We're back - here are some high/low lights

Well we survived our 9 day camping/hoteling trip with five adults and six kids under the age of seven. It was very helpful in understanding the area and learning more about this part of the country!

Sadly, my computer is now broken for some mysterious reason that is yet to be determined. I'm on Tom's computer and I'm not sure when mine will be repaired.

In terms of the trip...things that were GREAT:
1 - Kids' attitudes were really good for the most part. Adults did pretty good too (=
2. Camping was great except for the first night
3. We met LOTS of random local people who were kind enough to stop to talk to us and answer questions about life in their town/area.
4. We had only one situation where our car was a bit out of control on the dirt
5. No one got really hurt! There is a history of this when we go camping so we were happy to break the trend!
6. We saw great little towns and communities along the coast. The island was spectacular.

Things that we would rather avoid next time:
1. The gale-force winds our first night camping....didn't know that there was a big storm going on at the time!!
2. Ryan got sick the second night. He is a trouper but just didn't sleep well AT ALL the whole time.
3. We were tired of being in the car for SURE. Usually we were able to break up the driving so it wasn't too bad.
4. Wind; just doesn't mix well with camping. It is one of those things that you are immune to in normal life that you only realize can totally exhaust you if you don't have a car to hop into or a house to stay in (=

I'll try to post a web album of photos but I'm not sure quite yet of how to do that with my computer being down. All my quick links make it much faster (=

Thanks for your prayers!!

And we're OFF!

We will be traveling in this same area but a few hours further down the coast

It is hard to believe but we are leaving on our road trip today! I thought for sure that it was going to be delayed again as Tom is still not feeling 100% but he has improved and we've just adjusted to the fact that he needs to rest after lots of talking with people. One thing he learned is that the mere fact of turning his head to talk to people is quite taxing on his brain so he is trying to be aware of that. It is a bit difficult as you can imagine! The follow up dr appt yesterday was totally useless and it is during these times you wish you were in the US or wherever where they have a broader sense of therapy or preventative approaches. We have some great info (thanks to many people who connected us to resources!!) we'll pursue here on out on our own.

Check the previous two posts to figure out what we are looking at/for as we hit the road for 8 or 9 nine days!

We are grateful for our companions who are such troopers and willing to camp with us all over the place! They finally got a four wheel drive after EXTENSIVE searching. So their kids are happy to have more room in the car for sure and we all feel more secure about them not getting stuck in the sand! We are also able to borrow a trailer which makes packing a bit simpler.

Our house helper will be coming with us - one of the many ways she is a great match for our family....she loves to camp! The first time she came with us two years ago she was very hesitant but after the first day she said "this is just like life in Ethiopia way out!" Meaning that outside the city this is how people live. Then she told me she could make us better food next time now that she knows what to expect (= Love that about her.

We are camping both because it saves significant money on hotels but also because the weather is gorgeous for another few weeks (it will probably be COLD actually.... We are taking the winter coats my sister bought us last winter!!) Part of being able to live here long-term and enjoy it is to make the most of the "winters" by being outside. It is more and more fun now that are kids are 3.5 and 6.5 and we are out of the "eating dirt and random stuff on the ground" for the most part (=

So do think of us as we are driving all over the place! We are interested to see what we will find and who we will meet.

Road Trip Extravaganza

As a result of the topic described in the previous post, we have been planning a road trip to check out the environment where all this might take place.

It takes two days to drive from our current home to the island and bay designated by the government to develop the particular mariculture species that the company is thinking "growing". We need to take this trip to look at some of the following factors:

1. Is it feasible to live as families with young kids on the island? We are two families with 6 kids total under the age of 7. Good Times.

2. What would schooling look like? Probably home school but then is there internet access of some sort?

3. If we are to do these projects and the community development/"NGO-type" work with fishermen and their families what might that look like? When the government did their pilot project with the exact same species they discovered that it was the women who actually did all the work and not the men. This was totally acceptable for the government but all the processes are set up for men to do and in a gender segregated society this will take some management. This is an example of the community development side of things.

4. What are the largest towns nearby and is it better to live there and have the guys drive a bit further?

5. Who are the local people involved in this and can we manage to meet them in the few days we have there?

6. We have heard there is only a very small village and some seasonal "resort" for surfers (= Sounds a bit random. Is there housing for rent? Grocery stores? etc

So we have lots of questions and we've had to put the trip off three times because of Tom's health. He is doing okay but still tires very easily and would not be able to ride in a car for 8 hours!

At this point the plan is to leave on Feb 12th so we'll keep everyone updated as we can!

New job possibilities

Tom has done several jobs during our time here. Currently he is still selling American construction products throughout the Gulf. It has it good points and less than desirable points. We have a new job possibility that we started cautiously evaluating back in November when someone approached Tom and Walter with the proposal. It is rather "out of the box" for both of them but the company has operated in four other 2nd/3rd world countries and been successful to one degree or another in all of them.

It is a company that joins governments in their desire to stimulate and/or revive the fishing industry in their country. They are interested in starting a project here because the government here has done a GREAT deal of research on the fishing industry and is really looking for ways to maintain the many small fishing villages that line the coast.

So this company approached Tom and Walter saying they needed some help on the ground to implement this if it was to happen. The positive things about this is that the government is very interested in the whole process, the company has experience with working with non-western crazy bureaucracy and they have all the skills and would provide training and oversight as needed.

The company is currently submitting a proposal for a feasibility study which would take one year to complete. In the next two weeks we will take a trip along the coast to look at the area (it is about 8 hours from where we are currently) and evaluate it for both living conditions and the business concerns.

