"Waka Waka - This Time for Africa!!!"

Before I let too much time go by, I wanted to blog about my recent trip to Johannesburg, South Africa!  Yep, I got to travel on business.  Not Matt.  ME!  I watched 4 entire movies on the airplane, read several magazines, got room service, 8 hours of sleep at night, and did a little shopping.  I'll probably never get that opportunity again, but it certainly was fun while it lasted!  Matt dropped ME at the airport and he stayed behind with the kids.  (I won't mention that he had Kumari to help him and it was only 7 nights.  :-)  He did great with the kids and they were all happy and healthy when I returned home.  Boy, I really did miss them and it felt really strange to be out there on my own.  Thanks, honey, for not complaining about being a single parent and not saying a single word about all the money I spent.   The kids needed some souvenirs, didn't they?  Of course, I needed some too.

I was actually not alone, as I had the advantage of going with one of my co-workers.  That was a good thing for both of us as neither of us had traveled much without our husband right beside us to take care of all that important stuff.  We did fine though, but were glad we could cling to each other.

Due to Kuwait's work week being Sunday - Thursday, Betty and I (yes, for those of you who know my family her name is Betty Jo!) got to travel two days before the convention started.   The first day after we arrived, we went on a day trip safari to Pilanesburg Park.  It was great!!!  Hot, but great.  Our tour guide picked us up from the hotel and we headed about 2 hours outside of Johannesburg.  I have to say that the drive to the park was every bit as interesting, and sad, as the safari itself.  Here's a few pictures of what we saw along the way:

Heartbreaking, isn't it?  It was a beautiful drive, which I didn't expect.  But, it was just heartbreaking to see all of those sheds that people were living in.  They were everywhere - too many to even begin counting.  There were little kids running around, women and men walking around.  The sheds were literally that - dirt floors, no running water, and one room for the entire family.  I just can't even imagine....  we are SO incredibly blessed in America.  I felt a sick guilty feeling passing all of that up and going on my "safari" while I stayed the week in a nice 5 star hotel and got my room service.  It really got me to thinking.  I haven't brought this up to my sister yet, but I think I might like to go back on a mission trip there one day.  Never in my life would I have ever thought I would have that desire, but I just kept thinking how fun it would be to walk around in those villages and try to help those people in some way.  I'm not sure what I would have to offer, other than a warm smile and a hug, but they need people like that right?  Terri - put it on your bucket list!  I think it would be a fun thing to do together...  what do ya think???

I have to mention our tour driver.  He was a man who has driven Oprah and Gayle around the same park!  Yes, in the same exact vehicle we were in.  He told us all about their day together and everything they saw.  He also has worked on several movie sets on location in Africa.  He scouts the place, then meets with the Director for approval and has everything catered while the crew is there.  He also had a small wreck with Nicole Kidman, lol!  Pretty interesting, huh?!  We thought so.  He was very knowledgeable and had lots of stories to tell.  He also showed us (as we were driving through the intersection) where he was hijacked 2 years earlier.  Did I mention we got a speeding ticket on the way there?  Oops!

So, onto the park we went.  We basically drove around all day, stopped for a quick bite of lunch and then drove some more.  We saw Giraffes, a huge heard of Elephants, Hippos, Monkeys, and a lot more.  Wart Hogs were everywhere!

This is turning out to be a long post!  The next day, we went to a local market and bought some souvenirs. The second you walk in you are hounded to "look at my stuff!"  They know you have money and they want you to spend it.  Of course, they all have the same items and it gets a little old after a while.  Everyone was friendly and you definitely have to bargain with them.  I found I could pretty much chew them down to half of what they initially told me. We also got to watch some African dancers which was really fascinating.  They were really good singers and dancers!!  I had fun watching that.

The rest of the week was pretty much spent in our hotel.  We were unable to go out at night, due to the crime.  The hotel was attached to a nice mall area, but by 5:30 pm the shops were closed down and everyone was gone.  Due to the high crime, people try to get home before dark.  We stayed in a nice area, but there are still gates and barbed wire around EVERY house.    See below...

Besides being in training all week and learning a WHOLE lot, the last fun thing we got to do was attend a dinner at the Lion Park and watch a night feeding.  It had more of a zoo feel, but it was still a lot of fun.  My pictures didn't really turn out very well, but we actually got to go inside a cage and play with some baby cubs. I didn't get too close, but did have my picture snapped a few times with them.  My camera setting doesn't work well at night (or maybe I don't know how to work my camera) so I'm still waiting on a few of those pictures.  Here's one picture of Betty and I at the mall, then the others from the Lion Park.

This was interesting to watch.  That male is just down right mean!!!!  It was unreal.  There were about 7 other lioness lurking around.  You can see a few of them in the shadow.  Obviously, there was plenty of food for all of them but he wasn't going to have it.  The male dominance really showed and was interesting to watch.  A few of the females were brave and would try to sneak on the other side of the stump for a bite, but as soon as he saw them he would roar and chase them down.  Poor little ladies...  He needs to learn to mind his manners!

