Our weekend mornings look like:
Rhonda, do you miss this? haha.
It could be time for the ‘bug bomb’.
one day i’ll come into the kitchen to find A half way up the wall, looking for snacks, i’m sure of it. He already knows he’s not to climb the kitchen shelves because after i took this photo he started shaking his finger and his head. aha. someone has already been confronted in this activity. haha.
This evening Josh proposed a family adventure to the New Korea restaurant in Ivandry. Considering that Asher has proven himself to be an “action jackson” by some (and i heartily agree, Judah was never this active!) and Judah isnt exactly adventure-eater-extraordinaire, i reckoned we were in for an adventure of the ‘highest’ order (highest order of patience that is), but we were all quite pleasantly surprised and our drive home after our delectable korean meal was triumphant if nothing else. Woot! We drove 30 minutes to a restaurant, waited for our meal and ate it all unscathed… and then Judah actually found the chicken dumpling whatevers to his liking… and his chopstick prowess was nothing short of unbelievable. Who knew he was a natural at wielding chopsticks?! no dropping chicken bits all over the floor, no frustrated 2nd, 3rd, 23rd attempts. wow. the adults were simply licking our chops (and chopsticks) in palate paradise. OH! YUM!
I said to Josh on the way home in the torrential downpour that it feels like we’re entering a new phase of parenting/family life recently, where Judah is old enough to have intelligent discussions about things and can refer to past experiences and things he’s learned in literature with a rationality never experienced before. It’s rather thrilling, if i do say so myself. It makes family adventures such as this more exciting to embark on because it’s 3 out of 4 people engaging in the experience rather than 2 people experiencing and 2 kids dragged along for the ride and entertained through it all.
Asher continues to be a delight to be around – especially if he’s somewhat restrained in his physical mobility. haha. I enjoy his singing and chattering immensely. And his new skill of folding his hands when he hears the word “pray”, with the subsequent mumbling “prayers” from his own lips, and the closing and triumphant lifting of the hands when we say “amen”, it is a joy to watch.
The end of school vacation. Josh is back from his 3-day trip to Maintiraino where he got sick.
We are in the throes of planning furlough flights. Looks like we’ll be returning at the beginning of June until the end of July. As i’ve been thinking about the change in furlough schedule (usually we go at the end of the year, but now with Judah going into grade 1 in the ‘big’ French school it’s better if he doesnt miss any school) i’m quite stoked at the fact that a) we’ll have nice weather for outdoor activities including biking!! and camping!! etc. b) we’ll miss the crummy season of Madagascar winter when everything is dead and cold(er) and yucky c) everyone else tends to leave during those two months, so we wont miss anything fun while away like retreats or study series or great weather.
With summer furlough in mind, does anyone have a behind-the-bike-child-carriage thing we could borrow and/or a baby seat to mount on the back of a bike? We’ll also be looking to borrow:
- a highchair for that time period… or some kind of high stool to sit at the table for Asher
- a bike for age 5 (no pink/purple or princesses please, if possible).
- elementary school French readers/books to read or the knowledge of a good place to buy cheap french books for beginning readers.
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Judah and i just finished reading Call it Courage the story of Mafato, the boy who was afraid. Anyone remember that from required reading in middle school? Anyway, it was a challenge to slog through some of the words and ideas with a 5 year old, but it’s quite evident that he’s definitely picked up some new words and understandings from that book. (how thrilling!) and has even referred to it on many occasions when he hears a word in conversation he learned from the book (like “reef”, “leap”, “courage”, “coward”). Courage and cowardice are something that are repeated themes in our new read-aloud book: The Wizard of Oz. It’s a surprisingly quick and easy read and the vocabulary is much less difficult for him, knowing that i dont have to stop every few paragraphs to ensure he’s still following what’s going on. With a few chapters of the Old Testament read aloud by Josh every night, added to a chapter or two of fiction Judah is getting a LOT of reading aloud treatment. Hopefully it will hold him in good stead with language acquisition and learning concepts like courage and thought processing.
