Mozambique

We're on to Mozambique, the last African country in a string of them. Calib asked me the other day if we could do somewhere other than Africa. There was quite the outburst: "They're all pretty much the same. They were colonized by some European country. There's some weird animals, a hard to pronounce ethnic group, some dancing that's possibly accompanied by a weird instrument, and chicken served with rice." 

Well, he's not wrong. So let's just get through those. 

Mozambique was colonized by the Portuguese, so it's no surprise Portuguese is the official language of Mozambique. The whole country is a fusion of Portuguese, African, Indian and Arabic cultures. They gained their independence in the 70's, like most Africa countries (1975 to be exact). 

In fast our landmark, Fort Sao Sebastiao, was built by the Portuguese in 1558. The fort took about 50 years to complete and it is the oldest complete fort still standing in Sub-Saharan Africa. (Those Portuguese must know how to build!) Beyond the fort is a chapel that was recently restored. Built in 1552, it is considered the oldest European building in the southern hemisphere. 

The 'weird' animal here isn't so weird, it's the African Lion. There are only about 35,000 of them left in the wild. Mozambique has been having success with conservation efforts all around, and is working hard to increase the population of the lion. (Did anyone else know lions have stinky pee they use to mark their territories? I didn't!) 

The hard to pronounce ethnic group here is the Makonde people. And yes, they have a mapiko dance where the men cover themselves in cloth and wear over sized carved wooden masks. The Makonde are ruled by mothers, so the dance came from attempts of the men to challenge their women leaders. 

In other "Calib-didn't-call-it-exactly" facts, we talked about the Musiro face mask. In northern Mozambique, the women walk around wearing a white face mask to keep their skin young, protect them from the sun, and display their social status. The mask is made from the branches of the  ximbuti tree that are ground into a paste. 

The Mozambique flag is a little interesting, in that it is the only country flag in the world that features a modern weapon (an AK-47).  The country itself had a breif stint as a safe country to visit. Their civil war ended in 1992.  In 2014, a peace deal was signed between the government and the former rebel group, Renamo. It was a big deal in 2015 when the country was declared free of landmines. But, since last August, tensions with Renamo has once again been rising. While there is no official travel warning from the US Department of State, it is advised to use extreme caution if you plan to visit. 

The boys made their Mozambique postcards. 

Calib's featured Peri-Peri chicken. The Portuguese brought chili peppers with them in the 16th century. The people of Mozambique called them peri-peri which translated to pepper-pepper and it became part of the cuisine of Mozambique. 

Peyton's featured the fisherman, who use boats called dhow's to transport their catch of the day from the coast inland, using the mangrove swamps. 

Hayden noted the lions (and the stinky pee). 

Now Calib wasn't spot on with the chicken and rice. Prawns are big in Mozambique (both in consumption and size). The Lourenco Marques prawns swim off the coast, and are famous for their size. Another food popular in Mozambique is cray fish. But, since we can't get cray fish or Mozambique sized prawns for a decent price around here, we did settle on chicken. BUT, we did have 'chips' instead of rice! 

For  dinner we had Mozambique Peri Peri Grill Chicken, Mozambique Avocado Salad, mangoes and french fries (or, as they call them 'chips). 

This one got five-ish spoons up (although we wished we had Asa make the fries instead of having bagged frozen ones- they just aren't even close to the same quality!) 

We went to Nando's Peri Peri way back for South Africa day, and since Peri Peri Chicken is widely eaten in Mozambique, we figured we'd try our hand at this recipe. We all agreed this one was good, and people had several helpings of the chicken, but it wasn't at all like Nandos. It lacked the same spice (which was just fine for some us!). 

Most of us agreed the salad was good, despite the avocado (some of us are not fans), and the fruit (which some of us don't like in salads)- but it all worked well together.

Mozambique is just a boat ride away from Madagascar on the Southeast coast of Africa. It has the fourth largest coastline in all of Africa (after Madagascar, Somalia, and South Africa). We colored it in a bright purple color.

114 down, 79 to go!

Next Up: Dominica

Gambia

Moving on to the smallest country in mainland Africa (it's smaller than Connecticut!) Gambia is enveloped within Senegal on the Atlantic coast of Africa. The whole country lies on either side of the river that the country is named for, and at it's widest point it is less than 30 miles from the top of the country to the bottom. The Gambian river is actually twice as long as the country of Gambia. The river is over 700 miles long! 

