Fresh Fruits

We're so lucky to be able to watch the fruit we eat as it grows on the trees in our yard. When we first moved into the house, we were able to pick lemons but were disappointed that the grapefruit and dates we'd seen on previous visits to the house seemed to have been finished. This morning, our first papaya of the season was ready to be picked from the tree (first and second pictures). I then took a tour of the other trees ... the grapefruits (last picture) need just a little more time, as do the bananas. The mangoes (4th picture) seem to be so close to being ripe, but it'll be another month before they're ready to eat. We have a few mango trees, one of which produces "Mangue Americain" which is apparently a very large mango ... I'll post them once we have them.

Weekend Hike

Last weekend we went on a great hike on the edge of the National Park. It reminded Fred and me of our time in Arizona. The smells, the rocky pathways, the brush, it was all very similar to hikes we’d taken in and around Phoenix. But this time he had little Lucy on his shoulders and was followed by 2 active boys eagerly pointing out insects and birds ... how the time flies. It’s definitely a hike we’ll do again soon. We finished the day with lunch and ice cream at the National Park.

3 Months and Getting into a Groove

I’m a pretty patient person ... actually, I’m not. That’s been my greatest challenge with moving here. But I’ve learned first-hand that you really appreciate things when you’ve had to wait for them. Our shipment arrived 3 months to the day it left our house in Arlington and it was a wonderful day! The boys came home from school and Max immediately ran to his bike (just like his Zayde) and was jumping with excitement about getting to go for a bike ride in the neighborhood. Charlie just ran from toy to toy hugging them. It was fun to watch. Lucy was already engrossed in her Dora dollhouse urging the boys to quiet down because her baby was sleeping. Max loves having his own room and decorates and rearranges things quite often. I wonder where he gets that from? Lucy and Charlie love sharing a room and listening to them talk to each other at bedtime when they think we can’t hear is hilarious. During these last 3 months I’ve experienced every emotion and learned a lot about myself. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster but it’s amazing how things just settle down after a few months. The boys love school, or at least Charlie is resigned to the fact that he’ll need to attend school for the next 13+ years of his life so he may as well make the most of it. They have made good friends and enjoy their activities, especially Badminton. Who knew it would be such a popular sport? Lucy is picking up the French very quickly and is a happy girl, talking non-stop. I’ve started French classes - a tutor comes to the house three times a week and works with me while Lucy plays nearby. That’s been great and I’ve started to get out more and explore Bamako with friends. Yesterday I went to the Palais de la Culture where they were having an artist expo of different West African artists, mostly of fabrics and textiles. I bought a nice handmade rug for the family room - my first purchase here without Fred to negotiate for me. I may have overpaid and certainly gave the artist a good laugh with my broken French, but it was fun. Not it’s time to take Lucy for a swim.

Happy Halloween

AISB had a Halloween carnival, complete with trunk 'n treating, games, a haunted house (run by the Marines from the Embassy) and dinner. The snow cone machine was a huge hit given the 95 degree temperatures yesterday evening, so after a few bites of pizza, the kids filled up on cotton candy and snow cones. Max dressed up as a panther, Charlie was a chef and Lucy was a princess. Our shipment hasn't yet arrived, so the kids were pretty resourceful with what we had. I took a picture of the kids, the school's turtle (it made its way up from the Niger River and hangs out in the soccer field) and a cute pumpkin carving and then forgot to take more pictures after that ... the cotton candy machine might have distracted me just a little bit.

Home Sweet Home

We moved into our house at the beginning of October and couldn't be happier. The kids love it here ... possibly because we now have a cook. :) Above are a few pictures of the house ... we have a big wrap around screened porch and another one in the back of the house so we can still enjoy the outdoors even when the mosquitos are at their worst in the evenings. We have several fruit trees, including lemon, grapefruit, mango, date palm, and coconut. We have been using the lemons in cooking (and by we, I mean our cook) and are eagerly awaiting the sampling of the mangoes when they fully ripen. The kids love the pool and have gotten lots of swim time in this week with friends - it's their school fall break. And for those who notice, a tall fence is being installed in front of the white picket fence by the pool. The little fence is pretty but easily scalable by young boys eager to go for a swim. We're hoping to get our shipment early next week and be sleeping in our own beds by week's end.

Kindergarten Playground Dedication

Charlie's class sang a song in French and English during the new playground equipment dedication in the kindergarten play area, while the older classes looked on ... if you look real close, you can see Max hanging on the fence. The school has a separate playground for preschool and kindergarten from the rest of the elementary school and recently added some great new pieces of climbing equipment.

Pigtails and see saws

Lucy was very excited to wear pigtails for the first time last week. Her hair has gotten very curly and has a mind of its own, but on this day Lucy decided she needed 2 bows in her hair. She was so proud of herself she ran into school to pick up the boys so she could show them right away. She and Max also had a great time on the seesaw yesterday at the playground. While not pictured, Charlie was there too ... busily digging with rocks, making sure to cover himself from head to toe in the gritty red sand.

Malian food

We ate some Malian food this weekend and I remembered to snap a few pictures before it was all gone. The food in the sahel is not as interesting as other West African cuisine like Ghana, but a tasty break from the mostly European fare we've been eating at the hotel. On Saturday evening, Max and Fred walked to buy some bread and pastries for Sunday breakfast and stopped at a vendor on the side of the road who was making "aloko" - yummy fried plantain and fried dough whose name I don't know. The dough, to everyone's surprise, had sliced onions and hard boiled eggs tucked inside. It was delicious and tasted a lot like a chinese egg roll. The sauce it came with was a bit too spicy for me and the kids but Fred enjoyed it. Then for lunch on Sunday we ordered 2 Malian dishes at the National Park restaurant (pictures above). We all enjoyed it, particularly Lucy. One dish was called "Widjilla" and the description in French was "sauce a la tomato avec pate de pain suite a la vapeur." It was a tomato based sauce with steamed bread. Our favorite between the two dishes. The other dish was "Soupoukondia" and was "sauce combo mule de palme poisson fumes avec riz blanc." This dish sauce was okra based with palm oil and some fish and it came with white rice. As okra dishes go, it was a good one though I still have difficulty with the sliminess of the okra texture. It's the yellower of the sauces and shown in the picture with Lucy. Also pictured above is a replica of the green minibuses you see all over the streets here - packed tight with people and their goods. It was right outside the restaurant at the National Park so the kids checked it out and let me take a quick picture. They were fascinated by the people inside made out of paper mache.