is about an hour outside of Windhoek so not bad for a day trip. We went on a tour to see cheetahs, baboons, and lions that are unable to be in the wild for a variety of reasons. You can choose some tour options that let you get up close and personal for a photo shot. No thank you! It was an enjoyable drive and nice to get to see some of the animals up close (with a fence). We had a lunch buffet that included kudu, oryx, chicken, and a variety of side dishes. It was a nice relaxing day.
Here’s hoping that posts in the future aren’t so dull.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Six Weeks in the USA
It is 1:30 AM and my kids have been up since 11:30 PM AGAIN! I am cranky and wishing they would get their acts together and figure out we have changed time zones. I will use this time to complain about my latest travels. Our vacation was great, just the getting to and from had issues. Thank you to all of the people in the world who are kind and patient to those who are travelling with small children. I hope that I can remember what it is like and be helpful to others when my monsters are a bit older.
We were all really looking forward to our vacation in the States. The boys and I had made a countdown chain more than a month in advance. It seemed to take forever for it to be time to go and then suddenly the day had arrived!
Since we didn't leave until the afternoon, I kept busy doing all the laundry, vacuuming, and doing whatever else needed to be done so that when we returned our home would be clean. Obviously there would be dust and stuff, but it would be orderly upon our return.
The airport in Namibia is incredibly small. If it weren't for the required security measures it would remind me more of a bus depot or small train station from some made for TV movie. The size has its pros and cons. Not a lot of services available, but you certainly aren't going to get lost or have trouble getting where you need to be.
Last year we had trouble at check in because we were going from Namibia to South Africa to Atlanta to Seattle to Spokane. For some bizarre reason they can only put 3 locations on baggage tags, so our bags could only be checked through to Seattle. This year we were going from Namibia to Frankfurt to Chicago to Spokane. Yay! Our bags could be checked all the way to our final destination from the start. The check in agent did not know the airport code for Chicago. Seriously? Are we the first people to be going to Chicago? Isn't it in the computer or a book or something? The woman was totally clueless as how to check our bags. We told her the code for Chicago and also Spokane. I still found it very, very strange. Still, bags checked and boarding passes to Frankfurt were in hand. Of course Air Namibia doesn't work with any other airline so we would have to get the rest of our boarding passes later.
We had our exit papers all filled out ahead of time. At the immigration counter we handed over our passports and completed papers. The woman wanted to go through them one at a time rather than look at us as a family. Okay, but should she really start with the children? A two year old should not be separated from his parents, should he? I had visions of him running past the counter once he was cleared and going heaven only knows where. Security was pretty much of a non issue except for the big old car seat we had for Ryan. Ugh. No one ever knows how to get that thing to fit through the x-ray machine the first time.
Normal waiting to board. No pre-board or anything for people with young children, so we wait. We gate check our stroller, leaving us with four carry-ons (two of which were backpacks) and the car seat. We walk out to our plane and up the stairs, dragging the bags and kids with us. Back through the plane with all of our stuff we settle in.
Ryan is ticked that he has a car seat and Justin doesn't. We aren't too thrilled with it either. Justin didn't need a car seat for the plane when he was two, but Ryan is a bit more active. Who wants to be forcing a child to keep his belt buckled for a ten hour flight? For an overnight flight it made sense anyway since Ryan sleeps well in his car seat. Once situated, the flight attendants actually have little bags of goodies for the kids. That made their days. Not a lot of airlines do that anymore, so a real bonus. We wait and wait and then it is FINALLY time to take off.
The little safety spiel is done and Justin is still reviewing the safety card from his seatback pocket. A flight attendant comes up to us and tells us that the airline does not allow car seats to be used on the plane. What? Is that the most bizarre thing you ever heard or what? We have to get Ryan out and buckled up. I wanted to smack the woman in the head with the car seat and tell her what I thought of her, but arguing with a flight attendant is not the best way to start out a trip. I would probably be arrested and never get to go on my trip. The woman was a complete idiot, but what could I do? We got the seat out and, along with the other passengers, got to listen to Ryan cry about having his seat taken away. He did NOT sleep through the flight as we had anticipated.
I know airline food is not looked upon as great to begin with, but somehow the Namibian touch made me really want to gag. Thank goodness that I packed plenty of snacks. :) The entertainment was the movie "Like Water For Elephants" shown on a screen up at the front of the cabin and a couple of pull down monitors. Reminded me of traveling long ago except the headsets were marginally better and didn't cost five bucks. I kind of wanted to see the movie, but with kids that wasn't an option.
We get to Frankfurt and are among the very last off of the plane because we have to wait for the flight attendant to get our car seat for us. We walk down the stairs and our stroller is not there. It is, we are told, on the baggage carousel. Maybe I am missing something here, but why would I gate check something if I wanted it on the baggage carousel? We get on the bus to get to the terminal. I am sure that the other passengers hate us. I can't really blame them. They wait on us to get our kid out of the car seat. Our kid screams on the plane because he doesn't have his car seat. Now we are the last people off of the plane and the bus is waiting for us while we try to locate our stroller. I kind of hate us too, but I don't think it is our fault.
Inside the airport we have to get clear across the airport to another terminal, go through security again, and get boarding passes for our other two flights. We have enough time to do this. What we do NOT have enough time to do is go to baggage claim and wait for our stroller, go through customs, find the United counter to get our boarding passes (rather than getting them at the gate if we don't exit to baggage claim), go through ticket control, passport control, and security. We opt to abandon the stroller.
Once on United, things went better. We were allowed to use the car seat. Imagine that. In seat personal entertainment systems keep the kids happy. Somehow even though I called in to request our kids have children's meals we only ended up with one. It worked out okay. They shared that and a regular meal. They enjoyed controlling what they wanted to watch. Ryan watched the same segment of "Rio" over and over. His system finally crashed as we were landing in Chicago. I guess it can only show a segment a thousand times before it goes berserk. Another flight of about ten hours, but this one was not as bad.
Short time in Chicago and on to Spokane. 33 or so hours of travel, but we made it there alive. Only the Air Namibia flight sucked. I mean, not like it is enjoyable to travel that long with kids, but Air Namibia was the only bad part. The kids behaved well, considering. They were cranky at times, but that is a long trip.
Guess what? Our stroller showed up in Spokane a couple of days after we arrived. There was a big piece of paper with a note on it asking for someone in America to call us. :)
While in the US we flew from Spokane to Portland, Oregon and Burbank, California. Those flights were uneventful. Yay!
We dreaded returning. After much deliberation, we decided not to take the car seat on the planes. We knew it would be helpful for the trip from San Francisco to Frankfurt, but didn't want to have to haul it through the airport at Frankfurt for five hours and not know if we would be able to use it on Air Namibia or not.
Things went smoothly from Spokane to San Fransisco and on to Frankfurt. Once in Frankfurt we were anxious to get our boarding passes for our last flight to Namibia. Air Namibia is not a major airline and our gate was not posted nor was the counter opened. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around the airport. We eventually found a check-in kiosk and were able to print our passes. Rob was confused when he was required to scan our passports face down for the machine to read them when the machine specifically said (and had a picture to match) to have them face up to scan. He asked me if he was just too tired. Nope. The instructions were incorrect. Yay Air Namibia.
We spent more than two hours at McDonald's and its playland. Thank you, McDonald's! The boys got out a lot of energy before the flight. Without the car seat to deal with, getting onto our flight and situated was not so bad. I knew it was going to be a loooooong flight with "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2" our source of entertainment. Probably just as well that it wasn't something that the boys would want to watch because they couldn't see the screen. The boys did pretty well. I wish they had slept more.
I had very low expectations for Air Namibia and they didn't disappoint. They claim to be the spirit of Namibia or some such thing. I think the country should sue the airlines for slander unless the spirit of the country is supposed to be inconsistency, incompetence, and indifference.