Today Judah and i went to the store to buy groceries. I had quite a cart full when i got to the cashier only to be told (before we rang everything through, thankfully) that the VISA machine was not working. GAH! So i had to scrounge in my wallet for cash, which i rarely carry for grocery runs because Josh has instructed me to use VISA when i can, since it’s cheaper. 40,000AR was all the cash had for the load i wanted to buy… one 10,000 item which Judah was particularly concerned about: chocolate cereal. Against all 5-year-old-reason we left the shop with a small bag of priority items, chocolate cereal not included. After a drive home involving a HUGE fit, pouting, crying and yelling i was convinced that it was high time to learn a little lesson about money, costs, and tough choices. We made a stack of paper money with ones, fives, tens and twenties and then i proceeded to price anything i could think of that he would want to pay for. He had a grand time… is still having a grand time paying for things. I also billed him for rent, water and electricity and a gardener (he claimed he didnt need a cleaning lady because his brother and him would clean the house themselves). He is currently watching a 10$ movie and i made him 20$ popcorn (things i’d rather he didnt have i overpriced to attempt dissuasion… to little effect). I also billed him for his lunch and the ice cream he wanted thereafter. He chose the 2 scoops rather than the half-the-price one scoop of ice cream. Asher’s schleming for an apple, water and some crackers were also put on Judah’s tab. We’ll see what happens when he realizes that his money runs out at some point and then he’s S.O.L. for anything else. I have half a mind to pay him in paper money for doing chores so he can also learn the idea of working for things, as well as relate the idea that Dad goes to work everyday to make the money we need to buy food and pay for light and power to run the t.v. so he can play x-box…
(part of Judah’s store. Another reading of The Wizard of Oz will cost him 14 monies. If he wants to listen to tapes on his walkman he’ll have to purchase the walkman first, plus headphones, plus tape of his choice…)
Our secret fort is on stand-by because Solo is on leave to bring in his rice harvest, but the half built walls are already providing lots of entertainment for the boys and the girl-next-door.
I’ve just completed the 2011 edition of the MAF Madagascar In-flight Magazine. I’m glad that’s over.
Josh is home for the weekend and then off again on another trip for a few days. Alas. In a few weeks the men’s retreat leaves for Ile Ste.Marie (if you recall, the women’s retreat was at a share-a-double-bed-with-a-stranger Bible Camp just 1.5 hour drive from Tana) via MAF plane to enjoy fishing and male bonding… that’s a great precedent they’re setting there, i tell you. haha. April will bring another 2 weeks of Easter school holidays and then a few weeks later Josh will leave for Kenya for an Ops Manager meeting and then it’s almost time to leave for Canada! gah!
Asher is finally showing the tooth that he’s been teething on since before December. He’s calming down a bit in the last few days, actually sitting with me sometimes for more than 30 seconds! He’s moving to a one-nap-a-day routine, which is a bit of a drag i confess. Hopefully if he sleeps less during the day he’ll sleep through the night without waking up? (it’s usually only once, but still!)
What else… I’m trying mightily to finish my current book (made of paper) so i can start a new book on my new e-book reader. Does anyone have any great recommendations for me? The options for reading now seem endless! I still am working on Josh’s anniversary gift… i’m hoping it’ll be tied with a bow when he returns on Wednesday when he comes back from his trip. We’ll see.
I love early mornings, especially that time of day when the sun is just making the darkened sky rosy and the tree frogs are making that wooden trilling sound – their rolling croak coming in from every upstairs open window while everyone is still snug in their beds… well, except me since Asher woke me up at 5:20am. <sigh>. But i paused a moment after re-settling him to savour the sounds and sights of an early sunrise on the Madagascar high plateau, reveling in the view from the huge open screened windows between his room and mine. I do confess that i’ve been dreaming of the day we move back to Manitoba and attempt to become ‘normal’ people again… But then i look out our half-wall sized windows, open to the tropical air and garden and i wonder why i would ever think that moving to Manitoba would be a great thing. alas.
It’s been a rather fantastic yesterday/week, for me at least, someone who – unfortunately? – hears love more clearly through the giving/receiving of gifts. I received a package in the mail from Lithuania yesterday, in a big festive squishy bag, stuffed with soft gold:
Josh the smart-butt asked me when i intended to wear the woolen mittens. ANYways, i love them and will stash them away securely for the time when/if we ever visit colder climes. The socks, however, will serve us well during Madagascar winter which will decend on us in May. Good thing we’re planning to flee the country for warmer temperatures in June/July. 
