Networking at its best

Remember this unexpected encounter? Well, the woman I met has now introduced me by mail to two other people living in my town. One who is a fellow english book lover, and the other who is a native english speaker. I worked up the nerve to go visit one of these two ladies today. She lives just around the corner! I was graciously invited in and over coffee we talked about books and church. Turns out she goes to the one church that we are considering as an option here in my town! The chances of that happening are not huge, let me tell you. So I came home determined to make an appointment with one of the elders so that Herman and I can get more of an inside look into the church.

Coincidence??After I left her place I went to do a bit of grocery shopping and ran into an acquaintance from the gym. She mentioned that she needed a babysitter, I remembered that the lady I had just visited does some babysitting, and low and behold another connection was made! Very very satisfying. Makes me feel like I'm being of use here in this little town!

Hopefully I will soon meet up with the native english speaker and see if we can get some positive vibes going on there as well. Before you know it I'll be swamped in friends :-)
One good thing will hopefully lead to another... And I'll have something to tell my unexpected friend when she comes back from the States!

Old friends

Yesterday I finally got around to unpacking the 15 or so boxes of books that have been laying around in our attic. It was actually a quite a joyous occassion! See, one of the new things in this house is "my" room. It's our fourth bedroom/guest room/office, but I have the honor of claiming it as mine. I get to decorate it the way I see fit. Now if you think that that is no big deal, let me tell you, that to me it is! As I have written before, Herman and I are very different. Decorating therefore also becomes a compromise between his taste and mine. In "my" room, there is no compromise! YEAHHHH!! Though it's far from being done, just unpacking boxes of my books and arranging them in the room made it feel more mine. As well as finding and placing these: they are like old friends......

I made this lady when I was in RVA. She's travelled with me to every house since then.

I like to mess around with clay every once in a while. It's often very therapeutic. So a lot of my stuff has a story. I won't tell you the stories around these. If you want to hear them, come by and ask! And my stuff is often three dimensional, so I have front and backs of these.

I

And last but not least: this little fellow. I got him on my first birthday, and as you can tell, he has had some hard lovin'.


I'm getting a real kick out of seeing my room come to life!

Spy Fox

My kids have very little in common, but yesterday Marinda went to the library and got a computer game called Spy Fox which brought instant bonding between them. Years ago we used to have this game on our computer and the kids would play it fanatically. So now they use their combined memories to play the game and see it through to the end. And they enjoy every minute of it! It's so nice to see them connect over something. Though it's kind of weird as well because it's so far beyond what my siblings and I bond over. Most of my sibling bonding is over our shared memories of growing up in Ethiopia. And our common link is the fact that we talk english together. Sometimes I wonder what my kids will talk about when they're older. Sometimes I worry that they'll drift apart and not talk at all. I would hate to see that happen! Though I think it wouldn't happen quickly because they have a pretty strong connection to my family and to Hermans. They are actually growing up with grandparents and aunts and uncles that they see on a regular basis. I didn't. I rarely have contact with aunts or uncles or cousins. I guess that's one of the disadvantages of growing up all over the world, instead of in Holland. Marinda and Tristan have a much stronger sense of extended family than I do. And all in all I think that's pretty special. I wouldn't trade the way I grew up though! That had/has it's own unique specialness.
It's like comparing an apple with a pear or, if you will, a mango with a ....... hmm, I was hoping to get a nice comparison here, but can't come up with the right fruit!

Ballerina

When I was small, I had high hopes of becoming a ballerina. When I was a teen I listenened to Abba's Dancing Queen and imagined myself stealing the show at the disco. Listening to that song still makes me feel nostalgic and wistful. Maybe that's why I like it so much when I see Marinda dance! I get to dance vicariously through her. I may have a tendency to do that every now and again :-)
So here's a picture of me as a small ballerina. As far as I can remember this was the Christmas after I had whooping cough. My knobby knees are proof of that fact. Often, after I ate, I would cough and then everything would come up again. I remember vividly getting ice cream once (which was a rarity in Ethiopia!) and then throwing it all up again. Oh, I just cried and cried at the loss of that ice cream. But I am digressing most horribly....
So that Christmas I got this ballerina outfit and felt proud and pretty as a picture. About two years later I got a jeans skirt and jacket which I wore constantly because it made me feel like stewardess. That was my highest ambition at that time! I'm sure there's a picture of me with that skirt and top somewhere, but I havn't found it yet.
For now, you will have to make do with this one. (please note the socks and sandals!!)