Zoe Turns 1, January Adventures in Cambodia 2018

January was a month when a lot of things hit at once. I know I can usually eek out a blog post between the kids, and the part time job, and the house work, and the Bible study, and the homeschool, and the working out, but this time it just wasn't happening. But that's for another post. Today I want to celebrate the good things that happened this January.

On the top of that list, is our sweet Zoe turning 1!!!


I remember when our first child turned 1 and had a party with lots of relatives and gifts. By the fourth child you realize that 1) you don't really need that much stuff and 2) they're not going to remember it anyway. There's always the drawback of missing family while abroad, however.

We tried this astringent tasting fruit at the market again.

We found a really cool place with a great swimming pool and playground where you can go for free if you buy food. That’s why Talia has rosy cheeks here, she’s a water baby who will stay in the pool until you make her get out!

The playground was really nice too.

It’s next to a golf driving range, so everything is covered with a net roof to catch stray balls.

The kids really enjoyed it and slept for a good 2 hours when we got home! Ben was at an Environmental Summit in Singapore for five days because the group of students needed the principal along for the trip abroad, so napping children meant more sanity for me!

Ben came home really impressed by Singapore! It was clean!

It had great museums.

And he especially liked the Singaporean chicken and rice!

I’m glad he’s back home!

A New Fruit and Cultural Times for Food

Yesterday Ben was gifted with a fruit I'm not familiar with. The lady said it was "maricuya" and like a pomegranate. She suggested it blended and said "con vino se hace una buena margarita," which is something I wouldn't know about. Here's a picture if you're interested. It reminds me of the smell of guayaba.

Speaking of food, the meal schedule is different, it seems, in each country. We generally eat within the hours of breakfast  6AM, lunch 12PM, and supper 6PM. In Abu Dhabi supper was much later, anywhere from 8PM to 10PM and Ramadan any of the permitted times before sunrise. 

In San José del Cabo it seems to be like this for most people: nothing or a very small snack (like a drinkable yogurt) for breakfast. Actually, our 11AM lunch time at school is called "desayuno," or breakfast, by many. Then the "plato fuerte," or heavy meal, is served around  2PM. Supper is a light affair around 8PM for the people I've spoken with. If you want tacos or other substantial food, you have to make sure they are still open for a 6PM supper time as some of them close after the 2-4 rush.

Regardless of time, the food here is delicious!

Produce in Abu Dhabi

Every country introduces me to more new fruits and vegetables. There are several new things here in Abu Dhabi, but sometimes I can't find their names... so I took some pictures:

 (not the best with the phone, but that's the easiest way to get it.)

The only thing I recognize here, are the squashes on the top left... and I'm not super familiar with those.

I've never heard of a Pomelo before, or seen this type of fruit.

These look like particularly strange cucumbers to me.

These remind me of a large acorn or squattier-shaped eggplant.

Something else that is new to me here is the way you have to ring up the produce in its own special section. (Pictured above.) You get all of the produce you want and bag it up, then you take it to a special counter where it is weighed and labeled and ready for check out. This makes for a speedier checkout process as everything is ready to just be swiped through and paid for... but I didn't know this the first time I went and someone had to take my produce back and get it labeled for me. Oops!

Do you know what any of these things are or how to use them?

SagaUnscripted: The 3rd Chapter- Abu Dhabi

We now know where the next chapter in our saga will probably take place, as Ben has been hired to teach High School English in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Here's a map:

The United Arab Emirates is a federation, or group of 7 state-like smaller governments that bind together for certain things but still have their own individual governments/supreme courts etc.

November-March seem to be the spring-like temperatures, around 70*-80* and then April-October are scorching 100+ temperatures. Since Ben will get there in January, he will get to experience some of the nicer temperatures.

Something Ben's been interested in since we left Guatemala to have the baby in Texas, besides learning Arabic, is the selection of fruits available in Abu Dhabi; he really misses the variety. He asked some of the teachers who are already there and this was their response:

"apples
pears
strawberries
oranges
lychee
breadfruit
durian
bananas
blueberries
raspberries
dragon fruit
kiwi
strawberries
watermelon
cantaloupe
honeydew
prickly pears
mangosteen
rhabutans
papaya
mango
guava
lemon grass
...and about twenty fruits I have no idea what they are called. The main thing that is hard to find is berries, so I stock up on frozen when I'm in the city."

And, yes, he was very excited to hear this!

I expect to learn a lot of new things about this part of the world and plan to blog about it as I go.