Visit to a Feeding Program

While mom was here we visited one of JAM’s feeding programs in the Zandspruit squatter camp next to where we live.  It is a sprawling squatter with about 40,000 people living in abject poverty.  Their homes are mostly made of tin and cardboard, while some structures are mud or concrete, like the nursery schools we visited.  These kids come from poor homes with extremely minimal food options and they are just thriving with the new feeding program.  We were greeted with cheers of delight at the first one and with beautiful songs at another.  It was quite a new experience for mom to see it all!

Birthday Parties Galore

Wowsa, it’s been too long since a post!  The schedule has been busily wonderful but it has prevented proper updating until now, which it’s 5:45 in the morning and I woke early so I’m jumping on the opportunity to catch up a bit.

To back track, after the incredible surprise of my mom being here, Craig had arranged two birthday parties for me (did I mention how he really outdid himself?!) during her time here.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate and also for my mom to hang out with all of my friends here too!  That was something really important to me if any of my family ever got to come visit…I wanted them to see my life and my friends and that is exactly what Craig arranged to take place!

So on Thursday night it was one party at Uncle Neels and Tannie Maritjie’s lovely home.  They went all out in setting it up beautifully.  We all ate and drank and talked and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  There are tons of photos but these few will have to suffice for the time being.

Then on Saturday evening we had a braai on base with our JAM friends, which was also lovely and we got quality time to talk and share stories and laugh a ton.  And Craig had our friend Loren make one of her amazing cakes…it was so beautiful!  And here are some from there too.

Mom Day 1

I can tell there will be lots of pictures while mom is here!  We have over 300 in just two days – haha!  I figured I’d post day by day and then I also need to do some back-posting too to cover some other events that happened right before mom got here.  Will mix it in, I suppose…

I took mom to the Clearwater Mall and the grocery store just to see what we have and what is different from the US.  We got a coffee to drink while we walked around and it was quite nice. :)

The next night we headed out to Moyo at Melrose Arch, the restaurant where Craig and I had our first date, actually!  We sat on the bottom level which has a really neat atmosphere and we had our faces painted and our hands washed with rose water at the table.  The food was incredible and we all got something new!  Mom had a vegetable curry Potjie (poy-key) which is quite a South African dish made in a cast iron pot, Craig had an Ethiopian dish called Cig Cig Wat that was so flavorful and I had a vegetable tajine, which is a stew like mix over couscous.  Everything was yummy, beautiful and fun!

Next up will be photos from my 30th birthday party last night!  Stay tuned….

My Incredible 30th Birthday Surprise

So, yesterday was my 30th birthday and it was THE. MOST. EXCITING. BIRTHDAY. EVER!!!  It started with breakfast in bed served by my sweet husband, along with the gift of a 50-page book he’d compiled where tons of my friends and family wrote the sweetest things to me.  I cried and laughed and felt sooooo loved.  It was such a gift of love from him and everyone.

I spent the day working and my friend Casey treated me to a lovely lunch at Lifestyle, a shop and garden center we both love.  The weather was beautiful and we had such a nice time.

After that, we headed to the airport to say goodbye to our dear, dear friend Stephanie.  It was a hard goodbye, we just love her to pieces and she is very much like a sister.  And earlier in the day, Craig had gotten a call from work asking if we could pick up a USDA representative named Wenzel.  There had been a huge mixup in his flights and him being a high-profile character, they needed an upper level manager to pick him up but all the rest of them are out of town at a board meeting.  So Craig was asked and of course I said I don’t mind and it’s especially convenient since we’ll be there for Steph saying bye anyways…

We stand there waiting for quite some time and Craig is hoping we hadn’t missed him come through because his flight landed 45 minutes early!  It turns out that “Wenzel” was all a hoax and who did I see walking out of the international terminal but my MOM!!!  MY MOM, YA’LL!!!  I cannot even begin to adequately explain my following emotions but I burst in to tears and my face was the most confused look I’ve ever seen on myself (there is a video that allowed me to see it, of course).  I ran, I just started running and crying and I hugged her and sobbed.  Out loud.  Like a baby.  They had pulled off the biggest surprise I’d ever had, next to our engagement 2 years ago, of course.  I never thought my mom would ever get to come see me in Africa, especially now that we are moving in November.  She didn’t even own a passport last month!  But she is HERE…in the flesh!

