corner view – change (izmenenie)

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane, where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme.

This week’s theme is from Joyce over at A Perfect Beginning.

with our recent move here to Kazakhstan, there have been many changes.  Some we’ve welcomed with open arms while others not so much.  One thing I’ve learnt with every move is to identify the changes and then make a conscious effort to accept them, adapt or adjust. 

It’s always easier said than done.

But it’s almost a month since we’ve been here and I think we’re doing okay.  Just ok!!

We’ll eventually bloom where we’ve been planted!!

For more corner view start with Francesca our host.

monday’s

Monday mornings are always the hardest for me.  No matter how much I try to organize myself and the kids for the week it just never starts off  smoothly.

Anyway today my husband stayed home because it was a holiday.  The Kazakh government last week decided to make Saturday(last Saturday) a working day and then have today off.  apparently people weren’t to happy about the short notice.  They also will have tomorrow off. 

I always like it when my husband stays home from work. I don’t mind having him home.

Well this week we hope to have the house painted and done.  the colors are looking good on the wall that, I really am happy with them.

I’m still counting and still looking out for my gifts.  It’s not always easy to do, especially when you receive news from home about deaths in your extended families and also immediate family problems.  It’s hard to be thankful during these times.

 

# 21 - 32

21.  the smell of fresh cut grass during the day

22. sweaters and jackets that keeps us warm

23. a morning cup of coffee to jolt the sleeping mind

24.  my 3 year old who keeps me company.

25.  my children who keep me busy

26. hearing news on where our shipment is right now

27.  spontaneous gatherings where everyone just comes and shares food and company

28. quiet organized mornings where I can pray and read

29. having everyone home for lunch

30. sitting with my daughter and going through homework together

31. listening to my 7 year old read

32. thankful that it’s only eczema that my 7 year old has and that it can be managed

33. my brother and sisters who I think of them often and love them.

Happy Monday and have a great week!

weekends are for…………………

birthday parties, outdoor movies, indoor camping, grocery shopping, and doing activities.



  hoping your weekend was a relaxing and pleasant one.

Friday’s Fave Five -1

it’s been a while since I’ve been here, recalling 5 favorite things of the week.  I’ve missed doing this together.  But here I am in a new location and I thought this would be a great time to jump right back into it.  Thanks Susanne for hosting this.  i saw last week even when you had computer problems you still turned up!!

There’s a lot I’m thankful for right now, and to start of my top five……………….

1.  A smooth first week of school.  I cannot tell you how relieved I am that the girls have settled in really well.  They’re certainly not acting like they are the new kids in town, which I am so very thankful for.  I am proud of them.

2. Breakfast with my new friend!  So on Wednesday morning just a minute past 8(after the kids and husband were off to work and school), Jennifer family is our host family called me to join her for breakfast.  It was a lovely surprise.  As we ate breakfast she shared with me more important stuff like where to get good chicken, laundry powder and birthday presents.  It was a good time.

3.  A painted house.  It’s finally happening and happening fast.  I finally decided on my colors and Makmut (the maintenance/painter) has been in my house painting.  I’m really happy with how the colors look on the wall!  Because they always look so different on the color chart.

4. pretty flowers and blue skies.  Right now there are such pretty flowers in our neighborhood.  It’s a beautiful sight.

5. Just thankful.  This week I had a moment to sit back and think about where I am right now in my life. Things are never perfect, and may never be! – there’s always another load of laundry, spilt milk on a brand new table cloth, sticky tile floors and the monotony of doing the same things over and over again.  But at the end of the day, I’ve made it through that day. And then at night when I lay my head on my pillow I realize that it’s grace, it’s hope and it’s love that will make me get up tomorrow and do it all again.  I am grateful!

I hope your week has been wonderful and that you’ve been blessed! 

For more Fave Five’s start with Susanne.

Thursday

it’s been cold around here lately.  Some would say it’s been lovely, but I beg to differ. well what do you expect I’m from the tropics. The mornings are tough when you have to roll out of bed before everyone else is awake.

not too sure how I’m going to handle winter which I know is coming.

The kids had a visitor this afternoon.  A hedgehog.  I’m not sure where it came from or who it belongs too, but it made the kids afternoon. They certainly are interesting animals.

Happy Thursday!

It’s a Lovely Monday

So apart from the busy morning getting everyone off to school and work, all is good right now and I’m happy.

My girls came home for lunch and they like it already in their new school.  That’s always a good thing isn’t it? Sometimes i wonder to myself if we’re doing the right thing by moving every so often.  It seems a lot to ask of the girls to have them readjust and adapt to the places we go to, but they seem to do it so well.  I’m convinced that our children are stronger than we sometimes give them credit for.

Well Renee starts 7th grade and Tanysha will be in 2nd.  And as for Joshua, he’s asked for a nanny instead of heading out to school.  my husband is on board with that.  I don’t think he wants him to be at a school right now.  Maybe because it’s not a playschool/child minding thing, it’s real school – so we’ll be home together for another year.

the other thing that makes today lovely is because my air shipment is being delivered – hooray.  I can’t remember what exactly we packed but we’re just happy to receive some of our things to make home a little more comfortable for ourselves.

