Yo Ali

Welcome Cash Patrick!

2012-01-21T09:12:00.002+01:00

In Washington State on one of the snowiest, coldest, ice-filled days of the year Cash Patrick Thomas chose to make his arrival. He weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Big love and congratulations to my brother, Andy and Breezy! Can't wait to meet him. xox SEO

Gorillas!

2011-12-22T18:38:00.005+01:00

I am not even sure where to start with this post - it was so amazing and so intense, I think I am still processing it. With my family here for a visit, Eric and I were able to leave O for a night and finally make the trek to see the mountain gorillas. We drove out to Musanze and stayed in the Ishema Hotel (I called it the Ishitty hotel - it really wasn't very nice) and got up early the next morning to make the short drive to the Volcanoes National Park headquarters. Eric had purchased our permits in Kigali so all we had to do was show up at 7am and get put into a group. Right now there are 10 groups of gorillas that you can trek to - the lead guide divides people into groups based on agility and fitness and then you set out. Each group consists of 8 people and one guide. We were put into the Ugenda group that has 13 gorillas in it - including 2 silverbacks - it is considered an "intermediate" hike. Once in our group we drove about forty minutes up closer to the mountain and then began our trek out. It was so incredibly beautiful - so much green and so few people - it was nice to just hear silence (along with the sounds of my own breathing as the elevation increased) and see the views. Porters met us at the starting point and trekkers are encouraged to hire porters to help the local economy - it seemed kinda silly as we only had one little day pack but our porter Deo really helped us out. We hiked for about one hour through terraced farm lands planted with potatos, pyrthrium and wheat until we got to the park boundary. Once at the boundary our guide, Beck, gave us a little lecture about how to act around the gorillas and the accepted distance to keep from them. It was a trip to go from the terraced farm land to the park - like stepping into the rain forrest - all of a sudden there was foliage all over and the trail turned to a narrow little muddy slice. The sun was filtered and you could feel the moisture in the air. Once into the forest we hiked for maybe another 45 minutes and finally spotted our trackers. These are professionals who go out early in the morning and track the gorillas - it makes it easier for tourists to see them. Once you find your trackers you know you are close to seeing the gorillas. We gathered in a circle and left our packs and walking sticks and then walked about ten feet away from our circle to where the gorilla's were resting. They were so quiet that if you didn't know where they were you would have hiked right past them. Once you spot the gorilla's your one hour time limit starts - it was literally the quickest hour of my life. You are supposed to stay about 20 feet away from the gorillas but that is close to impossible - they move around all the time and are curious so basically we just hung out and took a million pictures and let them do their thing. That's the down low for now - more to come with processing and a better internet connection.
So incredibly close to the gorillas...

The youngest member of the Ugenda group was this one year old

The lead silverback - he scratched his bum and then smelled his hand!

The big daddy giving checking me out - he weighed close to 500 pounds...HUGE!

School's out for the Summer!

2011-12-22T09:08:00.000+01:00

I pick O up from school on Friday afternoons. A couple of weeks ago his teacher asked me if I minded if he played a missionary in the end of term school play. I looked at her with eyes wide open and said "of course not" so you can imagine how my mind processed my child playing a missionary at a preschool in Africa. The whole thing was just too freakin weird. As the week passed Eric told me one day that school asked if Orion had a suit and a cowboy hat - what the heck? Is that what missionaries wear? The missionaries I have met wear your average clothes. Since O owned no suit or cowboy hat we were out of luck. The following day Eric said that they asked if it was ok if he wore a roseary and carried a bible. In the end the play was cute - long and overdrawn for a preschool play but harmless. What a smiling missionary!

Parading around the stage in his "thomas the train" undies and a fur wrap...to show how human clothing has changed over the ages. Pretty complex theme for preschool, huh?

Holiday Giving in Rwanda

2011-11-14T13:42:00.002+01:00

Looking for a fantastic holiday giving opportunity? Then look no farther...

Kacyiru Primary School (KPS) is located in the Kacyiru neighborhood of Kigali, Rwanda. Approximately 2600 children attend this school and because there are so many children, half attend school from 7am—Noon and the other half from 1pm—5pm. These students are taught by 42 teachers. Of these 2600 children approximately 25% are orphans that are unable to afford school uniforms or yearly school fees.

We – The Ali, May, Tye, Uwera and Weller Families – invite you to sponsor a school child!

Who:
Approximately 230 Primary School Children from KPS

What:
A donation of 22,000 RF or $35 USD and a small toy or book as a gift. This monetary donation will cover the cost of a new school uniform and school fees for the year

Why:
What a simple and easy way to make a difference in a child’s life

Details:
Take a look at the “kid cards” on the tree in the HU that each child has filled out. Pick the card of the child that you would like to sponsor, give the money to Laura or Stacy for the uniform and school fees and find a toy or book as a small gift. On December 16th there will be a party at KPS and the gifts will be distributed to the sponsored child.

How it started:
I first became acquainted with KPS through my son. His preschool is close to KPS and when I would collect him from school I would see kids in blue checked shirts and blue shorts or skirts. Being new to Rwanda, I thought this was the standard uniform of all school children and thus I had school uniforms made for my son. Turns out that each school has their own uniform and his school was no different. We now had these school uniforms that we didn’t need. I asked his teacher if she could assist us with donating these KPS school uniforms. She called me after her visit and with tears in her voice said that she had met with the headmistress and they had identified children that didn’t have school uniforms. The children were thrilled with these new uniforms and we started brainstorming about ways that we could get involved with KPS. My colleagues and I worked with KPS teachers to identify children in each class that did not have school uniforms and were unable to pay their school fees. These were the children that were invited to fill out “kid cards”

Airplane Delivery

2011-11-10T14:11:00.001+01:00

I heard through the grapevine that RwandAir was bringing in their second Boeing 737-800 and after asking around it turned out the Ambassador was invited. I explained that I come from a family of Boeing employees and asked if I could tag along for the reception. It was great! I got to ride with the Ambassador and this enabled me to come on time for the reception instead of having to be there two hours ahead. We were sent out to the new VIP waiting room at the airport and plyed with food and drink and then when the plane was spotted we were escorted down onto the tarmac where there was dancing and drumming. I was told that when an airplane is on its maiden voyage it is sprayed with water when it departs and when it lands - so when the plane landed it went through huge sprays of water. I got to check out the interior (which honestly, looks just like a plane!) When asked what I thought, I said "does it make the plane fly faster or make it less painful to fly with a three year old" you can guess the answer to those questions! The biggest surprise of the afternoon was when I spied two servers walking in with cases of something from Pike Place Brewing Company. Turns out that Boeing had PPBC brew a special beer to give to RwandAir for the purchase of the plane. They called it Rwand Ale and it had a nice little story of how they purchased the planes. Kinda cool that if you spend millions of dollars you can get your own little beer. Let me tell you - from a G&T kinda girl - the beer was delish.

End of Term Pictures!

2011-11-04T11:47:00.001+01:00

Popcorn

2011-10-30T18:05:00.000+01:00

Product of the USA - packed in UAE...strange isn't that?

Popcorn in a pop-top can...love it!

I have a love affair with popcorn. Is it heriditary? Some sort of wierd genetic mutation? No clue. What I do know is that popcorn is meal in my family. My mom has this ginormous metal bowl that is used for popcorn and making cookie dough at Christmas. She has no secret recipe - its airpopped corn with butter. I think my cousin, Tina, has this gene as well and maybe a new coworker. I think you either LIKE popcorn or you never really think about it.

Eric is the cook in our relationship and when he runs out of ideas or is in no mood to cook we have "fend for yourself" dinner usually some random assortment of bits and pieces that we call dinner. And because Eric is who he is - we dont have "fend for yourself" very often - maybe 1-2 times a month. My all time favorite "fend for yourself" dinner is a bowl of popcorn.

It was no surprise to me that when I went to make popcorn for Halloween yesterday...the popcorn container was almost empty. Only about a scant 1/2 cup left and, as any popcorn lover will tell you, that is not enought popcorn. Good thing I have a husband who looks after me - like some magician in a big top circus - he pulls from the closet a can of popcorn. I take a look at it and it cracks me up. Product of the USA but packed in UAE - I have visions of a large cargo ship with popcorn in the hull. Is that really what happens? Who knows...all I know is this...Eric saved the day and orange popcorn balls were made with crisis averted.

Cooked Fruit

2011-10-20T15:46:00.005+02:00

It almost feels strange to start typing here again. I have a love hate relationship with this blog. I love that its here and that my family and friends can take a look and see what we have been up to but on the flip side its not easy. Our Internet connection often times sucks, I tried uploading a 32 second video the other day about 50 times and it took so long that the computer timed out. I still have not been able to load it and let me tell you its a cute video of Orion riding his new birthday balance bike. Damn, that kid has no fear, he rides it down the hill of our driveway like a bat outta hell and uses his "brakes" aka his feet to stop. But alas, I digress. I write a million and one blogs in my brain and I actually thought about keeping a note pad with all my ideas but that never materialized either.

