I never thought I’d say…

A friend: “You know, you’ve lost some weight.”

Me: “I sure hope not!”

and

Me to Mister, after weighing myself upon receiving the above compliment: “Good news! I gained two pounds!!”

14 weeks

Christmas cooking

I’ve been slaving in the kitchen all morning, doing my part to prepare for our community Christmas feast. This year there will be no turkey and stuffing, nor will there be ham spiked with cloves. Instead, we will be celebrating Christmas pool side with a Mexican fiesta. On the menu are chicken enchiladas, a taco bar, and lime margaritas and pina-coladas made from scratch using locally grown fruits. There are no Mexican restaurants in Conakry, so this is a treat. I am counting down the hours until it starts.

And for your next Mexican fiesta, maybe you should include some of these delicious (if I do say so myself) recipes:

Smoked Tomato Relish and Green Onion Crème Fraiche

Close enough to Chuy’s Creamy Jalapeno Dressing (no cilantro for me thankyouverymuch)

Sweet pulled pork – Café Rio style (I use Dr. Pepper instead of Coke)

Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brought you everything you wished for.

Holiday Greetings

Whether you’re celebrating in sweaters and scarves or swimsuits and sunscreen, we hope your Christmas is a merry one.

- Mister and Anne (and the little babe too)

Christmas Eve 2011 - Roume Island, Guinea

Guys and guns

I spent a portion of this afternoon helping Mister clean and reassemble the weapons he used at the range today. I’m pretty sure he has never been attracted to me more than he was the moment I secured the final pin in that first submachine gun.

I never thought I’d say…

Upon looking at his watch:

Mister: It’s December 21st. Four days until Christmas!

Me: I know, it’s weird. It doesn’t feel like it at all*!

Mister: Yeah, it’s like we live in a place that doesn’t celebrate it.

Me: Well, actually, we do. This is a (predominantly) Muslim country, remember?

Mister: Oh yeah…

 

*As evidenced by me dating everything October lately, among other things.

Christmas came early

I had a rough weekend. It started with the worry that my mefloquine use in the first trimester caused irreparable harm to my baby (this is about 1% a real concern and 99% my flare for the dramatic/hormones). Friday was a mostly decent day. Then, we were without electricity and water for three days, during which I got few hours of sleep (turns out I really depend on the a/c to drown out lots of outside noise, including morning prayer, blared through the speakers of a nearby mosque), and only one shower. I was pretty miserable. I woke up on Monday tired, slightly stinky, and a bit crampy, which worried me (the crampy part, not everything else), so I stopped into the health unit for a little reassurance. The PA asked if I had heard a heart beat yet, and I said no, but not for lack of trying. Dr. Google had reassured me that, thanks to my ummm…extra cushioning, I may not hear it until 18 weeks or so, so while I wasn’t thrilled about it, I also wasn’t worried. The PA said, well, let’s try again, just for fun. So we did, and there it was. A good, strong heartbeat.

Thank you baby. I really  needed to hear that.

Engrossed

…and taking copious notes just off frame.  The perfect student.

Die mosquitoes!

**Alternate title: Mom, this post isn’t going to make you feel any better about me being pregnant in Africa, so you probably shouldn’t continue reading.**

As you probably know, malaria is a big problem here. You may not know is that taking anti-malarial drugs doesn’t necessarily prevent you from getting malaria, but can lessen the severity if you do get it. In fact, two people in our little community have had malaria in the 5 months I’ve been here.

Up until now, being pregnant in Africa has merely been frustrating (and of course miserable, thanks to dumb morning sickness). Tonight it became a tad bit scary.