One of the other expressions of love was the arrival of an anniversary gift from my lover of 8 years. It was totally unexpected – i had supposed that he was building something secretly at the wood shop, because he had told me that the gift would be late (as would his gift be… still is). I hadnt even considered the fact that a returning Canadian pilot would be arriving in February with a gift in tow. Anyway, Josh got it last night, wrapped it up over drinks at the neighbours and brought it over as i was researching online courses. An E-Book Reader! ACK! I’d done some research on e-book readers a few months ago, but had given it up as something Josh would veto in favour of other more worthy reasons for spending money. Ha. I thought it a very thoughtful and surprising gift. Two things that make it a great one! 
Now if only i could find some time for reading! haha. I continue to battle the idiosyncrasies of Malagasy culture in my quest for Josh’s gift’s completion. Alas. If only i had thought of the idea of importing from Canada via Canadian pilots! (can you imagine the poor guy bringing in two gifts, each a secret to the other. haha).
Our secret fort is rising, slowly, out of the dirt.
Can you see (above) where the fort is being built? 
It’s in a secret place. haha.
This is the view from the fort area towards the deck, although you cant see the deck because the fort is in a secret place.
Helping to carry the bricks to the backyard in preparation for beginning construction.
This is the first day (last Saturday after the last day of school) – mapping out the general outline of the house.
Here it is in construction this last Wednesday. We’re going high-class on this fort with bricks. Haha. Isnt that funny how a Manitoban would think that bricks are too high end for a fort while in Madagascar bricks (made of mud) are cheaper than wood. Solo is using mud as mortar instead of cement. I suspect that’s how they make their homes also. Josh is just now on reconnaissance at Madachine (madaschlope?) for some opaque plastic that could serve as roofing and thus let in more light than a tin roof would. Ingenious isnt it. I thought of it myself.
Whilst the house is being built we are spending our days also relaxing. Sleeping in (bliss!) (well, i should clarify, Judah sleeps in and i dont have to get up if i dont need to attend to Asher, who, as i mentioned earlier, woke up at 5:30 this morning. gah!) Judah is playing Leapster and fighting off his brother’s tech-envy. We’re watching movies and enjoying play-dates with friends. The cyclone has created not as sunny weather for playing outdoors so we’ve done also a lot of inside activities like colouring and home-school work.
The Easter Lilies in full bloom out front.
Cyclone season has started in earnest, so it seems. So it seems by the evident absence of Josh from our household now every day ALL day (ie. very early in the mornings until after normal dinner time hour)! And his higher stress levels. And the fact that we’re stuck inside most of the day most days because of the incessant rains… and the subsequent higher moldy smell in our house. When i check email in the mornings after breakfast the cyclone/weather websites are still open, giving evidence of Josh’s awareness of what’s coming up on the horizon. We’ll keep the news to ourselves this time though, the sharing of cyclone warnings to our gardener last week just seemed to cause him more stress than the bliss of ignorance. Unfortunately for most Malagasy with rice fields still in the ground, the inclement weather isnt great for harvesting.
(photo: pierrot men, sahakevo. 2009).
I can confess that mostly i dont like the distracted air Josh has most of the time during this season of the year, the constant phone ringing with people calling to make plans or change them, plans tossed about at the whim of the weather. I dont either like to hear him declare as we sit down to a rare breakfast together as a family that “today is going to be a very stressful day!” But i am also encouraging him to share more verbally, so i guess i’ll take the bad with the good He told me last night that i should write a blog entry about the sacrifice i make in being a MAF pilot’s wife during this time of year. I think he was feeling guilty about his long days and never seeing his family. Truth be told, however, i’ve learned to expect this sort of thing by now during these months of the year. It’s the reason why we’ll never furlough in February until early spring (can you imagine being only one pilot left in the program at this time of year!? gah! …incidentally, there is only one pilot in the program right now at Helimission. Ack! poor guy… poor his-family! ) I know that it’s the intense time and that a lot is going on. I know we (MAF) benefit from the flight hours and the people need the aid. I have faith in Josh’s flying skills and his wisdom in knowing when things are too hairy and the risks are too high. And i also have faith in the Almighty God to carry the plane in the palm of his hand, and in the prayers of the Saints who uphold Josh and the other pilots during this time of high winds, high stress, high need.
