pflumpfamily

Conversations with Alina

2012-02-12T16:13:00.002-05:00

Alina: Mommy, we should tell Tata to clean the house until it sparkles. Then we can say "Wow, Tata, the house sparkles!"
Me (chuckling): That's a great idea, but our cleaning lady just came yesterday, so our house should already be sparkling!
Alina (very seriously): I don't see any sparkles on the walls, do you Mommy?
Me: (chuckle)
Alina: Well... do you?

Mom and Dad's Visit

2012-02-07T13:48:00.000-05:00

Mom and Dad came for a visit. The first day we had a community meeting so they waited at home. I wanted to do a whole post titled, "Where's Waldo?" but this one photo will have to do. :)

We were supposed to do a world map on the side of the school wall but it didn't happen. After Sanga we went to Nazinga. It's no Serengeti but we still saw some pfun animals.

That bird is pretty. I don't have photo editing equipment on this computer, but you can still see it.

We entered from the back of the park, so here we are at the front gate at the end of the tour.

Then we went to Tiebele. They paint their houses there really interestingly. They have contests to see whose is the best. Each of the symbols means something. The triangles, for example, represent the bowls they use for eating and drinking.

Then we went to watch women make clay pots. That was fun.

And that's it! Five more months!

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2012-02-06T08:42:00.000-05:00

It's strawberry season and I'm at the new restaurant in Waga!

For those in Africa

2012-02-04T10:19:00.001-05:00

In the past 36 hours, Westminster got about 17" of snow. Whoo hoo!

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2012-02-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

Mom eating lunch in sanga.

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2012-02-01T08:56:00.000-05:00

Dad too

Catching up

2012-01-31T10:23:00.007-05:00

I was driving home from work one day and saw the most beautiful sunset I think I've ever seen. I tried to capture some pics while driving (I'm sure I wasn't distracted doing that), here is one. I don't think I got the best pictures, but it was really pretty!

Ania likes to do her own thing with head bands

So then Alina tried it

Me: Ania, what did you put on your lips?
Ania: Nothing.

We had a huge snowstorm before Christmas, here is Jay after he snowblowed our driveway.

We went sledding. Jay was better taking the girls than me, because I always ended up putting my feet down to slow us, which would then throw tons of snow in the girls' faces. They didn't like that. I couldn't help it! So I stopped taking them.

Ania threw a 30 minute tantrum one night - it was awesome. I can't remember what it was about, but boy was she mad. I got video of it too, but here's a picture.

Alina didn't know what to do with herself during this tantrum. She tried to calm Ania down, but Ania was out of control. So then she said "Mommy, how do I write "I love Ania, you're still my best friend."? So I wrote it for her. She usually copies it into her own writing, but this time I think she decided it was too urgent and just ran and put this note under Ania's face (while Ania was still face down, screaming). It didn't help, but I thought that was very cute of Alina! :)

We decided to try a root canal instead of extraction. Ania was SO GOOD!! We're keeping our fingers crossed that this will work and we don't have to get it extracted...

You can see the xray with the other root canal in the background :)

Self portraits. She took about 10 of these.

And here is Alina's big tooth adventure! Here it is before it came out:

She was very worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't know what to do with it. So she decided to write a note to her. She has me say each letter out loud, and she writes it. I shortened it a bit... she wanted to write "Tooth Fairy, Take my tooth - you can keep it. Leave me money."

Here it is!!

Such a big girl!

Yesterday I picked the girls up early from day care and took them to a new park. They had a lot of fun. :)

More Mwanza

2012-01-22T13:05:00.001-05:00

Rhoda was showing our safari guide's sons some pictures of the Serengeti. They have never been there.....

Making rounds at the hospital

The hospital cafeteria.... Mafwimbo and I get chai and samosas there.... YUMMY!

Our house where we live.... Quite nice actually.... Not ALL of the comforts of home, but there are many...

Thought you'd enjoy seeing our shower..... Don't ask why it is 2' off the floor. This shower actually "works".... The shower in our bedroom has no shower head, no hot water, and no shower curtain. The sink in our bedroom is permanently clogged.....

The mosquito netting doesn't QUITE meet.....

Just a boat sailing on Lake Victoria

We took a sunset cruise out on the lake. It was beautiful.

The Sizzler Restaurant..... No, no "relation" to the one in the U.S.

I took Mafwimbo to lunch. I ordered fried fish..... Guess I'll cross that one off my list, as well!

Mafwimbo and me. She'd never been to this hotel restaurant...

The orphanage.

Two med students from Australia and some of the kids with the bubbles.

Have you ever seen a happier baby?

They all want a piece of you, so the easiest way is to just sit with them.

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2012-01-15T14:46:00.000-05:00

So this is a new food for me so I thought I'd share. They pound black-eyed peas to make flour. Then they make the dough like to. When that's ready they put it in plastic bottles to cool. She said it's green from the onions. I think it tastes kind of like corn bread. Could use some honey butter. :)

Yolkless egg

2012-01-12T10:43:00.001-05:00

I had to look that up. Here is what Wikipedia says about yolkless eggs:

Yolkless eggs

Eggs without yolk are called "dwarf" or "wind" eggs.^[8] Such an egg is most often a pullet's first effort, produced before her laying mechanism is fully ready. In a mature hen, a wind egg is unlikely, but can occur if a bit of reproductive tissue breaks away, stimulating the egg producing glands to treat it like a yolk and wrap it in albumen, membranes and a shell as it travels through the egg tube. This will occur if, instead of a yolk, the egg contains a small particle of grayish tissue. An archaic term for a no yolk egg is a "cock" egg.^[9] Since they contained no yolk and therefore can't hatch, it was traditionally believed that these eggs were laid by roosters.^{[citation needed]} This type of egg occurs in many varieties of fowl. They have been found in chickens, both standard and bantams, guineas and coturnix quail. See Cock egg.

More Pfotos

2012-01-05T16:32:00.001-05:00

I can't sleep so I decided to post a pfew more pictures. We saw tons of zebras. Tons. Mom said you'd see so many you'd get tired of them. But I have to say every time we passed them I wanted to stop and look and take pictures. And look. They wanted to look at me! And why not, I ask you.