From the minute I learned I was pregnant, I have been very careful to take precautions to avoid getting malaria (it can cause anemia, miscarriage, preterm birth and death in pregnant women); taking my anti-malarial medication as prescribed (although when I just now looked up mefloquine on drugs.com it said do not take while pregnant or breastfeeding*…awesome), staying inside during peak mosquito hours (even missing awesome events such as the Marine Ball and a dive in viewing of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation), and if I did have to be outside during that time, bathing in mosquito repellant. Admittedly, I haven’t been sleeping under a mosquito net, but only because I had never seen a mosquito in the house. Until tonight that is. Tonight I saw a mosquito hovering around my hand, but luckily killed it before it could suck my blood (and possibly give me malaria). I am tired, hungry and have crazy hormones anyway, but I immediately burst into tears. I’m sure I will feel better after some food and a good nights sleep (under the mosquito net I’ll make Mister install), but right now I’m ready to jump on the next plane back to the states.

 

*although, I don’t believe testing has really been done on this specific demographic. In this case, the benefits of taking mefloquine outweigh the risks of getting malaria.

Randoms

*I should keep a list (or better yet, photos) of all of the crazy things people carry on their heads. The latest? A bathtub.

*I have exercised, via a half hour walk around my little compound, every day but one in the past two weeks. I’m surprised at my dedication.

*We have a duvet cover that has that soft microfiber stuff on one side (you know what I’m talking about, right? It’s like fleece, but even softer). I don’t know if we ran out of clean sheets, or she wanted to try something new, but our housekeeper put our duvet cover on the bed like a fitted sheet. I was skeptical at first, but it turns out it’s kind of a dream.

*I don’t know if it’s because civilization is a mere month and a half away, but these days I have zero tolerance for the chaos that is driving in Guinea. Every outing in the last week or so has resulted in me getting super angry, or bursting into tears.  I just want a little order! A single police man equipped with a length of rubber tubing manning an intersection with at least10 cars (turning both left and right) trying to cross 4 very congested lanes of traffic  is hardly effective.

*Speaking of, I witnessed my first two car accidents on Sunday, both within the span of 20 minutes. One was a fender bender, but the other involved two guys falling off their motorcycle. Luckily they had slowed down quite a bit to try to pass a car so they weren’t too badly hurt, but it was horrifying to watch. The guy in the other car either didn’t see them fall, or didn’t care. I worry so much about motorcyclists here. Traffic is crazy, and very few of them wear helmets.

*I don’t think we’re having Christmas this year. I’ve already opened my present, and Mister can’t decide on something he wants. Even if he did, it wouldn’t get here in time. The fact that we live in a predominantly Muslim country and it’s 85 degrees outside doesn’t quite put me in the Christmas spirit either.

*I just got a pair of maternity skinny jeans. The more I wear them the more I’m convinced that all skinny jeans, maternity or otherwise, should be made with an elastic waistband.

new pe(s)ts

My friend came over yesterday, and as I swung the door open to let him in, something much more substantial than an ant landed on my arm and scampered away as I let out a blood-curdling scream. I looked over to see what it was, and was relieved to see a little-ish lizard and not the cockroach I was expecting.

Today I walked past the front door and saw not one, but TWO lizards hanging out on the wall. As I stood there and looked at them, I watched one disappear in the molding (so that’s how they’re getting inside), but this little guy stuck around long enough for me to go back to my bedroom, grab my camera and take a picture. It’s actually kind of cute.

My cousin, who studies creepy crawlies for a living, would be in heaven right now. Me? I’m just glad it’s a lizard (or three) and not a spitting cobra (or a football sized rat for that matter). I mean, they eat insects right? Perhaps they are just what we need to take care of our ant problem.

Decking the halls

Last Sunday, while Mister was on a “No Girls Allowed” trip out to the islands…

We may be surrounded by ocean here in Conakry, but we have to take a 30 minute boat ride to enjoy it (that is unless you enjoy dodging mountains of trash and rocks when you visit the beach).

…I decided it was high time to decorate for Christmas. Unfortunately, it also meant it was high time to clean out the storage room (aka dumping grounds) so I could even reach the Christmas decorations. An hour later the Christmas stuff was rescued, yet another hour later the fake tree had been assembled and fluffed, about fifteen minutes after that I was EXHAUSTED, and a week later, our living room still looks like this:

The nativity has been set out, our stockings have been hung, there are exactly 15 ornaments on the tree, and the boxes in the middle of the room are still stuffed with decorations. There is a very good chance that is where they will stay until after the holidays, when I finally muster the energy to pack away the nativity, stockings and fifteen ornaments in their rightful places; in the boxes that have been conveniently stored in the middle of the room. Now that’s efficiency!

