moving on up

There might be a few of you out there, checking up on me now that it's August. Awesome!
If you want the scoop on Senegal, check it out here: http://senemax.blogspot.com/

Love to you all.

Annual Middle School Pool Party

Today was it- the last full day of school. AND the annual pool party and buffet sponsored by the Chinese oil company at their compound! Hurray!
Hours and hours of fun in the pool, improv theatre games on their 'indoor badminton court' (no joke!) and a delicous buffet of legit Chinese food!
I took these pictures, so I'm not in them. But you can see all our precious little ones...

Greatest Dance Video of All Time

So, this was completely not staged... rather, we were just moved by the music. Marissa caught it all on camera. Unfortunately, she didn't film all the people on the other side of the glass watching and laughing at us. I still can't really explain why it happened. It just did. So enjoy!

Goodbyes aplenty

We hosted a going away party on our roof this past weekend. A friend brought some sheeshas, a dj volunteered his services, and it all came together! It was great to see so many of our friends for the last time!

Final Count

2 tubs
4 suitcases
8 boxes

Shipped

And it's shipped! We were a bit frantic at the end (imagine that!) and didn't get any photos as it was being taken away... but here are two photos of the process.
1- Marked one meter cubed (see black tape) This was just for reference, as the companies charge by volumetric weight or gross weight. We're sorta sure what that means. Basically, regardless, we needed to 'pack 'er up tight'.
2- The process

EEKS!

Stress-o-rama! How do I keep myself sane these days? By simply looking at this photo. (ONE MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL!) So excited to see so many of you so soon! xx

Team Dubai

The girls... (well, once the six of us finally arrived. Only four of us were there for day one.... don't ask!)

Ski Dubai

Dubai is a crazy place- you can ski indoors! And play in the snow! All in the middle of the mall... in the middle of the desert! Five of us suited up in their snowsuits and boots for a romp in the cold... after two years in Sudan and no winter in sight- it was awesome!

Burj Khalifa

We tried to go up in the highest building in the world, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. So, we entertained ourselves around it, instead. You can read all about the Burj here. It's pretty fancy looking. And insane- much like the city surrounding it.

More of Dubai

Dubai, baby!

We had a great time in Dubai! We did some shopping, acted silly, played in the indoor snow park, and ate offensive amounts of food. Success! There are tons of nonsense photos from this weekend. I'll share more in the next few days...

Three more weeks!

We're busy here...
trying to sort out how to travel with Toab.
packing.
selling our car.
end of the year assessments and reports.
last minute shopping.
and goodbyes!

Oh, and we go to Dubai this weekend. We just might be crazy!

Now this is fun!

I had so much fun doing this for Senegal, that I did it for Khartoum.
A is Khartoum American School
B is our house

Google Maps are awesome. I embedded this image, which means you can maneuver it just like on the real site. So go ahead, zoom in and out- see the sights of the city!


View Larger Map

Next year

I can't help it. I'm EXCITED to move to Dakar.
And instead of doing all the work I have to do to be able to leave here, I'm doing things like this.

This is our commute next year.
A is the International School of Dakar.
B is our bungalows. I think.

Oh, technology is fun.... you can even zoom in! Thank you, Google Maps!


View Larger Map

Our own masks!

My final exploratory class at KAS- mask making! (Thank you, Emily, for the wonderful idea!) It's been really fun to hang out with 5th and 6th graders as they chat and play with paper mache. Next stop- pinatas!

Em's new passport photos

As both of these masks are going in boxes to Senegal, we wanted to be able to share them with you now. We bought both of these in Northern Tanzania. We don't know much about either one, except that we love them. And isn't that reason enough? (Notice the birds on top of the second one!) We have fully accepted that we will become those people with the African masks on their walls when we return to the States. And we're both okay with it!

Night Shopping

We're making the most of the Khartoum nightlife. This means exploring the large, nutty shops that seem to keep creeping up in the city. Our suspicions were confirmed- there is absolutely nothing in those shops that we need to buy! But, it was fun to look!

After the safari...

We got caught up in the goings-on here in Khartoum, and I didn't really complete the posts on our holiday. After our safari, we hopped on a short 50 minute flight to return to Zanzibar. Yes, it really is paradise- and we were lucky to be able to see it twice! We spent three nights on the island- two days in Stonetown and two days on the beach. And it was awesome!

Dakar-ready

We've been sorting through the mess that is international shipping, looking for a way to get our stuff to Dakar. This even involved having a nice French man come and walk through our house with us while we said, "this, not this.... this, this.. not this, this...." And we think we have a company sorted.
Of course, we won't know the final cost until we have it delivered in Senegal. We've got $2,000 from our Khartoum contracts for leaving here. And we're expecting to use pretty close to all of that to send about 1.5 cubic meters of stuff to our house in Senegal. It's all so complicated!

In other news, we have arranged a car for Senegal. It's not a real sexy car, but we're convinced that its dependable and will do the job. The price was right, and the current owner has been really good about checking things out for us and getting her in good shape. We're excited to have it all arranged prior to our arrival. It also has diplomatic plates, which is a little fun too! (Don't worry, we don't need Senegalese drivers' licenses like we are supposed to have here. None of that drama!)The owner of the car is also helping us sort out some household help as well. Everything is falling into place!

Now, about selling our car here...

Last Hurrah

We're down to our last several weeks here in Khartoum. While that's exciting, its also our last few weeks with our kids and friends. To celebrate, six of us just bought tickets for a weekend in Dubai!
We're pretty excited to have a girls weekend in the city- two days, one night. There's plenty to do, but two days is just about right for us to do some shopping, see what all the fuss is about. We could even go skiing in the mall! We'll be there May 7 and 8. Once we get back, we'll only have two more weeks here. Say what?!

So, about those elections...

You can find a great article about Sudan's elections HERE All is quiet here in the capital.

Our new home!

We have received official word from Dakar- the bungalow with a pool, five minutes from the ocean? Yup- It's officially ours! Here are a few photos of the place. (including one Google earth image- see the five little round huts in the middle of the image? With the pool? We think that's us!)

Election Sunday!

Today, Sudan is hosting their first 'democratic' elections in over 20 years. You can see a slide show (and read some captions explaining the mess) HERE.

Lake Manyara

Our final day on safari- this time at Lake Manyara National Park. And wow! Check out the tree climbing lions! Our guide says he only sees them once a year! Lucky lucky!

other sights

The drive to Lake Manyara

Crater time!

We spent 6 hours cruising the basin of the Ngorongoro Crater, a completely natural and unique ecosystem. Animals travel in and out, but the steep walls ensures that there are always tons of animals to be seen inside. It feels like less of an adventure than the Serengeti, because there are lots of cars and people. But the game viewing is awesome! We had lions walking right next to our car, then circling warthogs, cheetahs, baby wildebeest. It was an awesome day!