Judah is still on school holidays, in case you’ve forgotten. That’s probably why i havent been blogging. I’m enjoying the sleeping in and the relaxed hanging out at our house these days. Solo is hard at work on the Secret Fort, which i will post photos of in the near future. My friend Tanja told me of a very funny story of Judah and his friend – and her son – Fanilo who were playing together at his house this last week: they were reportedly fighting over a stick or something when Fanilo shouted at Judah something to the effect of “dont you know the Bible says….” and proceeded to throw scripture at Judah to, i assume, get him to hand it over, when Judah responded, “but the Bible also says….” and shouted back some other verse supporting his position. Haha. What missionary kids! I’m certain they were reciting Boys Club verses at each other because i cant see where they would have the knowledge to quote with authority anything else (although Judah can very easily now tell the general overview of the Old Testament from Genesis to Kings due to Josh’s reading to him of the Bible every day and a weekly review of what’s happened).
Asher is getting to be a big turkey recently. argh! his eating has also just dropped off dramatically in the last 2 days… i’m hoping he’s not sick, but i’m at a loss as to his teething habits, since he hasnt popped any since October-ish and it always seems like he’s exhibiting teething symptoms. bah. He’s growing into the capabilities of being able to REALLY frustrate Judah (he just ran crying upstairs and i can hear him yell out his irritation in his room because of Asher’s pestering [actually, now it comes out that Asher has 'porridge hands' and Judah doesnt like being touched by them. haha] ) and his parents, truth be told.
From my upstairs window i can see the line of women out front planting grass in 30C weather, with small girl and baby in tow. The children hang out all day in the front, sometimes sitting in the shade of the mango tree to cool off. They’re almost done planting the front communal grass area and then they will be moving on, hopefully, to a new job. It has been difficult, these few days, to watch them do such backbreaking work, listening to that sweet baby cry most of the day, being bounced on small siblings’ backs. But i continue to remind myself that this is simply normal life in this country – only jarring in that it’s here so close, in my comfortable compound, juxtaposed against my white, plump children of privilege, entirely at liberty to play what they want whenever they want. Will i miss that constant reminder of my relative wealth and life of luxury when/if i live in Canada where such harsh realities are glazed over by television ads, vast arrays of convenience products and seared sensitivities?
We (josh and i) were just at the French Elementary school this morning to meet with the Director with regards to Judah’s enrollment. He’s a very nice man and can even speak English for the times when my french lapses. ha. We’ll know by March if Judah gets in, but i dont suspect there will be a problem. Unfortunately, as i referred to in a post a few days back, due to the economic issues that many are struggling with i reckon many national students who would have gone to the French school wont be due to the higher cost of tuition than other schools. Josh pointed out that a mark in Judah’s favour for being accepted is that we’re in the ‘international’ category for tuition rates, which means that we’ll be paying the highest amount. ha.
Asher is continuing to grow like the proverbial weed. He is currently 14 months and has now learned to walk backwards, which he enjoys showing off to anyone who will watch; eat on his own, which his parents dont generally allow him to do very often due to the mess it creates; and push chairs towards where he wants to climb up on things. Uh-oh! The challenge therefore is to protect the things he thinks are climb-up worthy, namely the computer, tv, and various other non-toddler-friendly items. He continues to love talking on the cell phone whenever he can get his hands on it. He puts it to his hear (or lower neck) and jabbers on, walking around the room like he’s obviously seen his parents do. How cute… except when he stashes my phone in places where i cant find it. His favourite food is homemade mac&cheese, of which he can eat huge bowl-fulls. He sleeps mostly well during the night, going down with a milk bottle (which i KNOW is bad for his teeth, but nevermind! he brushes morning and night most days) and still takes 2 naps a day for between an hour and 2.5 hours at a time. Recently, however, he’s been bucking the afternoon nap with a vengence and the other day catapulted himself out of his crib, following his teddy-bears, blanket, bottle and mobile animals which he likes to throw vehemently out of crib. He loves being chased, playing in the truck, playing in the sandbox and playing with little cars, which his brother never did like doing. He’s also been putting things into his mouth, which judah never did and thus i became not as vigilent with keeping small items out of reach, but last Wednesday at the Superbowl party at a friends’ house he was (thankfully!) walking past me and choking on a plastic bottle cap he had found lying on the floor. Egad! It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about how, in that room full of people watching a loud football game, he could have choked and no one might have noticed!
Today is Judah’s last day of school before (Valentines day?) school holidays. I dont know why there are holidays just now… it’s not because of Ash Wednesday because that’s in March… and we’ve also got another two weeks off in April over Easter. Yikes! We’re planning on building a secret fort these holidays in the back garden area, behind the bushes. Stay tuned for photo status-reports.
