The longest stay

A few weeks from now, we'll be living in this house for a year and a month. Which will at the same time be our longest stay in the same house in six years. And we'll probably add a considerable amount of months to it.

I'm happy to have been here this long and for once to have been able to finish decorating the house. Ok, I'm not quite finished yet, I still have to get some small pieces of furniture and I think I'll have a table and chairs made for the little one. I wanted to upoad some pics from the house, but upon viewing them, I realized I had again changed a whole lot since I took them, so you're going to have to wait until I take some new ones.

Yet still I'm very eager to move on and discover new places. I like Cote d'Ivoire a lot, but it hasn't stolen my heart.

Any frequent movers among my readers? How do you experience that?

Marches end in violence

Whereas the country was really in an uplifting movement, people are now frustrated and in disagreement with what's going on. There was another discours by the prime minister this week, stating that there was a government had yet to be created and people should remain calm.
No more needed to be said to get people on the streets. Before, all were hopeful and the future looked bright... now, nobody knows what is going to happen and elections seem lightyears away.
We left Abidjan yesterday, to find yet another march in San Pedro. In Gagnoua this week a march had a bloody end, with several deaths after police used live ammo to disperse the demonstrators. You really start feeling the tention all around.

It's sad really, people were so hopeful, and ready to take the step towards a bright future. And more sick of the violence and the status quo.
It must have been a great country once. David met a French woman who had lived here before the war. She said she wept when she saw Cote d'Ivoire after all that time. She told him it was such a safe, modern, nice and beautiful country. You could decide to drive off to an animal park in the middle of the night, safety was not an issue. We are now far far away from that.

As far a sthe plantation is concerned, we're still very much spared from all this. The strike has ended peacefully and all is going back to usual.

Pics

Baptizing L* at La baie des Sirènes
This is taken at the new Italian pizzeria at Bereby. She ate my entire chocolate mousse! I ended up ordering another one.

Trying out the fingerpaint. Approved!

Trouble in paradise

I haven't been on here for a while, because it's been really busy. I see there's some new followers on there, please leave a comment... It's nice to get some feedback. It's kind of freaky to know so many people read my blog and not to know why or what they are thinking. I can assure you that when someone I vaguely know mentions he or she has been following my blog for an extended period of time, without my knowledge... It's a bit weird. So please just take a minute to leave a comment, tell me what you are thinking.

It has been hectic lately. Hubby had some security consultants over to draw up safety and evacuation plans. Ironically, during their stay (last friday) Gbagbo, Côte d'Ivoire's president had a discours on national television in which he dissolved the government and the electoral commission. He demanded a new government was assigned by monday, but we're now wednesday and there's still no change.

This of course means that the elections, which were planned for march (and had already been postponed previous to this, several times) will not take place. This combined with the recurrent failing of the power network is creating a rather tense atmosphere, but so far the situation remains stable.

Meanwhile at the plantation, we are experiencing a strike. So the women and children have been evacuated to San Pedro, as a preventative safety measure which actually means they're at the pool having a company paid holiday hehe). Hubby and I moved on to Abidjan from there. he's still occupied with the safety consultants.

We are in Abidjan until Saturday and hope that by then the situation on the plantation will be resolved.

I think I might take advantage of the premium internet here in Abidjan to get some pics up.

Greets

L

Trip to Abidjan aftermath

The trip to Abidjan was a bit shorter than we expected. We had been wanting to take the Sophia plane back in the afternoon, but they changed the schedule again and we ended up flying in the morning. So that kind of wrecked our entire shopping. Anyhow, we're already flying back there on Sunday.
We did get to visit V*, which was wonderful after all this time. She's now living in Aboisso. We also did some quick shopping on the road to Bassam, this is a two kilometer long strip of road, with back to back artisanat shops. And prices are quite ok. We're really discovering Abidjan, and it makes me want to visit more of Ivory Coast.

When waiting for the Sophia plane back to San Pedro, I went to the bathroom. Previously, the usual sort of text could be found on the bathroom door. Stating who had been there, who was in love with whom... Yet this time... All text had been replaced with hateful messages against Gbagbo and his regime. Messages enciting violence and hate. It was quite scary, really.

