We set the alarm for 9am so we would get up and start getting used to the new time. We got the suitcases unpacked and took the boys across the street to the park to play soccer and at the playground. For lunch we found some ham and cheese the boys like and some regular Cheetos. They do not have Doritos or tortilla chips, salsa or shredded cheese. We got some vanilla ice cream but it has a very spongy texture and doesn't get hard. They have some cola products and orange soda. They have some juice boxes. Kenny made tortillas and we had chicken fajitas. They were very good. We made some waffles and syrup tonight they turned out really good. Jacob is having a really hard time adjusting to the new time and he was awake until midnight tonight. Tomorrow our goal is to get up by 7am so maybe we can get to sleep sooner. We have a gardener, Nelson, and yesterday while I was doing dishes he walked by the kitchen window and waved. It is really weird having him around the house all the time. If he needs something he will peak in the windows and doors looking for me. We have seen almost everything on the street that people buy. It is against the law for us to buy the stuff but the locals can buy it. We have seen fruit, cell phone minutes, toilet paper, pots and pans, music cds, toy boxes, water, food, shrimp, phone chargers. Friday on our way home from Kenny's staff house we seen a lady sitting on the side of the road holding her baby and she just started feeding the kid. They definitely feel different about their bodies here and do not mind people seeing it. :-) There are so many cars and people here. You probably see as many people walking as you do cars driving. There are so so many people here. The boys love to watch out the window and see what people are carrying on their head. We don't need DS's yet but I am sure they will get used to it eventually. Down town there is trash everywhere down the sides of the mountains were their houses are on the top. Sometimes they burn the sides of the mountains to get rid of the trash. Around our compound it is very clean. On the main roads around the compounds you see men and women in the streets sweeping with brooms and dust pans.
Sunday, July 24th, 2011
Today we woke about 8am with the alarm...still trying to get used to this time change. After breakfast we went for a walk around the complex on the bike/walking trail they have and then to the park to play for awhile. We skyped with Papa Nana and Judy and Josh and Emma after their church and the boys got to see Sophie. After dinner we skyped with Mema, Pepa, Papa nose, Tristen and his family while they were having Sunday dinner. Going to bed about 8:30 tonight and praying everyone sleeps all night tonight. So far the mosquito's haven't been to bad. Today's high was 70 degrees and there was an overcast all day. It was a little chilly but felt pretty good coming from 110 degree weather. Some cost of groceries are: 3 chicken breast $5, 3 lbs ground beef $26, laundry soap $16 for 1.5 liters, toilet paper 10 rolls for $7, brown sugar $8 for 500g.
Today on the way to the park we were talking about how some yards are nicer than others and we said you can tell who has been here longer(meaning because they have had a gardener working in the yard while they have been here) and Jared said, "You can tell the ones that have been here longer because they turned brown." :-)
Monday, July 25th, 2011
Kenny rode the bus to work the first time today and they come by the house at 4:30am. It is the same bus that comes back and gets the kids and takes them to school so the guys have to leave really early. Jared woke up about 7 and Jacob about 8:30. Talked to Kenny on the phone and he said it took him about an hour to get to work. He said the maid would start in about a week or so and it would cost $300 a month. $100 for transportation and $200 for cleaning. While I was making the boys breakfast the door bell rang and scared me to death. One reason is because I hadn't heard it yet and second because I still didn't feel safe. I hadn't been home by myself yet and didn't know what to expect. I opened the door and it was the work crew and they wanted to exterminate the house and said we needed to leave for an hour. I told them they had to wait 30 mins so we could eat breakfast. Then I took the boys over to the park while they sprayed inside and outside the house. We waited an hour and then came back and it was still very very strong so we went and sat on the patio out back and left the doors open a little to let some of the fumes out of the house. Temp is about 70 today. Still no TV or phone or Internet yet. I have been using Kenny's work wireless card to get on the Internet. It is still really weird to me to see people walking around the yards and neighborhood all day everyday. The workers across the street at the park are there all day everyday too. There are probably 10 of them working at the park all the time. This morning Jared said he wanted to go see who was downstairs and I told him no one was here and he said yes there is listen. I did hear something so I came downstairs and seen a shadow outside the window and when I opened the curtains Nelson was standing there cleaning the windows and just smiling away. That is all he does is smiles. :-) There is no staying in your PJ's here all day. Jacob and Jared shot one of their darts in the neighbors yard and was climbing on the water hydrant to look over the wall and they broke the top off and so water was just running out of the wall. When Nelson came back I showed him and he went and brought back 2 other guys. Of course none of them could speak English and I can not speak Portuguese but through a few charades I figured out that they were turning the water off outside until someone could fix it and that Nelson couldn't water the yard until it was fixed. This afternoon I took the boys back to the park and met a lady from Chicago. Her husband works for a different company and they have two boys both about a year younger than ours. Kenny got home about 5:30 tonight and we had hamburgers and potatoes and the boys had ham sandwiches. We also made some chocolate chip cookies that we brought from home.
