We had an uneventful flight – I had to pay $250 for my extra (extra large too!) bag. My ankles swelled up like crazy in the plane for some reason, so I could barely put my shoes on! I made the mistake of eating in the Paris airport – 33 euros for a quick lunch! We arrived on Wed night at about 7pm local time. Loren and Derek picked us up, we went for a quick drink and checked into a hotel as Loren hasn’t been able to secure a house. I think he wants me to choose it because he wants me to be happy with it. Anyway, the hotel is nice but around $100 per day and a meal for Ben and I about $15 for breakfast or $40 for dinner, so we don’t want to stay here too long!

There is WiFi in the hotel but it was easier to type in my room and copy to the blog page as my keyboard has problems when the computer is running on battery. I was having problems speaking French at first and understanding too, but I think it was just that my brain was full as it seems to be better now.

Thursday we ran a few errands – money, registering at the consulate, which you can apparently do online now, getting a cell phone. Each of those errands was its own lesson in patience – the first bank didn’t take traveller’s cheques, my blackberry doesn’t take a SIM card and it’s really expensive to operate one – more expensive than the plans in Canada so we bought a cheap cell phone – which has a Great Britain/Hong Kong adapter but couldn’t find an adapter head for here. Anyway! Then we visited Loren/Derek’s house and Derek’s family. Ben had fun playing with Danika and Darel and even spoke French with them. He seemed embarrassed to speak French with the adults. Loren found an old adapter for my phone but it didn’t charge. Loren took it apart and fixed it – he’s amazing at that kind of thing.

Friday we went to the farm even though neither Clark nor Carol were there. Alessan, Ben’s friend was there and showed us around. There was a dead duiker (pronounced diker) which had been bitten by a snake. We were warned about walking in the long grass, which is a problem since it’s rainy season and ALL the grass is long. We even saw a viper slinking around. Scared me for sure – Alessan went after it with a rock but it got away.

We had a less than fruitful day yesterday. Loren and I dropped Ben off at Dembele's house to play with Djamal and Rachid. The boys have grown a lot. Cita, their mom is pregnant and due in a month or so. She looks so tired, I think she was sick a lot and I mean like malaria not morning sickness. Anyway, Ben was happy to play with them. The roads in their area make Limebank in winter seem like a dream. I don't think Loren left first gear. It's only about 5km from the main road but takes at least 30 min to drive it.

Loren and I left there only to run out of gas about a km away, so he called Dembele who got us diesel - Loren had to reprime the diesel pump... by sucking the diesel into it using his mouth. I see them doing that all the time. That's gross! From there we went to a bar to meet up with the guy who has the keys of the house we were going to see. Unfortunately he wasn't there because it was raining and he doesn’t have a phone – go figure. It rained all day and everything turned into a giant red mud puddle. Loren said no one does anything during the rain. In between down pours we eventually went to see a place that no one had lived in for several months. It wasn't bad - 2 bedrooms inside bathroom and shower, living room, large yard - but the kitchen was outside way at the back of the yard and it needed SO much work we wouldn't be able to move in for several weeks.

Went back to the bar, and called another place but it was nearly $1000 per month. The other places are closer to $250. I will have to purchase the furniture for it though. To buy a house would be about $35 - 40k plus the other costs of transfer, and setting up utilities, and furnishing. We went back to pick Ben up - Djamal came back with us - and we ended up getting stuck in the mud. Finally we got back to the hotel around 9pm - what a waste of 12 hours! Carol called me before I left to say 2 things: not to get discouraged by the rain, and that nothing moves quickly so have patience. Useful advice in just the first few days.
So here we are on Sunday – I have Djamal and Ben playing outside, something I would never do at home, just let the kids roam around by themselves. I may have a hard time pulling Ben back when we get back to Canada.
I asked about schools and found out that they are a little different here. They have something called CP1 and 2. 1 is for kids who don’t really speak French – to bring everyone up to speed as there are a lot of kids who only speak their dialect. CP 2 is like grade 1. Then there are 4 more levels of primary grades, 4 levels of intermediate grades and 3 high school levels of which the names are very confusing. The higher your grade, the lower the number – i.e. level 1 is like grade 11 and level 2 is grade 10. The last grade is called “terminale” or “the last grade”. Amusing.
As for health, so far we both have diarrhea and I have a stomachache – I have Ben on probiotics so I suspect that is why his stomach doesn’t hurt. Trying to keep us hydrated and fed as eating times (and types of food) are quite different.
Ben mentioned going home a couple times, but seems happier now that he has Djamal to play with. He hasn’t played with his DS once yet while here. So that’s the update. My phone number is 011 226 76 56 81 82.
Hope everyone is well.

