I am sitting in our living room watching the aqua waters in the Gulf of Tunis. It is a little cloudy today so the water isn't as clear as some days. But I can almost make out the individual white buildings on the other side of the Gulf, on the peninsula called Cap Bon. At least, I'm pretty sure that is what I see.
Every day this feels more like home. I am used to the ugly tile in our bathrooms, and the broken side walks. The girls really like walking on the street like the locals instead of on the sidewalks. It is easier as there are usually cars parked or trees growing on the sidewalks anyway. The food is looking much more familiar and going shopping isn't so scary and overwhelming. I haven't really learned to make much Tunisian food, but that will come.
Elliot's exciting news is that she is potty training!! Yay!! We bought a potty a while ago but she wasn't too interested until a couple weeks ago. Suddenly she told me she had to go and went!! We were so excited! And she really enjoys our cheering and praise of her. I think she will probably be pretty much all trained by the end of our visit in Canada this summer. But we'll see.
We registered Hunter at the American International school for Kindergarten in the fall. We were very late getting her in so she is 1st on the waiting list. I am sure someone will move or be transferred in the next couple months so she can get in... but if not we will probably send her to a French school for Kindergarten instead. I don't think it would hurt her at all to get a good base in French for a year and I'm pretty sure she could catch up in anything she missed in the American school. So we will see how that all works out. We booked out flights home before registering Hunter so her school starts the day after we get back. Oops! But they will need to do testing on her to make sure she is at the Kindergarten level so she will start a few days later anyway. There are so many kids from all over the world and so many different kinds of schools that no everyone is at the same level as the other kids their age. I have heard it is quite common to have a two year age gap between kids in the same class. I'm sure it makes for interesting dynamics. Oh, and the principal of the elementary part of the American school in Canadian so it was very nice to meet her.
Hunter and Travis had some kind of stomach bug this past weekend so we didn't get up to too much. Hunter was fine on Saturday so the girls and I went to a friend's BBQ which was fun. There were about 6 kids so they were well occupied and I had a good visit with a few of the women I'd met at different functions. We had been invited to another BBQ on Sunday, Father's Day, but since both Hunter and Travis weren't feeling well, we stayed home. Elli and I had a fun day going out and about together. We went for a little workout session in the morning and then went for a juice date and groceries. In the afternoon we were going for more groceries and ran into friends so went for ice cream with them. It was fun to just hang out with Elli on her own. And Hunter and Travis got some good snuggle time watching movies too. Luckily, by Monday everyone was feeling better... and Elli and I didn't end up with the same bug.
Tonight I am going out with my friend Ania to her Capoeria class. I took one class in Calgary about 7 years ago and loved it but never went back. So it will be fun to try it again. Remembering the class from so long ago, I know I will be sore tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
June already!
Wow!! I can't believe that we have been in Tunisia for 3 months today! It was only 3 months from the time we made the decision to move until we actually got on the plane and that seemed to take much longer. I guess we've been having fun!
It's been a long time since my last blog. I see I only updated twice in May so I promise to write more often in June. I'm sure I'll want to be inside more anyway since it is getting pretty warm. Last week we had some rain and windy days but more often than not, our weather has been in the high 20s. I think it has been a little cooler than usual but not cold by any means. I'm not even sure where our coats are anymore. We haven't used them in a while. This week is supposed to be 30+ all week! In fact, Wed, Thurs and Fri are predicted to be 36C!!!! I think we will spend plenty of time in our pool and at the beach in the next few days. Wow! We are planning a trip home to Canada in July/ August which I think will be a nice break from the heat. I think even a couple weeks of 30C weather will be a cool relief from what we have coming! But it is nice to be in the sun in June instead of recovering from frost bite!! LOL
So, what have we been up to? I have started going to the gym although very sporadically. It feels good to get back to working out a bit. I'm hoping we can figure out a schedule so that both Travis and I can make it once a week. But so far Travis hasn't gotten to go. It is a small gym so the hours for men and women are separate and Men can only go Mon, Wed. and Friday afternoons until 7pm which is inconvenient for Travis. I've gone on a couple of Saturday mornings while Travis goes out with the girls. I think it works quite well so we'll see if we can keep it up. I've missed the last couple week though.
Last weekend we were off to Tabarka, in the NW corner of the country, close to the Algerian border. Travis had been in the desert all week with work, got home at about 2pm on Thursday to pack and pick us up and we were off at 230pm to go to Tabarka where Travis and some of his coworkers where looking at rock formations. It was a busy week for him but the girls and I had a good time by ourselves and looked forward to the time at the hotel. We didn't get to spend much time with Travis there as he was out in the field during the day and out for dinner with the work guys at night. Luckily we got one sunny day on Friday to play in the pool and on the playground.
