London, England

Jensen and the weird, funny guy in London

Jensen and Laurie at the IMAX in London

Bill and Dustin in front of Big Ben

Hello everyone,

Here is part 3 of our trip!

We arrived in London on the evening of 12/26. We went straight to our hotel and stayed in for the night. Our hotel was great--the best one so far the whole trip. It was set up like a small apartment, so we had 2 small rooms (plus the bathroom), and a fully equipped kitchen with everything except an oven. We even had a dishwasher and washer/dryer! We were so excited about the washer/dryer, as we really needed some clean clothes by this time. Unfortunately, it was one of those little tiny ones (like I had in Congo), and it was a washer/dryer all in one, and we couldn't totally figure out the dryer part of it. So I would put things in to dry for 140 minutes, and they'd come out half wet and half dry. We just ended up putting things on hangers and turning the heat up in the room, and having the clothes dry that way. It wasn't the best, but it worked, and we got some clean clothes! Our room also had an amazing view of the Thames River, and that was a great thing to wake up to. We saw these funny little bus-boats on the river. They looked just like a yellow school bus in the water, and then all of the sudden, it got out of the water and started driving down the road. It was very funny to watch.

The next day (12/27), Jensen and I had theater tickets to see Wicked! We had seen it in California, but we both loved it and wanted to see it again. We got really good seats, and it was a fairly small theater. Unfortunately for me, I got sick again just before the show, so ended up going to the show feeling like I was going to throw up! I started to feel a little better during the show, but still did not feel well the rest of the day. Jensen and I both enjoyed the show, but the cast certainly did not compare to the cast in Los Angeles. While Jensen and I were watching Wicked, Bill and Dustin went shopping and exploring. Dustin ended up with a new set of golf clubs! He had outgrown his last set, and he and Bill usually play in Congo every weekend, so a new set was warranted.

We didn't do much for dinner, as I was still sick. There was a little grocery store just a couple of minutes from our hotel, so we got food from there and cooked it in our room. We did that for most of our time in London. We had been eating out so much this trip, that it felt good just to make our own food and not pay an arm and a leg for food the kids hardly touch.

The next day (12/28) we went to the London Aquarium. This was certainly not your first-rate aquarium, especially after being to places like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but we all still enjoyed it. After, we walked around and saw the London Eye (a huge ferris wheel that takes you high up in the air so you can see the whole city), and Big Ben (Dustin's favorite). We did not go up in the London eye, as the lines were horrendous, and it was just so cold (about 30 F). Unfortunately, the cold dictated a lot of what we ended up doing. We knew that Jensen does not tolerate the cold well, so anything that was outside, and required waiting in a line, we knew would be miserable for all of us (Jensen would be crying and complaining the whole time, and we'd have to listen to it!). So, that meant that we also did not go see Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard, as that would have been at least an hour and a half waiting outside. By this point of our trip, we were all a bit burned out on sightseeing. And although Bill and I wanted to see things like Westminister Abbey, the Tower of London, and Trafalgar Square, we just knew it would not be worth it to drag our complaining kids to these sights. So we settled on doing things together that were inside, and that were more family oriented.

The next day (12/29) we went to the British Science Museum. We ended up spending all day there, and everyone really enjoyed it. We saw a couple of IMAX movies while there (one about the deep sea and the other about outer space and the first landing on the moon). We took the tube (subway) there, and felt proud of ourselves for navigating the system so well.

While we were walking around after the aquarium, we came across a square that had all these weird, funny people dressed up. Some of them were putting on shows (like a juggler), but most of them just stood perfectly still, until you put money in their little cup, and then it was like they came alive. They were so funny! And if you put money in their cup, you could then get a picture with them. We've got a great picture of Jensen with one of them, and I'll try to post it. We also shopped at a bookstore, and we all stocked up on books, as we can't get any in Congo.

The thing that really threw us in England was how dark it always was. The sun did not come up until 8:00 AM (if it came up at all!), and it was down by 4:00 PM. Made for very short days! It was also so cold (France too)! I know I already mentioned the cold, but it really did impact our trip quite a bit. Coming from AZ, and then from Congo, we are definitely not cold weather people.