More wildebeest crossing the river. If you look at the left you can see them running.

Wildebeest and zebras lead the great migration. They travel together. The wildebeest smell the water and the zebras smell predators. They make a good team.

This is not a cheetah but a leopard. He was hanging out in a sausage tree.

We saw this leopard a few minutes later. That is not a sausage tree.

The sun set on our first day and I was sad. But I got a nice pfoto.

This giraffe was taking a drink. I thought they spread their legs but this one is kneeling. So that was interesting. That is the only giraffe I saw drinking I think.

Finally, Mom got an egg with no yolk. So that was interesting, too.

The Serengeti

2012-01-05T10:22:00.002-05:00

We had a great safari in the Serengeti!

We saw sooooo many animals. My favorite was the giraffe. There are two types of giraffes. This is the kind where the spots go down the legs, the Masai Giraffe.

Our guide got us so close to the animals. This was about the third animal we saw when getting into the park. About 45 minutes in. I got really scared and moved to the back of the vehicle. But then I got used to it and started snapping away. That's a lion. :)

That's an ostrich. See how his legs are red? He isn't sunburnt. They do that when they are trying to attract a mate.

This cute monkey is nursing. I don't know what kind of monkey. I'll have to look it up and get back to you.

We say the first or early part of the great migration. It is thousands of wildebeest crossing the river. Fascinating. If they are pregnant and there is no water they can stay pregnant for an extra two months waiting for the rains!

Cheetah.

I added this one (don't know the name of the bird) because look at the bird at the bottom! It is hard getting a good picture of a bird flying. I thought this one looked pfun.

This was on the last day with our tour guide Marcely. He was great. If you go to the Serengeti, ask for him. Insist on it. Dad did and it was great. We saw so many animals and birds and learned so much!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T17:01:00.004-05:00

This post is going to work out to be in reverse chronological order, but I think it works better that way with the title of the post. :)

We celebrated New Year's Eve here. Well, not on those rocks, but where I was when I took the picture of those rocks. We had to go early and buy tickets. It was a restaurant on Lake Victoria in Mwanza. It was pretty. The rocks are cool

But you can see how I think blue skies make the photographer. No blue sky, not a good picture.

The doors have holes poked in them and at night they light up. I know some people like interesting doors, so I took a picture because I thought of you.

This is the hospital where Dad works. I thought it looked very nice.

Nice landscaping.

A few food posts. This is a ginger beer they have. It's called Stoney Tangawizi. It's good. It's made by Coke.

At the hospital cafeteria one of Mom's friend told us to get the fish. So we did. That's the Tanzanian equivalent of to on the left (called ugali or something like that here. Made from manioc flour) and a fish head. Your eyes do not deceive you. It is served with a giant fish head.

We both didn't eat much and then went home and ate with Dad some delicious coconut milk curry.

For dinner for NYE we also had naan. I just had to show you bc I know some of you really like it and I thought of you.

I saw a snail today. He was too cute not to photo.

And here's Mom. There's a giant fish fountain in Mwanza. So we took our picture there after I ate grasshoppers. But those pictures are on Mom's camera.

Photos from Spice Tour

2011-12-28T11:45:00.001-05:00

We took a tour of a spice farm today..... Very interesting. This is a cinnamon tree.

This is a vanilla vine. Each piece between the leaves is a vanilla bean

We had lemon grass tea.... tasty!

We ate fresh coconut...

There was a "lipstick plant" that we used...

End of the tour picture. One of the guides made these leaf hats, bracelets, etc. Pretty PFUN!

Conversations with Ania

2011-12-27T11:36:00.003-05:00

(After opening her presents from Santa)
Ania: I must have been on the GOOD list!

------

Me (after she tried to give Alina some "guidance"): Ania, you're not the boss.
Ania: Mmm hmmm, I'm the boss of my baby and my duckie.

Masai Show

2011-12-27T06:45:00.002-05:00

There was a Masai Show.

First they sang. Or chanted I guess you could say.

I'm including the picture below because it is the sharpest and you can see the colors the best.

But what they really can do is jump. High. It is not easy taking a picture of someone jumping in the dark. For jumping you need a fast shutter speed. For the dark, slow. You can imagine...

But I tried.

Then I asked them if they wanted to take a picture with us. :) They said they did.

Photos from Stonetown

2011-12-26T11:18:00.001-05:00

Today we went to Stonetown, the heart of Zanzibar. We're staying on the NE coast and Stonetown is about an hour away by car.

They have these amazing doors here that are carved out of wood.

This is one of 2 Christian churches. Zanzibar is 90% Muslim, 7% Christian and 3% Hindi.

We went on a tour of an old slave trading post. This is a monument by Clara Sornas called Memory for the Slaves.

This is one of the 45 mosques. I think blue skies can make anyone a good photographer.

Here is the pool where we are staying.

And some trees outside. Trees that do silly things make me happy.

Merry Christmas from Zanzibar

2011-12-26T10:55:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!!!

I've tried a few times posting this, so this is going to be short. If it works I'll post more. Yes, it really is that beautiful here. More so.

What's Happening in My Neck of the Woods

2011-12-24T10:13:00.000-05:00

I was going to post a few days ago but decided it was better to give V and Mary top billing for a bit. We made it to Zanzibar. The beach is beautiful and worth all of the mishaps we had to get here. These photos are from the BpF.

I'm learning to make tea. Hopefully when I get home I'll be a good faki and can make tea for you. Faki is the person who makes tea. It's kind of hard! You can't just set the timer. In fact they say I'm very American because I want to know exact measurements and time to make the tea. Tea making is not like that. I want to tell them it should be! My tea is not good so I don't want to make it too often because I like the good tea. But I should make it so I can practice.

Here are the pictures from when we fixed the school pump.

The tube goes this deep to get water. I think it's 50 meters.

All of that standing water is gross and we are working on that, too. It's from the pump. When you pump water not all of the water goes into the bucket, but some leaks out. The drain area is broken so this happens. It smells like a feed lot.

