First Things, First

Blog Post about Summer 2020

I drove by myself to Dallas to pick up the crew when they flew in, and their flight was delayed just like ours had been. 

Since I had a lot of time to kill, I called my brother and his wife, and asked if I could hang out with them for awhile. We ended up going out for a great dinner and devised a plan of surprise.

My sister-in-law, Jen, and my nephew Nolan would come to the airport with me and hide while I videoed them disembarking. Caleb and Nolan are really close, so that was a special reunion.

Also, since it was now WAY too late to drive back the two hours to College Station, we all crashed on their floors and couches for the night while Karis was back in College Station with Keira, and she said they were fine.

Very quickly, the next morning, a plan came together to leave Caleb in Dallas with my brother's family for an untold amount of time. I was a little apprehensive because Caleb had grown so much, and I knew he really needed to go clothes shopping immediately. I didn't want to put that burden on my sister-in-law, but she took it on like a champ.

I got pictures in the stores and from their house of all of his new purchases, and I really can't thank her enough for all the places she took him to get him outfitted!

July 1, 2020

And then, they took him out and fed him well!

Nolan & Caleb, July 1, 2020

Then they entertained him and showed him a good time in America.

And can you believe, we didn't see him for another MONTH!

In the meantime, we were all in College Station getting over jet lag.

Karis and I took Keira with us one day to get coffee at this little shop downtown.

The picture of it is below, and when we walked in, Keira said, "Wow! They really need to fix this place up. It is falling to pieces."

I guess this look isn't for everyone ;). Keira was a little nervous about walking in.

July 2, 2020

We celebrated the first Fourth of July Keira could remember at a subdivision outside of town.

She was definitely not impressed. 

The fireworks were okay, but she couldn't get past the loud noises, so she ended up covering her ears the whole night.

Funny enough, one year later, in 2021, she and I celebrated the Fourth in Mississippi on the Bogue Chitto River, and we didn't last 3 minutes outside, before we went inside the cabin to get away from the noise.

Anybody else have kids like this? :)

Karis and her friend Emma reunited.

Emma flew overseas to see us February 2019.

Meanwhile, the messages on instagram from back home read: "Government offices will reopen at 30 percent capacity on Sunday to Wednesday from 9am to 1pm, with strict health instructions. This decision does NOT include the health department, police, Asayesh or security apparatus and service departments.

Other places including language teaching centers, public and private parks, children playground areas, cinemas, party halls, night clubs, bars, shisha venues, gyms, swimming pools, massage centers, and public baths are also to remain shut.

New measures are imposed until July 11 midnight."

I had no idea we had public baths.  Hmmmm.

Things I See (Vol 8)

Welcome to "Things I See."  If you want to see the previous installments, you can click on Volume 1 , Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, Volume 5, Volume 6, Volume 7


Nothing to see here, just your every day traveling Dollar General.

I've always wanted some Shose and Bages!

I have NO idea what this t-shirt is trying to tell me...

I know I've mentioned this before, but I can never get over the size of this bread!

And the taste...wow!

If you are looking for old furniture, you've come to the wrong place.  Only "young" furniture here.

This coffee shop called Cappuccino is also spelled out in Arabic on the left as "Cabutsheenu."

When there is no "P" in your language, you just have to make do...

That's why all the Pepsi here is "Bebsi." ☺

Parking in our old neighborhood was hard to come by.  This guy didn't even try to park parallel.

I'm still taking pictures, so I'll share some more "Things I See" soon.

Almost Graduation, but not Quite

Keira’s graduation was supposed to be May 5^th, and I had been told to get her a black shirt and black pants.  I had been looking for a couple of weeks and had bought the best I could find.

I took them into the school and showed the principal the black pants, and she smiled, but when I showed her what I had found for a black top, she laughed (and I don’t blame her).

This is a photo I found online, but in your imagination, add gold buttons down the front. 

Even though so many of the women here cover themselves completely in black year-round, it was very hard to find a black shirt for little girls (It’s summer, and black is hot!), so I had resorted to going to the bazaar and finding a black bolero jacket like this one, made for a petite woman. 

I told them (in my broken language) that I was going to cut the buttons off and sew up the front and hem the sleeves so it would fit my 5-year old better.  They just continued to laugh, but said it was okay.  They also suggested I go see a tailor.

I didn't go to a tailor.  I decided to keep looking.

On May 2nd, three days before graduation, I took a girls black shirt with a heart on it into the school office.  I was so proud of myself!  Doug had taken me to a new mall I had never been to before, and I had found it in the last store we went into.  

I asked the ladies if the heart on the shirt was okay, and they all said, “Yes.”

I double-checked that Keira should wear it on the 5^th for graduation, and they said, “Oh!  We forgot to tell you.  Graduation is going to be on the 14^th now, and class pictures will be on the 10th.”

I also asked when the last day of school would be and if the schedule would change during Ramadan.  They didn’t answer the Ramadan question, but they did say school would end on the 21^st, 22^nd, or 23^rd of May.

This kind of stuff drives me crazy, but it’s so common here.

