Kitchens

First have to apologize that this is late. I've been having issues with blogger. I'm seriously considering moving to a new blog.

The theme for our roundup this week is kitchens of the Foreign Service. I'll start with mine. Here's an excerpt from a past Roundup post about housing:

Your kitchen will probably be completely closed off and not very large since kitchens are made for housing staff to be in (although depending on rank, you could have quite a sizable kitchen). Your kitchen will have granite counter tops and probably very few drawers, although you may have quite a few cupboards. Warning - you may not have a dishwasher. You will have a water filter installed in your sink, and probably one in your fridge as well (the water here is potable though, and it doesn't taste very bad). Some kitchens I've seen recently have built in stoves, and I've seen quite small ones, you should make sure the size of your oven before bringing baking dishes.

with dining room in the background. We have a swinging door to the
dining room, we wish it had a lock

The door in the background is to the laundry room. 

As far as my kitchen goes, the cupboards might look good in a picture, but some of them are a little crooked, and something about their finish lends to them always looking dirty (even the ones out of reach of the kids). I love having granite, but the color choice makes it really hard to see when and where the counters are dirty. I don't like that it's so closed off, but I do love the size. It's the biggest kitchen we've had since we were in our first house. I wish we had more drawers, but I love the cupboard space. The kitchen has enough space for both John and I to enjoy cooking together, and I LOVE that.

We enjoy our kitchen, but in Manila I'm hoping for more drawers and a pantry.

Kitchens: The Huge, The Average and the Tiny

Donna at Email from the Embassy didn't have time to write up an entry for the roundup, but she did send me a link to an entry that shows her kitchen after her UAB arrived. All I can say is: here I come Amman!

Becky at Small Bits said there wasn't much special about her kitchen except a cupboard that isn't quite kid friendly.

Chelsea at  A Fisher Out of Water shows off a sleek if not somewhat lacking in storage kitchen complete with a homemade rug and table for her daughter.

Sadie at Sadie Abroad surprised me this week with how small her kitchen is. Stepping into her kitchen you'll see some of her favorite things which have to be "stored" on the counter. She's also included quite a list of her favorite kitchen items with links to check them out yourself.

Carla at I Run, You Run compared her past kitchen in Arlington which was just as tiny as one of the kitchens John and I had in Texas to her current kitchen in Manila. While she's gained square footage she hasn't gained very many drawers so she still has to be creative.

James and Sarah Talalay recently blogged about the energy efficient qualities of their home in India, including quite a special drying rack for their dishes. You can find a picture of their kitchen in this entry where they give you a tour of their home. And in THIS entry, you can see how they make pizza in their kid sized oven.

And in other (food related) news:

Like nomads, but with more stuff, wish they had a garden but do go to the rinok to get their in season fruits and veggies.

and finally:

Worldwide Availability is not a big fan of Hello Kitty, but thinks Hello Kitty Town isn't that bad of a place to bring their little one.

Thanks everyone for your submissions and suggestions, and again I apologize for it being late. Next week is going to be hosted by Sadie, the week after that is still open, please go by the State Department Blog Roundup Calendar and sign up.

Trouble

I was having issues with blogger today and couldn't get the roundup done. I'll try very hard to do it tomorrow.

Roundup Assignment

I signed up to do the Round-up next Friday, the 15th. The optional topic is: Kitchens of the Foreign Service. Show us your good, bad, and ugly. How do your current kitchens compare to your previous kitchens (not just the FS ones)? I can't wait to see pictures. If anyone who is in Manila or was there at some recent time wants to share pictures, I'd love to see those!

Housing

This week on the Roundup the theme is Housing. You can check out the Roundup tomorrow at Cyberbones.

I have an interesting insight to housing in San Jose because as A/CLO I'm a non-voting member of the Inter-Agency Housing Board which exists at every Post. Coincidentally John is a voting member, he's also the interim-President of the Board. Therefore, we've been on a few housing tours together.

Housing in San Jose ranges from apartments (which are all pretty luxurious) for singles and couples without kids, to townhouses, to single family homes. Every newly assigned home will be in a condominio which means gated community in Costa Rica.

The housing is farther away from the Embassy than it used to be due to security concerns. One family who still lives in the Embassy area experienced a break-in and theft. Luckily they were out of town and nobody was hurt. We live in a neighborhood of a suburb West of San Jose. This suburb is the closest that we'll assign new housing in. We have another suburb to the West of us that we're also assigning in.

We have contracts with two apartment buildings. One is not far from the Embassy, but is much more secure than single family homes not in a gated community. It's actually quite secure and the apartments are nice. The other building is about a five minute drive from where I live. Our current housing coordinator does a good job of looking at a wide variety of houses to pick the "perfect" one for each incoming employee and their family.