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
Today the high was 73 degrees. The boys and I went shopping by ourselves. We were going to go try out Maxi and place like Sams but we could not find anyone to exchange money so we went to Kero instead because there is always a lady standing on the corner there to exchange money. Kero was very clean and a lot like a Walmart. We found Jared a stool for his bathroom for only $4.95 and the slice cheese was only $4. I couldn't find any cooking spray and I wanted to get some glade plug ins but they were $20. I also needed dish washing liquid and it range anywhere from $21 to $39. I spent $134 then went to the meat market and had to call Kenny to find out how to say some words to the butcher to get scoops of hamburger meat. I got 2 kg of ground beef which is about 4 lbs of $40. I also learned chicken is call Frango and there didn't have any. I got some more sandwich meat for the boys. We also found a Taco kit for $14 and I got two of them. I also found some Taco Seasoning packages and got all they had...14 packages. They were $1.45 a piece. The gardener showed me today that in our backyard we have Rosemary, Tomatoes, Onion, Lettuce, Coffee plants and a couple of fruit trees(supa-supa & one other). We have TV today thanks to our driver, Batista. He came in with Kenny and fixed it for us.
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
73 degrees today. Went for a walk around the compound and figured out it is about 1.2 miles around it. The boys watched TV a lot today since we just got it turned on yesterday. Made some banana pudding for tonight. I found some crackers kind of like vanilla wafers and we brought some vanilla pudding from home.
The gardener called me outside and through charades he told me he was going to fertilize the backyard today and so the boys should not come out without shoes on until tomorrow. I made some pizza for supper tonight with hamburger meat and Kenny found some shredded cheese on his way home. 4oz cost $10 we will not be getting that again. :-) The pizza didn't end up tasting very good. I need to get some yeast to make better dough. After supper I was going to cut the boys hair and I plugged the trimmers into the wall to charge without thinking and fried them. He is going to have someone coming from the US bring some new ones for us.
Thursday, July 28th, 2011
WE HAVE BEEN HERE FOR 1 WEEK!!!!!
Went to the park this afternoon and meet a new family. The boy will be in 1st grade and they just came from U.A.E. Couldn't figure out anything for dinner tonight so we had chili cheese fries. Not very healthy but the boys loved them. The gardener cut me some bananas today and they were not very good. They taste really green.
Saturday, July 29th, 2011
We went to Maxi today to see what kind of store it was. It was kind of like Sams but didn't have much that we would eat. We did find some white cheese that is pretty good and you get a big block of it for only $9.00. We also found some cream cheese and some mushroom soup mix that you just add water to. We found some beef and chicken broth cubes too. We couldn't find much meat that we liked but we did find some whole chickens for about $5 a piece but still couldn't find any chicken breast. We seen some whole pigs you could buy and cook but we left them behind. After maxi we went to Casa Do Fresco to get some meet. We got 8lbs of hamburger meat for $80 and found some pork chops and some steak sliced for fajitas. Still no chicken though they said maybe in a week they will get some. After we unloaded the groceries and Batista made him a lunch of bread and cheese and he loves orange soda's we headed to church about 2:45. We were told it starts at 4pm and it usually takes about an hour to get there with traffic but there was not much traffic and we got there about 3:15pm we waited until 3:45 and went in and they said English mass starts at 5pm. So we went ahead to Realto's and had pizza before mass. We tried the cheese and the chicken. Chicken is now our favorite pizza here. Jacob said the pizza was pretty good but when he goes back to Oklahoma he was going to go to Pizza Hut and say "Oh Heaven" when he takes a bite. He also said they needed to get some fly swatters in that pizza place....it's kind of an open eating area.
Church was good, not many people there but they say there will be more in a few weeks when the kids start back to school. The choir was very very good. We talked to one of the priest and he said that him and the other priest give 1st communion classes in English 30 mins before mass starts.
You never know what you will see people doing or selling on the side of the roads around here. Today on the way to church we seen a guy peeing and he wasn't trying to hide it or anything. Now we always joke when we are walking to watch out for wet spots so you don't step in them. Downtown you see the locals houses way up on the hills and the whole side of the hill is just trash. It is so weird to see that people actually live like this.
After church we came home and skyped Danny to wish him a Happy Birthday and then we skyped Nana and Papa and the boys got to see Sophie. Mom said the vet said she was doing very good on her leg and he didn't have to see her again until January.
