Friday, January 31, 2014

Pride


Today I'm so proud of my husband. Everyday day this is true, but today even more so.
He is always ready to dream big, reach for the stars and go after his dreams. I look at him with astonishment and joy. I get to be a part of his journey. Amazing.

Incognito

For awhile now i've been debating with myself that should I or not, make the blog private again. I want random readers to be able to read it, but at the same time, I feel too vulnerable. Stories about my kids, about my life, I'm just not sure. So for now, it's private. If you want to continue reading, I'm happy to add you on the approved list. Maybe I'll change my mind in a week, maybe I'll keep it private for good. For now though this just feels right.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

My favourite Person Today: fundi

Just when I was about to give up and live in a total mess for the rest of my life - well at least until we would have our own home - fundi (general word for craftsman, this time carpenter)  arrives. Well actually, one arrived two weeks ago and never came back, and the second one was supposed to come a week ago but he never showed up, which left me running out of patience fairly quickly. 

And then he was here, and he actually owned and used a tape measurer!!! Wow, I was in heaven.
Even with our limited space (one room) I wanted the boys to have their own area, somewhere to draw, and put their toys to, and somewhere to retreat when the games with the cousins get a bit too much.

Here's the amount of stuff we left home.


This is how it looked "unloaded" into the room we call home these days, day two after arrival.


The kids corner is just about ready. It was a double bed we bought last summer which was too high, too long and too wide. So I made a plan to have it turned into a sleeping/playing area. The table is as old as anyone can remember, I painted it white and added a ikea (yes, I came with it) hanger and a paper roll. Love the fact that they always have paper ready when they want to grab a pen and do some art. All the pens and other craft supplies are hanging in kitchen storage boxes, just there for the easy access. 

The carpenter made the shelf for the toy storage and we hung spice racks for books. Add a ladder and bedding for the sleeping area, box to hold their clothes and it was done!

   Some wood (from a coconut tree that was cut down from the front yard), local craftsmanship, and red buckets :)

It's home for now.... It took j 3 mins to start drawing and then climb upstairs for a nap. Now M is discovering all the nice things he can now see and play with. Happy kids, happy mama <3

   M busy with stamps 

   And reading a book

   J testing the bed 

P.s. Sorry for the bad quality pics, that's what you get with iPad indoors :)












Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Life less organized -culture shock pt. 1

How does it feel like when you have no real responsibilities? It must be like you are on a holiday 24/7. Reality is that In my case, it is like I have to carry all the responsibilities around me on my shoulders. (Pressure comes from within, so completely, utterly unnecessary. This has resulted in an extremely exhausted stay at home mom. I have cleaned the whole of the in-laws house (might I add that the standard of clean is a bit different in these two cultures so to catch-up after years of African styled cleaning has taken more time and effort than I had wished), organized a meal plan, T's schedule, my/kids schedule, company sales schedule, my real hobby of Finnish school teaching, closets etc. etc. Less might be more, but in my case it seems that when I have less, i.e. no full-time job, I add everything and anything to my plate to keep myself busy. So I've decided to schedule some relaxation time for myself. Maybe then I'll get it too. :) from 5 am to 6 am, all for me <3.

Being together as a family is wonderful, while balancing T's business meetings with boys who love nothing as much as playing with baba is more challenging. Eventually I'm sure it will work it self out. I hope. I wish. It has to. :)

The heat is another thing, it has made me so exhausted that only now after couple of weeks I'm starting to adjust. But when the electricity is off, even for a minute, I'm not a happy camper. I need at least a fan to function, with a/c even better (but this I'm trying to cut as much as possible).

I'm also a fan of organization, of everything, so I've noticed that this is actually my biggest challenge of culture shock. I need for things to happen now. I know I shouldn't, and I know life would be far less stressful if I didn't, but let's just say this is a work in progress in my self-development plan. Slow progress.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about our decision to come and stay here. Waking up to sun shine every day, wearing cute summer clothes all the time and just being able to cuddle up with the hubby or take a shower in peace feels like heaven on earth. <3 

Pole pole. Taratibu. Hakuna matata.*

Life is good. Just need to focus on the good instead of the not yet parts. 

Baadaye!!

*hitaasti, pikkuhiljaa, ei ongelmia