 Just thought this one was cute of the baby on the woman's back.  It was the last picture I snapped.

In honor of Matt and his obsession with Shakira, I named this post "Waka Waka" for her song about Africa!  Sorry I wasn't able to bring her back as a souvenir!

I Will Survive!

The boys have been gone for 3 weeks and I am super ready to have them back.  I've broken a computer, my blackberry is out of money, a glass shelf in the bathroom has fallen, the Magic Jack isn't working,  my AC in my car is making a funny noise, the  house AC has been broken (fixed after about 5 different house calls!), and I miss my i-pad.  These are the things that happen to me when Matt is gone :-)!

I also miss the sound of the boys laughter, the fighting with their sister, tucking them in bed, and just the every day kid stuff that I take for granted. I've NEVER been away from them for this long before this summer.  I don't know how Matt does it!  That is one thing to be thankful about over this last year - Matt has not been TDY hardly at all.  That's the only thing to be thankful about - of course, I'm just kidding. I can probably find 2 more things!  I also miss the security of Matt being here and knowing he is just around the corner from me.  I miss him making fun of me...  I miss him.

We are moved into the new house and I have gotten the pictures on the walls.  I'm anxious for the boys to see it when they get here because when they left there were still LOTS of boxes.  I have taken pictures, I just can't share them with you right now until Matt comes home to rescue me and my lack of technology skills.  The USB port doesn't work on the computer that is working.  Matt will probably come home and fix the other computer within minutes.  Anyone want to take bets?!  I get so frustrated with it all.

My job is going fantastic, however I am so busy I can barely see straight.  I'm taking over the bus coordinator's job b/c it is vacant, and my partner in crime is on vacation.  It doesn't help that all of these new people are arriving and I have no clue what I'm doing in the office.  I'm learning though - QUICKLY!  Nothing like being thrown into a job.  Next week I have to run a meeting in front of all of the parents and children at  the Embassy.  That's A LOT of people and I'm already nervous!  Say a prayer for me to stay calm as I hate public speaking.  I'm sure Matt will be in the back making faces at me.  :-)  Don't encourage him.

Next time I log on, I hope to share some pics of the new house.  Until then.... have a great week!

Why Can I Never Think of Any Catchy Titles Anymore???

So much to report in just a few days!  In a nutshell - we moved.  I said I would NEVER move within a move (still in Kuwait), yet I agreed to it.  It's been completely exhausting, but I think it will very much be worth it.  Why on earth would we move?  Location, location, location.  It will help us stay off these crazy roads over here.

I also started my new job.  I think it's going to be fantastic!  It's so strange for me to not have to report my every move to someone.  I'm already realizing how micromanaged I was last year.  This job is going to have so much freedom and flexibility.   When your working full time and have 3 children - that's important!  More to come on that at some point.

Lastly, you didn't really think I was finished talking about that Poland baseball tournament, did you?  I didn't think so.  Read this....

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/sports/for-uganda-little-leaguers-exhilaration-and-then-heartbreak.html?pagewanted=all

and this...  (there are many articles out there if your really interested.)

http://espn.go.com/sports/llws11/story/_/id/6827020/2011-little-league-world-series-saudi-arabia-gets-uganda-berth?campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

I'm already tired of the feeling so sorry for Uganda.  Does that sound unchristian of me?  Probably.  It's not that I don't feel terribly sorry for those kids.  They have absolutely nothing as far as worldly possessions.  Our kids have SO much - especially in Kuwait where children don't have one top of the line $500 bat, they have multiple top of the line bats, gloves and helmets.  It's one extreme to the other.  What has me upset is the thought that 4 other teams spent $1000's of dollars (it's NOT cheap to fly a family of 5 overseas and stay 8 days, trust me!) to play in a tournament against kids their own age.  They wanted a fair chance to go to Williamsport and play in the Little League Wold Series and instead they were cheated.  I don't blame it on the Uganda kids...  I am guessing they don't even understand what it's all about or why they aren't getting to go.  But, somebody knew they were falsifying documents.  Coaches I am guessing, but I will never know.  If you read all of the articles it states that multiple parents admitted to changing information on their birth records.  These were boys with muscle definition and a lot of height.  One pitcher broke another child's arm from Saudi Arabia which tells you how fast he was able to throw.  Plus, the article fails to mention that while Uganda bean Saudi in the finals, Saudi had already beat Uganda two days before in the tournament.  Even more impressive now that we know the truth!  So in reality, they both beat each other once.  It just happened that Uganda beat them in the final game.

I just wish the boys would have had a fair chance.  Would they have won the tournament?  Never say never, but no, I don't think that would have ever happened.  However, I do think it would have left a better memory  for them in their 11 and 12 year old minds.  I guess it's a teaching lesson. Good luck to Saudi in the tournament!  I hope they make us proud.

Had To Add a Few More Baseball Pics

This is the play I was telling you about. 

 Then, he slides into home head first which is illegal.

and he's called safe!!!!!!  I know one play doesn't make the game, but WOW!  There are a series of other pictures where he had been chased up and down the baseline 5 times.  Ok...  here are a few others...

