The Zoo

The time has come for me to share with you one of the most interesting cultural experiences that I have ever had.  Make sure you've had your coffee and you're in a comfortable chair.  This could take awhile!

A month ago when I was at the Women's Retreat, Justin and another friend whose wife was at the conference got together and took the kids to the zoo.  Thats 2 dads and 5 kids if you're counting.

When they returned and I returned they had the most amazing and crazy storied about their adventure at the zoo.  Needless to say, it was unlike any zoo trip they've ever experienced!  So, obviously I was dying to experience the zoo, too!

Not a week later we got a paper home saying that the kids' school was sponsoring a field trip and Callie's class was participating.  I sent the teacher a note and asked if I could come, too.  I mean really, who wouldn't want to help chaperone 53 7 and 8 year olds as they ran through a maze of improperly caged wild animals?

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?

The day of the field trip arrived.  Callie and I showed up at school bright and early in the morning excited for the day's events.  Callie was talking so fast smoke was coming out of her jaws!  The mass of unorganized people was my first clue that this field trip was going to be different than ones I'd been on in the past!

**A little note- Have I ever told you about mothers in this country?  WOW!  They are the most overprotective worry warts on the planet!  But not about what we would consider important like safety or discipline.  They just hover without really doing anything but constantly making sure their child is properly bundled up for the weather.  Its a constant battle against being too cold and too hot.  If their child sweats, surely they will get sick!  If their child gets cold, surely they will get sick!

So anyway, the children all lined up in their class lines and the mothers crowded in around the children being nosey and bossy but not really helping anything.  Then they heard that I was going along on the trip.  Mothers started coming up to me and begging me to help take care of their child, help them int he bathroom, make sure they stayed with the group, protect them, etc.

This is when I started to panic.

I was nodding, "of course'" to the moms but on the inside thinking, I couldn't pick their child out in a lineup.  My heart was pounding with the responsibility.  2 adults 50 kids, and one of those adults was pretty inept at the language.  This should be interesting.

The classes piled onto 8 charter busses and off we went.  You would have thought we were setting out on a world tour by the way the moms were standing next to the busses waving, and ultimately following the busses waving for bit.

The entire one hour drive out to the zoo I prayed for the Lord's mercy and helping hand over these kids, and that the parents of whichever child(ren) who was lost or mangled by an animal would forgive me in due time.  I was certain that not all of us would be returning on that bus.

Luckily I was seated next to a odd child who thought that I was interesting and kept rattling on the whole time.  He had great questions like, "can you write in American?" "What do Americans eat?" "What is my favorite animal?" "What animals will we see?"  The list was endless and my head was throbbing.

We arrived at the zoo at 11:00.  Um... zoo doesn't open until 11:30.  I guess nobody thought to check that minor detail!

So the eight charter busses full of excited, unruly, screaming children back (yes, I said back) their way up a VERY steep hill and drop us all off at the park on the top.

Hello people trying to enjoy a nice quiet walk in the park.  A few hundred kids have arrived!!!  Hope you like screaming!!

We were up by the windmill, and the zoo was way down in that valley.  I can't say this enough, we backed up the mountain, in a charter bus,  to this park.  I was thanking God that in His wisdom and great plans we were all going to die so that then I wouldn't have to answer to the parents of the lost and/or mangled children when we returned to the school.

But, we survived.  And after a  few minutes of running around and eating the lunches that they were supposed to eat later we hopped back on the bus and again headed toward the zoo.  This time it was open.

We saw lovely creatures like this:

I was at the back of the group praying to God that no one got left behind when I heard screaming and saw children scattering and running for their lives.  Feathers were flying and sound of wings frantically flapping filled the air.  The kids parted and this is what was coming my way:

Callie's teacher wrestling and ultimately capturing a peacock!  Look at the kids.  They've hopped fences and are fleeing to the hills!

He managed to get the bird in his arms.

