Happy New Year 2015!

I'm back! I was pretty shocked to hear from people while I was home that they actually read my blog. Who knew? I am going to try to get back in a routine, here goes week one. Packing! You can see the top and bottom of the cat scratching post in the center, the cardboard box is full of kindle cases that my family repacked for me so I could move them to TASOK for the middle school kids, Twizzlers were a Christmas gift for friends, and the list goes on and on! This is not even a tiny percentage of what was actually packed. Last time was a lot of clothes and toiletries, this time I had shoes and lots more miscellaneous stuff! Fewer clothes.

Next for the flying. Here's Davy, chillin' in the Brussels airport waiting for the bus to take us to the Africa terminal, directly after he had soaped himself in the bathroom while running around under the automatic soap dispenser. Definitely the most exciting thing he did. Other than that, he basically slept the entire time and only got stressed once briefly during the Dulles-Brussels flight. 

Next for the unpacking job. Left Burlington at 2:30pm Monday evening and arrived in Kinshasa Tuesday night at about 11:00pm, with VERY manageable layovers, no long waiting anywhere, just long flights! Unpacked Wednesday most of the day until pleasant New Year's Eve festivities. Nifty packing job by Lat... my very special mug arrived in Kin unscathed. 

How did this much stuff get in those 3 suitcases? I thought I said I didn't have that many clothes!?!? New actual butt covering raincoat, thank you Aunt Laurel on the bottom right, new tall socks to keep the bugs away (Valentine theme and flowers from Aunt Sue) top of the pile... and on and on.

More stuff. This was the mostly school pile. Books are heavy. I had multiple 47 pound suitcases! Cake mix for my school birthday party! New dry erase markers, yay! Jam from Teed and Peg! New mail scale from Gramma! Oh my, I think the exclamation points have gotten away from me here! 

My salad spinner! No more soggy salad! 

All my new shoes, and some old. Feeling much better shod. (Much more well shod?)

And last but not least, most important piece of luggage and first thing to be set up:

For this silly silly animal. Love him very much, so glad that my family consented to keeping him for the fall. Thanks so much to them! 

We took the temperature today in our class for math, and inquiring minds in Vermont seem to want to know the results. At 10am it was 76 degrees F and the forecasted high was 89. I don't think it got there, but maybe we got to 80 I'm assuming, and very comfortable. Thunder to come I think. 

Stay tuned for next week: How much was that celery? And spinach in a can is the same as pesto, right? If you squint? Plus more temperature data.