I will tell the story of graduation soon, but let me say that at graduation, they walked down the aisle, sang, and then their teachers removed their cap and gowns before any parent could get a picture.   What we did get was a large class photo glued to a large piece of wood and a large single picture of Keira glued to a 5x7 piece of wood.

When I went to pick it up, all the teachers were laughing, telling me she looks so angry, and I had to hold my tongue knowing that Keira had told me that they told all of the kids they couldn’t smile.

Keira’s only comment was, “Mom!  I was NOT standing in front of that!  I was standing in front of a door.  I don’t know what happened.  And look at that guy!  He looks like he's squatting to go to the bathroom!”

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One Random Day in the Life

Not that you're interested, but I chronicled part of a random day here, and I thought I might share.

There are different things about every day, but of course, there are also similarities.

When we first wake, there is no power, and when it was more "winter-ish," there was no light.  Breakfast was made by lantern-light.  

There has generally been power from 7am to 8am since the middle of January, and then it goes off until late afternoon.  This picture was taken around 8:15, after the kids have gone to school.  We are very fortunate because we have windows in our house.  So many people have to use lanterns even after 8 am.

This is the view outside my kitchen window.

If the blinds are closed, this is my "view."

Usually, we're pretty good about washing dishes from dinner the night before so they are ready to put up the next morning, like this.

 But sometimes,  I wake, and I'm met with a mess from a lazy night.
 


Since I only have one sink, I put all the dirties in the red basin and boil water on the stove.



Very soon, it's all done...till lunch.


We usually have pretty good power at night.  It shuts off until midnight, but until then, I can usually get all the wash done for the day and hang it on our rack and on the stairs.  This is what I see the next morning.  And yes, we still have "crunchy" towels, just like we did in Africa.

I get everything folded into piles, ready for the kids to pick up after school.  The trunks are my "pantry."  These are where I keep goodies that are sent from America, multiples of an item, or salsa and pickles that I make.

 Now, the rack will sit empty all day until the power comes on again at night.

And, I wait until the kids dutifully fill it up again by throwing their clothes down from the second floor.



Throwing their clothes down must be a lot of fun because I never have to remind them to do it.



I also vacuum in the late afternoon when there is power.  For some reason, someone tiled this house with WHITE tile, so every speck of anything or hair from anybody's head, is noticeable to the downcast eye.

If we have had city power the night before (versus generator power), that means our hot water heater was working and a hot shower can be had the next morning.  But getting prepared for a shower is quite a shock to the system when your house feels like 50 degrees or colder.  We also try to take "military showers."  They need to be short, and while we're soaping up, we turn the water off, so that the rest of the family will have enough hot water, as well.

*cold*

This picture was taken in January, when I used to hang a lantern on the door of the shower.



It gave me pretty good light, but I realized with water running over my eyes, I keep my eyes closed most of the time anyway, so I stopped taking a lantern with me.



Next, I try to pick out an outfit and put on make-up in my room by lantern or iphone light.  Even with the door open, it doesn't get a lot of light in there.  Recently, I've been taking my make-up into the living room and applying it there.  I stuck myself in the eye several times in my room trying to hold an iphone light in one hand and apply mascara with the other.

Since our afternoons get busy with kids coming home, their activities, and our language tutor coming to the house, I usually go to the vegetable stand in the morning and start prepping for dinner.

My door to the vegetable stand and the outside world.

Looks like we had a dust storm, and somebody needrd to hose down the front porch area.  

I believe after I took this picture, Doug cleaned the porch.  I'm sure the neighborhood ladies get a kick out of seeing him do "women's work," but again, we want to be different, and this is one way we can show how to humble ourselves and be a servant to others.

When I return from buying vegetables, I homeschool Keira until lunch.  After lunch, when I'm ready to go for visits, most everything in my neighborhood is shut down for naptime, so visits have to wait until later.  Most everything in this culture happens late at night, anyway.  

For example:

The girls finish their dance classes around 10pm.  

Caleb gets home from soccer around 8pm.  

Doug gets home from teaching around 8:30pm.

Dentist appointments here START around 9pm.

Late night dinners are a regular at our house.  It makes for short nights, but we are getting used to it.

I left a ton out, but you kind of get an idea of a no-nonsense day.

Happy random day to you, too.

New things

I have a new clothes line. That's a story.

The holes were dug, the poles ordered and welded, and then nothing.

After 2 days, I said, "Why are the poles not up?"

My house worker said they needed rocks to mix with the cement.

I asked her where they could be purchased, and she said, "Just over there."

I went to the watchman, and said, "I hear you need rocks." He said, "Yes, I will price them and then get them in a wheelbarrow."

That afternoon, Doug and I secured a wheelbarrow. When we returned, we walked in the gate, and there was my watchman, with a wheelbarrow WITH rocks.

I said, "Where did you get the rocks?"

He said, "There were some behind your wall, and I had a wheelbarrow here."

Communication is going to be fun! I waited two days for rocks, when apparently, there were some behind my wall.

***I also wanted you to know, I finally uploaded a video of some of the wedding music. It is short, but it will give you an idea. It took over an hour to upload, so I'm feeling very proud.

***New things #3: Doug looked in the "Where there is no Doctor" book for Africa, and I believe he has diagnosed the kids appropriately. They have Giardia. Now we have a place to start.