Recently there has been a pop up of new Madagascar Lotteries billboards come up around the city. They make me exceedingly angry! Here, while the ______________________ government has been the cause of the economic crisis in the country, they now have the gall to create a lottery program whereby they rob the poor to feed the rich, so to speak. The government needs money so they bring in a system to give false hope: free money! to the poor in order to pay for the huge budget items the rich government officials are struggling due to their own poor choices. gah! I wish i was stupidly courageous enough to print my own posters to pin up under the billboards declaring the real reason behind these flashy new signs. Doesnt the government know that the price of being in power means using your OWN money to pay for the things you cant afford?! if only. >> “Société d’Exploitation de Loterie is a quasi government-owned entity set up to operate, or contract with third parties to operate, lotteries on the island.” Society of Exploitation indeed! GAH! Go pick on someone your OWN economic level!
I’m currently working on the second volume of the MAF Inflight Magazine. It’s not very fun… either that or i’ve gotten used to not doing office work and am chafing at this new job. Thus the long blog entry whilst i should be working. haha.
This morning dawned golden, clear and glorious. Despite the beauty of the morning, however, this cyclone is brewing just off the north east coast of Madagascar and will come for a visit this weekend, most likely. From the other website it seems as though cyclone season may truly be in the wind, as it were. Time to stock up on candles i guess.
Judah had his school program this morning. It was said to be a ‘carnival’, but there was nothing carnival-esque other than the usual long program of dances, poems and too-quiet individual children reciting whatever it was they were supposed to say. My kid, unfortunately, decided to skip the instructions about what his class was to say and upgraded himself to the grade 1 level by telling us all his name, age, and that he was a boy… all in English. Whew! he is SO smart!! haha.
The best part of the day, however, was his costume, which i had been somewhat concerned about for the last week or so since he was supposed to come dressed in Asian costume… After searching the internet for inspiration and wondering how i would get him to wear anything like that with a happy attitude i came upon the brilliant!! idea of putting on “Kung Fu Panda” movie and pointing out to him the finer points of costuming. While prepping his will with movie excerpts in order to wear what i would come up with i perused Josh’s closet for something that might look sort of Asian… and came up with this:
when we tried it on two days ago the ladies saw it and laughed out loud in delight. I then hurriedly explained to him that they were laughing because his costume was so great! I was afraid that he would interpret their laughter as directed at him and subsequently declare that he was NOT going to wear this to the school program! Then i told him to go to the guard shack and see if Solo could identify what his costume was. He also laughed. haha. But said Judah to look like someone doing kung fu (yes!). Our next stop was the Canadians next door, to whom i sent Judah to ‘trick or treat’. Haha. He not only got a sucker, but the men graciously identified him as a samurai/Manchurian warrior. So. Voila! No sewing required and he had probably one of the best costumes, according to this rather biased judge. We were originally going to have Judah wear the hat-basket-lid, which is shaped like a cone, but the ladies declared that they knew of another lady who could make a hat by Wednesday morning and, sure enough, this morning it arrived just on time for us to leave for the fete.
these two photos (above and below) are to show you the size of my ‘easter’ lilies. They’re hard to see against the green background, but they are as high as judah’s shoulders (below) and over his head in the photo above. in the next few days their trumpets will be opening and i’m sure i’ll get a photo of all of them blooming at the same time.
This is Judah’s class (some of them). The girls are from pre-k and Judah and the boys are in the equivalent of Kindergarten (here it’s known as Grand Section/ GS). They have a mixed class. That’s their teacher/maitre in the dark and white striped shirt taking a photo. I asked one of the parents of Judah’s classmates from GS where they would be sending their boy next year, since it’s a concern of mine where we’re sending Judah and i was wondering if anyone was considering going to the French Elementary as we are. But the lady i spoke with said that the tuition was too high for her to send her kid there and i suspect that most of the boys in judah’s class will have the same thoughts. alas. so i reckon if we do go to the french school he will be making all new friends again.
As you can see if you watch the video, Judah doesnt really know what he’s doing. alas. He really does love to dance, but i reckon he doesnt love as much to follow a set choreography, especially when dancing with a whole entourage of kids who are basically just jumping around. the kind of moves he comes up with on his own after dance class day is quite impressive, however, and i’m proud to say that he wont be growing up with ethnic inhibitions in regards to dancing like his parents did.
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