Our last night in London, we went to the little grocery store and stocked up on cereal to take home with us, as in the Congo, we are paying $22 for one box of cereal! We also got some brownie mix, as that is nonexistent in the Congo. We packed up everything, and got ready for our trip to Kenya. We were only supposed to stay in Kenya for one night (get in at 9:30 PM, and leave the next morning at 9:30 AM). However, our travel agent informed us that our flight back to the Congo had been cancelled, and there were no other flights going there until January 3rd! We were supposed to be back in Congo for New Year's Eve, but now we were going to spend it in Nairobi, Kenya!

Well, I'll sign off for now, and will write another post about our Kenya trip.

Laurie

P.S. As I'm finishing this post, it has now passed into the New Year for North America, so Happy New Year to everyone! We celebrated here in Kenya 11 hours before California!

Paris, France

Sunrise, just outside our hotel room.

The Statue of Liberty and The Eiffel Tower

Hi everyone,
Here is the next installment of our Europe trip. We made it to France (Mon 12/22--PM) via the underwater tunnel (Chunnel). It was not as exciting as we thought it might be—just like a regular train ride. We got to our hotel via taxi without any problem, thanks to my newly acquired French speaking skills! Our hotel was not the nicest, despite having gotten good recommendations. It was supposedly a “quadruple room”, but it was very small, and quite dark. It did have a view of the Eiffel Tower (if we went out our window onto a small terrace) though, so that was nice. The Eiffel Tower is really phenomenal at night when it is all lit up, but not so spectacular looking in the day. We did go to the top (12/23), and it was very crowded and very cold. It was a beautiful view, but it was just so cold that we really didn’t stay up there very long. This first hotel was within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower and we stayed in this hotel for 2 nights.

On Weds 12/24 we went to the Louvre museum—also very crowded. It’s surprising that everything was so crowded, as this is not a busy time of year for Paris. At the Louvre, we saw some incredible sculptures, including the Venus de Milo. We also saw the Mona Lisa, which is what the kids wanted to see more than anything else. It was not as impressive as I imagined it to be. After the Louvre, we shopped on the famous Champs-Elysses. We didn’t buy anything though. We also moved to a new hotel on this date, as it was supposed to be a really special hotel for Christmas. It was nice, and the kids got stockings from the hotel filled with goodies, as well as stuffed elephants dressed as Santa.

We got around Paris on a Hop on Hop off Bus Tour. It toured around Paris, and stopped at all the major monuments and museums. We were able to get on and off as often as we wanted. We got headphones and listened to information about the history of all these monuments and museums. It was a nice, quick way to see the city, and get around as well. During this tour, we saw Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides (where Napoleon is buried), and the Musee d’Orsay.

On Christmas Eve night, we walked along a street with little kiosk type shops. We bought roasted chestnuts, hot chocolate, chocolate crepes, and Santa hats for the whole family. It was cold, and everything was lit up for Christmas, but it still didn’t feel like Christmas. I tried to get in the mood, but had a hard time. This was a different Christmas than any we have ever had before. I think I really missed having a lot of family around. The kids were excited for Christmas morning to come though, so that was good. On Christmas morning, “Santa” hid all the gifts around the hotel room and left clues for the kids to find them. They had a ball, and although they only got a few gifts, they seemed happy with their Christmas.

On Christmas day, we took a cruise on the Seine River, on the Bateaux Parisiens. It was very nice, with an elegant lunch served, and beautiful, live violin music played for our entertainment. We again saw many of the famous monuments in France. Our favorite was the Statue of Liberty, which was given to the city of Paris in 1889, by the American community in Paris. It is a copy of the Statue of Liberty in New York, which was given to the US in 1886 to celebrate the friendship between the US and France. We got a great picture of the Statue of Liberty with the Eiffel Tower standing next to it.

We left Paris on Friday, 12/26, and took the Chunnel back to London. This was a miserable experience, as there had been a bomb threat in Paris that day, as well as a cancelled train, so we ended up getting on our train about an hour late. That would not have been so bad, except that we had to wait in the freezing cold for about 1.5 hours. I literally could not feel my feet, and Jensen just sat there and cried the whole time because she was so cold. We were bundled up with warm coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and boots, but it did not seem to help. We finally got on the train, and all was fine after that.