When we landed, of course our gate checked stroller wasn't at the gate, but we didn't care. We had to get our bags anyway. We were pleased that the diplomatic line was open so we didn't have to wait in the long line to get through immigration. There were only a few people in front of us. When it was our turn, we had our forms filled out. The line next to us for SADC (South African Development Community countries) was able to process 23 people in the time it took the woman to process our family of four. Our forms were completed. We had the diplomatic passports with appropriate visas. The information was virtually the same. Why, why, why would it take so long to get four people through? I think Air Namibia and immigration must get their employees from the same employment pool.
I shouldn't have been so cranky, because our bags were not out when we got through. Half an hour after the flight had landed the crews bags got through. Our bags started showing up fifty minutes after we had landed. Remember, it isn't a big airport. Their are two baggage carousels and you can stand in the middle of the two and watch both. I'm wondering if they made some poor soul hand carry our luggage from the plane rather than transport it on the baggage cars. Our bags (including stroller) all made it. :)
If you aren't declaring any goods they randomly screen bags. The woman who was choosing who to screen choose the next two people in line, but her idiotic co-worker misunderstood and starting having everyone go through. There wasn't room for people to wait as the bags went through the x-ray. I continued on through with the kids and the carry-ons (I decided not to have those screened and no one seemed to care) while Rob stayed with the luggage. Our bags were filled with goodies like 15 pounds of salsa, 9 pounds of peanut butter, and other things we wanted to have with us here. They had him go to have the bags examined. Rob takes the bags over to the woman at the goods to declare side and she asks Rob what she is supposed to be examining. Uh, how is he supposed to know? If you were hiding something would you really tell her anyway?
Our shuttle driver was waiting for us. We made it home safely. The house was clean. :) I guess I shouldn't complain, but I am. Now comes of the question of what I will do next time if I have the option. Will I choose the horrible Air Namibia or will I opt to go through crime ridden Johannesburg, additional security screening and pat down, and deal with four flights rather than three? I don't know. I do know that I am glad Ryan will be done with the car seat and stroller. I am also glad that I won't need to carry bulky diapers with me. That's something.
Now I realize that I should be happy that I am not the housewife who got hauled off the plane and searched and interviewed. If I were in her place I would be really really upset. I don't know the whole story though, and am guessing that she probably got pulled because of the people she was sitting with. People who saw the men by the restroom probably got nervous and I would suspect the flight attendants got multiple comments by other passengers. Justified? Perhaps not, but I think that probably things played out as they needed to be played out. I understand being upset, but I think that people were probably doing their job based upon the information they were given.
With the exception of Seattle, I have always been treated respectfully going through security. Employees have been kind to my children (currently 4 and 2, but we have travelled with them younger too) and been polite and patient carrying out their duties. Yes, they have patted down Ryan's rear end. I know that upsets some people and they say that babies aren't security threats. I think that a poopy diaper would be a great place to try to sneak things through. Do you really think the employees enjoy having to search kids and the elderly or infirm? Seattle, on more than one occasion, has ticked me off. The people there were, in my opinion, very rude and disrespectful to me and others in the line. I think a lot of the security measures are strange. I think there has got to be a better way. In the meantime, if employees are just doing their jobs,I try to be patient with them. I can save my frustration for the idiots of Air Namibia. I guess we all have our own little issues, don't we. :)
Oh, and in case you haven't guessed, I hate Air Namibia.
We were all really looking forward to our vacation in the States. The boys and I had made a countdown chain more than a month in advance. It seemed to take forever for it to be time to go and then suddenly the day had arrived!
Since we didn't leave until the afternoon, I kept busy doing all the laundry, vacuuming, and doing whatever else needed to be done so that when we returned our home would be clean. Obviously there would be dust and stuff, but it would be orderly upon our return.
The airport in Namibia is incredibly small. If it weren't for the required security measures it would remind me more of a bus depot or small train station from some made for TV movie. The size has its pros and cons. Not a lot of services available, but you certainly aren't going to get lost or have trouble getting where you need to be.
Last year we had trouble at check in because we were going from Namibia to South Africa to Atlanta to Seattle to Spokane. For some bizarre reason they can only put 3 locations on baggage tags, so our bags could only be checked through to Seattle. This year we were going from Namibia to Frankfurt to Chicago to Spokane. Yay! Our bags could be checked all the way to our final destination from the start. The check in agent did not know the airport code for Chicago. Seriously? Are we the first people to be going to Chicago? Isn't it in the computer or a book or something? The woman was totally clueless as how to check our bags. We told her the code for Chicago and also Spokane. I still found it very, very strange. Still, bags checked and boarding passes to Frankfurt were in hand. Of course Air Namibia doesn't work with any other airline so we would have to get the rest of our boarding passes later.
We had our exit papers all filled out ahead of time. At the immigration counter we handed over our passports and completed papers. The woman wanted to go through them one at a time rather than look at us as a family. Okay, but should she really start with the children? A two year old should not be separated from his parents, should he? I had visions of him running past the counter once he was cleared and going heaven only knows where. Security was pretty much of a non issue except for the big old car seat we had for Ryan. Ugh. No one ever knows how to get that thing to fit through the x-ray machine the first time.
Normal waiting to board. No pre-board or anything for people with young children, so we wait. We gate check our stroller, leaving us with four carry-ons (two of which were backpacks) and the car seat. We walk out to our plane and up the stairs, dragging the bags and kids with us. Back through the plane with all of our stuff we settle in.
Ryan is ticked that he has a car seat and Justin doesn't. We aren't too thrilled with it either. Justin didn't need a car seat for the plane when he was two, but Ryan is a bit more active. Who wants to be forcing a child to keep his belt buckled for a ten hour flight? For an overnight flight it made sense anyway since Ryan sleeps well in his car seat. Once situated, the flight attendants actually have little bags of goodies for the kids. That made their days. Not a lot of airlines do that anymore, so a real bonus. We wait and wait and then it is FINALLY time to take off.
The little safety spiel is done and Justin is still reviewing the safety card from his seatback pocket. A flight attendant comes up to us and tells us that the airline does not allow car seats to be used on the plane. What? Is that the most bizarre thing you ever heard or what? We have to get Ryan out and buckled up. I wanted to smack the woman in the head with the car seat and tell her what I thought of her, but arguing with a flight attendant is not the best way to start out a trip. I would probably be arrested and never get to go on my trip. The woman was a complete idiot, but what could I do? We got the seat out and, along with the other passengers, got to listen to Ryan cry about having his seat taken away. He did NOT sleep through the flight as we had anticipated.
I know airline food is not looked upon as great to begin with, but somehow the Namibian touch made me really want to gag. Thank goodness that I packed plenty of snacks. :) The entertainment was the movie "Like Water For Elephants" shown on a screen up at the front of the cabin and a couple of pull down monitors. Reminded me of traveling long ago except the headsets were marginally better and didn't cost five bucks. I kind of wanted to see the movie, but with kids that wasn't an option.
We get to Frankfurt and are among the very last off of the plane because we have to wait for the flight attendant to get our car seat for us. We walk down the stairs and our stroller is not there. It is, we are told, on the baggage carousel. Maybe I am missing something here, but why would I gate check something if I wanted it on the baggage carousel? We get on the bus to get to the terminal. I am sure that the other passengers hate us. I can't really blame them. They wait on us to get our kid out of the car seat. Our kid screams on the plane because he doesn't have his car seat. Now we are the last people off of the plane and the bus is waiting for us while we try to locate our stroller. I kind of hate us too, but I don't think it is our fault.
Inside the airport we have to get clear across the airport to another terminal, go through security again, and get boarding passes for our other two flights. We have enough time to do this. What we do NOT have enough time to do is go to baggage claim and wait for our stroller, go through customs, find the United counter to get our boarding passes (rather than getting them at the gate if we don't exit to baggage claim), go through ticket control, passport control, and security. We opt to abandon the stroller.