The school garden where they are rebuilding the fence. We will plant trees in here for a living fence. I hope it works.

Here they are bringing wood and then then students' fathers attached it to the posts.

This is how they make bricks. It's kind of like how you make pasta. You mix the cement and sand and make a big mound like with the flour in pasta. The water is the eggs and mix it the same way, bringing everything in to the middle. They have a mold and make one brick at a time. This is what we are going to use to clean the standing water from the pump.

Oh look! There's me hauling water on my head!

Vittoria's Favorite Song

2011-12-20T20:37:00.002-05:00

Vittoria's current favorite song is "Railroad Lady" by Willie Nelson (I could not be more proud). She calls it "The Home Song." I promised that if she sang it for the camera, I would put it on the internet. Here it is.

Mary is Funny

2011-12-20T20:21:00.002-05:00

I got a new phone, so I dumped all the pictures I took from my old one onto the computer. I was looking through the pictures and didn't realize that I had some gems. Probably the best, though, is this video. I have no idea where I was or what I was expecting when I took it.

Some sad news...

2011-12-12T22:17:00.005-05:00

Alina is losing her bottom front 2 teeth (a bit early, but not unheard of)... that's sad enough because my baby is growing up! :( But even worse than that is that Ania's top front tooth that did not have a root canal is dying and will need to be extracted. So I guess the race is on to see who gets a visit from the tooth fairy first! Alina has until January 4th to lose hers or Ania will beat her!

On an unfortunately-most-likely-related topic, the dentist did recommend some fingernail paint-ish stuff for her thumb that should help her kick that habit. Tonight is the first night of trying that, we will see how it goes!

Just so this isn't a completely text post, here are some pictures after my real estate Christmas party last week where they both got their faces painted.

Alina got a unicorn

Ania got Hello Kitty

Christmas Cookies...

2011-12-12T21:58:00.004-05:00

I made Christmas cookies. Last time I made Christmas cookies, Rhoda was here to help me, so I thought about her a lot while making these. It is definitely more fun when there is someone else in the kitchen with you! Anyway, they all turned out pretty tasty. Here they are...

Chocolate dipped toffee bits cookies with chopped pecans
(not the real name :) )

I forgot to take pictures earlier in the process. These are my favorite. Shortbread bites topped with white chocolate and peppermint pieces.

On the plate you can see a mixture of cookies. I'm sad I didn't take pictures before they got to the plate. There are candycane cookies, the toffee/chocolate/nut cookies, oatmeal cookies with white chocolate chips and dried cherries, and the shortbread peppermint cookies. Apparently I took the picture before I added the oatmeal toffee bars topped with chocolate.
Tonight I made chocolate thumbprint cookies (2 varieties: one with nuts, one with sugar, both topped with Hershey Kisses), and chocolate peppermint cookies. The plain chocolate ones actually still need to be dipped in white chocolate and topped with broken peppermint pieces, but it says those are best the day they are dipped, and our cookie party is on Wednesday so I decided to wait for the final step.

And that's all. Except I didn't get a picture of those bars. Oh well.

Pics

2011-11-30T12:09:00.002-05:00

Alina tried on Grandma's glasses

Then Ania did.

The girls got a new bunk bed (very fun!!)... last night Alina was reading books to Ania up there. The idea was that one would sleep on top bunk and the other on bottom (because they like to sleep in the same room), but they decided it's best if they both sleep on the top bunk together.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T16:38:00.007-05:00

The big picture

The eaters

And, the little pictures.
Turkey
Frog eye

Spinach

Eating Aunt Jo's popcorn balls

Choke!

Ania's birthday party

2011-11-28T16:10:00.007-05:00

Here you go, Rhoda! :)

Ania did the finishing touches on her hair.

Josh the party animal...

Time for cake! Finally, everyone gets to say happy birthday to her. She had been asking about this since her birthday (a week earlier)...
Blowing out the candles

Josh and Alina playing video games

Grandpa and Alina playing air hockey

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

I know it's a little late, but this is my passive aggressive way of asking where are the pictures from your Thanksgivings? And Ania's birthday party? And any pictures of Katie, Mary and V? And any other fun things you have been doing. I'm tired of looking at acheke.

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2011-11-17T07:07:00.000-05:00

This is my favorite acheke at Maison de la Femme.

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2011-11-14T11:50:00.000-05:00

Duck with mango sauce in the capital. It was good but very expensive. $9. More than I make in a day.

Halloween and Ania's birthday

2011-11-11T14:30:00.006-05:00

Here are some pictures from Halloween. I forgot to get a picture of the back of Ania's costume, but it was really stinkin cute. (Ha :)) Alina decided that she should wear a princess crown with her bumblebee outfit. I mean, why not?
Skunks like to suck their thumbs too!

Ania wanted to wait for a friend to get her cast off for her birthday party (she got it off this week), so on her actual birthday we went to Chuck E Cheese, and the real birthday party will be this weekend. Here are some pics from Chuck E Cheese's:

She actually started screaming (in fright, not excitement) when she saw Chuck E Cheese.
Alina is very brave.

Acheke.jpg

2011-11-10T08:15:00.000-05:00

This isn't my normal acheke. Usually it is served with fish and fresh tomatoes. They tried to be fancy but I like it they regular way.

The Missing Pfood Posts

2011-11-10T06:15:00.001-05:00

Burkina Faso is not Italy.

They have two dishes, though, that make you dream of the land yonder. I present Burkina's version of macaroni.

Above is what happens when I try to cook. :) The recipe is as follows:

Boil 400g macaroni
Drain water
Add 2 cans of sardines in oil, undrained
Add a couple tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste
Share with the children next door whose parents left them home alone all day with no food.

Let me tell you this. While you might not think this looks delicious, they were happy as anything to have this. They LOVE sardines here. So this was a real treat.

Macaroni Two

This was lunch yesterday. They cook it in a huge pot. What is curious though, is they measure the water so they don't have to drain anything. When they have seen how I make macaroni, they tell me I waste too much water. This is their recipe, as far as I can tell.

