Yesterday was quite a busy one...Paul had his first day of work, the kids and I had our first day flying solo.
Started the day out a little groggy...still having nightmares about packing, missing flights and saying good-bye to pets. I am sure it will subside soon!!
The First Killing
After a dip in the pool the kids and I decided it was time to organize a little. Looks like it may take us awhile to find more permanent housing so we started trying to find places for our stuff. The kids were taking a break from the work and playing outside when I discovered it. I lifted a duffle bag in a corner near the kitchen table and there it was...the infamous cockroach. It just sat there. I just stood there. What to do?? The kids were outside...I could get away with killing one of God's creatures and they could never be the wiser; I could kill it and let them see what it looks like; I could keep it alive, get the kids to help me get it outside unharmed and teach them a lesson about us all being God's creatures. I decided on option 2...I didn't want to keep finding the same cockroach in the house and you have to be careful what you start. I couldn't teach them to not kill cockroaches and then start killing them later. God's creatures can be God's creatures OUTSIDE. If they step into my house and they are bigger than a pea, they have to have an entry ticket. If they are cute, like a gecko, they will get multiple chances.
Soooo, a paper towel on the bottom of a shoe and a swift action did the trick. To its credit or studipity, it never flinched. When the kids came in I showed them the reminants of the bug and it didn't really phase them. Kids are, in general, much better at taking new things in stride.
International Hide-and-Seek
We did a couple Skype calls with my sister Alison and her two kids. The kids really wanted to interact and it was interesting to watch them figure out how. Ryland played a game with Connor where he found pictures of wild animals in one of his books and held them up to the computer camera so Connor could tell him what they were. Connor guessed them all correctly, of course! Then they played hide-and-seek. The kids on one side of the world would hide and then Alison or I would take the computer around the house and help the other kids find them. It was a blast.
It makes me really sad how badly they all miss each other, and how much I miss my sister. It was sure nice to see them on a computer screen at least. There is nothing like distance to make you realize how much people mean to you. If ony we (I) could only figure that out without having to go through the turmoil of the increase in miles.
Solo Trip To The Grocery Store
The driving was ok...still funny having to look LEFT for the rearview mirror, still flipping on the windshield wipers. Another opposite - when you want to turn on the wipers, DOWN is ON.
The grocery store was interesting...with 3 little kids, trying to find equivalent products here. Things like wheat flour I just assume to be universally available. Not so. Almost all the flour here seems to be white. The closest thing I have found to wheat flour is Wholemeal, which has a appearance slightly darker than white - like mixing 1/3 wheat flour with 2/3 white. I even asked a couple other nearby shoppers. One of the people was a nice gal who moved here from Germany 3 years ago. She said she still struggles trying to find some things. When she first arrived it took her awhile to find sparkling water - apparently it is not in the section with the other water. I had trouble finding sugar - I am just accustomed to it being in the baking aisle. But then, when I think about it, any grocery store apart from your usual haunt is always different, isn't it? It just takes awhile to learn.
I did find an even darker brown sugar than we had tasted previously. We just loved the new taste that I just had to try the even darker, 'browner' brown sugar. I think I may have finally met my match...it might just be a little too brown. I didn't think it possible. So much so, I am going to try it again before publishing my final answer.
I haven't found anything with high fructose corn syrup. I am not sure if it really just isn't used here or if they call it all 'sugar'. I sure hope it is the former!!
The shopping carts are different. They can go in all directions - sideways as well as back and forth. The benefit is it is easy to 'pull over' if you are in someone's way. Disdvantage is they are much harder to control, especially making a turn. Ryland was driving yesterday and got me in the achilles tendon. Ouch!
Freezer bags are not ziplocked. They have ziplock sandwich bags, but the freezer kind are twist-tie.
Quick checkout, HOT walk to the car with 3 tired kids and a cart that didn't want to go where I was going, uneventful drive home and we were ready to start dinner. All-in-all a successful day in the Top End (what Australians call Darwin area) of Down Under.
No comments:
Post a Comment