Busy "Babe," Busy "Mage"

So much to do, so little time

November 16, 2013

All week long, my work days starts at 7:30 and ends at 5 PM – This to look forward to our half-day Fridays when work ends at 1:30 PM.  I also learnt the hard way a couple of Friday’s ago, trying to do “errands” like shopping on a Friday when it was mayhem trying to get out of the grocery store parking lot.  Everyone here goes shopping apparently so now I will reserve my Friday’s with less stress things like finding an exercise class and relaxing before the weekend comes.  Now I just need to get some “followers” for my cause but coordinating the schedule is a bit tricky.  Right now the commute to work is only 15 min each way so can’t complain.  Wait until our office moves out into the valley in 1.5 years..the fun starts.

So I got my car wash done for the first time.  However, the culture of car wash here is entirely different than in the U.S.A.  I was looking for one and a friend at work recommended this one by the Engen gas station.  Well, when I got there, I told them just a wash and a vacuum.  And so he proceeded.. I knew I had a doctor's appointment in 30 minutes so no problem.  The time kept ticking away and he’s still working on my car, cleaning the tires, the doors, the inside, the outside.  I was getting antsy and I knew it was no point to rush the man, he was working so hard.  The car wash did not have automated machines…An empty garage with one power washer and a vacuum cleaner like your average one in the home.  I knew that my gardener also washes the outside of the car, but because we only have the one car, I’ve been taking it to work every day.  Also, my cleaner has been on sick leave as she had a family emergency.  After the Kruger Park mud on my car, I knew it was in dire need of a cleaning.  Task done.

Next, I have three distance education courses I’m taking for work…I also am studying for two career enhancers.  Maybe God will open the door and help me realize the important ones as prioritization as always been my area of lacking.  I won’t blame my parents anymore, I will look forward as “it is what it is.”  I also have to finish unpacking, reorganizing each room to make our goods accessible, then entertaining and spending some time with Alyssa, make her lunch, attend bible class, exercise/dance, dishes and the list goes on..     







Making Cake Pops with Alyssa

At least last night, there was a bit of fun with baking with Alyssa.  She’s into making cake pops.  It’s our thing – it not only tastes good, it’s just a bite or two of yummy.  I’m still trying to perfect my ways.  Check it out.

Finished Product

Packaged and Ready to Go!



Alyssa’s been calling me “Bobby” for over a month now.  Apparently she learned at school that father in SiSwati (the local language here) is “babe” pronounced bah-bay and mother is “mage” pronounced mah-gay.  So whenever Alyssa starts calling me Bobby, I immediately correct her – “Maggy!”  Next week I start SiSwati lessons at the embassy.  I’m looking forward to  learning a few basic words.  The locals appreciate it.  The people here are really friendly.  Sometimes they cross your personal space, but overall can’t complain.  I also am amazed at the amount of religious people here.  Every Sunday the churches are filled with cars.  Definitely a big change from Paris as in Paris, the amount of practicing Catholics are little although the nation as a whole is 95% roman catholic.  Here in Swaziland you can find a church just about every corner and more are being built. 

Well, time to get to my many other wavering priorities calling at me.  I’ve had dizzy problems lately and we think this is due to low iron, so it’s doctor’s orders that I don’t over exert myself!! This means “no exercise’ as well for two weeks.  So my diet better be a little better.  Time to plan  my meals this week – another on my To Do list.

Two Months as a Swaziland Resident and our First Visit to Kruger Park

Living Like a Swazi

November 8, 2013

 It’s been over two months already and finally we leave the country.  We have arrived at the beautiful lodge near Kruger Park’s Crocodile River, called Buckler’s Africa.  The backyard is Kruger Park.  Hoping to see some elephants chewing the leaves tomorrow morning at breakfast.  We are going to do our first real safari..One where we see real animals not inside cages.  Hoping to spot all the animals..They say the "Big Five" include rhinos, elephants, lions, leopards and water buffalos.  Jason packed our food and cooked an awesome dinner.  Alyssa was excited running around the lodge, and being daddy’s helper.  Mom was the co-pilot and got us there safely.  Despite not having a GPS we made it with simple paper and maps. 

