And some days are just "normal"

After posting all about our wonderful trip to Lushoto...it hit me that we are returning to real life.  So often we tend to blog about the special, the out of the ordinary, and then we're giving the impression that our life isn't like everyone else's.  We still have chores to do, responsibilities to take care, and school will start up again for Indy at HOPAC, and the kids and I here at home, on Wednesday.  We got a jump start today and made the grocery, petrol for the generator, and cash run (it took 4 ATMs before we found one with cash, it's the beginning of the month...)

As we went along, I took some pictures, so you can see how "normal" our life really is usually!

We still deal with bugs and geckos on a daily basis...on our walls, our floors, behind our doors, and on our kitchen counters. This one was by my washing machine, outside the kitchen.

We still do laundry.  This was the 2nd load I did today, trying to catch up from a week long backlog.  Not many people here have dryers.  It is so hot that most things dry quickly.  Of course, the hot sun, and all the sweat, can be tough on your clothing, too.  Things seem to wear out here much more quickly!

Dishes are still there and have to be washed.  This was after breakfast.

The kids still like to watch cartoons.  This is our family room, it's connected to the school room and off of all the bedrooms.

Rooms still need to get picked up.  We do have a house worker that comes in and helps with many chores.  I still require the kids to straighten their beds and clean up their own toys though.  It obviously hasn't been done yet this AM.

Sissi hasn't taken care of her room yet either.

We still have to wash our veggies before we can use them.  Here they are drying after I soaked them in water and vinegar.

After grocery shopping, you have to put away your purchases.  Definitely not one of my favorite parts of getting groceries.

Kids still play, here Sissi is doing her play doh.

They still love to sit and read, here Krypto is reading an old "Peanuts" cartoon book he got for Christmas.  It was a gift to his Daddy back in 1980.

Gwangi still likes to play with his Legos.  Wish I had a Lego room so he could just spread out and not be in the middle of the school room/family room floor.

We're still dealing with power problems.  We have a phase out on our power (notice the one lightbulb that is not lit), so no power to run the washer, stove, fridge, freezer, bigger ACs unless we run the generator.  We've been running it for about 3 hours at a time, in the AM and the PM so we can keep the food chilled.  Tanesco keeps saying they'll get it fixed; but, it's been days!

Our newest purchase, installed on my birthday (December 3rd) is a battery inverter system.  It will run the sockets and lights in the primary area of the house and the electric fence/security lights, for up to 12 hours when Tanesco goes off.  It won't run the ACs, the kitchen at all, the dining room/living room or guest room.  Figured it was worth it though to have fans and power in the bedrooms and school room/family room during power outages.  Makes a big difference for us when we're home and doing school...sometimes, to keep your sanity in the heat, you just need a fan blowing on you!

Hope this gives you a little bit more of a realistic view of our "normal" life...at least on days when we aren't doing school.  I'll try to post a bit more about school, projects and games that we play, books we're reading, etc.  

The rest of our week, in pictures, in Lushoto, 2011!

I can hardly write any more words about our time in Lushoto, needless to say, it was fabulous.  I think the pictures say it all...here are a few from the rest of our week...Wednesday through Saturday.

A horned chameleon at the Muller Lodge.

Sissi and her great friend Grace.

I love hydrangeas (don't we Yvette and Kim? :))  These were different colors, on the same plant, loved it!

Playing violin on sticks at Muller Lodge.  I have video, it is hilarious!

The boys, with their friend Bethany, at the Mkuzi Waterfalls.  We planted a letterbox there ;)...

http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gBoxId=187763

Sissi, smile....and this is what I get!

Lisa is reading a book and chill-axin...

What fun they had climbing all over the rocks and getting wet!

Thanks Lisa for taking our picture!

Jim and Lisa, take 2 ;)!

Our chocolate cake at the Swiss Farm Cottage.  We loved the wooden trivets they put dinner on too, notice the cut out of Tanzania.

We had some "rainy" day activities too.  Sissi and I worked on her Magnetic Mosaics.

Breakfast at the Swiss Farm Cottage....Gwangi was "playing with his food" and made Pinocchio!

Some reading on the rocks....somewhere in there is the letterbox we planted, too ;)!

Game day with the guys....playing the "Campaigns of King David" with Tony, Devin, and Jacob.

A view of the board.

Hike up the Magamba Rainforest Viewpoint.

Looking in a hole.  SO curious!

YES, it was VERY windy up there!

Some of the views of the corn fields on the side of the mountains.

Beautiful flowers at the Irente Viewpoint.

On the edge of a cliff (at the Irente Viewpoint) that you could literally go parasailing off of....the view shows you the highway from Mombo going to Arusha!

Two of my boys!

New Years Eve Glow Stick Dance Party!!!!  Thanks Medinas!

