Jacaranda trees

Before they drop all their petals, I want to post a couple of photos of these amazing trees.  Next year I'll try to get some of the downtown streets that are lined on either side with these.

We have a couple of them on our own property - I'm going to try to post some more photos soon!

Car photos

Well, I said I'd post car photos after Abigail got back from her trip.  That was a month ago!  I guess the moving phase is over and I'm back to the pace of "real life" (maybe having to do with having a car!).

Here they are:

 CRV

Fit

There wasn't a lot of selection to chose from, hence the boring color options (and they're the same color as the Rav4 we sold earlier this year!).  Color wasn't really a big issue for us - we're glad they work well.  It's remarkable how many comments we get on them - most cars here are quite a bit older.  

The other transition difficulty - shipments

Well, except for one detail, our shipment situation is better than most people in our situation.  After all, we had two cars arrive at post just a few weeks after we did.  And we had an air shipment arrive from the US in the first couple of weeks.  As I write this now, I'm waiting for our "big" shipment - the HHE (I can never remember exactly what it stands for, but it's basically household effects).

So, what's the problem?  Well, the air shipment (called a UAB in foreign services terms) from Paraguay that was packed out the same day as HHE is still not here.  As you can imagine, an air shipment is quite a bit more expensive to send than a boat/land shipment (which is how our HHE arrives).  How can it possibly take LONGER to deliver an air shipment from South America to Africa than a boat/land shipment?  This is a question that remains unanswered, as our UAB probably remains in Kenya.  If it weren't for the fact that my cello is in it (we sent it thinking it would be safer and easier than taking it in luggage on all the flights) I probably wouldn't care at this point.  I can't even remember what we decided to put in air vs sea except the cello and a few things the girls needed for their Explore Zim trip that they took two weeks ago!!  I'm sorry to say that these are our (yours and ours!) tax dollars at work.

Once the HHE shipment gets delivered I'll be busy unpacking so I'm going to publish this rambling post before it's totally out of date!

Transition difficulties updates

Well, the best news is that our cars arrived last week!  Both of them and they seem to be in good shape.  When we were at the shipping department getting ready to pick them up we received the paperwork which said that the vehicles were all scratched.  I got a little nervous when we read that!  They do have some scratches but nothing horrible and overall they seem to be in good shape.  I'll post pictures when Abigail returns with my camera.

Since they're from Japan the biggest challenge is that we can't read the owner manuals!  Also, the CRV  "talks" to us in Japanese.  Not quite sure what it's saying, but it sounds like "buckle up".

After we received the cars I realized it's the first time that we've owned two cars since 2004!  There were a couple long periods that we had two when we were car-sitting for John's parents when they were in Ireland, but we haven't owned two of our own in 8 years.  It feels like a luxury!

Our household help seems to be working out well and our gardener, Ofias has taken care of the gate morning and evening since he arrived.  That has been great!  The pair that we hired had their own tale of  hiring difficulties, so it took a few days of sorting that out with our housekeeper, but she seems to have settled in now and my house is immaculate!  Their tale was another long one, but to keep it short they thought all "summer" that they had a new job lined up only to find out that they didn't and their previous employer left no written references for them.  Juliet was understandably out of sorts over this.

And, as you can tell from my posting photos, we have internet.  I'm not sure how "high speed" it is - definitely during work hours it's not.  I tried making phone calls during the day yesterday and it didn't work.  Hopefully it will be good enough for Skype and Vonage on the nights and weekends.

School Trips

At HIS (Harare International School) the students in 6^th -12^th grades take a weeklong trip primarily for team building purposes.  I think the 4^th and 5^th graders also take a trip, but it’s only a few days long.

It is up to the trip leader (a teacher) to decide where the students will go, but it seems like they generally try to do the same trips in each grade year after year.  I’m glad that it worked out for the 7^th and 10^th graders to do their traditional trips this year because they look pretty cool.

7^th grade is spending the week at Inganyana Bush Camp whichis out near Hwange National Park.  It was a long bus ride (they said it would take 11 hours since they adhere to a very low speed limit), but it looks like a great experience to see the work that is being done on conservation of an endangered species (Painted Dog).  One of the teachers who has gone on the trip before said she tried to arrange a visit for some people that were visiting her here and she was told that they are only open for school trips!  For all of my animal loving friends out there if you google on inganyana bush camp you should see a PDF document that shows a bit more about the camp.  I lent Abigail my camera because she should get to see a wide variety of animals while she is there.

10th grade is going to Far and Wide which is and outdoor adventure team leadership program.  This one is open to families, so if you come to visit us, maybe we can plan a trip!  Outdoor adventure isn't exactly Arianna's favorite thing, so I'm hoping she enjoys the team leadership part and maybe learns to like a bit of adventure too!  She does enjoy being in a camp setting (thanks to her experiences with her Girl Scout troop)
so I also hope she enjoys the location, which is supposed to be beautiful.  Here is the link to the place where she is: http://www.farandwide.co.zw/

The trips started on Monday since the school doesn't have off for the minor American holidays.  The girls both get home on Friday and I can't wait to hear how it went!

Photos for earlier posts

Layover in Johannesburg. They don't look too bad after a 15 hour plane ride!

First night the Wii was set up.

 Arianna's homemade cinnamon rolls.

 My attempt at the traditional Macy money cake with whipped cream gone wrong (don't Arianna's cinnamon rolls look a lot better?)

Since I had put the cake in the freezer in an attempt to not have it be a complete disaster, we had to dig wholes with toothpicks before we could place the candles!

House Photos - Outside

These are the same photos that I posted yesterday on Facebook, but I'm posting here for anyone that can't access them there.  I took these photos during our first week here.

 View of house as you enter gate

 Pool in front yard!!

 Winter sky

 Back of house 

One of many garden areas - all were very dry!