Some things you can expect in housing in San Jose: No fewer than three bedrooms, and no fewer than four bathrooms, including maid's quarters. You will have tile flooring, possibly throughout the whole place, but there's a chance you'll have wood floors in the bedrooms. The house/apartment will be constructed out of concrete, so you'll need to buy special nails and screws to hang things (I highly recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to have someone from the Warehouse hanging your items) which can be found at many stores here.

There's very little central air-conditioning in housing in Costa Rica. You'll be able to get three units (usually used in bedrooms, however, I've seen them in common rooms in houses of singles or couples who have no kids) to use in your house. It's a very humid country, even at 3,300 feet above sea level. You'll want to have dehumidifiers in the bedrooms so your clothes don't get moldy. It's very windy where we live and having the huge doors into the backyard open as well as another window make for a very cool living room, if we open our front door it's even better (beware for neighborhood dogs, and wild birds that may end up in your house, as well as mosquitoes and biting gnats).

Your kitchen will probably be completely closed off and not very large since kitchens are made for housing staff to be in (although depending on rank, you could have quite a sizable kitchen). Your kitchen will have granite counter tops and probably very few drawers, although you may have quite a few cupboards. Warning - you may not have a dishwasher. You will have a water filter installed in your sink, and probably one in your fridge as well (the water here is potable though, and it doesn't taste very bad). Some kitchens I've seen recently have built in stoves, and I've seen quite small ones, you should make sure the size of your oven before bringing baking dishes.

Yards here are typically small, but most of the condominios here have common areas with playgrounds, pools, and sometimes tennis courts. You can usually get yard work done by the condominio's jardinero (gardner) for a reasonable price. Your jardinero will also be for hire for extra work like painting and car washing.

Most people here are very pleased with their housing, although there are people that are always unhappy. We're very, very happy with our housing, it's been great to us, although sometimes I do get a bit jealous after walking through some houses on housing tours.

Weekly State Department Blog Roundup

Due to what MUST be internet or Mandarin issues at the Daring Adventure home, Kolbi hasn't blogged since last Wednesday and hasn't updated the calendar.

That said, our roundup is quite small this week. Which is unfortunate, I was looking forward to some funny and gasp inducing stories of life abroad. The assignment was worst/best/most embarrassing stories of life as an ex-pat.

My quasi prediction at the beginning of the week came true. My story DID happen this week. Luckily for me, I'm the only one who actually experienced this story (I think). I can't imagine what would have happened to my corridor rep at Embassy San Jose if the person I was talking to actually heard me.So here's my most embarrassing story:

I recently dyed my hair dark brown. It's a really good change, and everyone has noticed because it's so different from the blonde highlights that I had before. One of the Locally Employed Staff in the military office, which is next to my office, stopped me as I was walking by and asked me (in Spanish) why I dyed my hair. I thought he asked my why I was walking. I had just returned from using the restroom and was a bit speechless. I really didn't want to tell him, nor did I know how to say in Spanish, that I had to go to the bathroom. So I mumbled a response in English that he didn't understand (due to the mumbling, not the English...his English is great actually) and tried to move on. I then came to find out what he was really asking and gave an embarrassed laugh as I gave my answer, which had nothing to do with going to the bathroom.The situation could've been much worse...much, much worse. But thankfully I got through somewhat gracefully and my really embarrassing story is now only shared with my blog readers...which I don't think includes anyone I work with, except my husband...and maybe not even him.

So...onto other best/worst/most embarrassing ex-pat stories.

Spectrummy Mummy (not the living dead kind, but the English kind) hearkened back to two previous posts she had (great thorough blogging, and good usage of your time!) . One gives a great explanation of a horrible American who works for the USPS, the second is a laugh out loud story involving her daughter, a roller coaster, and some watermelon.

SassAndSweet encompassed her worst and most embarrassing moment into a 10 day hospital stay in Tel Aviv with large amounts of pain killers, a garden hose like tube down her throat, and a good friend who went to get her skivvies from home.

Though she didn't specify, I think this is Melissa's (of Just Us fame) most recent most embarrassing story. When I got through it, I remembered reading it originally and feeling for her, thinking this is something that I would totally do.

Sadie at Sadie Abroad, tells a great story from her junior year in college when she lived in Cape Town, involving the Thai language, a wedding and some balloons. Awesome...awesome story.

Sunny at Fabling tells another laugh out loud story about when she was young and visiting a foreign country.