Once on United, things went better. We were allowed to use the car seat. Imagine that. In seat personal entertainment systems keep the kids happy. Somehow even though I called in to request our kids have children's meals we only ended up with one. It worked out okay. They shared that and a regular meal. They enjoyed controlling what they wanted to watch. Ryan watched the same segment of "Rio" over and over. His system finally crashed as we were landing in Chicago. I guess it can only show a segment a thousand times before it goes berserk. Another flight of about ten hours, but this one was not as bad.
Short time in Chicago and on to Spokane. 33 or so hours of travel, but we made it there alive. Only the Air Namibia flight sucked. I mean, not like it is enjoyable to travel that long with kids, but Air Namibia was the only bad part. The kids behaved well, considering. They were cranky at times, but that is a long trip.
Guess what? Our stroller showed up in Spokane a couple of days after we arrived. There was a big piece of paper with a note on it asking for someone in America to call us. :)
While in the US we flew from Spokane to Portland, Oregon and Burbank, California. Those flights were uneventful. Yay!
We dreaded returning. After much deliberation, we decided not to take the car seat on the planes. We knew it would be helpful for the trip from San Francisco to Frankfurt, but didn't want to have to haul it through the airport at Frankfurt for five hours and not know if we would be able to use it on Air Namibia or not.
Things went smoothly from Spokane to San Fransisco and on to Frankfurt. Once in Frankfurt we were anxious to get our boarding passes for our last flight to Namibia. Air Namibia is not a major airline and our gate was not posted nor was the counter opened. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around the airport. We eventually found a check-in kiosk and were able to print our passes. Rob was confused when he was required to scan our passports face down for the machine to read them when the machine specifically said (and had a picture to match) to have them face up to scan. He asked me if he was just too tired. Nope. The instructions were incorrect. Yay Air Namibia.
We spent more than two hours at McDonald's and its playland. Thank you, McDonald's! The boys got out a lot of energy before the flight. Without the car seat to deal with, getting onto our flight and situated was not so bad. I knew it was going to be a loooooong flight with "Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2" our source of entertainment. Probably just as well that it wasn't something that the boys would want to watch because they couldn't see the screen. The boys did pretty well. I wish they had slept more.
I had very low expectations for Air Namibia and they didn't disappoint. They claim to be the spirit of Namibia or some such thing. I think the country should sue the airlines for slander unless the spirit of the country is supposed to be inconsistency, incompetence, and indifference.
When we landed, of course our gate checked stroller wasn't at the gate, but we didn't care. We had to get our bags anyway. We were pleased that the diplomatic line was open so we didn't have to wait in the long line to get through immigration. There were only a few people in front of us. When it was our turn, we had our forms filled out. The line next to us for SADC (South African Development Community countries) was able to process 23 people in the time it took the woman to process our family of four. Our forms were completed. We had the diplomatic passports with appropriate visas. The information was virtually the same. Why, why, why would it take so long to get four people through? I think Air Namibia and immigration must get their employees from the same employment pool.
I shouldn't have been so cranky, because our bags were not out when we got through. Half an hour after the flight had landed the crews bags got through. Our bags started showing up fifty minutes after we had landed. Remember, it isn't a big airport. Their are two baggage carousels and you can stand in the middle of the two and watch both. I'm wondering if they made some poor soul hand carry our luggage from the plane rather than transport it on the baggage cars. Our bags (including stroller) all made it. :)
If you aren't declaring any goods they randomly screen bags. The woman who was choosing who to screen choose the next two people in line, but her idiotic co-worker misunderstood and starting having everyone go through. There wasn't room for people to wait as the bags went through the x-ray. I continued on through with the kids and the carry-ons (I decided not to have those screened and no one seemed to care) while Rob stayed with the luggage. Our bags were filled with goodies like 15 pounds of salsa, 9 pounds of peanut butter, and other things we wanted to have with us here. They had him go to have the bags examined. Rob takes the bags over to the woman at the goods to declare side and she asks Rob what she is supposed to be examining. Uh, how is he supposed to know? If you were hiding something would you really tell her anyway?
Our shuttle driver was waiting for us. We made it home safely. The house was clean. :) I guess I shouldn't complain, but I am. Now comes of the question of what I will do next time if I have the option. Will I choose the horrible Air Namibia or will I opt to go through crime ridden Johannesburg, additional security screening and pat down, and deal with four flights rather than three? I don't know. I do know that I am glad Ryan will be done with the car seat and stroller. I am also glad that I won't need to carry bulky diapers with me. That's something.
Now I realize that I should be happy that I am not the housewife who got hauled off the plane and searched and interviewed. If I were in her place I would be really really upset. I don't know the whole story though, and am guessing that she probably got pulled because of the people she was sitting with. People who saw the men by the restroom probably got nervous and I would suspect the flight attendants got multiple comments by other passengers. Justified? Perhaps not, but I think that probably things played out as they needed to be played out. I understand being upset, but I think that people were probably doing their job based upon the information they were given.
With the exception of Seattle, I have always been treated respectfully going through security. Employees have been kind to my children (currently 4 and 2, but we have travelled with them younger too) and been polite and patient carrying out their duties. Yes, they have patted down Ryan's rear end. I know that upsets some people and they say that babies aren't security threats. I think that a poopy diaper would be a great place to try to sneak things through. Do you really think the employees enjoy having to search kids and the elderly or infirm? Seattle, on more than one occasion, has ticked me off. The people there were, in my opinion, very rude and disrespectful to me and others in the line. I think a lot of the security measures are strange. I think there has got to be a better way. In the meantime, if employees are just doing their jobs,I try to be patient with them. I can save my frustration for the idiots of Air Namibia. I guess we all have our own little issues, don't we. :)
Oh, and in case you haven't guessed, I hate Air Namibia.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Happy (Early) 4th of July
Even though it isn't the Fourth of July yet, we attended the annual Embassy family party to celebrate. (Not to be confused with the official party which I seriously doubt will include a bouncy castle!) Since we are in the Southern Hemisphere, it is winter here right now. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! I had the boys in long sleeves, but they would have been okay in t-shirts. Oh well, saved me from having to put sunscreen on their arms.
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| That's my boy, going up the slide! |
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| Justin and Rob were partners in the three legged race. I competed with Ryan tied to my leg. He thought it was the funniest thing ever. |
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| Doesn't Justin look comfy? |
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| After the three legged race, Justin decided a game of tug-of-war was in order. |
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Penduka
Rob and I went to visit Penduka, a small community not too far outside of town. From what little we had read and heard, we were under the impression that it was a tourist type destination. We knew that it was an organization that helps disadvantaged women by teaching them how to make craft products that can be sold. I envisioned a large gift shop with smaller areas where you could watch the women working on the projects. There is indeed a small gift shop and you can see the women at work, but Penduka is not there for the tourists, it is there for the women. It is a no frills operation focused on helping women in need become more self sufficient.
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| A map painted on the wall of one of the buildings shows the layout of the community, which includes some bungalows for housing some of the women. |
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| One of the small buildings was for bead making. Glass bottles are collected throughout the city and then broken and molded into beads for jewelry. The women who make these beads are all deaf. |
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| View out to some of the bungalows. |
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| Outside of the main building. This building houses the gift shop as well as the sewing area, the pottery area, and the batik printing area. |
I was very impressed with their TB program. They provide treatment to people with TB. The people are monitored to ensure that they take their medication. Before they take it, they are given some food. Being fed is a motivator to come and it helps reduce some of the side effects of taking the medication on an empty stomach. During treatment, patients are taught how to make simple bead crafts. They are paid for each piece they complete. The catch is, no payment until they have finished their treatment. I thought that was brilliant! Who wants to give up all of that free money?
With so many charity scams and mishandling of donations, it was nice to be able to see something in action. It was also nice to be able to buy some crafts that were actually made in Namibia. So often the things you find here are brought in from other countries and the prices are marked up.