That's the most beautiful view from a swing set I've ever seen!!
The girls also made a little friend while were there, Lena Yasmine.
She and her family were staying for the week from Algeria. I had a visit with her mom too. We were able to communicate through a little English and a little French.
Both nights the girls went to the Club Enfant (Mini Club) "mini disco" and thought it was great! They were a little shy to do much dancing (or it could have been the funny songs in other languages, like Skinamarinkydinkydoo and the Chicken Dance!) but they watched and participated a little. Both nights they had had enough after half an hour. Which was perfect because I had had enough by then too! Hunter spend extra time picking out the perfect outfit for the disco both nights! Wow, I wonder how much thought she'll put into outfits when she's 16!!
The girls and I have made some friends here in Carthage. We were actually introduced through her blog when Travis was looking for carseats online. He came across Ania's blog and wrote to her. We found out she lived not far from us so not that we are settled we were able to get together with her and her kids, Victor (3.5 yrs) and Mila (9 months) for a splash at the beach. Hunter was calling Victor "Kaiser" for a while. Funny. I have no idea where she would even know the name Kaiser. Anyway all the big kids (that includes Elli. She tells us she is a big kid now) had a great time together. Ania is Polish, but met her French husband in Dublin where they lived until October before moving here. Her husband, Gilles, works for PayPal. I hadn't even thought of who runs PayPal until I found out Gilles was employed by them. We haven't actually met Gilles, but they seem like nice people that we hopefully will get together with often. Ania introduced us to a new beach and the train on the same day! Hunter had been asking when we could take the train somewhere but since I didn't really know how to use it or where it went, I was hesitant. Not to mention that I really had only seen the school boys hanging off the ends and out the doors. I wasn't excited taking the girls on it. But Ania had taken it a lot so I thought we'd see how it was. We did fine and even though I rode for about 10 minutes with the door wide open behind me, no one fell out. I realize that trains like this are common in different parts of the world but it is pretty funny when I compare them to the trains in Calgary. The Tunis trains would NEVER been allowed to run in Calgary. Dilapitated might be a light description of them. But I felt safe enough and hung on to the girls tightly! And the beach was very nice too. It was a little wavey the day we went but the kids had fun getting wet and Hunter taught herself to "belly surf". And there wasn't a lot of garbage on the beach. Definitely a good, yet uncommon, thing.
I haven't take the girls back on the train to the beach on my own again but probably will now that little Victor has broken his arm. Poor dear fell off a bouncy house the day after our beach day and will be in a cast for the next 6 weeks. It will be a very dry summer for him. The girls and I have discovered a little beach just down the road from us though. We see school boys swimming down from our little "beach" area so the water must be fairly clean (I am hoping) and there isn't too much garbage. I do keep the girls out of the dry sand as this is what the stray cats use as their Litter boxes. Ick! And we try to avoid the broken glass.
We wandered down to the beach yesterday and the girls played for about an hour before the tide started coming in. This time I put them in their swimsuits so they didn't have to walk home wet.
I did though, as we lost Hunter's sand rake in the water and found it down the beach a bit. I just had shorts on so walked home looking like I'd wet myself. We skipped the grocery store on that trip. ;)
Oh, we are also getting some tables made for around the house. So far we have just had the frames made and we still have to go pick out the marble tops. Then we will have a small table for the balcony off the dining room on the top floor, a kitchen table for our downstairs kitchen and a bit table for out on our patio by the pool. I also would like a table for our sitting our in the garden off the basement kitchen, but that will come later. We also need to get cushions for the low benches that are built-in in the basement kitchen. Slowly slowly we are figuring where all the stores are and how to get stuff.
It is already mighty hot out today. The girls are napping and then I think we will spend the afternoon by the pool, swimming and having a BBQ. I can't think of a better way to spend a hot Saturday afternoon!
Have a great weekend!
It's been a long time since my last blog. I see I only updated twice in May so I promise to write more often in June. I'm sure I'll want to be inside more anyway since it is getting pretty warm. Last week we had some rain and windy days but more often than not, our weather has been in the high 20s. I think it has been a little cooler than usual but not cold by any means. I'm not even sure where our coats are anymore. We haven't used them in a while. This week is supposed to be 30+ all week! In fact, Wed, Thurs and Fri are predicted to be 36C!!!! I think we will spend plenty of time in our pool and at the beach in the next few days. Wow! We are planning a trip home to Canada in July/ August which I think will be a nice break from the heat. I think even a couple weeks of 30C weather will be a cool relief from what we have coming! But it is nice to be in the sun in June instead of recovering from frost bite!! LOL
So, what have we been up to? I have started going to the gym although very sporadically. It feels good to get back to working out a bit. I'm hoping we can figure out a schedule so that both Travis and I can make it once a week. But so far Travis hasn't gotten to go. It is a small gym so the hours for men and women are separate and Men can only go Mon, Wed. and Friday afternoons until 7pm which is inconvenient for Travis. I've gone on a couple of Saturday mornings while Travis goes out with the girls. I think it works quite well so we'll see if we can keep it up. I've missed the last couple week though.