Ok lots of people seem to want to know what I'm bringing. I couldn't really answer before because I was still thinking about it and even now, I still have to sort my bags and I'm sure something will have to get left out.

We get 2 bags each at 50lbs a piece so that's 200 lbs of stuff. Except the bags have weight too, about 12 lbs a piece so really we get about 150 lbs. It costs $200 to bring an extra bag (up to 50lbs or 40 minus the bag weight) and it costs $60 to have a bag weigh more than 50 but less than 70 lbs. Logically then one just adds 20 lbs to each bag, and that is cheaper. It's just REALLY heavy and might rip your bag. SOO much to think about when packing.

So the contents. I told Ben he could have one bag of toys and books. That worked out to 38lbs in his 12 lb bag. He had to do 3 cuts: the first to purge toys he no longer wanted, a second cut to put some toys in storage and some that he wanted to bring - second cut resulted in 90 lbs of toys and books, so he did a third cut that brought him down to the required weight. I was surprised by some of his choices. I added some stuff back in because I felt bad, and i will just deal with the extra cost.

We're bringing about 3 weeks worth of clothes and footwear. You can buy stuff there or have it made - shoes are harder. But really there is hot season, rainy season (which is hot but also humid) and "winter" which is dry but gets down to 5 oC sometimes so requires sweaters and shell jackets. I think for the 2 of us, we have about 70 lbs of clothes/footwear.

Housewares: Loren never really said what the house would have. You can get stuff there but I figured I have it and generally the quality you can buy in BF is not that good. So I brought some kitchen stuff like goodknives, can openers, tupperware, lifters and cutlery. I debated on bringing pots and pans and may yet since much of their stuff is aluminum there. I'm bringing a few towels and sheets just to get us started as well as a couple pillows. It should also help Ben feel a bit like home. I also am bringing a therapy ball and some resistance bands - weights would be a little heavy! I am bringing some weapons to practice with (foam nunchuks and a bo)

Books, I'm bringing about 40 lbs of books to read - everything from religion to economics to management. I remember last time wishing I had brought more books with me. I hope to find a good online e-book seller so if anyone knows of one, I'd be grateful.

Toilettries and medication: again, can get a lot of stuff there but am bringing anti-malarials and some anti-biotics. A bunch of vitamins mostly because it can be hard to get vegetables. Sunscreen, bug itch and Off. The brand of facewash I like, shampoo and conditioners, moisturizer, some make up. Probiotics, omega 3s, calcium. I have no idea how much this might weigh. Will probably have to cut it back.

Stuff I'd like to bring but can't justify or might ask someone to bring when they come: a keyboard/digital piano, microwave -they may have them there, I don't know. My sparring gear and karate gi.

So I figure I am well over my alloted weight limit, I hope to keep the excess cost to under $300, we'll see how successful I am.

It's funny though. This is a puzzle that my brain likes but is tough to optimize. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it and I know it is one of those things that keeps running in the back of my head that causes me to lose part of my brain use for the everyday stuff. So I get forgetful and more stressed.

Still lots of stuff left on the list to do: finish packing, finish visiting. medical claims and 2010 taxes, photo album. Not difficult just time consuming. Something I'm a little short of at the moment.