Add 3 cups oil (palm) to the pot (maybe 3 cups is an exaggeration, but it's a lot)
To this, add tomato paste and onions
Fry the fish
Remove fish
Add water to the tomato/onion oil and bring to boil
Add pasta and cook till mushy
Serve

Tô

This is the Burkinabe national dish. They love it like we love hamburgers, or in keeping with the Italian theme, Italians love pizza. They can't get enough of it. Many people eat it everyday, twice a day. They make a big pot of it and eat it at night and then eat what's left for breakfast the next day. They LOVE it. I read a description that it's like polenta in Italy. I do believe you could get shot for telling an Italian that, but what do I know about Italians?

The preparation is to first pound the corn or wheat into flour. They do that by hand. I'll have to get a photo. You can imagine. Then you cook it over the fire till it becomes thick with a to stick. Most people have a special tô stick. I'll also have to get a picture of that. It's basically a branch from a tree that has 3 smaller branches coming off the stirring end. Similar to a whisk. They then ladle it out with a special gourd spoon so that it makes the little patties you see here and let it cool.

I don't know what sauce this was. The 12 year old girl next door made it. It was kind of spicy, had meat and was pretty good. I think there was also soumbala. That is a taste I'm getting used to. I was thinking of trying to bring some home so you could taste it. At first I really didn't like it. It has a very strange smell and taste.

Last night the mom next door cooked. She said she was sorry there wasn't any meat or fish in the sauce. But I think it's very nice she shares. Especially since I never cook so I don't share with here.

Anyway, she made this sauce. I have no idea what it was. In some bites I thought I tasted a little peanut butter. But then I also thought maybe it was okra. No idea.

They also eat this with their hands. I have no idea how. I eat it with a spoon.

For lunch I hope to get my favorite dish, acheke. Acheke is like couscous. It is made from the cassava root. And my phone is charging so I'll be able to post. See you in a couple hours!

Tuesday's lunch

2011-11-08T09:02:00.000-05:00

Ignam with tomato sauce and a little fish.

Pork

2011-11-07T05:48:00.001-05:00

This is a treat they make in a mud oven. Then its in a local beer sauce with tomatoes, onions and hot peppers. It's good if they don't give you a plate of fat and/or bones. Today it's full of meat and good.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving

2011-11-06T10:19:00.000-05:00

This is the bird I'm going to eat. And yes. I'm still hungry after that holiday feast. And for breakfast I found a care package treat. A granola bar!

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2011-11-06T09:44:00.000-05:00

Chicken. I ate 2 pieces before I emembered the photo.

Tabasky

2011-11-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

Starts with salad and something that's like pork rinds. But not obviously. Shrimp crackers.

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2011-11-06T06:22:00.000-05:00

My neighbor brought me dinner tonight which was very nice. Sometimes she does that. If she doesn't I eat candy or crackers for dinner. Or I don't eat because cooking with no fridge and no sink is no fun. This is ignam. I think that's how its spelled. It's a huge root vegetable about as fat as a football and about 3/4 the length of your arm. It's very hairy and has to be peeled. If you don't peel it properly you get a funny taste in the back of your throat. This was in some sort of tomato broth.

Unfortunately my battery is too low to send this tonight. I'm thinking of getting another one (battery that is) for back up. For some reason my solar charger and BlackBerry don't get along.

In other food news this weekend is Tabasky so you will get to see holiday food on Sunday! What luck to have picked this project this week.

Lunch

2011-11-04T08:51:00.000-05:00

Rice with fish. A tail. I eat it with a spoon. They eat with their hands.

Pfood in Apfrica

2011-11-04T02:23:00.000-05:00

I was talking to Molli and decided it would be pfun if pfor a week I posted the pfood I ate. This is breakfast. Everyday I eat the same thing. Oatmeal with honey and powdered milk. I drink either coffee (like today from my Pfrench press) or tea. I also take my malaria pill and daily vitamin. See you at lunch!

The garden complete

2011-10-31T01:40:00.000-05:00

I didn't do much which made me sad, but isn't it pretty? Carrots, cucumbers, peppers, peas, beets and things they eat here that I don't know the words in English.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T21:48:00.006-05:00

Happy Halloween!!

I was inspired by this picture to make Halloween cookies. The original intent was to do this with the girls earlier in the day... but somehow the day got away from us! They did help make the cookies, but they were in bed for decorating time. Mine didn't turn out quite as cute as the original, but hey. I tried.

Here are the witches:

At the bottom of that recipe, it says how to make bats. Notice there are no pictures of the bats in their recipe. I tried to follow the directions, but I'm pretty sure theirs turned out differently than ours. There are also cats in this picture, which the recipe did not have directions for. I thought they would turn out cute, but those didn't either. Jay helped with these.

And some ghosts and pumkins (Jay did not help with these).

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2011-10-30T07:17:00.000-05:00

Garden day at my house. The kids took over.

Berlin

2011-10-25T13:59:00.000-05:00

I was sooo happy to be here!

I tried to do Berlin in one day. I started before sunrise. Had breakfast and walked to the gate. One the way I saw this pfun jewlery store.

And not five minutes later I saw this pfun street sign.

Here's part of the wall that remains.

Look how pfun some Berliner was.

I thought this was a church and almost didn't stop. But then I went in and it was a church turned into a museum. It was beautiful inside. No photos allowed.

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2011-10-25T13:25:00.000-05:00

Test
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Airtel Burkina Faso.

Kokidunks

2011-10-09T10:19:00.004-05:00

Today Ania told me she wanted to wear her "koh-ki-dunks". I wasn't sure what that meant, so I had her show me.

So I said "Oooooooooh, polka dots..." and she said "Yeah, kokidunks." That made me laugh.

And here is Alina... isn't she getting big!!?

Poland

2011-10-09T07:24:00.002-05:00

Back in Burkina. Sigh. But not before giving you my last few photos. The vacation was great. I loved Poland. It was so pretty!

This is Poznań's city hall.