I did forget to mention, that before this Dance Party, Indy and a few other friends had spent a couple of hours with a Belgian couple that are touring Kenya and Tanzania.  They were talking about the "darkness" of Europe and how the church is out of touch with the people.  It was so interesting to hear about it from a European and really made us sad...that is where the Reformation took place! There is so much Church History in Europe.  What they were saying is that the churches are fading and disappearing and "religion" (or any kind of relationship with the Lord...though they don't want to think about it being that) is being replaced by intellectualism and an independence/segregation among the masses into classes.  If you think of it, please pray for all people groups; but, I know that I often forget about the need in other "First World" countries!  The people of Europe really do need your prayers.  We exchanged email addresses with this family and Indy hopes to continue the dialogue.  We pray that the seeds will continue to be watered as they travel around Africa the next two weeks!

Swiss Farm Cottage

We just love the place we're staying at up here in Lushoto...if you get the chance, you really should come and visit the Swiss Farm Cottage.  We even planted a letterbox here to hopefully entice a few guests ;)...

http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?gBoxId=187812

The front of our cottage.

The kids on the hill behind our cottage.

Picture of Mommy and Daddy, taken by Sissi!

So excited about the cows.

Smelling all the flowers.

A peaceful place to sit and read, which we did several times this week.

Too cute to not post another one.

The flowers, rocks and water were just so beautiful up at Lushoto.

Running back down the hill to our cottage.

Some of the gardens.

A view up the backside of the farm.

More flowers and archways.

The front gate and entrance to the farm.

"The Beast" as we've so affectionately taken to calling the car that we're leasing from the AG.  Notice it has a snorkle, the kids (and mostly Indy) think that is the best part.  I pray we are never in a situation where we need to use it!

Traveling to Lushoto

...to have been posted on 26 December; but, due to lack of internet up in the mountains.....let's play catch up!

Today we drove up to Lushoto, and let me tell you…Mapquest says it should be about 4 hours….the locals tell me it should take 5-6…and in reality, it took us almost 10!  Now, let me give you a bit of background with that 10 hour claim.

We’re in a Land Cruiser that has off road tires on it, the whole vehicle shakes and shimmies if we push it much past 70 kph (that’s about 45mph to you Americans reading this.)  We took a wrong turn at one point (leaving Segera, you should take a left at the T junction, don’t go right to Tanga is my best advice) and didn’t figure it out until about an hour later….so that’s 2 hours right there.  We stopped along the road that was cut into the mountains to see some of the vistas that reminded us of the drive up to Winter Park, CO and make plans for where we should plant a letterbox, or two, or three later this week.  Then, when we were about 20 km or so out from our destination, it started to really rain…that sure slowed us down!

We did arrive though, about 6 pm, at the Swiss Farm Cottage.  We had left this AM, from HOPAC, a bit after 8 and we only had one stop.  About 1 in the afternoon we had stopped for maybe 15 minutes in Segera to use the restroom, get diesel (we ran them dry and had to go to another place to finish the fill up) and stretch our legs, we even ate our picnic lunch in the car to save time.

Our location is beautiful, the lodge is really nice and we’re all settled in for the night after an absolutely amazing dinner.  I can hardly believe how good their chef is, I mean really, the best food I’ve had since I’ve arrived in Dar, and quite possibly even before that….thought I can’t really remember that far back ;)!  We ordered 3 dishes to share and had leftovers!  We ordered a breaded beef fillet (AMAZING!), some Pasta Bolognese (for sure one of the best I’ve ever had), and the best thing tonight….their roasted chicken.  It was done in a sauce with a bunch of fresh veggies, curry, and some other spices that I can’t place and just melted in your mouth.  I actually was taking the sauce and veggies out of the dish and pouring it over my chips (that’s French Fries for you Americans reading this.)  I joked with Indy that if we could add some cheese, we would have poutine (a Quebecois specialty)…but really, it was even better than that.

The kids are down for the night.  I just uploaded some pictures by the fire and wanted to get this blog post up…unfortunately, it will need to sit in Word overnight.  Maybe it’s the overcast skies, maybe the brick building we’re staying in; but, I can’t get my internet to connect.  Our plans tomorrow are to meet up with all of the other HOPAC families that are staying at the Muller Lodge and hang out.  Later this week we’ll visit some waterfalls, take a hike through a rain forest, plant a letterbox ;), and just have some fun and relaxation.  I know we really need it!

Part of the drive up to Lushoto, TZ...can you believe it, mountains and palm trees ;)

One of the many waterfalls we go to see on this trip.

This was the beginning of the storm that hit us for the last 45 minutes of our drive.

A REAL PINE CHRISTMAS TREE IN OUR ROOM!  AHHHH, The SMELL!!!

Blowing on the fire!

Our room.

The bunks that the kids shared.

The desk and suitcase area.

Our dining room and kitchenette.

The shared sitting room and fireplace.