Just NB

You know that phenomenon where husbands feel like "sympathy pains" while their wife is pregnant? I think I'm having "sympathy temperature pains" for Edmonton. I'm cold. In Edmonton, it's -24*C right now.  In Tamatave, it's +30*C (+44*C with the humidex). Our office is air conditioning is set between +22*C and +24*C, which I think is normal? Like even in Edmonton hot summer weather? I'm sitting in my office in a hoodie. Freezing, drinking hot chocolate. I'm not sick. I've been like this since the summer started. Today at lunch, I took off 1/2 of my sweatshirt (it's a hot look when you have one arm out and one arm in.....) and I only took it to use as a pillow when I laid down by the pool. Like, WTF?!???????? (Also, I am going to die in January).

Alright. Maybe I’ll be able to actually put on paper in a someone legible sense what it is that I’ve been trying to explain to myself. and Louis. But mostly myself. I’m freaked out. I have moments of fear and I can’t (or couldn’t) figure out what was going on in this mess of hormones, chemicals, and neuron-receptors or whatever. I guess I’ve always been slightly sensitive since the first weird strike/protest that I experienced. In my world, your work and home was safe, and the thought of anything otherwise made me uneasy. If I’d hear what sounds like a loud group of people, usually in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “Oh, crap. Is this a protest?”. And then, not really on purpose, I kind of beat myself up for being scared of something so petty. I mean, strikes happen here all the time. Like 95…no 97% of those strikes/protests are more than likely peaceful. But the “threat” of what can happen, in a split second, is becoming a bigger issue for me…without me even realiz...

Sometimes I write mega personal blog posts and then don't post them because I don't want just anyone or everyone to read them. Today I don't care. I want to write this, and then look back in a month to see that things have improved. Also, Disclosure: Tomorrow I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm just having a rough...I don't know...period. (Not like "menstrual period" but like, "time period"). Looking back on my blog, my life, everything, they seem to happen from time to time. The only difference is, even though I've been here for what seems like forever, I live in a weird world in weird circumstances. Sometimes the weirdness of it all is...overwhelming. I'm not sure about this expat thing. I'm not sure if I'm happy doing it. I'm not sure if maybe I'm just having a bad day, or a bad week, or whatever. I'm not sure if I'm just not adjusting to having my Canada home in a city I don't know (renting a car in Septe...

This morning I realized that in less than one week, I'm going to be able to go to a real, live grocery store. Every time I go to Canada (or Belgium. Or South Africa. Or France.), I go to a grocery store and walk up and down every single aisle. I pick up a product or two that looks new to me - analyse it for a longer than required amount of time; I throw in a ton of produce that will most likely go bad before I can eat it; and throw in anything that looks exciting. Examples of what's exciting? Amy's frozen vegan/vegetarian meals Deliciouso frozen pizza (somehow I convinced my mom that we should eat this for supper last Christmas Eve) Mixed organic lettuce FLAVORED VITAMIN WATER WITH 10 CALORIES (I know even with the "Vitamin" thing that these aren't exactly the best for you but I LOVE THEM SO MUCH) Perrier  (they now have natual grapefruit flavored!!) Passion fruit rasberries and blueberries (either frozen or fresh) different colored bell peppers...

I have a bit of an obsessive side when it comes to my travel itineraries. I need to print every single peice of paper that I might need (and anyone that is travelling with me) and file it in the same order as the travel. Train schedules, Google maps, activities in the area, restaurants I might go to (along with a Google map). On top of that, I download the calendar for the month and type in my flight and train times (departure and arrival), the name of the hotel (if I'm staying at one), and any planned appointments or activities I have. This gets to be the first page of my very thick travel package. I sort of feel dorky. I could easily use my cell phone, computer, iPod to track these appointments, but I'm not happy unless I have that printed off calendar. Today I had a few extra minutes and I typed up my calendar. After typing everything in....I realized that maybe I'm not all that weird (ok, I am. But its still a lot of freaking stuff to remember). May 29 1. Confirmatio...

When I was 20, I lived in Vancouver for a semester. (My parents had moved the a couple of years before and I thought I would give it a try. I failed miserably, but that's for another post). Vancouver has a Starbucks™ on every single street. Like, no joke, in the downtown/west end area, you can't walk ten steps without seeing a Starbucks™. I thought their coffee tasted like CRAP. I thought their espresso drinks were deplorable. I could tolerate their Frappuccinos ®, but...well, not really a drink to have on a wet day (which is all I really remember about Vancouver). Fast forward (gulp) twelve years later, and I don't think I go a full day without dreaming about the next time I'll visit a Starbucks™. I remember my first couple of days in the office. I didn't know where to even find coffee. I emailed someone I knew that was in Tana (300km away) to ask them what to do. Wow, how times have changed. I can't beleive I actually emailed someone to ask where I could f...

Yes, that's classy. I feel like I have all these things to say but don't know how to organize them, so I'm just dumping everything I feel like into a point form post. I used to find writing in my blog cathartic, so here goes: Since moving back into the camp, I haven't figured out how to upload pictures onto my blog. This frustrates me, because photo-journaling stuff was kind of neat hobby when I felt like it. Every Sunday I wake up hours before Louis, and it's been very frustrating to screw around with my computer to try and fix it. I had like one of the worst mornings ever. By 08h00 I was wishing it was 22h00 and I was in bed. Somehow I managed to get through the day, laugh more than once, and get work done. This is a miracle. The four stalls in the bathroom in my work building today were all working. This happens maybe 20% of the time. I don't know when I'll learn to check if there is toilet paper and running water BEFORE I go. I found a job that I wa...

