Pre-school visits, casts, ballet, games, and M&Ms

Carol is heading back to the US...but, not until after she had another very full and busy week.

We actually just put the kids down for quiet time, after the taxi pulled away, and Sissi was all weepy.  Krypto said, "Daddy, I'm tired, we've been so busy!"  It's true, we fit quite a bit into a two week visit.  I'll try to back off a bit this next week; but, it's the last week of school at HOPAC, with all of the usual activity that goes along with that... we'll see how good of a job I can do in the "slow down" department!

On Monday, we returned to the Frontline Pre-School that we had been to on Friday.  We wanted to bring them some craft supplies, and also give all of the children some toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss that Carol had brought with her from her dentist in the States.  The Pastor had been called away, and even with no adult supervision, the kids had all come to school, put their backpacks on the table, and were playing outside together very nicely.  We stayed and played for a bit, found someone that spoke some English, and made plans to return another day.

Krypto playing with one of the boys at the pre-school.

Some of the kids from the pre-school

What a sweetheart

Then, we came home to find that the vet had arrived.  If you remember, our dear dog, Smokey, had pulled off his bandage, so....a cast was the next step.  He had to be sedated so that the vet could have full access to his leg.  He's been back a few times to give him some antibiotic shots; but, for the most part, I think we are finally on the road to recovery.  Hopefully we can get it removed next week!

The vet, Dadi, his assistant, and our gardener, Happy, working on Smokey's leg.

Then, on Monday nights, I meet with a few ladies and we're doing a Beth Moore study on the book of Esther.  I highly recommend it if you haven't done it.  It's teaching me a bit more about Jewish history and dealing with some issues that I think we all hold near and dear like fear, anger, meanness....

Me, Laura, Carolyn, and Carol

Tuesday is our swimming lesson day.  We're getting better at it every time.  Hope we can work on swimming a bit more this summer; but, we've acclimated so much that the water seems cold to us now.  Winter time in Dar...ahhhh :), it's 82 degrees right now, and feels like 87 with a bit of humidity.  Chilly!

Also, on Tuesday, Carol went with a friend of ours to the Nuru Center to see some of the crafting that they do and the ESL classes that they offer to some of the disabled here in Northern Dar es Salaam.  We met up in the afternoon and worked with the Sala Sala Kids' Ministry again.  Definitely a full day!

Sissi working on her kicking and blowing bubbles, in the pool at HOPAC.

On Wednesday, Sissi has a dance class that meets at our house this summer.  Gwangi then has a piano lesson immediately following.  We really enjoy this time with our friends.  Carol was able to go with some other friends of ours and visit an orphanage right outside of town that the International Baptist Church is beginning a partnership with.  She enjoyed her time and I know that we'll be making an attempt to help with the ministry going on there as well, in the future.

Warming up and working on their positions.

On Thursday we had our last set of music lessons up at HOPAC and then that evening we met up with our Small Group from church, The Ocean.

Friday, we went back to the Frontline Pre-School and did a short lesson with them on their teeth and how to brush them.  We sang songs with them, did a coloring page, and then I tried to teach them how to jump rope and blow up "air rockets"...we left them with the craft supplies and fun things to do, and we'll most definitely be going back again to share and play with the kids.  

Opening up their packages with toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss.

Rehema was so excited about her new toothbrush!

Coloring a sheet with a tooth, toothbrush, toothpaste, and apples :)

These two girls are just the cutest and have so much personality!

They love it when you take their picture.

Carol with Pastor Mwangomale, also the teacher at the pre-school.

Me, blowing up the "air rocket"...they loved chasing it all over the yard.

Too much fun!

Lots of hugs happened, all around.

After the pre-school, we took a trip to White Sands hotel and took Carol to the beach.  It was a beautiful day and I'm so glad that she got to see the beach before she left.

On Friday night, HOPAC had their Staff Appreciation Dinner at BBQ Village downtown.  We were so thankful for Carol volunteering to watch the kids so that we could attend.

Indy and Bubbles, ready to head out to dinner.

Finally, today....Just a few pictures before Carol left to get on the plane, and head back to America!

Kids climbing in the tree, out in the yard.

We finally got around to playing Carcassonne this morning with Carol...I think she really enjoyed it and wrote down the name of the game to play with her grandkids back in the States.

A view of the board, about half way through.

