This is AMAZING!!!

Well, I've had quite the week this week... From weird rashes kids, to sick me, backed up septic tanks, broken kitchen sink pipes, no drinking water, no internet, no dial tone on the local phone, no minutes left on the cell phone, no water pressure for the garden, and still no word on the car or the shipment of our stuff...and this was ALL YESTERDAY!!!! Yah, I had a good cry last night and this morning, feeling a bit overwhelmed...BUT--Andrew's rash is going down, a plumber came first thing this morning and fixed the pipes under the kitchen sink and our water distiller :) (so we have drinking water for the first time in 3 days!!! Yea!!!!), someone else came and found that our phones were broken, so they replaced them and now I have communication again, AND--get this--one of the internet guys came and FIXED OUR INTERNET!!!!!!!!!! I AM LOGGED INTO MY BLOG AS WE SPEAK!!!! I can't even tell you how exciting this is!!! Now I don't have to overload my poor sister in law! I can check my email and it doesn't take an hour to read 2 messages...I can actually log into my blog in a matter of minutes! I can go to pretty much any internet site that I want and actually see it in less than an hour!! Oh, it's just such a breath of fresh air for me! C'est MERVEILLEUX!!!!! C'est FANTASTIQUE!!! JE SUIS HEUREUX!!
I haven't seen Devin since this morning. It's almost 8pm. *sigh* Well, that's not exactly true. I did see him during French class today. But, a problem came up at work, and he had to stay late to fix it. Then, he had to leave to pick up some stuff at the airport. So, I won't see him until around 11pm. C'est la vie. Oh well. The kiddies are all in bed--I did it all by myself! I'm so proud of myself! Ha!
Well, I'm off to try out some experiments on my new-found freedom with the internet!! :) I haven't been able to surf the net for over a month! Weird!! I'm happy to be back!! :) Maybe my next experiment will be to post a few movies....

Out in the Town

This morning, I was playing a random variation of Go Fish with Josh and Claire, and Josh made a discard pile, and said, “Mom, this is my disco pile!” Ha!

I’ve had the opportunity to go to the huge outdoor market a couple of times now. I went the first time with my fantastic housekeeper, and found a nice large oriental rug for our den. The second time I went was on Friday morning with a few friends. I must admit that the first time I went to the market, I had been here only a very short time, and I was scared out of my wits! I didn’t like that people were throwing things at me and grabbing my arms…all so that I would come and buy something from them. This time when I went, I found it was rather enjoyable!! I found cool (cool meaning light and summery) clothing for all the kiddies, and some sandals for all of them as well. I knew more French, and while I still didn’t understand everything they said to me, I was at least able to hold my own. I learned lots of interesting and useful phrases! C'est la meilleur façon à apprendre une langue. (Thanks Jen! Good phrase!)

After a few hours in the market, I went home for an hour and played with the kids (which was when Josh mentioned his ‘disco’ pile) and then I was off again with Devin to go to the brasserie (brewery). Funny thing to do, I know. Our friends were doing a tour of it as part of the French class, etc., so we went along. It was really interesting. We learned about how they make biere (beer) in French. A few of those rooms we went into…can you get drunk just by breathing in the fumes? Man, my eyes were burning!!! It was interesting to see the different machines working and all the work that goes into making bottled drinks (they also make soft drinks there). At the end of the factory tour, they gave us free drinks (Dev and I got Fanta and Schwepp’s Ginger Ale) and they gave us a hat and some cool cups that say ‘Castel Beer’ on them! Ha!!

We then got to go home and finally see our kids and play with them before we put them to bed! I felt sad that I hadn’t seen them all day long! They don’t do much when I’m not home…mostly just watch movies. So, in some ways I suppose they were glad to not have me there since I don’t let them watch movies when I am home! Ha! They’re good kids.