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| Here is Ryan wearing the apron that I bought him at Penduka. I loved the colors and the animals on it. |
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| Justin looks pretty cute in his apron too. They had some with gorgeous embroidery, but I knew I would never allowed those to be used as aprons! Now my boys have aprons to wear when they "help" cook and when I want to help protect their clothes when they are eating. |
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| Here is a shot of the area around Penduka. I took it through the van window on our way home. |
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| Here is a picture of one of many barber shops set up along the way. Why you would need so many places to cut hair is beyond me. I suppose it is a way to try to make some money without much in the way of start up costs. Unemployment is incredibly high here. |
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| More random homes/businesses/storage sheds |
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| Back in town we stopped at this little shop. Someone had told Rob they have the best fries in Windhoek. Well, the fries were good, but not great. They must not like crispy fries here because they just don't make them that way. At least they are potatoes and probably contain trans fat. How can that be bad? Our vote for best fries in Namibia is definitely out at Okapuka game lodge. Kind of far to drive for fries though. |
Monday, June 13, 2011
Game Drive Afternoon Trip
We FINALLY made it to the Okapuka Game Lodge. It is only about 40 km away from Windhoek, so it is one of those things that we could do any afternoon. Of course that means it is something we hadn't gotten around to because it is so close and doesn't require a lot of advanced planning. Fortunately, we went with a couple who is only here for a couple of months. That means they have a tighter timeline. That was the motivation we needed to go.
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| Warthogs were everywhere! I took this shot while sitting at our table. We snacked on some fries while we waited for it to be time to leave for our drive. Rob and I agree that the fries were the best that we have had in Namibia. Very reasonably priced too. |
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| We saw two crocodiles while we were out on the game drive. While we were snapping pictures of one, a warthog came trotting down the path. It saw the croc, returned back into the brush, and made a wide detour to get around. Not that I really had any desire to see a creature mauled by a crocodile, but it would have been interesting to see how fast that croc could move. He looks so harmless just resting there. I've seen enough nature shows to know better though! |
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| We saw probably about 20 giraffes in all. We didn't get close to a lot of them though. I was amazed at how well they can blend in to the the landscape. They are obviously tall and I would have thought that would make them stick out. Their coloring matches up with the dry bushes and trees though. I find giraffes one of the most interesting animals to watch. They are graceful and just different. Very neat to view them here as opposed to a zoo. I get better pics in a zoo, but it just isn't the same. |
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| The tour guide feeds the rhinos, so we saw plenty of them. I liked this picture because you can tell how close they got to us. It would have been easy to reach out and touch them. Our guide assured us they were vegetarians, but that doesn't mean anyone wanted to run around and play with them. These guys are BIG. We saw a couple of them have a disagreement and I sure wouldn't want that horn coming my way! |
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| These are springbok. We saw tons of them as well as kudu, oryx, sable antelope, blue wildebeest, hartebeest, eland, and the like. Our guide had the facts about which were the fastest, which could leap the highest, which were the largest, etc. etc. They eat a lot of these animals here. I have tried some when we went to Etosha. Not horribly impressed, but I am not big on game meat. We saw one oryx with only one horn and it was facing the wrong way. Our guide told us it was from incest. "Incestuous antelope" became my favorite phrase of the day. The little oryx looked a bit like a unicorn reject. |
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| I love all the birds' nests hanging from the trees. Namibia has a lot of interesting birds, but they are fast, small, and hard to get pictures of unless you have patience and a good camera. We also saw baboons, but they were fast and uncooperative with getting their pictures taken. Baboons cause a lot of mischief here. |
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| Nice fire going at Joe's Beerhouse. We had an early dinner so it wasn't cold yet. When the sun goes down, winter can be chilly here, especially if there is a wind. Joe's is a tourist "must" for eating out in Namibia. I opted for a beef steak rather than some of the more exotic game choices that are available. Our poor waitress seemed a bit confused by Americans who didn't want sauce dumped all over their meat. The garlic butter on it was perfect! Why would we want to mess with that? They really love their sauces here. Unfortunately, I don't find them very appetizing. |
A friend told me that the boys wouldn't do well on the drive. I know a lot of places don't allow small children because it is hard to get them to follow directions precisely if wildlife get out of control. I think our boys would have been fine as long as they weren't sitting on the edge. I would have felt that they were safe, but I sure wouldn't have enjoyed myself. They would have been bored. Justin is so clueless at spotting things too, I wonder if he would see a rhino unless it touched him! They got bored just looking at a few pictures. The comment Justin made was along the lines of you saw a rhino, cool, let's go play now.
So Mom, Dad, Meredith, or other potential visitors. I will take you to Okapuka if you visit us. It is close, the game drive itself is short (only 90 minutes) and inexpensive. You get to see a little of the wild without it being inconvenient. :)
Thursday, June 09, 2011
Rant, Rave, and Well Deserved Praise
I love to shop at Kohls for clothes for baby and toddler items as well as some other basic odds and ends. When our Chinese rice cooker died, Kohls had the best price on the replacement (okay, I only compared with Amazon, Macys, and two or three other sites), especially since I could get it at 30% as a Kohls charge card holder AND get $10 back for every $50 I spent. I am a regular Kohls customer for things like that.
This week my two kitchen wooden spoons arrived in a box big enough for a bed pillow, but they had it dropped shipped from their supplier so can't blame them for that, and my other items did not arrive. Box came with packing slip and some baby items that were not at all what I ordered. Not even close. Sigh. So I want to return the things that aren't mine and get the things that I ordered and paid for.
Living overseas presents challenges, and returns are one of them. With the time difference and the often crappy connection I have for phone calls, e-mail customer service would seem the way to go. I explained the situation. Questions were asked of me. I responded, but of course the same person didn't get that e-mail. Trying to go over things (guess they don't read the whole thread or the notes that they take) is like a game of telephone and the message doesn't get through.
I gave up and called as I had done on a previous occassion. Nicest customer service on the phone. Very polite, very helpful, and the problem was dealt with. Not only was it corrected, but it was corrected to my advantage as a courtesy for my inconvenience. Nice. They have kept me as a customer. I hope that as they look over my order history they can see that I am a reasonable person. I know that there are people that try to scam companies over things like toddler boy socks and bath tub ABC letters, but I am not one of those people.
Specific kudos go to the supervisor who just knew that 20189 is State Dept zip code and that they could not schedule a UPS pickup so I could return items. The wonderful woman who spoke with me on the phone honored the prices of my original purchase OR the current sale price, whichever was to my advantage. Now, how much money is Kohls out? In my mind, they aren't out any. They have kept a customer. For me, it wasn't about the money either, but about customer service. Thank you, phone customer service. Now to get your e-mail representatives with a more efficient, helpful way of doing things.
This week my two kitchen wooden spoons arrived in a box big enough for a bed pillow, but they had it dropped shipped from their supplier so can't blame them for that, and my other items did not arrive. Box came with packing slip and some baby items that were not at all what I ordered. Not even close. Sigh. So I want to return the things that aren't mine and get the things that I ordered and paid for.
Living overseas presents challenges, and returns are one of them. With the time difference and the often crappy connection I have for phone calls, e-mail customer service would seem the way to go. I explained the situation. Questions were asked of me. I responded, but of course the same person didn't get that e-mail. Trying to go over things (guess they don't read the whole thread or the notes that they take) is like a game of telephone and the message doesn't get through.
I gave up and called as I had done on a previous occassion. Nicest customer service on the phone. Very polite, very helpful, and the problem was dealt with. Not only was it corrected, but it was corrected to my advantage as a courtesy for my inconvenience. Nice. They have kept me as a customer. I hope that as they look over my order history they can see that I am a reasonable person. I know that there are people that try to scam companies over things like toddler boy socks and bath tub ABC letters, but I am not one of those people.