It may be the smallest country on the mainland of Africa, but it is the second smallest coastline. (The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a much bigger country, but has a smaller coastline) That small coastline is an attraction in and of itself though. Gambia is known for it's lovely beaches and adjacent party resorts and fishing villages, even though it's all packed into about 50 miles of coastline. 

Gambia was once a British Colony (who wasn't, am I right?), so it's no surprise the official language is English. It is kind of funny though, because  it is completely enveloped by French speaking Senegal. 

The largest ethnic group in Gambia is the Madinka people. They make up about half the population. Total population of this country is just over 1.8 million. 

The capital is Banjul, and it is one of the quietest capital cities in all of Africa. But it boasts the Albert Market, a popular (and crowded) place to shop and eat. Of note: TripAdvisor gives it four stars, but um, a lot of people complain about the smell and the flies. 

A landmark in a tiny country like this is always a little tricky, but I settled on Arch 22. It's a commemorative arch on the road to Banjul. It is relatively new, built in 1996, to mark the military coup d'etat of July 22, 1994. In that "bloodless" coup, 29 year old Yahya Jammeh and his Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council overthrew the democratically elected Gambian government 

Gambia is home to a thriving traditional music scene. The traditional instrument used is called the kora. It's a 21 string instrument that's a cross between a lute and a harp. It's used to tell the history of the Mandinka people through song, poetry and music. 

 Gambia also has landmarks to it's slaving past. One of the most well known Africans to be sold into slavery, Kunta Kinte was Gambian. According to stories, Kinte was searching for wood to make his younger brother a drum when he was taken captive in 1767. 

Gambia may be tiny but it packs a punch in ecotourism (I mean, I wouldn't be mad if my vacation included a trip up the Gambian river in a pirouge). What brings many travelers to Gambia is actually birds. It's a premier bird watching destination. It lies on the migratory bird path between Europe and Africa. Over 560 bird species have been sighted. 

Birds aren't the only animals worth noting in Gambia. They have the Western Red Colobus Monkey, who live in families of 50 members and while they have no thumbs have impressively large tummies they pack with tons of fruit, leaves and seeds. 

Then there is the Kachikally crocodile pool that is home to about 80 gators, including an occasional albino one! The pool is considered a sacred spot, where couples hoping to have kids bathe for good luck. (Which, as a Floridian, can I just say... is bananas! There's gators in there! Geesh!) 

The boys made their Gambian post cards. 

Calib's featured bird watching and the crocodile pool. 

Peyton's featured Arch 22, and the British flag being lowered while the Gambian flag is being raised. 

And Hayden's postcard fit in the beaches, and the kora. 

Popular food in Gambia includes Domodah (peanut stew), and Bissap (Hybiscus juices). In addition, a traditional dish is oyster stew (many tribeswomen collect oysters from the Gambian river).

But, we're not stew people. And we certainly aren't oyster people. So for Gambia dinner we had Benachin: Gambian One Pot Rice Pilaf. Gambian meals are usually served with a side salad and bread, so we had that along with some bananas for our fruit.

This meal earned three spoons up. But nobody was too enthusiastic or too down on this meal. And, by African meal standards, we were pretty pleased with this one. It was a little more exciting than the usual rice and chicken. (It helped that we've done so few countries this month that we hadn't had rice in ages!) 

Surprisingly too, the boys really liked the squash in the pilaf. It probably helped our veggie intake was few and far between when we were in Ohio, so everyone was kind of craving them. I had a second helping where I picked out a whole bunch of squash, and I really never had much of the meat, so overall, it was a veggie and carbohydrate meal for me. 

We will probably have to color in Gambia again when we do Senegal, but for now it's blue (like the river), cutting through Senegal.

That's 113 down, 80 to go!

Next Up: Mozambique 

Nigeria

If July was bad for getting countries done, August was sort of disastrous. I think we've done four in total, with two dinners left this month. Between Calib being in Ohio, my birthday, then a week long trip to Ohio, and lots of going into the office for Asa, and there just wasn't a lot of dinners left. So, we're hoping to get back on track at least a little in September. But, it's whatever it is. I'm trying not to freak out about staying on my personal-made schedule. 

