I have many things that I would like to post on our blog including updates on our holidays spent in Canada with family and friends.
Due to some of the attention we have received on our blog I need to be careful what I say to respect my families privacy!
Please understand if the blog is fairly silent until Evan and I decide whether to make the blog private or not! If we do go ahead and make it private we will be giving everyone adequate notice before it happens.
With that being said does anyone know how to go about making a blog private? We would like to find out all information before we make our decision.
Please keep checking back, hoping to not leave you hanging to long!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Full lips........ or lip!
I have just discovered how to get instant fullness in your lips without getting any needles or botox!
excuse the nastiness of the picture, I was is lots of pain and sleep deprived!
I have been fighting a skin abscess that originated right under the left side of my lip, as swollen as my lip is going up it is probably double that in width making very hard to eat, drink and fairly uncomfortable to talk!
Thankfully I have been on antibiotics and large doses of anti-inflamatories since Tuesday morning which have help so much!
Always an adventure in our house :)
Thankfully I have been on antibiotics and large doses of anti-inflamatories since Tuesday morning which have help so much!
Always an adventure in our house :)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
You know who you are!
To all my grade 6 students who have found our blog..........................................................
HI !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! !
Apparently I have not been given you enough credit for your interent skills!
Mrs. Mel
HI !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! !
Apparently I have not been given you enough credit for your interent skills!
Mrs. Mel
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
6 weeks!!!!!
I can't believe that it has been 6 weeks since my last blog post! WAY to long!
So much has happened in that time and there is no way I can sit here and write a post on it all!
Here is a very brief overview; the kids and I were sent home to Canada the first week of December! I think we left on December 5th, whatever that first Friday of the month happened to be! Evan stay back in Kinshasa to work but because of the unrest in the country due to elections Evan moved in with his Dad ( his mom also went home to Canada) and they were on lock down for approximately 10 days! I think I would go stir crazy! Before the kids and I left we were on lock down for 4 days and that was getting long! I shouldn't complain to much though because we spent most of our time sleeping, watching tv and playing/lounging in our pool! Lock down means that you can't leave your compound due to unsafe situations within the city!
Anyhoo, the kids and I started our 30 ish hour journey at 1:00 pm on Friday afternoon. Again because of elections traffic was VERY unpredictable so we left for the airport 9 hours before our flight took off! We made it to Evan's work in 3 hours, picked him up and then went to the airport! Now the Kinshasa Airport is nothing like any other airport I have seen, there is a very small waiting room and absolutely no where for the kids to walk/run/ play! We sat at the restaurant from 7:00 -9:30. at 9:30 the kids and I headed downstairs to get our bags checked and we were off! I was totally freaking out at this point due to flying with the kids alone and not being able to communicate super well with the individuals working at the Kinshasa airport!
At 10:00 ish our plane took off from Kinshasa, I was sitting in a row of 4 seats with my kids. Emmanuel was on the end, Micah beside him and then me, on the other side of myself I had a larger sweaty man who took up his seat plus 1/3 of mine! So uncomfortable!!!!!
Our 10 hour flight to Brussels turned into 13 hours as we sat on the tarmac in Cameroon for 3 hours....... I was almost going crazy but thankfully my kids slept of about 5 hours of the flight!
Our Brussels to Montreal connection was very tight due to my plane coming in late but the kids and I made it with no time to spare! We got off the plane running and made it to our gate just in time to board!
Our flight from Brussels to Montreal was pretty uneventful, LONG but okay! Air Canada has tv's so we were stoked! We spent most of our time watching moves, walking to the bathroom, chatting with flight attendants and sweet talking them into extra snacks and crawling on the floor ( Micah). Yes I was that parent who let her walk/crawl the isles while they were empty!
When we arrived in Montreal we had a very limited time to get our bags, go through customs, recheck our bags and get to our gate! I had all the paper work filled out and was ready to go, I was not expecting being stopped at customs because I didn't have a letter from Evan stating that I had his permission to take the kids into Canada! WHAT??????????
It took lots of discussion with the officer and they pulled the kids aside and questioned them! Finally I was allowed through......... next time I travel without Evan I will be bringing a letter! This was a big set back and then our bag were some of the last bag to be taken off the carousel, when I finally got them I loaded them onto a cart, put Micah on top of the bags, grabbed all of our carry on stuff, told Emmanuel to keep up and took off running! We were most likely a sight to see! At this point we had not gone through security yet, after dropping off our bags and heading through security I realized that our plane was taking off in 10 minutes and I had no idea where the gate was............... insert more running!