Specific kudos go to the supervisor who just knew that 20189 is State Dept zip code and that they could not schedule a UPS pickup so I could return items. The wonderful woman who spoke with me on the phone honored the prices of my original purchase OR the current sale price, whichever was to my advantage. Now, how much money is Kohls out? In my mind, they aren't out any. They have kept a customer. For me, it wasn't about the money either, but about customer service. Thank you, phone customer service. Now to get your e-mail representatives with a more efficient, helpful way of doing things.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Rice Cookers and Fighting Eland (Two Different Subjects)
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| Such exciting happenings in the Weber household. Our rice cooker died, or was at least very sick. It would sometimes shock you when you touched it. Hmmm, not a good sign. Our outlets all have individual on/off switches so I could just turn off the power before touching it, but really it seemed like a sign to get a new rice cooker. We bought it in China for something like $10 to $12 US and it had a good run. During our move from China to Japan it got dented, but it kept on working. Now, after just over five years of faithful service, it was ready to get a new one. The replacement ended up costing $70. We have only used it once so far, but it seems to be of a better quality. Time will tell how it holds up. Now I just need to remember that it is 110 volts and not 220 so I don't plug it in directly and blow it up. (Left: old cooker, Right: new cooker) |
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| Before swimming lessons, we stopped off at the petting zoo. We saw two elands (or is the plural eland just like the singular?) butting heads and pushing each other around. These guys are taller than I am and were being quite aggressive. I wanted to take video or at least get a picture, but my camera was in my purse and I didn't want to let go of Ryan's hand. The animals roam free and we weren't too far away. Ryan was trying to be a peacemaker and I feared that getting out my camera might just be the distraction that allowed him to enter the fight himself. I got a shot of one of the eland a bit later when we were further away. Doesn't he look calm and friendly in the picture? See how exciting our lives are? Maybe you have had a rice cooker die lately, but how often do eland fight right in front of you? Hopefully after our day trip on Saturday I will have something a bit more exciting to post. :) Just wanted to put something up since I said I would post more often. |
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
I Just Want to Plug In the Humidifiers!
It is winter now. The long summer rainy season is over and humidity levels have dropped drastically. Time to plug in the humidifiers in the bedrooms. I put it off longer than I should have because I knew it would not be a simple task. We have three humidifiers. One came with the house and it has a skinny European style plug. One that we brought with us is from the States (okay, probably made in China, but a US brand) and has a US plug and needs a transformer to convert the voltage. The one we purchased here has a round European plug. Now, to get them plugged in and operational... Pictured are some of the many styles of adapters we have. Here in Namibia they have the most ridiculous plugs, just like in South Africa and who knows where else. The prongs are huge and make me think that these are training plugs, kind of like they make the fat crayons for toddlers. I figure out a configuration that works, but wouldn't you know it, when one of the adapters is plugged in, it turns off the power to the outlet. All of the outlets have on/off switches, and to push the adapter in far enough to make contact forces the outlet off. It took probably about 40 minutes to get three humidifiers plugged in. The outlets alone are a reason not to live here. I hope that the next place we lives has something more sensible that can use a universal adapter. I feel like I have enough adapters that I could open my own Radio Shack.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Back to Blogging?
Okay, there have been a lot of reasons that I haven't been blogging. One of them is actually pretty stupid. There were two obnoxious widgit graphics that appeared over my text and I didn't know how to get rid of them. I know that I could look online to find out or just experiment with settings, but our internet can be SO slow sometimes (remember dial up speed?) and with the boys constantly distracting me it was just not something that I was doing. Today (I hope) I did it! Yay! Now that that isn't there to bother me, perhaps I will get back to more regular blogging. At least I have been doing monthly updates of what I have been doing with the boys on my blog http://entertainingmykids.blogspot.com/
I want to write a bit about our trip to Etosha last month, but for now I will write about my tripS to the store to buy food. This morning I went to the fruit and vegetable market to buy produce and milk. That was all that I needed. I got the produce. I can generally accept that our produce is trucked in from South Africa and does not always look the way I expect produce to look. I can also usually deal when an item or two is out of stock. Today there was no milk to buy. Correction, there was no milk that had an expiration date any later than today. There was some with yesterday's date and some with today's date. That doesn't really help me for the rest of the week.
This afternoon I decide to head out to the market to buy milk. My husband wants some ramen for work as well. Simple enough. Still, since I am making the trip I might as well buy for the week. They had tortillas in stock (yay!) which I have not seen for three weeks. We are out, so I bought five packages of eight tortillas to put in our freezer. That starts us out at $15 US. I continue, happy that they do have milk AND ramen AND even the kind of yogurt my kids like. The dates on the products are all good. Of course since I am buying so much I figure I should get flour since I am low, chips, etc. etc. Once we get over the magic number of $15 US we need to get a tax receipt so we can be reimbursed for the 15% tax on things here. (Your state tax isn't sounding so bad now, is it?) I load up the cart and decide I should check how much money I brought. I wasn't going to get much and now I have quite a bit. I have about $100 US so I plan accordingly. I end up buying about $70 worth of stuff. The boys have been playing with food in the cart, trying to climb out, making loud noises, grabbing for things on the shelves, etc. etc. I am so frazzled as I check out that I forget to get my tax receipt. Grrrr... I could wait in the looooooooong line at customer service, but I really don't want to be with my screaming demons a moment longer. There goes $10 US down the drain. I know, not a huge sum, but it still makes me mad. There was no good reason not to get that "free" money.
So we get home and the boys are walking so slowly while I am carrying heavy bags. They are fighting to get in the house and I open the door without turning off the alarm first. I have to push past the kids who are hanging on my legs and trying to be the first ones in the house and get over to the control panel to turn it off before the alarm company starts calling. Then Ryan is upset and needs comforting. Justin decides to help put away the food because he knows I am not pleased with them. He puts some in special "tricky" places for me. Lovely. I think I have found everything. I wish I hadn't been busy with Ryan so long.
Good thing I got more than milk and ramen because I am NOT looking forward to my next trip to the store!
I want to write a bit about our trip to Etosha last month, but for now I will write about my tripS to the store to buy food. This morning I went to the fruit and vegetable market to buy produce and milk. That was all that I needed. I got the produce. I can generally accept that our produce is trucked in from South Africa and does not always look the way I expect produce to look. I can also usually deal when an item or two is out of stock. Today there was no milk to buy. Correction, there was no milk that had an expiration date any later than today. There was some with yesterday's date and some with today's date. That doesn't really help me for the rest of the week.
This afternoon I decide to head out to the market to buy milk. My husband wants some ramen for work as well. Simple enough. Still, since I am making the trip I might as well buy for the week. They had tortillas in stock (yay!) which I have not seen for three weeks. We are out, so I bought five packages of eight tortillas to put in our freezer. That starts us out at $15 US. I continue, happy that they do have milk AND ramen AND even the kind of yogurt my kids like. The dates on the products are all good. Of course since I am buying so much I figure I should get flour since I am low, chips, etc. etc. Once we get over the magic number of $15 US we need to get a tax receipt so we can be reimbursed for the 15% tax on things here. (Your state tax isn't sounding so bad now, is it?) I load up the cart and decide I should check how much money I brought. I wasn't going to get much and now I have quite a bit. I have about $100 US so I plan accordingly. I end up buying about $70 worth of stuff. The boys have been playing with food in the cart, trying to climb out, making loud noises, grabbing for things on the shelves, etc. etc. I am so frazzled as I check out that I forget to get my tax receipt. Grrrr... I could wait in the looooooooong line at customer service, but I really don't want to be with my screaming demons a moment longer. There goes $10 US down the drain. I know, not a huge sum, but it still makes me mad. There was no good reason not to get that "free" money.
So we get home and the boys are walking so slowly while I am carrying heavy bags. They are fighting to get in the house and I open the door without turning off the alarm first. I have to push past the kids who are hanging on my legs and trying to be the first ones in the house and get over to the control panel to turn it off before the alarm company starts calling. Then Ryan is upset and needs comforting. Justin decides to help put away the food because he knows I am not pleased with them. He puts some in special "tricky" places for me. Lovely. I think I have found everything. I wish I hadn't been busy with Ryan so long.
Good thing I got more than milk and ramen because I am NOT looking forward to my next trip to the store!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Swakopmund Vacation
This weekend we finally got out of Windhoek for the coast. We made the four hour drive to Swakopmund, Namibia, the second largest city in Namibia (not saying much) and the closest city to Brad and Angelina's place in the country. We had a nice time, but I think it it overrated. Don't think that it would be nearly as popular if there were more to do here.