Off assignment:

Congrats to Andrew at The Life Diplomatic who just passed his Spanish test with a 3/3+ and is now going to Mexico in less than two weeks!

Alex at Travel Orders says he doesn't have any ex-pat stories because he hasn't gone abroad yet, but he's very interested in the diplomatic communities of other countries and the differences between ours and theirs.

Someone please sign up for the roundup next week, you can find the calendar here.

Roundup this week

I'm hosting the Weekly State Department Blog Roundup this week and the theme is your best/worst/most embarrassing ex-pat moment.

I'll have to spend some time this week thinking about mine...maybe my moment will even happen this week.

2011

Linsey at Rambles and Ruminations is hosting the WSDBR this week with a theme of 2011. What are your goals and resolutions?

Mine? Well...mine are kind of secret. One is a family goal, and if/when we meet it I'll share it. The one that's not a secret? Don't gain too much weight this pregnancy, and keep exercising throughout it! I guess that's two goals, but they go together.

With Malachi I had gained 35 pounds at the point in which I went into the hospital. Who knows how much weight I gained just laying there for two weeks. With Simon, I had a net gain of 20 pounds (I say net because I actually lost about 7 pounds in the first trimester and then gained about 27 throughout the last two). This time, I can't gain more than about 18 pounds (9 kilos here). So far, I've only lost, so at least I'm not gaining yet. We'll see how it goes in the second trimester. I haven't been able to take as many walks because Escazu (where I live) is so hilly and I can't do them anymore! My Dr suggested swimming and a treadmill. My sweet girlfriend, C, knows about my struggles to walk and is going to take me for a walk in her neighborhood this afternoon (it's so much flatter than Escazu), for about half an hour - yay!

So, that's my biggest goal this year. Of course it only lasts through June, so maybe I should tack something on to it. My goal for the second half of the year is to exercise well, and lose weight at an appropriate pace - not too slow, not too fast! That's a great second half of the year goal.

Beach

I'm at the beach right now. The sun has set and I'm sitting on the deck of the second floor condo that we rented with John's brother and his family. I can hear the ocean and we're grilling tilapia, we've also prepared some fresh guacamole to go with our fish for dinner.

Sounds heavenly, doesn't it? It is!

The theme this week for the State Department Roundup is: I've never eaten that before!

Unfortunately the most exciting answer I can think of is Costa Rican peanuts and vegetables. Camote, and ayote are vegetables that we don't have in the States. Camote is similar to a sweet potato, but it's purple on the outside  and white on the inside. It's also a little stringy. I'm not a huge fan, but it's not too bad.

Ayote is a green vegetable, my maid makes it with garlic and onion and serves it to Simon who really likes it. I can't think of anything to compare it too, except maybe a potato, but different.

Costa Rican peanuts are just like peanuts. So of course I like them.

My answer seems so boring to this question, but living in Central America (having moved from Texas) doesn't give too many opportunities for new or strange food.

I can't wait to read some stories about what people have eaten in Asia and Africa!

I'm Thankful I've Learned...

This theme this week for the State Department Blog Roundup being hosted by Melissa at Just Us tomorrow is "I'm thankful I've learned..."

 

I'm going to use this opportunity to really bare my soul here. I haven't been too shy about talking about this with my friends here in Costa Rica, and some memebers of my family know this already, but...I'm realy thankful I've learned that I can control my emotions.

 

You see, I'm in therapy. I've had an issue for a long time with anger and extreme (and I mean extreme) impatience. Unfortunately it's usually worst with my kids. My sweet wonderful little kids who are just being kids and don't deserve a mommy who gets angry at them for being just that. I have an amazing husband with super parenting skills and my anger and impatience would often cause problems between the two of us. A few months ago when we were fighting the same fight we'd had many times I finally told him I needed to see someone.

 

The nurse in the health unit at the Embassy recommended someone, and I've been seeing her since. I honestly wondered if it would be like on TV and in movies where the therapist sides with the patient and the problems are everybody else's fault. But that's not the case at all. The first two meetings with her were very emotional and raw, I believe I cleaned out the fridge after the second session. But since the third one I've used very few tissues, even when we discuss the issues (heehee).

 

Because of my therapy, I know that I can control the anger and impatience, and it's made a huge difference in my life. My relationship with my amazing five year old is better, and I love (even more than I used to) spending time with him again. I'm certainly more patient with my sweet nine month old than I was with his brother at this age. And these aren't the only emotions I'm controlling now. My fear of going over bridges is way down, and I don't cry nearly as much as I used to when the situation doesn't call for it. And having this new coaching for my life has greatly increased my joy during this pregnancy. I know that with the other ones I was happy but I let the hormes rule the emotions - not this time! I'm almost a quarter of the way through my pregnancy and I can say with confidence that this one is going to be different.

