Moto Taxis and Christmas Festivities

Yesterday I did something I never thought in a million years that I would do. I rode a motor cycle taxi up the mountain to go see a friend. I know, before you say, Holy Cow Michele Has Changed! let me explain that there are only a few ways to get around. And only a few roads on which to do that. One, you have a POV that you can use to go places. Ours is a Ford Econoline van. And while it's a good sturdy vehicle, it is too long to traverse the dangerous hairpin turns on the mountain roads. Also, it doesn't have the power to get up many of the steepest roads, plus the roads have holes in them that make pot holes look like tiny pips. Secondly, you can hire a vehicle with a driver. This can cost anywhere from $35 US to $150 US depending on if it's a one way ride or a whole day, wait for you kind of excursion. After that, you have 2 choices for public transportation; tap-tap, which is like a mini bus - either a converted van or truck, or a motorbike taxi. 

Vacation all I ever wanted...

So I left on a Monday and came back on a Monday. Now my kids are convinced I am going to leave this Monday. I keep trying to convince them that I will not be going anywhere for quite some time. I am all vacationed out for now, budget wise at least! So every day another one will ask me, "You go on Monday?" and again I have to tell them no, I stay, every Monday for a long time. But really, what is a long time to a 4 year old? A week is an interminable time when you are waiting for something you really want. Or how about a night? I remember Christmas Eve's that seemed to last for at least 700 hours! 

So for now, I will have to bide my time until enough Mondays have past for them to understand that I am here for a good little stretch of time. One way that I have discovered will set them on another track is to tell them that my daughter, Emily, may be coming in the Spring. To which they then want to know when my boy, Nikolas, will be coming. Everyone here loves Nikolas. Now to work on getting his passport and setting aside some money for a plane ticket. 

All for now, come back later for tales of my yoga antics with the kids.

Calamitous Saturday Morning

It's not a full moon, so I'm not sure where the bad juju came from, but we've had quite the morning. A few of the kids have some odd bacteria or virus or another. It causes blister-like lesions in close proximity to their noses and often inside their noses. The first one with these symptoms was put on Amoxicilline and it seemed to respond to it. Then two more kids presented with symptoms so on the antibiotic they went. Now this morning the first one has all of her symptoms again. Guessing it must be viral and not bacterial, but waiting to hear from the doctor.