We got to Swakopmund at lunch time on Friday. Everyone always talks about the cute little cafes and restaurants. They are supposed to be kid friendly (which I have decided means you can let your children run around like brats without regard to their safety or any consideration of other people), but come on, my kids are four and two. We decided to just hit KFC and even waiting for that was hard for the kids. They were EVERYWHERE! At least they enjoyed the food. We made our way to where we were staying, a 3 bedroom place in the north end of town. It worked out perfectly for us. We had plenty of space and had a kitchen, meaning we didn't have to eat all our meals out. :) We rested a bit and then walked over to the beach for a bit. Yes, we had to get sandy and wet so we had to go back home and change. We made a quick stop at the Snake House. For about $4 each, we were able to see snakes in three roms that all together were smaller than our kitchen. The boys enjoyed the snakes, and loved watching the chameleon get fed. They also loved climbing on the jawbone of a whale. Easily entertained. We walked around the downtown area for a bit and then headed to the grocery store to pick up a few items.
Saturday was cool and rainy, but we headed for the main beach area and playground. Next to the playground, a bouncy castle park was set up. For a fee, the kids could bounce around to their hearts' content, and oh how they loved it. We spent HOURS there. Justin's favorite was the inflatable water slide. Ryan tried it once, but when he climbed to the top he was freaked out by the water and perhaps the pitch of the slide. I think it was just as well because otherwise he would have been wanting to climb up it all day. Instead he kept climbing up a rope cargo net, using his arms and not his legs. He got really tired, but what great upper body strength!
For lunch we found a charming cafe (meaning overpriced mediocore food) and then headed over to the Kristall Galerie. This is a pretty small museum that could be seen in about 10 minutes. It has a cave replica which frightened the boys the first time through. Ryan was wrapping his legs around mine, afraid to move. After the first time through, we couldn't keep up with the boys. They thought it was great. They also have an area where you can "find" polished rocks. Ryan mostly wanted to throw them in the water.
Back to the bouncy castle area for a couple more hours. Justin kept gong back to the water slide over and over, while Ryan and I wandered over to the ocean. Justin and Rob eventually joined us, and we enjoyed having the waves get our feet and legs wet. When the boys started to shiver, it was time to head home.
Sunday was a lazy day. We had gotten WAY too much sun on Saturday and all ended up with burns. :( We headed out to a pizza place for lunch and had an African take on Italian food. Home for a quick nap and then we were back at the beach. This time we had hats and protective clothing as well as PLENTY of sunscreen. Justin liked playing in the sand and Ryan liked playing in the water.
Each evening after the boys were in bed, Rob and I watched a DVD. While taking small children on a trip means it is a trip and not a vacation, it was still nice. It was good to be at the beach and to have a few days without laundry and other routine chores.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Internet Shipping Woes With Various Merchants
Usually I do not have problems with online shopping. Lately, it seems, things just haven't been going my way. I suppose that considering the amount of shopping I do online, I am bound to have problems at some point.
My first incident was with Discount School Supply. Let me say right up front, it was NOT their fault. It was the fault of our stupid mail drop. Discount School Supply was AWESOME! I received a fast, personal response to my question. I couldn't believe that it wasn't a generic script. This was a conversation with an actual English speaking person who was trying to help me even though my situation was not their fault. The customer service rep helped me come up with a few possible solutions. They truly went above and beyond. I even fell below minimum purchase for free shipping (not to mention they had to ship things out more than once for me!) and they refunded money to me for the undeliverable merchandise but did NOT charge me for shipping. I love Discount School Supply. They have fun things, good prices, and the best customer service I have encountered. Even so, I had to deal with it and was disappointed by the whole mail drop issue that I couldn't resolve.
Next, I placed an order with Toys R Us. They were having a fantastic sale on Thomas Wooden Railroad things. Some of the items were 50% off! I am not a big Thomas fan (probably an anti-Thomas, person actually), but Justin and Ryan like the stuff. How could I resist this (and some of the other) sales? It was a one day thing, and I quickly took advantage! Got my order confirmation and was good to go, or so I thought. A few days later I get an e-mail saying that my order was canceled because of an error with my billing address. Please contact my credit card company if it isn't correct, blah, blah. The only thing I could come up with was that Toys R Us refused to allow the apostrophe that my billing address contains. Back and forth I went in e-mails with their customer service. FINALLY I got someone who told me that it wasn't my billing address, it was my IP address, they just didn't have an error message for that. Well, indeed I am ordering from outside of the US. They have sent me things here before without any problem, so what was the issue? I was told I could re-order, but the sale was over so things would be full price. Great deal, huh? I was ticked! Phone calls and e-mails were not very helpful. Ironically, I became a "fan" of Toys R Us on facebook and it was there that I actually got some real help. From there I was able to get information that would actually help. Eventually, I got my order at the sale prices. It was a lot of work though. I thought that since I had a confirmation number, tracking number, etc. and they canceled my order without contacting me first that it should be easy to fix, but no. They made me fight for my sale items.
Last month I wanted to take advantage of a sale at Linens and Things and get a comforter for Ryan since he is sleeping in a twin bed. When I would get to checkout, it kept telling me that my credit card could not be processed at this time. I thought it was a problem with the site, so I tried again later. I decided that it might be a problem with my IP address, since I was ordering from Namibia. I have had that problem before. I decided to block my IP address and try again. Unfortunately, our internet is so slow here that when I did that, my session would time out. Frustrating! I noted that they take paypal, so I decided to pay that way. I forgot to unblock my IP address first, so Paypal put a hold on my account because they had reason to believe someone was trying to access my account fraudulently. Sigh. It took awhile to get things squared away with them. It was a bit of a pain, but I understand why they did it and don't blame them. Just an annoyance for me.
A week or so later, I decided to set up an iTunes account. I don't have an ipod, iphone, or ipad, but have been exploring my options. I went to sign up and it told me that my e-mail already had an account. Oops! I figured that I had set one up sometime and just forgotten. I had it reset my password via e-mail. I signed in and set a new password. I looked at my security questions and they were bizarre. They weren't mine! Then I noticed that the account was set up for a Larry B--complete with address, phone number, etc. Guess he must have a very similar e-mail address because I can't see any benefit of him giving my e-mail address instead of his own. I sent iTunes an e-mail. They said they would take care of it. They were very prompt with their reply. Unfortunately, it has been 22 days and they haven't taken Larry's credit card or other info off. I also have credit. Poor Larry B is now locked out of his account. He hasn't used it for about 15 months, so maybe he doesn't care. My friend, LT, had trouble with iTunes charges on her credit card for several purchases that she did not make. Now I am a little wary of iTunes. Anyone else have problems with them?
I wish my sister were here. I would rant and rave and tell her my woes and have her write my blog. I just find that I am not very motivated to make these the great stories I know she could make out of them.
Happy Shopping!
My first incident was with Discount School Supply. Let me say right up front, it was NOT their fault. It was the fault of our stupid mail drop. Discount School Supply was AWESOME! I received a fast, personal response to my question. I couldn't believe that it wasn't a generic script. This was a conversation with an actual English speaking person who was trying to help me even though my situation was not their fault. The customer service rep helped me come up with a few possible solutions. They truly went above and beyond. I even fell below minimum purchase for free shipping (not to mention they had to ship things out more than once for me!) and they refunded money to me for the undeliverable merchandise but did NOT charge me for shipping. I love Discount School Supply. They have fun things, good prices, and the best customer service I have encountered. Even so, I had to deal with it and was disappointed by the whole mail drop issue that I couldn't resolve.