After that I took the train south to Krakow. Took the late train at 4pm to arrive at 10:30 so I could see Poznan. After about 20 minutes the ticket man came to check my ticket. He said something to me in Polish, which I did not understand. So I said, "I don't speak Polish." So he said it again, only louder. (This was not helpful.) So I repeated what he said with a questioning look on my face. He said, what I understood to be, yes and left. I knew I couldn't change the situation, so I decided not to worry about it and go back to my book. We didn't get in until after 1am. I think he was trying to tell me they had switched the trains and now instead of it being an regional train it was an inter-city. Or the other way around. Anyway, it seemed as though I was the only one who didn't know this because when it was 10:30 and I was ready to get off the train, everyone else was sleeping. I guess they all speak Polish and knew what was going on.

I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was huge!

These are the latrines. Living with a latrine daily, when I first saw these I thought, "They didn't did that hole deep enough. This would overfill right away." The should be dug about 2.5 meters deep. These were probably less than one meter. In fact, I was right. It was someone's job to clean this daily. They had to bucket out all of the waste everyday. The guide said this was considered a good job, though, because that meant you got to be inside when it was cold or rainy and you got constant access to the latrine rather than only once or twice a day like other prisoners.

I also visted the Salt Mines. My pictures didn't turn out very well, so I'll spare you the details.

This is Sukiennice in the main square. It was pretty. When I went inside, though, it was just stalls full of tourist junk. :(

Long arm photos start. I'm glad my camera has GPS so I can remember where I was. I don't remember the name of this wall. But now they have concerts in there.

I think this is St. Andrew's Church. But I kind of forget. Good thing my camera has GPS and when I upload them I'll know exactly where I was!

I love nuns. Couldn't resist taking her photo.

Finally, this was in St. Mary's Basilica.

All that's left now is Berlin. And nine more months of Burkina.

Riga and $tockholm

2011-10-03T06:43:00.000-05:00

Made it to Riga. It was cute. Not as cute as Tallinn, but still fun.

The Three Brothers are the oldest complex of houses in Riga, and each represents various periods of development of dwelling house construction in the Middle Ages.

We stumbled on this amazing bakery called Regensis. It was awesome. I realize this isn't a food blog, so I'll limit myself to 4 photos. :)

The first day I got cherry strudel. You can see it on the far right.

The second day I discovered this wonderful little treat. It's called biezpiena kuka which means "Rhoda could eat 50". It is basically whipcream with lemon zest and fruit on top. I looked for recipes, but of course they are all in Latvian. This will be a bigger project when I get home.

Nativity of Christ Cathedral

We went to the Riga Car Museum. Isn't this motorcycle silly? They had lots of fun cars there.

The House of the Blackheads was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. The structure was bombed by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999.

$tockholm

This is Riksbankshuset. Formerly the Central Bank but used by the Parliament since 1983.

Riksdagshuset. Another government building.

Storkyrkan Church

I really loved this statue. It is called St George and the Dragon by Bernt Notke. The dragon's horns are elk horns!

Schantzka Huset. According to legend each of the white stones (90) commemorates a victim in the Blood-bath in 1520.

Riddarhuset (House of Nobility) Maintains records and acts as an interest group on behalf of the Swedish nobility.

If you win the Nobel Prize, this is where you'll eat dinner in December. The Stockholm City Hall. Our tour guide told us that each winner sits by a member of royalty on one side of them. I thought that was stupid. I'd rather bring two guests and sit by someone I like.

This is the Nordiska Muskeet. A museum. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go in. :(

Finally, we went to the biggest tourist trap in all of Stockholm. Stayed for about 15 minutes and left. But, hey. We did it.

Helsinki and Tallinn

2011-09-30T01:35:00.000-05:00

Taking a much needed break from life in the BF.

We took a cruise around Helsinki.

Uspenski Cathedral

Tuomiokirkko

Pueblo in the house!

Market Square

Food. I miss good food. Europe is thankfully not in short supply. When we pass a bakery like this I insist we stop and get something.

One night I got reindeer for dinner. It was very good.

Tallinn

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

One one of our pie stops (this time was cheese cake) a bird decided to join us. Well, actually there were three of them.

And then he ate out of Matt's hand!

Kadriorg Palace

She's silly.

E-mealz

2011-09-23T10:42:00.002-05:00

I really do. For just $5/month I have all of my meals planned and my grocery shopping list complete for me! The meals are quite tasty as well. It is the best thing ever. I highly recommend it. :)

Late Summer...

2011-09-21T15:55:00.005-05:00

Aunt Libby came to town for a couple of days, so we went to Casa Bonita for lunch. What a hit that was!!!! So much fun!!!!!

A couple of Buff fans with Ralphie!

Rhoda, here are some pictures of the tailgate food at the CU-CSU game Saturday....YUMMY stuff!

Mark Schlereth has his own green chile now....

Getting ready for the birthday lunch.....

4th of July pics

2011-09-20T15:59:00.004-05:00

Here are some of the pictures we had taken while Derek and family were out for the 4th of July...

It was hard to get all 5 to take a good picture at the same time!

Reading Camp

2011-09-16T09:45:00.001-05:00

I did a reading camp in Niankorodougou at the library there. It really makes me want to get a library in Sanga. We did all sorts of things during the week. Talked about AIDS, Malaria, early pregnancy, food hygine, read books, arts and crafts and sang songs.

The kids made paper airplanes.

This is the place where the classes were held. The library has the space for studying and classes.

I thought it was very nice. But I've been living in W Africa for a year. But it was!!

I worked with these 5 kids in our small group sessions. The book he is holding is about taking care of babies but more about family planning and the importance of not having children too young.

We also read as a class out of their books from 4th grade. All of the students are getting ready to start 5th grade. There is a BIG test they have to pass to be able to go to middle school called the CEP. In Sanga about 40% passed. But last year it was only about 20. Hooray Sanga!

Conversations with Mary

2011-09-13T16:31:00.002-05:00

Me - (in my new navy blue scrubs) What do you think, Mary, do I look like a dentist.
Mary - Actually you look like a karate player in blue.

Vittoria's First Soccer Game

2011-09-10T10:56:00.001-05:00

And she scored a goal.

Note Mary's enthusiasm.