in Abidjan

Didn't get to blog in San Pedro yesterday, because the power had been down all night and throughout the day over there.
Today, we have Flown to Abidjan, with a kind of sour aftertaste, because we're leaving the dog alone at night for the first time (he'll get walked and played with around the clock during the day though).
Funny anecdote: when smallish one saw the little Sophia plane land, she asked if it was on her Mamie. And when she got on the plane with her daddy - I was getting the luggage - she panicked, thinking I wasn't coming. Sweet kid!
Our little trip to Abidjan started off on the wrong note, first the plane ride took 20 minutes more, so we feared there wouldn't be time to tick of all the boxes on our schedule. As David tried to go and get his drivers licence, they told him he was at the wrong office. (Mind you, he's been trying to get an Ivorian licence for a year now!) It was already lunchtime by then and the daughter was starving so we went to eat somewhere - it turned out to be a pretty crappy cafeteria style place.
We took a quick trip to Cocody after lunch to find the whole artisanat market had vanished... and been turned into a construction site. Luckily the jewellers were still there! :D
And the for the second try to get D's licence. A* had fallen asleep in the car so I decided to just wait in the car the time it took himto go in and do whatever... We ended up waiting for over an hour in the soaring heat. Half an hour in, A* woke up and objected to being confined. So we went out for a walk... that's when total mayhem started! She had found a leaky tap and wanted to play with it. I wasn't prepared to open it for her, so the next half hour she spend crying and screaming.
But then the fingerprinting went swiftly and we even got to go for icecream and some shopping to Cap Sud.

The Sophia airplane was fully booked again, and every time I'm in San Pedro there are more and more people around and in the hotels... It's very strange. Even when we go to La Baie des Sirenes now during the week, there's other people around. We were kind of getting used to the luxury of having everything to ourselves all the time. Oh and there's even a departure hall now in San Pedro airport. It's clean and has airco and - unbelievable - a clean restroom!

Tomorrow we'll be discovering new places as we're off to Aboisso, to see V* again (my neighbour in Cameroon) after what's been more than a year!

Meanwhile I'm thinking of starting a 'things to do in Ivory Coast'-blog.

Until next time,
keep warm!
L

elections... developments...

So I'm not quite sure if I had mentioned it, but the elections that were planned for the end of last year never took place... Nobody quite knows when the elections will happen. Prognosis would be march this year... But who knows?
Yet we are noticing quite some change around here. The hotel we visit often during the weekend (La Baie des Sirenes) is being renovated and this weekend the owner had arrived with a fleet of small aircrafts. There's a new restaurant in Bereby that's quite worthwile. (Maybe I'll finally get to post some pics when I go to San Pedro tomorrow)
San Pedro is evolving too. In the last couple of months, two new supermarkets opened and another is being installed. Sophia Airlines and the Sophia hotel were sold and are being completely revamped (Sophia airlines now even has hostesses and a check in counter, unimagineable). La Canelle was sold and is being renovated. And sadly, one of our favourite restaurants, La Langouste, is now closed.

Dazzled

Wow... I'm totally amazed. I hadn't been checking my stats for quite some time now, thinking I was just blogging for me, and the hubby pointed out that it might be worth my while. Seems like there's quite some traffic on here lately, even hit 86 visitors a couple days ago.
Now if you'd all be so kind to let me know you're there very once in a while, that would be very nice.
Thanks!
L

Community life

Living on a plantation the way we do means you have to do with the few people around you. Now you have a few options:
You can either exclude yourself totally from community life, and while that may work when you are yourself the expat, and in fact have a job, when you're the wife and you're unable to get a job for whatever the reason, that might become lonely, and eventually very boring.
You can search friends outside the community, but that is not always possible, some countries are very poor security wise and then it's not advised to search outside the plantation for anything, really.
Or you can go with what you have and try to make the best of it. Which ultimately means you'll be befriending people you would probably never meet in normal life (in that I mean, non-plantation, non-expat life). People who differ from you in age, beliefs, way of life, etc... The only point you have in common is that for one reason or another you and they chose to live abroad. And this is where the trouble lies. Now you may be of good faith and try to be the social glue, try to make everybody happy etc... there's always going to be one or more people who do want to join in on the fun, but only on their terms, and who have such poor social skills, they end up sewing disparity wherever they go.

Now obviously, I chose the last option. Learning from my first plantation experince in Cameroon, I swore to myself, if I could help it, nobody would be on a plantation with me and feel lonely, except by choice. And so I try to find out what people like, try to organise social gatherings etc... And yet each and every time I end up with one person not speaking to me.
So I wonder? Is it that hard for other people to make the effort to just to get along with each other? I don't mean everybody has to be best friends, but it doesn't hurt to try not to insult the other people in the community, now does it.
And another thing I'm asking myself: why do so few people realize that when there's something plaging you, it's better to talk it through than to sit on it... Nobody's going to come solve your problems for you.

