Weekend List!

Sarah's List:

It's Congo Week! Okay, Congo Week is actually next week October 20-26, but we celebrate a week early here. Because we live in the Congo and we do what we want. Here's what Congo Week looks like where we are:

Students mapped Congo's natural resources. Computers = Coltan, Cans = Tin, Volcano = Volcano

Shak Shakito made an appearance. Check him out here.

Infographics are all the rage now. We can't get enough! Here are 13 of the year's best informational graphics. (Check out the iPhone inky fingertips one.)

Bonus: Congo Week infographic!

  by  Jon Gosier 

What do you think about these tips on how to be a man?  

"If you are wittier than you are handsome, avoid loud clubs." YES.  
"Pretty women who are unaccompanied want you to talk to them." Um. Not always.

Real men play the harp.

  by  twm1340 

Real women are amazing multi-taskers. Check out all the things we do while breast-feeding or pumping. (That plank photo's for you my workout ladies.)

See. You can nurse and stay out of trouble at the same time.

  by  Children's Bureau Centennial 

A great post from our friend over at Mama's Minutia on reorienting, resettling and regrouping after time abroad. The Adjustment. So, so true.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Jo. Coming home kinda feels like this fog. (Please don't sue me, Jennifer Jo, in your adjustment fog, for using your photo without permission. P.S. Can I use your photo?)

From the "in case you missed it" department. Can you read people's emotions?

Bill and Melinda discuss their marriage. And saving the world.

Relatedly, the latest on the malaria vaccine. (Thank you, Bill and Melinda.)

  by  tanakawho 

And finally, check out this article from a local Lancaster, Pennsylvania newspaper about a Congolese refugee. I thought it was just a typical interview until I got to about 3/4 of the way through the article (2nd page). See what refugee Terry Mulumba says about the first time he met a gay couple. That's some profound cultural adjustment. Bravo, Terry.


Jill's List: 

I'm in Ghana!  Accra is really a great place.  Just the chance to smell the sea is amazing.  I'm hanging out at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel for a conference...which gets some horrible reviews online, but it actually kind of incredible. (Or maybe that's the power of the mama-cation speaking?) I even watched about five minutes of Amish Mafia last night...

There is this painting in my hotel bathroom that I can't stop thinking about.  I'm don't usually consider myself a big fan of this style of art, but this woman on her hot pink background is just calling me to inquire of the manager if I might purchase her off the wall above the toilet.

Some of my Grade 7 students "re-imagined" this commercial for an assignment on Public Service Announcements this week.  I cried (secretly, I think) every time they showed the original version, and harder when I saw their re-make:

And, then, Johan forwarded me this article about how serious even a small car accident can be in Africa, and I cried again.  Wear your seatbelts, friends!

Yes.  Wear them, even if it makes your face go like this.

I'm on a mission to find Esther and her fabric shop while I'm in Accra.  Yes, I must buy more amazing Ghanaian fabric for myself and everyone I know.  But, more importantly, I must show her a picture of Mama Vida wearing the gorgeous outfit she made using the fabric I bought her during last year's trip. Read about how I chose what to buy here.

Loulou and Mama Vida on Wednesday.

Oh! The Internet is luxurious here.  What should I download?!  Orange is the New Black?


Love this post showing what it can look like to teach Middle School.

Images by Alice Proujansky.

What do you think?  Is the journalism you just read on Africa trash?  Or is this article just overly-reactionary?

If a political report devotes a substantial chunk of attention to tribal dancing, and “vibrant African music” — beware. You wouldn’t sample the nightclubs and “vibrant American music” in Adams Morgan when doing a piece on Democrats and Republicans arguing over the U.S. budget. Just like the sky is the sky in Africa and not the African sky, music is music in Africa and not African music. And if music wasn’t vibrant, well then it’s probably not music.

And.  The Accra beach - despite it's abundant human-made flotsam and frothy gray jetsam - is lovely....and possibly described as "vibrant."
See? (sorry Johan, Elias, and Loulou.  Next time, you can come with me.  I swear.):



Also.  In need of more shea butter.  Trying to find time to buy loads (probably at Global Mamas) - but the local stuff vs. the "imported" French variety.

Want some?  Buy it here if you're in Accra!

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Friday List!

Sarah's List:

All my favorite things: babies, boobs, boo-boos and bye-byes. (Okay except for the bye-byes, but this is such a true account of how it goes saying goodbye to folks you know you'll never see again.)

The boobs part. From Mama's Minutia.