Then, decided to give Indy his Father's Day gift early, so he could spend some time enjoying it today!
It's a hard bound book that covers 100 years of Flight History in East Africa.  Absolutely amazing pictures and stories in this book!

Enjoying his look through, decade by decade.

This is a picture of a Short Brothers, Empire class flying boat, moored off the coast of Dar es Salaam in 1939.  Wow, how the port has changed!

Finally, got a package yesterday from Jeff's mom!  Yahoo!  We have 4th of July stuff now and my FAVORITE candy, in the whole world, PEANUT BUTTER M&Ms :)!!!!!!  Two bags....Sweet!

Fun with our visitor, Carol

We've had a friend visiting this week from the U.S.  It's been a very full and busy week.  I didn't take too many pictures because I thought we would be able to download the 300+ that she had taken so far, from her camera.  Alas, the SD card is a different size than what my computer can take and I don't have the right size USB cable...so you'll have to do with me telling you about some of the special events we've been involved in while she's been with us.

First off, there has been quite a bit of drama with our dog...and it's ongoing to tell you the truth.  He originally had a growth on his leg, the vet cut it out and put stitches in, then the dog pulled them out.  The vet came back and cut out more dead skin and burned the spot so it would scab/heal.  The dog kept picking at it and the spot was very raw, so we called the vet again.  He came back and this is what he made for him on the day that Carol arrived.  Since then, the vet has been back another two times (and we're calling him to come again tomorrow.)  The dog was able to get the collar (cone of shame from "Up"), so he made it smaller, then he used the edge of the collar to scrape it raw again.  So, the vet sedated him again, cleaned it all up and wrapped it.  He got the wrapping off on Saturday....ugh!

The kids have discovered climbing trees in the past few weeks.  They love to have their pictures taken in the tree and I have a chair that sits under the tree so I can read out loud to them.

My beautiful girl!

Look at those blue eyes!

Some Bionicles that Gwangi got from his friend Sam.

We did some school this week while Carol was here.  We got some reading and lapbooking done with our "Treasure Island" book.  We also covered Monet as our artist for the week and learned a bit about Russia as our country of the week.

"Treasure Island" lapbook items...writing about the Main Characters and Pirate Clothing

A view of the lapbook

Working on our paintings of the Japanese Footbridge

Sissi's version of the Japanese Footbridge

Krypto's completed picture, laying against the original from the book we were reading.

Out to dinner with some friends, that are leaving the country this summer, at BBQ Village

Just a few of us talking at the restaurant.

Group Shot

Working on the Artist lapbook

A Lego dinosaur battle

On Tuesday, Carol had a great time helping out in the library at HOPAC.  That afternoon we got to introduce her to the Sala Sala group of kids.  What a blast.  Later in the week, we took a trip to a pre-school and did a lesson with the children.  Carol got some great pictures of the children learning about "Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed", we did hand puppets, taught them the song in English and worked on our numbers.  We're hoping to go back again this week, they were a great group of children to work with and the Pastor was a wonderful man that has a far reaching vision.  Hopefully more on that later!

For the weekend, we decided that just Carol and I would go to Zanzibar, so we took a flight to maximize our time on the island.

At the airport.

Taking the first flight of the day.

The famous cork screw tree

If you want to see more, you can look at my post from last October about our trip to Zanzibar :)

http://whateveristrueandnoble.blogspot.com/2011/10/walk-through-zanzibar.html

Our guide making gifts for us!

Trying to eat the "Stink Fruit"

Opening it up for us to eat

The girls at the end of our tour

A view of the market

Picture of the squids for sale...Krypto loves squids, so this was for him

A view from the plane as we were coming into Dar to land on the way home

Another busy week is coming up, we've got another trip to the pre-school to work with the children, Carol is going to the Nuru Center - a place where they minister and teach ESL classes and craft making to some disabled people here in Dar, a trip to an orphanage, working with our Sala Sala group...and whatever else we can fit in to our days.  Hope this finds you all well, thanks for letting me share our week and activities with you!

Dinner and Menus

Tonight, for dinner, I had planned something light.  I knew we would be out and about for most of the day between church, lunch, and a going away party.  I had seen a friend posting many new recipes on her Facebook page and one in particular jumped out at me.  A Vegetable Frittata.  Now, anyone who knows how I cook, knows that I'm not one for following any recipe exactly, and I almost never measure anything....so, here goes...tonight's dinner!

