Nice and easy weekend in Zim. Nothing big going on. Our tigerfishing trip feel through, but we're going next weekend now, so we should have some great pictures to post.
Nice dinner out Friday, followed by running into friends at a pub.
Saturday we went out to the Borrowdale Manor to check it out. We'll be staying there for a week or two while our house gets rewired. No more electric showers. Jen and I will be using the same toilet that the Queen Mother and Prince Charles used during their stay in Zimbabwe. Ann, the owner, walked us around the grounds and pointed at trees planted by various dukes and lords, I don't remember a single one of them, but she seemed very impressed. She's letting us bring Juno, and she's a great cook, so we'll be taken care of. It happens to be right around the corner from an Irish pub that I have been trying to find. It is the one place in Harare that has Guinness. I had to control myself walking in. There in the middle of a beautiful bar was a giant Guinnes tap. I walked right up and ordered the largest Guinness I could get, and was then told that they haven't had Guinness in over a year, and that they wouldn't be getting any for a long time. At least this place has wings, and several nice TVs. I'll have to make do watching rugby and soccer, and drinking beer that I can see through.
Today was brunch, shopping to get ready for Jen's mom coming in October, and then the pool, grilling, and crashing.
We just wanted to point out how things here can be very much like home.
All of the high school and middle schools are leaving today to go on their week long field trips. My trip heads out next Monday. We're going to Jabulani.
There should be alot more to post in the upcoming weeks.
Hope all is well back home.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Updating as usual...
So the post before this shows you at least a little bit of our house. We will be making more short videos to show you. I figure videos help you see the house more easily. Would you believe it took me 40 MINUTES to upload that 30 second video? So you see why we don't do that often. Although I will try and upload the video with peacocks tomorrow. It's fun for you all just to see us in our element. We are starting to plan all these trips now and can't wait to get out of town. Here are a few:
In 2 weekends we are going to Lake Kariba with some friends
In 3 weekends we are going to Mana Pools with the same friends.
In 4 weeks my mom comes and we are going to Vic Falls, Hwange National Park and staying at this amazing place called The Hide which I am most excited about and going to Matopos and staying at this really cool place called Camp Amalinda.
In about 8 weeks we head to Florence, Italy for our PYP (Primary Years Programme) training and staying at a really cool hotel. Grant and I will be gone for a week because we took some personal days to enjoy Florence.
In about 3 1/2 months, we will be going to meet Maggie and Winston in Jo-burg, picking them up and then heading to Kruger National Park and the Drakensberg Mountains. We are still trying to figure out where we still be staying, but we have all been working to research places and find the best! I think we are definitely checking out Sani Pass in the mountains. My travel agent Belinda (without whom I don't think I could have done several of these trips) has been awesome getting all this together.
In about 6 months, Kristin and Will are coming and we have been talking about doing something along the Zambizi River and Botswana, but that is still a work in progress.
So....check out all the places we get to go since I linked them all so you can just click on them and it will take you directly to the websites to learn about all these places. We can't wait for those adventures to begin. Our adventure of learning about how to get around in Harare and feel more settled, has started to calm down. We feel happier each day, and I will be the first to admit that there have been some very hard moments for us here. This opportunity had really forced us to make the best of things, have the upmost of patience, and work together even when we didn't want to in order to stay positive. It is amazing how a place can change you.
So...everything else is good. Work is great and the kids are even greater. We love them more everyday. Juno is getting so big already and we love her so much, although she has managed to be a very naughty puppy by tearing up quite a few things. Our house will be getting better by next week because it will be completely re-wired as it was not completely grounded before. We found this out by me getting electrocuted (mom wants me to say shocked because it sounds better, but I want to be profound in my point here) when I got in the shower. Water and electricity are not supposed to go together. Grant didn't believe me until I made him put his feet in there. It was not fun and I felt the after effects later that day. But Grant was my night in shining armor. He marched right to our bosses and put on his serious face and got it worked out. Other than that, we have mostly had power this past week and we have slept beautifully.
We miss all of you, we love all of you and until next weekend, please keep up the emails! A personal shout-out to Aunt Mary Mahony for sending us our first package of fun (Red Sox flip flops and a picture frame with us in it) and it got here in less than 3 weeks!!!
In 2 weekends we are going to Lake Kariba with some friends
In 3 weekends we are going to Mana Pools with the same friends.
In 4 weeks my mom comes and we are going to Vic Falls, Hwange National Park and staying at this amazing place called The Hide which I am most excited about and going to Matopos and staying at this really cool place called Camp Amalinda.
In about 8 weeks we head to Florence, Italy for our PYP (Primary Years Programme) training and staying at a really cool hotel. Grant and I will be gone for a week because we took some personal days to enjoy Florence.