Soccer Isn't for Girly-Girls?- How Parents Pick the Sports Their Daughters Play. Want graceful? Go for dance. Want aggressive? Go for soccer. Want a pink warrior girl? Go for chess. Huh? Do you agree with all this?

Is this what they mean by "pink warrior girl"?

How well do you know your famous eyeglasses?

From www.federicomauro.com.

Yep, this is exactly what happened after women got the right to vote. More absurd predictions in Men Caring for Babies! The Horror!

Image from here.

The Ultimate Guide to Worldwide Etiquette. Choose the country. Learn the customs. I.e. Do you have to say yes to tea? Gesture with right hand? Left hand? No hands? There's more to cultural acclimation than just beating jet lag.

Image from here.

As the summer comes to a close, how many moms felt this way? Mom Spends Beach Vacation Assuming All Household Duties In Closer Proximity to Ocean.

Worth it.

I remember spending Thanksgiving Day 1994 watching a  Real World San Francisco marathon on MTV. It completely rocked my 12-year-old world.  Long before Will & Grace and Ellen there were Pedro and Sean.:

Jill's List:

Okay.  You've probably seen this 851 times already.  But, it's so funny.  Even funnier because Johan claims to hate Mumford & Sons and whines loudly about them when I'm getting my guilty-pleasure music fix.  He's been carrying his laptop around campus making everyone watch.  Or maybe that was me. What do you think?  Are they mocking their own fans?

Another one that's really been making the rounds (Thanks, Joanna & Tina!) - but is truly excellent.  This read made me think about kindness, but also about how serious the pressure must be to come up with something brilliant when asked to give a commencement speech.  (Here are some of the all-time best examples.)  I really think that the thing I want most for my kids is kindness - by them and to them.  An excerpt from George Saunders' speech:

What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.

Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded…sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.

Do other countries value intelligence more than the U.S.?  Is that why they are smarter?


Amazing pillows. Seriously! (And they have a story). There are lots of other beautiful colors, patterns, and shapes here too - take a look!  (Thanks, Lina, for the hookup.)




Crazy Pills.  More on Larium.

We didn't have water this morning.  But - I came prepared with this lovely dry shampoo.  Pretty great...I must say.

My favorite personal photographer and lovely friend.  (Can I call you that, Rebekah? The personal photographer part.) Check out her work - I'm always entranced.  Here are a few shots she has taken of our family over the years:

The shirt is Everlane.  Best ever.  Barn. 2013.

Yep. That's us by R.G.  Missing Dear Wolfgang right about...now.

Collicello Street. Circa 2011.

And. No! We haven't chucked the pink arrow entirely.  It will make appearances in the near future.  (Public service announcement for fear that our pink arrow fan base is getting antsy.)

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Friday List!

Sarah's List:

We're about to make that flight across the Atlantic in a few weeks. So it's about this time of year when we allow ourselves to get itchy for the things we miss. Jill says the things she misses change from year to year. Mine stays the same. Which has been confirmed since my three-year-old told me at breakfast this morning that I have "beaucoup eyebrows."

Alternatively, here's what Adam dreams of. Seriously. I swear if he could sit around all summer and do one thing, it's watch people get hit in the crotch on America's Funniest Home Videos. Someone actually made a list in descending order of all the ways this happens. Adam thinks it's genius. And this is where our understanding of each other goes in very different directions.

From here.

Did you know the word "mama" is universal? Here's a fascinating explanation. Except for my child who has decided to call me "Mamas." No, no Ani, "Say, Mama. No 's.' Not plural." Okay, nevermind. You're right. There are lots of Mamas.

Here's another one of those, if-you-read-just-one-thing-this-week articles. On examining adoption ethics. First families, first.

From here.

I needed a therapeutic laugh this week, so I went to my favorite speech of all time. I still remember the first time I read it in my tiny office at my terrible summer job. There was no hiding I wasn't working when I went into one of those embarrassing laugh/cries. Luckily these days I work with this saint and he pretends not to notice the laugh/cries...and real cries.

I love blogger Mama Minutia's intro to this piece, "I have a maid. It can get messy. (And I'm not talking about the house.)" Talking about help.

From Mama's Minutia.

Jill's List:

Hoping to finish strong tomorrow.  And I'm not even running.  How did I become a race coordinator, again?  Read more about how the Kima Mbangu (Run Fast) 5K came to be here.  If you are in Kinshasa and want to run and support an amazing local organization (Les Fonds Pour les Femmes Congolaises) - be at the TASOK campus at 8:30am!

Red carpet pregnancy.

Image from NYTimes.

