Paszport? Papers?

We leave in less than a week and still have no passports. Eh, they'll get here, it's no need to worry. Except that I think Dylan will kill someone if we don't get to leave on time. Other than that...

I spent a lot of time talking with my friend Angela yesterday. I will miss her, but hopefully she and her husband will come for a visit in Warsaw.

I had a horrible dream last night that instead of sending us to Warsaw they changed at the last minute and were sending us to South Africa (I think, it's what I imagine South Africa to be like, but it was never actually mentioned in my dream). I was just an emotional wreck and I woke up knowing that it was a dream but worried that it might actually happen. I guess it's time to leave.

I'm glad I can take the kids to Poland and get them accustomed to a more Western lifestyle. I think it would be really hard to spend your whole life in Africa and be overwhelmed the first time you ever went back to a Western society. The boys will be entertained by the escalator in the hotel. But they'll have a lot of fun with no one to judge them.

Parties and hair...

Apparently we will not be missed all that much. That's all I have to say about that right now.

Pamela spent 2 days having her hair braided. She loves the look, but we went to Koala (you'd think I spend all of my time there) and the guys who hang around outside and sell stuff on the street were so aggressive that I realized she looks like a tourist. I told Rose and she say "No!" looked at Pamela for a second and then said "oh, yes." I still do like the look though and it'd be different if we were spending a ridiculous amount of time here but she just has to make it through a week.

I made a cake for Blaise's birthday and when I cracked the 3rd egg, it was rotten. I have NEVER had that happen in my whole life, so I was amazed. But the problem was that I had cracked it right into the bowl with the cake mix. So I had to throw the whole mix out and go to the commissary and buy another. I learned to ALWAYS crack eggs in a separate bowl. And now I know why they do it on cooking shows.

The new embassy is beautiful. Not enough to stay in Ghana for, but it is beautiful.

$34 for a case of Diet Coke

So I went to Koala today (I can hear the groaning...here we go again) and they have stacks and stacks of cases of Diet Coke (from Great Britain no less, usually it's from Lebanon). We've had a Diet Coke drought here for about a month. Dylan found me the last bottle of Diet Coke in the whole country on Saturday after we had both been looking for the month.

So anyway, I was SO excited when I saw the stacks of cases! I immediately threw one in my cart thinking "Maybe I should get 2 cases." Then I circled the store about three times while I thought about the fact that in less than 2 weeks I will be in a place that has "Coke Light" and there is rarely ever a shortage (you know sometimes if you shop the day before Christmas or Easter there is nothing left in the stores). Then the subsequent "Coke Pimp" that appears after the shortage...not a problem in a couple of weeks. So I wound up just buying enough Diet Cokes to last me for each day I have left here.

Yesterday I went to pick up my kente that I had ordered last week (I told them I would be back on Saturday, but then it rained). Was it finished? No, of course not. They hadn't even started on it. They had questions. The conversation went like this:
"You had my husband's phone number (only because I do not know my own cell number) why didn't you call?"
"Um, oh, um...well we had questions."
"Okay, so when can you have this done? By this Saturday?"
"No, next week."
"No, not next week, I'm leaving."
"Oh, I can't have it by Saturday."
"So when?"
"Tuesday."
"Okay, but if you do not have it finished I WILL NOT buy it. My friend will not come and pick it up for me."
"Yes, please."

I did succeed in buying a basket for Sara though. And today I went back for my fabric that I ordered about 2 months ago. She said, you did not come so I sold it. I said, I know it's totally my fault. Can you make more? So she will have it ready for me buy Friday. Much easier than the kente.

Rain, rain...

We had Pamela's birthday party on Saturday. Our original plan was go karting and then a sleepover. About an hour before the party was to start, it began to pour down rain. So we frantically made calls to everyone to tell them just to meet at our house and when the rain stopped we'd go swimming. Well, it never stopped. And pretty much hasn't stopped for much time since then.

It's good, because it's very good for the land, and they're get such a good amount of rain that perhaps it will be able to last them through the dry season, but it's a little bit of a drag for us. For one thing, I have a few last things to get before I leave here and unfortunately most of the shops (because they are just basically very small carports) are closed during rain. And we can't do any outdoor activities. Which makes for long and drawn out days. Because there's not much inside here.