 

And I'm allowing myself to find joy in things that I haven't before. Like Glee (LOVE Glee), and music that I've never appreciated before, like Journey, Train and even Lady Gaga (although admittedly this may be due to the infatuation with Glee). 

I'm so happy that I took a leap of faith and trusted my mental health to this wonderful person, who has given me the tools and strength to take it back! I know that for some people this would be really hard, but I have to say, if you need to talk to someone please do so. There's no shame in seeing someone who can help you muddle through all the emotions and thoughts that can be so hard to organize and straighten out by yourself. It could even make you a better person. It did for me.

 

This is me...happy. 

Oh...and have a Happy Thanksgiving people! I know I will!!

State Department Blog Roundup

As I've mentioned, I'm hosting the roundup this week. My theme idea is "To Travel, or Not to Travel (for Thanksgiving)...That is The Question." Sorry about the delay - although I think most people understand internet issues.

To answer my own question, our family doesn't travel for Thanksgiving much. John and I have lived away from home for many years already, and I don't think we've gone home for Thanksgiving. Christmas yes, but not Thanksgiving. Some of my friends here at post are going to travel to a beach for the weekend, we're going to a beach the next weekend. We're going to host a couple from the Peace Corps for Thanksgiving dinner and give them a bed for the night. Also my brother-in-law and his family will be in town. It should be a very traditional Thanksgiving.

To Travel:

Sadie at Sadie Abroad has traveled both times she's had Thanksgiving in the Foreign Service. One time she had a ton of fun surprising her family, but she didn't quite know if she could pull it off from her current post.

Not to Travel:

I was surprised to find out there's not very much Thanksgiving travel.

Ogles and Observations is taking her family and meeting the other six families at post in Racife for Thanksgiving packing into an apartment and looking forward to people, food, children, noise, laughter, and hopefully some football sounds will be piped in. 


Becky at Small Bits reminisces about Thanksgiving travel when she was a kid and talks about the craziness that was Thanksgiving before the Foreign Service. And now that they're in the Foreign Service she can relax on Thanksgiving, and they plan to stay in town...they plan to.


Shannon at Cyberbones says the question changes in the Foreign Service. It's not about whether or not to travel anymore. The question is, do I keep the kids in school now. 


Kolbi at A Daring Adventure isn't going to be traveling for Thanksgiving - but not because they can't! 


Thankful:


Kate at Pulling Stakes didn't mention travel in her post, but she did mention the sweetest thing her son is thankful for about her and her everyday traditions.


Linsey at Rambles and Ruminations is thankful for field trips with her favorite four year old. 


Other interesting topics:


Brandon at Sherwood Family Nonsense had the duty phone recently and got a call from a Diplomatic Family stuck at the airport. They weren't allowed in the country because they had diplomatic passports instead of tourist passports. Read their post for the whole cautionary tale.  


Many of you know about our good friend Jen at The Dinoia Family and what she's going through. This week she got some amazing news that she shared with us! Check out her entry from Wednesday the 17th titled 100% - you won't be disappointed.  


Alex at Travel Orders wanted us to know about their awesome hotel stays in Nice and wonder what everyone thinks about hotel loyalty programs. Also Abbey announced something else on the blog this week - you should definitely check it out!


Unfortunately I didn't get any submissions from Flag Day :( Congratulations to y'all though! Have fun reading all about your future home this weekend! 


Thanks for the submissions everyone! Next week Melissa at Just Us is going to be hosting with a theme of "I'm Thankful I've Learned..." Please sign up for the State Department Blog Roundup at the Roundup Calendar and also check out the amazing State Department Blogger Map, I promise this isn't a paid advertisement scheme from Kolbi, but she does so many great things!!

To Travel or Not to Travel (for Thanksgiving)...That is the Question

This week I'm hosting the State Department Blog Roundup. My theme for submissions (of course non themed submissions will be accepted as well) is about the upcoming holiday.

Do you go to the US? Do you stay at post? If you stay at post - do you take a local trip for the holiday? And even a little off topic...what kind of Thanksgiving traditions have you tried to keep while living abroad?

I can't believe that Thanksgiving (and therefore my son's birthday - because he was born the day before) are right around the corner - literally! It's next week people! You know what that means about Christmas...hm...maybe I should do some shopping.

You can leave your submissions here, or send them to sara(at)teamroy(dot)com

Birthdays in the Foreign Service

This weeks assignment for the Roundup is...well...I bet you can guess.