Alyssa is sure becoming accustomed to the lifestyle of Southern Africa.  She spends her spare time collecting millipedes in the garden, puts it in a container and calls it her pet.  She is playing with our guard saying, “my guard is helping me get the avocados.”  I’m getting more accustomed to driving in Swaziland.  It is a bit disturbing to see a school kids walking alone on the highway.  It just doesn’t seem safe to me.  Walking on the highways seems common here.  Yesterday I got to volunteer and read to a bunch of African school kids (3^rd or 4^th grade) at the library.  They seemed interested although no one had questions..the little ones were more drawn in. 

Two great things happen this past week.  We got our housekeeper finally and she is a great addition.  Coming home to a made-up bed, dishes completed and laundry done..Not only is it peaceful sanctuary but it means I’ll have more free time on weekends.  I will try to enjoy the additional help these three years in Africa.  We also got our household effects and both Jason and our maid has done a great job unpacking and organizing.  Nice to be able to have our stuff and settle in.  We will do some shopping in Nelspruit and get the remaining 220 appliances that we got from our welcome kit.  Jason’s waiting on when to start working and been busy Christmas shopping.  Doing online shopping can be frustrating with the slow speeds but we are making it work. 

My task the next few weeks are to work harder on my diet planning and seriously getting back into exercise.  I can see my belly bulging already..The food, desserts is good but I must remember the hard work I did to lose the weight.  Working on sleep, self care and study will have to be my priorities..of course along with balancing family life.  I found a church, I found a bible class group and now the remaining is finding an exercise class and a buddy for accountability and to start scrapbooking again.  I am continuing to find my niche. 

November 9, 11:03 PM- Nelspruit

Well, we sure had one hell of an adventure at Kruger Park.  It really amazing to see so many large animals up close.  We saw two of the “Big Five” of the park, which isn’t bad for our first visit.  Most of the best interactive experience was off the beaten path..Yes, the dirt roads.  We saw zebra, giraffe and antelopes crossing the road.  The two of the big five we saw were elephant and rhino.  We didn’t see any predators this visit but we bought a wild card so we will be sure to come back!  We entered through the Crocodile Gate bridge and right away, we spotted wart hogs, zebras and a variety of deer, antelopes and llamas.  We even saw turtles, monkeys, and lizards.  The most amazing experience was seeing a giraffe peer through the woods as we drove through a dirt road of “nothing.”  Then we spotted two, then three giraffes!  This was all on the S130 road.    I caught a nice picture of the crossing on the street.  My colleague at work who went just a week before got to see a lion eat the giraffes which was a sad story – but it’s part of life, the food chain!  We had a great time at Buckler’s Lodge and the hosts were friendly and gave us tips on liking the Kruger Sightings Facebook page so we can find out which way to go!!  It’s good that we did take the dirt road..After the giraffes we saw two huge elephants right off the road.  It came out of nowhere and imagine…. We heard stories of how an elephant got territorial and sat on a car, killing people in it.  We got a warning not to get too close to the elephants, both from the Regional Security Officer and our hosts from Buckler’s Africa.  We were literally less than 100 feet away from these beautiful creatures.  They were eating so they were peaceful as we drove by them without even seeing them at first!  Definitely, the elephants and giraffes were the highlights of our trip.  I’m happy with what we saw.

The rest of the evening did not progress so well.  I had reserved a hotel at Easy Stay in Nelspruit only to find out it was reserved for the wrong night.  It’s Murphy’s Law..What could go wrong, can.  Just glad it didn’t happen at the park.  99.9% I always have my hotel confirmation # and this ONE time I didn’t have it, screwed me up.  We now are resting in a smoking-room at the hotel across from the one we had planned to stay at…I lost my Blackberry in the car and could have called ahead to confirm.  Of course, as I said..it was Murphy’s Law. 

Tomorrow is shopping day.  I just realize how real important it is to prioritize for a peace of mind.  We just got our household effects two days before which was not the ideal thing..I would have thought of a lot more, blah blah blah.  Anyways, I’m grateful for my experience.    