I hope your Monday is lovely too!

continuing to count my gifts……..

thankful for:

# 12 - 20

12.  happy girls who like their school

13.  sunny but cool weekends

14. paint colors, that I can put on my walls

15. washing machines, dryers, dishwashers – what would we do without them i wonder!

16. coffee mornings and meeting more people

17. colorful flowers blooming in our neighborhood

18. mozzarella cheese and home made pizza’s

19. finding familiar foods in the grocery shops.

20. children playing together and hearing them laugh out loud.

weekends are for…………

enjoying our neighborhood and gathering around the table.

hoping your weekend was lovely.

p.s. – check out my photo blog (yes I’m starting 365 again!)

I can color my yurt

every house that we’ve rented and lived in, the walls have always been white. 

Well good news, this time around we’re allowed to paint and I’m going for it. I’ve know this for sometime now and since arriving 2 weeks ago I’ve had my colors already picked out in my head, – a neutral palette of course but with red in the kitchen. 

But then on Tuesday I got a visit from the head maintenance/painter guy and he brought over his little color book for me to go through and well now I’m all confused!!!

 

I have till Monday.

Wishing you a colorful weekend!!

wordless Wednesday

it’s the last week

so this is it…..the last week of summer holidays. It really hasn’t been much of a holiday though.  well we did spend 2 weeks in Australia but even that felt like a working vacation.

The girls start at their new school next week. I think they’ve just about met everyone who’ll be going to the school. that’s not too hard considering that there’s a total of only 55 kids.  it’s a small number so I’ll be watching my girls closely to see how they adapt, especially after coming from a school with almost 1000 kids.

anyway we’ve been out and about some more and are slowing getting familiar with the community.

I really do like my neighbors, they’ve been so helpful and I’m really grateful for it.  last week my neighbors in the house next door to me brought over some cookies and we got talking.  She shared that this is her 18th year living as an expat and that at every location it’s not always been easy. but with each year she shared that her approach to her international assignments changed and now she goes with an open mind and always with the mindset -

“it’s not what can I get from this place but rather what can I give back.

 

it got me thinking…….and I’m still thinking about it, what if we approached everything like that?

I’m still counting…

so on my old blog I started to count my blessings after being inspired by the book “One Thousand Gifts” but things got pretty busy and I stopped.  That is stopped keeping a record of them on my blog – but each day I was ever so grateful to be able to get through each day.

Well now that I’m kind of settled I think this is a perfect time to start again. 

And so here we start again, counting towards 1000.

 

Giving thanks for………….

# 1 - 11

1. my son who tells me that he likes the new house

2. friendly and very helpful neighbors

3. the morning sun that floods my kitchen and roses outside my windows and on my table

4. hearing a new language and trying it

5. watching my children make new friends…..with ease

6. getting back into routines

7. my husband and son playing on the wii.

8. meeting new people

9. my husband and his job

10. facebook – which is so much cheaper to communicate with my family back in PNG.  a phone call would cost an arm and a leg!!

11. baked goods from our neighbors.

have a great week!

weekends are for……

Exploring.

we hope you had a lovely weekend.

after a week

* we’ve met many families here in our new neighborhood who have at one time have been the “new” family, and so they know what we’re going through. they’ve shared valuable information with us that we are thankful for.

* we’ve received batches of cookies and banana breads as a “welcome to Atyrau” thing.  best think they’ve been delicious. 

* the kids and I have walked over to the school and met the principal.  Actually the principal is also new so I guess we’re in the same boat.

* my girls have made new friends and have been out and about in the neighborhood.  This makes me happy because I want them to like it here.

* we’ve met families from all over the world – I’m pretty sure we are probably the only papua new guinean family here.

* and we’ve learnt a few Russian words - priviet (which is hello), spasiba (thank you),  skol ka (how much), pol kilo(half a kilo) and kak dila(how are you).

I’m always worried whether or not we’ll adjust but I think we’ll do just fine.

Happy Weekend.

Wednesday

we’re adjusting to our new environment and making the most of what’s in our house at the moment.  Everything’s new and we’re learning how things are done around here. 

i’ve been grocery shopping a couple of times now and each trip has been an adventure.  The other day I bought something which I thought was sour cream only to come home and find out that it was yoghurt!!  we had a good laugh!!  trying to decipher cyrillic symbols is a challenge.

I’ve been wanting to take my camera out with me, but i don’t want to look like the new kid on the block so maybe later I’ll share some photo’s of outside our gated community.

Happy Wednesday!

(the photo’s above are taken outside and inside my new house)

Kazakhstan!

Today's our first day in our new house. It's empty right now and will be for the next 3 months till our suff arrives.


We left Thailand on the 4th of august and after almost 14 hours of traveling it was good to finally sleep in a bed.
We'll be taking it slow for the next couple of days and hopefully my kids can get in some summer fun after months of cleaning and packing and just getting ready to move here.
I feel bad that it's been more like a working summer for all of us. At least we have a couple of weeks before school begins.

Anyway here is where my new adventure begins....in this Yurt.