Cultural differences

Several weeks ago, after I had found out that I was pregnant but before we had announced it, my housekeeper (who had likely seen at least one (of the 5) pregnancy tests I had taken), said to me in her very sing-songy thick accented English, either “You’re getting far” or “You’re getting fat.” I  I chose to believe it was the former.

Fast forward to today as we were getting ready to go to work. She sings to me, and there is no mistaking it this time, “You’re getting fat.” I just laughed and smiled because how does one even respond to such a thing? I’m guessing that in her culture, that is just her way of telling me that I’m beginning to show (which for the record I’m not really, I just happen to carry all of my extra weight in my belly and at this time have no energy or reason to try to conceal it), and that being “fat” while pregnant is just a good indication that your pregnancy is a healthy one.

Yes, that is SURELY what she meant…right?!

And speaking of getting fat, look what I got in the mail today:

It is going to take every ounce of self control not to eat all of these in one sitting! (thanks Erica!)

Your burning questions

Ok, so no one really has any burning questions, but because being pregnant in a developing country (and really any country that isn’t the US) while in the line of work that my husband (and me by extension) is in, things go down a little bit differently, so I thought I’d fill you in.

Let’s back up a little bit. When we bid on Conakry, we knew we’d have to put off having babies because it was designated an adults only post. Well, things have changed here in the last little bit and a few weeks after we arrived it was officially changed back to a family post. So yay! We got our nimba, and the rest is history.

Medevacs are expensive, so we only get one, and we could choose between going for either the first or second trimester screenings. For my other appointments, we have a nurse practitioner here at post who will act as my ob/gyn. There will be no ultrasounds, and unless she determines whether or not her office has a doppler, no listening to the heartbeat (well, she will have a stethoscope). Just the basics. Luckily, Mister and I are due an R&R in January, so I plan on finding an ob/gyn when I’m in Utah so I can find out whether we’re having a boy or a girl. P.S. If you are a mom in Salt Lake and you love your ob, do share. I am in the market for one.

As long as everything is progressing normally, I will stay in Conakry until I’m 34 weeks,  at which point I will get my enormous belly on a cramped plane back to Utah to wait out the last weeks of pregnancy before I have my baby. Mister will join me a week or so before my due date, and stay for a few weeks after I deliver (I think, that part is still up in the air a bit). If obtaining medical clearance is no problem, and if what I read about babies being protected against yellow fever by mom’s anti-bodies is true, I will head back to Guinea when the babe is 6 weeks old. If the info about yellow fever is completely fabricated, then I won’t be able to go back until the baby is able to be vaccinated, at 6 months.

I’ll be honest, it’s a teensy bit scary being pregnant in a country without adequate health care, but I have been reassured that they will gladly send me back to the states the second I feel that it is in my best interest to do so. And really, if my mom had anything to do with it, I’d be on a flight tomorrow. Pregnancy here is also frustrating! I routinely crave things that don’t exist here (like fresh leaf spinach salads), and the green apples I sent my housekeeper to buy (they’re a bit difficult to find here), weren’t meant to be. She came back with green peppers both times. *Sigh*

While I (im)patiently wait for this baby to grow, I’m just happy to have an excuse not to suck in my stomach. Aaah, sweet relief. Yay for babies!

London!

One of the great things about Guinea, ok, also one of the scariest, is that when you require medical attention for anything more serious than a cold, you have to be medevac'ed to London. It's kind of a running joke here: "I just jammed my finger in the door, I'm pretty sure it's broken (for the record it clearly was not), you should probably send me to London to have it checked out." Well, this weekend I had the pleasure of requiring medical attention (and of eating McDonalds, Chipotle, and Krispy Kreme).