I am still in a daze…a gloriously, happy, amazed, no-longer-confused daze.  She’s here for 9 whole days!  My husband…I don’t know how he does it and I don’t know how he knew to choose such a deep and meaningful thing for my 30th birthday surprise, but he did.  And I am so deeply thankful.  Words will never ever ever express it.  Watch below for the video Craig was able to get of the whole surprise.

Finally here

My new social security card with my new name finally arrived!  I applied for it through the US Consulate here in Joburg and about 4 months later it mailed to my front door.  Yay!

Now I can apply for my new drivers license, which expires on my birthday next week and I thought it was next YEAR. Eek!  I’ve got the DMV mailing me a packet to renew it by mail but I seriously hope it happens quickly being that I need to drive legally while here!

All Kinds of Baking

We’ve had a lovely weekend and the weather has been glorious and warm!  On Saturday we had two birthday parties, one for our little 5 year old buddy at the orphanage where he was showered with spiderman goodness (we are awaiting permission to post those photos, if possible) and then for our friend and neighbor Clint later that night.

On Sunday, we hit up church and then had a relaxing and productive rest of the day.  Craig sat outside to bake in the sun while reading a new book while I was working on a eating and exercise plan inside.  Speaking of exercise, I’ve been way out of the loop since May due to travels, sickness and more travels.  But now I’ve run two days in a row and while my legs are sore, I’m feeling great about it!

On Sunday night, Craig attempted his first baking effort from scratch!  I had expressed to him that it would mean a lot to me if he cooked sometimes, so he started with baking an apple crumble that was SOOOO YUMMY!  He did a seriously amazing job and I’m so proud of him!!  I need to get his recipe to add it to our recipe book now. :)  Oh and one side note, I love how the modern cookbook is a laptop! haha!

Spring Cleaning and Mold

So this morning we spent hours doing a major spring clean of our little home.  For it being such a small place, it seemed to take quite a majority of the morning.  So the rug is outside after being sufficiently beated, shaken and scrubbed and now it’s drying in the sunshine.  Everything is dusted, scrubbed, swept, mopped, folded, tidied, arranged and in it’s place.

I think we are both reeling from the fumes of potent cleaning supplies.

Okay, so now to the mold.  It’s a dry climate here in Joburg, not humid.  And it’s been a very dry winter, complete with chapped lips, hands and white flaked skin.  During the various sickness we’ve dealt with the doctor recommended the use of a humidifier.  Good idea, we thought…a very good idea.  Well, we now have a mold problem growing on the windows in our bedroom and threatening our bathroom as well.  We have come to conclude that it may be contributing to our adult onset allergies that we’ve been experiencing since we’ve been home from the USA.

Below is a sample of the mold on our windows.  My fingers feel raw from the bleach and ammonia I just used to scrub for what felt like forever to try and treat and kill it.  But drat those corners it is nestled into…my fingers weren’t sufficient and the toothbrush I tried, well, it’s now broken.  So I’m hoping that the little remaining I couldn’t get off is killed through the chemicals (which I hate, by the way, I hate chemicals) and that we come down off of this woozy-feeling high soon. ;)

In other news, our neighbor, who’s unit is attached to ours, found a violin spider (which from my research is more or less equivalent to a brown recluse spider) in their home.  Apparently, they are venomous and can have deadly effects causing one’s skin to eat itself.  The pictures online are DISGUSTING and I don’t recommend looking at them, although I know saying that will make you want to look.  So just take a look at this one and see what I’m talkin’ about…but consider yourself warned.

In happier and funner news (yes, I know “funner” isn’t a word, but I like it) we went out with our dear friends Casey and Gareth last night and had such a lovely time together.  We had these incredible ginger mint cordials with real mint and strawberries for our starter drinks and these yummy muffins both made by the amazing Casey.  From their house we moved on to Picobella Trattoria, which is a really yummy, ambient and affordable restaurant in Melville.  We wined and dined for several hours while taking the chance to chat and catch up with each other.

Before we left their house we took a few pictures of us together, which are wonderful to have because we always forget to do that.  Since it was dark we had to use a flash, which aren’t my favorite ways to take photos but heck, sometimes you just gotta do what you can to capture moments and memories.