Second message home
16 January 2004
Dear Friends & Family,
Im sitting in my nearly empty house waiting for the carpenters, the plumber, the electrician and the car and driver so that I can do something. Rob is at a meeting with AID trying to convince them that the project should be granted tax free privileges so it doesnt have to pay 30% tax to Tanzania on all the things it purchases. The odd thing is that AID neither will let LOL pay taxes nor provide LOL with the documents to keep it from doing so. The proverbial Catch 22.
We have no word as of now on the status of our air shipment. Ive purchased a few things for the house, but in typical third world style, nothing fits or matches the way it should. Ive been making roadside purchases, including a lovely wicker coffee table and 4 chairs for $100. They will eventually be the porch furniture, but it seems a little nutty to put them out now when the house is still empty. We also bought beds for the kids at the roadside market, being careful to measure to make sure they are the standard size so mattresses will fit. Well, the mattresses dont fit, and now the carpenter has another little job to do. I expected that the sheets wouldnt fit, but having the beds and mattresses not fit even though they are both supposed to be the standard size was a little bit of a pain. I expected this to happen, though, thats what our experience was in both Moscow and Lithuania. No matter how careful you are about purchasing, theres always something. Makes you appreciate the standards in the US at least not having to worry about whether a twin mattress will fit a twin bed will fit a twin sheet, etc.
The kids are in school, they seem to be fine. Madeline had a miserable first day, nobody talked to her at all except for 1 girl. She had met some other kids at a Friday night youth group, but she wasnt in the same class as any of them. They go from class to class as a group, except for language, so she was a little grumpy after the first day. On the second day, she was looking for something in her backpack and pulled out her little palm pilot style personal organizer that she got for Christmas. All the kids circled around and oohd and aahd and now they are all talking to her. She says they call her The new smart girl because she figured out a puzzle first in some class and knew what integers were. After school yesterday, I thought she was going to be trying out for the swim team, but it wasnt apparently the right day. I knew I was supposed to pick her up late, so I had other things to do. When I finally did get to the school, I had a hard time finding her. She had somehow hooked up with the girls that had e-mailed to her back in October, none of whom are in her class. She was hanging out with them, laughing and talking just like shed been there for ages. One of these girls lives about 5 houses away from our house, so thats great.
The boys also have settled in fairly well. Austin has already been asked for a play-date, and Wes has found a few buddies. We were so concerned about the academics, especially for Madie and Austin as they are in a grade higher than they should be for their ages according to the scheme here. So far, its all not a problem. Wes even had spelling words that were so simple, some only 3 letter words, that now Rob is afraid the kids will be behind when we come back, instead of being super challenged here and ahead when we get back.
I went to a meeting of the Corona Society sort of like the international womens group thing. I met a few ladies and got some good information about setting up house here. The purpose of the society is to get together and have tea, and to help newcomers in their transition. They do a little fundraising and a few good deeds, but thats about it. The trouble is, I dont think theres a lot of cultural and historical stuff to do, not at all like Moscow, and maybe not even as much as Lithuania, so what else could they do. Everyone seems to really enjoy living here, though, so there must be something that they are all doing other than having tea.
Today it has been thundering all morning. We had one shower yesterday, and then an incredible boom woke us up in the middle of the night, knocking out the power in the hotel and everything. The kids didnt hear it, but Rob and I did. Rob thought the people upstairs were moving furniture, I thought it was thunder, and only this morning did I think about how much it sounded like the bomb that went off near our flat in Moscow that time. Its cloudy and humid today, but at least it isnt so HOT. I was so hot yesterday, and tired of eating out, and had a little stomach thing, so I was miserable. It was really sort of embarrassing because we have a driver and were doing things and he asked me why I wasnt so happy yesterday and about 10 minutes later I threw up. Great impression, its not like we arent too conspicuous here! Especially since I just had to open the car door and lean out since there wasnt a bathroom in sight. I felt much better almost instantly, except for the heat, so today Im fine. You have to do that once or twice in the beginning and then youre done with the transition. We also had to take Austin to the medical center already, too, as he broke out with a little bit of impetigo on his face. Now we know where that is and have all the information about joining, and I feel like were getting the move sicknesses done early.
Well, Robs here and wants his computer back so Ill close. Sorry I dont have any interesting cultural comments or stories, maybe theyll come later. Hope all is well with everyone. Ill write again soon.
Love,
Barb
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