Neither Mister or I have been to London, so Mister took a few days off to join me in my adventure. When we tried to check into the hotel, we learned that due to a computer error, they did not have a room for us that night, but they had booked us a room in a hotel nearby. Well, thanks to a sleepless night and raging hormones, I sobbed right there at the front desk. While completely embarrassing me and probably horrifying the receptionist, it earned us an upgrade for the nights they were able to accommodate us. The first hotel was great. The rooms used actual keys, a total novelty, and were about as wide as I am tall. Very quaint.

Once we checked in, the first matter of business was lunch at McDonalds. I am not at all embarrassed to admit that before we arrived I spent a half hour on their webpage admiring their menu and the cheeseburger happy meal I ate did not disappoint. After sleeping the remainder of the afternoon, Mister and I had dinner at Chipotle, dessert at Pinkberry (judging by our dining choices, one would think we were in the States, not London), and it was amazing. The evening was perfectly chilly, and we walked a bit down Oxford Street, which was all decorated for Christmas. When I turned the corner and saw that I cried. Being in the hustle and bustle of a big city was very overwhelming, and it made me miss home (well, I should say my home country).

Sunday, we decided to catch a movie (The Adventures of TinTin) which was awesome, and then, because our time in London was limited, did a bus tour so we could see a lot of things at once. We sat on the top of the double decker bus and froze half to death, but it was totally worth it.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Today I had my doctors appointments (sandwiched between a delicious lunch of fish and chips) which went very well. I even got a souvenir to take home!

In Guinean culture, there is a goddess of fertility called a Nimba. It is believed that she brings greater fertility to crops and women, and you can find statues of her pretty much everywhere. I purchased one in July and apparently they are no joke, because Baby H will be joining our family in June!

An adventure is afoot!

Details to come next week...

2

While sitting on our favorite courtyard bench on Monday, Mister says to me, “Happy anniversary.” “What, no flowers? No presents?” I replied jokingingly, because you see, there are no florists and no shops to speak of here. He responded by plucking a bug infested gardenia off the bush next to him and handing it to me. Which, if you remember, is the flower my Grandpa gave my Grandma each year on their anniversary. I cried.

We had plans to go to dinner downtown at at restaurant on the water, but work (him) and an upset stomach (me) foiled those. Instead we celebrated with bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches, South African apples (I had cried to him earlier that all I wanted was a nice big plate of fresh fruits and veggies, and so he bought some on the side of the road on his way home. He’s so good to me), and lemon cupcakes while watching TV. Romantic, right?

But, despite our lack of celebration, and as I pointed out after my funny joke at lunch, at least we have each other. And you know what? That is quite enough.

creatures

You may have to visit the eastern region of Africa if you’d like to go on a safari, but that doesn’t mean Guinea doesn’t have it’s share of exotic creatures. Why just in our little compound there are lizards, darling baby frogs, beautiful black birds that like looking at themselves in the mirror-like reflection of our sunroom windows, monitor lizards (they are basically snakes with legs and they are creepy), and speaking of snakes, how about we add only the second most deadly snake in Guinea, the black-necked spitting cobra. Not only do you have to worry about it biting you, but it can also spit it’s venom up to 20 feet. Don’t worry mom, our gardener killed it, but only after showing it off  to Mister. Ooh, and tonight Mister got a better look at the “possum” he spotted the other day. Not a possum after all, but a football sized rat. Awesome. It’s like I live in a zoo. A really creepy zoo.

I never thought I’d say…

Me: Whatcha doin’ Bubba?

Mister/Bubba: Trying to think of an ad campaign to reduce corruption*.

Me: Awww, that’s so cute of you!

 

*You should know that Mister’s biggest goal in life is to make a positive impact on a large scale. To get an idea of the way he thinks: after returning from a 2 month TDY on the Mexican border, we were at breakfast and he had a very perplexed look on his face. When I asked him what he was thinking about, he said, somewhat sadly, “I just don’t know how to fix Mexico.” And he was totally serious. He’s so great. And while I joke about it with him, I have no doubt that he’ll make a difference in the world.

