Bee Hives and Gymnastics

I'm on a roll, folks. I've now downloaded pictures from our camera and iPad and am going to post as much as I can while the Internet is strong. We've had some adventures at the new house ... two weeks ago I found myself in a house full of plumbers, electricians and bee experts. Poor Enzo was going crazy with all the new people on his turf. No one ever comes alone - there's always at least 2-3 helpers for each expert plumber or electrician - and nothing is ever accomplished in just a day. Lest you think it's a way to get paid more, they are not paid by the hour, but rather by the job. So there is no incentive to take 3 days to do something one American mom might think could be done in an hour or two. But, the good news is there is no longer a live wire hanging down the outside wall of the house. Another bright spot is we have ceiling fans in 3 bedrooms. And in a matter of just 2 weeks, we have no more water leaks and 3 new bathroom faucets and a kitchen sink faucet. Tomorrow's agenda is a new voltage regulator for the laundry machine. So back to the bee experts ... we noticed when we moved in to the house that there were some bees high up in a palm tree. And as the months passed, the bee population started increasing substantially. For the most part it didn't bother us, as they were rarely down at ground level and usually quite high up by the roof. For some reason in November, they started descending in large numbers so we contacted a gardener who contacted a friend and next thing you know, the gardener and his bee expert colleague came to check out the situation. They determined that there was a large hive underneath a few roof tiles (the bees had made holes in the concrete to start the nest). So the next evening at dusk they returned with straw and matches, climbed up to the roof, and got rid of the hive. After breaking through the tiles, they smoked the queen bee out by lighting the straw and I'm really not sure what else happened, as the kids and I were safely hiding inside. But this is what they cleaned out ... and while some bees made their way to another destination, most met their demise. Please note there were no beekeeper uniforms worn to protect them from stings. He said he was used to them, just part of what he does. Pretty amazing. These hives smelled like burnt honey and we kept a few small pieces for the kids to show their classmates.

The kids have started gymnastics lessons and are loving it. There is lots of equipment and they are learning new tricks quickly.

And lastly, Max's middle school soccer season is now over ... he'll start track and field in January. This was a team picture taken by another mom at one of their local tournaments - not sure why there weren't more smiles (are they all giving the adolescent "enough with the pictures mom" look?) because they were a great team who had lots of fun together and won most of their games. He's already looking forward to next season.

Catching Up, Part 2

And now for our Thanksgiving adventures ... Fred is traveling for work so we traveled to Somone, about an hour and a half outside of Dakar and stayed at a hotel on the beach. Several families went together so the kids had lots of friends to play with and I was very thankful for the ocean view, time with my friends, and relaxed atmosphere. And in another "this is Dakar life" moment, my kids vacationed with their school principal, Charlie's current teacher, Charlie's first grade teacher, Max's previous third grade teacher, and Max's current science teacher. :) After staying up until 11pm on Thursday night to watch the show at the hotel (didn't start till 10pm!), the boys got up early Friday morning for a sunrise hike through the mangroves with a few other adventurous friends (and 2 parents). I stayed back with Lucy who needed more sleep. Most of these pictures were taken by the boys. As usual, I didn't take many pictures and left the camera in the room almost the whole time. Lucy and Max were sick last week with colds and coughs and unfortunately, I caught it just as we were leaving for the hotel on Thursday. I really noticed my kids' independence as they took off with friends to play while I coughed and sneezed - especially Lucy who was more than happy to plan a treasure hunt out of my line of sight! We're lucky to have made such good friends here!

Catching up Part 1

Helloooo... yes, it's been awhile since I posted my "weekly" blog, so today's will be a catch up blog on everything we've been up to recently. We'll start way back to Sukkot - we had fun celebrating the holiday with our new Israeli friends who built a sukkah in their yard and even had a lulav and etrog from Israel. And here, sukkot includes swimming in the pool - different from my memories of shivering in the sukkah at my parent's house.

And then we have Lucy's "unpacking the classroom" event where she showed Fred and I all the different things she has learned at school and what she will be exploring in the future. She is definitely my daughter - loves everything about school, can't wait to go each day, and is incredibly enthusiastic about every topic they learn. Charlie quietly read his book during Lucy's meeting.

Max completed his trimester of drama class with a performance during JagArts. His group had a great performance!

And then there was Halloween ... special friends hosted a fun potluck after trick or treating around the neighborhood (she pre-arranged it with her neighbors who were happy to join in on the fun - participating families provided the candy and they enjoyed handing it out to the kids and seeing all the fun costumes). And then the American Embassy had a big tent trick or treating event with a haunted house managed by the high school kids. Kids had fun that weekend and have reached the age where the fun is in getting the candy and then it's pretty much forgotten the next day. :) This year we had a princess witch, a minecraft person, and Joker.

Fred has had a busy travel schedule over the last few months but we take advantage when he's here and visited one of our favorite restaurants here ... while you wait for your fish (Charlie) or pizza (Lucy and Max) you can swim in the pool. We've learned to appreciate the culture around meals here - there's no such thing as grabbing a quick bite somewhere ... if you're going to go out to eat, it's going to take awhile so relax and enjoy - kids can run around, swim, play while the adults enjoy the weather and chat. Sunday lunch is an afternoon event. Not a bad thing ...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The kids and I went away with some other families to Somone - pictures and info coming on Part 2 of the catching up post. :)

Sheep, sheep and more sheep

Lucy lost another tooth this week and decided to use just a dab of makeup for her dance concert ... oh boy! I don't have a picture but Fred was a good sport and let Lucy add some blush to his cheeks too.

