Trying to get to Houston & Africa

Friday, July 15th, 2011
Packing our stuff. The first two pictures are the boxes we got to fill and have air shipped to us in Africa. All the other stuff in our house is packed and put in a warehouse for the next couple of years.

Monday, July 18th, 2011
Dad, Josh, Kenny, Jacob and Jared went golfing and mom and I went to the shop to help Debbie. On the way I called Kenny to have him call the rental car company in OKC to see if we could pick the suburban up tonight instead of Tuesday morning. When he called them they said sure and they had a Ford Explorer for us. Kenny told them our luggage wouldn't fit in that and they said they didn't have a bigger car. Between his company and him they both spent all day looking for a car with no luck. The whole family was coming up with solutions to get us and our luggage to Houston. We finally decided dad would take us to Dallas to get Jason's Tahoe and see if our luggage would fit in it and then they could pick it up from Houston the following weekend.

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Kenny's company called early in the morning and said they found a mini van in Dallas. We all got up and around at Nana's house and had a plan to take our car to Mema and Pepa's and drive Josh's truck with 6 of us to Dallas and pick up a mini van. We had to fit 4 people and 9 large suitcases and 3 large plastic tubs. When we got there and seen the van we didn't think it was going to work. With lots of rearranging we finally got everything in the car. We said our goodbyes to mom and dad without to many tears and were off to Houston. Once we left them it became real to me that we were on our way to Africa. I couldn't stop smiling and saying, "I can not believe we are moving to Africa." I think we had been saying for so long we were moving that once the day finally came it was hard to believe it was actually happening. We finally arrived in Houston about 7pm and the boys wanted to eat at Chuck E Cheese for their last American meal. We ended up finding an Incredible pizza and ate there and played some games before going to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel and put all our luggage in a store room the boys and I went up and got ready for bed while Kenny took the rental car to the airport so we didn't have to mess with it the next day. We finally got to bed around 11pm.


Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

We woke up around 5am and got the boys up around 5:30. We kept telling the lady at the front desk that we needed a big bus for our luggage and she said it will fit on the next bus. Once the bus came and all the other loaded on there was no room for our luggage. The lady came outside and I told her we are going to need a big bus for our luggage and she said will it not fit and then she seen all of our bags and said she would call another bus that is bigger. Finally, the bigger bus showed up and once we had put all of our luggage in the back there was no room for anyone else's luggage. The bus driver just had them carry them on the bus with them. We got to the airport and got in line and waited about 30 mins and got our bags checked. They all weighed in the 50lbs range with one being in the 60's. They could weigh 70lbs....I could have packed about 20lb more in each bag. Once we got our bags checked we went through security. There was no line so it went very fast. Now we could eat breakfast. We found a little sit down place and enjoyed our last meal in the US. We made it to the terminal around 9am and started boarding the plane at 10am. The plane was two stories. When you walked into it there were a set of stairs that went upstairs. The plain was probably as wide as two planes put together. I have never been on such a big plane. There were about 14 stewardess and 4 pilots. They have an area were they can sleep and they take shifts working. We sat in the middle row and the very last row of seats on the airplane. Is cost about $700 a person to upgrade to business class. The seats we had were like regular airplane seats and didn't lay back very far. We left for Africa at 10:45am. It was a 14 hour flight. They served lunch on the plane. The boys had chicken strips, mashed potatoes, corn, jello, carrots and celery with ranch, M&M's and juice. Kenny and I had baked chicken, asparagus, cake and salad. It was pretty good...tasted like a TV dinner. The boys watched movies and played video games on the plane. They did not serve dinner but had some snack cracker or small sandwiches you could get. By about hour 8 of the flight it wasn't so fun anymore. They had watched all the movies and played all the games several times. During the flight the pilot picks one child out to take on a tour of the airplane and he picked Jacob. Kenny and him went on the tour and he took them to the front of the airplane were first class is and Kenny said there wasn't many of those seats and they laid all the way back like a bed.