What has got me lately is this. I went to a dinner at a friends house a couple Saturday nights ago. It was a small little gathering - 5 of us in all - with lots of great conversation. She had prefaced the email dinner invitation stating that it was going to be a sllllloooooowwwww dinner, with tipsy croquet, new wines and long leisurely eating. It was! We chatted in the kitchen, sipping new kinds of Virgina wine (who knew??!) snacked on nuts and Oreos (a rare gem here in Kigali) and yes, indeed, we did play tipsy croquet. I was so horrible at croquet that I made it my responsibility to knock everyone else's balls out of line (bad girl, bad girl). Then we had dessert and out they come...a chocolate zucchini cake and a strawberry rhubarb pie. Now if you know me, you know I have a serious aversion to cooked fruit. Its so weird and has such a strange consistency...but alas, the pie was what I envision being handed at the pearly gates. You know like, "welcome to heaven, have some pie". I still really can't believe that I am writing that I liked a cooked fruit pie. So now that I have had this awakening, I need to make myself some pie. My mom sent me her favorite recipe which is this:

MB's No Fail Pie Crust

4 cups flour
1 3/4 c shortening
1 T sugar
1t salt

cut together with a pastry blender

mix 1egg beaten
1T vinegar
add enough water to make 3/4 cup of liquid.

mix the two together...makes 2 pie crusts...
just until the ingredients "ball"

this is the best one I have ever used..
the key...do not handle it to much.
roll out once and gently

good luck

hugs, mom

MB's recipe looks all fine and good but where the heck am I supposed to get shortening? Not available here and, honestly, its always kinda creeped me out. So my next thought was, lets google it and see whats out there. Well, you can tell where this is heading...there are a million and one recipes for pie crusts out there. Scrolling through a few and they all basically have the same ingredients...then I laid my eyes on this one and I think I fell in love with her pictures of pie. Those close up of the lattice work really got to me and thus this will be the winner in the "which recipe for pie crust to try" competition. Wish me luck!

Flights of Fancy

2011-09-28T11:37:00.004+02:00

So, I am supposed to be working but I got all sorts of crap floating around in my head. You know those kind of times where you feel like you must write it all down or you wont remember what you were thinking. Plus, its 11:35 which means it almost lunch time, right? which means its OK to just write nonsense for a bit, right?

These are the bits of matter in my cranium:

1. my friend T is pregnant with twin boys. I got an invite to her baby shower which is all the way in Chicago so needless to say, I had to RSVP with regrets. That said, I need to find her something or the boys something. I was checking out Etsy and fell in love with these - thinking that I can convo the artist and get them made in two contrasting colors - maybe orange and green? or should I get her a pregnancy massage - you know, something for her alone? They do live in Chicago and the babes are due in late November so you know its gonna be COLD!

2. I need to figure out how to pay a deposit for our upcoming Turkey Day holiday. We are headed here for some much needed beach time! I miss the water terribly and the sun. Whoever thought Rwanda was supposed to be sunny cause its in Africa never lived in Seattle. The weather is remarkably similar minus the constant temperature around 75 degrees. So how do I get Wells Fargo to do a wire transfer to a place in Kenya? Also, which airline has better deals Rwandair which is a direct flight or Kenyan Air which will fly through Nairobi? Do I want to save money but have to fly through Nairobi?

3. I need to come up with a plan to make treats for O Boy's BIG number 3! Eric asked his school how many kids are in his class but we keep getting conflicting numbers. Weird, huh? Last year they told me 50 but i think that meant there were 50 kids in the entire school. I was thinking that I was going to make cupcakes for him to take but the idea of transporting 50 cupcakes makes me want to cry so maybe I will go for chocolate chip cookies or brownies. They would both be a hit as chocolate chip anything is no where to be found here and brownies are unheard of. Eric also scored two packages of cream cheese (you dont even want to know how much he paid for it) that I need to do something with - maybe cream cheese brownies? Anyone got any great (no need for only good) recipes out there for a baked good that includes cream cheese?

4. Ok - I got sidetracked with my job and forgot half of my list. I know it will come back to me but for now its out there in the great beyond, just waiting.

5. Ohhh...I just remembered one more thing. I was reading this blog and wondering if I can find rosemary here when I then read this post that she linked to this - which has got to be the funniest craigslist entry I have ever seen. Read it now and laugh hysterically! And if you know me just shake your head and remember the infamous BROWN BULLET!

Happy Almost Birthday O Boy!

2011-09-26T16:47:00.002+02:00

It’s Orion’s Third Birthday!

Please join us for an
afternoon of fun!

When: Saturday October 8th from 3pm

Where: YoAli Residence

What: bouncy house, happy hour drinks, and of course birthday cake!

Scoop: In lieu of gifts we’d like to collect new or gently used children’s books to donate to Kacyiru Primary School’s library

Questions: call Eric at 072 281 7113 or
Stacy at 078 830 5128

Christmas Trees

2011-09-16T09:37:00.003+02:00

I have become obsessed with getting a Christmas Tree. A fake big green thing to put up every year. Is this because I have a son who is starting to get the whole Christmas/Santa thing...I don't know but whatever it is I have become a WOMAN OBSESSED.

Growing up we always had a live Christmas tree and I made fun of fake ones but then we lived in the Pacific Northwest where evergreen trees are so abundant they named the state - The Evergreen State. Then Eric and I moved to the SW - where the only thing dotting the landscape was red rock and cactus and it became difficult to find a live Christmas tree. So I did what any self-respecting person does and bought a 3 foot funky white one that I loved! See the use of the past tense "loved" - I am feeling the love a lot less these days and think perhaps I am outgrowing my white Christmas tree infatuation.

Thus, the hunt for a new and improved fake Christmas tree - maybe I shouldn't call it "fake" cause it still represents many things - but more like "not-white" Christmas tree. I have bid on two Christmas trees on eBay hoping to score the tree of my dreams. Alas, some sneaky person keeps outbidding me by $1. What the hell - these auctions are ending at like 3am - who the heck is up at 3am looking to deny me the tree of my dreams!

My co-worker, who has heard about this newest obsession everyday, told me to try walmart or kmart or target but no go - they had nothing remotely interesting and every tree was over $250 dollars. YIKES! Who knew "not-white" Christmas trees could cost so much?!

This is similar to my favorite Christmas tree on eBay and I am still smarting from getting outbid!

99 Not Red Ballons

2011-09-12T13:00:00.000+02:00

What's better to a 2 year old than a big old bunch of balloons that were left over from a "bunco for boobies" fundraising event. While back in Auburn on holiday, MB hosted this amazing afternoon event. There was a $40 buy in that got you drinks (three cheers for margaritas!), dinner and 1/2 the pot. The other half went to family friends who were doing the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk. There were about 50 women that attended and it was a hysterical good time!

Our visit to THE BAY

2011-09-02T08:01:00.000+02:00

In search of comfortable shoes for Oma we head to the bay - as in "The Hudson Bay Trading Company" you know - old school, trappers and fur traders and such. Now its a big'ish department type store with not a lot of inventory. What they did have in stock were plenty of mannequins just waiting to talk to Orion. Thinking back, I am not sure that he has really ever seen mannequins up close and personal or maybe he has but now he's old enough to appreciate them. I caught him in the swimsuit section saying "my name is Orion, how are you doing". I about peed my pants laughing. That combined with the good taste in high heels made for a very adventurous shopping trip.

O Goes to the Dentist

2011-09-01T13:00:00.001+02:00

While back in Auburn on holiday, Orion had his first visit to the dentist. I chose a kid friendly dentist close to my mom's house and it was a great experience. The office had an electric train going all the way through it, a special little kid sized door to walk through and everything was kid friendly - from the special dental chairs to the toothbrush sizes to the small rewards for being a good patient. While sitting on my lap he had his first set of xrays and then with TV as a distration (see his fixated gaze in the pictures) the hygentist cleaned his teeth and the dentist examined them. Three cheers for a great visit except for the first sentence out of the dentist's mouth - "looks like he's going to need braces" - yikes, how can you tell that in the first two seconds of an exam and do we start saving now?

"look momma there is a TV in the roof"

Summer Days...

2011-08-12T06:35:00.001+02:00

Sushi with the Family

2011-08-11T06:51:00.001+02:00

Point Defiance Zoo

2011-08-11T06:24:00.002+02:00

A morning at the zoo with good friends was the perfect way to spend a sunny day. O had a great time looking at animals and running around. We were at Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma - I had not been there for several years and it was fantastic.

Breakfast at Grandma's!

2011-08-11T06:21:00.001+02:00

Look what I got!

2011-07-07T20:27:00.000+02:00

Who knew you could find orange roses in Kigali. I came home yesterday and got surprised from O and Eric. They sure know the way to this ladies heart. I am a sucker for pretty much any fresh flowers.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-03T08:00:00.000+02:00

Who's a Monkey?

2011-07-02T08:00:00.000+02:00

Thanks for the fun glasses Nama - O boy loves them - though I think he has ripped the monkeys off the frames already. Now that I am thinking about it - I think I picked up a monkey tail from the kitchen floor this morning. "mamma mamma mamma...you were them monkeeeeee's"

Round Up

2011-07-01T19:52:00.002+02:00

I am not really in the loop when it comes to the blogs written by other Foreign Service Folks. People that we have met and those we are friends with sure, but in general, not really. Come to find out there's a lot of FS bloggers out there who all have very interesting perspectives about all aspects of the FS and family life. YoAli started when I was pregnant and has just continued as our life has continued. Imagine my surprise when I got a note from Nomads by Nature telling me that YoAli was on the FS roundup. A really cool posting that includes FS blogs from all over the place. Check it out.

http://webtexans.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/the-red-white-and-blue-round-up

Moth Madness

2011-06-30T08:00:00.000+02:00

See this huge crazy looking thing that was just chilling on the wall. Yowza! See the freaky looking spots on it that look like eyes and are intended to scare off things that might want to eat it.