I have about 700 pictures, but I won't bore you.

Gave Up On Me, Didn't Ya?

I wouldn't blame you for giving up on me.  When you don't blog consistently, it's hard to know where to pick up and begin again.  It's almost so daunting I don't have the desire to do this, but I'm gonna take another stab.  I know one day, I'll look back and be glad I did.  Maybe my new goal will be to put an update once every two weeks.  We'll see how long that lasts.  A friend of mine gave me the details of having her blog printed, so I'm going to look into having my Europe one printed.

So, I guess a lot has happened since I left off in April.  For starters, I completed my year at the school and then quit my job.  Yep, I loved it and I quit.  Morally, I just didn't feel right working there.  I didn't have any problems personally, but I saw a number of employees who did and I just decided I couldn't work there anymore.  A new job opportunity opened up for me at the Embassy and I submitted my resume.  A few interviews later, I got the job as the CLO - Community Liaison Officer.  It gets me into the federal system which is definitely in my favor.  I'm also going to share the job with another co-worker and only work 30 hours a week which gives me more time with the kids.  It's a win, win.  I was able to work it out so that I still got most of the summer off work, was able to go to America and Poland, and will start my new job next week.   I'll let you know how that goes.  Here's a few pictures of my last day at work.  I'm going to miss everyone!

 Let's get back to America and Poland.  We (Hayden, Jordyn and I) were able to go to AR for a couple of weeks and while we were there, we flew to FL with my brother and his family for a Disney vacation.  Matt and Landen stayed in Kuwait to attend all those baseball practices in preparation for Poland.  We had a fantastic time in AR and FL.   We stayed in a beautiful house, got a great deal on some military tickets, and enjoyed every minute of FL.  We played with cousins in AR, visited with friends, and said goodbye to my grandparents house.  Wish we could have stayed another week or so, but we had to get back to fly to Poland.  I wonder how many miles I've flown this summer?  As you know, I really don't like flying, but I'm dealing with it all.  Before we left AR, I had a little - ok, HUGE meltdown.  I truly thought I was going to be fine...  I only have to face one more year.  But, I think I had the biggest meltdown yet.  Anyway, I'm over it and back in the routine of being here.  I'll be fine.  Plus, Mom and Dad promised to come visit, right??!  lol  I also am looking forward to my sister and a friend of hers coming for a few days.  Can't wait!

Let's see...  so off to Poland we flew.  Talk about having one excited boy (Landen) in our house.  The second he heard the words Kutno, Poland last fall it's all he's thought about.  He eats, breathes and lives for baseball right now.  LOVES it.  I'm so thankful, for the whole family that we have met such great people and spent so much time at the baseball fields.  Next year will be a whole new feel because we will actually be comfortable and know everyone.   We are already looking forward to that.  So - back to Poland.  I won't give you the play, by play, but it was emotional and heartbreaking.  The team came in 5th place (yes, there were 5 teams in the tournament.)  We got a terrible, terrible, terrible call which caused us to lose the second game.  I shouldn't blame it on the umps, but seriously...  it was bad and we have pictures to prove it.  Anyway, I won't dwell on it, but after that our boys just gave up.  Three teams were 1 and 3, so the rankings became based on runs.  Landen personally had a great tournament playing short stop and pitcher.  He didn't hit that well, and neither did the rest of the team which really hurt us.   However, he pitched fantastic against Dubai for the whole game with 11 strike outs and no runs scored.  He also made many great stops at short stop for several outs. We were so proud of him.

Landen learned some good lessons in Poland and will always have that memory - some happy and some sad.   I'm so glad he got the opportunity to do that.  They stayed in dorms with the coaches and the parents were not allowed in.  They mingled with the other teams players from Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Dubai and Uganda.  BTW, Uganda won the tournament and will being flying to Williamsburg, PA to compete in the LL World Series!  Pretty neat to watch TV and know you played the same team.  I hope we are able to get some of it on TV.  Saudi Arabia has won it for years and years, so they were devastated to be beaten by Uganda.  Our team didn't really expect to win it, but they expected to perform better than they did.  It was tough to watch, but that's sports.  Hopefully they have better luck next year (we should be on a plane back to  the USA!).  Watch me eat my words.  We've already been approached about the possibility of taking a juniors teams next year and to factor that into our move.  Sigh.  We'll worry about that later.  Thanks to Nana and Pops for flying all that way to spend the week with us watching Landen.  What sweet grandparents!  Norma and I spent a wonderful day together in Warsaw, Poland which happened to be a very beautiful city.

Finally, though there's much more to add, I think Matt and I have lost all our marbles.  We've decided to move within a move.  I've eaten my words many times and said people were crazy to do that, and here we go doing the same thing I promised I never would.  You would think I would have learned my lesson by now, wouldn't you?  We've been offered a house in walking distance from where Matt and I will be working.  It's not that we are far away now, but if you understood the driving around here you would appreciate it more.  That's what we have to look forward to next week. The kids are a wee bit more excited than I am about it.  Hope they like the new location and we are glad we went through the trouble.  Stay tuned!