Pictures of our house part 1

So we live in a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 full baths and a kitchen and study. I took some pictures of our living room and dining area. The rest of the house is still in a state of disarray, although they did come and build some shelves so that I can put some things away. We are getting closer to having a home. I have a feeling by the time we get finished though it will be time to move on.

We are completely spoiled with 3 huge balconies and a sea view. Not a particularly spectacular sea view, but we can still see the Indian Ocean, which is nice.

I will take some pictures of the rest of the house after it gets cleaned up this week.

PS. This is not our furniture. It is USGov issued.

Trying

I have decided to give this gardening thing a try. I have never been very successful with plants but we live in such a concrete jungle that I had to do something! Plants here cost about $1-3 a piece. The most I have spent on a plant is $4. I spent about $45 on seeds prior to coming here.

I have been afraid to start them though.

Jason went to the wood market and bought these boxes. We are trying to start some container gardens for vegetables.

Below is a banana tree that I bought Jason.

These flowers are pretty but all I know about them is that they need full sun (or at least that is what I think the person I bought the plant from explained to me).

I have become very interested in succulents. They have nice symmetry and their leaves look cool and refreshing.

Here is my "Bird Spa". I have tried to create a little oasis for our feathered friends.

Here is our makeshift trellis for my sweet peas. I have never started seeds from water and a papertowel before. A friend/neighbor shared some of his sweet pea seeds with me since I need some plants that will be vertical. They grew very fast and so I have attached them to little wooden skewers in hopes of training them to climb the trellis.

More vertical plants and a really cool plant that has a lovely deep purple side of a leaf.

Ok, here is one of my fails... or fixer-upper. I bought these flowering vine plants but they had been sitting on the ground so long that when the person I bought them from pulled them up, they sustained some root damage. They look sad. I repotted them and am hoping that they are just focusing on drinking lots of water in the root system and then will return. They are a lovely flowering plant and many people have them around their homes because they also have thorns (natural protection).
What would a garden be without little whimsical creatures?? Balcony bunny!!

Oh yes, we were THOSE tourists

Did you know that the brewery in downtown Bremen has 2 Euro beers???

Ponta do Ouro

Jason and Jody on the beach with beers.

Xai-Xai

I am always joking that the sad thing about distance education is that you miss out on Spring Break.


This past weekend we went 3 hours north to play on a lovely beach in the area of Xai-Xai. We gladly exchanged our AC for the soothing sounds of waves crashing and sea breezes, and kicked off our shoes for walking barefoot in the sand.


We had almost as many dogs as people!


The beaches in Mozambique are beautiful, however the water is a bit rough. This beach is unique as it has what seems to be a sand-stone coral bed natural barrier. One one side of the barrier is the raging ocean, on the other, a relaxed pool. As the tide comes in, the water enters the tide pool by separating itself into little waterfalls. As you know, I am a sucker for a waterfall.


One of our party delighted us with oxtail-stew or "potjie", a traditional South African dish cooked in an iron cauldron over a fire, with the primary ingredient being the tail of an ox. It was stunning and even impressed our South Africans!

Comfort Food

Today I attended an interesting session hosted by the regional psychiatrist and medical unit here at post discussing the frustrations of our chosen path of life and an adaptation cycle that we all generally expect to go through. The familiar topics of "Third Culture Kid", homesickness, where is home?, depression, reverse-culture shock, improving post moral and other challenges came up.

I was going through the handout and decided that for someone who has just gone through a very stressful time, I found that I had not wandered far from the steps listed on the "resilience checklist".

I was telling a colleague the other day about my experience in Guyana with the Peace Corps. It was, as the slogan goes, "the toughest job you will ever love." What was strange about this week and past month, were how many nice comments of support I received from some of my Guyanese friends in Guyana. I never really thought that I made much of a difference in their lives, but their messages made me feel the opposite. It does mean a lot to hear from them after so much time has passed.

Last summer when I participated in a study about TCK, it dawned on me that I actually don't know much about American cooking. We had a colleague of Jason's over for dinner, he was from the Ukraine. I wanted to make something "American", so I made cheeseburgers and fries, failing miserably on the fries. Most of my cooking is with a Guyanese flair... I can't make a meat loaf but I can make a mean egg ball with mango sour, and that is my comfort food.

You can take the girl out of Guyana, but you can't take the Guyana out of the girl.

With a Seaview

Elizabeth Joe (Tems) Murray

Elizabeth Joe (Tems) Murray, Daughter, Big Sister, Wife, Mother, Teacher, Inspiration. Born Feb. 10, 1950, in Louisville, KY. Went home Feb. 13, 2011, Newburgh, IN, age 61.

Born to Robert and Joe Ann Tems, the eldest of three daughters, she was a natural big sister with an innate sense of maturity often exhibited when playing “teacher” to her younger sisters. She loved to read.

She attended Waggener High School where she enjoyed humanities class and played the clarinet in the marching band. She matriculated into Murray State University where she was a member and president of the Beta Nu Chapter of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority, and where she met her husband, Thomas, who she married on May 26, 1973 with her first kindergarten class present for the ceremony. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education in 1972. She received her Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 1978 from the University of Hawaii – Manoa.
Her husband’s career as an officer in the U.S. Army took her across the U.S.A. and to Germany. As a military wife, she was an active volunteer; recognized for her service in Chapel and youth programs, and as a Girl Scout Leader. She cherished her time spent with her daughters as a stay at home mother. She loved traveling with her family throughout Europe and sailing with her husband on Kentucky Lake.

Her teaching career of 25 years included positions held in early childhood development, elementary, and middle school. She taught language arts for 8 years at St. Joseph Catholic School and 11 years at Good Shepherd Catholic School. At both schools she was a dedicated speech coach. She was selected Teacher of the Year by Evansville Area Reading Council in 2005 and in recognition of her career in education, she was inducted into the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International in 2006. She was nominated for 2011 Outstanding Educator of the Year.

A model for her strong faith in God's will, a kind and gentle spirit, she always put others before herself. She inspired many. She had beautiful handwriting and enjoyed writing meaningful letters. She loved M&M’s. For her husband and daughters she always made everything “just right”.

“To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.”

Elizabeth is survived by Thomas, her husband of 38 years, and her two daughters, Joanna E. Knueppel and Sarah E. Simmons, as well as her mother Joe Ann Tems and sisters, Ruth Ann Lee and Susan Bowman. She was preceded in death by her father, Robert Tems, Jr.

Visitation will be 4 to 8 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 16, at Ziemer Funeral Home East Chapel, 800 S. Hebron Ave., Evansville, IN 47714.

A Celebration of Elizabeth’s Life will be held at 6 pm on Thursday, Feb. 17, at Trinity United Methodist Church 215 S.E. Third Street, Evansville, IN with a visitation prior to the ceremony from 5 to 6 PM.

Memorial contributions may be made to Good Shepherd Catholic School, 2301 N. Stockwell Rd., Evansville, IN 47715 and/or St. Joseph Catholic School, 6130 W Saint Joseph Rd., Evansville, IN 47720.

Condolences may be made to the family online at www.ziemerfuneralhome.com

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I am in a surreal place now.

This is a picture taken of Jason at Beacon Beach, close to Bartica, Guyana, where we lived for 2 years with the Peace Corps. We used to run away to this secluded beach and grill, swim, take silly pictures swinging from vines and handling Machetes, and drink massive quantities of 5 year. You can see a beacon on an island in the background. There was a trail through a tame portion of rain forest; as we walked we shed our layer of volunteer.

Funny to think that at one time I thought Peace Corps was the hardest thing I ever had to go through.