The fridge saga continues.

Well, our fridge issues continue, the last blog post I did on October 15th we were told our fridge would be returned to us the next day......our fridge arrived 4 days later on the 19th! Unfortunately that is far to common out here! This was the 3rd time our fridge was taken into the shop to be fixed since the kids and I arrived in Kinshasa about 11 weeks ago.
Our fridge has worked properly for 5 days in the last 11 weeks, it is VERY hard to feed your family properly with only a freezer. I like to think I was getting pretty good at it but that doesn't change how incredibly frustrated we are getting.

Back to the point....our fridge was delivered on Saturday, 3 days ago! This last time our fridge was delivered samsung told us that our compressor has burnt out 3 times and it was because our fridge is right beside our stove ( Evan thought this was funny and didn't really believe them). Evan and I rearranged the kitchen in case it was burning out because it was right by the stove. Yesterday ( Monday) I realized that the fridge was feeling not as cold as it should be again.....my heart sank, I couldn't believe that the fridge issues were possibly continuing. Today I opened the freezer to find that all our ice was melted, the bread wasn't frozen anymore and then Chicken was starting to thaw.
:)
Round 4 with the fridge....time to replace it ( I hope)!

New blog posts to come....birthday party, outside renovations as well as an episode of a bum through a glass door!

Seriously..........

.............we are soooo boring on this blog!

Every time I think I am going to write a blog post I have to ask Evan what to write about, my response when Evan gives me ideas is "na, no one wants to hear that, that's boring!"
My excuse for the last 2ish weeks has been that life has been full of heart wrenching "stuff", disappointment, broken promises and things that are hard to deal with sometimes! That is all I will say about that.....................

So, I thought I would go back to my lovely point form posts and see if I can update you on life in the simplest way possible.
I wonder if I can get 20 different points......I am going to sit here until I do!!!!!!

1. We have now been back in Kinshasa for 10ish weeks, seems longer in some ways and shorter in others.  10 weeks in and we are still trying to figure out how to be a family/married couple again ( without killing each other).

2. The seasons are starting to change out here, we are coming out of dry season and heading into rainy season. Weather is getting hotter and the sky is starting to clear up. We have had 1 big rain so far and I loved every moment of the booming thunder.

3. Cinnamon and Simba, our Dachshund puppies are incredible additions to our family. They fit right in! Both puppies are growing strong and healthy.

4. 2 weeks ago I took both puppies to the vet for their rabies vaccination and for a check up, Simba also developed an eye infection the day before the appointment so that was looked at as well. Our vet is Congolese and he speaks french. We all know my french isn't that great but I did it, I took the puppies in all by myself, managed to communicate and get the puppies looked at as well as treated!

5. In one week a couple weeks ago Evan went out of town for business at the same time my Colitis flared up, Emmanuel and I were both hit by the stomach flu and Micah sprained her ankle. That was a long week especially for the kids and I!

6. My French is improving slowly, the one down fall of speaking more french with confidence is our guard and housekeeper speak to me all the time. When they really get going and don't speak slowly it feels like I am drowning in a sea of "words".

7. Today I thought our guard was asking me where I wanted him to move the swing set while one of our massive trees gets cut down and he was really asking me where I wanted a pile of tree branches to go for our goat. HA!

8. Today as well I didn't know the french word for Chain Saw so I had to make the motion and noise to get my point across to our gardener....I was laughed at A LOT!

9.  On Thursday, October 17 our first born turns 10!

10. Last week I had to go to the hospital to se a doctor, the doctor ordered a bunch of tests and one of them was a head x-ray! First time having an x-ray done in Africa....weird!
They have the equipment but it is old, outdated and you don't wear a lead vest over your vital organs. Possibly did a little cookin' of the kidneys!

11. Not sure what else to say......hmmmmmmmm!

12.  Reference to #7, we are having a HUGE mango tree that doesn't produce fruit anymore cut down in our yard right beside our pool. Making room for a fire pit!

13. Emmanuel has joined the TASOK soccer team again this year and loves playing 2 or more times a week. He is proud to be goalie again this year!

