Getting ready to go north to snow!

So because of some oversights on our part (nevermind that), we needed to get visas to get into Switzerland and France.  Which meant a Saturday morning adventure to find a photo place.  Nope, there isn't an app to find it.. but rather some driving around and calling of friends.  We found the place, had them taken.. then waited for them to print/be cut/whatever-that-took-a-long-time while the kids watched a horribly violent American B movie from the 90s.  Right.

 

Remember, you DON'T SMILE for visa pictures...

Thanks to a lot of phone calls and running around on Zeric's part,

we have our visas and are ready to go!

Lying in the sun

I guess if the dog won't come to you and you need a snuggle...

Jayden

We still cruise the Facebook page for JAAN (the Jakarta Animal Aid Network) where we got Blu, as they are doing some great work to have captive dolphins released, and to repatriate the dancing monkeys to the forests.  And they are still rescuing dogs.  We came across this FABULOUS white Great Dane who needs a home.  His name is Jayden.  I made the mistake of saying how I would have grabbed him in a hot second if we were still in Jakarta... which launched an advocacy campaign all over the house.  Finally, I explained that we don't have $5000 to have Jayden shipped to Congo, and that the trip would be really hard on him.  And that for sure someone will adopt him because he is just so handsome and (apparently) a gentle soul.  It took me a couple of days to get the 40+ signs down from all over the upstairs... they were even inside the shower and in front of our face when we sat on the toilet.  If you ever need lobbyists for a cause, let us know..

Goma again

Our vegetable lady says she gets her potatoes, cauliflower, artichokes from up there because the weather is so cool.  Zeric says he eats strawberries every time he goes.  It's a shame we can't go see 'en famille'. It seems so lovely. Except for that war thing.

LFRD Carnaval

In true French school form, we had carnival right around carnival time..

and it included a parade and a performance from each class. 

Theme for Jaffa's class was "magical Paris" and so they all dressed like gargoyles.

(We knew those Malificent horns would come in handy again!)

 

 

Eben's class featured Joan Miro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Mir%C3%B3, a famous Spanish artist. 

See Eben's shirt.. he did a great job! 

But, as you can see from the look on his face, we was not jazzed by the hat.

And really, who can blame him when the other class did Star Wars?

Loved these little dragons.. and their feet!

 

and enthused teachers :)

It was a nice morning, and thankfully the sun gave us a little break

so we managed to make it through without melting. 

Zeric had to try out the hat (of course!), and decided to wear it to his next staff meeting.

 

 

First challah class on the continent

Because I am working full time :| challah classes have to happen on Saturday mornings now..

so a few weeks ago, eight fabulous ladies assembled in my kitchen

and learned to make challah. It was a great time!

 

They did a great job!!

Later.. I got inspired and tried the elusive two-strand. 

I was able to do it once. 

And not again.  Hmmmm.. a challenge!

Gangnam Congo style

The Girl Scouts had a camping weekend just up the hill.. but Jaffa "doesn't go camping" so we just stopped in for an afternoon to make friendship bracelets.  We got there just in time for a dance party, which was a lot of fun as there were 'leaders' and great music.  All of the sudden, Gangnam style came on.. and I have to say that there was a lot more hip than I've ever seen the Koreans use!!  It was hilarious.. and even more so when the girls tried get their little hips in the game! 

HBD

As you might remember, we have two birthdays in January..

and so there were lots of excuses to eat cake! 

The first one was white cake with violet-flavored icing

(with a few cupcakes on the side).

 

We enjoyed it with our friends the Toths :)

The second one was German chocolate cake.. which we ate by ourselves :D

Congo River outing

There is a short list of things that people do here to get out of the big city,

and one of them is to take a boat to a sandbar...

and then hang on the beach and have a bbq and let the kids build sandcastles.

We left from the yacht club in the morning.. yes, it sounds very fancy.. but, ummmm 

But the boat was good and we were with about six other families..

and we cruised for about an hour an half to find a sandbar

(I knew that huge overnight rain was a bad sign!!). 

There were lots of things to see on the river..

see here for a great article about the happenings on the Congo River:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/10/congo-river/draper-text

Finally, we arrived.. and the boat drivers ('captain' is a bit of a stretch)

set us all up with a tent and grills.  You couldn't even see Kin in the distance...

it was quite a get away!

 

We hung and swam and napped (me)... and ate and drank.. and drank. 

Mid-afternoon, we headed by down the river..

with some jazz dancin' on the way. 

 

and another nap or two

and some deep conversation..

It was a lovely day!!

"Not too purple"

Yes, it did feel a little bratty that it took me three tries to get the color I wanted for the living room... but now it is FANTASTIC!!  I wanted 'bleu de nuit' or midnight blue. I wanted it dark enough to match the very dark blue in our carpets, and the wall is tall enough and the room is big enough to handle it.  And the lighter blue--though pretty and perhaps destined to be on a wall on our bedroom--looked like crap with the other things going on in there.  And so I bugged the crap out the Lebanese guys at the paint store until they got it right. [Have to say that it's provokes mental acrobatics to spend almost as much on paint for your living room as you do on a month's pay for your housekeeper. But it's like that for just about everything.. I wonder if you ever get past it. Or if you should.]  And then I had the painters come back to change it.

 

 

But now it's sooooooo pretty :)

See?

Zeric was telling me about it on the phone

when they were painting and said, "it's not too purple". 

And it does have purple underneath when the lights are on,

but it's just right.