Next, I placed an order with Toys R Us. They were having a fantastic sale on Thomas Wooden Railroad things. Some of the items were 50% off! I am not a big Thomas fan (probably an anti-Thomas, person actually), but Justin and Ryan like the stuff. How could I resist this (and some of the other) sales? It was a one day thing, and I quickly took advantage! Got my order confirmation and was good to go, or so I thought. A few days later I get an e-mail saying that my order was canceled because of an error with my billing address. Please contact my credit card company if it isn't correct, blah, blah. The only thing I could come up with was that Toys R Us refused to allow the apostrophe that my billing address contains. Back and forth I went in e-mails with their customer service. FINALLY I got someone who told me that it wasn't my billing address, it was my IP address, they just didn't have an error message for that. Well, indeed I am ordering from outside of the US. They have sent me things here before without any problem, so what was the issue? I was told I could re-order, but the sale was over so things would be full price. Great deal, huh? I was ticked! Phone calls and e-mails were not very helpful. Ironically, I became a "fan" of Toys R Us on facebook and it was there that I actually got some real help. From there I was able to get information that would actually help. Eventually, I got my order at the sale prices. It was a lot of work though. I thought that since I had a confirmation number, tracking number, etc. and they canceled my order without contacting me first that it should be easy to fix, but no. They made me fight for my sale items.
Last month I wanted to take advantage of a sale at Linens and Things and get a comforter for Ryan since he is sleeping in a twin bed. When I would get to checkout, it kept telling me that my credit card could not be processed at this time. I thought it was a problem with the site, so I tried again later. I decided that it might be a problem with my IP address, since I was ordering from Namibia. I have had that problem before. I decided to block my IP address and try again. Unfortunately, our internet is so slow here that when I did that, my session would time out. Frustrating! I noted that they take paypal, so I decided to pay that way. I forgot to unblock my IP address first, so Paypal put a hold on my account because they had reason to believe someone was trying to access my account fraudulently. Sigh. It took awhile to get things squared away with them. It was a bit of a pain, but I understand why they did it and don't blame them. Just an annoyance for me.
A week or so later, I decided to set up an iTunes account. I don't have an ipod, iphone, or ipad, but have been exploring my options. I went to sign up and it told me that my e-mail already had an account. Oops! I figured that I had set one up sometime and just forgotten. I had it reset my password via e-mail. I signed in and set a new password. I looked at my security questions and they were bizarre. They weren't mine! Then I noticed that the account was set up for a Larry B--complete with address, phone number, etc. Guess he must have a very similar e-mail address because I can't see any benefit of him giving my e-mail address instead of his own. I sent iTunes an e-mail. They said they would take care of it. They were very prompt with their reply. Unfortunately, it has been 22 days and they haven't taken Larry's credit card or other info off. I also have credit. Poor Larry B is now locked out of his account. He hasn't used it for about 15 months, so maybe he doesn't care. My friend, LT, had trouble with iTunes charges on her credit card for several purchases that she did not make. Now I am a little wary of iTunes. Anyone else have problems with them?
I wish my sister were here. I would rant and rave and tell her my woes and have her write my blog. I just find that I am not very motivated to make these the great stories I know she could make out of them.
Happy Shopping!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Under $20
Remember in China how I was always so impressed with how much I could get for so little? My Namibian shopping experiences are not at all like my experience in China. I have to take a pasta salad to a party on Saturday. According to the recipe it serves 12, but since it is a potluck side dish I figure it will serve more.
Maybe I am just really cheap and out of touch with US prices, but this seemed like it cost a lot. Often there is not a choice of brand. Since some of the items here had a local or imported option, I was able to save. For produce I got the cheapest option. All the produce was looking pretty dismal. There are some other ingredients that I already have on hand. We will see how it tastes. Perhaps I should have spent $12 to get "quality" ingredients.
Of course I also purchased additional items including 1.06 gallons of milk ($6.85) and 17 cough drops ($3.32). The cough drops taste like burped up sausage, though they claim to be cherry flavored. I think I will stop coughing just to avoid using one.
- Medium jar of mayo (generic was $1.90 cheaper a jar than Hellman's)
- Red wine vinegar (hopefully! Didn't see any red wine vinegar at the store, but decided brown grape vinegar might be it. Generic was $6.28 cheaper than German brand)
- Black olives (jar, but equivalent of a can of olives in the US)
- 1 kg of spiral pasta (saved just over $4 by getting non-colored over tri-colored)
- 2 yellow bell peppers
- 4 tomatoes
Maybe I am just really cheap and out of touch with US prices, but this seemed like it cost a lot. Often there is not a choice of brand. Since some of the items here had a local or imported option, I was able to save. For produce I got the cheapest option. All the produce was looking pretty dismal. There are some other ingredients that I already have on hand. We will see how it tastes. Perhaps I should have spent $12 to get "quality" ingredients.
Of course I also purchased additional items including 1.06 gallons of milk ($6.85) and 17 cough drops ($3.32). The cough drops taste like burped up sausage, though they claim to be cherry flavored. I think I will stop coughing just to avoid using one.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Eggplant Recipe?
When we lived in China we used to go to a nearby restaurant and get an eggplant dish that I absolutely LOVED. I never knew eggplant could be so delicious. So today when I was on allrecipes.com and saw they had a Chinese site, I wondered if perhaps that site might have a dish similar to the one I loved so much. Well, they might; I am afraid that even with (or perhaps because of) the babelfish translation of the page, I will never know. I think this one is close though! http://allrecipes.cn/caipu/2009/----.aspx
0 Easy Altogether takes time: 25 minutes
Prepares 10 minutes to manufacture 15 minutes
Component: 3
The daily family activity eggplant is together the delicacy the good for both young and old cooked food. The land has the different cooking method color fragrance to be but complete.
Preparation material
Eggplant 500 grams
Tender garlic stem 2
Green pepper 3
Auricularia auricula 50 grams
Oil 7 buckets
Thick bean sauce 1 bucket
Soy sauce 1 bucket
Salt, monosodium glutamate respectively right amount
Water starch 1 bucket
Chili oil 1 bucket
Manufacture method
1. Peels the cleaning the eggplant, slivers the length 4 centimeters, thick 1 centimeter strip; Slivers the section the tender garlic stem cleaning; Slivers the scrap the green pepper.
2. On the wok burns down the heat, puts in the oil 4 buckets, pours into the eggplant strip to turn fries several, adds the salt, bakes receives basically to the eggplant strip moisture content does, bails out the oil asphalt is ready to be used dry.
3. The wok gets angry again, puts in the oil 3 buckets, fries the fragrant thick bean sauce, gets down the tender garlic stem section, the auricularia auricula and the blue hot pepper block fries the fragrance, pours into the eggplant strip, uses the soy sauce to blend flavors again, the water used starch thickens soup, to drench into the chili oil to fry uniform then.
0 Easy Altogether takes time: 25 minutes
Prepares 10 minutes to manufacture 15 minutes
Component: 3
The daily family activity eggplant is together the delicacy the good for both young and old cooked food. The land has the different cooking method color fragrance to be but complete.
Preparation material
Eggplant 500 grams
Tender garlic stem 2
Green pepper 3
Auricularia auricula 50 grams
Oil 7 buckets
Thick bean sauce 1 bucket
Soy sauce 1 bucket
Salt, monosodium glutamate respectively right amount
Water starch 1 bucket
Chili oil 1 bucket
Manufacture method
1. Peels the cleaning the eggplant, slivers the length 4 centimeters, thick 1 centimeter strip; Slivers the section the tender garlic stem cleaning; Slivers the scrap the green pepper.
2. On the wok burns down the heat, puts in the oil 4 buckets, pours into the eggplant strip to turn fries several, adds the salt, bakes receives basically to the eggplant strip moisture content does, bails out the oil asphalt is ready to be used dry.