The countries we did do, we're mostly African, because as we know, they have the most. We did Nigeria way back a couple weeks ago, but I've been just as terrible about getting the country blogs done as I have been about doing the countries themselves. But today, Asa, Calib and Peyton are off to help a friend move, so it's just me and Hayden. Seems like a good time to catch up.  

Nigeria is located right on the curved area of Africa on the Atlantic side (technically it's off of the Gulf of Guinea, but who's counting?) It's the most populous country in Africa, and the 7th most populous country in the entire world. With more than 170 million people, it's estimated that one out of every 5 Africans is a Nigerian. The population is split between the Muslim north and the Christian south. 

With over 250 different ethnic groups, Nigeria is a melting pot of African cultures. The official language of Nigeria is English, but only upper and middle class people in the largest cities speak it. The majority of people speak Nigerian pidgin, but in addition, many of those ethnic groups have their own language and customs. The largest ethnic group is the Yoruba. With a population of about 35 million, they are known for their colorful dress (called oke), and their wooden masks they wear between March and May for masquerade festivals. 

All those people mean a great opportunity to set some weird world records, like the most people brushing their teeth at the same time (thanks to the Nigerian school system who, in 2013, had 300,000 students brush their teeth at the exact same time.) 

You also need something for all those people to do.  Nigeria has the third largest movie industry in the world. But, they spend their time making movies, not watching them. Every year, over 2,000 movies are made. Unfortunately, there's only about 100 movie theaters in which to watch those movies.

Our landmark for Nigeria is the Walls of Benin and the Benin Moat. Located on the Nigerian boarder to (you guessed it), Benin, this combination of moats and ramparts (walls with walkways), is considered to be one of the greatest achievements by man in the 13th century. It's one of those 'how did they do that without any equipment' things. The Benin moat is the largest earthwork in the world. It's estimated to be 10,000 miles in length and covers about 2,000 square miles in area. The Guinness Book of World Records has designated it as the second largest man made structure, just after The Great Wall of China. 

If you like fishing, Nigeria during the Argungu Fishing Festival, is the place to be. Since 1934, Nigerians have come from all over the country to take part. If you catch the biggest fish, you will be rewarded with one million naira! (Don't get too excited, that's only about $5,500 US dollars). 

All those people, in just over 350,000 square miles, and you'd think there wouldn't be much space for anything else. But the National Parks are home to buffaloes, chimps, elephants and around one million birds. 

But Nigeria is not without it's troubles. They are known for squandering their oil wealth, and the terrorist organization Boko Haram that is based in Northeast Nigeria. Remember the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls that even Michelle Obama  tweeted out? (In case you forgot, it was trending back in 2014 nearly 300 female students were kidnapped by Boko Haram from the Government Secondary School in Nigeria. At the time it was the most tweeted hashtag). 

The situation hasn't improved over there, despite what the Nigerian government might tell you. There is still a US Travel Warning, informing US citizens of the risks of  traveling to Nigeria (and going so far as to advise to avoid 'all but essential travel' to certain areas in the north). Kidnapping, robberies, and armed attacks in Nigeria at the hands of Boko Haram have killed or wounded thousands of people in the last five years. 

The boys made their Nigerian post cards. 

Calib's featured the birds in the National Park, along with lots of kids brushing their teeth. 

Peyton's featured someone shooting a movie, as well as the piracy that occurs in the Gulf of Guinea. 

Hayden's featured the biggest city in Nigeria, Lagos. Over 8 million people call Lagos home. (The capital, Abuja, is the 8th largest city). 

For dinner we had Nigerian Salad.  Heads up on this one, that Heinz Salad Cream is fricken expensive. I have seen it a few times in recipes, and always bypassed it, because it's like $7 a bottle. But, I finally decided to get it, because I figured for that price it had to be delicious. But, eh, not so much. 

In adddition to the salad, we had pineapple, okra, and Spicy North African Pork Tenderloin. 

We also had Mango and Banana Sundaes for dessert. 

We had this dinner litterally weeks ago, and with me just now getting to the blog, I don't remember exactly how many spoons up it got. 

But, I do remember this one was just ok. Nobody is going to be clamoring to have it again, but everyone ate it just fine. We weren't huge fans of the salad, and we did cook the pork in the slow cooker, which made it fall apart delicious. 

I do remember everyone enjoyed the sundaes though. 

We colored Nigeria in blue, right next to purple Cameroon and green Benin. It also boarders a teeny tiny bit of the light orangish/pinkish Chad. The coast along the Gulf of Guinea is really filling in! 