Until next time
L

Aan Mamie en Dede

Mamie en Dede,

Ik heb hier mama mistess haar blog gekaapt om jullie te laten weten dat alles goed gaat. Het is hier nog altijd lekker warm, dus als ik buiten ga om te spelen dan hebben mijn pootjes geen kou en vriest mijn pipi niet vast zoals bij jullie, toen ik daar op vakantie was.
Ik speel nog altijd heel graag met die grote ballen die van de bomen vallen hier, maar ik denk dat het mama mistesske dat niet zo goed verstaat. Elke keer ik er zo een kan pakken, komt ze die afpakken en gooit ze die weg. En ik mag die nog zo vaak terugbrengen om te tonen dat ik daar mee wil spelen, elke keer gooit ze dat weer weg.
Het is wel heel jammer dat ik nu niemand meer heb om op de kop bij te gaan zitten. Maar ik heb het gevonden! 's Nachts kruip ik heel stilletjes in de grote mand waar mama mistess, klein mistesske en baasje in slapen. Dan ga ik op een plaatsje liggen waar ze me niet opmerken. En dan kan ik daar blijven liggen tot 's morgens het licht aangaat en ik iedereen veel likjes kan geven.
Klein mistesske geeft mij altijd de helft van wat zij eet; maar dan is mama misstess weer boos. Ik vind vooral papaya en watermeloen heel lekker, maar brood en gedroogde abrikozen gaan er ook wel in. Mama mistess verstaat niet waarom ik die droge koekjes die ze mij geeft niet meer wil, maar als je eenmaal papaya hebt geproefd, weet je wel beter.
Soms bijt klein mistesske mij, en dan mag ik niet terugbijten. Dat vind ik ook niet leuk, vooral nu ik geen oren meer heb waar ik op mag bijten.
Mama mistess gaat dikwijls met mij wandelen, dan wil ik haar allemaal toffe dingen tonen, maar dan blijft ze staan en moet ik haar weer gaan halen. Echt vreemd, ze doet dat nu s elke keer dat ik ergens naartoe wil.

Nu ga ik stoppen, want anders gaat mistess zien dat ik op de computer geweest ben.
Ik mis jullie heel erg,

Dikke lik
Ion

Life as usual

So we've taken up our life again the way it was... Or should I say a better version of how it was. With the new expat couple and their kids, a lot more things seem to get organized. So much so that I hardly have time to get on the internet. I brought the Sims3 from Belgium, because before leaving I had some spare time and I thought I would use that to play. But spare time is becoming almost non-existing. We've been going to the beach, to San Pedro, doing some shopping, aquagym, making social calls and what not. Yet still when people in Belgium ask me what the hell I do all day long, I manage to come up with no answer whatsoever.

So people, stop asking me what I do all day long. Do I ask you what you do at work all day long? No. I assume you work and that's that, no questions needed. Well, I'm a stay at home expatriate mom. Is it that hard to imagine that I have things to do?

Oops, this started off as a post to say that we're doing fine and life is going it's pace, but I think this is slowly turning into a rant, so I'm going to leave it at this.

Bye for now!

Bye Bye Mamie and Dede

I'm sitting in the shade overlooking the pool where mamie and the baby are enjoying a swim, behind me the ocean makes that incomparable sound I love so much.

My parent's holiday is coming to an end and their last day will be well spent at La Canelle. They take the Sophia plane to Abidjan at four in the afternoon and continue their journey to Belgium tonight.

We don't get a lot of visitors here, so we've cherished every moment and are very sad their stay is over.

The two and a half weeks they were here have gone by in a blink of an eye and I think I will be very lost the next couple of days. Luckily the plantation is coming to life little by little with three families with young children already living there. Yesterday's drink at our place was a huge success. To make all of you readers drool a little; we had: caviar d'aubergine with pizza sticks, marinated fish, margarita pizza, crab-filled tomatoes, avocado and chicken verrines, toast au foi gras for the salty zakouski's and for the sweet mango biscuit, fruit salad and caramellised pineapple.

Last wednesday I lended my shopping skills again to Cee and I am very proud to say e found all the fabrics we set out to find. She's moving into her new house somewhere in the following weeks, so she was looking for curtain fabrics and had a spent an entire day in Abidjan looking for them, only to end up with nothing because the couldn't make her an invoice. But now with just a few hours on San Pedro's Grand Marché, she's got all curtains, lining, bed throws and even a set of table cloths for a mere 75 euro.

I'm cutting this post short, as I much prefer to float in the pool... Until next time!