Well, that’s the end of our Paris trip. My recommendation for anyone wanting to visit Paris, is to do it in the summer, when it’s not so cold! I’ll write more about our London trip in the next couple of days.

Laurie

Birmingham, England

Hi Everyone,
Thought I’d tell you about our trip to Birmingham, England. On Monday, 12/15 we started with a 2.5 hour plane ride to Kenya, and then an 8 hour layover in Kenya. At midnight, we took off for London—about a 9 hour plane ride. We got in there on Tuesday 12/16 at 5:15 AM due to the time difference. Then, we waited. And waited. And waited. Our best friends from AZ were meeting us in London, but their plane did not arrive until 2:00 PM, so it was a long wait. The kids kept themselves busy by running up and down the stairs to check the monitors to see if their plane was going to land early (it did—by about 30 minutes!). It was a joyful reunion for all, but it was short lived, as the next part of our journey was quite the ordeal.

We needed to get from London to Birmingham, where we were all staying. It’s about 2.5 hours away, and we needed to catch a series of subways and trains to get there. Imagine 4 kids and 4 adults, with about 15 pieces of luggage trying to navigate all these subways and trains. None of us really knew the correct subways to take, so we relied on subway personnel to direct us, but unfortunately, they did not always direct us accurately. Each time we got off a subway, we had to take a huge escalator up to the top of the station, and then another one down to catch the next subway. This would not have been such a big deal, but with all the kids and all the luggage, it made it difficult, as most of the luggage was too heavy for the kids to handle. I’m sure it was quite comical to watch all of us adults trying to manage all the luggage. At the time though, it was definitely not funny to us. I think we took about 4 different subways and one train, and we finally made it to Birmingham by about 6:30 PM on Tuesday. Our journey had started the day before at noon, so we were quite exhausted. I think we were all asleep by 8:30 that night.

The next day (Weds 12/17), we didn’t do much—just hung out in our guest house and explored the town a bit. We went to a small, local grocery store, and we were literally like kids in a candy store. It was so fun to see all the foods that we can’t get in the Congo. I was most excited by all the fresh fruits and vegetables, knowing that they were safe to eat without having to peel them first or soak them in bleach. We also got excited by the fact that we could just turn on the tap and brush our teeth with regular tap water, and not have to boil it first. Later, we went to a 400 year old pub called the Green Man, and we all had hot chocolate. It was your typical English pub. As we walked back to the guesthouse, we crossed over a bridge, and down below was water with ducks in it. We had bought bread at the grocery, so that went to the ducks! During the week, this was the kids’ favorite activity—feeding the ducks! Later, that evening, I got sick (vomiting) and was sick the whole next day. Nice way to start off the vacation!

We decided to move to a different hotel after 2 nights. The guest house we were staying in had no internet (even though they had told us they did have it when we made the reservation), and Bill had work to do, so we moved. We moved to a more typical hotel (Marriott), and this was much nicer, but also farther from where our friends were staying.

The next day (Fri 12/19) we did some shopping at a mall, and then took the kids to an indoor skating rink to ice skate. They also got a chance to play in some fake snow, using tubes to go down small little hills. The kids slept at their friends’ house that night, so Bill and I had the night off. I needed it, as my stomach still was not back up to par, so it was nice to just have the downtime to relax.

The next morning (Sat 12/20), before meeting up with the kids, Bill and I went to a store similar to Home Depot, called The B & Q. It was set up just like the Home Depot, and they even wore the same type of orange aprons! I think Bill and I could have spent all day in there. After living in the Congo for just 4 months, I can’t even begin to explain what it felt like to see so many products in one place, and to have so many choices, and to have so much space around you, and to have people there to help you, and to have people there that speak the same language as you, and to not have to wait in 5 different lines just to pay for your items, and to not have people eye you suspiciously, as if you are going to steal something, and to be able to come out of a store with exactly what you were looking for. I know I keep using this cliché, but we really felt like kids in a candy store. We were literally just grabbing stuff off the shelves. I said to Bill, “Do you really need all this stuff, or are you just buying it because you can”? He replied, “Because I can”! At the end though, before checking out, we re-assessed what was in our basket and did put several items back. One funny thing that we noticed at the store, and at several others as well, is that you have to pay if you want to use a cart. You can use a little basket for free, but if you want a cart, you have to pay for it. So different than in the US, where they want you to have a cart, knowing that you’ll load it up!