School Daze

2011-06-28T08:00:00.001+02:00

Check out my O's new school uniforms. Crazy cute aren't they? So he only goes to "school" three half days per week and they don't really require uniforms for his type of school - call it nursery, preschool, creche, whatever. But dang, he comes home from 4 hours at school so stinking dirty. His regular clothes were getting stained, ripped, torn beyond repair. So, thus the uniforms. I had a seamstress come over to the house, take measurements and now getting ready for school is a snap! Uniforms...I'm loving them! So hard to get a decent picture of a 2.5 year old - they never stop moving

Except for when they stare at the camera in a creepy way...

The torture of posing for me to take a picture

Avocado Tree

2011-06-24T12:52:00.000+02:00

In our front yard we had an old avocado tree. This tree was about 80 feet high and so old it produced avocado's that didn't taste very good. The problem with the tree is that when an avocado falls from 80 feet up, it's like a small bomb when it drops. One avocado fell and knocked the side mirror off of a truck that was parked under it. When O was outside playing I would make him put on his bike helmet cause I bet you would get a concussion from getting hit on the head with a rogue avocado.

The landlord decided it needed to be cut down and so the process started. No chainsaws, no power tools, no safety equipment or cherry picker type lifts - just good old fashioned hard work. About 10 guys showed up one day and proceeded to chop down the tree with machetes. But get this, they didn't chop the tree all the way down because in Rwanda it's against the law to chop down trees without replacing them. So now we have a toothpick in our front yard - it looks horrible but I guess its better than getting knocked unconscious or losing a mirror.

The work begins - see the rope? That's how they would lower the branches they cut down to the ground.

The first of many branches falls, successfully!

Check out our toothpick

Can you imagine cutting these branches down with a machete?

What a nose!

2011-06-22T07:00:00.000+02:00

This is what I picked up from school last Friday. Ouch! He was so excited to tell teacher Maureen that he went swimming that he fell face first down the hill. Running of course! Is it strange the school didn't call me? Do school's call parents for minor bumps and bruises? Just glad there were no broken bones. Knock on wood cause I know they are coming.

Father's Day Hike

2011-06-19T15:18:00.007+02:00

It's really hard to find wide open space in Rwanda. There are people all over - it is one of the most densly packed countries on the continent. A huge change from the Navajo Nation. Our friends, Duncan, Laura, Taylor and Conner know that we love to hike so they invited us for a Father's Day hike up Mount Kigali. We met up at 9am and soon we had found a place to park and we began the uphill climb. Rwanda is known as the land of a thousand hills and this was just one of the hills. A steep single lane road with washed out trenches from the rains and little houses built into the sides of the road. Of course we attracted our fair share of attention and had company the entire hike. I think there was a moment of about 10 minutes when we were all by ourselves. The views from the top were amazing and the ecupalyptus trees smelled so good.
Orion and our posse of kids that followed us almost the entire hike...

Loving the boys

2011-06-09T07:00:00.000+02:00

Field Trip

2011-06-08T07:00:00.001+02:00

I spend most of my work days in the embassy. I have a beautiful office with a great view and its a really nice place to work. That said, it can start to feel a little like an island. Like I am stuck in this little island of "America" and I can't get out. To help with this feeling I have started doing field visits to different places in Rwanda - one half day a week my colleagues and I head out for a half day adventure. Most of the time we visit hospitals, health clinics, private doctors offices, labs...anything that is remotely medically related. Last week I had the chance to visit a place called Gashora Girls Academy. My friend Karin first shared with me a link from the local Seattle news that talked about this initiative. I then asked around the embassy and found out that our USAID partners had a contact out from Washington State. Well, I emailed the guy and on his visit out we got invited out to see what they were doing. Does this have much to do with health, nope. Was it really interesting, yep! They have a crazy cool agricultural component to the school and we got to check out all their crops. They are trying their hand at foods not traditionally grown in Rwanda - heirloom tomatoes, okra, sunflowers. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning.

I had no idea that okra had flowers...

Gi-normous sunflower start

Pineapple in neat rows

Part of the terracing of the land - they dig these big holes to collect rainwater and prevent it from eroding the top layer of soil.

Witches Brew!

2011-06-07T17:16:00.004+02:00

Part of my job is making sure my patients are up to date on their vaccines. Have you ever thought about how hard it would be get vaccines to the middle of Africa? It is a tremendous feat let me tell you especially because vaccines have to be kept cold and in fact some have to be kept frozen. YIKES! So most often when we have a shipment of vaccines coming in on an airplane it is after working hours and the vaccines are then dropped off at my house where I can inventory them, unpack them and put them in the fridge. The problem with shipping cold vaccines to Africa is that you wind up with a lot of packing material. You also get your fair share of dry ice. My dad used to do this kinda crazy thing with dry ice and here I find myself doing the same thing...putting pieces of it in O's juice so he can watch it bubble. Do you think it's safe?
O loved his passion juice...

One from the Backyard...rest just Beauties

2011-05-23T07:00:00.000+02:00

I remember reading in some guidebook that Istanbul had a Sultan (who was probably called the magnificent or the great) who had this thing for tulips. I can't remember who it was and don't feel like googling this right now - what I do know is that the tulips were amazing. Densly planted in like types...they were amazing. After our one sunny day it was crazy to see how many of the tulips opened up - they were as welcomming to the sun as I was.

I know you love these red hot pokers. Is that their real name? My MB had these growing in the garden of the house I grew up in. Ours were redder and thinner and way more vibrant. I have one of these planted in the garden and it just keeps on blooming. I need to figure out if I can divide these or what...

What I forgot...

2011-05-22T12:49:00.001+02:00

This is what my MB had to say about my description of the hamam...

"Loved the description of the turkish bath but I think you forgot that your attendant had one nipple up and one down...oh and the fact that they never brought you another towel till I went and asked for one...I laughed out loud....we do have fun! HUGS"

Hamam and night sky

2011-05-19T08:00:00.000+02:00

To go along with my description of our trip to the hamam, I thought I would share with you the ONE amazing sunset that Istanbul treated us to. I can't believe that it has been over a month since we returned from the trip and I am still busy trying to process through it.

I honestly never thought that experiencing a hamam would happen. My first venture out to a hamam was with Eric one night after O boy was in bed. After consulting the guidebooks we found one that was co-ed (there are only a couple - most are really traditional and have separate areas for men and women) we managed to get ourselves there only to be met by a burly jerk of a guy telling us it was full and we needed to make reservations. After looking at him with an evil eye - we turned our backs and took a walk instead. The second trip to try and visit a hamam was with my mom on another night after O was in bed. We found one close to the apartment and walked down there. In our naivete we walked into what we thought was the front door - turns out it was the front door for the MEN's section. We were stopped about 2 feet in the door and told (with a stern look from a guy with bushy eyebrows) that the women's entrance was around the corner. So MB and I back up and go around the corner down a steep hill along a sketchy street with only one little light and see a grated door that is locked up tight. Turns out it was not open on the day we were there. OK...so third time must be a charm - or should I take this as a warning that I am not supposed to experience a hamam?

A couple of days later MB and I head out again to the same neighborhood hamam. This time we act like we know what we are doing. We go down the hill and alas - the grated door is open and it leads into a set of steps that go further downhill. We walk down the steps and tentatively open the door. We step into a wide open reception area with windows at the tops of the walls to let light in. We are met by four older female attendants all dressed in flowery mumu type dressing gowns. We pay for our services and are each lead to a little dressing room. The room has a little bed, a mirror, hooks for your clothes - but the strangest thing is that the rooms are all windows from about the waist up. This should have been a sign to me that privacy and modesty need to be left at the door. We undress and wrap ourselves up in peştemal , slip on our little wooden slippers and off we go. Through another door and into an inner chamber to yet another door. We step through the door and faster than you can say "hamam" our attendant grabs hold of my towel and whala - Stacy is naked! I have to tell you - it was a little disconcerting. My MB says that she held onto her peştemal with a death grip until the addendant gave up and let her keep it.

The inside of the room is beautiful - all marble with a giant marble inlay slab in the middle surrounded by little sinks around the outside edge of the room. There are colored glass circles in the roof that let sun in and the whole room had a kind of hazy appearance. So there I am naked sitting on this heated marble slab - and when I say heated I mean hot. The center of the slab is wicked hot and as you lay there you start to sweat and you get slippery and you feel like you are going to slide right off the edge. We lay there chatting for a bit of time and then in come our two attendants. They are dressed in what I came to call a "uniform" it consisted of black lace bikini undies and a little strip of cotton cloth tied around their breasts. Wow! And I thought being naked was intimidating. My attendant is looking at me like I am supposed to do something and I have no clue what to do - I am usually good in new situations, you just watch the person ahead of you but we were the only ones in the hamam. I sit there trying to figure out what she wants me to do until finally she flips me over on my belly and starts splashing water on me. She proceeds to scrub me with an exfoliator mitt and show me all the dead skin and debris that she gets off. This is not a gentle scrub down - this is a freakin aerobic event and a couple of times I wince but dang if my skin doesn't get super clean. Next she splashes me with water and starts to soap me up. She uses a white cotton pillow case looking thing with a bar of soap in it - she makes these crazy suds and soaps pretty much every inch of me. I looked like this minus the blond hair and the look of ectasy on my face. It was trippy how many bubbles there were. During the soaping process she is massaging you and I was slipping and sliding around the marble slab like a chicken gettting prepped for dinner. I kept thinking that I was going to slid right off onto the floor but the attendant was good - she used her knees and her massaging to slide me back and forth. After the soaping she rinses me off using these pretty copper pans full of water then I get to sit on a little marble step between her knees while she washes my hair. After she is done washing my hair she proceeds to rinse me off again - this time those pretty copper pans are not so pretty - she dumps pan after pan of water over my head until I start to feel like a drown rat and my contacts threaten to float away.

