Through the Seasons

Arrival into Mbeya via train:

First meal at home – grilled cheese and canned corn:

Our stuff in the living room and Teddy guarding his food (from who we don’t know):

Looking into the kitchen from the dining/living room:

Our stuff sitting on the furniture we’re borrowing from the landlord until we get our own (from our neighbors who are leaving the end of May):

More of our stuff in our living room:

The lawnmower:

We took quite a few pictures/video on the train ride.  As soon as I figure out how to get those off the video recorder I’ll post some of those as well. 

Now back to our second gourmet meal since arriving: spaghetti.

read comments (1)

This morning we crawled out from under the mosquito net at 8am to a pleasant, mid-60’s, sunny day.  I opened the curtains over the back door to let the dogs out but instead found our grass being cut…by a worker…with a machete.  The dogs would have been fine.  The worker would have freaked out.  Jonathan let the dogs out anyway while I opened up the curtains that cover the windows that line the length of our living room/dining room wall. 

Next task:  breakfast.  I brought with us a few packs of instant oatmeal and grits.  I began with oatmeal.  All was well until I salted it.  Blek!  The salt here is way stronger.  I fixed a second packet to mix in but it didn’t help much.  I ate a few bites then resigned myself to a little sweet banana with peanut butter.  To drink?  Pure pineapple juice!  For Jonathan I fixed grits and got out the coffee and sugar since I’m not sure yet how to make it (especially since the only cutlery we have currently is one butter knife and 2 plastic forks).

It is now already noon.  We have managed to feed the baby, change 2-3 diapers, catch up on blogs/email, get the laundry off the line, move the closeline so it’s in the sun longer (that’s in progress), and have a visitor.

The plans for today are:  to unpack something.  Anything.  Eat.  Bathe.  Meet with the woman we plan to hire as our househelp.  She will probably start working for us 1 day a week now and 3 when the couple next door, who are also employing her, leave (end of May).  We’re not sure what all she’ll be doing for us.  That’s why we’re meeting with her.

As for any other plans…  we should really rest some.  Sooo…  If I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

read comments (1)

Well, at the moment I am sitting on my couch in my home in Mbeya, Tanzania.  Yep.  We made it!!  Sorry we couldn’t post earlier.  Once arriving in Tanzania things have been a bit of a blur. 

Every flight we took left on time and got to its destination early.  Every flight was also smooth, provided us a little bit of rest, and had the dogs on it.  In Amsterdam we didn’t have much time so we did a quick post online then took an hour nap.  We were the last people to get on the plane.  (Whoops.  Not really taking advantage of that “you have a baby and can pre-board” thing, huh?)

So we arrived in hot, sticky Dar around 10pm where we then spent 2 hours in their lovely airport.  It was chaotic because Asher’s dependant’s pass had not yet been processed so we had to get him a temporary visa until then.  Jonathan had to go back and forth between the immigration official, visa desk, atm/currency exchange, and baggage claim.  During all this I’m watching our carry-on bags while tending to Asher who is hotter than I’ve ever felt him and screaming his head off.  The dogs came off the plane right away so I (and everyone else there) got to hear Theo yipping at the top of his poodle lungs.  Can you say stressed???  I calmed Asher down by taking him down to his diaper and fanning him with a little battery-powered fan we got at Wal-Mart.  The best dollar we’ve ever spent because it has helped us numerous times now on this journey! 

Finally, the immigration thing gets accomplished and we have to fill out forms about 2 missing pieces of luggage.  Amsterdam airport still had them and is sending them all the way to Mbeya for us (kind of makes me wish more had been left behind).  We are finally walking out at midnight and the customs official starts asking how valuable the dogs are.  Uh-oh.  Jonathan tells her Teddy is old (he is) and that Theo was given to him free (he was) so they weren’t valuable at all really (only true monetarily).  Then she wants to start going carton by carton to find out what she can charge us customs on.  Cue the kid.  Asher starts crying and I’m frantically trying to calm him back down.  She says, “The baby is crying.  Just go.”  Yes!  Way to go Asher!

At our friends’ house in Dar we slept about 2 hours before getting our things re-gathered to catch the train.  It usually leaves late, sometimes many, many hours late so we were prepared for a long wait.  But there was none!  We left ON TIME!  (A miracle!!)  The train ride should have lasted 24 hours if all went well but a friend of ours was on that trip once and it took 49 hours so I prepared us for a 48 hour trip.  But how long did it take?  24 hours!  It arrived on time as well!!  Unbelievable!  The ride itself was fine.  Pretty scenary.  A place to sleep.  A nice way to travel really. 

But we did have Asher with us and he did good most of the time until the train began stopping VERY frequently.  I would get him asleep and the train would stop abruptly and wake him.  So I’d get him asleep and it would start back up and wake him.  This was about every 10-20 minutes.  Finally he just got frustrated and started crying a lot.  I would too!  I felt so bad for him.  But finallly we had some good long stretches this morning before arriving in Mbeya around 9am.  A coworker gave us a ride to our home and we’ve been here ever since sort of going through boxes and getting a few things out.  We weren’t too ambitious about what we accomplished today.  We had lunch with our landlord and his wife, took a nap, had quite a few visitors, and took care of Asher and the dogs (who did extremely well and are recovering today with a lot of sleep).

We finished off our night with me actually making dinner:  grilled cheese sandwiches and canned corn. 

Now it is 9pm and we all 5 are ready for bed.  Good night.

read comments (9)

We made it to Amsterdam around 7:30am local time (2:30am EDT).  The flight was decent although I wasn’t able to get any real rest or sleep.

