Sydney, after I allowed them to wear their nice dresses to play posh ladies:
“Oh thank you Mama!” “I like you more than…more than Satan!”
Good to know.
On another note, I have just tried to paste the link to Google maps showing our house in the direct middle of the page (under the big tree). Hope it works.
The Stolls
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Saturday, 19 July 2008
photos
Well, I couldn't figure out how to make captions for the photos. The first one (in the previous post) is the view from our front gate and the 2nd is the view from our back door. Above is the view of the front, car gate (we have a walk thru gate but no key for it yet). Following are a few inside shots.
2 shots of the girls' room. Much bigger than the guest house.
We've Moved!!!
A week ago, we moved into a house not far from the airport—not that that means a lot to most of you, but, if you go to Google Maps and find the satellite one of Lome, you’ll have an idea. Anyway, it’s nice to be in our own space and to spread out a bit. We feel pretty much at home now. The dogs enjoy the space, though unfortunately, they can’t get far enough away from the house in order to bark without disturbing us!!! They often begin before 5am, blasted things!
The area we are in is relatively quiet, except for our dogs, and there seem to be a number of children around. Because it’s so calm, Elena got to walk to the little “shop”-thingy down the road the other day and buy eggs, all alone. She was really proud of herself, as were we that she went on such an expedition all alone having to rely on her French. Just before reaching our gate, she passed a lady getting on a moto-taxi. The lady stopped, held up her camera/phone and took a photo of Elena. It seemed a bit strange since we are usually the ones taking photos of Africans. The ladies all seem to like Elena’s long hair. Fiona and Sydney have hair that “attracts” as well, though it’s shorter. None of them like having their hair fondled, but it’s difficult to know what to say. It is usually only a quick touch or so. Most of these ladies we’ve met haven’t had the opportunity to touch “yovo” (the name for people of no color) hair.
I’ve gone the last 2 Saturdays to do shopping for the week, in town. I’ve found that Lome is rather expensive. Until we moved, Meme—the lady who helps us—did all the shopping and it was always pretty minimal. Unfortunately, it was also pretty minimal when I went as well, as I was a bit overwhelmed by the choice, or lack thereof, and the cost. This week I think I did better. I don’t know if I will get used to it and find stuff to make what we like to eat (perhaps we’ll just have to learn to eat more of what is available—hint, hint Fiona and Sydney). The other day I made some meat (which we haven’t had a whole lot of here) and pan-fried potatoes. Fiona came into the kitchen and looked at everything and said, “Yeah! American food!!!!” I guess it hasn’t been terribly easy for them at times.
I must say, the girls have been really good sports about it all. They usually just get on with it and try to eat whatever is set before them. Meme has learned what they like to eat, of what she cooks, so they get by better than they did in the first week or so. The girls also play really well together, for which I cannot be thankful enough. They entertain each other and have fun each day playing their “games”. We found a pool nearby which looks to be a good diversion and where we may even be able to get swimming lessons.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Be Patient
Patience. It's actually not a very nice word, when ya come to think of it. However, lately, we are learning it's meaning all over again. We finally found a house to live in--only for a maximum of a year since it belongs to the Baptists and they will need it next summer--but we can't yet move into it. We wait and wait. They say, "We haven't done the inventory." (it's furnished) or "We have to draw up the contract." So we wait.
We have some things we had in England that we packed up to have sent over here. The shipping company kept asking when we wanted our things. Since we didn't know where we would store them here in Togo, we wanted to wait until we got here and found a place. They told us it would take about 2 weeks for the things to arrive. We asked them 3 weeks ago, to send them. They failed to tell us that we may have to wait ages for a ship to put the crate on. Our things are still sitting in some port in the UK. So we wait.
I guess it is character building. After all, we wouldn't learn anything if we were in our comfort zone and all was rosy, now would we? Therefore, we'll make the most of it all...and wait.
Here at the guesthouse, we have a small market close by where we can feed our mango habit and buy a few other things. If one stands long enough at some of the little booths, one could find most anything. I even saw playing cards the other day! And one lady who always has very banged-up bananas is always nice and gives a gift of one each for the girls (they do come in handy sometimes, these kids).
There are nice things here, we just think things should happen faster than they do and we get upset when nothing happens. So we wait...and enjoy what we have. (Like this week, we've had electricity every day!!!)
We have some things we had in England that we packed up to have sent over here. The shipping company kept asking when we wanted our things. Since we didn't know where we would store them here in Togo, we wanted to wait until we got here and found a place. They told us it would take about 2 weeks for the things to arrive. We asked them 3 weeks ago, to send them. They failed to tell us that we may have to wait ages for a ship to put the crate on. Our things are still sitting in some port in the UK. So we wait.
I guess it is character building. After all, we wouldn't learn anything if we were in our comfort zone and all was rosy, now would we? Therefore, we'll make the most of it all...and wait.
Here at the guesthouse, we have a small market close by where we can feed our mango habit and buy a few other things. If one stands long enough at some of the little booths, one could find most anything. I even saw playing cards the other day! And one lady who always has very banged-up bananas is always nice and gives a gift of one each for the girls (they do come in handy sometimes, these kids).
