how long this time?

It's been one week in our new house and I'm working on holding hubby to a 'promise' that I can stay here at least nine months. Why nine months? Well, it's a bit of a random figure, but it seemed good at a time when one month was a long stay in one place.

Finally settled?

So are we happy to be here? Princess and Thor have discovered several reasons that our new house is really cool. Princess thinks it's fun to have a bedroom

Rockets and ballerinas - who says girls and boys are alike?!

with their own bathroom. Hubby and I think the same thing about our room - and it would be even better if we could get the hot water to work! Still, we're grateful that at least we can have hot showers in the kid's room. Beats the bucket baths we did the first week we were in South Asia. Princess and Thor found them pretty fun all around.

A fun novelty for the kids - the bucket bath. And since water is already everywhere no one even fusses when you splash over the sides.

EVERYONE thinks the ice cream bike that rides around our neighborhood is pretty cool. Every afternoon we can hear him coming and the kids are getting be like Pavlov's dog. You know, the one who drooled whenever he heard the bells. That's us, too. Princess and Thor have developed a great affection for ice cream cones conveniently delivered to your doorstep.

Thor and Princess are a bit depressed that we now have our own car. (Hubby and I do not share the same opinion).

Mom and Dad's new wheels (note Princess' new wheels, too)

The reason for this depression is that having our own car means we don't get to take all those lovely rickshaw rides. Thor and Princess' new version of Old McDonald's farm features all sorts of new 'animals'. Rickshaws, moterbikes and busses feature prominently.

No more frequent rickshaw rides - sigh!

Lest you think the kids are forgetting their last few months in North America - think again. Princess has a new favorite game - or rather two new favorites. She likes to play parade with Thor. This involves riding bikes, pushing strollers, and riding a little plastic train (whenever daddy's not fixing the broken wheels) up and down the driveway. Mommy - a fascinated bystander - is commanded to make certain comment as each 'float' passes the door. The other new game involves mommy or daddy being the 'cheerleader'. Now the first time Princess proposed this game I thought maybe she was confusing her Auntie S with her mommy. So I asked what I had to do if I was the cheerleader. Being the cheerleader involves watching the 'baby sister' (that would be poor Thor) while Mommy (our fearless Princess) goes to the shops. Well, I guess I can be that kind of cheerleader. Even hubby has willingly participated.

I am happy that we finally have enough cutlery to sit down to a meal without washing between courses. We also have a knife - other than hubby's pocket knife. Which has admittedly come in really handy. We even discovered a use for our suitcase that committed suicide on the way over here. It's serving as spare parts for Thor's little plastic train.

Mommy rectifies the cutlery situation. Shopping is a bit different here.

So after a week in our house, things are starting to settle down a bit. The washing machine works (most of the time), the house help arrives about 30 minutes late (but she comes), our language teacher arrives spot on time every day (and spends an hour helping me feel completely incompetent to function in this country). Fortunately, it's likely the reverse will actually happen. Maybe after a year here, hubby and I will even be able to say 'r' correctly.