The kids and I made it to the gate and were welcomed by the nice surprise that our flight was DELAYED over 1 hour! Best surprise of the trip, we went straight to Tim Horton's because the kids wanted donuts and then walked around the airport shops!
Long story short we made it to Calgary and were welcomed by Blair, Anita and the kids! Thanks guys for grabbing us at the airport, I really appreciated it!
Hopefully over the next couple days I will fill you in on our holidays in Canada along with pictures!
So much has happened in that time and there is no way I can sit here and write a post on it all!
Here is a very brief overview; the kids and I were sent home to Canada the first week of December! I think we left on December 5th, whatever that first Friday of the month happened to be! Evan stay back in Kinshasa to work but because of the unrest in the country due to elections Evan moved in with his Dad ( his mom also went home to Canada) and they were on lock down for approximately 10 days! I think I would go stir crazy! Before the kids and I left we were on lock down for 4 days and that was getting long! I shouldn't complain to much though because we spent most of our time sleeping, watching tv and playing/lounging in our pool! Lock down means that you can't leave your compound due to unsafe situations within the city!
Anyhoo, the kids and I started our 30 ish hour journey at 1:00 pm on Friday afternoon. Again because of elections traffic was VERY unpredictable so we left for the airport 9 hours before our flight took off! We made it to Evan's work in 3 hours, picked him up and then went to the airport! Now the Kinshasa Airport is nothing like any other airport I have seen, there is a very small waiting room and absolutely no where for the kids to walk/run/ play! We sat at the restaurant from 7:00 -9:30. at 9:30 the kids and I headed downstairs to get our bags checked and we were off! I was totally freaking out at this point due to flying with the kids alone and not being able to communicate super well with the individuals working at the Kinshasa airport!
At 10:00 ish our plane took off from Kinshasa, I was sitting in a row of 4 seats with my kids. Emmanuel was on the end, Micah beside him and then me, on the other side of myself I had a larger sweaty man who took up his seat plus 1/3 of mine! So uncomfortable!!!!!
Our 10 hour flight to Brussels turned into 13 hours as we sat on the tarmac in Cameroon for 3 hours....... I was almost going crazy but thankfully my kids slept of about 5 hours of the flight!
Our Brussels to Montreal connection was very tight due to my plane coming in late but the kids and I made it with no time to spare! We got off the plane running and made it to our gate just in time to board!
Our flight from Brussels to Montreal was pretty uneventful, LONG but okay! Air Canada has tv's so we were stoked! We spent most of our time watching moves, walking to the bathroom, chatting with flight attendants and sweet talking them into extra snacks and crawling on the floor ( Micah). Yes I was that parent who let her walk/crawl the isles while they were empty!
When we arrived in Montreal we had a very limited time to get our bags, go through customs, recheck our bags and get to our gate! I had all the paper work filled out and was ready to go, I was not expecting being stopped at customs because I didn't have a letter from Evan stating that I had his permission to take the kids into Canada! WHAT??????????
It took lots of discussion with the officer and they pulled the kids aside and questioned them! Finally I was allowed through......... next time I travel without Evan I will be bringing a letter! This was a big set back and then our bag were some of the last bag to be taken off the carousel, when I finally got them I loaded them onto a cart, put Micah on top of the bags, grabbed all of our carry on stuff, told Emmanuel to keep up and took off running! We were most likely a sight to see! At this point we had not gone through security yet, after dropping off our bags and heading through security I realized that our plane was taking off in 10 minutes and I had no idea where the gate was............... insert more running!
The kids and I made it to the gate and were welcomed by the nice surprise that our flight was DELAYED over 1 hour! Best surprise of the trip, we went straight to Tim Horton's because the kids wanted donuts and then walked around the airport shops!
Long story short we made it to Calgary and were welcomed by Blair, Anita and the kids! Thanks guys for grabbing us at the airport, I really appreciated it!
Hopefully over the next couple days I will fill you in on our holidays in Canada along with pictures!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Congo Elections and other stuff
I feel like we have been preparing for elections for months already and in a way we have been. Once a month since Aug, the staff of TASOK has been getting together to discuss protocol "if" any security needs were to arise during election time.
Evan and I are not living on Campus so some of the preparations and needs are a little different, security is a little more of an issue for us.
Here is a general run down on how we are preparing for elections in the next couple days.
As of today, we have over 60 students that have left or are leaving the country for elections. In a school of 290 that is a huge drop in attendance, all these students will be returning in January and this number also has a very high chance of growing if this become unstable out here. The students leave for many different reasons, many embassy are evacuation the families and this is mandatory. There are quite a few families who have chosen to leave on their own terms as well and a lot of businesses also send their employee's and families back home until January. I myself will be loosing approximately 15 ( as of right now) between grades 6-8.