In about 3 1/2 months, we will be going to meet Maggie and Winston in Jo-burg, picking them up and then heading to Kruger National Park and the Drakensberg Mountains. We are still trying to figure out where we still be staying, but we have all been working to research places and find the best! I think we are definitely checking out Sani Pass in the mountains. My travel agent Belinda (without whom I don't think I could have done several of these trips) has been awesome getting all this together.
In about 6 months, Kristin and Will are coming and we have been talking about doing something along the Zambizi River and Botswana, but that is still a work in progress.
So....check out all the places we get to go since I linked them all so you can just click on them and it will take you directly to the websites to learn about all these places. We can't wait for those adventures to begin. Our adventure of learning about how to get around in Harare and feel more settled, has started to calm down. We feel happier each day, and I will be the first to admit that there have been some very hard moments for us here. This opportunity had really forced us to make the best of things, have the upmost of patience, and work together even when we didn't want to in order to stay positive. It is amazing how a place can change you.
So...everything else is good. Work is great and the kids are even greater. We love them more everyday. Juno is getting so big already and we love her so much, although she has managed to be a very naughty puppy by tearing up quite a few things. Our house will be getting better by next week because it will be completely re-wired as it was not completely grounded before. We found this out by me getting electrocuted (mom wants me to say shocked because it sounds better, but I want to be profound in my point here) when I got in the shower. Water and electricity are not supposed to go together. Grant didn't believe me until I made him put his feet in there. It was not fun and I felt the after effects later that day. But Grant was my night in shining armor. He marched right to our bosses and put on his serious face and got it worked out. Other than that, we have mostly had power this past week and we have slept beautifully.
We miss all of you, we love all of you and until next weekend, please keep up the emails! A personal shout-out to Aunt Mary Mahony for sending us our first package of fun (Red Sox flip flops and a picture frame with us in it) and it got here in less than 3 weeks!!!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Hello again!
So I am going to write this fast because you never know when zesa will go out. I hope you all like the pictures of Juno. We will continue to post pictures of her! Currently I have snuck away from our Family Fun Day here at HIS. There is a pretty good turn out and luckily no dunking of teachers like we have had to be a part of at Nesbit in the past. Although Gran tis right now playing volleyball, adults against the kids. I think the last game was won by the kids. They have really impressive face painting, food, soccer games going, sack races and such to do with your parents, water slide and jump castle. So it's a beautiful day here and lots of happy people. I think I need to get better about bringing my camera because it's funny how much this looks like a Family Fun Day at Nesbit. The only difference is the music. They are playing some American rap and not with certain lyrics taken out. Our director had to ask for them to keep it G-rated. Pretty funny.
Last night Grant had a bunch of guys/men over to grill meat and drink beer while I went to a friend's house with all females and drank wine and had Indian food. That's how it's done around here. I get back home to all the guys sitting in the dark (because there was no zesa) around the fire and approximately 5 empty beer cans below each guy's feet. Oh, and an empty glass from which they were enjoying whiskey. Again, why did I not take pictures? They were all laughing at Grant's always interesting stories. So despite no zesa, they were having fun. Tonight we will go watch a rugby match at a bar and then head home early to get some sleep. SO my point in telling you all this is that it isn't much different from how we would spend a weekend at home (except rugby would be football).
I will say that always going over to each others' houses instead of going out with friends does create quite a nice bond with people. We have gotten really close with a lot of people very fast. It's nice.
I guess I will go rejoin the crowd and watch my students slide down the waterslide and watch my future husband play some soccer. Everyone have a great long weekend and to my Chattanooga family if you read this.....I will be thinking about you all today when you are playing in the Bosco cup and then having a great time at mom and dad's house. My first time to miss my family reunion. Ouch.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to upload the peacocks hanging out by my room. You people just have to see it to believe it. Love to you all, Jen and Grant
Last night Grant had a bunch of guys/men over to grill meat and drink beer while I went to a friend's house with all females and drank wine and had Indian food. That's how it's done around here. I get back home to all the guys sitting in the dark (because there was no zesa) around the fire and approximately 5 empty beer cans below each guy's feet. Oh, and an empty glass from which they were enjoying whiskey. Again, why did I not take pictures? They were all laughing at Grant's always interesting stories. So despite no zesa, they were having fun. Tonight we will go watch a rugby match at a bar and then head home early to get some sleep. SO my point in telling you all this is that it isn't much different from how we would spend a weekend at home (except rugby would be football).
I will say that always going over to each others' houses instead of going out with friends does create quite a nice bond with people. We have gotten really close with a lot of people very fast. It's nice.
I guess I will go rejoin the crowd and watch my students slide down the waterslide and watch my future husband play some soccer. Everyone have a great long weekend and to my Chattanooga family if you read this.....I will be thinking about you all today when you are playing in the Bosco cup and then having a great time at mom and dad's house. My first time to miss my family reunion. Ouch.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to upload the peacocks hanging out by my room. You people just have to see it to believe it. Love to you all, Jen and Grant
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