14. Micah has been asked to be in the TASOK high school musical playing a child! She is in the process of weekly practices where they are learning songs. The musical will be playing in the beginning of December.

15.  We have had a working fridge for 5 days out of the last 10 weeks, at the moment it is back in the Samsung shop. We were told today that it is "fixed" and will be dropped off tomorrow. This the the 3 times they have taken our fridge and the third time we have been told it is fixed. Anyone want to place a bet if it is actually fixed or not!
SUCKS ! ! ! ! ! !!  !

16. We have goat, his name is Happy Meal.

17. It is next to impossible to feed your family properly when you don't have a fridge. We have been using a freezer which helps but I crave vegetables that I can grab out of my fridge. When we do get lettuce we have to eat it the same day due to the humidity.

18. A 6 story building in Kinshasa collapsed on Monday with people inside. They are saying that the reason it collapsed was due to poor construction. They were pulling out hurt individuals for up to 5 hours after the collapse. So sad.

19. I miss Starbucks!!

20. I had tickets for the P!NK concert on Monday, October 21st in Vancouver! Everything was set for me to fly back to Calgary and then on to Vancouver to attend the concert with some of my girl friends....things change, I will not be going to the concert! Girls, have a blast for me. I can't wait to hear about it when you return from Vancouver.

Yay, I did it!

Newest members of our family

Painting

The first year our family was in Africa one of my friends Terae took pictures of me in different MMA poses. She took the photos ( which were amazing) and made it into a painting with her own ideas!

This painting has a place of honour on our living room wall right over our couch. I love the design, the colors and what the painting means to me!

Thank you Terae, you are truly talented!
What an amazing gift from a great friend.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Our Blog is so boring, it has been over a week since I last posted.
I was asking Evan what I should post and he gave me a bunch of ideas but they all seem boring to me a "normal". Absolutely nothing exciting is going on for us and after the last 14 months it is just the way I need it!
I am cherishing the boredom!

I will leave you with a picture of a painting that is soooo dear to me, next post I will explain the painting!

stay tuned

I will be back with more posts!!!

Keep checking back, I have a couple in the works already.

Sushi

I had really really good sushi the other night!
As you can tell we get pretty excited about basic things here in Africa!

View from the 14th floor

On Saturday the kids and I went to work with Evan for a couple hours. One of the jobs Evan is overseeing is the building of a couple floors of an appartment building. One of the floors is the penthouse....just seeing the walls up and nothing else and I think it is stunning.

So, we climbed 14 flights of stairs which we calculated on the way down was a total of 2609 ( one way), we did it all over again on the way down.

While evan was working in the Penthouse I grab a couple pictures of Kinshasa from up high. The areas that I took the pictures are definitely not the poor places...it is closer to upper middle class. It gives you another view of the city.

The kids and I were counting how many people had pools in their back yards, lots of people had pools not very many of them had the pools up and running.

The "minion"

Loving learning about the rules of the road ( they have changed since I was last in Kinshasa) and driving my new car!!!!

INTRODUCING "THE MINION"

I am loving my little car, this little SUV can turn on a dime and it so compact.
Today I drove the kids to their first day of school by myself ( FREEDOM)... it was awesome! My heart rate only jumped once while I was passing the cops at the corner.

My car will be going into the shop tomorrow to get one of the belts replaced, very thankful to get rid of the squeezing and squealing that is always present and VERY loud when I turn sharp corners. 

Happy Birthday Micah!

Happy 8th Birthday Micah!!!

You are such a joy to have in our lives, you are one of the most head strong kids I have ever met and I wouldn't change it for the world!
Your smile lights up our house and your laughter and make anyones bad day better. You have a huge heart that is open to everyone.

I love listening to your crazy stories that aways have even crazier voices that go along with it.

I love the fact that you alway seem to know what you want and how to get it, don't loose that...you will be a force to reckon with when you are older!

We love you sooooo much Micah

overfull

I have been contemplating a blog post but I am having trouble forming the right thoughts and words in my head tonight.
I thought I would just leave you with a few random facts.

