Living close to the bush...

I did a bit of a shocking discovery this morning while emptying the washing machine... a snake suddenly appeared in my view. Dead of course, it wouldn't survive the hot water and soap used but I suddenly got a bit scared: was it in there when I put in the laundry? How did it get there in the first place???

We figured it must have entered via the water exit or entry. Which means that even we got slippery tiles and have mosquitescreen doors, our house is still not snake free. We tried to find out if it was a poisonous snake or not, but didn't find anything so far (if you happen to know, let us know!). Thorsten put it in alcohol to preserve it so we can find out later. Up to the bookshop!


Ah well, we're living in Africa after all and close to the bush... what do you expect. And it did add some excitement to the day.

The kids are fine, although I feel like taking a discount card at the health centre. Lisa just recovered from her persisting cough when Jara fell down with fever last night. Luckily no malaria and just a troat infection. She should be up and running again in a few days.

Have a great day!

Back Home

Back home... Yes, I think we can call it home. When we see the change in Jara's mood, it's certainly home! As soon as we got back in Cameroon, Jara was a different girl: happy, cheerfull, full of jokes and crazy ideas. So THAT's what was wrong in Belgium, she just missed Cameroon. Would you blame her? Here, it's sunny - every day, we've got the paddling pool out - every day, she plays outside - every day and she can run barefoot and naked - every day!

Jara's going back to the crèche here and she recognised it immediately. Because it is a bit small, we have been hearing around for alternatives and found a new crèche that has much more space, and they have a garden and sandpit. Yesterday Jara went there for a trial day and she liked it. Came home with a drawing.

Lisa's doing fine too, despite a cold that won't go away. But she adjusted fine to the new temperature and is sleeping well - up to 5 hours in one go! May not sound so great to you, but you have to remember that Jara woke up several times every night untill she was 1 year old!! So this is a HUGE improvement for me!!! She's, as Jara was, an active girl, moves and laughs a lot. And enjoys she only needs to wear one piece of clothing.


Last weekend, we picked up the beds we had made for the kids. We ordered them in September and asked the carpenter to really let the wood dry out well before making the beds.
It is very common here (and I think in more parts in Africa) that carpenters make furniture with wet wood. Result: after a few months, or even weeks, your bookshelf, bed or whatever starts bending as the wood still 'lives'. They may tell you they use dried wood, but your doors won't close, or chairs start to wobble after a couple of months. So we found this great carpenter in Mbalmayo, about 25 km from us, who works with dried wood and made a couple of nice beds.

Thorsten has started back at work, it was quite a change, after 2 months of 'holiday'. But there is definately enough to do to keep him busy. If all goes well, I'll also start looking for work soon and hopefully will find some too!

Underneath a short video of Jara's new hobby...



So, this little update to let you know we arrived safely and have settled back in all right.