After our shopping trip, we met up with the kids and our friends. Bill and Dustin went to a football (soccer) match with the rest of the guys, and I went shopping with Jensen and all the ladies. Dustin and Bill had a great time, and Dustin came home with soccer jerseys from both teams. They put his name on the back of both jerseys, and he was able to choose the number he wanted. He chose number 14, as that was his classroom number from his second grade class at Hermosa Vista.

Jensen and I enjoyed our time shopping and with our friends, but I really felt overwhelmed at the mall. For the first time, I sort of missed the Congo, and its lack of consumerism and commercialism.

Sunday, 12/21 we went to Warwick Castle. It was a very cool castle dating from about 1000 to the 1600s. We had to walk up 530 steps to the top! Bill and the kids got to do some archery, and the kids got a picture with Henry the VIII (a wax figure). The wax figures were really life-like. They use real hair on them, and they said they have to wash the hair every 3 months. They only use straight hair (Dustin had offered some of his!), and then once it is on the wax figure, they curl it.

We were going to go to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare, but we were told it was sort of boring, and that visiting the castle would be better. We were also going to go to a place called Star City, where there are movie theaters, bowling, and an aquarium. But, after the castle, we were tired, and decided not to go. We have not seen a movie since we moved to the Congo. In Congo, there is one theater. But their theater consists of you telling them what movie you want, and then they play the DVD for you. That’s their movie theater! No one goes to it.

Tomorrow, we leave England, and head to France. We are taking the underwater train through the North Channel. It is about a 2.5 hour journey. We will spend Christmas in Paris, and then head back to England for some sightseeing. I think I’ll post this now, as it is long already, and we still have lots more time on this trip.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas!
Laurie

Our Congo x-mas tree




A view of the inside of our new home--our downstairs living room




View looking out our bedroom window

Jensen as the human x-mas light holder

Hello Everyone,
I was going to try to send a quick blog entry before we left on vacation, but now we have left, and are sitting in the Kenya Airport, in Nairobi. We have an 8 hour layover, before boarding our plane for London, so I thought this would be a good time to write my blog entry. In less than 24 hours, we will be reunited with our best friends from AZ! We are all so excited, especially the kids. I will write again, after our trip, but right now, I want to share some thoughts about our life in the Congo, and some observations that I have made about the culture and the people here.

Last time I wrote, I mentioned that we had moved into a new home. All has been going well with the new home for the most part, but unfortunately, we traded one set of problems at the old house, for a new set at the new house. Our biggest problem at the new house is that we have at least 7 windows that leak during the storms. As you know, we are now in the rainy season, which means we get at least one big storm everyday. When the storms hit, the windows leak. Now, I’m not talking about little leaks. I’m talking about water flooding all over the floors. Fortunately, not all the windows leak at the same time, as it depends which direction the storm is blowing. And fortunately for me, I have a full sized washer and dryer because otherwise I would never have enough dry towels to clean up all the mess. A couple of weeks ago, we came home during a huge storm (hail, thunder, lightening), and I walked into the house, and there was water all over my kitchen counters, under the microwave, and all over the floor. Everything is made so poorly here, that none of the kitchen counters are sealed up next to the wall, so when the windows leak, all the water goes down behind the counters, and then comes out from under the cabinets onto the floor! Another family here had the same problem with their house (but even worse than our house), but they put up awnings, and now the problem is solved. Unfortunately for us, the company does not want to spend any more money on these houses to fix them, so we’re sort of stuck with it. Oh well, we still like this house better than the old one.

This house seems to stay much cleaner than the last one, and that makes me happy. I’m not going through cleaning wipes like crazy anymore. I do also have a house cleaner, and that is a great help. His name is Papa Kabila, after the president here. He’s not the best cleaner, but he does clean my floors really well, which is great because we have a lot of tile! He also does a really good job of making sure my trashes are never full. He’s so funny though. Instead of pulling my trash bags out and throwing them away, he dumps all the trash, and then washes the bag, and then puts it back into my trash can! It must be a Congo thing because one of my friends said that her house guy does the same thing.