There is a great deal we don't yet know and there is no guarantee that things will move forward past the submission of the proposal for a feasibility study. Either way though, it is a great fit for Walter and Tom and they are grateful for the oversight of experienced experts who would be providing the structure for how this all works.

We'll keep you updated as there are real developments. So much is "inshallah" that it isn't worth writing until something REAL happens! Our big road trip to explore the area was supposed to have started yesterday but Tom is not feeling well enough at all to sit in a car for several hours let alone days. We are hoping he'll feel well enough next Thursday!

January 2014

Well it seems we can hardly catch our breath around here! Thanksgiving, Tom's birthday, Christmas, house guests, New Years, new school term and then Tom got REALLY sick and isn't yet recovered. And here we are looking at February already!!

Just to keep folks up to date Tom had an episode of extreme vertigo in November that lasted about 4 hours total. It was totally miserable with constant vomiting anytime he moved any part of his body. Then a couple of weeks ago he had a few dizzy spells and the whole thing started again with a vengeance. We took him to the ER and he ended up spending two days in the hospital. We had an MRI and CT scan done which were all normal so that rules out the scary causes. Meneres is still an option but drs are basically settling on BPPV which is easily treated at home. However, in the last 9 days he has not improved as expected so they are wondering if it may be something else. Apparently there are viruses that can cause two separate episodes like this. crazy. 

So he is not in a life threatening situation but he is just miserable. He is doing better now but still cannot drive or shake his head without the room spinning. He can walk when he concentrates and doesn't have to dodge obstacles. He can do some computer work and watch TV but only for limited periods of time and then he needs to rest.

We are SO GRATEFUL that the hospital gave us all this treatment for FREE because they didn't want to hassle with our insurance practices. Don't get me started on the state of health care in the US versus here...Thankfully we are not in a high deductible insurance and though we have to pay for all the follow up stuff his meds are only $15. We'll be okay financially but we were wondering there for a minute! 

Hopefully I'll have time to keep things updated.

Thank you for Christmas presents!!

I don't I have a photo of each gift but I thought I'd post what I do have (= The shoes for both kids were a HUGE hit!!!

 

The dress and tiara are AMAZING

The dinasaurs are a blur of action (= The nightgown is from Lucy...the pose is from who knows where!?!

We loved getting Nana's package the day after for a calm and quiet gift opening complete with candles, cookies and cider. Lovely (=

 

Azeb loved her scarf!! She says "God Bless You!!" 

Ryan has two of Tom's old trucks! They were a super gift and he loves them. 

Thanks to all of you for your time and energy and expense of sending us gifts. It is much appreciated and enjoyed! 

Cinter Claus

I realize we are a few weeks late for CinterClaus but our dutch friends initiated us this year into their fun tradition (= One of the gifts for all the kids in our little community were these awesome face masks. Layla and Ryan are striking an appropriately serious pose.
 

 

Ryan and his serious superhero buddy (= I'm realizing that I think I already posted these photos. Ooops. It is the day after Christmas and we are relaxing in pjs!

Quick Christmas shots

I don't know if my parents felt the same about Christmas as I do, but it always feels like we didn't do everything we wanted to do and often like it went too fast. sigh. So here are some pictures that reflect our time. FUN with Jon and Vic our friends before we had babies when we first moved out here (=

They were here for a quick 24 hours and rolled right into present wrapping together!

Tom looking tough because he just hung that mammoth world map. I LOVE maps and have been wanting to get this hung for ages. I guess Christmas Eve seemed the time....

Vic making mincemeat pies. Yum yum! The kids were supposed to help but they were literally sobbing in their beds (= poor kids had so much fun they cried.

Probably our sanest moment....eating cinnamon rolls and eggs for breakfast!

wow. they finally all smiled!

More bye bye to doggie and more CAMPING!

Just had to include a few more photos of saying goodbye to Auggie the Doggie.

We are grateful that our kids sleep so well when camping!! One of my favorite parts is waking up together in the morning and snuggling with each other. Our friends were up at 6 and hiked for two hours before returning and waking us up at 8am (= Each family has its own rhythm!!

I love this picture of the kids. The two in the middle are our Dutch friends who we went camping with. The kids played and played and played. Ryan is totally himself in this photo "I'm up! I'm happy! I'm jumping up and down!" Layla "I'm sitting here looking pretty and sweet and totally confident in the moment" Such fun.

Bye bye doggie

We had a chance to dog sit for a few weeks! Tom and the kids LOVE dogs and I am willing to become a dog lover. This guy has been passed around quite a bit but it really a sweet dog. Alas, we have a pack of about 10 kids under the age of 10 around or house which is great for our kids but not great for a dog. Local kids don't know much about how to treat a dog and so usually end up aggravating them. So that in combination with the multiple random cats our neighbor feeds just made him bark too much. It was a real shame as we all enjoyed him and he was remarkably trainable.

 

The nice this is that he is able to go live on a friend's camel farm so he'll have quite a happy life wild and free. He really needed more space than we had as well. We were willing to try training him on a leash but the cat and kid issue was just too much to surrount at this point in our lives.... 

 

You can see some good shots of our front garden. It is quite small compared to other places here but I've bought plants everytime I hear someone is leaving (= So it feels quite green at this point. For some reason outdoor plants are really really cheap out here! You can't see it from this photo but the house wall is only about 6 feet away from me in this picture so we have about 15 feet of space in front of the house but it stretches the full width of the house.