So here only one store sells ice- I am not joking! This is also the only store open for a few hours on Sundays, every other store is closed and since Monday is a holiday here everything will be closed on that day. Can you beleive it 2 days of not being able to go to any store!
I was there on Thurs. I think and they had some ice bags but my small freezers were full so I had to wait until today to buy the ice so I could take the stuff out of the freezers to defrost.
Today when I went they don't have any more ice. Gas stations don't sell it either. Lovely! So I come home and ask Jason if he can go to the other 2 of this chain of stores in town and look for ice otherwise we are going to be having some warm drinks. The second one of these stores he goes to he gets the last 4 bags of ice. We don't have ice makers either. So we did the best we could with those ice bags and freezing water bottles and such.
In the afternoon Sean went to a scuba diving party. It is at this indoor place where the kids snorkle and then one by one they take them and give them a diving lesson. It was pretty neat and Sean enjoyed it!
After they got home we had a quick dinner and went downtown to see the American music festival they were having in the city center. Just a stage set up with a bunch of tables in the middle of one of the plazas. They had a beer station and champagne station and I think a candy station. We got ice cream from a store and then just walked around. Here are some pictures of neat parts of town.
Monday was a holiday here as well- Whit Monday so no school or work. So we decided to host an American BBQ! We invited 4 other families over for an afternoon BBQ. I got Oscar Meyer hot dogs from the woman's club, which they just happened to have. We did hamburgers and then the local sausages. I had made some appetizers to start out.
I made American baked beans, which we had to buy from the import store online that sells some things here. I made a fruit salad and put it in a pig shaped watermelon.
My friends brought potato salad, pasta salad, deviled eggs, and a dessert. I made mac and cheese to go with the kid's meals, imported from the states as well. Other things I had that we imported were, smores so marshmellows and graham crackers, ranch packets to make dressing with, Root Beer and Mountain Dew (we order online from the local import store) and a lot of ingredients for the cakes, cookies and a few appetizers.
Everything was a big hit and everyone was going to be on that american website ordering food later!
I made all the desserts on the table except for the strawberry cheesecake muffins that my friend brought and they were yummy too.
The red, white and blue cake was a favorite and here is what it looked like on the inside of the last piece!
We had great weather and all the kids mostly played outside.
It was a great time and nice to spend it with friends eating our American foods!
Here is a picture of Amber no more then 20 min. after everyone left!
Tuesday Amber's friend came over after school, and then after lunch we went to gymnastics. We always have to leave about 5-10 min. early to go get back to school for the boys and we meet her mom there picking up her sisters. So Amber's friend asked why we always have to leave early and I told her and she says " I wish they could just take the bus!" So funny!
Sean had a friend over after school and Jacob's tennis was canceled b/c of the holiday yesterday I think the local schools had today off too, maybe even the whole week?
Wednesday once I got home from drop off I called a friend and see if she wanted to meet. So I walked and we met up at a cafe for about an hour. Then I went and walked to the city center. I just walked all around down there. There are so many shops and places I have never seen since we normally only go to certain areas. Then I walked back home and picked up a sandwich at a bakery and ate it on the way home. Amber went to a friend's house after school so I didn't have to pick her up.
I went back to school later in the afternoon and got Amber and the boys from RE. Sean went to a friend's house. So when I dropped off Jacob for his guitar lesson I drove over and picked up Sean. This boy lives across town, so I drive through/around the downtown area and then over to his house. As we are going there I see people closing the street going the other way. I don't know if there was a bike race or run tonight or what. But the bridge I needed to cross to get back to my side of town was still open. So I pick up Sean and am driving back to school to get Jacob. I get across the bridge ok, but then I normally stay to the left and go back around town and now the police are there saying no. So they are having everyone go to the right which is a tunnel that I have never taken and now have no idea where I am going and Jacob is almost done with his lesson.
The tunnel ends up taking us heading to the north of the city into the business district which has a major traffic jam. I figure out how to get back, but we are totally late picking up Jacob.
Thursday my French teacher couldn't meet so I got some things done and exercised. Then Amber went over to another friend's house today after school, so my friend and I met for our lunch! We went to a restaurant that is in the big park between my house and the school. It was sunny, and then rainy so we didn't sit in the sun just outside on their covered deck area. We sat down and ordered our champagne and then 2 other friends just happed to come there for lunch as well, so they just joined us so it was a nice lunch. I had a quiche that comes with a small side salad. The quiche was so thick!
Sean had basketball after school. The temperature really dropped this late afternoon and tomorrow it is suppose to be cooler as well.
Tonight it was light out until 9:50pm!
Friday I ran some errands in the morning and then we had one of Amber's friends over for lunch and a playdate. The mom came over at the end with her 7 month old baby. She was so cute just rolling around the family room and Amber was enjoying giving her things to play with!
Jacob went to a friend's house to spend the night, so it was a little quitier at home with one less!
Sat. morning Jacob came back home and we went to the post office to pick up Sean's Roman costume I had ordered from a German website. I kept going back and forth between google translate and the website. Luckily I got it all figured out and got what I needed.
The post office was crazy this morning. So if you aren't home when they try and deliver your package they drop it off for me at the main post office across the street from the train station. It is a very busy place and not much parking unless you probably go to a garage down the street. So Jason drove and dropped me off and I think I waited almost 1/2 hour. I also wasn't sure which button to press to get me ticket to wait for my number to be called. So I got one ticket and then realized the people with the other ticket numbers where the ones getting packages so then I went back up and got the other ticket. When the first of my numbers was called it was just the regular ticket line, but she still got my package for me. Sean was excited to see his costume.
After lunch Jacob had a party to go to at the indoor climby play area, so Jason took the other 2 so they could play there as well.
Sat. night we got a sitter and we went out with 2 other couples to celebrate making it through almost our first year here! For another couple it is their first year too and the other couple it is their 2nd year. So we went to an Italian restaurant in the Grund area. Dinner was yummy and then after dinner we walked over to this outdoor area with a bunch of restaurant/ bars. So we sat outside there for a bit too. It was a very nice evening!
The sitter we had we have used once before. She is very nice and in high school at the same school as the kids and she lives close to me.
When I walked in the door coming home the house smelt like burnt toast, ugh ok I thought.
Then the next morning I find that she had broken the handle off of our tiny ice box freezer. The kids couldn't have done it b/c none of them can reach it and it already was half broken so Jason and I would just open it very gently but she didn't know so when she grabbed it it must have just broken off. I can't even find the handle anywhere and she didn't mention it. My ice box, aka freezer, door won't stay closed. As soon as you open the fridge the ice box on top there opens too (it is actually inside the fridge). I can't imagine this is going to keep our food frozen, crap!!
When I was looking for the handle in the top part of the trash I saw a box of Macaroni and Cheese, so I asked the kids if they ate this for a snack and they said no. This is something we have to bring back in our suitcases from home and I can't believe she ate the whole box! There was a few noodles in the trash but that was it. And she had cleaned up the kitchen from it.
Then in the dining room on the rug it looked like someone had stepped on a craker and just smashed it into the rug- lovely!
I love going out, but sometimes it is just more of a headache to deal with these things when I come home then if I had just stayed at home!
No comments:
Post a Comment