Randoms

*I love my blendtec (and the 3000 watt converter that makes using it possible). I brought lots of wheat berries with me and was craving some wheat pancakes, but I don’t have a wheat grinder. Enter the blendtec. Combine the berries with some milk; let it go for about a minute, and you get ground wheat. So easy, and the pancakes were delicious. I used this recipe.

*We’ve figured out the dates for our first R&R in January. We’ll spend a whole month visiting friends and family in TX, UT and DC. I’m counting down the days (and planning out all of the restaurants I need to eat at).

*I was watching TV tonight and felt a really cold breeze on my feet. For a second I thought that Mister had left the door open, and then I remembered that we live in Africa, and it is 85 degrees outside.

*Mister and I sat on a bench out in the courtyard at lunch today and I discovered a gardenia bush next to it with a few beautiful blooms on it. I picked one to keep at my desk. It smells amazing and reminds me of my grandma (it was her favorite flower).

*Monday I received my very own package (that wasn’t a vice grip) of Almond Joy’s and Whoppers. It was sent to me by a mystery donor in response to my facebook status complaining about an unsatisfied craving for that particular candy. It made my day!

Winners!

Me: “Hey Mister, pick three numbers between 1 and 9.”

Mister: “3, 7 and 4”

Congrats Camille, Donna & My Life Unfolded!

Camille and My Life Unfolded, I have your email addresses and will send you your codes for your 25 free shutterfly cards shortly. Donna, what a head start you’ll have on your Valentines Day cards! Can you email me so I can get your code to you? My email address is linked on my blogger profile.

Thanks for playing!!

I never thought I’d say…

In preparation for the weekend (we’re hosting a Halloween party on Saturday):

Mister: “I brought home another million, just in case.”

Kitchen adventures

Since there are so few dining out options here, I’ve been spending lots of time in my kitchen. Sometimes there are flops, like the café rio style pork salad (actually the pork wasn’t so bad, but the rice, beans and homemade tortillas? Meh), and butter chicken. But for every one of those not so great meals, I’ve made something so so good. Like the beef enchiladas using the recipe on the back of the enchilada sauce can (Old El Paso if you’re curious), and tonight’s meal, CPK-ish BBQ chicken pizza. I used Pioneer Woman’s recipe. I followed her dough recipe exactly, but tweaked a few things on the actual pizza. I used half smoked gouda (imported all the way from Wisconsin) and half mozzarella (probably imported from France), chives instead of red onions, and of course skipped the cilantro. It was so delicious and I ate half the pan. You should try it sometime.

As for dessert, I’ve decided that if I could only eat one for the rest of my life, it would be almond torte with raspberry sorbet. I made it on Sunday and it totally hit the spot! Thank you Leader Price and your 10 dollar bag of frozen raspberries for making this dessert possible.

Christmas is coming (and a giveaway)

I cannot believe we’re already on the back end of October. Every single day I’m surprised that it’s fall. Everywhere but here that is. Halloween is just minutes away, which means we’re a month away from Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. Seriously, where has the time gone?!

A few years ago, I remember visiting a friend of mine and being awed by the sheer volume* of greeting cards that overtook every inch of  cupboard space in her kitchen. I had so much fun looking at all of the pictures. I don’t know why, but I love little glimpses into the lives of strangers. The last few years I’ve done my part to contribute to the Christmas card collections proudly displayed on the walls and refrigerators of my family and friends. My favorite was the one I sent out the year I completed my first marathon. I am such a braggart, and I loved sharing my accomplishments with everyone. Last years was equally as awesome, but mostly because of the handsome face that was next to mine (even if he was wearing a cowboy hat at the time).