3. The wok gets angry again, puts in the oil 3 buckets, fries the fragrant thick bean sauce, gets down the tender garlic stem section, the auricularia auricula and the blue hot pepper block fries the fragrance, pours into the eggplant strip, uses the soy sauce to blend flavors again, the water used starch thickens soup, to drench into the chili oil to fry uniform then.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
18 Months Already!
Last week TB (short for Tiny Baby since I am trying so hard not to call him Tiny or Tiny Baby anymore) turned 18 months. A friend of mine was coming up with ideas for her son's birthday cake, so I decided that half birthdays are great reasons to have a cake and made one for TB. I ate about half of it. Oops. I also discovered that I need to call way in advance for well baby checkups with the pediatrician. We don't get in until July 6th. Evidently there are only 6 pediatricians for a country the size of California (much smaller population though). Oh well. Don't really have concerns about how he is doing so it isn't that big of a deal.
To add to Ryan's previous word list, he can now also say:
moon
sunbeam
tree
cat
bath
hat
shoes
hot
eyes
ears
teeth
nose
up
banana
chip
cracker
snack (meaning fruit snacks, something Justin didn't even know about at 18 months!)
spoon
more
water
bubbles
ball
whee!
wow
boo boo
Momo (name of toy hamster)
Justin (hard to understand, but consistent)
Diego (and Go, Diego, go)
Bo Bo (as in Bo Bo brother monkeys from Diego)
Click (from Diego)
llama (because of Diego)
Oh man! (from Dora the Explorer)
teamwork (from Wonder pets. He doesn't know what it is, but he knows it is what's going to work.)
Ah-choo!
Ha! Ha! Ha!
prophet
Jesus
amen
I think that these are new. I was writing a list on the back of an envelope and tried not to make duplicates, but without having the other list in front of me I am not sure. Regardless, even if every single one was a duplicate, Ryan can say much more than Justin's 10 words at 18 months. I am surprised Ryan can say anything at all because Justin never shuts up! When he runs out of things to say he just kind of stalls with mumbles as he looks around the room for an idea for a new topic. I think sometimes he even bores himself, but he keeps at it. Could we have a future lawyer or politician? He is pretty creative with excuses too.
TB is already sleeping in a twin bed (with the toddler bed beside to "catch" him if he rolls off) while Justin was in the crib until we needed it for Ryan. He is climbing, jumping, and doing a lot of the things that Justin is doing now. Maybe he will decide to use the potty soon. Yeah, right.
Justin is Ryan's favorite person, with Diego a close second. Too bad it isn't them that Ryan calls for in the middle of the night.
To add to Ryan's previous word list, he can now also say:
moon
sunbeam
tree
cat
bath
hat
shoes
hot
eyes
ears
teeth
nose
up
banana
chip
cracker
snack (meaning fruit snacks, something Justin didn't even know about at 18 months!)
spoon
more
water
bubbles
ball
whee!
wow
boo boo
Momo (name of toy hamster)
Justin (hard to understand, but consistent)
Diego (and Go, Diego, go)
Bo Bo (as in Bo Bo brother monkeys from Diego)
Click (from Diego)
llama (because of Diego)
Oh man! (from Dora the Explorer)
teamwork (from Wonder pets. He doesn't know what it is, but he knows it is what's going to work.)
Ah-choo!
Ha! Ha! Ha!
prophet
Jesus
amen
I think that these are new. I was writing a list on the back of an envelope and tried not to make duplicates, but without having the other list in front of me I am not sure. Regardless, even if every single one was a duplicate, Ryan can say much more than Justin's 10 words at 18 months. I am surprised Ryan can say anything at all because Justin never shuts up! When he runs out of things to say he just kind of stalls with mumbles as he looks around the room for an idea for a new topic. I think sometimes he even bores himself, but he keeps at it. Could we have a future lawyer or politician? He is pretty creative with excuses too.
TB is already sleeping in a twin bed (with the toddler bed beside to "catch" him if he rolls off) while Justin was in the crib until we needed it for Ryan. He is climbing, jumping, and doing a lot of the things that Justin is doing now. Maybe he will decide to use the potty soon. Yeah, right.
Justin is Ryan's favorite person, with Diego a close second. Too bad it isn't them that Ryan calls for in the middle of the night.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Happy Birthday to Meredith!
This year my sister, Meredith, has been writing nice tributes to family members on their birthdays. Since I doubt that she will write one for herself, I decided that I should write one. Hopefully, she will put a link on her blog to mine so that her friends can see how wonderful I think she is.
I don't have the writing ability or creativity that Meredith has. To do her justice I should have started on this long ago. I won't put it off until next year though. It seems to me that all too often people put off saying nice things about people until they die. It is nice to be able to share stories and memories about someone who has died, but isn't it nice to tell the person while they are still alive?
Meredith and I are very different. We have very little in common, yet I always enjoy the time I spend with her. She is incredibly creative and that comes through in just about everything she does. I love her writing, her drawing, her pictures, her crafts, and the way she is able to recount simple, everyday things in a way that has you on the edge of your seat. To get a letter from Meredith means a handmade envelope, a cute little doodle, or witty words. To have her tell you about something she saw or did is like you were there yourself. I really admire her talent. I often think that I have some good ideas, but not the talent to do with them the things she could do. Maybe I am just lazy, but I feel like I would have to work so hard to come up short of what I see her regularly achieve.
I see myself as a rather boring person. I like to be safe, comfortable, and secure. That may seem like an odd statement from someone who currently lives in Africa and moves every 2 or 3 years. I don't like to take risks. Meredith dreams big and finds ways to make it work. I love the way she makes bold choices that I would never make. She doesn't go for easy, she goes for exciting. I would be a nervous wreck living the way she does, but I love that she does it. I think that when she looks back on her life she will have very few regrets of things she did not do.
It was hard to decide what to write and what pictures to include. I started with a huge pile, but realized that I needed to choose only a few. I tried to find some that people may not have seen of her. The first is pictures of sweet little Meredith when she was a newborn. She is ten years younger than I am and seven years younger than our brother. We were so excited to have a baby sister and we loved her to death. At four pounds, four ounces she was like a doll. Even at an early age she was her own person. She had the cutest little facial expressions and she knew how to SCREAM!This next picture was taken the second time we lived in Belgium. I don't know exactly how old she was when it was taken, but kindergarten age is the oldest she could have been. She decided that she wanted to marry someone we knew from church. She made him a picture and I think considered it an engagement. What a good sport he was! Don't you just love Meredith's Rainbow Brite dress? Very 80's. She had a lot of clothes with personality including two jackets. The purple one was Michael Jacket and the pink one was Janet Jacket. How cute is that?
Meredith and I generally got along. Sure there was the normal squabbling that you would expect siblings to have, but with so many years between us we weren't competitive or anything. She was my baby sister and I loved being a big sister to her. When we did have fights, arguments, or whatever you want to call them, they didn't last long. This is a note that she wrote to me near the end of my senior year. She would have been just shy of eight years old.
Here is a picture of Miss Meredith A Bak playing T-ball. Even at a young age she was good at sports. :P
I wish I knew when this picture was taken. Obviously it was some Christmas. I believe it was between 1991 and 1994, but no guarantee. We decided to be "Bow Legged Sisters" though I am not sure why.
This is another Christmas picture. I would guess it is also 1991 to 1994, but not the same Christmas as the previous picture. Our dad had (and still has) a tendency to call Meredith my name. One time she had a friend come over and when he answered the door he greeted her and said, "you must be Kathryn's friend." Poor Meredith. (In defense of my dad, I only have two children and I can't keep their names straight. Not only do I call them each other's names, I call them my siblings' names as well!) My dad had labeled some of our Christmas presents and we decided to label ourselves to make things easier for him.
Meredith has always been creative. In high school she was into drama. Here is a program from Meredith Madness II. (Yes, there was a first Meredith Madness too.) She wrote and directed all of the plays AND acted in most of them. She has the ability to crack me up. In college she continued to be part of a drama group that performed as far away as Hawaii. Don't take a big sip of a drink when Meredith is talking, or you might just have it come spraying out your nose as you laugh.
I had hoped to go through this yesterday and fix it up a bit, but I had a migraine and didn't even turn on the computer. There was something else that I wanted to add, but I can't remember what it was. It will have to go online as is. Sorry, dear Meredith, that it is not better. I love you. Happy, Happy, Birthday!
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