After a bit more struggling,

and wing flapping,

and last ditch efforts,

the bird reconciled to his fate.

The teacher explained to the kids all about peacocks, and then released the bird.  As we were walking away, some old lady walked right up to the peacock and snatched one of its fancy feathers out!!  I used to feel sorry for the animals in cages.  I think in this country the animals in the cages are the lucky ones!!

We moved along looking at the animals.  The teacher had told the kids to bring pencil and paper to take notes on each animal.  So the kids were walking around like little detectives writing down who knows what!

We came along to the lions' cage.  The teacher explained to us that this was a mom and 3 babies.  The babies were 8 months old.  You can see him sort of reaching towards the cage.

That's because he was playing Here Kitty, Kitty with the babies.  They would jump up and bat against the cage.  I was waiting for him to lose a finger, or at least his camera!

Then we arrived at the bears' den.  Doesn't this bear look close?

That's because he was!  (Have I ever told you that safety is not really a concern in this country?)

Here he is looking up at the children.  They are furiously searching through their snack-bags for food to toss at the bear.

He liked the food and wanted more!  Hey kids!  Who wants to pet a hungry bear?  

Hello bird!

This post is getting too long.  I will continue the rest tomorrow.  The monkey story will shock you!!!

Scratch Cookin' and Errands

Of the many areas that have proved to be a steep learning curve, house-keeping and household chores are right at the top.  Among these are cooking and the procuring of the stuff we need.

When Justin and I came to visit the country in 2006 before moving here, one of our friends cautioned me to  make sure that I knew how to cook from scratch.  No problem, I thought, because I cook a lot and almost always from scratch.

Turns out that my version of cooking from scratch and this version of cooking from scratch are drastically different!  Take lasagne for example:

I never bought the frozen Stouffer's lasagne when I lived in America, I made my lasagne from scratch.  First I went to Wal-Mart and bought all the ingredients- lasagne noodles, ground beef, ricotta cheese, shredded mozzarella cheese, and 2 cans of spaghetti sauce.  Then I came home and cooked the beef and assembled the lasagne.

Here, I go to the market and pray they have lasagne noodles- sometimes they do most times they don't!  I buy a few boxes if they do, and change our meal plans if they don't.  Next I go to the butcher and choose a hunk of meat for him to grind up for me.  Then I go to the cheese store and get the two closest things I can find to ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese.  Finally I go to the open air market and buy several kilos of tomatoes, onion, garlic, etc.

The next morning, I begin making my sauce.  It takes half a day to boil down the tomatoes and come up with a nice sauce.  I bag and freeze what I won't need.  Then I cook the beef and assemble the lasagne.

Quite a difference, no?

The second area that has taken some learning and practice is running errands.  In order to go to several different places I have to put a bit of fore-thought into it.  We don't have a car.   You may not realize this, but cars are not just good for getting you to the place you want to go quickly and easily, but they are also good for holding the junk you buy at each place.  Without a car, I am left to carry the junk I buy while walking from place to place.  This is a great incentive against impulse buys!

So, if I need a few items from the market, money from the ATM, mail a few letters, and pick up a package at the post office, I have to plan out my route.  I plan not by what's the most logical route, but by what I can carry, how far I can carry it, and if I can fit it on the bus with me.   Packages and market are always last!

Also, since there isn't really the concept of branch banking, and foreigners cannot get a credit card, I have to make sure that I have enough cash on me to cover everything.  This is the step that has taken some getting used to- dealing almost completely in cash for everything.  Well, and being very careful to only buy what I can carry has also taken some getting used to.  The Wal-Mart mentality of stock up on as much as possible is out the window!


Like I always say now, I'm happy to accomplish ONE thing in a day!

Can I Brag for Just a Minute?

Seriously... can I?

Ok, great!

A couple of weeks ago Noah and Callie had testing at school.  We got the results and were happy to find that our kids were average.  Noah was 11th in his class of 48, and Callie was 13th in her class of 52.  Pretty good for kids who are being tested in their second language, right?