Johan is obsessed with our microbiomes.  He's trying to get us all pumped up about kimchi and buttermilk.  He's obviously been reading way too much from this guy.  I gently reminded him that we live in the Congo and our children frequent eat dirt.  Germs are certainly our friends.

Yeah, something like that.  Image from here.

We lived in Guatemala City for three months soon after we got married.  Yeah, super romantic.  Rios Montt was hoping to run for president again and his face was plastered everywhere.  For many, his image was a disturbing, repeated reminder of unspeakable atrocities.  Last week, people spoke, and he became the first head of state to be tried and convicted of genocide in a domestic court.  Nunca Más .

Image by James Rodriguez for Mimundo.org  At the trial of Rios Montt.

I love this space.  (And such a beautiful blog, too.)

Image from Le Dans La.

Busy parousing You Tube for dessins animes for upcoming plane and airport hours.  Best score yet?  

1967  L'Araignée  - the original series - in French. 

Last minute add-in because it's quite the read for anyone and everyone living and working in a developing country.  Foreigners "trying to do good."

And here is what they don’t know: These houses? We could never afford them back home. These houses we have because they don’t. We have a job because they are poor. And because their poverty is extreme, because the country they were born in is hot, dusty, stormy, messy and perilous, we are paid well.

Image from the cover of Jonathan Katz's book "The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster."

If you are in need of amazingly curated suggestions for kid's books, apps, movies, and websites, check out Tinybop, Inc.  It's pretty flawless.  Sure fire sign that they are good:  they include most everything that William Steig has ever written.

Image from here.

Bon weekend!

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Friday List!

Sarah's List:

Adam and I are kicking our heels up, putting our winter boots on and leaving the kids behind for our Belgian adventure. While dear friend Sara Rich is away on her own vacation, we'll be staying in her apartment, visiting all her favorite places and wearing her clothes. That's not weird, right?

In true Sara Rich form, she sent us a personalized Google Map of Brussels. Has there ever been a greater hostess? Can't get enough of Sara Rich? (We obviously can't), check out her blog Beans & Rice for the Soul.

Eatin' waffles and takin' names. From here.

This past week a friend said in passing, "I'm headed to meet someone kind of famous. I can't remember the name. I think it's something like...Angelina Jolie?" True story. But it gets worse. This was an American friend. I had to cross reference. She was in fact here. Welcome Angelina, or whatever your name is...

Photo: rown Copyright/MOD. From here.

Check out this retro car seat and the fascinating evolution of other baby equipment here.

Image from here.

Oh man, how many times have you felt like this:

From thethingswesay.com.

We love blogs by mamas. Especially Mama's Minutia! Check out some really great posts by a fellow mama abroad. We especially loved this post last week which threw oh, around 1,000 extra views our way. Super pleased to rub elbows with such a superstar blogger.

Image from Mama's Minutia.

 

Jill's List:

I had this high school boyfriend who really knew how to crack a coconut.  He was seriously good at it. We could have used some tips today when Elias wanted to open the adorable coconuts which appeared in his Easter basket. (Hey, they were cheap and vaguely egg-shaped.)  I may have told him to "go bash them on some rocks or something."  And this is what he produced...not half bad:

That tips video (see above link) from the long-gone Gourmet Magazine makes me wistful.  Remember Domino magazine?  I still remember when I received the card in the mail "inviting me to explore Glamour" in place of my preferred, slightly bad-ass, Jane.  Seems like I'm not alone in my wistfulness for periodical days gone by.

Speaking of words in print...David Sedaris.  One of the best things that I did upon moving to the Congo was to purchase a digital subscription to the New Yorker.  Even though an edition takes like 50 hours to download, when it's complete, it means that I can read things like this in the jungle:

There was nothing that the authorities demanded that he couldn't locate:  our original birth certificates, a hank of his grandmother's hair, the shoes I wore when I was twelve.  People think it's easy to leave home and resettle in another country, but in fact it's exhausting and purposefully so.

and

The picture in my stolen [passport] wasn't half bad, but in the new one I look like a penis with an old person's face drawn on it.

Check out his new book, coming in April - thank goodness for my Kindle.

Image from Hachette Book Group.

Seeing this makes me want a career in event and space styling (who knew?).  This pair styled the Woodstock Foundry in CapeTown which thoroughly wooed me with it's beautifulness last Christmas...

Craig's best little hair shop - The Lobby + another lovely space style by "Gather." 

And.  Anxiously waiting for Atoms for Peace to finish Dropboxing it's way to me...though Sound Opinions was a little unsure...

Image from Atoms for Peace

Happy Easter Mama-Congo-kid-style!

I swear this was not posed.

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