Thursday, August 4, 2011

Week 2

Greetings from the embassy, where the internet is s-l-o-w. I just spent two hours trying to order uniform bottoms for my kids, since the school gave me wrong information about color (no navy bottoms), and my boys were horrified that I had them in "uniform khaki shorts" rather than khaki skate shorts like most of the other kids were wearing. They'll live, I'm sure, with their knobby knees poking out until the new stuff gets here. The good news is that Mitch's visa is finally straightened out, which means we can begin the process of getting the necessary information to get our internet, phone, and cable hooked up. Does that make it seem like it will happen soon? HAHAHAHAHA!

We also discovered that our stuff, which was packed over a month ago, is STILL sitting in Maryland.  Getting it by Christmas is looking iffy at this point, but at least we have a concrete bed to sleep on until our beloved bed arrives, so that's lucky.  See how positive I am? With no stuff, the kids were actually excited to begin school today, knees showing and all. They've been reduced to playing invented games with each other, just like we used to do in the olden days before internet and video games. Yesterday, the game was "Shawshank Redemption", in which Warden Jack had the kids locked in the rabbit house in the yard or doing things for him, such as retrieving glasses of water and fanning him with palm leaves.

Despite not having any stuff, or a car, we have been having a good time. We walk down to the lake and spot the monkeys in the trees or up to the small shopping center to get little treats. We love our house, except the soul-sucking lightless kitchen and ugly Drexel furniture, but we'll jazz it up when we get our stuff. The weather is sunny and beautiful every day. Since it's winter here, there hasn't been a drop of rain, which makes the air very dry. Olivia had a visitor drop on her arm the first time she took a shower, and after a bloodcurdling scream that could be heard for miles, has decided to name him/her Cupcake the Gecko. He/she is currently residing under the girls' bathroom cabinet. A few days a week, I'm going to ride in to the embassy with Mitch now that the kids are in school (PS, for the first time I didn't cry on the first day of school-maybe I've had too much 'Shawshank Redemption'?) and we'll take Portuguese lessons together. It is murder trying to get anything accomplished without language.

Tchau!

4 comments:

Camille said...

Hahahahahahahah!

I'm gonna start that game around here.

Kim said...

They could always play Huckle Buckle Beanstalk, or the rock game. Remember that?

Heather Dray said...

Perhaps Cupcake might give way to a litter of mini cupcakes? Notice any gecko eggs laying around?!

Bfiles said...

sorry about the HHE (do you recommend following up to be sure it shipped?)! Sounds like you are taking everything in stride. hope the kids school started off well. good luck adjusting.