Another funny thing about this house is all the keys I have. I literally spent one entire day trying to figure out which keys went to which doors, and then labeling them. There are 3 keys for every door, and there are keys to everything! The laundry room, the bathrooms, every bedroom, the living room, dining room, garage, utility room, front door, back door, kitchen, bedroom closets, etc. There are no locks that you can turn—you just have to turn the key in the lock to lock a door, even on the bathrooms. And, all the locks turn backwards. Instead of turning to the right to lock something, you turn the key to the left. I’m still trying to get used to that. I had always used the “righty tighty, lefty loosey” rhyme to remember which way to turn things, but now that no longer applies. I carry 10 different keys on my keychain, and of those, I use at least 8 of them on a daily basis. What’s sad, is that to me, this shows the kind of mentality that is here in the Congo. Everything has to be locked up because stealing is so rampant. One of my friends was telling me how her house worker was stealing the rubberbands that she uses on her braces! I have not noticed anything missing yet at my house, but I do keep my important things locked up. The things that often go missing are things like shampoo, soap, and toilet paper—things you might not notice right away. The way the Congolese see it, is that we have so much, so we should share it with them, and if we don’t, then they should just take it. They don’t really see it as doing something wrong.

Something that I think is really interesting, but actually a little sad is that Dustin says he feels safer here than he did back in AZ. We lived in a nice neighborhood in AZ; it’s not like we lived in South Phoenix! I asked him what made him feel safe here, and he said, “We have barbed wire around our house, and a guard guarding our house, so I know that no bad guys can get in”. How sad that we had to move to the Congo for Dustin to feel safe.

The next few things that I want to write about are just little things that I have observed about the local people here.
You hardly ever see any men with beards
Hardly anyone wears glasses (regular or sunglasses)
I rarely see any old people here
Very few of the Congolese people smoke (I think because they can’t afford it)
I have only seen one person here who looks as if he has severe mental issues (sort of like some of the crazy, homeless people you might see on the streets). He always stands on the same corner, looking pretty disheveled, and always appears to be talking to himself, or to no one in particular.
It’s interesting because as we drive down our street, there are African people everywhere and the stores/houses are pretty dilapidated. If I was back home, I would think I was in South Phoenix, and I would be scared for my life. But here, this is just life in the Congo, and I never feel nervous or unsafe.
Men hold hands here, but not because they are gay. It is a sign of respect. You rarely see men/women holding hands, or 2 women holding hands—just 2 men.
The roads here get worse and worse each day because of the daily pounding of the storms. You really can’t get anywhere without a 4-wheel drive. It’s just so funny what we take for granted (good roads) and what they accept as normal. The roads that we travel on daily here would be closed off in the States, until they could be repaired.

Well, that’s about it for now. The Kenya airport is not the greatest, but we now only have 3.5 hours left to wait until our flight leaves. Our luggage was supposed to get checked through all the way to London, but Bill just checked on it, and so far, they can only find 3 of our 4 bags. I hope they can find the last one. Nothing is worse than starting a vacation off with missing luggage. At least we’re going to a big city where I know we can buy things, if need be. Well, Jensen and I are off to check out the stores in the airport. Will write again after we get home from our trip.

Oh yeah—one more thing. I was going to try to do online Christmas cards, but haven’t quite figured out how. So, if I don’t end up getting it figured out, I just want to wish everyone happy holidays and a happy new year! I’ll try to put some pictures in here.

Laurie

Lots to catch up on!

The spider in the laundry room!

Lula, the puppy we have been watching

I think Dustin likes the furniture in the new house

Lula, and the "killer beetle"!

"Pumpkins" in the Congo!

Hello everyone,

I know it's time to start writing again, when I keep getting emails from people asking if we're all right. Yes, we are fine! I had actually started a post several weeks ago, but somehow the computer deleted it before I could post it. After that, I felt a bit discouraged, so did not feel like writing. But, a lot has happened since I last wrote ( a month ago), so get comfy because this will be a long entry!