Sunday, July 30th, 2011
Today we walked to the mall and had ice cream and then went to Shoprite and got a few things we couldn't find yesterday. It is only about a block once we get out of our compound to the mall and is very safe to walk by ourselves. We try to let Batista have Sundays off to spend with his family since we go to church on Saturday evenings. We noticed on the way to the mall that they are setting up for some kind of party across the street at the park. We have heard that they have a lot of parties and that the music is very loud. Kenny had to go into work today from 10-2 and when he got home we walked to the mall for the first time. It is only about 2 blocks and is very safe to walk by ourselves. We had ice cream and I think everyone in Africa had the same idea. I have never seen a food court so packed with people. We went to Shoprite after ice cream and the boys have been dying to buy a toy in Africa so we let them pick something out. It was like a toy from the dollar store and cost $6. Once they got home and played with them all the red on the toys came off on their hands so we got rid of those toys. :-) The matchbox and Hot Wheel cars here cost $37 and at Wal-Mart you can get them for about a $1 a piece. We had fajitas again for dinner. The boys love making tortillas and everyone likes fajitas so it is a meal we have a lot. When we skyped Mema & Pepa and Danny today the boys made Pepa show them their money jars just to make sure he hadn't got into them yet. We left them at his house to store and the boys made him put duck tape on the top of the lids so they could tell if he took any money out of them. They also always give their sign to him and Papa nose before we get off the computer. The party started about 8pm and lasted until 1am. Jacob listened to music through headphones as well as Kenny and I. It was a long night and we didn't get much sleep. Jared slept through it all.
Monday, August 1st, 2011
Took the boys to the park today and then we all went to the gym and worked out for about 30 mins. The boys love going to the gym with me. Nelson, the gardener, told me he had bananas for me again today. We have decided we don't like the bananas and they are not for us. So I told him he could have them and take them home with him. He told me I needed to write a note for him to be able to leave the compound with them. He was very grateful that I gave him the bananas. I need to find something I can do with them so that we can eat some of them too. I am thinking about bringing our dehydrator back with us at Christmas time and try drying some out and and seeing if we like them that way. He also brought us a small tomato and some greens onions from the garden today.
For supper tonight we tried some sausage with cheese in them like the ones you can get at Wal-Mart but they were not good at all. So we ended up having cereal. Jacob is still having a rough time adjusting to being here. He does good during the day but it is night time that we have problems. I am hoping when school starts and we get into a routine that it will be easier on him. Plus with not a lot of activities during the day to wear him out it is hard for him to go to sleep. He has never been a good sleeper since he was born. :-)
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
I had my interview at the school today for the library and Kenny stayed home with the boys. It was a little weird being with Batista all by myself but I am getting used to it. I met the director of the school and he said they could not hire me full time because then they would have to provide me with a work visa but said they could use me when they had special projects that would only last a month or so at a time. He also gave me a tour of the school and it is very big. They also having housing on the school compound were the expat teachers live. It is probably as big as the compound we live in. I wasn't to upset about not getting the job because now maybe I can start working out while the boys are at school and I can go grocery shopping.
Jacob wanted meat loaf for dinner and both of the boys wanted to help me cook so I let them. We had a lot of fun making dinner.
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
Didn't do much today. Took the boys to the park and then swimming this afternoon. The water is still very cold and they didn't last long. Jacob got another mosquito bite last night so we decided to put the nets up on their beds tonight. They both thought they were pretty cool kinda like camping out. They have done very well with them and it is just a normal thing for them to have now.
Today we got an email from Jared's teacher and it says for the 1st two weeks they will only go until noon then he will go all day. Jared is excited and can not wait to start school. Jacob on the other hand still says he will not like it and he will not make any friends because Aiden is his only friend. He is so like me and doesn't like to step outside his comfort zone. I am a little nervous for them to start school here as well. I know they will be fine...I am just ready for school to start and get in a routine.
Thursday, August 4th, 2011
We have been here for 2 WEEKS TODAY! It really is going by pretty fast. I hope it continues to be like this. :-) It is about 73 degrees today and overcast. Looks and feels like it could rain. I noticed the gardeners at the park mowed today. This is the first time I had seen a lawn mower around here. You always see the guys pulling grass by hand. If we watered as much in the states as they do here we would have to mow everyday. We also seen a guy edging today. They do not have an edger though or a weed eater...they have a machete. At first I thought he was just doing a little bit but he did the entire area. Jacob says we should bring a weed eater back with us for them and show them how to use it. He said they would love it and then we could sell them here and make lots of money. :-) Talked to mom today and she said it was supposed to be 114 degrees there today. That is crazy HOT. I hope they get some rain and cooler temps soon. She said everything is dying nothing is green anymore. The boys and I went to the park today and then for a walk around the compound. Jacob still can not believe how fast the days go here. He said he will be in 3rd grade before we know it. I think it seems to go fast because mom calls on their way to work every morning and it is lunch time for us then and so it seems like it has went quick. I also called Kathy Kelly and talked to here for a little while. They are getting ready to start school. It was so nice to talk to her. She is such a sweet lady. She said church just isn't the same without us. I really miss seeing everyone on Sundays after church. Being away from that church has been hard every time we live somewhere else. No place ever seems like home the way it does there. Kenny worked late tonight and it was the one time I wished we were in the states because I didn't feel like cooking and so there we would have went out and got something to eat. Not here we all ended up snacking for dinner. Twice a month they come and inspect the house to make sure everything is working properly and to change out light bulbs and different stuff like that. They were very nice and one of them spoke English so that was very helpful.
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