I grated up 3 potatoes for 6 people.  I then mixed in 4 eggs and added a clove of garlic, some onion, tomato, green pepper, grated carrots, and about 4 slices of bacon all chopped up (I had pre-cooked those last night with dinner, we did Aussie Chicken from "The Outback Steakhouse")

I poured some olive oil in the pan to heat it up, then scooped the mixture into the pan and flattened it out evenly.  I let it cook on the one side for about a minute or so, then flipped it for a couple of minutes.  Then I flipped it back again, put some freshly grated cheddar cheese on top, and let it melt.  It was excellent.

We also had our fresh strawberries tonight.  The container had 12, so we each had about 2 strawberries; but, they were an excellent end to the meal!

Here's my menu for this past week and the next couple...  Hope it gives you some ideas, too.  Be free to change and add as you like.  I can't tell you the number of times that something that someone has said, or posted, has given me an idea and I just go with it...be creative, have fun!  That's what our cooking journey is all about!

Monday - Red Snapper Fish with mango/tomato salsa, side of Asian salad and bread rolls

Tuesday - Fish Tacos with leftover fish from Monday (Tuesdays are one of our busiest days.  We are helping with the Sala Sala Ministry team until about 5:30/6pm and so by the time we get home, we just want to eat.  I have Mama Rose, our house help, make tortillas this day, some rice, and beans.  We leave them on the stove top so that when we come home, we can just reheat the fish from the previous day, put in all the fixins, toss some cheese, tomatoes, and avocado on top and we're good to go in the dinner department)

Wednesday - Pesto Canneloni with garlic bread

Thursday - Corn and Chicken Chowder with bread rolls

Friday - Chicken Pot Pie with a salad

Saturday - Aussie Chicken (recipe from www.allrecipes.com) with steamed broccoli, salad, and bread rolls.

Sunday - Veggie and Bacon Frittata with strawberries

Monday - Red Snapper with Coconut and Veggie Sauce, roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli

Tuesday - Fish Tacos with leftover fish from Monday and mchicha (the local spinach here in Tanzania, super good!)

Wednesday - Lasagna with boerwors (a South African sausage) and mince (the word here for ground beef), side salad, and bruschetta

Thursday - Potato, Boerwors, and Cheddar soup with salad and bread rolls

Friday - Mexican Night at Verna's!

Saturday - ???  Up in the air, because we want to take Carol somewhere

Sunday - Pizza night, Buffalo Chicken on half, Pepperoni on the other half

Monday - Garlic and Veggie Shrimp over pasta, with salad and bread rolls

Tuesday - Chili with rice and bread rolls (we can make this before hand and eat it when we get home from Sala Sala)

Wednesday - Asian Pork with Asian salad and fried rice

Thursday - Bacon, Chicken, and Dumpling Soup with salad and bread rolls

Friday - Chicken Pesto Pasta for the kids and Carol (Jeff and I will be at the HOPAC Staff Appreciation Dinner)

Saturday - Taking Carol to the airport, Jeff will take the kids and get burgers?

....Make a new menu, lol!

One of the things that I love...

I was reminded today about one of the things I just love about being in Tanzania....fresh produce, at a great price!

We have company that just got here on Friday, Carol, and as we did our weekly produce shop today, and we were talking just the other day about the price of buying organic in the States, I was reminded about one of the many blessings we've already come to take for granted here...

This is my produce purchase that will cover us for most of the week.  You have to soak it in a mixture of water and vinegar, or some people do it with bleach, to be sure that all the bugs and stuff are gone.

What I purchased...

Bananas, a clove of garlic, an avocado, 6 apples, 6 carrots, 4 lemons, 4 heads of broccoli, 1 head of lettuce, 1 head of spinach, 1 set of green onions, 3 onions, 3 tomatoes, 6 potatoes, and a container of strawberries.  YES, thank the Lord, I was able to get 1 of the last 2 containers of strawberries at the Green Grocer!

My total bill for all this produce was 16,500 tsh (Tanzanian Shillings)...that equates to about $10 or so.  Want to know how much the strawberries cost?

They were 4,500 tsh...so these little guys were about a 1/4 of the bill!

Yes, produce here is prolific and cheap.  Unless it's berries...they are all imported!  We do miss our berries :).  Canned goods and prepackaged food of any kind are very expensive, so we tend to only get those kinds of things in small amounts.  Thank you Lord that I can feed my family and not have to spend a fortune, that is not always the case and I would do well to remember how He has blessed us in this season of our lives!