- Is overfull one word??? Overfull vs Over full

- Is overfull even a word? hmmmmm

- Our fridge hasn't worked since I arrive in Kinshasa. Wen shopping the first day I was here and by the 3rd day most things needed to be thrown out. :(

- Evan has become the master of cleaning the pool...great job babe!

- I have been in Kin for 4 days and I already have been to the hospital!!! Keeping up my attendance from a year ago. Don't worry it was a check up on my leg infection that I was already dealing with in Canada. Not healing as well as I would like but the doctor didn't seem too concerned.

- Out of the 8 hockey bags and 1 suitcase we packed only 1 bag was lost. It was finally recovered yesterday so we sent a driver to pick it up for us. Tonight we were brought the WRONG bag!

- The one bag we did loose was probably the worst one to loose. It is full of the kids bedding and pillows, my old lap top that I need files on, my medication to heal this infected leg...I have enough for one more day and a bunch of other really good stuff!

- We went swimming twice today. Let me rephrase, the kids went swimming twice and Evan and I either watched or put our legs in the water. It may be Africa but it is Africa cold right now. The temperature reached 32.... now I hang my head because I shouldn't be complaining.

Hopefully tomorrow full sentences will process in my head and I can tell you something a little more organized! 

Jet Lag

It is night 3 of the kids and I being back in Congo and the jet leg is nasty.
Evan and I always have the discussion of is the jet leg worse to travel to Kinshasa or Canada? When we travel to Canada from Kinshasa and land at 9pm Canada time it is really 4am Kinshasa time but that doesn't stop us from staying up for longer visiting, watching tv....anything! When we travel from Canada to Kin it is like time and sleep bites you in the butt....so rough!

It is currently 2am right now, I finally got my kids into bed at 12am and dragged my butt into bed shortly after. Now Evan is already on Kinshasa time so he had been sleeping since 10:30 which means I am flying solo, no partner in crime for me this time.
As I lie here in the silence listening to Evan breath and trying desperately not to poke him while saying "Evan, you awake?" No answer would require a jab to the rib cage and he jerks awake, my response would be " oh, good! you cant sleep either"
In all honesty I am holding strong and not bothering him!

You would think in the silence of the night, I would be contemplating life...maybe thinking about the last 14 months I was a single parent or wondering what I am going to do for work this next year in Kin ( I have leads but haven't firmly said yes to anything) or wondering if I should start my on line courses that I have been wanting to take for years but never got around to doing it.
Am, I thinking about any of those things.....NOPE!
I am thinking about FOOD! Food of all things, right now at 2am!

Nothing special really but contemplating what recipes I want to try, will I be too tired to make granola bars tomorrow ( probably yes), what can I put peanut butter and nutella on....rice cakes, plantain chips, nothing and eat it with a spoon? I have a friend who is very near and dear to Evan and I and I know he eats peanut butter and Jam on Taco Chips ( I will say no names but it has inspired me). Last night I gave in and you could find me eating peanut butter and nutella with taco chips in bed while Evan slept peacefully beside me!
It was AMAZING ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I will leave you with a picture of my kids blissfully sleeping on the flight from Brussels in Kinshasa! Looks comfortable!

24

The kids and I just completed the first 24 hours back in Kin. It has felt super busy to me but probably in reality it hasn't been terribly busy.

Due to jet leg the kids and I went to bed around 2 am this morning, we then slept in until 11 am this morning. Evan was at work so the kids and I hung around home for a couple hours wondering what to do with no water or power ( I was to lazy to go turn on the generator, so don't feel bad for us).
Evan arrived home around 1pm this afternoon, so we took the opportunity to get some stuff done.
This afternoon we went to TASOK to find out when the kids first day of school will be and to say hi to the teachers who are already working.
After that we headed downtown to do some grocery shopping, got gas in my new car ( new to me but not NEW NEW), went to a fantastic Indian restaurant and stopped to say Hi to Evan's dad.

As we were driving in town and getting gas I was doing a lot of thinking about what I was seeing around me, the sounds and smells of Kin. It is not scary this time around, Kinshasa overwhelms your senses but not like the first time we arrived here. It feels normal...well a weird normal!