November 14, 2013

We ended up buying 3,744 RAND worth of appliances -- that is $374 US dollars.  This is easy to convert.  Just move one decimal point over.  SWEET!  While I'm on the topic of local currency I thought I'd share that Swaziland accepts both South African RAND and Emalangeni while South Africa only accepts RAND.  Like the local say "shame!"  Shame is a word I hear a lot among the locals which really means too bad.  Well, that's the news from Bo's front this week.  Stay tuned and bookmark this blog!!   Til next time...

Ants and Millipedes and Ladybugs, oh MY!!

One BUG happy family

 

October 30^th, 2013

Well, here it is on the eve of Halloween. And it doesn’t even feel like – although the lightning and thunder, does set the mood.  In my neighborhood, I think I’m one if the few houses with a generator as the storm has caused an outage now since 7 PM.  I was at a bible study and the family didn’t have a generator..How can you say “hardship” when others have it worst!  Nevertheless, I am thankful for having the generator as we have electricity and TV but no Internet, as I write this post.  

Highlights of this week – Alyssa wanted a pet so bad…So daddy went out and got some ants to put in a tall jar.  They seem to like it, especially since daddy got some of the sprinkles from my baked goods shelf to put in the jar.  She even had names for them – one of them Jack.  However, he used Saran Wrap with one or two holes..I doubt that was enough air for them as they were still sleeping in the morning.  So yesterday he grabbed a lady bug and put it in a jar for Alyssa..Pet #2.  Ugh..I come home and find that he’s collected 2-3 millipedes..Those things with many legs!!  Methinks they better stay contained.  In the meantime, we are one big happy bug family. 
Another practice is learning to unplug modem and phone line during these bad storms.  I guess it is better than tornados and hurricanes.  Hail last weekend was quite heavy and could have damaged my car's windshield. 

I just learned good news that my big household shipment is in Durban  however the storms have kept the crates from moving to Mbabane..I sure am missing my stuff and feeling it.  From my dish, to hangers and to my shopping bags.  I guess patience has its virtue.  I will learn to appreciate things more.  My U.S. stamps ordered from USPS web site have arrived so I’m ready for cards and Christmas time!!  This past weekend, went to a Halloween party.  It was fun but it also rained so we were stuck in doors..We had scary stories, we had treats and..well I didn’t stay for the tricks.  Alyssa got to be the astronaut and momma got to be Pocahontas.  I’ve wanted to be her for some time, especially when my hair was long.  I had the straight hair but not the length.  Check it out.

Mami got to be one to hand out treats to the kids!!

Happy Halloween :-) 

The Comforts of Home Away from Home

Finding our Niche 

 

October 20, 2013

This past week we discovered what we miss most -- fast food or drive through.  I discovered Nando's last week and had to go back few more times after the convenience of ordering take home food to my loved ones. The best part about it is that it is HEALTHY fast food.  Chicken strips was actually grilled pieces of chicken with RICE, and not fries.  (That part was mis-communication on my part when I said fries she heard rice).  Nevertheless, it was good and satisfies a hungry tummy.  Also, the prices are comparable to US fast foods for a meal of 3, it was usually 16 dollars (or 160 South African Rand or E, local currency in Swaziland).  Another words, fast food in Swaziland is expensive!  Go to a sit-down restaurant and don't be surprised to pay just $7 more for a nice meal at $22 a family.  No wonder fast food lines are short hehe.

 

Here is Alyssa's Dinosaur Fossil Toy from her Nando's Kid's Meal

--She got good at digging it out!

We were hoping to check out the Nelspruit and Kruger park area only to discover that they aren't really next door (one hour apart from each other). On top of that the weather wasn't cooperating.  I was able to get some relaxation in, which was what my body needed the most.

Went to a birthday party for a co-worker's sons..It was good I checked my Blackberry!  You just never know what might be happening in the weekend.  Still spending a good time on the weekend with household chores so I haven't experienced the luxury yet..Maybe in a week or two?  We have hired a lady and she has good references.  We can't wait for her to join us. 