The whole experience was great. Going with MB and giving myself over to the exeperince was the perfect thing to do at the time and I would definitley do it again.

Market Madness

2011-05-19T07:00:00.000+02:00

The markets in Istanbul were amazing, awesome, interesting and every other descriptive word you could think of. I love grocery stores, I love markets, I love how you can find such crazy things that you never knew existed. We visited both the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market a couple of times. Not exactly sure how one puts into words such overwhelming sights and sounds. Saffron, saffron and more...I had no clue there were so many types and variations of saffron.

Beads, bracelets, bangles...all sorts of jewels...everything from cheap plastic made in China to 24k gold with ginormous rubies, emeralds and other stones.

The evil eye was everywhere...once you started looking for them they were easy to spot. These were in the Spice Market where they have a whole section for dogs - open bins of food, beds, and these collars with the eye on them. Made me miss Bella.

The Spice Market was full of spices of course but it also had huge outdoor sections full of veggie seeds, pet supplies, bulbs and other plantings. I loved the intruder in this picture. Next post I promise to talk more about the Hammam!

Birds in 'Bul

2011-05-18T07:33:00.001+02:00

A picture is worth a thousand words...

The Steps

2011-05-15T08:00:00.003+02:00

On our daily commute to and from our apartment to the tramvey we had to navigate this crazy set of stairs - usually with stroller in tow. They were steep and crooked and interesting. Sometimes E and I would walk ahead at our normal pace and remember for a split second what life was like before O. During this specific set of pictures - I was listening to grandma and grandpa count out the steps with Orion as they made their was down them. It was step 13 that proved to be the downfall.

Happy Birthday MB!

2011-05-14T13:23:00.002+02:00

We love you and wish you another great year filled with peace, love, good margaritas, interesting conversations and outrageous travel to come and visit. xoxoxo S E O

Time for a haircut

2011-05-10T13:27:00.000+02:00

I have a shaggy son. It seems like he is always in need of a haircut. I trim it now and than but let's be honest I am not very good at cutting hair. Our trip to Istanbul presented a perfect opportunity. Using sign language and paying 4 Lira - Orion got the best hair cut of his life. It took about 40 minutes and was the spectacle of the alley that we were in.

Look at all that hair!

He kept trying to watch himself in the mirror - it was really funny.

Don't know why I didn't take a picture of the finished product but let me tell you he's a keeper

Galata Tower

2011-05-08T07:00:00.002+02:00

Our time in Istanbul was so relaxing. It was one of those times where the most important thing was just being together and reconnecting. We didn't make major plans, we didn't stick to some crazy schedule, we just went. We would get up in the morning and decide what we wanted to do for that day - in two weeks we managed to take in all the must see's and have an afternoon nap most days.

This was one of our first days together and we had decided to find the Galata Tower. Easier said than done - all the guide books in the apartment were rather vague about how to get there so with very little information off we went. After a few false starts we managed to find the tower and the requiste line down the steps, out the door and all the way around the square. I took one look at that line and knew there was no way in heck we would manage that with Bill, Eric and O boy. So the boys played in the square while MB and I took a walk around to see exactly how long the line was. After deciding it was waaaay toooo long we popped into a textile shop and each bought a peshemel to use on our visit to the hammam.

You know when you decide to do something (or not do something) while on holiday...I always wonder if I will look back and think "dang, we should have waited in line for 3 hours to climb to the top of Galata Tower". I doubt it but I always wonder. Do you have any regrets about things you did (or didn't do) on vacation?

I love nuts and Istanbul was full of them being sold on every street corner - this provided some much needed nourishment on our Galata Tower adventure.

Mom and Bill look amazingly happy after a crazy adventure to find the Galata Tower.

Silk worms cocoons in the store where we bought our wraps.

I love you Tallo!

2011-05-01T11:23:00.001+02:00

My sweet green funk and I celebrated 12 years of wedded bliss in Istanbul. Cheers to the hardest thing I have ever done. xoxo

I can't get my Istanbul pictures to upload and it's killing me!

2011-04-30T21:09:00.001+02:00

Processing

2011-04-24T14:00:00.001+02:00

We made it back safe and sound from three glorious weeks in Istanbul. I have written a million postings in my head yet did not have one ounce of drive to work on a computer - so for two weeks and about three days I barely touched a computer and I didn't have a mobile phone with me. It was heavenly.

Until I get my head around our trip - here are some pictures that sum up our time away.

1. Gray and rainy weather makes old stuff look older.

2. The real reason for our trip.

3. mounds and mounds of delicious food.

2. Tulips...who knew?!

3. walking miles each day along with 1/2 of the population of Istanbul (it is one big city, that's for sure!

A Rose

2011-04-18T10:32:00.001+02:00

A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose...said my good friend Gertrude Stein.

From a friends garden...they were beautiful.

More Backyard Beauties

2011-04-11T08:11:00.001+02:00

These grow on a really common tree around here. Its tall with wispy green leaves and bright yellow flowers that fall off all the time. It also has these fruit like things that I have been told you can't eat.

These are a new addition to our backyard garden. They are large clumps of these fine looking dark purple flowers. They feel like they are dried out flowers - you know what I mean?

Mystery fruit on mystery bush - we just noticed this about a month ago. We thought it was another version of a lime bush/tree and cut it open and its more orange inside. I squeezed it in my gin and tonic and have not passed out yet...so I am assuming its some strange version of a citrus fruit.

Holy smokes batman...this flower thing popped out a large green palm looking thing in our front yard. This is the first time we have had this palm bloom and this flower is amazing! Can you tell how it looks waxy and almost fake. It doesn't have a smell and it is really heavy.

It's the Final Countdown

2011-03-31T12:50:00.002+02:00

The whole family is heading to Istanbul tomorrow. One week of work and two weeks of play. So looking forward to seeing MB and Bill. Yea! The list of sites to see, places to eat and things to drink is not very long but on the very tip top of the list a pair of bejewelled slippers so I can play at being the Queen of Sheba. Photo Credit

Pretoria Zoo

2011-03-30T10:01:00.000+02:00

So, I have to admit that I am not a huge zoo fan. Its the same old thing about animals in cages, etc. etc. The thing is having O boy has made zoo's much more appealing. They are outside and help to dissipate the yelling that comes along with a two year old, you walk around and use up lots of energy guaranteeing a good nap later in the day, there are a million neat and interesting things to look at...the list goes on. The zoo in Pretoria, South Africa is the country's National Zoo. It's a fine zoo - nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary and still lots of chain link fencing. Nose to nose with a camel...funky!

He looked like he wanted to kiss Orion

Barnyard fun (at least for the kids - I felt a little sorry for the rabbits)

Orion loved this ostrich - the thing was HUGE!

Two Books

2011-03-25T17:07:00.005+01:00

I gotta tell you something...my kid loves to read or maybe I should my kid loves his books and I love this. I love to read and I have read to O since he was a wee tike. When we knew we were going to be flying to Africa I started research kids books about flying and found this great book it has been the best book ever. I have read it so many times I know it by heart, Eric knows it by heart and of course O knows it by heart. If you have a kid or know a kid or are thinking of kids this is the perfect book to buy for a kid that is taking an airplane ride. In buses and in cars, people come to the airport. They come to fly in big jet planes. In the waiting room they sit and wait, while outside their planes get loaded and checked. Suitcases go into the cargo hold and fuel goes inside the wings...I won't spoil the ending but let me tell you its a good one :)

The other book I have been crazy about is a book called Perfume. I had never heard of it before but swapped a bunch of books with my friend Craig and this was in the stack. Its a great book. Originally written in German and "NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE" it is super interesting. A book that can be a little hard to get into but one that leaves you awed at the authors ability to describe smells. Ever thought about what a pile of wood smells like - maybe or maybe not but I am sure you probably wouldn't be able to write a paragraph about it. Anyways...really freaky read and even crazier ending.

Tea Time

2011-03-19T08:00:00.002+01:00

Most embassies have a Community Liason Officer - this person organizes trips to different places in the country, plans parties, and keeps a finger on the pulse of the embassy. They host a bunch of interesting and fun things to do. Last week the nurse I work with in Bujumbura was here for a visit that just happened to coincide with a visit to a tea plantation. What a perfect get outta Kigali trip. We had a fantastic time and I learned a ton about tea...who knew there were so many details. It made this coffee drinker want to start drinking tea...

We left the embassy about 7:45 am and arrived at the tea plantation after a 2 hour pretty painless drive (though I did get car sick but hey - what do you expect in the land of a thousand hills?) We put on long blue cotton coats, these funky blue hats and face masks. Then went on the tour...

This is a chart of how the tea is graded - the PF1 in the middle is the best - meaning it has the right percent of moisture, an even texture and a good color. The only real difference I could tell between the types was the texture - the ones on the left of the chart were really finely ground - almost like a powder and the samples on the right of the chart were really coarse and looked more like some sort of dried out plant.

Flowers are planted on the borders of all the fields. It is amazingly beautiful!

Stacks and stacks and more stacks of bulk tea getting ready to be shipped out.

Stack and stacks and more stacks of chopped wood that is used to heat the furnaces that help dry out the tea. This plantation plants and harvests its own supply of trees to have enough to keep the furnaces going.

Dried out tea on the conveyor belt on its way to being bagged.

A picture from the bus of the acres of trees that are being grown to keep the furnaces going.