Tomorrow during the day I am hoping to take a picture of my car, the kids have named in Minon because it is bright yellow with a grey stripe. It is a small SUV and the name minon fits it perfectly.

Over the next couple days we will be settling into "life" out here, hoping to have a couple down days before the kids start school on Monday. I really want to keep updating the blog on a regular basis but feel unsure what to write about.
Please feel free to ask questions, leave them in the comment section and I promise to answer them!

Oh, I am heading into TASOK tomorrow afternoon to meet with the super intendant about possibly teaching fitness classes, bootcamps and running the weight room for the next school year...we'll see how that turns out!

Domestic or international

As I sit in our living room in Kinshasa I find myself debating the differences between my domestic home in Calgary or my international home in Kin.
Bottom line....home is where we make it!!!

The kids and I are safely in Kin, battling some serious jet leg and trying to adjust to a whole new time zone.
I will hopefully blog about our trip in the next day or so.

grammatical errors

Please excuse all grammatical errors on some of my posts.... I don't care much about grammar, spelling or punctuation... I can see some of you rolling your eyes!!!! :)

When I return to Kin my sexy hubby will be proof reading and trying not to laugh as he corrects my mistakes.

We are still in Canada

The title is bang on....the kids and I are still in Canada for about 16 more hours.

The last couple weeks have been so heart wrenching, frustrating and at moments so overwhelming that I want to throw my hands in the air and give up.
I chose not to blog about it while it was happening because I didn't want my angry, sadness or frustrations to come through. I also needed some time to process everything that happened in order to be able to explain it properly.

Here is what has delayed our flights to Kinshasa.......

Originally we were supposed to leave July 18 (I think), we were having major problems getting our visas from Kinshasa. Evan and I applied  for permanent visas for our family. We were told it would be no problem and to expect the process to take 1 month MAX...... 3 months later we still didn't have our visas. Evan was checking in with the guy who was helping us often and we were given the run around all the time. I don't want to type out the whole story but what happened was. 3 days before the kids and I were supposed to leave we found out our passports and the money to pay for the visas had been stolen. yup, you read it right!
Evan was able to track down our passports but the money to pay for them and all our documents needed to support getting the visa were gone.
We had to start the process again but thankfully we were fast tracked. The 2nd date we were given to leave was last Friday July 26.
On Wednesday July 24th I was in the ER for an infection in my leg. This infection came on fast and hit hard. In the ER they lanced my leg to relieve pressure and I was put on IV antibiotic. I was told right away I wouldn't be getting on the flight on Friday for Kin.
I was on IV ( at home) for 6 days....it is pretty cool. I carried a back pack with me everywhere I went because I was getting antibiotic 24/7.... I had to chance my IV bag every morning as well as the IV site ( I didn't do the needle part) every second day.
I have been off IV since Wednesday and now I am on high doses of oral antibiotic. This morning I had my last appointment with the doctor and was given the go ahead to leave for Kin.
I am not better by any means but that will take time.

So, the kids and I leave for Kinshasa via Montreal and Brussels at 6:55 am tomorrow morning.
I promise I will be better at updating the blog!

Third times a charm right?

Let's talk feeling!

Ewwww....I don't always like to talk about my feeling ( ask Evan), I am pretty good at bottling things up until I am going to burst. At least this blog post wont be anything to deep so I think I can handle it!

I thought I would do a quick post on how I ( and the kid) are handling our return to Africa in 21 days.

When we first made the choice to go to Africa it was an adventure but a SCARY adventure, Evan and I were so busy with preparing to go that the depth of our decision didn't fully hit me until I arrived in Kinshasa Now said FULLY just because a lot of it did hit me before we left but not as hard as it hit once we arrived.
I don't have that this time, I know what we are going to and what life is like...no surprises this time! Who am I kidding it is Kinshasa...life is never boring!
Now knowing what is happening has positives and negatives, there is no unknown with the conditions you are moving to, I can picture everything, I remember the smells and the sounds. I also remember the heartache that I experienced over the last year. I am hoping to grow through this heartache.