There are nice things here, we just think things should happen faster than they do and we get upset when nothing happens. So we wait...and enjoy what we have. (Like this week, we've had electricity every day!!!)
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Our dogs
In case we didn't say before, we inherited 2 dogs here in Togo. They are really nice. The bigger one, the mother, is called Pip and the smaller is called April. She was born April 1, 2007. They are residing at the office where Roger works right now because we don't have a house yet. The girls are happy to have pets--finally!
A Few Things I Never Thought I'd Need to Know or Do
Lately, we've had a number of interesting experiences:
1.) I never thought I'd put antiperspirant on my legs to keep them from rubbing together while wearing skirts/dresses. I mean, who knew??!
2.) I never thought I'd be sweeping up dog poo with a straw broom off the paving tiles and flushing it all town the toilet.
3.) Along with that, I never thought I'd have to turn on the water to the toilet just long enough for the tank to fill but not long enough for it to overflow in order to flush!
4.) I never thought I'd be sitting in a stalled taxi, rolling downhill against traffic--of which there is quite a bit--just because we ran out of fuel.
5.) I never thought I'd have to wake up at 5:30am to leave for church by 6:30. (It starts at 7am and it takes 15 minutes to walk there).
6.) I never thought I'd regret having asked to put the fan on while at church because it blew so hard we almost couldn't keep our eyes open.
1.) I never thought I'd put antiperspirant on my legs to keep them from rubbing together while wearing skirts/dresses. I mean, who knew??!
2.) I never thought I'd be sweeping up dog poo with a straw broom off the paving tiles and flushing it all town the toilet.
3.) Along with that, I never thought I'd have to turn on the water to the toilet just long enough for the tank to fill but not long enough for it to overflow in order to flush!
4.) I never thought I'd be sitting in a stalled taxi, rolling downhill against traffic--of which there is quite a bit--just because we ran out of fuel.
5.) I never thought I'd have to wake up at 5:30am to leave for church by 6:30. (It starts at 7am and it takes 15 minutes to walk there).
6.) I never thought I'd regret having asked to put the fan on while at church because it blew so hard we almost couldn't keep our eyes open.
Saturday, 5 July 2008
anything new?
Well, today the girls got a first-hand look at poverty and were really touched by it. An old lady who was obviously blind in one eye and looked dirty and, well, just plain poor came up to our taxi as we were at a traffic light. The girls looked all over the car for something to give her. They asked many questions and prayed for all poor people tonight. This is the kind of thing God can use to help these kinds of people. For a number of years, Elena remembered the street kids in Nairobi who lived on a roundabout in the middle of the city. She was so touched by their plight that, some years later, she wanted to give some money to help them. We made Christmas ornaments and sold them. After hearing what they were for, the kid's club Elena went to, matched the amount. It was all sent to a home for Street Kids we know of in Kenya. They in turn sent a thank you telling how many bags of beans , rice and corn the money bought. It was all because a little girl was touched by what she had when she was about 4 years old and it had stuck with her. Maybe our girls will be inspired to do something similar now.
Interestingly, I haven't seen the abject poverty here that I saw in Kenya. For one thing, there don't seem to be as many street kids. Another is there don't seem to be any slums. Maybe that's part of it, I don't know.
On another note. How many of you take something to the bathroom with you to read when you know you'll be in there for a while? Come on, admit it, you do it, too. Well, for us here, bathroom reading has taken on a whole new meaning. We now read the toilet paper. We've bought recycled paper produced in Ghana and the big game is to try to find as many letters still on the paper as possible. We have quite a collection so far! Next week I want to make a chart to hang in the bathroom. We can tick off each letter--upper and lower case--as we find it!
Tomorrow will be our 4th Sunday here (tho the first one was the day after we arrived so we just stayed here in our little flat that day). It seems the Togolais like to begin worship early. We have to get up at 5:45am to be at the church (about a 15 minute walk) by 6:45am! Personally, I find it almost unholy. I mean WHO gets up that early, or rather, who gets up that early and wants to socialize at that hour? Honestly! At least we then have basically the whole day ahead of us. Depending on how long the service lasts.
Interestingly, I haven't seen the abject poverty here that I saw in Kenya. For one thing, there don't seem to be as many street kids. Another is there don't seem to be any slums. Maybe that's part of it, I don't know.
On another note. How many of you take something to the bathroom with you to read when you know you'll be in there for a while? Come on, admit it, you do it, too. Well, for us here, bathroom reading has taken on a whole new meaning. We now read the toilet paper. We've bought recycled paper produced in Ghana and the big game is to try to find as many letters still on the paper as possible. We have quite a collection so far! Next week I want to make a chart to hang in the bathroom. We can tick off each letter--upper and lower case--as we find it!
Tomorrow will be our 4th Sunday here (tho the first one was the day after we arrived so we just stayed here in our little flat that day). It seems the Togolais like to begin worship early. We have to get up at 5:45am to be at the church (about a 15 minute walk) by 6:45am! Personally, I find it almost unholy. I mean WHO gets up that early, or rather, who gets up that early and wants to socialize at that hour? Honestly! At least we then have basically the whole day ahead of us. Depending on how long the service lasts.
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