First, Halloween: We had a Halloween party for all the American kids a week after Halloween (one family was out of town, so we waited for them). The kids all dressed up (Jensen was a 50's girl, and Dustin was a Ninja), played games, and ate candy. It was funny because they were all trading candy ("I'll give you a Snickers for 2 Twix bars"), just like they did at home. Of course, this was candy that can't be found here, so we had to have it brought over from the States (thanks Rob and Donna!). The funniest part about the night was when it was time to carve pumpkins. There were no pumpkins to be found here in Lubumbashi, so the kids carved eggplants! They turned out so cute. I'll post a picture.

Next, Thanksgiving: We celebrated Thanksgiving on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Bill, and all the rest of the husbands were going to be at the mine site on Thanksgiving Day, so we decided to celebrate early. Since this is an American holiday, Thanksgiving Day here was just an ordinary day. The kids went to school, Bill went to work, and I went and had tea with some of my friends! But, our early celebration was just like the real thing, with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin and pecan pies. The one thing missing (my favorite) was the sweet potatoes. I went to 4 different stores, and not one of them even had a clue what sweet potatoes were! Of course, me trying to explain it in French must not have been a pretty sight. Since I couldn't make sweet potatoes, I made a noodle kugel instead. Nobody here had a clue what it was, but it turned out okay. But it was a challenge finding the ingredients for that as well. I found egg noodles, but they were the super skinny ones. Sour cream does not seem to exist here, so I substituted yogurt. In any case, the food was good, and we all had a good time. It was 4 American families, and 2 Belgian families, so we taught the Belgians all about Thanksgiving, by playing Thanksgiving trivia games (off the internet). It was great the way the hostess had set up the tables: one in the kitchen for all the kids (6 kids); another in the dining room for all the ladies; and a 3rd for all the men. It was very enjoyable that way!

Field trips: The kids have been going on field trips with their new teacher. The first was to the Lubumbashi museum. Bill and I also went, and it was a very cool, interesting museum--lots of neat African masks, etc. The next trip was to a brewery (only here in the Congo)! In the States, this would never happen. We got to see all the equipment and the process of making beer. Here in the Congo, Simba beer is the most popular brand. It comes in these huge bottles that you share with several people. You never just drink it out of the bottle, like you would a Heinekin or something. At the end of the field trip, the guide said, "If you want to sample our product, come upstairs". All the parents' jaws about dropped. Here we were, thinking he was going to offer our kids beer! As it turned out, the parents were all offered beer, but the kids were offered sodas. It's still funny to think about the teacher and parents drinking beer on a field trip! Again, only in the Congo!

Our new house: Yes, it is true--we finally got into a new house! This house is huge, and it is a huge improvement from the last one. It's like moving from a Motel 6 to a 5 star hotel. We now have one of the nicest houses of all the expat families. It is a 2 story home (the only one), with 4 bedrooms, an office, kitchen, formal and casual dining rooms, and 2 living rooms (one upstairs and one downstairs), as well as a utility room. There are 4 bathrooms (and all the toilets work!), and a separate laundry building, with a full sized washer and dyer!!! Now I can wash more than 10 items of clothing at a time!

For the most part, we have had very little problems with electricty (though we still need the generator on a lot of the time) or water, and the microwave even works at this house! I hadn't realized how much I had missed using the microwave, just for something simple like boiling a cup of water for tea. The kitchen has granite counters, but it is so funny because the counters are so low that even I, as small as I am, feel like a giant in the kitchen!

The backyard is nice and big, and does not have so much dirt everywhere. However, Kami still manages to find whatever dirt there is, and get into it, so I am forever cleaning her feet (many times a day). We have a nice vegetable garden with green peppers (yuck!), onions, carrots, tomatoes, and peas. Unfortunately, Kami thought this was her own special playground, so she has torn a lot of it up. Our gardener has put up a bamboo fence around it, and now she can't get in anymore. The bamboo fence is all hand made. The people here cut pieces off of bamboo trees, cut them into strips, and then weave them into a flat, mat-type thing. Our fence required 16 of these mat-type things, which they connect together with twine or cable, and then the gardener attached them to stakes he had put in the ground. Can you imagine the labor that went into that? And for all that, I paid about $35!

