A new idea!

This is a notice I put up in the language school where Tom and I studied Arabic from 2006 through 2008:

Do you want to
get connected to
the local community
here in town?

Do have one hour a week to spare?

Two former language school students are running an after-school club at the local international school to get connected to and to serve the local community.

If you have a skill (e.g. paper folding, art, acting out stories, blowing up balloons, painting, running games for kids) or would like to work with kids in grades 1 and 2 for one hour give us a call!

Most of these kids do speak some English but you would certainly be able to practise your Arabic with them and with their parents!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I am excited about this opportunity and have a WONDERFUL partner in crime who did this in another country for 12 years and has way more experience than me. She is a great Korean lady who has taught me a lot about living overseas in a small community like ours.

I'll keep you posted....this idea was a long time in coming and we'll see how it turns out!

Read this article in the NYT by one of my cool friends!

Rachel lived in Minnesota where I first got to know her. But then she moved to the Middle East and then I moved to the Middle East. We have a friend in common who brought us together out here and we've enjoyed staying in touch. You simply MUST take a few minutes and read about her giving birth in Djibouti:

She just got published in the New York Times!

She also wrote and is selling a cookbook called Djiboutilicious. Even if I wasn't her friend I'd buy one just for the name (=

Check it out.
So proud of her!

Generosity

One thing about living internationally (especially with little ones) is that we are often at the mercy of strangers or in need of something not easily available at that moment. We just don't totally fit here and are strangers here and often don't fully understand what each situation requires. Consequently, we get to see amazing acts of generosity as people step in to help us out.

Take last night. Someone is coming to visit us and my dear mom is rushing around getting things for this friend to carry over in her suitcases. I didn't want to make mom run all over Wal-Mart looking for tom's pants or Ryan's sippy cups (tried the local brands of both for 5 years and it just isn't worth the money!!).

So I called the store myself and some dear dear lady did the running for me. Literally. She'd get back to the phone a little breathless saying "what else did you need?". So whoever you are...LaVerne, Betty, Hazel...thanks for responding to my need to save my mom from running around your store.

The incident that sticks out most in my mind was this summer on the plane. Tom has a special magic with the kids on the plane and always manages to get them to sleep. So he had done more than his fair share and was taking a nap. I was holding a fussy Ryan who was DESPERATE to walk. He wasn't quite good at it yet so he was lunging everywhere through the aisle and I could tell everyone was about as enthralled with it as I was. So I was up there at the bulkhead looking exasperated (my family knows how pathetic I am at keeping this emotion hidden) and some dear Arab man from about 6 rows back stood up and came to hold Ryan and carry him up and down the aisle. I am still feeling grateful (= and a bit ashamed but we'll focus on the grateful part.

Any mom of young kids who has lived in the middle east will tell you that the best seat mates on airplanes are Arabs and the worst are westerners. Arabs will be understanding, will hold your kids, will feed them food, take them for walks, kiss and hug them. Westerners will literally tsk tsk in disgust and turn away and throw a blanket over their head in an attempt to separate themselves. Yes. I've had both happen.

Generosity.

Tricky thing is that we see it so much because we are in need of it so much. I will say it does get a bit draining to always feel a little out of the loop but the bright side is seeing the good in so many people all over the world.

Feb Camping Trip

We had a great time camping for three nights. It was an awful first night as we got lost several times, arrived in the dark, moved our tent three hours after setting up and woke up next to a construction site (= Tom scouted out our next location and all in all, the kids were happy despite all the shuffling (= That made it all easy for Tom and to pack and repack (= bless those kids.

Enjoy the photos!

camping again!

We are excited to go camping again! We are all mostly better though I have one of those irritating, persistent coughs. We are going with JUST our little family this time (= that will be a first for us. It will be fun! I'll have pictures to post soon (=

Catching up

It is common out here when you see a local friend to have them say "Hey! Where have you been? Why haven't you been coming over or calling me? What's going on?" It typically loads heaps of guilt on us westerners though they really just do it out of routine and to show that you've been missed.

I feel the same about the blog here...and certain parts of my life. Where HAVE I been? What HAVE I been doing?!? I really don't know.

I can't believe it is February 1st!! Wow. That was a fast January. The last 10 days or so I've had 2 sick kids so that explains that. No more needs to be said. We also had a couple of days given over to assembling and painting the bunk bed and helping Ryan learn how to sleep in the bed. As much as he enjoyed being in the bed he couldn't make himself STAY there. Spending 45 in the room with him three times a day (including bedtime there) gave me a new appreciation for him as a good sleeper. I've been popping him in bed for 2 naps a day for so long and it is effortless. He has no trouble going down and enjoys hanging out and talking to himself.

Truthfully, it was Tom who really trained him.....as it was Tom who really potty trained Layla. I did a 10-day intensive with Layla and then 6 months later Tom did the really hard work of taking her faithfully and sitting and waiting waiting waiting. You know how that is if you've potty trained a little one. He has a special mixture of determination and patience that I just don't have (=

Thankfully Ryan is mostly set for sleeping in bed now. If he gets up a couple of times I just plop him in the pack and play that is kept in the mejulis and he screams for a few minutes and then I pick him up and ask if he can stay in his bed now. He solemnly nods his little head with tears on his face and goes right to bed. Neither kids likes to sleep alone (=

Layla is now on school break for two weeks. I need to get my ducks in a row with what to fill the time with if I don't want to be overwhelmed with requests for DVDs and cooking all the time (= THANKFULLY the weather is warming up so we can play and eat outside again. It was pretty darn cold for the whole month of January it seems like. Ick. It makes you glad for the suitcase of warm clothes you keep in spite of the fact that the other 11 months of the year you feel foolish for keeping a whole suitcase of such warm clothes!!

The other big happening in our lives is the arrival of our full-time house helper! It has been a much-delayed process but we are soooo grateful for being able to find someone so perfect. She was a connection through people we met in Germany this summer. I'll write more about her later, but suffice to say, I am MUCH less stressed than I've been in ages despite the two sick kids, lack of sleep at night and Tom travelling for three days (= Layla has been on 2 meds and Ryan is on 6 and cleaning the syringes alone is a huge help. Never mind that I haven't washed a dish since she arrived and that that consumed a HUGE amount of time of each day before she arrived! Anyway. We are so grateful...and the crazy thing is that even with the legally mandated salary, we are paying about the same for her each month as we did our hourly house helper! The hourly house helpers charge a "lot more" because they are paying their own rent, food, clothing etc. Anyway. More on that later.

I do have some photos and video to upload. Must get to that....