L

Mamie and Dede in CI pics III

Mamie and dede's last visit to La Baie des Sirènes

Left to right, top to bottom: Maryam, mamie, baby, Dede, Koame (the driver), Jean-Pierre (our cleaner/ironer/gardener), Hyppolite (gardener) and Ion (dog)

Mamie and Dede in CI pics II

Doggy found some camouflage... and got to hide away in the shade while at it.
our super secluded beach. We spent the day without anyone passing

Mamie and Dede in CI pics

This weekend we had a flat tire in the middle of the road to Dawa... And David didn't have the right key to take off the flat. Luckily we did get help.
We took Maryam to San Pedro last week so she could do some shopping with me and show me some of the places I haden't discovered yet. Since we've been back, Aini refuses to stay with Maryam... We're hoping it's just because my parents are here and she thinks it's more fun to be with them...
At Jardin d'Ivoire, Aini enjoying my fruit cocktail, which she emptied... I had to get another
My parents really loved La Baie des Sirènes. We've been there a couple of times during their stay. Probably we will be going one more time tomorrow. Both Aini and Ion are starting to like swimming in the ocean (Ion a little less then Aini).
At La baie des Sirènes
We visited the plantation farm with Aini, Ion and my parents. Ion met another dog and had a fun time playing around.
Luckily Mom and dad got to swin in the pool one day. After this, the filter broke down and we haven't been able to use the pool ever since. We're still hoping it will be fixed soon. As the locals say: "Decouragement n'est pas Ivoirien".
This pic was taken at San Pedro International airport at our arrival. Sweet Ion had been in his cage on the plane for twelve hours the day before and then got to have another hours worth of plane. All the while staying his fun and happy self.
At Wafou in Abidjan.
Dad and Aini in Zaventem Airport.

Found a good internet connexion!

Happy New Year and best wishes to all of you. For this new year I will once again try to be more fruitful on this blog, if you guys in return post some more comments!

So we've been back in Ivory Coast for two and a half weeks now. Internet at home had to be reestablished first and then turned out to be just as crappy as before. But now I have discovered a wifi connexion in San Pedro, so I think this will be my spot from now on and maybe I will be able to get a weekly update on here now.

My parents have joined us on our return and have so far had a splendid holiday. Frankly, I'm wondering if we'll be able to get them on the plane on friday (I think my father is looking for a hiding place). It's going to be very hard having them leave, because we have gotten quite used to having them around. Bare in mind that I had already passed almost two months in Belgium before we came back. I fear it might turn out very lonely again.

As I mentioned, we've been having a great time so far. Going to the beach, having super dinners and lunches... Sadly the plantation's pool is out of order, but sweet hubby has rented us a car (a very crappy one, we already had a lot of car trouble: the back door won't open, windows won't close and we've spent one hour on the road waiting for another car to pick us up because the breaks didn't let go). So we've been getting around visiting beaches, going to San Pedro. If possible a more detailed report will follow later on.

Next post I'll get some pictures up.

Winter holiday pictures

My parent's house was looking lovely in the snow!

The newest addition to our little family is a tiny boxer called Ion who is rapidly getting bigger

We asked for snos and we got it. Yay! Tiny one got to play in it plenty... but she found it rather cold.



Hubby was delighted to meet our sweet little dog!

Used to be a beautycase, now it's a babycase!

Merry Christmas!

posting from home

Wondering if I will be able to upload this message, since it is the first time in weeks that I've been able to connect to my blogger account due to crappy African internet.
Holidays are coming up for me, as I am leaving for Belgium with the little one on the 16th. Hubby will be joinging us the 7th of december. Initially we planned my early departure because of the iminent elections, but lately it is becoming clear that they won't be happening. Nothing nis know officially, but unofficially they will be postponed as far as next year. That's what seems logical to us, because so far there has been no talk of candidates, nor are there campaigns.
I will be taking advantage of this extra time in Europe to get somre doctors appointments, spend some time with my family and - to my great joy - prepare Christmas and let Aini have her first Sinterklaas. I'm trying to convince my dad to play Sinterklaas for her. hehe.

All has been quiet this past weeks. Mainly because first Aini had the Flu and then me too. She recuperated much quicker then I did though! Must be the breastmilk.
Next week another expat woman will be joining her husband on the plantation. They have two kids so I'm hoping they'll get along with our daughter, which would give her an extra playmate. (Because she's wearing out our neighbour's little boy!)

Dinner party menu

We had some people over yesterday for dinner, here's the menu:

Fried shrimp with lemon and stuffed tomato
***
Fish 'en papillote' with white wine, served with a blue chees 'gratin dauphinois'
***
Tiramisu