Beautiful tea plants. There is a big push in Rwanda to stop child labor on tea plantations.

After our tour we got to taste test all the different types of teas. I wish I could have remembered them all but what I can tell you is that the cup closest to the bottom of the picture has the finest grain which makes it the strongest tea.

I have more pictures of this field trip - you can check them out here.

Right Now

2011-03-17T11:48:00.004+01:00

O really likes the dress I am working on...
Show mamma "big eyes"

My girl is always full of such good ideas. I read her post on this and was smitten with its simplicity, the rhythm of the words, the vivid pictures. It made me want to slow down a notch.

Watching - Right now this but really anything on DVD cause I can't bear to pay out the nose for television. I miss HGTV.

Making - a sundress for our friends daughter out of really cool African fabric

Smelling - my fruit salad for lunch

Hoping - that O gets the hang of potty training soon

Reading - just finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - a Pulitzer Prize winner!

Enjoying - planning an upcoming holiday here

Thinking - about how tired I am and how much I want to go to sleep in clean sheets! There is nothing in this world like clean, fresh sheets to make a nights sleep that much better.

Eating - green chili stew that the tall one made, memories of our time in the Southwest. Wish I could find psole here.

Listening - to the AC rattle and roll

Coveting - more time in a day

Funky Trunks

2011-03-07T10:09:00.000+01:00

On our trip to Pretoria we found a nice big park just down the road. The walk way was lined with trees that all had funky trunks. No one I asked seemed to know what kind of tree they were and they were not in my Audubon book.

What Would You Do...

2011-03-04T15:04:00.003+01:00

if your boss found out you were kinda crafty and then asked you to make a santa costume for the embassy? Would you do what I did and graciously accept a bag full of all the supplies to make the costume? Take them home, open the bag and then ask yourself "what have I done?" The bag was stuffed to the brim with fabric, faux fur, notions, interfacing...everything you could ever want or need to make a santa suit. I have not used a pattern to sew with in years so this should be an interesting experience. This pattern has 23 pieces...HOLY SEWING BATMAN! I will need to put myself on a schedule just to get it done in time for Christmas next year. Let's see 9 months until Christmas and 23 pieces to stitch - I think that means I have to stitch 2.5 pieces a month. I will need luck and fairy dust on my side.

O Boy Toys

2011-03-04T14:35:00.004+01:00

We have had a giant box of duplo blocks hanging around for what seems like forever. We got them from our friend Gina way back when O was still a lime. We drug them across the country then across the globe and now they seem to be his favorite toy to play with.

Do You Know...Schisto?

2011-02-23T08:00:00.002+01:00

Photo Credit

A big part of my job is welcoming new people to the Health Unit and waving goodbye to folks as they leave. This job is full of people transitioning in and out and in and out. When people are leaving Rwanda, they are supposed to check out of the Health Unit. This gives us a chance to review their chart and make copies of their medical record for the person to take with them to their next posting.

Part of our check out includes offering the person a screening for Shistosomiasis. Before joining the State Department I had vaguely heard of Schisto. Whatever I learned went in one ear and out the other as it wasn't something I ever saw in my prior work. Boy, has that changed!

Schisto is a worm that you get from swimming in infected fresh water. The worms are found in the snails that are in the water. The crazy thing is you don't have to ingest the water, the worms don't swim up any orifice...you can get schisto by just touching contaminated water. YIKES! Ex-pat folklore will have you believe any number of things about contracting schisto. "the water is too warm (or too cold)", "there are no reeds in the lake", "local folks don't have it", "see the white ring on the rocks - that means this water is clean" and on and on and on. Honestly, I have heard at least 15 rationalizations about why folks have gotten in the water. It doesn't really matter to me, schisto is easy to treat and you can diagnosis it with a blood test.

What kind of freaks me out is how hard it is to avoid the fresh water here. If you have seen my past blog pictures - the fresh water lakes here are amazing and beautiful and clean. It makes it really difficult to "just say no". I am not sure in my two years here I will always say "no" to swimming and splashing in the water but I will definitely get tested for my friend schisto upon leaving Rwanda. If you want to read more about schisto - check out the CDC website.

From Our Home to Yours...

2011-02-18T13:57:00.001+01:00

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Love a Little Late

2011-02-16T07:00:00.000+01:00

Our Valentines Day was not all it was cracked up to be. Eric had made reservations at this place up the road called New Cactus - which has great food, is close enough to walk to and which has these crazy amazing views of the city. When we go there we always talk about having a "date night" and going by ourselves to make out on one of the couches with the great view - something about making out with your two year old running around just doesn't sound right. I digress but anyways...we had a babysitter lined up for Sunday and all was set until O developed a fever of 103 and until the skies opened up and the rain poured down! Needless to say we cancelled dinner and Eric got take out goat brochettes that were outta this world and I made heart shaped brownies! So in the end it was a sweet day anyways.

One of my favorite quotes from a movie has to do with love - double gold star if you know the movie...

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrival's gate at Heathrow airport. General opinion started to make out that we're living in a world of hatred and greed. But I don't see that, seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the plane hit the Twin Tower, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They are all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.

Shadows

2011-02-15T08:00:00.000+01:00

More pictures of our time in South Africa. These are the simple kind of pictures I love to take and look at. Most people would go to South Africa and take pictures of animals, art, scenes...not this girl. The Ali Family found hours worth of entertainment at a park up the road. It was an old kinda broke down park but hey...it was a park! We ran into a little 3 year old boy and his dad at the same park. If you take a 2 year old boy + 3 year old boy + 2 dads = a great time! That's me!

O Boy from above this big crazy scary metal thing you could climb up...

Here are the big metal scary steps that O climbed without a backward glance. YIKES!

Raise your hands in the air like you just don't care!

Medical Evacuation

2011-02-11T18:54:00.005+01:00

Most of the time when someone gets sick here, it's something that I can handle. Working on the Navajo Nation for 5 years really taught me a lot about medicine and patient care and horses and zebras. When a zebra comes along or something pops up that needs a higher level of care than I can provide (or a higher level of care then Rwanda can provide) these folks are medevac'ed out - a medical evacuation. My medevac point is Pretoria, South Africa (Pretoria is to Johannesburg what Auburn is to Seattle) Having utilized these folks in South Africa numerous times - they decided it was time for me to medevac myself down to see how the system works from their end.

What a great experience this trip was! I learned so much about the process of a medevac and got to meet several of the folks that Pretoria uses for referrals. Orion and Eric came along to experience some of what South Africa had to offer. The trip was quick but we had time to check out the zoo, a couple of parks, some fab places to eat, amazing cheese, great drinks and even a little clothes shopping for O.

We enjoyed ourselves enough to consider another trip down South. I would love to fly into Johannesburg and take road trip to Cape Town. We'll see if we have enough money or vacation time to do something like that.

Yogurt cups make the best water toys

Pool time with the boys

This is what O calles his "nice smile"

Nothing beats a cold drink in the pool

Lake Kivu

2011-01-28T14:09:00.000+01:00

We took a quick trip out of Kigali with some friends for the night. We stayed in a 3 bedroom house with 5 adults and 4 kids, creaky floors and one bathroom. This last little detail may not seem like such a big deal until you're the one that gets some sorta stomach flu and had to use that one bathroom on the hour every hour for an entire night. It was hell but hell...I survived. In one of the lucid moments of those 24 hours I remember thinking "I will never dismiss another patients complaints of how horrible a stomach bug can be". We'll see how long that lasts! yeah right!

O Boy enjoying the water - hopefully schisto free!

Beautiful views coming into the town!

Dave and Kai floating in the lake

The Tall One expresses his love for water!

View from the deck of the house we rented.

Flora

2011-01-27T08:00:00.001+01:00

I keep thinking I will stop posting about pictures of new and interesting flowers and plants that I take pictures of. It's hard not to be impressed by the beauty that nature presents. I am familiar with plants and flowers in my native home but out here things look different, bloom differently, have different colors. Alas...more pictures of flowers. Flowering tree in Mauritius - the tree was huge - at least 40 feet tall!

Bright green succulent looking plant growing on volcanic rock in Mauritius.

Pure white Bougainvillea - I have never seen one so snow-white before.

Amazing garden full of these flowers in Bujumbura after the rain.

More super pretty Bougainvillea - Mauritius

Does this mean the palm is happy - are these fruit? seeds? nuts? In the yard of our friend in Mauritius.

Bujumbura Beauties

There's A Fungus Amongus

2011-01-19T13:48:00.000+01:00

The Ali Family loves mushrooms. We are not picky mushroom eaters - we like them all. I especially love dense 'shrooms that you can use as a meat substitute. I also love to get a nice mix of mushrooms and make my "world famous" wild-rice and mushroom stuffing. Until recently we have only been able to find these wild gigantic oyster mushrooms. Then a couple of weeks ago Eric came home and told me he saw a lady with a basket of mushrooms on her head and they were a different kind. Whoooppp Whoooop YAY a new kinda mushroom to check out. Unfortunately, we couldn't find this lady or another like her with a new type of mushroom until this past weekend. Look at the beauties that walked through the door with Eric. Some were put in spaghetti sauce, some in a stir fry, some eaten raw.

Can you find the phallic one in the bunch...

My love with an umbrella. These pictures really don't do these mushrooms justice. They were huge and hearty and all around beautiful.

If You Know Me At All...