Last year when we were in Africa I lost some Canadian friendships that at the time I cherished but a lot of my friendships also grew deeper and have taken on a whole new level. These are the friends that I will have for life no matter what is thrown your way!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You   know what, I don't want to compare this time to last time. The first year in Africa I was SO sick ( I haven't blog about it, maybe one day), so sick that I came back to Canada to be diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and issues with my stomach acid.
I am looking forward to returning to Africa for 2 main reasons, the biggest one is Evan and I have been living apart for almost 13 months but in our hearts we are not separated. We get to be a family again and the second one is I want to experience Kinshasa healthy, strong and with open eyes! I don't want last year to taint my views on life out there.

Don't get me wrong, my heart aches, tears threaten to fall and I feel like I can't breath at the thought of saying goodbye to my friends and family again, the thought of leaving my job which I LOVE makes me nauseous and at times I am scared to go back to Kin. I get scared when the "what if's" in my head take over. My driving force is knowing that I will soon be with my hubby again and the kids with there dad.

As much as I don't always like talking about my feelings ask questions if you have them, I will answer!

To everyone who reads our blog, welcome to chapter 2 of the Africa journey. I am trying to make a commitment to blog a lot more often this time around.

hmmm

I've got to ask..... is anyone out there?

Count Down

Today I was chatting with one of my kids teachers about the end of the school year. It was brought to my attention that there is only 7.5 days left of school for my kids.

While the teacher is happy and is looking forward to being off work and having a break all I could think of is how many days until the kids and I leave for Africa.

We leave in 29 days....yeah you read it right 29 days!!!  Am I ready at all?
Well our passports are renewed, visas have been process but that is all!!!! I feel like I have done almost nothing to prepare for this move. Now, moving across the world is nothing like moving across the city.....when we moved the first time Evan was done working 4 weeks before our departure and both of us were preparing our family to leave.

This time it is only me getting my family ready, the house packed and cleaned, painting done, trying to squeeze as many play dates in for my kids as possible and I am working until July 16.
before anyone suggests I stop working before July 16 that is not an option in my mind! I love my job, it keeps me sane and happy!

time to make some lists I think....time to be proactive! :)

Next blog post is going to be about how the kids and I are feeling about going back! Can someone hold me accountable to writing it?

** I just remembered I bought myself an IPAD in preperation to leave, ask me how much I have used that Ipad???
My kids have adopted it as their own!
:)

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful hubby who is an amazing dad!

We love you Evan, looking forward to being together as a family again.

getting back into the groove

At the moment I am trying to figure out how/when to get back into the groove of blogging!

It is way harder to do then I thought!

For today I will leave you with little tid-bits about our lives...no order of importance.

- My last day of work before leaving for Africa will be July 15th. Leaving Goodlife is just as hard the second time as the first.

- Currently our passports are in Africa waiting to have our Visa's put in. Evan's mom will be bringing them back to us when she arrives in Canada at the end of June.

- Emmanuel is currently playing soccer twice a week and loving it!

- These nest 2 weeks will be filled with dr. appointments for both Micah and myself. One day I will blog about some of the medical issues I have been dealing with.

- We are waiting for our order from Old Navy to arrive. I got each of us 2 bathing suits for 60.00. they had a 50% off sale! Right now our order is 3 days late!

Anything else.....................

I am back!!!!!!

After just over a year of silence on my blog I am back and full of stories!

The stories will be coming in the very near future but for right now I only have one point to make.....

THE SCHELLENBERG'S (MEL, EMMANUEL AND MICAH) ARE RETURNING TO JOIN EVAN IN KINSHASA!

After being apart for 11 months so far ( Evan in Kinshasa and Mel and the kids in Canada) and battling health issues and academic issue for one of my kids we are FINALLY putting our family back together.
The kids and I will be returning back to Kinshasa on July 18 to finish off Evan's term together.

At the moment the kids and I are starting to feel the sadness of leaving family and friends again but we are so ready to be all together the 4 of us.

Hopefully I will remember to update over the next couple weeks as we prepare to leave  but I will definitely be updating once we arrive back in Kinshasa. Life is never boring there!!!!!