Last weekend we were off to Tabarka, in the NW corner of the country, close to the Algerian border. Travis had been in the desert all week with work, got home at about 2pm on Thursday to pack and pick us up and we were off at 230pm to go to Tabarka where Travis and some of his coworkers where looking at rock formations. It was a busy week for him but the girls and I had a good time by ourselves and looked forward to the time at the hotel. We didn't get to spend much time with Travis there as he was out in the field during the day and out for dinner with the work guys at night. Luckily we got one sunny day on Friday to play in the pool and on the playground.
That's the most beautiful view from a swing set I've ever seen!!
The girls also made a little friend while were there, Lena Yasmine.
She and her family were staying for the week from Algeria. I had a visit with her mom too. We were able to communicate through a little English and a little French.
Both nights the girls went to the Club Enfant (Mini Club) "mini disco" and thought it was great! They were a little shy to do much dancing (or it could have been the funny songs in other languages, like Skinamarinkydinkydoo and the Chicken Dance!) but they watched and participated a little. Both nights they had had enough after half an hour. Which was perfect because I had had enough by then too! Hunter spend extra time picking out the perfect outfit for the disco both nights! Wow, I wonder how much thought she'll put into outfits when she's 16!!
The girls and I have made some friends here in Carthage. We were actually introduced through her blog when Travis was looking for carseats online. He came across Ania's blog and wrote to her. We found out she lived not far from us so not that we are settled we were able to get together with her and her kids, Victor (3.5 yrs) and Mila (9 months) for a splash at the beach. Hunter was calling Victor "Kaiser" for a while. Funny. I have no idea where she would even know the name Kaiser. Anyway all the big kids (that includes Elli. She tells us she is a big kid now) had a great time together. Ania is Polish, but met her French husband in Dublin where they lived until October before moving here. Her husband, Gilles, works for PayPal. I hadn't even thought of who runs PayPal until I found out Gilles was employed by them. We haven't actually met Gilles, but they seem like nice people that we hopefully will get together with often. Ania introduced us to a new beach and the train on the same day! Hunter had been asking when we could take the train somewhere but since I didn't really know how to use it or where it went, I was hesitant. Not to mention that I really had only seen the school boys hanging off the ends and out the doors. I wasn't excited taking the girls on it. But Ania had taken it a lot so I thought we'd see how it was. We did fine and even though I rode for about 10 minutes with the door wide open behind me, no one fell out. I realize that trains like this are common in different parts of the world but it is pretty funny when I compare them to the trains in Calgary. The Tunis trains would NEVER been allowed to run in Calgary. Dilapitated might be a light description of them. But I felt safe enough and hung on to the girls tightly! And the beach was very nice too. It was a little wavey the day we went but the kids had fun getting wet and Hunter taught herself to "belly surf". And there wasn't a lot of garbage on the beach. Definitely a good, yet uncommon, thing.
I haven't take the girls back on the train to the beach on my own again but probably will now that little Victor has broken his arm. Poor dear fell off a bouncy house the day after our beach day and will be in a cast for the next 6 weeks. It will be a very dry summer for him. The girls and I have discovered a little beach just down the road from us though. We see school boys swimming down from our little "beach" area so the water must be fairly clean (I am hoping) and there isn't too much garbage. I do keep the girls out of the dry sand as this is what the stray cats use as their Litter boxes. Ick! And we try to avoid the broken glass.
We wandered down to the beach yesterday and the girls played for about an hour before the tide started coming in. This time I put them in their swimsuits so they didn't have to walk home wet.
I did though, as we lost Hunter's sand rake in the water and found it down the beach a bit. I just had shorts on so walked home looking like I'd wet myself. We skipped the grocery store on that trip. ;)
Oh, we are also getting some tables made for around the house. So far we have just had the frames made and we still have to go pick out the marble tops. Then we will have a small table for the balcony off the dining room on the top floor, a kitchen table for our downstairs kitchen and a bit table for out on our patio by the pool. I also would like a table for our sitting our in the garden off the basement kitchen, but that will come later. We also need to get cushions for the low benches that are built-in in the basement kitchen. Slowly slowly we are figuring where all the stores are and how to get stuff.
It is already mighty hot out today. The girls are napping and then I think we will spend the afternoon by the pool, swimming and having a BBQ. I can't think of a better way to spend a hot Saturday afternoon!
Have a great weekend!
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