School Garden

2011-08-19T11:04:00.002-05:00

We started the school garden today with a living fence. I plowed with an ox.

Then we planted trees. Over 300. We planted Jatropha. Next we will fix the pump. There is talk of enclosing the whole school grounds now to feed the school. I hope it works!!

The big bad wolf peed in Ania's pants today.

2011-08-13T17:26:00.000-05:00

My Pfarm

2011-08-10T09:39:00.000-05:00

Well, it's not really a pfarm but a garden. And Sanga is like a pfarm. And I have a chicken.

One of the things I was most excited to do here was have a garden. And here it is. We started it when the rains came with black-eyed peas. I wanted to do beans so they could fix nitrogen in the soil. Then when they are 10-50% to flower I'll do a double dig and plant tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, etc...

I have started the double dig here. It's a lot of work. First you add a one inch layer of compost. Then, dig 12" deep and loosen the soil another 12 inches down. Here, 12 inches down you hit rock. So we did 12 and will try again after this first round of crops.

We also are doing peanuts.

I have a tomato. They grew in my compost pit on accident. I throw old water from the "kitchen sink" (read: bucket). The seeds then germinated and I got tomatoes!

Termites are a big problem here. My fence posts have been up for about six months and are already completely rotten and need to be replaced. So I decided to plant moringa trees instead. First you soak the seeds for 24 hours.

Then, you plant them one inch deep.

Then they grow. :) They are supposed to grow very quickly. Hopefully I'll have an update soon.

My chicken had chicks. All of those are not hers. She was chosen to be the mother out of all the chickens. I'm not sure how she (and me) got so lucky. But there she is! Isn't she a good mom?

On a sad note, my dog died. But the next day Mouta and Boukari found a puppy. So that was good. Isn't she cute?

Mouta likes her. Her name is TuPa. I wanted to call her Sugar. I guess they didn't like it. I also suggested Wheelbarrow because they can't say it and make fun of me when I can't say things in Nooni.

Bukari really thought it would be fun to take a photo with the turkey. I was scared. But he just grabbed it.

She is already tangling with the rooster.

Alina's dance recital

2011-08-05T07:06:00.005-05:00

First ballet (Alina is in the black leotard)

Then tap

She then proceeded to take 48 pictures from the time her recital ended until we got to the car. They were good, but unfortunately I don't have time to post those right now.

Gfana Part 2 (but really part 1)

2011-07-31T07:01:00.002-05:00

Here are some pfotos of the pfirst part of our trip. We took a bus from Waga to Kumasi and got in about 4am. Then we took another bus to Busua.

I forget the name of that little island. I wanted to swim there but then thought better of it because while swimming there would be fun, swimming back would not.

This is where I spent most of my time. In the hammock. It was great.

We at breakfast at Daniel's. It was great. He's famous in these parts.

There was a monkey in Busua. Several. They scared me. Hugo told me to get closer for a nice photo. Too scary. Lots of things scare me here that I didn't think would be so scary.

I drank milk from a coconut. That was not scary.

We ordered nachos. It wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but still good.

We walked to Dixcove. It was a very nice walk.

Fort Metal Cross or something like that. We hiked up there didn't go in. It was closed.

Surprise! John was there!

There was a dead shark on the beach when we got home.

Gfana

2011-07-30T10:10:00.001-05:00

I went to Gfana. And that was fun. First we went to Busua (Pictures of that coming. I forgot the memory card.) Then we went to Cape Coast,. It was very pretty.

There is a castle there which was a slave trading post from the 1600s. There were 3 dungeons for men and 3 for women, plus an isolation cell and another one for people who tried to escape. Those pictures didn't turn out so well.

I liked the canons. And my panoramic camera. :)

Oh look! There's me!

I went with 4 other volunteers. Hilary, Hugo, Shannon and Nick.

Really? I mean, I guess if your hands are backwards, but I think this looks off.

Hope to get more posted soon, before heading back to site. Miss you!!

I'm a little teapot, and I'm a little teacup

2011-07-14T08:53:00.002-05:00

Alina's version (I'm a little teapot)

Ania's version (I'm a little teacup)

Conversations with Katie/Things That Make Me Proud

2011-07-09T13:20:00.001-05:00

Katie (after seeing a sign in Meijer that said "What's better than a Weber?") - A Big Green Egg.

Happy 4th of July! I painted my house today.

2011-07-04T18:27:00.002-05:00

You can compare it to the picture from Mom and Dad's visit. The second floor still needs a second coat, but I still think it looks much better. I love my neighbor. Not only did he tell me he thinks it looks much better, but just when I was thinking it may have been worth it to pay someone $500 to paint it for me, he let me know that just the facade would cost $3-4k to have someone do. One of the more popular companies costs $10k! That made me think it was worth it.

Katie Learns to Ride a Bike

2011-06-27T19:06:00.003-05:00

Hey, Katie! Did you learn anything new today?

Hey, Katie! How do you feel?

(based on this
)

Sorry to anyone tired of Disneyworld photos. :(

2011-06-26T12:34:00.004-05:00

At the pool. Yes, that is a waterfall in the background.

Pool competitions include the Macarena

Too tired to keep her eyes open, but not tired enough to nap

With the characters

2011-06-26T12:25:00.005-05:00

So many princesses in under one roof! Thanks, Derek, for that great arrangement!

From this picture, you might not guess taking a picture with Sully was something V wanted to do

On the rides

2011-06-26T12:22:00.003-05:00

Aladdin's carpet was the same a the Dumbo ride (long lines included), except you ride on a magic carpet instead of a magic elephant

Race cars were a hit

Snapshots at Disneyworld

2011-06-26T11:41:00.007-05:00

At Cinderella's castle, we all got to make a wish. Some of the kids took it more seriously than others.

Mary's "new fake smile"

Looks like someone is tired. Or maybe her eyes were just closing even though she wasn't tired.

My version of the trash can photo

Which of these is still excited to be at Disneyworld?

All of these shots came out blurry because my flash wasn't working, but I thought it was cute anyway.

The Noga family in front of the castle. We happened to see a couple get engaged in front of the castle this visit. I'd never seen that before.