I’ve used Shutterfly every year and I kind of love them. They have so many great options, the quality was good, and the turnaround is quite fast! Which is why I’m happy to give them a little shout out on my blog (yes…in exchange for some free cards…but yay, they are also letting me give some to a few of you too). They have so many different options, from photo paper cards, which are super affordable, starting at 40 cents a pop…(um hi, it’s cheaper than the stamp you’ll use to mail it). I’m digging the simple cards this year:

…to stationary cards, which I is what I ordered last year. I thought they were gorgeous and the paper was a great quality. There are hundreds of cards to choose from.

If you celebrate Hanukkah, they have cards for you. If you’re a procrastinator, there are even cards to help ring in the new year. They sure do have all their bases covered.

Shutterfly doesn’t just sell greeting cards. If you want to give someone a special, personalized gift, check out their photo books.

As I mentioned before, Shutterfly gave me three codes good for 25 free holiday cards to give to my readers. Would you like one? Leave a comment on this post, and pretty please, check Shutterfly out, and I’ll pick three winners** on Sunday. Make sure I have a way to send you your code if you win. And since I typically get about that many comments on any given post, your odds are pretty good that you will.

 

 

*After the holidays had ended, she told me that it took her hours to take them all down. She’s very popular.

**Can I say that I feel like a poser right now? I don’t have a million readers and I certainly don’t have companies knocking down my door giving me free stuff to review. But I am happy that Shutterfly is allowing my humble little blog to help spread the word. Thanks Shutterfly!

Mail

Mail day is a big deal here. Because there is very little you can buy on the local market, packages are a HUGE deal. We are both frequent spenders at Amazon, but because our prime account is under Mister's name, it is a very rare occasion that I receive mail addressed to me. So, imagine my glee when the mail guys handed me my very own package with my name on it! I was so excited to get something, especially so unexpectedly. I ripped that sucker open so fast, only to find a vice grip. wah wah. I only know that's what it was because it was imprinted on the tool. Clearly this is not something I would be excited to receive, let alone order in the first place. Apparently Mister ordered it while logged into my amazon account by mistake. What a let down.

I never thought I’d say…

while driving home from work:

Me: Is that a monkey???

(yes, yes it was…on a leash no less)

Randoms

*Mister’s birthday was last Monday. He grew up in Texas in a house with a pool in the backyard. His brother, whose birthday is just 11 days before, always had a pool party, but by the time Mister’s rolled around the weather had turned just cool enough that a pool party was no longer an option. His whole life he has been aching for a pool party. Thank you Africa, for your year round tropical climate (and for a pool in our back yard). Because of you, a little boy’s dream came true this year.

*The other day I saw a man carrying a three foot tall bundle of empty water bottles bound into the shape of a hexagon on his head. I was kicking myself for not having my camera with me.

*The power here is very unstable and unpredictable. It goes out at least once a day, but usually only for a minute or two before the generator kicks in. Well Friday, when I had rolls in the oven and shows to watch (The Office and Parks and Rec…Thanks AFN) the power went off and stayed off, with the obnoxious beeping of the UPS (uninterruptable power supply, which in reality is not uninterruptable when your power is out for more than 10 minutes) to remind me that despite many western conveniences I am able to enjoy inside the gate of my compound, I don’t live in America anymore.

*But! The power outage, which lasted for a few hours, allowed us to have a lovely candlelight dinner of meat and apple pies (not to be confused with a meat and apple pie) with our awesome neighbors. It turned out to be a great night!

*I’ve started to call the area leading up to our gate “Gold’s Gym Conakry.” Word has spread that it’s the hottest gym in town, and there are always tons of people there doing sit-ups, sprints, and fancy footwork up and down the driveway. Even though it makes coming and going a little more difficult (sometimes they don’t see/hear us coming), I kind of love it.

*The temperature never gets below 80 or so here, so I have to continuously remind myself that it’s the middle of October. While Mister is loving the ability to float in the pool every day, I miss fall.

*I’ve decided to eat my feelings (you know, the sadness that comes with the absence of cooler temperatures and changing leaves), with a pan of pumpkin spice bars. Nothing screams fall to me more than pumpkin, cloves and cinnamon.