We’ve had a hard time at church lately. I’m in the primary now with the kids, and it seems to be harder than it was. Josh is mean to all the other kids around him. He keeps telling us that he doesn’t like them. How could he not? They’re sweet kids in the primary, and he doesn’t even talk to them. At all. He just sits in a corner and glares at everyone. What’s up with that??? Or he beats up whomever is sitting next to him. What have I done wrong??? During Sunday School, he wanders about the room, talks over the top of everyone else, or makes a lot of disturbing noises. Then comes Sacrament Meeting, where all 3 kids converge to make it fun for everyone. Today, Claire SCREAMED all the way through the whole meeting. Dev and I took turns holding her outside—we were far away from the room of the meeting, and you could still hear her loud and clear. Andrew was walking all over the benches and trying to eat crayons and paper, and Josh kept wanting to get up and leave, then come back, then leave, then come back and start screaming about something or other. I feel like the worst parent in the world. This is pretty normal for our Sundays here in Africa. It’s been very difficult to pay a lot of attention. Anyone have any advice or ideas how to make it better?? We bring snacks, crayons and paper, small toys…I’m just not sure what to do.

Anyway, on a lighter note, we get to go to the beach for Spring Break in March!!! ϑ It’s a beach resort type place called Kribi. I’m super excited! Beach, sand, waterfalls, boat rides…it will be fun! We’re going with a few other families that we know, and I think it will be nice. We’ll be there for 4 days!! Wow! We’ve never been on a family vacation…we’ve gone places, like to visit family, etc., but we’ve never been on a vacation as a family just for the sake of going on a vacation! So, this will be our first one! Yea!! I hope it’s fun! (I’m also hoping that we get our big shipment before then so that we’ll have all our back up swimsuits, beach towels and beach toys!!!!!!)

I wanted to mention one other thing: Thank you SO MUCH to my fantastic Sister in law who is ‘moderating’ this blog for me! If it weren’t for her, I’d have no blog anymore!! Thanks, Robyn!! The internet connection here is still not great, and while I can email, and buy things on ebay (sometimes), I still can’t log into my blog. *Sigh* And I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments! It’s nice to hear from so many friends and family!! Leah, if you read this, I need your new email address!!!!! I’ve been wanting to write to you for forever!!!!

Kisses to you all!! ϑ

Our Favorite Store

This morning, our family joined a few other people from the American Embassy community to go shopping. We went to a few shops with African art, a grocery store called Eco Marche, and to what is known as the local dollar store (except almost everything there is a little over three dollars for what might be found at a dollar store in the US). After finishing up there, we went to eat at a pizzeria inside a new supermarket called Euro Marche (Marche is the French word for Market). Our family had gone there a few times previously, and we recommended it as a good place to get lunch. This place just opened a few weeks ago, and it is awesome!!! It is run by a middle-aged Italian gentleman who seems to double as the main cook at the pizzeria and the manager of the supermarket section. We had calzone, lasagna with potatoes and eggplant en lieu de pasta, and some ham, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches on freshly toasted flatbread. It was fabulous! They have great service, very yummy and safe food, and the prices are really good too. The meal options are only around two dollars a plate! We sat on the upper level of the restaurant, and our whole group fit at one table. This place is the big car comfort! Just down the street there's another pizzeria that seems to have had the corner on the local pizza market, and they usually charged nearly twenty dollars for one pizza. We had it once, and it wasn't very good... So we found a great place to eat and to shop for German corn flakes and Italian pasta (and some Nutella every now and then).

And here are a couple of pics for the week:

Andrew LOVES bananas, as does Claire. Too bad Joshua doesn't like them because they are plentiful and cheap here. All the bananas on this shelf were cut down from our banana tree in the backyard. Banana trees actually work on several bunches at a time, but they become ready at different times. Once a bunch is taken down, the whole limb that supported that bunch is cut as it will no longer produce fruit. New stalks grow up from the ground as fast as the bunches grow and ripen. This picture was taken in our basement pantry, which will be REALLY useful when our HHE shipment arrives!