Alyssa and her fave friend, Benjamin                                                   Funtime with Friends

 

Olsen Twins Turn One

 

So far the continuity of bible study and having a regular lessons with Alyssa weekly, is helping, minus my exercise class.  I'm hoping to get that in this week in some shape or form.  At least we have a couple of events to keep us busy such as the Halloween parties coming up and craft night.  

Going on Week 7

Becoming Amateurs

 

October 14, 2013

Hard to believe that we are at the beginning of week 7.  It doesn't feel like we have been here long, yet the end of October marks our two month anniversary in Swaziland.  This past week has been laid back and really just getting in the routine, and still exploring.  Checked out a new church yesterday and been keeping busy with card-making and crafts.  My daughter is really getting into it.  We did it in Florida for a Baptist Ministry and really had a good time, fellowship and I hope I can find (or start) a group here.  Here's the proud work I did today..I made five cards.  I really am starting to get organized, which means I'm on my way to getting settled.  Our HHE (household effects) arrive this month as well, and it will be like finding a treasure chest..Who knew we could live without SO many things.  I sure miss my morning Frapuccino's.  There's nothing close, except a Freezachino at one of the restaurants here.  So my caffeine has been mostly diet coke -- not so great at 10 AM but what can you do?

Feeling so Productive

 

Card Greeting Night with Alyssa

 

 

Trying a Craft Pumpkin from Pinterest 

 

I am starting to relax now with the pot holes and speed bumps..It's funny how quickly we adapt.  Even cold tap water is starting to grow on me....NOT!  Well, wait until I get back to states for an R&R and then I'll know that I don't have to live with washing my hands in cold water!  The kitchen sink and bath-shower is the only place I get hot water.

Today as my daughter came home from school, I was able to point out a millipede to her and she was like cool...Yes, our garden has all sorts, a natural zoo.  I noticed the roses are starting to bloom which is pretty.  It doesn't feel like fall weather here.  We are actually moving into the summer season and will be interesting when January comes, as it supposed to be hot.  Alyssa's on her 3rd horse back lessons and doing better.  This might be a sport we enjoy here together.

Turkey's roaming freely at the farm

Just like the backdrop of a western movie.

    

 

Nice to have Columbus Day off.  I got to have a day date with Jason as our school bus comes to pick Alyssa up.  She is still enjoying her new school and looks forward to going every day.  It will soon be time to start planning some of our South African vacations now..Make the use of our time here.  The Villa's love to travel!

Realities and Delights of Hardship Posts

October 6, 2013

 

They don't pay big bucks for nothing.  Here are some of the hardships we have learned are part of the fair share Foreign Service officers are required to do every eight years.

Swaziland's Hardship 

Hardship #1 - Stress of learning to drive on the left size of the road, full of potholes, speed bumps, tight spaces and cars flying out of nowhere. You really need defensive driving skills. I got scratches not on my own car but on the duty vehicles. Planning to take a crash course from one of the office staff soon.

Hardship # 2 - When it rains be prepared for home phone line and Internet outage. Internet speeds are slow, expensive and unreliable.

Hardship # 3 - I spend my free time killing bugs in the house.  In my 5 years of Florida I saw 3 roaches.  In the month and a half, I have been in Swazi I killed 4-5.  Three of them at my entrance to the door...eeek!

I better stop sissing around! Another thing I am learning.."Figure it out on my own."  Yes, Ms. Bo has a tendency to keep asking people for answers! :-)   Number two, listen better, etc etc. I doubt by age 40, I can correct all my deficiencies. You take the good w the bad I suppose.

Along with hardships, we have to look at the bright side.  That I'm trying to do more.  They say settling in a new post takes about 6 months.  Many people curtail or find this period difficult as moving along brings new stressors one is not used to in their environment --it's a part of the nomadic life style.