You can definitely tell their is tension in and around the city but I think a lot of this contributes to the unknown, 4 years ago during the last elections the city broke out in war. so many innocent people lost their lives, buildings were destroyed and the city regressed even further than before.
As of right now the Canadian government had authorized evacuation, this is not demanding that we leave the city but if we don't feel safe we can go to our employers and let them know that the Canadian government authorized evacuation and this allows us the freedom to go. Next step if this get unsafe would be full evacuation and then you don't have a choice in the matter.... well you always ave a choice but if you stayed it probably wouldn't be safe.
How are Evan and I preparing for Elections ( as well as all the other ex-patriots)?
We have been told to prepare to be on the safe side, As of today I am not allowed walking to school anymore even with a guard, we are trying to find me a vehicle to drive but worse case scenario Dr. Epp at TASOK will lend me her vehicle for the next little while. Evan and I will also be stopping out travel at night before the weekend. Aside from driving to TASOK! We have also been warned that it is possible that some time between November 28th ( voting day) and Dec 6th ( results day) we may not be able to leave out house due to safety. So we are buying extra food ( for about 7-10 extra days) and filling up with extra diesel so we can run our generator. We are hoping for a peaceful and calm election period here, if there is a higher chance that things are getting unsteady we will not take chances and will come home a little earlier for Christmas break. As of now our flights are booked for the 14th of December and everything should have calmed down by then.... on the chance that things get a little heated!
For now we remain positive.
On a completely different note our pool is FINALLY up and running oh and my hair is starting to drive me crazy!
Evan and I are not living on Campus so some of the preparations and needs are a little different, security is a little more of an issue for us.
Here is a general run down on how we are preparing for elections in the next couple days.
As of today, we have over 60 students that have left or are leaving the country for elections. In a school of 290 that is a huge drop in attendance, all these students will be returning in January and this number also has a very high chance of growing if this become unstable out here. The students leave for many different reasons, many embassy are evacuation the families and this is mandatory. There are quite a few families who have chosen to leave on their own terms as well and a lot of businesses also send their employee's and families back home until January. I myself will be loosing approximately 15 ( as of right now) between grades 6-8.
You can definitely tell their is tension in and around the city but I think a lot of this contributes to the unknown, 4 years ago during the last elections the city broke out in war. so many innocent people lost their lives, buildings were destroyed and the city regressed even further than before.
As of right now the Canadian government had authorized evacuation, this is not demanding that we leave the city but if we don't feel safe we can go to our employers and let them know that the Canadian government authorized evacuation and this allows us the freedom to go. Next step if this get unsafe would be full evacuation and then you don't have a choice in the matter.... well you always ave a choice but if you stayed it probably wouldn't be safe.
How are Evan and I preparing for Elections ( as well as all the other ex-patriots)?
We have been told to prepare to be on the safe side, As of today I am not allowed walking to school anymore even with a guard, we are trying to find me a vehicle to drive but worse case scenario Dr. Epp at TASOK will lend me her vehicle for the next little while. Evan and I will also be stopping out travel at night before the weekend. Aside from driving to TASOK! We have also been warned that it is possible that some time between November 28th ( voting day) and Dec 6th ( results day) we may not be able to leave out house due to safety. So we are buying extra food ( for about 7-10 extra days) and filling up with extra diesel so we can run our generator. We are hoping for a peaceful and calm election period here, if there is a higher chance that things are getting unsteady we will not take chances and will come home a little earlier for Christmas break. As of now our flights are booked for the 14th of December and everything should have calmed down by then.... on the chance that things get a little heated!
For now we remain positive.
On a completely different note our pool is FINALLY up and running oh and my hair is starting to drive me crazy!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Stay Tuned!
I realize this blog has been very silent these last 3 weeks! We have been very busy around here and I am coming off of a crazy couple weeks at school. Now that the trimester has changed and and report cards are done I will have a little more time to write!
seriously counting down the days until we return to Canada! Well, maybe not the days because I couldn't tell you how many off hand but I know that this Wednesday is 3 WEEKS until we leave!!! Now I have processed the Day count, we leave it 23 days and that seems WAY to far away!!!!!
It can't come soon enough!
seriously counting down the days until we return to Canada! Well, maybe not the days because I couldn't tell you how many off hand but I know that this Wednesday is 3 WEEKS until we leave!!! Now I have processed the Day count, we leave it 23 days and that seems WAY to far away!!!!!
