Southern Africa

Continuing to fill in the blanks... in January I got to visit southern Africa for 2.5 weeks, where I added two new countries to my life list and nearly filled the last blank page in my passport. When I got back there was literally one blank side left. 

Bear with me, this post has a LOT of photos!

Lesotho - man in the background is my colleague Vuriyayi Pugeni

Again Lesotho, Growing Nations Trust

Debating details of conservation agriculture

Some food

A bit of material culture - I am fascinated by missionary subcultures; these books in a mission guesthouse really  index a time period

A farm in Mozambique

The Zambezi, view from the hotel we stayed at

Future garden site for a school in Zambia

This was a work trip, but we had some fun too, managing to squeeze in a half-day at Victoria Falls.

Bulawayo 

I didn't get many photos of Zimbabwe - I think I was just really tired by then. This is part of the Cape to Cairo thing. The African continent is really, really big. 

It was a good trip; it felt like way too long to be away from the kids and Terry, but it was a good trip. 

The Return to Sotira

Six year ago, almost to the day, we attempted to join some friends in a hike to a waterfall called Sotira. It... didn't quite work out as planned... but the event took on the warm sheen of nostalgia over the years thanks to the lovely photos and the intercultural adventure of it. I had literally forgotten that we didn't eat a real meal for 7 hours (with a 4 year old and a toddler), and that the kids and I all threw up on the bus trip back to Tirana. But the friend who organized the original trip always felt bad about the "disaster" in her mind, so this year she organized our triumphant return on the May 1 holiday, only to have things.... not quite go as planned. 

Same group as last time, minus 100 random hikers and plus two more kids

The kind man who carried Gabe for part of the hike last time (husband to our friend Ledi) now has 2 kids of his own and threw out his back the evening before our hike while playing tennis. You can see hi looking pained above. So instead of driving 2.5 hours past Gramsh to get to Sotira, we instead drove about 1 hour up Dajti. 

Apparently everybody else in Tirana had the same idea as we had to drive around a bit to find a picnic spot, but eventually we found one.

The kids really had a great time wandering around in the woods and finding flowers. Val got upset about all the trash she saw littering the ground. It was really nice being out of the city, in a higher and cooler spot. So even though we didn't see Sotira (again) a good time was had by all.

More Spring

I have to take a pause in the belated revelry to post some more recent photos - last Saturday we borrowed a car and took a wonderful day trip to a dramatic little peninsula just north of Durrës,

 Nearing Cape Rodon

The weather was just perfect. Well, the kids said it was too hot to hike but we made them anyway. There were a lot of young people out playing volleyball and barbecuing meat.

There were also some strange, gigantic bunkers - the small single-serving size bunkers are everywhere, especially along the coastline, but I had never seen any this big, and with weird spikes on the back that made them look like gigantic fossilized battle-tortoises or something sic-fi like that.




There was just something so Albania about the bunkers by the church by the sea (we could see Montenegran mountains from the peninsula), with the scrubby wild brush and young people playing volleyball in the middle of it all.

This is a medieval church there that was apparently built (or made to be built) by Skenderbeg's sister.

We weren't planning to get in the water, so didn't pack bathing suits or anything but on the way back we stopped at a more developed beach and the kids couldn't help it, they just had to jump in. (The resulting mess of wet, sandy clothes stressed me out but we got it sorted.)

And a good day was had by all. 

Christmas Fair

It's kind of strange to remember the dark and cold season, just as the days are lengthening and warming so dramatically. In fact looking at the photos reminds me I need to wash their winter coats for storage.

Over the holidays, there was an amusement park fair set up in Skenderbeg Square, the central plaza of the city. Thus this strange tableau of a lady waving and Skenderbeg in the evening light. 

View from the Ferris wheel

The kids LOVED this ride! They did it at least twice every time we went. It just goes around and around. I don't get it, but it was great to be able to get them out of the house in the dark of winter and enjoy the lights, hot drinks, and festive atmosphere. One night we saw carollers but only just as they were finishing singing, bummer!

Gingerbread!

Continuing the Springtime Catch-up blog marathon... 

When I was in the States for a conference in December, I bought a couple of gingerbread kits - one to make "Ninjabread men" and one to make little houses. We had so much fun with these. I looked EVERYWHERE for molasses, so we could make more, but none was to be found - luckily my Jantzi grands were able to bring some in January. But the kits actually came with everything needed. 

We invited some friends to help us with the little houses - Abby, Daniel, and Elsa - they all had so much fun. Their mom Lizzy and I imagined that they'd keep the houses to look at but actually the kids just couldn't wait to eat them right away.

We made them wait until we could take a picture of all five!

 And then I made my own with leftover pieces. That one hung around a few days before Hansel and Gretel ate it all up. Nobody except Ninjabread men ended up in the oven though. Yay!

Christmas

So, Christmas!

gingerbread house at the fancy bakery

 I realise that this was like 5 months ago... nonetheless...

Val and I attended a women's brunch at the church we used to go to, where there was this fun activity to assemble aromatic bags of dried fruits and spices. Basically you simmer the bag in lightly boiling water to fill the house with a nice aroma. And they're really pretty!

Christmas morning, bright and early of course... this was the first year that we had the kids pick out gifts for each other and for other family members.

What she specifically asked for...! 

Painting the model solar system (it glows in the dark!)

The kids participated in the pageant at the church we attend now (the deciding factor is that Sunday School here is in English); they sang songs in English and Albanian.

I think this is the only photo I have of the tree... 

We seem to keep starting over with trees. But we found a nice set of wooden ornaments at a big box store, and we had these little "Christmas mouse" books that are kind of an advent calendar of sorts. We made a better star than the one you see here for a topper. At the end of the day the tree was much more ornamented than this, but for whatever reason I never did take pictures of it.

Part of the Christmas Village shops that popped up in Pazari i Ri

Time to Revive the Blog

It's Spring in Tirana - what better time to revive the blog? 

Everywhere there is new life blooming. 

Flowering trees counteract the odiferous canal

It's a thrill to watch the grapevines that twine up the stair railings to our balcony leaf out after a vigorous pruning.

The day after spring break, we arrived at school to see this exuberance of wisteria greeting us:

And we have found this balmy mound of earth covered in daisies, about halfway home - a respite to sit and read and eat snacks en route. 

It was a busy and often difficult winter and early spring; the week before break the kids and I were all sick just as I faced down a deadline for a consultancy I did. I am hoping here to catch up a bit on the highlights - Christmas, Jantzi grandparents visit, my trip to southern Africa, and so much Lego action. Next month we will celebrate Val's 10th birthday, I'll go to my cousin's wedding in Japan, and my parents will visit to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday! Terry and I are hoping to get out of the city on weekends with the kids to see and enjoy more of the country while we can. Meanwhile, I leave you with this photo of the kids, from when it was still cold out: 

Two minutes later: 

Just kidding, it's posed :-)