112 down, 81 to go! 

Next Up: Gambia

The 6th Annual Waterstraut Olympics

I put these pictures in a blog like a week and a half ago, and it's been sitting here ever since. We've gone to Ohio and come back in the mean time, getting back around 11 am this morning...which, meant we flew out of Cleveland at 8:30 this morning, which, doing the math, put us all up at 4:30 this morning. To say we're all tried is an understatement. My eyes hurt. But, I did power through unpacking the bags and a grocery trip to Costco and Publix. I would give up for the evening, but Asa got his project for his next Master's class back while we were gone, and he needs to have it all finished up by the end of the month. While he powers through making his corrections and resubmitting his project, I'm going to try and power through my blogging in solidarity. 

I'll get to all of that stuff though, but this blog is all about our Waterstraut Olympics. Now usually this is a thing we do on the 4th of July. But, we were in Hawaii over the 4th of July.  I planned to do them on Memorial Day, but then the boys were bummed we wouldn't do our usual Memorial Day True American game. So, we just picked a random day between Calib's two Ohio trips, and made it Waterstraut Olympic Day. This year, with Calib's braces, I had to get creative with the candy 'medals'. Kit Kat became the bronze, Hershey's was the silver, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups was gold. I did make 'medals' they could keep (instead of eat) for the Frozen T-shirt contest, though, because the boys always request them. 

I also usually make a sign. This year, I decided to just use the chalkboard, though. I went super easy on myself. 

Even the events required very little effort from me. 

In their first game, they had to blow their ping pong balls across a set of four cups filled with water. If the ball flew off, they had to put it back in the first cup. 

Peyton won the gold in that event, while Calib took home the silver, and Hayden received the bronze. 

Next up, we did our 'Frozen Toes' event. We've done this one before (a few years back). Basically, the first kid to get three ice cubes from their plate to their bowl, using only their feet would be the winner. Hayden rocked this event, while Calib and Peyton complained it was harder for them because they had bigger feet. 

They played it out, though. I thought perhaps all the ice cubes would melt before either one of them got three in the bowl (two ice cubes stuck together only counted as one). 

But, everyone was pretty happy with my choice of candy medals, so they weren't too upset with whatever place they got. 

Next up, we ordered 'wet head' from Amazon on a lightning deal, and we had been waiting for a good time to use it. You fill the middle section, then pull the pins out (according to the spinner), and if you pull the wrong pin, the water falls all over you. 

Hayden was out first, and then we played a second round to determine first and second. 

Calib ended up with the gold, Peyton got the silver, and Hayden got the bronze. 

After all that, it was time for the main event: the Frozen T-Shirt Contest. Now, these had been in the freezer since the day after we got back from Hawaii, so they were pretty solid. So solid in fact, they were smooshed together, and kind of hard to get out of the freezer. 

Now the boys all had their shirts frozen in their block of ice. But, Asa gets one too. He doesn't play for a medal, though, just for fun. If you haven't seen us do this event before, the goal is easy: be the first to get your shirt out of the block of ice and put it on. 

Usually during the summer, we do a backyard water park day too. But we hadn't gotten around to that either. Unfortunately, I missed most of the summer clearance at Target, so I had no slip n slide, but I did fill up the baby pools and make a water blob. They like to use the baby pools to thaw out their shirts, and the boys always like laying on the water blob (it's just plastic sheeting and duct tape filled with water), so they were happy to have that stuff out there. 

This was our first Waterstraut Olympics in our new house, and there isn't a patio outside to beat the block of ice against to try and break it up, so Hayden made do with the tree. 

I did make him stop when I realized what was happening to the poor tree, though. 

Calib, Peyton and Asa all took the same basic strategy of soaking the shirts in the water and pulling it apart. 

It takes awhile to get those shirts free from the ice. I will say, I had a very nice place to watch from this year. I really, really love my fenced in yard with my hammock. I cannot wait until it's cool enough outside to really enjoy it all. 

Asa got his shirt on first, but nobody was too concerned since they knew he wasn't playing for a medal. Now, I've never actually taken part in the frozen t-shirt contest, but I have heard that the shirt is still very, very cold when you put it on. 

While his brothers continued to work on theirs, Hayden tried to get his shirt on, but it was still frozen shut. 

