Our UAB came on Friday at noon. We had known for a week that it was in Africa, in Nirobi to be exact, yet it hadn’t come here. Because the shipping company had been paid already and had no delivery date they were in no hurry to send it over. So, in Nirobi it sat for 5 days. It doesn’t matter any more because it is here. Here are a few things that I noticed while unpacking:
- We were allotted 600lbs, the paper they wrapped everything in and the boxes were probably well over 100lbs, which leads me to my next point…
- They used SO much paper to pack our things. They wrapped the baby wipes in layers of paper… really?
- We packed sweaters… not sure why but that was more wasted weight.
- We should have packed:
- outlet converters
- books other than huge French dictionaries
- the Wii remotes to go with the Wii that was packed
- batteries for the clocks that were packed
- tennis balls to go with the new tennis rackets we packed
- pillows!
- more books for Aydan
My sewing machine came along with the fabric for Aydan’s curtains. So on Saturday I made them. Each window in this house has two rods, one for a sheer curtain then one thicker curtain. I’m sure you all know what I’m describing… I sewed the Dwell Studio fabric that I bought into the top layer of curtains. Then I took an old green shower curtain that matched the Dwell Studio fabric and made more curtains to go behind the Dwell Studio ones. It added the extra layer of darkness. Aydan’s room is bright even at night because of the security lights that are mounted on the wall in the back yard. I was pretty pleased with the outcome of the curtains. I have some left over fabric. Anyone have any good ideas about what I can do with the left overs?
On Monday Aydan and I went with the CLO and a few other families to the Yaounde Zoo. It was a pretty hot day and Aydan was a bit cranky but it was interesting to see the zoo. The first animal we saw was an alligator which was pretty normal. Then we turned the corner and starting right at us perfectly still behind a chain linked fence was a huge lion. Can you say Mufasa? It was scary. If I wanted to I could have reached my hand into the “cage” and touched the big guy. Really? It was wild. So we moved on from there quickly. I kept envisioning Aydan going down the skinny lions mouth. Not good. Then we saw some snakes and baboons. I’m pretty sure the baboons could have climbed out of their “cage” had they wanted to. The number of each animals they had was pretty impressive. They had lots of lions and tons of baboons. The main attraction at the zoo is their play ground. This was our next stop. Aydan played a little and then we ate lunch. I was pretty wiped out by now, I know it sounds lame. The heat was intense and the mosquitoes were loving us so we headed home. It was good getting out of the house and exploring a bit more of the city.
WordPress is not letting my add my pictures. Sorry. I’ll share a link to Picasa soon. Sorry
A Diplomat's Wife 
Pillows! I would make some throw pillows for her room, especially since she’ll be in a big girl bed at some point while you’re there.
Sorry to hear the extra paper weight got ridiculous. We usually send new pillows with each UAB, toilet paper and some paper supplies and insist that a lot of that be used instead of extra paper. But don’t let them skimp when packing any skillets or they will arrive warped! I think you just have to be there, hovering and watching, and let them know that you want a little paper as possible. We have even used play clothes, plush toys, sheets, and towels to fill the HHE dishes boxes just to cut back on paper.
I agree that throw pillows with the extra material would be sweet!
It’s pretty unbelievable the amount of packing materials used. Patrick was pretty upset on pack out day because of this. He kept telling them to use less paper and we didn’t care to have everything wrapped but they told him they had to pack it that way. Frustrating.
Oh, and even if you think you’re getting better at what you ‘should’ pack, it is always a crap shoot and you just hope you guessed/prepared well enough.
Hey Kim. Sorry you had trouble finding me on fb. You can friend me again if you’d like or we can enjoy each other’s blogs. Mine is betsygrimes.blogspot.com and is entitled Betsy’s Bunny Trails. I am sure whenever possible Henry will sneak into my posts! I look forward to learning more about your life in Africa. fondly, Betsy