Asher is still traveling and feeding well on this journey.  Thank you again for all your prayers.  Please keep them coming because it will probably take us a long time to recoup from all this!

read comments (2)

Hi. This is Angela (from Angela’s Peony Patch – see Dana’s blogroll). Here are some photos of the McCall departure from Charlotte, North Carolina this morning.

 Jonathan and his brother unloading

Almost unloaded….

 Asher says, “Life is Good”

Teddy & Theo getting checked out by the TSA

Goodbye dear friends!

Jonathan did a FABULOUS job getting all of the luggage and the dogs through check-in! I helped with Asher to give Dana a break, and once he calmed down (I think he was a bit overstimulated at first), he snoozed quite nicely in his stroller.

Jonathan, Dana, and Asher went on to security just after this last photo. Asher slept all the way to Detroit. Jonathan and Dana saw the dogs come off the plane, and they looked fine!! First leg, complete. We’re all praying for you guys – safe travel, ease with Asher, and all our love!

read comments (1)

Nope.  (To Charlotte that is.)

But are we packed?  Yes.  Thankfully.

Jonathan did 99.9% of the work.  I hate we’re both starting our journey tired.  No, not tired.  Exhausted.  We ended up with about 4 hours of sleep.  (Yawn.)  But maybe the fatique will help us sleep better on the plane.  Taking care of Asher will throw a new dimension to it but hopefully we’ll still get some rest. 

Yes, we had to suffer broken hearts and extend them to our friends by cancelling our plans to see them before leaving but given the fact that Jonathan wasn’t through packing until well after 10pm meant there was no reason to drive to Charlotte just to go to bed. 

And at the same time I wasn’t feeling well at all due to my nursing problems.  I really hope I’m not developing an infection.    I did call the midwife last night and got some help from her so prayerfully I continue to follow her instructions and one way or another I’ll get through it.  I just hope it doesn’t affect how well we travel.  (I’m showing my worry-wart-ness.)

But now we’re really heading to the Charlotte airport.  We’ll keep you updated from here!

read comments (0)

Apparently my new soreness may be blocked milk ducts.  I’m doing what the nurse told me to do so hopefully it will help.  Either way I’m more sore today than I have been up until now.  I’m frustrated and worried (but I am a worry-wart so that’s not saying much).  I want the duct to clear up and I really, really want to stay clear of any type of infection.  Could this come at a worse time?  Ergh.  I commend anyone in the States (or any country like it) who breastfed in spite of the difficulties.  I really think I would have given up by now.  I feel like as soon as I get over one hurdle I’m facing another one.    This sucks (pun intended).

read comments (1)

We have packed everything up. 

And unpacked it all to go back through it.  (We ran out of space.) 

After asking ourselves “do we really need that?” for each item we made two piles – yay or nay.  Then we went through the house to gather everything else that needs to be packed.  Now it’s all piled up in the sunroom and Jonathan is packing up. 

Again. 

We’re supposed to have dinner and spend the night with friends in Charlotte.  We’re trying to make it.  What a feat this is! 

Think of packing for a week-long trip, add onto that about 125 weeks and remember you are starting this trip with a 7-week old baby.  Oh.  And two dogs.  Then remember that you aren’t traveling within the U.S. and you’re not going to a country in Europe.  You’re going to a country on the east coast of Africa where many things aren’t available.  Whew.  Lots of decisions to make!  What can you do without (ice cream maker given to us by a friend – sniff, sniff), what could you live without but you’d rather not (M-n-M’s), and what do you just have to have (gas drops for the fussy baby)?

Speaking of baby – here’s what he’s doing…

read comments (0)

Now is the time to start following our blogs as we travel from Hickory, North Carolina to Mbeya, Tanzania.  It begins today.

We are currently packing and should be about done with that.  Should be.  Hopefully.  I haven’t been extremely involved in that process so I’m not totally sure where we are.

This afternoon we drive to Charlotte to stay with some friends tonight.  They asked us what we wanted for dinner.  Hot dogs!  Yum.

Tomorrow morning we drive to the airport and catch a noon-ish flight to Detroit (oh joy).  We go from there to Amsterdam landing Sunday morning.  From there we fly to Dar es Salaam with a short stop at the Kilimanjaro airport.  Too bad it will be at night so we won’t get to see the mountain.  Drats.

We’re picked up Sunday night to stay at a friends house where we then catch a train to Mbeya the next morning.

That’s the plan.  We’ll keep you updated as we progress.  Please pray.   

(And for my friends – mainly one (you know who you are) – who want to see pictures, we’ll do our best to document our journey that way for you!)

read comments (3)

In preparation to go where there are no salons (or none I’ll be frequenting) I’ve been getting up to date on all my grooming.

Thanks to my mom, Tuesday I went for a manicure and pedicure.  I even went all out and let her do a french manicure on my fingers.  It won’t last (and is already chipping) but it’s fun for a while.

Yesterday I got my hair cut – no major change (although I considered it!) – but it’s wonderful to have it cleaned up before leaving.  She even gave me tips on how Jonathan should go about cutting it but she suggested that I just let it grow until I get back.

Today I’m getting my woolly worm eyebrows waxed so I can then keep them clean with tweezing.  I’ve tried this many times with no luck but I’m thinking since I have no alternative I’ll be more diligent about keeping up with them.

And that’s it.  No more grooming.  It’s all up to me now.  Yikes.

read comments (0)