Tuesday, October 22, 2013

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!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

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!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

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.

Friday, August 30, 2013

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!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

stay tuned

I will be back with more posts!!!

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

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Sushi


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

Monday, August 12, 2013

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