*Last weekend I had myself a Dexter marathon, which has resulted in multiple dreams starring murderers. Sometimes I’m the  killer, sometimes I’m the one getting killed. Maybe combining Mefloquine and a TV show about serial killers wasn’t such a good idea.

Makeovers

…my blog needs one. Actually, I was halfway through changing things around before I pulled a Mister and decided I wasn’t quite comfortable with it. So I sincerely hope you are looking at my blog through some sort of RSS feed, because the real deal is horrendous, and because I know literally nothing about html code (i.e. deleting old code and widening margins etc), it will probably remain this way for pretty much ever. Sorry!!

Africa out the window: Presidential edition

A few weeks ago, we went on a little day trip to Dubreka Falls, this really great waterfall/restaurant combo about 2 hours outside of Conakry. As always, I had my camera with me. There are a ton of great pictures I could show you, but I’m going to stick with a theme today. I wonder what our President would think of his endorsement of pretty much everything here in Guinea.

A few examples:

Before/During/After

Sorry for the delay in posting these pictures. I’ve been dealing with what the doctor called “viral crud” and have not felt pretty enough to take pictures of myself. Anyways, here you go:

Here’s the shapeless mass before:

My thinly veiled shock/tears during:

And a week after, finally smiling:

So this is how it all went down. Mister spent about 20 minutes trimming the very bottom inch of my hair before he freaked out and declared that he didn’t feel comfortable doing it anymore. Too bad for me he was only semi-finished. So I haphazardly cut the hair around my ears, and let Mister loose with the thinning shears. So basically, I look pretty much the exact same as I did before we started, except now I can’t put the bottom portion of my hair in a ponytail. I consider that a success.

I’m pretty sure that was the first and also the last time Mister cuts my hair. Good thing we have R&R coming up in a few months! I’ll likely be driving straight from the airport to the salon.

 

*Can someone tell me why blogger insists on rotating my pictures unnecessarily? It’s driving me crazy!

Desperate times call for desperate measures

I have very short hair. Hair that really should be trimmed every 4 weeks. The last time scissors have been in contact with it was the middle of July, and (no) thanks to a communication barrier between me and my (fabulous) stylist, it was cut just a little too conservatively for someone who didn’t know when/where she might be able find a professional to fix it up real nice again. The only viable option here is a local barber who comes to my workplace once a month, but when I watched him use scissors one step above those of the safety variety people let their preschoolers use, I opted against getting my hair cut that day. Now it’s almost three months later, and I can pull a good portion of my hair into a ponytail. And when your hairstyle started out as a pixie, that isn’t necessarily a good thing. So tonight, I give my dear husband* the pair of cutting shears I bought at Sally Beauty Supply for 10 dollars the day before we got on a plane, and cross my fingers it turns out half way decent. Wish me luck.

 

*he who was the go-to barber when he was in the army, helping his fellow soldiers escape the wrath of the drill sergeants by giving “high and tights” before monday morning formations.

Fall in Africa…

…feels exactly like summer in Africa (and I assume winter and spring, although I haven’t experienced them yet). But eating chili and cornbread for dinner feels like actual fall. You know, the time of year when the leaves change and the temperature cools off. I miss actual fall. *Sigh*

Sorry if the picture is warped. Blogger sometimes likes to rotate them without my permission.

I never thought I’d say…

Upon hearing a noise in the middle of the night:

Me: What was that?

Mister: I think there’s an iguana in the attic.

Me: Oh, ok.

Hoarders: West Africa

Since moving here, I’ve discovered that I have a very American palate. In the supermarché's, you can find food imported from Europe (think along the lines of store brand goods, not name brand), but while it may look like the stuff I’m familiar with, it usually tastes just different enough to leave me unsatisfied. (There is one notable exception to this: French butter. It is the most amazing stuff. I buy at least three every single time I go to the store. I’m developing quite the butter collection.)

Considering the above, it should come as no surprise that I shed several tears of joy (and possibly kissed a jar of pace picante sauce) while opening up boxes upon boxes filled with my beloved American goodies.