2011-01-16T15:35:00.003+01:00

you know that professional sports and I are not the best of friends. That said, I come from a family of American Football Fans! I got an email from my mom on Friday (that I didn't read until Saturday) that said with an undertone of panic "please have Orion wear his Green Bay Packers shirt on Saturday". So there was a big game yesterday of which I know not the outcome but if the Packers won you can bet its cause O had his gameday shirt on. Lots of love to all the Packer Backers out there.

What a Difference

2011-01-12T08:00:00.000+01:00

a year can make. I was searching through my pictures folder and came across the folder for January 2010 and found the cutest little boy laughing back at me. Fast forward one year and look what you get - another cute little boy saying "cheese". January 2011

January 2010

Thanks CDO

2011-01-09T13:40:00.004+01:00

What do good friends buy their friend's kid for Christmas...why construction site utensils and plate of course. If you know my son, you know he's a nut for tractors, bulldozers, basically any big machine like thing. Well...looked what showed up in the mail the other day. How fun! Orion is in love with the "scooper" which is the little pusher-looking utensil that pushes the rest of the food onto the spoon or fork. Big loving thanks to CDO and their uncanny ability to know exactly what'll make O laugh. Love and miss you guys! xoxoxSuch a super sturdy plate - with special resting place for the fork and the spoon. You rest them in their spaces and then you can push the food onto them with the pusher utensil.

Say ahhhhh

Crazy In Buj

2011-01-04T18:28:00.002+01:00

So when I looked at all the pictures I had taken while we were in Buj - I completely forgot about this crazy set. It was after work one day and we had walked down the beach to some place called Bora Bora. It was a nice casual place with big white lounge couches on this wide open covered deck. They served food and drinks. We each had a drink - I had an $8 mojito which was expensive but actually quite good - and then we walked back to our hotel.

While we were waiting for our drinks we started taking pictures and messing around with the different settings. I never use the sepia setting so we decided to give it a try. I look at these pictures and I just start to giggle. Can't help it. The Tall One and his ability to raise one eye-brow never ceases to amaze me.

Nothing I like more then sipping a cool cocktail on holiday.

Check out O's face...PRICE-LESS!

Big eyes on a little boy.

We managed to spend 3 days in a hotel room and not kill each other. xoxo

More flower pictures

2011-01-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

Backyard beauty

The same flower - check out how tall it is!

Huge flower bush found on a stroll around the city

Cactus flower

This crazy green plant - the leafs curl up at night and open up during the day. Took this picture on my first trip to Buj in the courtyard of a little hotel called Botanika.

Quiet

2011-01-02T11:39:00.015+01:00

Here I sit - the house is quiet. The house where a 2 year old lives is never quiet except for naptime (I heart naptime) and this is why - right now the house is quiet. Eric is working and I am relishing in the quiet. Trying to be on the computer with O around is close to impossible. Thus this time right now is precious.

Can't really believe its 2011- feels odd to write that. But then again I think I say "I can't believe its______" every year. After much bickering back and forth we decided to throw a NYE party. We didn't have a babysitter and there were not any other appealing options thus the party became a reality. I am so glad we decided to throw a party. It was fantastic - a good turn out of a nice variety of people. Some came early and left for more exciting venues - others came late to ring in the New Year - others came and stayed all night. We served finger foods and folks brought some amazing things to share. My favorite of the night was a strawberry basalmic salsa brushetta. It was fanastic! We had a big open bar and I mixed 2 huge pitchers of mojitos with mint from our garden. I think the last folks rolled out of the house about 3am. Needless to say when O woke up at 6:30 AM both Eric and I were in pain. I do not have any pictures of NYE - my camera has gone missing. I am not stressing about it yet...I will do a thorough search of the house and then start stressing.

So since I don't have any pictures of NYE to post - I thought I would leave you with a couple more pictures from our trip to Buj. One of the things I love the most about visiting different places is checking out new food and drink. Burundi - like Rwanda - uses refillable glass bottles for beer, juice and seltzer. If you buy a bottle you are only purchasing the contents - you are not actually purchasing the bottle and if you want to take the bottle away it'll cost you more. What O is drinking is passion fruit juice processed and bottled in Burundi. Sure the heck looks like a beer bottle doesn't it?

Back From Buj

2010-12-29T15:10:00.004+01:00

No word from me for awhile. I have lots of sweet pictures and always lots to say but it seems that time "keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the future". The day after Christmas the Ali crew hopped on a quick puddle jumper plane and 30 minutes later we landed in Bujumbura, Burundi. I have regional travel down to Buj to help cover the health unit so this was a work trip for me. Last time I went I left the boys at home - this time, I drug them along. I booked us into a great hotel right on the lake with a little kids pool, a playground and plenty of sand to dig in (thanks K for the garden tools - all the kids at the hotel loved them!)

It was so nice to come back to the hotel and be able to see E and O. It made the idea of having to do this travel every month a little more easy to swallow. Buj is known for LakeTanganyika - this amazing deep water lake right outside the city. While I worked like a mad-woman, Eric and O got to play in the sand, swim in the pool and hang out together.

Orion loving the playground.

Can you believe that he climbed up this ladder all by himself - these steps roll and this is a steep ladder. This child has no fear.

Windy beach time

Yogurt cups make great sand toys.

Happy Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T14:46:00.006+01:00

Christmas Eve is a big deal in my family...a really big deal. It involves lots of family, friends, friends of friends, family that are friends and friends that are family. My grandma used to host until a few years ago when my mom took over. Its a really open evening - potluck style with few changes year to year. Lately there is always some sort of game or group activity and a "grown-up" ornament exchange.

I love the party on Christmas Eve cause you never really know who is going to show up. Sure, there are the regulars but there always seems to be some extended family friend or co-worker in the midst. It's a really nice way to meet new folks and re-connect with ones you only see once a year.

Being far away this year makes it a bittersweet time. But you know how that is - if we were in the States it would seem like a bigger deal to miss it - being in Africa seems like a pretty good excuse. This morning we went to a church that sponsors about 300 orphans. From what I understand the kids live with "foster" families at night but during the day they are on their own. We went and helped deliver all the toys for tots donations that the Marines had collected. It was a wonderful way to reconnect with the spirit of the holidays. We hung out with the kids for a couple of hours - watched them get their toys and ohhhed and ahhhed over each thing.

We bought ten locally made soccer balls. They are fantastic things made out of some kind of dried leaf and then packed together tightly into a ball shape and tied up with string. I know that the balls were not as flashy as some of the other donated toys but I know they last a long time and I know that kids here LOVE soccer.

Anyways, here's wishing you nothing but a heart full of peace and love tonight, tomorrow and always. We love and miss you all xo S E O Eric passing out candy canes...The three cutest boys in the bunch!

A mass of clapping singing kids - including O boy - if you look hard you can see him!

Before the chaos.

Mont Choisy Beach

2010-12-18T08:00:00.000+01:00

I just had to revisit our most recent vacation a little bit more. It was so short - with a day of travel on each end we really only had 4 days to play. What was I thinking? I almost called up my boss and extended it for another week - I should have!

The closest beach to our little apartment was a 13 minute walk away. It is called Mont Choisy Beach and it is a really wide open public beach. The water was warm and blue and exactly what you think a tropical beach should look like. Shallow and wide open - no seaweed or coral. Super family and kid friendly. We spent more then a few hours having cocktails on a lounger watching the kids play and reconnecting. My one true love - can you believe its been 12 years?

Willy, Chris and Tallo

We tried to get O to lay down with the rest of the boys but he wantd nothing to do with it. He loved the sand and the beach and kept calling it "big pool" "big pool". Pretty sure the Indian Ocean is one of the biggest "pools" around.

Two good friends!

Ho Ho Ho

2010-12-17T09:12:00.004+01:00

It's true...Santa can find you anywhere in the world! The embassy had a big Christmas party yesterday. It was a sweet reminder of how friends really make celebrations special. There were about 20 different kinds of cookies and Santa ho ho ho'd his way down the stairs to be met by a mob of excited children.

Excited to read his new "big truck" book

O had no fear of Santa - he waited at the bottom of the stairs until his name was called and then he marched straight up to Santa and climbed up on his lap. He looked at him a little hesitantly but then decided he was ok and started chatting him up.

See the mob of kids and see O waiting at the bottom step for his name to be called!

Mauritius Melrose Place

2010-12-12T14:00:00.002+01:00

The little apartment that Chris rented for us in the North end of the island was like a tropical version of Melrose Place. There was this pool deck area surrounded by apartments with doors that all opened up into the common area. It was not uncommon to come back to the apartment and find a large group of folks sitting around - chatting and having cocktails. I think O was the only kid in the place and everyone loved saying hi and hanging out with him. Eric and Roxy - taken from our 2nd floor apartment.

Island Life

2010-12-12T13:14:00.004+01:00

Our holiday to Mauritius is over and it was exactly what this girl needed. From Rwanda there are 2 ways to get to the island - either you fly through Nairobi or you fly through Johannesburg. We chose to fly through Nairobi as their flights were more conveienvent - but don't get fooled into thinking anything is easy. The total flight time from Kigali to Mauritius is about 5 hours but and this is a ginormous but...total travel time is about 12 hours. Ack! We talked about leaving the airport in Nairobi and exploring a little but you have to get a visa and you have to go back through security and and and...it just seemed like too much work. So we hung out in the airport - the saving grace is that they have a kids play room with all sorts of toys and bikes and run around space. Orion loved it! We made it to Mauritius in time to see the sun set.