We've all had one birthday in the Foreign Service so far. Malachi is about to celebrate his second. Last year his birthday party was great. We had been in Virginia for long enough to have good friends and they came over to celebrate his life. It was a typical American birthday party (except for the piñata, which he just had to have) and Malachi loved it. He was given many awesome gifts, and much love by his friends.

John had a special birthday party because his birthday happened to coincide with the season premiere of LOST. So at about 9:30 everyone who wasn't staying for LOST left. About 12 people stayed for the premiere and really had a good time.

Just a few days later Simon's birth day happened in the midst of some of the worst winter storms VA had seen in many years. It's very, very memorable.

My birthday was in the middle of the move from VA to Costa Rica so we didn't celebrate. I'm planning a blow out party for my 30th birthday next year.

And here we are...14 days before Malachi's next birthday. Because we've been so busy we've barely  had time to plan anything. But we're going to try to have the typical American birthday party again. I'm sure it'll be great and he'll love it. He's going to be 5...that's crazy.

UAB

The theme for the State Department Blog Roundup this week (being hosted at Run 2 New Places) is about what we wish we'd put in our UAB. I knew this right away!

Hangers!

We put every single clothing item in our UAB, why not the hangers! Argh!

Never Knew I'd...

...be having kids after the age of 30 (still trying for #3, no way to have it before 30)

My mom was 20 when she had me, 22 she had my sister. I always imagined I'd be young when I had my children. I certainly thought I'd be done by the time I was 30. But I want more kids. And I'm almost 30, so apparently I'll be having kids after 30.

...love someone so much that something as simple as a tooth coming in or them falling down would make me run to comfort them.

I mean come on! How ridiculous is it that?!

...be living overseas NOT as a missionary.

I wanted to be a missionary for a long time, it never occurred to me there was a way to live overseas with out doing that.

...be trying to blog this entry with a crying baby when he just went to sleep less than an hour ago.

Gotta go!

Picture

This weeks assignment for the State Department Blog Roundup is to post a picture of where you're at right now, either physically or emotionally. My picture does both.

Whoozit

This is the Whoozit toy by Manhattan Toy Company. They have some amazing toys for babies, and we've had this since Malachi was a month old. It was a Christmas present for him. He loved it when he was young (read: three - twelve months old) and he loves it still apparently. It was the toy we used to coax him into rolling over the first time, so it holds a very sentimental place in my heart.

When we started digging out baby toys here we were missing a few that we love including this one. Then one day I saw one that we thought was missing and it turns out that wonderful P found another bag of toys. The Whoozit happened to be in it. I was so excited! Now Simon plays with it and loves it.

Extra Credit!


The assignment includes extra credit if we have pink in our photo so we can honor our friend Jen who was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I promise the smile is pink - it's almost five years old, so I think it's a bit dirty, and the circles at 7 o'clock and 5 o'clock are pink also. Jen I love you and have been praying for you.

I hope we have the Whoozit for all of our kids. It's an amazing toy. Just looking at the picture makes me smile.

*Edit: While reviewing my blog I realized that my blog is pink! Can I have double extra credit Becky?

Super Dasband

On the plane ride home after passing the Oral Assessment

My friend at A Daring Adventure is writing up the next State Blog Roundup and has actually given an assignment on topics to write for the roundup. The topic she assigned is: "When I/we _________, I Wish I'd/We'd Known..."

I have a feeling a lot of complaining is going to come out of that sentence and I didn't want to complain in this post. So I decided to do something a little different. It's not going to be about life in State, it's going to be about me and my husband.

When I was growing up, I wish I'd known how amazing my husband was going to be.

You see (and if you're a Wife - Mommy - Woman reader you probably already know this because I've admitted it before) I'm quite a selfish and lazy person. These are traits I've known about myself for a lot time and they're things I try to work on - but changing who you are is no easy process.

My husband, however, is amazing. He's always taking care of the kids and I. He works hard for us every day and then comes home and spends a couple of hours with us, cooking, reading to Malachi, and hanging out with us unselfishly until the kids go to bed; at which time he gets to play video games, or watch TV, or basically do whatever he wants, unless he wants to do what I want to do. So I kind of feel like he's a Super Hero Dad and Husband rolled into one. He's the new Super Dasband.

And I feel like I can't live up to Dasband. I wish I knew when I was developing my personality that I'd have such an amazing husband. Maybe I would have become someone who could be called Super. Now don't get me wrong. I by no means think I'm a bad mom or wife. He's just better at it all than I am. Because he's Super.

I love you John - I have for over 13 years and I know I will forever. Thank you for being Super Dasband to our kids and me.