Although this house is 100% better than the last, and I like it here, I feel like I am missing out on the "Congo" experience by living in this nice, beautiful house. I feel like I could be living back in AZ. However, the really nice thing about this house is the view from the 2nd floor. Jensen has the best view. From her room, you can look out onto a nearby village and road, and every morning you see the Congolese people walking or riding their bikes along this road. It's a really cool thing to watch, and it does give you a good feel for the life and culture here. So whenever I feel like I've forgotten I'm in the Congo because I'm living in this big, beautiful house, I just go upstairs and look out of Jensen's window, and that brings me back to the Congo.

Kids' school: The week after we moved to our new house, the kids moved to a new school. They hated their last school, and Jensen was bored and did not want to pay attention because all the material they were learning was what she had learned last year. I was afraid that if I kept them there, they would end up being at least a year behind in school when we returned home. So, I signed them up for a distance learning program, through the Mesa Public Schools in AZ. The program is designed for home schoolers, but it follows the AZ curriculum, and I knew it would keep them up with the state standards. They are doing this program at the other English-speaking school here in Lubumbashi, a school run by missionaries from the US (they have been here since the 70's). Bill's company rents a room from the school, and my kids, along with 2 others, do all of their academic courses there, with an international teacher that Bill's company has hired, to facilitate it all. Each child has their own program to follow, according to their grade level. The kids take 4 courses: Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. In addition to that, they take French and a Reading/Religion class (mandatory because it is a missionary school) with the rest of the kids in the school. They also do sports, and other activities with the kids from this school. Although it is English speaking, it is still quite culturally diverse, and there are kids from many different countries at this school. I come into the classroom everyday for 1.5 hours to help out. Sometimes the teacher needs to spend more time with one student, so then while I'm there, I can help the other students continue to move forward with their lesson plans. Overall, my kids seem happier, they don't have to wear those ugly uniforms, and I feel better that they are keeping up with the AZ state standards, and moving at a pace that is right for them.

A new puppy: Another thing that has kept me busy for the last 2 weeks has been a 10 week old dachshund puppy that we have been watching for friends. Her name is Lula (named after Amerula, a fruity alcoholic drink that is popular in South Africa). She is very cute, and very sweet, but very much a non-potty trained, chew everything in sight, puppy! So, for the last 2 weeks I've spent a lot of time cleaning up potty accidents, rescuing shoes, and doing lots of laundry! Thank goodness for that full sized washer and dryer! She goes home tomorrow, and I'm glad. I'm tired! The first few nights she was waking me up at 3:30 in the morning! Now she is better and waits until 5:00. I think Kami will be glad to see her go too. Kami was very good and gentle with her, and enjoyed playing with her, but I think Kami is tired too.

And speaking of Kami, she is getting a little better with the rain storms (which hit several times a day now). I spoke with our vet from AZ via email, and she gave me some good suggestions, and also offered to write her a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication. I'm going to hold off on the meds for right now. The biggest thing that changed was that we stopped coddling her and giving her all this extra attention when the storms hit. All that was doing was reaffirming for her that there was actually something to be afraid of. Now when the storms hit, we just act like nothing is happening, and we go about our business as usual, and this approach seems to be working.

Bugs: I'm thinking the rains bring out the bugs. We have been seeing some super huge bugs here lately, which does not thrill me. I'm going to post a picture of a spider that was in our laundry room, and this big, huge beetle thing that the puppy was trying to play with/eat. Jensen tries to be brave, but she is as scared as ever with all these bugs, and even Dustin, was a little freaked out about the big beetle bug. We are all happy to have mosquito nets to sleep under, as at least we know these bugs won't be crawling on us while we sleep!

Vacation: We leave on vacation for winter (actually summer here) break in 2 weeks. We are going to England, where we will meet up with our best friends from AZ, and then will go to France, where we will be spending Christmas. I wonder if Santa will be able to find us??!! It's so funny because you would have no clue that it is almost Christmas here. The only indication that I have seen is that the grocery store is now carrying Christmas napkins. Oh yeah, and the police stop people more frequently now because they want money. And that's about it. It definitely does not feel like Christmas here. Well, once we get to England and France, it will be freezing, and I'm sure there will be plenty there that will get us into the Christmas spirit!

Well, I think that's about it for now. I think I have caught you up on our lives here. Hope everyone is well. We miss everyone back home, but are enjoying our time here in the Congo!

Laurie