Our friend Chris set us up in a little apartment with a kitchen and two bedrooms - it was perfect. We met up every morning to spend the days together. We spent lots of time on the beach playing catch up and watching the kids play. Chris and Amanda have two children - Roxy who is 8 and Willy who is 2 1/2. Eric and I met Chris and Amanda during our time in Guyana.
Our first morning we went to breakfast in Grand Baie - a little village in the North of the island about 5 minutes from our apartment. It was right on the marina with an amazing view of the boats coming and going.

Happy Anniversary MB and Bill!

2010-12-10T08:00:00.002+01:00

We love you guys a ton and wish you a lifetime of peace and happiness. xoxo S E O

Crazy Beautiful

2010-12-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

What are these and why are they so beautiful?

Kigali Strolling

2010-12-06T08:00:00.000+01:00

In the middle of Kigali there is this wide open space. It has a path all the way around it and some really beautifully landscaped areas. Not sure what it is - have not seen any signs and my co-worker says its just a place to walk. Last weekend we took a drive to check it out a little closer.

View of another of the thousand hills that makes up this land

Orion running...such an active kid

Sign on the side of the road by this park that talks about preventing malaria - I never noticed the huge metal mossy with the ghostbusters sign through it!

Old scarred tree

Easy Sunday Morning

2010-12-05T10:07:00.005+01:00

With a two year old I am up early - most days around 6am and of course this includes weekends. On weekend mornings Orion and I check out the garden to see if there are weeds we can pull or produce to pick. This morning the weather was beautiful for hanging out in the backyard. We picked lettuce, arugula, helped train the cucumbers to climb the trellis and Eric counted limes. I know I posted a picture of this big read tropical beauty before but it has gotten so much bigger. I will see if I can find the first picture and compare the two.

14 hours until we leave for the airport - 6am in Nairobi 6pm in Mauritius. See you in a week.
One of our tallest lettuce plants - it really should be cut down but who knew a lettuce plant could get so big?!

"Weeding" - what he mostly pulls is lettuce leafs and mint.

Head down - working hard at weeding. Wearing Eric's crazy hat!

T minus 3 Days!

2010-12-03T08:00:00.001+01:00

Christmas Prep

2010-12-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

Since we finally have all of our "good stuff" and Turkey Day has passed it seemed a great time to dig through boxes and hunt out all our Christmas decorations. What fun I had re-discovering lots of little treasures. Orion loved helping me and did a pretty good job hanging "footballs" on the tree - anything that looks like a ball is called a "football aka: soccer ball" Our little lovely white tree!

Hot and sweaty mamma and a cheesy grinning little boy

Look into my eyes little grasshopper and learn the art of christmas tree decoration placement

T Minus 5 Days!

2010-12-01T12:32:00.002+01:00

Hope you had a...

2010-11-28T18:21:00.001+01:00

Happy Turkey Day. Gobble Gobble Gobble!

Bujumbura

2010-11-21T15:08:00.002+01:00

Part of my job entails covering the health unit in Bujumbura, Burundi (say that three times fast). I had not been down there since arriving in Rwanda and finally took the plunge last week. It feels hard to leave one job to go look after another but my Regional Medical Officer from Nairobi was visiting so this felt like the perfect time. She came to visit Kigali and then we both flew to Bujumbura. Even though the flight is only about 35 minutes, it was nice to have a companion to travel with. The most luscious cup of cafe au lait I have ever had. Seriously amazing.

They sell electronics

Both these guys are barefoot

Glowing green foliage

My little apartment

O on the Street

2010-11-21T08:00:00.001+01:00

Look how big my baby is getting...yikes how fast the time flies! We were strolling the streets on a quiet Sunday morning and O was fascinated with this little concrete stub. He managed to figure out how to balance on it and we probably spent 15 minutes playing on this corner - who says you have to have a playground!

Seeds Pods?

2010-11-15T20:05:00.003+01:00

Any idea what these are? I have seen them a bunch while walking our neighborhood streets and thought they looked really interesting. I finally found a bunch that wasn't thrashed on or super dirty and drug them home. I thought the petal looking pieces would open upwards but they don't - the actually hang downwards looking kinda like a bell. I wired them onto a grapevine wreath and hung it on the front door for Thanksgiving. It looks great!

I have been wanting...

2010-11-10T08:00:00.003+01:00

to post this set of pictures for awhile now. They were taken with friends during our two days in Brussels on our way to Rwanda. It was a cold, rainy and damp day and we took over a coffee shop for as long as possible until it was time to meander back to the car. Once we got to the car - the sun broke out a bit and it stopped pissing quite so hard and the kids started running around. I like how the gray day contrasts with the signage and the pink and purple coats. Does that sound too artsy for you...me too, but its the truth. I like how it looks.

O's Graduation

2010-11-09T08:00:00.000+01:00

Can you spot my little O amongst all the orange shorts? Orion's school had an end of the term celebration and we went. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was told he should dress nice. First off - how do you dress a two year old nice and have it last for longer than 1/2 hour? He wore a long sleeve button down shirt and pants. What I don't understand is why I was told to have him dress nice. Once we got to school - his teacher whisked him away and the next time I saw him this is what he was wearing...where the heck did he get the shorts? was I supposed to contribute to purchasing these shorts? now was I one of those slacker parents that never do what they are supposed to. YIKES!

Despite all my concerns, it was a super sweet affair each class did some sort of dance or skit or song and then they had awards and everyone sang. If you want to check out the video see if this link works: http://sharing.theflip.com/session/3df505690e030ea3df9f4b90a3b8459d/video/27057001

Dressing the Part

2010-11-08T07:00:00.002+01:00

At the embassy there is a Marine Security Guard detachment- a group of young Marines that are responsible for certain aspects of security at the embassy. The Marine Corps Birthday is November 10th and all over the world on or around that day there are big festivities and, I am told, always a "Marine Ball".

I had never heard of a Marine Ball before but its a big deal; a formal tux wearing, champagne drinking, lipstick and ballgown affair. A big fancy venue, dinner, drinks, dancing and holy shit...formal wear. YIKES! Having only been here for a couple of months all of our stuff has not made its way from Seattle/DC/Brussels so the big question on our minds has been what the heck are we going to wear? I thought about just wearing a dressy skirt and cardigan but was told that would be inappropriate at this black tie event. Holy stress about trying to find a formal gown in a foreign country in a foreign language.

My inspiration came when I saw a bunch of Rwandan women in what looked like a sari/toga dress and asked my co-worker what they were called. The dresses are called umushanana and they are comprised of a wrap around skirt and a over the shoulder piece of fabric. You wear a tank top or short sleeved tight shirt underneath. They are really cool looking - I, however, didn't want to look like the blob that stole kigali so I knew that fabric choice was going to be important.

A couple of Saturdays ago we spent a couple of hours digging through fabric stalls in the downtown area. I found some really amazing fabric that was white with black trees on it. I know it sounds crazy but it was seriously pretty. Fabric in hand I just had to figure out how to get the dress made. I took a look at my co-workers umushanana and it is super simple. If I had my sewing machine it would take about an hour to stitch. Alas no sewing machine - you know the story. I needed to find someone to hem the fabric for me - a friend was getting a dress made so I tagged along with her and dropped of the fabric.

Eric picked it up for me on Thursday and waaa laaaaa - I had a party dress to wear! You should hear the story of Eric's suit. It deserves its own post so be on the look out for a post about how to buy a suit at an open market.

There are better pictures to come but...Eric and I along with my co-worker, Elyse.

Painting

2010-11-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

Such a helper...

He had a great time!

I have issues and I know this. I like to paint the spaces I live in. I like to make generic government-issued houses look more personal. I feel better, I work better, I play better - all when the space I live in reflects who I am. Thus, I spent four hours working with the worst primer ever to cover a really orange wall in the house we currently live in. I have another orange wall to go and if I am feeling really motivated the whole peach kitchen. YIKES!

At Work

2010-11-05T10:39:00.002+01:00

I am at work and probably shouldn't be blogging or surfing the web finding stuff that I am in love with...BUT this has been a bit of a nutty week and I am feeling tired, overwhelmed, tapped out and in need of a bit of space. Space - which doesn't come easy here in this community nor in this country. I have decided to try and find one night a week for me - now I just have to find something to do and maybe someone to do it with. I need a little "Stacy" time cause we all know I was "Stacy" way before I was wife, mom, worker...

So in my hunt for a little sanity - I found this amazing lady making amazing things on Etsy:

*RedOnionWoodworks

I am also in love with this google site - it has helped me translate lab reports, radiology reports and consultation notes from local health care providers:

*Google Translate

Allright...I feel better now. Thanks for listening to STACY!

Flora Pictures

2010-11-03T16:00:00.000+01:00

For your viewing pleasure.

"America's House"

2010-11-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

Vertical view of a "travelers palm" not sure if that's this palms real name but that is what I was told.

The same plant - different angle - so you can see the flower

View from the lower garden up to the main terrace

We were at the Ambassador's house and I was walking with O through the gardens. They don't have a huge garden but it is meticulously maintained and it has some really interesting architectural plants. The Amassador refers to his house as "America's House" and says that last year they had 3,000 people visit it for various social functions.

Halloween Hooray!

2010-10-31T18:21:00.000+01:00

Such fun O had today. There was a Halloween trick-or-treating outing organized by the CLO. It was in a neighborhood where lots of embassy folks live and we went from house to house. Rwandans who work at the embassy and have kids were invited to attend and it was fun watching them makes masks and learn to say "trick or treat". Orion wasn't very good with the "trick" part but he sure new how to say "treat". Best picture of the day!

Gotta practice with the hat.

He freakin loved wearing it.

See the caution in his eyes - he wasn't sure he wanted to go through the spider webs.