I go through phases. Like everyone, probably. But my phase right now has been, What's wrong with me and why aren't I blissfully happy? Here's my own rant, and my own advice, to myself, and to anyone else that feels likes like they want to read my crazy tonight. I've been looking at my life like some kind of calculus equation. If,  x 2 +y x (z 2 ) - 12 = maximized happiness. x is? y is? z is ? I've been feeling like I'm on some kind of quest to identify the variables, when, if I just sat back, instead of trying to solve the problem, the end answer of x, y, and z is: It Really Doesn't F*cking Matter (I really do think an Fbomb is warranted there). As long as I continue to breathe, wake up, do whatever it is that I've been doing, everything else will work itself out. Cause that's how it's worked for the last 31 years and things have turned out pretty good. (Can someone remind me of this when I'm having a meltdown in three days ...

So. I’m scared to say write this. I could be tempting fate. But today marks the 4th day in Madagascar and I have had ZERO. STOMACH. SICKNESS. Could it be? Could my stomach have decided to man up and like NOT get sick the moment I set foot here? I’m having mega sinus pain but nothing that this liquid that you squirt up your nose won’t fix (um, no, not like liquid cocaine or anything. If there is such a thing). So. Yeah. I’m back in Madagascar. Annnnnnnddddd I want to give all my money away. Louis’ driver has to take fifteen days off work for a medical condition. He actually is contracted out through another company – and this company won’t pay for his time off. So…when Louis wasn’t looking I gave him 65 00 MGA ($32.50 CDN = 30% of his monthly salary). I knew that Louis would not appreciate/approve of me giving his driver money… but the driver has a family…and he won’t be paid for nearly half of a month’s salary… However, handing out money like that tends to cr...

Well, it's been an...interesting cruise. The cruise was initially booked for a friend's wedding but was changed to just a grandparent/grandaughter vacation. I don't think that's an often occurence, so I consider myself pretty lucky. I haven't had a ton of time to spend with my family in the last 2+years. We talk on the phone, see each other when I'm visiting Canada, but not like...any significant amount of time. So I'm glad we got to hang out and even better hang out on a ship in Hawaii! Tonight we were talking how things are different for me. My grandparents observe a quieter, more cautious me. This could be in part due to jetlag and sea sickness, but I notice a difference in myself in these types of situations too. Sometimes I think I've adjusted too much to life in the jungle, and then when I'm out of it, I sit back and observe more and participate less. I'm not saying this is a good or a bad thing. But, I kinda feel like...the clichéd ...

Since this is my blog, and I can write about whatever boring crap I feel like, and you can choose if you want to read it, I'm going to write about a concern currently have at the moment. Regardless of how stupid it is. :) I'm worried I eat too many eggs. And I'm not talking about this kind (although, given the chance, I would eat way too many of these kind!!!) First, a little background. I have issues with meat. I am totally pro-meat industry (although I haven't watched movies like Food Inc ., and I'm not sure if I want to), I think that if animals are treated humainly that it's fine to eat them...but I still have issues myself eating them. I try not to think about the meat that I'm eating was once running around or eating grass (or grass mixed with trash, in the case of the MG zebu). But I have never really liked eating meat, even as a little kid. I am trying to be more conscious of what I eat...I have a good 15lbs to lose (or 13 as of this week),...

When did I ever agree to wake up this early? The fact that I can function at this hour must mean that I'm getting old, because pre thirties (ick) if I was ever up at this hour, I'd still be drunk from the night before . What is wrong with the cafeteria??? Is there SERIOULSY no freaking peanut butter in this freaking country? Do they not realize that there are Americans and Canadians on this project that do not know how to live without peanut butter? And when is that 100% grapefruit juice ever going to be back? The kind that is JUST fruit and is so sour it almost hurts to drink. Don't they know I pray for it every morning in the truck on the way to work? Sometimes in song version (I'm not kidding. Ask Louis)? Thank goodness for Starbucks VIA instant flavored coffee. Sometimes I wake up just for you. Peeeuuuuwww. The room sometimes smells worse after the cleaning staff have done their cleaning. I love that guy's smile (a janitor) . He's always so smiley when h...

Close runners up were: " Procrastinate No more, Read the Damn Book " and " How to Read Books in Places Other Than the Washroom ".

Are you getting sick of all of my European Vacation posts? I’m trying to not go overboard....which isn't easy since I have about fourteen thousand pictures... But just as a heads up, you can expect….four more I think….one from Naples, two Spain posts, and then maybe a Belgium post. And then that’s it. In the meantime, here’s your regularly scheduled, “ I live in Madagascar and use that an excuse to publish my random thoughts and musings” post. Here are, in no particular order, some reasons that I have come to realize that I am becoming, in part, jungle/bush lady. I’ll warn you know, some of them are a bit gross, so please, just....don’t judge. :P I often leave my toothbrush (accidentally) face down on the counter top. Remember I’m living in Madagascar. I haven’t plucked my eyebrows in about six months. I shave the middle part now and again so that I don’t have a unibrow. (When I lived in Canada I’d get my nails done and eyebrows shaped every three weeks.) Some days, I walk home an...