It can't come soon enough!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
A post of pictures
I realize that I haven't posted pictures in such a long time, a couple reasons for that are how wickedly long it takes to get them uploaded. Here are a couple for you, hopefully I will get some more up in the next 2 months! :)
This is a baby bat that flew into our house, the kids were super stoked that they could pet it! Unfortunately it was not able to fly well enough to get back into the attic so Evan took it out side and gave it to the guard! Not sure what happened after that! Sorry that the picture is blurry!
Our house getting worked on!
Ginger when she was just a little puppy, she is now a growing mutt! It is amazing that she was so small and sick and now is healthy and full of energy!
Micah at the Halloween party at TASOK, face painted like a panda! Micah decided to try bobbing for apples hence the messed up face!
This is a baby bat that flew into our house, the kids were super stoked that they could pet it! Unfortunately it was not able to fly well enough to get back into the attic so Evan took it out side and gave it to the guard! Not sure what happened after that! Sorry that the picture is blurry!
Our house getting worked on!
Ginger when she was just a little puppy, she is now a growing mutt! It is amazing that she was so small and sick and now is healthy and full of energy!
Micah at the Halloween party at TASOK, face painted like a panda! Micah decided to try bobbing for apples hence the messed up face!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
growing up
Huge news in our house, Micah lost her first tooth!
Ironically it wasn't her tooth that was loose it was the one beside it! Last weekend Emmanuel and Micah were running around the house with the mop! Emmanuel decided to swing it around and it smacked Micah in the mouth, resulting in a cut lip and a very loose tooth! A couple days later it came out still very attached to half the root! You could see where it was broken off!
Thankfully Micah's lip didn't need stitches and she is as cute as ever with a gap in the front of her mouth! Now if the tooth that is actually loose would fall out!
Hopefully I can post pictures when we find the cord for our camera to upload them!
Ironically it wasn't her tooth that was loose it was the one beside it! Last weekend Emmanuel and Micah were running around the house with the mop! Emmanuel decided to swing it around and it smacked Micah in the mouth, resulting in a cut lip and a very loose tooth! A couple days later it came out still very attached to half the root! You could see where it was broken off!
Thankfully Micah's lip didn't need stitches and she is as cute as ever with a gap in the front of her mouth! Now if the tooth that is actually loose would fall out!
Hopefully I can post pictures when we find the cord for our camera to upload them!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sickness
Our house over the last 6ish weeks has been filled with sickness! Everyone of us has caught something in that time, I held on to something for most of that time!
It all started with getting what I thought was the stomach flu, I felt great as long as no food was in my stomach but as soon as I tried to eat anything I was running to the bathroom! On week 2 I was able to start stomaching small things like watermelon and rice cakes! I am so much better now but my stomach hasn't fully recovered and it still tends to shout at me when it is unhappy! This last weekend just as things really started to look up I was hit by a sinus infection! I have never had one in my life and let me just tell you they are NOT fun! Still fighting that at the moment.
The kids have also been sick in this time frame, mostly on and off with weird stomach things! I honestly think we all have some weird parasite or something!
This last weekend Evan also started to get sick. He was hit by fever, chills, no energy, sore throat, headache and nausea! At one point we were both lying in bed trying to convince to other one to call in sick and take the day off! We both ended up going into work because that is just how we roll!
Evan found out yesterday that he actually has Malaria, the first one in our family! There should be a medal for that........... hmmmmm!
Hoping that November is a month of health for our family and hopefully some relaxing weekends as well!
It all started with getting what I thought was the stomach flu, I felt great as long as no food was in my stomach but as soon as I tried to eat anything I was running to the bathroom! On week 2 I was able to start stomaching small things like watermelon and rice cakes! I am so much better now but my stomach hasn't fully recovered and it still tends to shout at me when it is unhappy! This last weekend just as things really started to look up I was hit by a sinus infection! I have never had one in my life and let me just tell you they are NOT fun! Still fighting that at the moment.
The kids have also been sick in this time frame, mostly on and off with weird stomach things! I honestly think we all have some weird parasite or something!
This last weekend Evan also started to get sick. He was hit by fever, chills, no energy, sore throat, headache and nausea! At one point we were both lying in bed trying to convince to other one to call in sick and take the day off! We both ended up going into work because that is just how we roll!
Evan found out yesterday that he actually has Malaria, the first one in our family! There should be a medal for that........... hmmmmm!
Hoping that November is a month of health for our family and hopefully some relaxing weekends as well!
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