Tootsie Roll stuck in his teeth :)

Getting dressed - not sure who is the best clown.

I suck at real make-up application and let me tell you clown make-up was worse. This was as good as it got and then the moment he touched his face it came off. We ended up wiping it off before we even left the house. After it was on his costume, my pants, the couch...you get the picture.

Halloween Prep

2010-10-30T17:10:00.000+02:00

It wouldn't be Halloween without two things: popcorn balls and an old joke. So the joke goes like this: Question - how come the witch couldn't get pregnant? Answer -cause the Warlock had a hollow-weenie! Thanks MB for scarring me for life with such a cheesy joke. Popcorn balls on the other hand are much better then horrible jokes and the recipe I use is a trusted and true old family secret. They are not really crunchy but kinda chewy. I love them! I was a bit worried about how they would turn out without using my candy thermometer and hot air popcorn popper but fear not my friends...they were a hit!

I thought about trying to take pictures while I was making them like other folks do on their cool looking cooking blogs but I am not that talented and every picture I took turned out horrible. So what you get is the good stuff - making the popcorn balls and eating them!

O Boy "helped" me form the popcorn into balls!

A Quick Drive on Friday

2010-10-30T12:13:00.000+02:00

On Friday afternon I only work half day and then I am done. This last week we had a "newcomers welcome" chili contest at the Ambassador's house so both Eric and I went to pick up O together. On the way out of work I realized I had my camera and thought I would take a few pictures to show you what my Friday afternoon looked like. The side play area of O's school. The classrooms, kitchen, bathrooms are all down the hill in the house to the left

I HEART English! This school prides itself on teaching the children English - which has recently become the official language of Rwanda. I had grand ideals that O would go to this little French school but let me tell you its rough being the parent and not understanding anything - from how much do we have to pay per term to what do you want us to put in his backpack each day. Though Little Bears says they focus on English, I call tell you from experience he is still learning a little French and a little Kinyarwandan.

Street scene on the way to O's school. Typical - except the road has fewer people then most.

Round-a-bouts are big here. They are always planted with interesting shrubbery in differing designs. This one is right out in front of the embassy. The art piece in the middle is painted in the colors of the Rwandan flag.

Edge of the embassy...its not bad looking.

What was I thinking?

2010-10-27T20:24:00.001+02:00

A picture is worth a thousand words...I promise not to try and explain but I will remind you of one movie.

Out of Kigali

2010-10-24T18:49:00.000+02:00

Eric mastering the winding roads!

Matt after a bike ride and a frat house experience

Orion in his "seat of adventure"

Check out that farmland

More impressive farming

Wet and lush landscape

Can you tell I was impressed with this farming style - I probably took 50 pictures of similar views

One of the mountains wearing a hat

AMAZING!

I am sitting in the “business office” of a hotel that cost about $100 a night. It is really a wide open tiled floor room with no walls and a super sticky keyboard. Why you might ask am I at a hotel on a Saturday night in Rwanda; that my friend is a story for another night. It is pouring down rain with thunder and impressive lightning. We finally made it outside of Kigali and are in a town called Musanze that is northwest of Kigali about 2 hours on a two-lane windy road straight up a mountain. Three words for you...it is beautiful.

When you think of Africa and the images you have seen in your life...those images do not really capture Rwanda (or at least the parts of Rwanda I have been in). Our ride out of town was puncuated with amazing feats of farming. Really crazy to look almost straight up and see people tilling the land. There is very little use of terracing for planting, just land cleared and crops planted at whatever angle the land happened to be at.

Musanze is the closest town to the Volcanoes National Park - home of the mountain gorillas made famous by Dian Fossey and the movie Gorilla's in the Mist. The park is also part of the Virunga Mountain chain that forms the border between Rwanda, Uganda and DRC. It is close to 6,000 feet in elevation and pretty chilly at night.

We went on this one night jaunt with our friend Matt and 9 other people that we kinda knew. Up in Musanze the Rwandan National Cycling team lives and practices. Matt is an avid biker and knew the coach of this team from years back. It is quite the set-up and really an amazing project. If you are a coffee lover you should definitely check out the coffee they sell as a funraiser to support their projects.

While most of the folks went on a killer bike ride - 4 of us took a crazy car ride that made our car shudder and Eric's hair turn gray. It provided some amazing views and I can not wait to go back to Musanze for a longer visit. Gorilla Trekking anyone?

Time Together

2010-10-21T19:59:00.000+02:00

Trying to be as tall as the banana tree!

Show mama "little eyes"

That's "Mr. Hollywood" to you!

At my job I work from 0830-1730 everyday and then on Fridays I am off at 1300. Well technically I am never really off but let's leave that for another post. So you can imagine how much I love Fridays. I have always been a Friday girl. There is something so sweet about the anticipation that a weekend holds and to get off at 1300 makes it all the better. Normally it is almost dark by the time I come home - barely enough time to take a quick walk out front with O. Well on Friday while Eric is working, I get to pick O up from school and we get to hang out more together. These are pictures I took while lounging on the grass in the backyard - if you know where we have lived for the past 5 years you will understand why I was lounging on the grass. The grass really is greener.

So Strange

2010-10-21T19:48:00.000+02:00

Even though we are technically in one of the "dry" seasons here, most afternoons it rains. Usually not a downpour - more like a little sprinkling of drops. Well, yesterday when Eric and O were picking me up it started to rain and the skies seemed more ominious then usual. We passed a coworker on the path and she said that the insects flying through the air were termites and that they mean it is really going to rain. I actually had not even noticed them flying in the air - there were a couple here and there but as we began the ride home they suddenly seemed to multiply. When we got home the deluge began and holy crap there were flying termites everywhere. Who even knows that termites fly...? All of our windows in the house are screened but you can imagine that some of the screens are a little crooked - I have never given it much thought until flying termites started flying in through the 1/4 inch gap in the screen. YIKES! Eric killed one on my head with a towel and it still feels like something is crawling on me. Once all the windows were closed they would just crash into the window trying to make there way to the light. This morning look what I found on all the outside window sills! They are the flying termite wings...I don't know how they loose their wings without dying. Maybe if you crash into a window 500 times they fall off? There were no dead termite bodies. Where did the termites go? We live in a concrete and stone house so hopefully they attacked someone elses house.

Some Garden Pictures

2010-10-16T13:30:00.001+02:00

This is the pomegranete tree with the mango tree directly to the left and the coconut tree in the background with crazy tall bamboo next to it.

Amazing wild tropical flowers

Our new garden beds - lime tree on the left, flower bed in front and 3 veggie beds in the back

Our great new veggie beds

A room with a view

2010-10-12T20:10:00.000+02:00

I have never really had an office before and now I do. It is on the ground floor of the embassy, right down the hall from the cashier and the community liason office and not too far from the cafeteria. I love having a little office to call my own. I can't wait until our stuff gets here so that I can hang up some things to make it seem more like my space. I have all of these flowers outside my window - I am pretty sure they are bird of paradise flowers. Whatever they are they are super cool looking.

Thoughts on Walking

2010-10-11T15:20:00.000+02:00

It’s a beautiful holiday Monday – Columbus Day – which means I have had the day off and have been able to hang out with Eric and Orion. We got up early (no surprise here, O wakes up about 6am every day) and had a quick breakfast and cup of coffee and headed out for a walk. On the weekends we try to walk a few miles in every direction of the house so that we get to know our neighborhood better. Rwanda is called “The land of a thousand hills” and let me tell you this is no joke. Kigali is really hilly with the “downtown area” being at the top of the hill. We live in Kiyovu a neighborhood that encompasses the downtown area – but we live a little down the hill from downtown. This means that walking downtown is really an aerobic workout. Nothing in Kigali is laid out on a grid so being able to walk the hills has helped me figure out where I am in relation to things.

Today we walked a long and winding route that took us past a little restaurant I have never noticed before – advertised itself as a pizzeria. This sounds promising and we decided to put it on the list of places to check out. You really get the chance to better inspect your surroundings when you are walking. I get to see what people have done with their yards – what plants are in the garden, what kinds of fencing they have used to keep my prying eyes out. Everything grows here – everything grows here like a weed! The weather is so mild that it is really an effort to tame the gardens. Kinda like trying to tame blackberries in the Pacific Northwest. Walking also lets Rwandans better inspect the Ali Family. We definitely stick out like the foreigners that we are – Eric’s dreds throw people a curve ball and we often hear “Rasta, Rasta, Rasta” that along with Orion’s stroller really make us a spectacle.

There are always many people on the road and this morning was no different. We were quite alone until we turned right onto a major road and seemed to be joining a parade of people. These folks were dressed up and walking down the side of the road. I didn’t see any signs or banners so I couldn’t really tell what the purpose of the march was. Maybe it was a church or a school event or maybe it was just a really busy street. Orion loved this – there were kids who walked with us for ½ mile or so – talking to him and giving him parts of the snacks they were eating. A super cute little 3 year old girl gave him a cookie. Yes, it was a parade!

I have been trying to place an Amazon order all day. I just kept checking our internet connection hoping that it would pop up – finally I called the folks that installed the system and through much repeated “pardon, excuse me, sorry” I managed to figure out that there was a problem with their connections. I really didn’t realize how much not speaking French would affect my ability to figure things out. At work – it’s not a problem my patients are English speakers – but out and about – holy smokes it can be a really daunting process to understand the when’s, whys, and what’s, not to mention the how much’s. One of the perks of working at the embassy is that anyone can sign up for language classes – our embassy offers English, French and Kinyarwandan classes. I guess it’s a good thing I signed up for French classes.