Knocking on Piglet's door (he never answered)

Disneyworld

2011-06-25T15:26:00.009-05:00

Here are some of our pictures from the big trip to Disneyworld...

Day 1, the 5 girls on the way to Magic Kingdom

They must have known we were coming, because the show started right as we walked in!
Watching the show

Aunt Libby became the favorite for taking Ania on Dumbo...

Snow White

Thrill ride!

Uncle Derek and Vittoria

Minnie Mouse

Dance party!

Ania with her favorite thing to spot around Disneyworld... trash cans! She still points them out when we go to parks and other public places :)

Sci-Fi diner for lunch in the cars

Lunch with Pooh and friends!

Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area

Having a blast

Swimming - Alina has the glasses that help her not to fall asleep in the pool

One of the higlights - lunch at Cinderella's castle with the princesses!

Libby, I'm pretty sure they were all looking at you for these pictures... so if you don't mind sending me your copies that would be terrific. :)

Grandpa pushing Ania

One of Alina's favorite rides... Splash Mountain!

Conversations with Mary

2011-06-22T16:59:00.001-05:00

Mary - If corn was a country, it would be my second favorite.
Me - What would be your favorite?
Mary - PARIS!!
Me - Mary, Paris is not a country.
Mary - I mean continent.

Conversations with Vittoria

2011-06-21T17:50:00.001-05:00

To Katie: You aren't doing anything, you're just doing something.

Conversation with Ania

2011-06-17T07:53:00.001-05:00

Ania: Sharing makes my tummy ache.

Mary Plays Soccer

2011-06-12T09:05:00.002-05:00

Kids will make liars out of you. Mary continues to want to play soccer next year, despite the fact that she causes more trouble during practice than anyone else. I had Mom take the video camera to Mary's soccer game to show her what she did during the games so we could try to convince her that she didn't love to play.
Here is what we were expecting to see.

But then, she did this.

And this.

This was her response.

Now, I am confused. And scared that I will have to continue to coach her team.

Pfun Times in Burkina Pfaso

2011-06-12T07:07:00.001-05:00

One of my projects has been helping the school PTA association raise money. We do that by selling soap. This is Aminata stirring the soap when we make it. First you stir the tanginex for about 10 min till it looks like shaving cream.

You mix the kilo of tangisex with a kilo of salt with 7.5 L of water and 7.5 L fresh water. Slowly you first add the salt water. Little by little. Then little by little the fresh water. Then you let it sit for 24 hours and add the color and perfume.

Then we bottle it and sell it for 125CFA.

With this we will net 4500. Gross about 3000CFA. $6US.

Here I am with the soccer team. At regionals they lost their first game and won the second in penalty kicks. It was fun.

The Nooni are famous for cooking pig, which I don't understand because a lot of them are Muslim, but I just go with it. It's one of the delicious treats here. They cook it in a mud oven and the put a beer sauce on it with tomatoes, onions and hot peppers.

This is the pump where I get my water. Well, I don't. I send children to get me water. :)

I have other photos, but blogger or the BF is acting funny and won't let me. I blame the latter. So I'll post this and see what happens. Miss you all.

Conversations with Mary

2011-06-04T17:58:00.001-05:00

I have burping asthma.

Pfun times at Disney World!

2011-05-30T20:25:00.005-05:00

Watching a performance...

Waiting for the bus

Walking at the hotel

Riding the bus back to the hotel

Pooh and Eyore were a little too scary for V

Pooh didn't scare Katie

The princesses didn't scare anyone.

Ready for the pool

Downtown Disney

Minnie wasn't scary either

Waterfall by pool

Cooling off in the pool

Dessert at the princess lunch.

Playing "Fly" with Uncle Josh

It's hot....

Lunch with the princesses. What could be more pfun????

Discussing world events.....

We all had a WONDERFUL week!

Videos

2011-05-21T07:59:00.002-05:00

I finally got a flip video phone, so it's easier to post videos!

Alina's preschool 'continuation ceremony' was yesterday. They performed 2 songs for us, they were both very cute. Here is one of them.

Here is Ania performing a song at the kitchen table. Probably not the safest performance stage, but it made me laugh.

Here is the other song from Alina's preschool ceremony.

When I showed her this video today, when the hat part came on she said "Mommy, I need help." and I said "yeah, you were having a hard time getting the hat on, weren't you?" And she said "Yes. Mommy, next time can you please help me when I need help?" :(

Katie's 8th Birthday

2011-05-17T20:43:00.002-05:00

Katie had a bowling party. Katie, what did you think of it?

Katie, can you and a couple of your friends strike a pose?

The cake.

And the singing.

And the games.

It's almost like you were there.

Vittoria the Builder

2011-05-17T20:27:00.002-05:00

Building towers taller than she is.

I'm tired

2011-05-17T20:24:00.003-05:00

I think I'll take a nap.

But I don't want to lose my thought. I'll just hold the marker and start right where I left off.

Conversations with Vittoria

2011-05-07T11:27:00.001-05:00

Mmmmm...plain.

Conversations with Mary

2011-05-07T09:39:00.001-05:00

For my next birthday I'm going to be six and a half.

Conversations with Mary

2011-05-07T06:55:00.001-05:00

I learned my lesson last time. Don't look another way when you're pouring syrup.

Conversations with Vittoria

2011-05-03T19:24:00.001-05:00

After we tucked her in - "Can I close my door so you don't see me play with my dollhouse?"

April Travels

2011-05-01T17:36:00.007-05:00

Before going to see Libby, we went to Brownwood, TX, to warm up a bit. We had a Really fun time with the Moores.

Our first morning in DC, Libby had signed us up for a photography class, where we walked along the Washington City Canal, which goes beside the Potomac River... We saw the turtles sunning on a log.

We were there after the peak of the blossoms, but there were LOTS still in bloom. They were beautiful!

We went to eat at Pasta Mia's. They don't take reservations, and they only have a few tables. You have to line up about 45 minutes before it opens if you want to get a table, BUT it's totally worth it! The owner makes each order individually! He was really fun.