In preparation of Tabaske, a very important Muslim holiday celebrated here, the Israeli embassy donated 70 sheep to individuals in need. They have been doing this for 7 years and I had the opportunity to attend the ceremony as a guest of the ambassador and his wife. The ceremony was at an orphanage and it was a memorable experience, really nice to get out of my usual routine. And this year, Tabaske falls the same week as Yom Kippur. Apparently, I was on the local news Friday evening when they showed footage from the event. These sheep, along with all the others that have been hanging out on the roads around Dakar waiting to be purchased, will all be dinner on Friday in honor of the holiday.

And if you need to transport your pirogue, just throw it on the back of a pick up and hold on tight!

We ended the week celebrating Maite's birthday

Happy New Year!

We had a rainy week in Dakar ... crazy drive to school on Monday which the kids thought was very exciting. Luckily, most of the other morning drives to school weren't quite as exciting.

Lucy lost a tooth just as school was ending on Monday, so off she went to the nurse's office to get a prized treasure box to put her tooth in. A few minutes later, Charlie and I met her at the nurse's office after he got bitten 3 times by a queen ant. Moments later we were headed home with a pink tooth treasure box and a much relieved Charlie after getting cream put on his bites. Never a dull moment.

We remembered to take a picture at bedtime just before putting the tooth under her pillow Max had his first soccer game on Wednesday and he played great as a striker. They got their uniforms just before the game started and I'm pretty sure they'll be able to wear them for the next several years! His coach is great - lots of positive reinforcement with the boys, emphasizing teamwork and skills improvement and good sportsmanship. Max is getting into the school rhythm, especially all the homework he now has and the emphasis on using the Internet. All of his teachers have google classrooms where they post assignments, what's being covered in class, upcoming quizzes, etc. And most of his homework is also submitted to the teacher electronically. Max doesn't seem fazed by any of it, but I hold my breath every time the lights start to flicker in the afternoon, wondering if we'll have power or Internet long enough for him to finish his work. Luckily, the way they set the schedule, you have 2 nights to complete homework for any given class (they have 4 of 8 classes each day) so if Internet isn't working at home, you have time to use the school's Internet the next day after school. We'll find out this week if he got into robotics as an after school activity he wanted to do in addition to soccer.

Max is in the black uniform, number 2. Still working on action shots that don't wind up completely blurry. Lucy will be doing arts and crafts after school (she also wanted yoga and dance but they were full so she'll do them next trimester) and Charlie will be playing basketball and dodgeball as his after school activities. I'm usually better at planning out their activities but somehow it worked out that they each have activities on different afternoons so I'll be spending some quality time at the school this trimester. On the positive side, the kids will each get 1:1 time with me while their siblings are at an activity.

We ended the week with a great Rosh Hashanah dinner at the Israeli Ambassador's home. There was quite a crowd, lots of different languages spoken, and the kids loved hearing the shofar blown. For the last few weeks we've been talking about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that have led to some great discussions with the kids about what we can each do to be better selves in the new year. The emphasis with the kids has been on personal responsibility, words and actions. From little things like being responsible for packing your backpacks the night before (remembering reading glasses, homework, etc) to how you respond to parents, teachers, siblings, and friends - words that are helpful and words that are really, really not helpful in a situation (especially when directed towards your brother). Lucy seemed to focus on tangible things like being a helper at home, so she eagerly grabbed the vacuum cleaner to help me clean the floors ... and then asked me to take a picture of her.

Back to building forts

Our biggest accomplishment this week was Charlie getting his broken tooth fixed (at least temporarily). The dentist used filling material and shaped it to his tooth and by the end of the week, he was back to his old self, minus eating whole apples ... we'll be slicing them for awhile. Fred and I celebrated our 15th anniversary last Thursday by attending the elementary open house at school. We visited Lucy and Charlie's class. They're going to have a great year! Charlie wrote us a note that included gems like "Welcome to my desk. Please don't scratch it" and "let mom do all the talking." He also had to write a page of "I Am ..." The first few lines read: "I am funny dad and angry mom. I am no climbing on the furniture and homework first. I am mine craft and youtube." His teacher said he has a great sense of humor. :) Lucy continues to be an enthusiastic learner and loves everything about school. Max has adjusted well to the new middle school routine (lots of teachers, lots of homework). He's playing middle school soccer and will start other after school activities soon - he's hoping to do Science Lab. We'll find out later this week which activities Max and Lucy will be doing first trimester. Charlie is hoping for basketball and Lucy for yoga and dance. Yesterday I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the kids all week for the blog, so I quickly took a few ... eating crepes at our favorite creperie for lunch yesterday, followed by swimming at the school. Max likes getting his picture taken as much as his dad. Please note Lucy wears jewelry even when swimming. Its her Frozen ring that gives her superpowers. Have a great week everyone!