But, then the country-wide scores came out and we realized that the kids had done far better than we figured.  Callie's class ranked #1 in our entire city (of 17 million) and #2 in the country.  So, although Callie is #13 in her class, she is #26 in the city and #51 in the country!  AMAZING!!!  Although we don't have the exact numbers for Noah's class, the results were similar.  They both are ranked very high country-wide!

We were shocked and so blessed by these results.  Of course numbers and tests aren't everything, but it does our hearts good to realize that they are thriving in school.  They are so smart and well-adjusted.

We're just so proud of them!!

Random

I know... I know!!  It has been a long time since I have posted random ramblings.  I'm sure you've missed this type of post like a hit to the head with a rake.

So here goes...

Randomness #1

When I was younger we never had leftovers.  We had smorgasboard.  Now, you and I know that that is just leftovers with a fancy name, but none the less, my mom stuck to her guns.  Now that I am a mom, guess what we have...

SMORGASBOARD!!!

And it is still not so great.  We rarely have leftovers because I try not to cook loads of food- just what we'll eat, but tonight's smorgasboard is gonna be a winner (HA!!).  We have such random leftovers- a bit from Thanksgiving, a bit from taco night, a hot dog, some noodles, YUM!

How about some mashed potatoes, with a side of rice casserole, noodles, and a biscuit?  Want some gravy on that?  Or, you are welcome to broccoli cassarole, green bean casserole, creamed spinach, some stuffing, and a hot dog.  Do you want gravy on that?  How 'bout a bit of taco meat?

Randomness #2

My parents gave us a dryer for Christmas.  Have you heard about her?  Her name is Lorraine, and I LOVE her!

I think that initially my mom was worried that if she gave us a dryer, especially since we bought it a month and a half early, that come Christmas Day I'd be sad that I didn't have anything to open and play with.

WRONG!!!!

With Lorraine, it's like every day I get a gift!  The stress of laundry is lifted.  There is no more sleeping on slightly damp sheets or freaking out if someone's school uniform gets super dirty when they have to wear it the next day.  No more hanging up each individual sock, cleaning rag, and pair of panties!  There will be no regret on Christmas morning, that's for sure!!!

Today I even washed three sets of sheets- and only one of them was peed on!!!  I didn't have to check the weather the night before or jump out of bed first thing in the morning and strip the bed to start the long washing and drying process.  Hallelujah life is good!!

Randomness #3

We got some candy corn in a package today.  We haven't had candy corn for over three years, and Lucy has never had it!  SWEET MERCY that stuff is fantastic!!  We finished off an entire bag!  (In our defense, it was a small bag!)


Randomness #4

We all survived "no screen week" and it was much better than we thought it would be!



What random things are you thinking about?

A Field Trip: A view from the Walls

Sorry to be dragging this out so long!  But, as you can plainly see, there are LOTS of pictures to share!  Don't worry, though, this is the last post with pictures from the old city walls!

If you are missed one of the previous posts, and are interested in other aspects of the walls, here are the posts:

* the cemetery
* the area surrounding the walls
* the walls

This final set of photos is views from the walls.  Because it takes us so long to get anywhere, the sun was starting to set towards the end of our visit.

Hope you enjoy!

Looking outside the wall, over the grounds of the mosque that is right next to the wall.
Directly below is the cemetery.

Looking out over the city inside the wall.  In the foreground are the ancient houses that are built practically right into the walls.  Farther out is the sprawl of the city.

Looking straight down inside the wall at the park.

Old wooden houses

sun setting outside the wall

A Field Trip: The Walls

This is the third installment of posts about our family's adventure exploring our city's walls.  I started with this post about the cemetery, and then followed it with this post about the area surrounding the walls.

This post is about the walls themselves.   I don't really have captions for them.  They're just pictures of the walls and a few of our family, too.   Here are the pictures that I managed to capture: