December 20, 2012 - Tour de Danmark

Last week we began a tour of family and friends in Denmark.  It started with Morten & Linnette visiting us for dinner one night in Varde (no pictures, sorry to them!).  That was a lovely, albeit way too short, visit (aren't they all!) because we hadn't seen Morten in three years.  

Then we went to Silkeborg fo one day to visit Lars, Barbara, Luna and Saga.  I don't know what was sweeter: Grace and Luna becoming instant friends or Kristoffer and Lars wrestling in the kitchen?

Next came a lovely day with Farmor's family, including Oldemor, Kristoffer's uncle and aunt Gert and Kitte along with their children and grandchildren, as well as Kristoffer's brother and his family.  Grace was in heaven with her big cousins, Nikoline and Josefine.  This day included a really great lunch and a big family snow-ball fight!

After that great day we packed up and drove to Copenhagen.  We stayed with Hans' daughter Marianne - mange tak til dig, Marianne!  We got to visit with Marianne, Simone, Martin and also Tina, Thomas and Louie.

In the next two days we visited...

Christian, Marlene and sweet baby Jonathan.  We were meeting Marlene and Jonathan for the first time and hadn't seen Christian since he came to Kenya when Grace was 6 months old.  It was a great visit!

Next up: Malene, Silas and Julius (Casper was in Finland!).  This was a particularly sweet visit because they are our friends from Nairobi and I think it is the first time that we have ever connected with Kenya friends outside of Kenya (correct me if I am wrong?).  It was great to see that we all do exist outside of the expat life!

On Tuesday morning we got to meet sweet Baby Lily with Morten and Elsebeth (also got to see Thomas and Bode).  That visit was cut a little short because Grace was a bit sick.  We ended up taking her to see a doctor where we discovered she has a bad cold but not an ear infection (despite pain in her ears) and conjunctivitis.  She is much better now, and even though it was not much time Uncle Kristoffer got to hold Lily for quite awhile.

Kristoffer went without us to dinner with some university friends - Stig and his family, and Soren and his girlfriend.

On Wednesday we packed up and said goodbye to Marianne.  On our way to Rasmus' new house we stopped to visit Kis (96 years old...Farfar's step-mother...no pictures as I stayed in the car with a sleeping Noah) and then for a quick visit with Oldemor.

Grace and Noah are quite happy to be with their cousins again (we are thrilled to have full-time babysitters!) and we will start Christmas festivities Friday evening when we see Farfar and Marianne.  Farmor and Hans and Oldemor will also come on the 24th to celebrate Christmas here.  

Other than the cold, gray weather and our runny noses, things are going so well for us in Denmark this trip!  It has been really nice to reconnect with old friends. 

LMW

December 13, 2012 - More Merriment

Hope it's not too boring to keep sharing these holiday-in-Denmark pictures.  Kids are so happy, sleeping great (although Noah has taken to a very late bedtime!), and we started our first round of visits last night (the fun continues Friday through our departure on the 26th!). 

Serious Playdoh time with Farmor.

Decorating Farmor's Juletraet! (Christmas tree)

LMW

December 11, 2012 - Reminder

THIS ARTICLE describes why I would never drive in Kenya.  I have a feeling and perception that it is better in Tanzania which is why I drive now.  But yikes!

LMW

December 10, 2012 - Winter Wonderland

Our first days in Denmark, including: picking out a Christmas tree, playing in the snow (eating it, building snowmen, and eating it), and baking gingerbread cookies (please note that Grace is trying out a new hairdo).  We also went to the library (no photos taken).  We are a long way from Dar, and so far it is a great winter holiday!

 

LMW

December 8, 2012 - Annual Travel Trouble

We arrived in Denmark last night, somewhere between 7 and 8 hours later than expected.  Last year we got stuck in Paris; this year it was Amsterdam!  It wasn't sooooo bad...the big snow storm that hit Amsterdam paralized KLM and they cancelled so many flights that hundreds of people needed to be rebooked.  I spent 4 hours of our extended layover STANDING IN LINE to make arrangements.  We were lucky that people took pity on us because of traveling so far with two small kids.  In fact, we were on a wait list for our flight to Denmark (after the first two flights were cancelled)...but so were about 20 other people.  When the guy called our name for official boarding passes he said, "At least we know the baby can sleep at home tonight."

So while it was a long, long wait at the airport, we did get here the same day we planned to.

Highlights of the trip included Noah pulling his own suitcase (at a snail's pace!) all around the airport to the delight of everyone who saw him.  Also Grace is such an incredible flyer that as soon as the plane gets up in the air, she announces, "I'm going to sleep now," and promptly does so.  And the fact that on both trips people were willing to move their sits around so that we could be together and so that Noah could have a seat of his own (even though we didn't pay for one!).

Low lights of the trip (aside from the long delay) included both of our landings.  During the first descent in Amsterdam Grace's ears hurt so much that she screamed for 10 minutes (or more?) straight.  Luckily her Far had packed two pieces of bubble wrap in our carry-on...if we had remembered it earlier her screaming would have subsided much sooner...but once we pulled out the bubble wrap she was happily distracted.   As Kristoffer calls it, "Instant Joy." During our second descent in Denmark Noah decided that he was completely done with traveling and wanted to get off the plane RIGHT NOW. He a marathon temper trantrum (while we tried to keep him "strapped" to us in a seat belt!) for at least 15 minutes.  Everyone else really wanted off that plane too, buddy!  Our other challenge with Noah, the boy who spends 85% of his time wearing nothing but a diaper and a t-shirt, was that we couldn't get him to keep socks and shoes on his feet (He also disliked the jeans he was wearing but gave in on that one much easier).  

Everyone was happy to see Farmor who came with hats, gloves and chocolate! When we got to Farmor's house we ate well and all slept SO well.  Some combination of how dark and quiet it is mixed with our travel lag and complete exhaustion from the day made for a very nice night for all (maybe the longest night our kids have ever slept!).  

There is snow on the ground and Christmas spirit in the air.  The perfect combination!

LMW

December 6, 2012 - And We're Off

We leave for Denmark very late tonight.  We are there for 3 weeks before we go to the US for a long visit as well.

We are bringing lots of things with us:  presents and winter clothes and boots and scarves and socks.  Also de-worming medication, malaria tests and treatment should any of us show get sick with it (it can take weeks or months for symptoms to develop when you get bitten by a malarial mosquito), and newly injected flu vaccinations.  Who knew we required so much medical stuff for just LEAVING the country.

We are leaving Rose and Karen, who are going to Kenya while we are gone,  and Grace's friends at school...she has been telling them for the last two days, "Don't be too sad when I am gone. I will come back for my birthday." Kristoffer is leaving behind work I HOPE.  I am leaving behind the anxieties that come with our daily life.  We are also leaving behind snakes in our garden, mosquitos all around us, and extreme heat and humidity.

We are heading into below-freezing temperatures in Denmark along with snow, from what we hear.   We are prepared for the hustle and bustle of visiting lots of family and friends and perhaps getting a bit exhausted from it all.  We are eager for holiday food and decorations and magic...the comforts of being home for the holidays.  We are going to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with our families that we love.

We are all excited and ready.  

Kwaheri, Tanzania!   See you next year!

LMW

December 5, 2012 - Random

Thought I'd post a few pictures before we fly off into the freezing cold tomorrow night.

A friend just shared these two pictures with me.  Taken in September in a "Back to School" BBQ at school.  Too bad we didn't all look good at the same time!

We decorated for Christmas on Saturday because we hosted a Christmas brunch for some Danish friends on Sunday.  This is the only picture I took of the decorating - Noah and our little tree!

And from the actual party here are two pictures of the Lego tower-building competition Kristoffer faciliated.  Children were not allowed to play until after the official contest.

 (watching the contest below)

Finally, Grace has been taking swimming lessons for a little while now.  It is going very slowly...mostly because she just does not want her face to get wet AT ALL and we are really working on that.  The first teacher she really loved but that lady moved back to South Africa.  This new teacher is not quite as awesome, but they have only had 3 lessons together so I am hoping when we come back they will warm up to each other a bit more. I took these pictures yesterday because I LOVE Grace's swim face.  She is just so serious :)

LMW

December 4, 2012 - Tough(er?) Life

Yesteryday I shared an article about Tanzania.  Today I am sharing an article about Nairobi.  It surprises me, but is also true, that I am still more "in tune" with Kenyan news and politics. I can't really explain it.  

But anyway...the article I am sharing is a reminder of what our daily security concerns were in Kenya.  And even though security is definitely still a concern here in Dar, it is not at the same level as it was in Nairobi.  As much as we liked our time in Kenya (as this journalist also shares), I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I read this article in a state of complete tension and then realized that this is not our life anymore.

LMW

December 3, 2012 - Tough Life

This is kind of a random blog post, but I haven't written much about Tanzania in awhile so I thought I would share something new.  One of the things we have noticed since we moved to Dar is how many people with Albinism (also called "Albinos", although sometimes people think that is a derogatory term, which is not how I intend it) live here.  We noticed some Albinos in Kenya, but here in Dar they are a much bigger population. My sister also just emailed me this article from NPR about Albinism in Tanzania.

Tanzania has one of the highest populations of Albinos in the world: 1 in every 1,400 people is born with Albinism.  To be honest with you, I used to think that being born an African woman would be one of the hardest things to be - because African women have so many challenges to overcome in their lives.  But now I really think that being born an African Albino (an African Albino Woman too?!) would be even more difficult.  

Before I read this article I didn't know that 98% of Tanzanian Albinos die of skin cancer before they are 40 years old.  I also didn't know that the killing of Albinos is worse in Tanzania than any other African country; there have 100 known violent attacks against albinos in the last 6 years.  There are witch doctors who believe in the "magic" of Albino skin and people will kill them for their body parts.  Other people believe they are evil.  

I was encouraged to read that the Government of Tanzania is increasing efforts to support people with Albinism here.  But I also think they have a long way to go.

LMW