Delight # 1 -- People in Swaziland speak English.  Yes, it may be a developing country but the majority of people I run into understand what I'm saying.  What's delightful is that 85% of our service providers are British.. Which makes it a lot easier to find things and communicate of course.  I've gotten into the mentality of speaking SLOWLY when I'm overseas.  Nice to be able talk normally.  Alyssa's judo teacher this coming Monday, is British.  Her new school Principal is British, her uniform store, our barber and last but not least, the horseback lessons she is signing up for, are owned by Brits. 

Definitely a delight - Nature

 

Here is Alyssa in her first horseback lesson ride

Delight #2 -- I haven't had my household help begin work yet but we got her finger prints done this past weekend.  Now we just need her medical exam and a few reference checks to make sure she's OK.  After all, she's going to be in our house and watch the girl so we must take precautions.  This should help me a great deal.  We have a gardener who takes care of our yard weekly.  All for a decent price...

Delight # 3 -- Yummy foods, not always having to worry about the quality of water such as bleaching your vegetables.  You get good cuts of meat for decent price here.  The shopping is not bad and we haven't ventured into Johannesburg or Nelspruit yet but I hear we can get McDonald's and many other amenities in South Africa.  Maybe if Jason becomes CLO (Community Liaison Officer), he can organize quarterly trips there.  Have people pitch in and all..it's two hours there, two hours back so be prepared for lots of shopping!!! 

Delight # 4 -- All roads leads to one.  It's hard to get lost in Mbabane.  You take one wrong road, it leads you back to the main one.  You don't need a GPS -- it has only so many highways and roads and then the mountains.  Definitely learning your way around here is easy, as the others who've lived here have said.

Delight # 5 -- Yes, the crime level here in comparison to Johannesburg is a lot less.  So you have the nice part of South Africa without the crime.  We can get to Mozambique in a short time which as people say, is the real Africa!!

Well, went to my first church service and it wasn't too bad.  The songs/worship is nearly one hour long.  I used to think Catholic service was long at 50 minutes and I barely got anything out of it.  I think my happy medium is a bible class - a little bit of everything and what's best, you get to discuss it with your classmates.  Well, I'm glad this weekend worked out well.  Still praying that everything back home is alright.  For those who had gone to my Smug Mug web site, my trial period ended.  I have to see if I want that web site as it is slow to load and I'm in Africa.  I pay a high price for dial-up speed so for now, I'll post pics here and there..Mostly Facebook and a few in my blogs.  Alyssa and I did our favorite activities and put it in a jar..That way, we get o choose what we like to do and most of it are what Alyssa, Jason and I like to do.  Can't go wrong!!

September 28: Nearly a Month!

September 28, 2013

 

Another weekend has come; got the duty car and got a few more driving in.  I wonder how the Toyota 1995 RAV will do with all these potholes.  Good news is I’m getting it registered on Monday.  Bad news is finding out how much work needs to be done on it – from fixing breaks to tires and who knows what else.  Jason is going to fix the locks.  We better drive careful cuz this baby ain’t got airbags.  I tell people this as Jason tells me this as well –we have enough accidents to last four generations!! 

Alyssa will start new school on Monday.  Montessori just wasn’t working out.. After all what does one expect.  She joined first grade in the third term of Swaziland school system where playground and free play doesn’t exist.  I find it hard to believe they accept children as young as she – she’s only 5 and a half and quite clever.  But mind you, she is still a child who needs to play!!  Having a friend she knows is a plus as well.

Jason went for job interview on Friday.  He wouldn’t practice with me and so I hope he will get something he likes.  He’s got another one come Wed so I hope he will be more prepared.  May God give him the job that will make him happy.  I really want him to get something that is long term rather than having to reinvent oneself at each new assignment. 

Promotion list came out and after all that volunteer work and taking on “additional” assignments that I thought kept me apart from 250 IMSs..Well that didn’t do it.  I suppose I have to live in Swaziland for three years.  I have to do my fair share..Who knows the rules, it seems to change every year.  Seven seems to be my lucky number so I will hopefully get promoted every 7 years..Seems like a long time.  Both Jason and I are not the types to lobby or sell ourselves.  In the Foreign Service, that’s what you do – you sell yourselves whether to get promoted or to get your next assignment.  We’ll see and give it another tour before making a new career move.