The neighborhood in which we live is called Bastos, which happens to be the nicest part of town and also where most of the expatriates from foreign countries live and work. I took this picture while walking around the block with the kids. It gave a fairly good view of part of our neighborhood. This was at a vacant lot, and right in the front you will see a huge pile of sand. I asked one of our embassy drivers about a different pile of sand I saw further down this same street, and he said that it was going to be used in the construction of a new house. When we walk around the streets near our home, we pass by dozens of embassies of foreign countries, as well as their residences.



This picture was taken just down the street from our home. We live right on the north side of town, and as you can see, there isn't too much obstructing our view. There is one more street down the hill to the north, which is where this motorcycle came from. This view reminds Emily of her favorite area of her mission, Coban, because of the rolling hills covered with beautiful vegetation.

French Lessons and Coffee

Devin and I have been taking French lessons every afternoon together. Whew! It’s an uphill battle for me! He asks things in French, and I understand…which is awesome! But then I almost always answer in Spanish! Or, I think of an answer in English, then Spanish, then try to translate it from Spanish to French. My mind is messed up! Or, I just sit and stare while trying to think of what the answer should be…and then when I get home, and the right words and phrases jump to my mind. Blah. I think I’m going to have my housekeeper speak only French to me. I’d probably learn faster that way…and we’d probably understand each other better. It’s like when I was on my mission…my trainer was from Jolly Old England…and I understood her Spanish much better than her English. She kept saying everything was lovely!! (I loved that girl—she was lovely! She also did a FANTASTIC American accent that always cracked me up!!)

Anyway, I’ve joined a Creative Writing group here, and our next months’ topic is: “Are We There Yet?” Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on what I should write about? :P When I get it written, I’ll post it—but no one is allowed to say anything bad about it, because I’m not in school, and I always HATED that when I’d get my paper that I worked so hard on and have red marks and teachers’ opinions written all over it. Talk about discouraging! Who wants to keep writing if the audience rips it apart????

My kids are so interested in what is around them now in this ‘new world’….they are curious about everyone and everything. Luckily, many of the people don’t understand what they’re saying. Unfortunately, our housekeeper and guard do! :/ Oh well. They’re outside right now with them, and I think Josh and Claire are trying to steal tastes of the native foods that Pascaline and Napoleon have for lunch today…Oh dear.

I’ve sent my kids off to playgroup without me. They seem to enjoy it more. They told our housekeeper: “Are we going to playgroup today without mommy again?” She said that , “No, she’s going to come, too!” And then the kids said, “NO! We don’t want mommy to come!” I felt sad! But, I am going to go to a get together with some other women from the area. It’s called a Coffee Group, and when I was invited I was a bit hesitant, and told the lady that I didn’t drink coffee. She just laughed and said that was fine, that there was also tea and juice, so I said juice would be great, and then it was all settled. Funny. It’s so interesting to me to see all the activities here; that every get together involves alcohol or coffee or both, and 90% of the people smoke. They’re still all very nice people, it’s just very different than what I’m used to.

Another interesting thing about Cameroonian society: They don’t have stores. None. Everything that everyone buys is either done in the outdoor markets (which are MANY, HUGE, and CROWDED!!!!) or from people walking along the streets!! It’s crazy! If you see a man walking down the street balancing a shoe on his head, it’s not because he lost the other one, or because he’s working on his posture. That is what he is selling! He displays a shoe on his head, and then he has a huge backpack on full of shoes that he is trying to sell! Anytime you see anyone with things on their heads, they’re not just carrying it for fun—they’re trying to sell you something! I’ve seen shoes, bread, blankets, cream (in baggies), notebooks…you name it! So fun! And the markets are CRAZY! I wanted to find a big rug, so my housekeeper took me to Mocolo—the biggest market in the area. WHEW!! It was nutty! Thousands of people there, and I had no idea what they were saying (unless they said, “La Blanche!!” and then I knew they were talking to me, as I was the only white person there!) and the scariest part, was when they would grab my arm and try to pull me over to their little ‘shop’! I thought it was just because I was foreign. Apparently not. That’s what they do to try to entice you to buy what they are selling. I was not enticed! It really freaked me out!! And it was HOT!!! And then we found the carpet place, and my housekeeper set out to haggle! That was fun! Ha! Our French teacher has been teaching us phrases to use in the market, and says that next week, he’s going to have us all go to the market, and have Devin and me go buy something, and try haggling en francais!! Whew! I don’t know how I feel about that!! :P Super nervous…but I have at least until Monday to practice…Maybe someday all the French stuff will start to really click in my mind. That would be nice!