It wasn't too long after that, that Peyton attempted to put his shirt on. 

I thought maybe Peyton still had a sleeve frozen together, but he eventually got his arms through and was crowned the 2017 Frozen T-shirt Contest Winner. It's very prestigious around here to be the reining champion. 

Then there were two... 

But it wasn't too much longer before Hayden attempted to put his shirt on. 

And we had our silver medalist. 

Sometimes, the bronze medalist gives up at the end. But, Calib took it well, and said 'I'm just going to sit back and relax' while he finished up. 

Peyton and Hayden stayed outside to enjoy the water blob and the baby pool while Calib continued to work on his shirt. 

And he did eventually get it on. He was a good sport about it. 

We decided to do our medal ceremony later so the boys could hang out in the back yard for awhile. They enjoyed the sunshine, ate some Popsicles, and spent the afternoon outside. They did miss the slip n slide though, so next year I'll have to get one.  

After everyone had showered and changed we held our medal ceremony. 

I tried to take a nice picture of them, but they kept screwing around (story of my life). So, enjoy that sequence. 

I gave up, but Hayden really wanted an official Frozen T-Shirt Contest Winner picture, so eventually this was the best I got. 

I'm sure some things have gotten left out of the blogs the last few weeks. Countries have been few and far between. (I think we've done two in August- yikes!) I do have some odds and ends for you though. 

Cort and Holly were at Disney a couple of weeks ago. They don't usually come our way, but decided to make a stop to see our new house. I tried to tell everyone we should take down the blanket fort for their arrival, but Asa sneakily texted Holly about it, and Holly responded with 'My kids would love it if you kept it up', and that was that. We had a nice quick visit with them before they headed home, and Cort didn't even die from his cat allergies. 

Calib also delivered on his promise from Hawaii to play one more game of checkers with Garrett. 

I had (and still have) a few more birthday rewards to collect on, so Asa and I did go out for my free Moe's burrito for lunch one day. 

My days are all screwed up, because I'm tired, and I've been gone a week- but I think it was last Monday that Pasco country went back to school. We did get to enjoy a few days with the lodge basically all to ourselves before we headed off to Ohio. We love that school is back in session, I think we're going to take a couple weeks to hang out, do light work, catch up on countries, and enjoy low crowds. 

Speaking of school, we did our evaluations. I still haven't ordered their photo books (although they are done and ready to be ordered), but we do have their cards letting us know they are good for another year. 

Besides school work here, we have a kid back in the classroom, sort of. Calib is a college student these days. He has an ID and everything. It took three tries to finally get him registered, but he had his first class at the Community College this past Monday. He's duel enrolled as a home school kid, so basically for the next two years we get up to four college classes per semester for him for free. He does have to buy his books, but I mean, who doesn't want FREE college classes? He's just taking one this semester, to get his feet wet (and hopefully he'll get his license sometime between now and next semester, so we won't have to worry about taking him there and back!) 

We also worked on fair projects this week. There was lots of art work going on. Hayden did various paintings. 

And a cool pastel project (we did an outline on black construction paper with clear glue and then colored it in with pastels) 

Calib did a neat project with paper bags and made a cool tree for the 'paper design' category. 

And Peyton, ever the procrastinator, worked on a colored pencil drawing while I packed up everything to take to Ohio. To my Fremont friends: can see all their entries at the fairgrounds until Sunday. 

We knew the blanket fort would have to come down before we left. So, the boys had one more sleepover in it before the 2017 Edition of Fort Waterstraut was no more. 

Last Friday Peyton, Hayden and I were off to Ohio. Some fair entries had to be in on Saturday, so we needed to be there before then. But, Asa is pretty much out of vacation days, and Calib has class, so they had to stay behind (they did fly up for Asa's weekend). Asa had to drop us off a couple of hours before he had to be in the office, so he killed some time on the lazy river at Adventure Island. Calib, I think, drew the short end of the stick, because he was home by himself all day, taking down the blanket fort and doing all the laundry that went with it. 

Forgive me if this blog seems a bit disjointed. I am really tired, my eyes hurt, and I'm ready for bed (at 8 pm). But, I did get it done! Now, I'm just one country blog and the Ohio blog behind, so stay tuned for that in the next couple days. 

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Asa has finished up his school work and re-submitted his project, so fingers crossed! 

Next Up: Our trip to Ohio