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

We woke the boys up for breakfast and they hardly ate anything and then Jacob went back to sleep. They served omelets and fruit to us and the boys had waffles, pancakes and yogurt. Once we landed you were not at a terminal...you walked down the steps and there were buses to take you to the building to go through customs. It was pretty chilly probably in the high 60s. A lot different than coming from 110 degree temps. I have to say I was a little nervous not knowing what to expect and worried about our safety. Once you go through customs you get your luggage and then you take your luggage to another place and they put it all through a scanner kind of like what you put your carry on luggage through when going through security in the states. Once we got through the airport we met our driver Batista. They had two smaller vehicles to take us and our luggage to the house. It didn't smell at all like I expected it to. I thought it was going to stink. From the airport to the house you seen a lot of locals and their houses. It is very dusty right now because they haven't had any rain in a few months. This is their dry season and colder time. Once we got to our complex it was like we were taken to a resort. It is such a different world inside the compound. When we got to the house the gardener asked if we wanted him to trim the bushes and we told one of the drivers to tell him to wait until next week so Kenny could talk to the lady at work to see if he is the one supposed to be doing it and he said ok. Our house is 4 bedrooms, 2 living areas, dining room, 4 full bathrooms, 1 half bath. The master bedroom has a balcony off of it and all the bedrooms are upstairs. Once we got our bedrooms and bathrooms put together we went to Shoprite(grocery store) and Casa de frisco(meat market). On the way to the stores Kenny told the driver that we needed to exchange our money for some Kwanza's. I was expecting to stop at a bank or something but before we went into the parking lot of the grocery store he pulled to the side of the road and a guy came to the window and switched money with Kenny. One of the 100's Kenny gave him had a little tear on it and he wouldn't take it. Batista said because they might not be able to get as much money for one that is not new. We can usually get 100 Kwanza's for one US dollar. Sometime people only want to give us 93 and Batista will not let us trade with them.

The boys loved the house and their bedrooms because they were upstairs. They also love the jajuzie(as they say it) bathtub. Kenny's company had left some stuff for ham sandwiches in the fridge. We tried the ham and cheese and it was not very good. We ended up giving it to Batista. The boys had peanut butter and banana sandwiches because we hadn't found Jelly yet and Kenny made a grilled cheese and I had some chips for lunch. We got Jared some Cheetos at the store and when we had lunch we realized that they were ketchup and cheese Cheetos. I ended up giving them to the gardener and he loved them. The milk here is ultra pasteurized so it doesn't have to be refrigerated until it is open. It comes in 1 liter boxes for $3.00. The cheddar sliced cheese we found comes in a pack of 10 slices for $6.65. The brown sugar is like white sugar but brown and is $8 a package. We ended up spending about $300 on groceries to last us about a week. We had hamburgers for supper that Kenny got as pre-made patties and they were pretty good but had their own seasoning on it and it was a little strong. Jacob tried a salami frozen pizza and it wasn't any good. It took us about an hour and a few phone calls to figure out how to get the oven to light. You have to light it by hand every time and all we had was little matches and it would fry the hair on your arm every time. I finally figured out you could light it inside the oven to avoid lousing all the hair on your arm. Jared fell asleep before dinner and ended up waking up about 3 times throughout the night. Kenny and I finally went to sleep about midnight. Jacob slept all night. Our bed is a platform bed and not very comfy at all. My back killed me the next day.

A few pictures of what we seen on the way from the airport to the house.

  

  

  

Friday, July 22nd, 2011
We woke up about 11am and the driver was already sitting in the driveway. We ate Frosty's (like frosted flakes) and took our first dose of malaria medicine. The boys took their pills very good with no problems. When we went outside to leave the gardener was outside trimming the bushes. Kenny asked Batista if that guy told him not to trim them like we said and he said that the other driver told him to trim them tomorrow. We went to the staff house Kenny stayed in when he was living here by himself to get the stuff he left here. Then we went to a local grocery store to see if we could find some Jelly and we got a loaf of bread for $15.00. It is like the kind you get in the states but has no crust on it. Most of the bread here is locally made and it is pretty cheap about $3.00 a loaf....but we haven't found any we like yet. We also looked for some syrup for the boys waffles in the morning and the guy showed up honey and cough syrup. I ended up making some cinnamon and vanilla syrup because they do not have maple flavoring here either. For supper we have spaghetti and Kenny made the sauce from tomato paste because we haven't found tomato sauce. They do not have pre-made spaghetti sauce. The spaghetti was really good. We made some brownies too that we had brought with us. The boys said that Africa has better brownies than we do at home. Maybe because I never really made them at home. We ended up getting to bed about midnight again but had trouble getting Jacob to sleep. He finally went to sleep about 2am. It was a very long night. Ended up spending about $120 on groceries today. We also talked to Jason and Lindsey and the Finleys on skype and gave them a tour of the house.

Pictures of our first time downtown and to see where the locals live.