Blaise's party is on Saturday, so hopefully it will not rain. We're having a bouncy castle, the last time we can afford one, so the kids will have loads of fun. Provided it doesn't rain. Now there are many things that I love about the rain, but to be honest, I have never been here for a rainy season. So now I am finding out that there is something that the rainy season brings out that Toby is allergic to. He has a perpetual runny nose and just sounds stuffy all the time.

I'd like to wish Dawn and Tai a happy anniversary! It's been 8 years now! Congratulations!

Funny/Cute Story

We went to a "nice" hotel in town because they have an ice cream shop (you can't get ice cream in this country unless it's shipped in from the West and then it's usually seriously freezer burned and $3 for a small cone. They do have a local brand that is not so bad though.) The boys get really excited because we rarely go out.

Anyway, this is a "good" albeit expensive ice cream shop and we have to fight traffic to get there. We get there and get our ice cream (had another experience that I won't mention right now) and then we are getting ready to leave. As we are leaving the hotel, we spot the escalators. This is the only building in town with escalators and they're only up escalators. Dylan says, "Boys, do you remember Corduroy?" Yes, Corduroy, the U.S. book that was published in 1958 where the bear goes up the escalator. So the boys laugh and enjoy their ride on the escalator, while the guard is laughing - only because until he got this job he also had never seen an escalator.

Going back to Warsaw, they have escalators in all the malls. I think we could be entertained for a couple of days at least:).

Embassy Living...

We were at dinner last night with another member of the embassy, and I realized that sometimes, I don't fit in. It's saddened me, particularly with the knowledge that I don't have a job in Warsaw and I'll be staying at home all the time with my three kids (the fourth one is in school). I don't really know what a lot of people are talking about when they talk about stuff going on at the embassy and then there are the things that you can't know because you don't have the correct colored badge. Not that I want to know...I just really feel excluded sometimes.

I know that when most spouses get together with people that their spouse works with they feel left out, but the whole reason we do what we do is because my husband works at the embassy. So there's a small portion of people to draw on there and most of them work at the embassy or having to do with the embassy...and I don't. But I guess that's neither here nor there.

I won't be working in Warsaw because I didn't get the job I wanted and there won't be anything else that I want to do. Plus, I never want to have to go through the interview process there again. I guess I feel like I failed because I didn't get the job, no matter that they wanted someone to start before I got there. Really, it's a humiliating experience to have to be interviewed by this group of 8 or 10 people that you won't be working for, only to find out that there was never a chance in hell of you getting the job in the first place. It's just that they can't make it seem like they based their decision on exactly what they based their decision on...

Now I have become a whiny blogger, but I don't think anyone is reading anymore anyway, so I suppose it's OK now.

WOW, time has actually begun to fly

I finished my environmental psychology class! I am SO relieved as that was a pain in the butt. Interesting subject matter, TERRIBLE instructor! Now it's Theories of Personality, which is also interesting but the more I study psychology the more I wonder what the heck I am going to do with this degree.

I've spent the past week packing up our lives into boxes. Time is zipping along as next week they come and take it all away. Hopefully it will get to Warsaw intact, but even if it doesn't we no longer have a lot of sentimental attachment to our "things".

Pamela has spent every weekend recording a CD with her friends Anna and Diane (pronounced Dee - ann). I wish I could attach the one song we have from all of this recording. It's pretty good, as long as you don't listen to the lyrics and realize that 3 12 year olds came up with them...

My other new past time is creating interesting dishes out of what we have left in our cabinets. If you've seen the very last episode of Friends where Monica created a pie out of cereal and other stuff left over, that's what it's like. Every day it's like, hmmm, what can I make with chicken breasts and cornstarch and dried cherries?...allrecipes.com!!!

We celebrated our 13th anniversary this week and I am amazed. It's wonderful, I feel like it hasn't been nearly that long and I've been crazy for most of it:). I have the most amazing husband (I know, how cliche) and I love him more and more as each year passes...

Well, I guess that's all I have for today. Until the movers come, I'm quite busy with the move. After that I will probably have lots of time to sit around and post blogs.