Here’s a little peek at my newly stocked pantry:

These huge pantries drive me nutso with their lack of shelving!

Let’s get a closer look at my two favorite shelves:

Cakes, cookies (frosted animal cookies, hiding behind the dried fruit), candy and chips…oh my!

Now you know what a couple thousand dollars of consumables looks like. The sad thing? This will probably only last us 9 months or so.

Onesies

There are very few things in this world cuter than a teeny baby in a onesie. My very talented friend has just opened up an etsy shop selling some darling ones, like these:

and my favorite:

If you have or know a wee one, he or she probably needs to have one!

Santa came!

Actual Christmas is going to be such a let down this year…

I scream, you scream…

I have been making ice cream pretty non-stop since I unpacked my ice cream maker a few weeks ago. I’ve made mango, nutella and I currently have caramelized banana hardening in my freezer. Despite the fact that the only cream you can find here is shelf-stable and grey-ish, the results have been nothing less than successful. I tasted the banana ice cream* when it stopped churning and it is so incredible. If you like bananas, you will absolutely love this. The question is, do I share the goodness with friends, or do I keep it all to myself?

*quick note: the recipe calls for 4 bananas, but those are obviously American bananas. African bananas (at least the ones you can find here) are a bit smaller, so I used 6. I think it was the perfect amount.

Africa out the window (mental picture edition)

-We often see young people in the street next to our house doing crunches, mountain climbers, and other various exercises. Today, as we approached, there were 5 or so little boys blocking our way, practicing their best Michael Jackson moves. As we got closer, instead of immediately getting out of our way, they showed us what they’ve got. It was incredibly cute.

-As we walked to our car after eating dinner at a friends house, we heard drums and singing nearby. As the gate was opened and we drove out into the street, we encountered a group of about 20 young people singing and dancing, and in the middle of them, someone dressed in a full body costume covered in leaves (not unlike a gilly suit). It was something I would expect to see in the outlying villages, not in the middle of the city.

Because I spend most of my time in my western style house and at work, I often have to remind myself where I am. These were a few of the times there has been no doubt that I am in AFRICA.

14 kb/s

To celebrate our new “speedy*” internet, I treated myself to David Guetta’s new album. The whole thing is rad, but if you would rather spend 2 dollars instead of 10, you should spend it on these two:

Little Bad Girl

Titanium

*Speedy, as in it only took an hour or so to download the whole album (which is infinitely better than the 4 hours it took me to download 3 of the 11 songs from the last album I purchased before it totally freaked out on me). You guys, be thankful you have the ability to watch  youtube videos without having to pause it for 20 minutes to allow it to load  and video chat with your family over skype. You never know what you have until it’s gone.

Chez Nous

As requested, here are a few pictures of our house (or as I like to call it, Little America).

There are really only two rooms worth seeing. As for the others, visualize the most unexciting bathroom, formal dining room, office and bedroom you’ve ever seen and you’ve got the rest of the house.

Here’s the kitchen, as seen from the doorway to the mud/laundry room. (Pardon the mess. I’m just keeping it real here):

And again, this time from the dining room:

Here’s my favorite view. It’s hard to see, but there are birds of paradise and other pretty flowers blooming from the bushes:

The view of the living room from the dining room:

It’s basically two rooms it’s so huge, so here’s the tv viewing portion, also known as the room in which I spend all of my time:

And here’s the sitting area. We shipped the rug Mister bought in Afghanistan and it amazingly fits right in with the color scheme:

Here’s the entry way. The mirror that looks like it’s just propped up on the side table? It’s actually been secured to the wall. Perfect for making sure your zipper is up.

This place feels like home!

During

I finished* unpacking on Monday, but while I was knee deep in boxes I took the following picture.

And here were a few fun discoveries I made:

This most fitting fortune was stuffed into a box of toiletries

And one of our Houston packers was an artist:

These, along with old letters from boyfriends, well, boyfriend, and in Mister’s case, girlfriends, made the unpacking process *almost* fun!

*Ummm…just don’t look in my storage room ok??