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?