Dad and Libby were trying to do some things on Dad's Blackberry while we waited.....

Libby's house (the ivory one)..... FINALLY she owns it!

Front of the FBI place at Quantio.

Achilles and Houdini are still lots of fun.

We took a walk along the Mall during the evening....

Tapas at one of the local places.....

Before we started our day, we went out for breakfast. Dad got a Belgium waffle, which was about 1/4 as big as he thought it should be! He was pretty saaaaad.

We took the subway a lot.....

A couple of tourists at the Arboretum...

At one of the trails in the Arboretum, you can see the capitol and the Washington monument.

We went to a Chinese restaurant for Pejing Duck.... YUM!!!

A really PFUN time!!!!!

Conversation with Alina

2011-04-28T08:39:00.002-05:00

(Right after waking up last night crying with stomach pain and then vomiting)

Alina: Puking is not fun.
Me: No, it isn't.
Alina: But eating lunch is fun...
Me: You're right, eating lunch is fun.
Alina: And playing is fun...

Conversation with Alina

2011-04-25T16:32:00.003-05:00

Me: (After Alina fell asleep in her car seat on the way to Target) Are you tired?
Alina: No, my eyes were just closing. They wanted to close and I tried to keep them open but I couldn't.

So I Got A Camera

2011-04-24T11:56:00.000-05:00

And here are some photos. In to particular order. I had to resize them so I hope they post ok and aren't too small.

This is my friend Mouta. He's 7. He likes Hannah Montana and taking photos with my camera. They are what you would expect. Inside of my Nutella jar, my candy, can opener. I thought about posting them but then realized it takes about an hour to upload pictures here. See Mary's recent pics and you get the idea.

Tea here is my favorite thing. It takes about two hours. Not kidding. If you rush it you can have tea in an hour, but they don't like doing that. This tea is for hanging out and chatting. You have two little pots, like this. The tea simmers in there for about 45 minutes.

Then you put it in a cup and let it sit while you make another pot. Maybe two. After that you add sugar and pour the tea into the cup and back into the pot about 50 times. Maybe I'm exaggerating. But not much. Like how you stir OJ when you can't shake it.

After that you get a shot of tea. And it's awesome. Well, each pot makes about six shots of tea. So if I'm lucky and there is only one other person there I will get six to ten shots. I will put up with a lot of nonsense for that little shot right there. Sometimes they add fresh ginger to the tea or vanilla sugar. Or peppermint candy. I think it would be fun to add cinnamon candy. We tried Hot Tamales, but that didn't work. A cinnamon hard candy is needed.

Sanga has a soccer team. Here they are. The first game the other team didn't show up so they advanced to the next round. Here is the team photo from the second game. The team was very late (two hours) and I asked one of the students what he thought had happened. He said, without missing a beat, "They're scared." They never showed up (miscommunication) and Sanga advanced to the next round. They had a game on Saturday and won. Legit.

Here's my garden. It is very lackluster because the pump for the water broke shortly after I made it. Boo. No water. Hopefully when the rains come I can do something nice. You can see my latrine and outdoor shower there. The latrine is the door on the right. I don't use the shower because I have an indoor shower. Big luxury. It means I don't have to carry a bucket full of water outside. More importantly it means I don't have to walk outside in my towel or carry all of my clothes and other things.

I made a video of the inside of my house but am having problems finding the file from the camera on the computer. Also, I can seem to login to YouTube.

Happy Easter! Here we are on an Easter Egg Hunt. You can see the pool in the background. It's nice. I'm happy here. I don't want to go back. Pool. AC. Food.

These are the other volunteers that are with me. They are nice.

Conversation with Alina

2011-04-21T20:10:00.001-05:00

Alina: I'm four and I don't WANT to go to bed!

Conversations with Mary

2011-04-19T17:53:00.001-05:00

Mary - I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100. I mean 101.
Me - 100.
Mary - You got it exactly right.

Conversations with Mary

2011-04-16T17:41:00.001-05:00

I know there are lots of silent letters in "eight."

Mary the Joker

2011-04-11T21:06:00.005-05:00

Mary, as you may know, is quite the joker.

I will post Mary/English translations after you have had a chance to guess.

UPDATE: Here are the translations
What do you call a banana without a skin?
A banana skin.

Why is the cucumber so sad?
Because it is lonely (apparently it was alone in a three year old's tummy).

What do you call a vegetable that goes to the bathroom?
A pea.
(I thought it was a pee-pee-ya (a papaya) and told her that a papaya is a fruit. Alas, no and she spells pea with six letters)

What do you call a vegetable that sits on the grill?
A burning vegetable.

One onion plus one onion equals?
Two onions.

What do mashed potatoes and peas make?
Green mashed potatoes.

Let me know who had the most correct translations.

Homework

2011-04-11T20:58:00.001-05:00

Sparking

2011-04-11T20:57:00.001-05:00

Busy March

2011-03-28T16:01:00.008-05:00

Style Show.....

VV and the "Dooster"

Spring Time and the Bounce House

Mary's Birthday

Breakfast in Bed

interesting reading

VV gets a purple ribbon at gymnastics

Ice skating lessons....

Nothing better than a birthday at Red Robin

Build A Bear Party

Uncle Josh gives Alina a few sage pointers on Pac Man

Alina and "Little Ryan"

Uncle Josh in time out....

Ania gets her piece of birthday cake

The birthday girl....

Conversations with Mary

2011-03-14T20:34:00.000-05:00

Now Dad, it's not that I DON'T like what you cook, but...

Conversations with Mary

2011-03-14T18:29:00.002-05:00

Me - I like this tree. It is the first tree to bud in the spring. Look, Mary, it is budding.
Mary - I'm glad that tree is in our neighborhood.

Conversations with Vittoria

2011-03-14T18:28:00.001-05:00

Maybe when I turn three I can jump up to the sky.

So I Rode a Camel

2011-02-27T16:13:00.001-05:00

It's not easy blogging here. This little bit took me over an hour. With no text. Just getting photos uploaded. Camels rode by Marita's house and I lost my lid.

We were taking photos for her sister's guitar company, so that's why there's a guitar.