Another One for the Album, Gromit!

We painted 'houses' today! These are the big huge boxes they shipped our UAB (unaccompanied Air Baggage) in. They're super durable, triple thick cardboard boxes...just right for an empty playroom! :) So we took these boxes outside, I cut out doors, and we painted them! So fun!


Here are both houses. You can see how high the boxes are as Claire is standing right next to it...so fun!!


Here's Josh in his house. What a nut! They can almost stand up in these things! :)


So, here's our garden in our backyard--so far there are green beans growing in it. Our gardener (also our guard) has tomatoes, peppers and I'm not sure what else, being started in the 'guard shack', which is the building you can see off to the right. Josh says hi to everyone! :)


Andrew always loves to be outside in the middle of the action...and he LOVES to smile for the camera (and then he has to see it and giggle at himself!) :) He's just too cute! :)


This is a gecko I found hanging out in the bathroom with me one evening. Super cute!!


Here are our banana trees...we have 3 BIG bunches coming! Woohoo!!! We found a recipe for banana bread, and using fresh tropical bananas and French imported butter, I could eat an entire loaf of this stuff by myself! Even Josh likes it, and he hates bananas! :) Just think how much banana bread this stuff will make...Mmmmm...makes my mouth water...


Here is one of our papaya trees...it is LOADED!! :)


Here is one of the views from the master bedroom balcony! Pretty, eh?


And, as promised, here are the funky mosquito nets over the beds!! :) It makes it look all foreign...and they're a little tricky to get used to...but it's like camping every night! Ha!!





But, now it is time for dinner, and it's getting close to 5pm, so it's time for the kiddies to come inside before mosquito friends come out to play! :)

Andrew's in the House

Here's a picture of the front of our beautiful house here! :P

And here's a funny picture of Andrew in his new favorite 'seat'...the bidet. Ha!!!

Here's another Andrew cameo...He loves to carry around these water bottles and try to drink from them.
He gets super wet. And they're almost as big/heavy as he is, so he falls over a lot as he walks around with it in his hand. These bottles are our water! You buy them in the store like this... Here at our house, though, we are very spoiled and have a distiller for pure drinking water--we just refill the bottles with water and keep one in each bathroom and three or four in the fridge for drinking water. The kids have only forgotten to not drink the water one time (yesterday), so they're doing really well with the new regimen! :)

Christmas in Africa

This is Claire as Mary, and one of the Elders as Joseph. Of course, that didn't last long. Claire wouldn't sit still long enough to be Mary, and she kept taking off and hiding the baby Jesus...so most of the acting out of the Nativity passed without the baby in the Manger. Oh well.

Here's Josh as one of the Herald Angels in the Christmas thingy.

This is Devin as the infamous (meaning, of course, MORE than famous) King Herod! (Sorry the picture went funny!...) Doesn't he have a pretty crown on? I was actually one of his harem...I had a scarf on and tied it around my head. But since I wasn't actually a part of the 'play' itself, I didn't take a picture of myself. I just sat on the side and enjoyed watching everyone else! :)

And here is a picture of the whole cast of our Christmas Eve Nativity! :)

Here's Devin in front of our happy little Christmas tree! :) A merry Afrikaan Christmas!