Cumpston Blog

The big news from last weekend was Bryce’s birthday party. He was finally able to have his waterslide! We combined with Ben, whose birthday is actually tomorrow. The boys had 3 friends join them to spend the night at Ben’s house. There is a separate cottage on their property, so they ate out there (chicken with no utensils! Bryce avoided that, as he’s still a vegetarian! but there were other finger foods to keep him happy.) Then the 5 of them slept out there . . who knows how late they stayed up!

The next morning they came to our house, where they got to play on the waterslide for about an hour before their guests began to arrive. There were about 20 boys who came. Bryce loved the cake (Star Wars, of course!) We had BINGO (WAMPA,) a “pinata” (just a plastic bag filled with candy and hung from a tree,) decorated cupcakes, played “Capture the Flag” and then, of course, swimming and the waterslide. We actually had sunshine and power!!!! We had no power on Mon., Tues., Wed. morning and Friday, so I was a little worried about it, but it came through! The party was lots of fun and left Amanda, Gus (Amanda’s husband) and me exhausted.

Last week HIS was host to 5 countries’ basketball teams for an annual tournament called ISSEA (International Schools of South and East Africa.) There were teams from South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda, as well at Zimbabwe. It was the first time in 9 years it was hosted here. The last time it was Zim’s turn, they chose a different location as there was very little food available and it was a real hardship. The kids and I watched our fill of basketball games. It was very fun.

We are doing fine. I still have no job, but the time when we will know for sure is approaching – probably the beginning to end of April. All of us are starting to realize that our time here is limited and we are all feeling sad about leaving as well as excited to come home. Comments like, “I can’t believe we won’t see _______ in a few months” are becoming common at our house. I really wish all of you could have come to visit – it really is an adventure and a beautiful country with such wonderful animals and places to visit. The people are so warm and friendly and the weather beats anyplace I’ve ever seen!

Hope you are all doing well. We miss you and look forward to seeing you all again.

Mary’s eyes are back to normal, thankfully. That was a long time to have them so irritated! The dog is doing okay, I think, although she doesn’t have her old energy back. I took her for a run yesterday and she only made it a few blocks before she put on the brakes and I had to walk her the rest of the way home. She is old and I think the infection took it out of her. She was poisoned while I was home in August and that took some of it, too, which I don’t think she ever fully recovered. Poor old thing.

On Friday night I attended a school fund raiser; it was very fun. The drive there (fortunately, I wasn’t driving!) was quite an experience. There was another function taking place at the same hotel, that had 1000 people attending; ours had around 400. It was raining and the traffic lights weren’t working (not unusual) but no police there to monitor the traffic. We were in gridlock for about 1 1/2 hours; several others were stuck for between 2 and 3 hours. The road we were stuck on was 2 lanes each way, but worked its way into being 6 lanes going one way and trying to siphon into 2 lanes at the intersection. We actually made it through that, only to find that the traffic was bound up even worse on the other side of the intersection. We finally jumped a curb, did a U-turn and found a back way. There were no accidents causing this, just too many cars and no direction because of the lack of traffic signals!

Once there, the dinner was wonderful (each embassy contributed a dish or so from their country) with an auction, a raffle, and dancing. Another sad (and African) thing was that at the end of the evening, there was no refrigeration available for all the left-over food, so it was thrown away. With all those hungry people outside on the streets it’s too bad there was no way to organize getting it to them.

The rest of the weekend was quiet. Both Mary and Bryce had sleepovers. The MTV Night video for this year was completed – I’ll have to see if I can find a link you can follow to view it. We had our friends the Bushes (also from Oregon) over last night for dinner . . . not much excitement, but relaxing. Next weekend we will finally be celebrating Bryce’s birthday with his party. Because Ben’s birthday is March 10, we are combining the two birthdays into one party. It will begin with a sleepover at Ben’s house on Friday night, then continue with swimming and a water slide at our house on Saturday. A busy week ahead, preparing!

I can’t believe we are down to just over 3 months before we return to Oregon. I have mixed feelings, but overall am ready to come home. I will miss so much here – it’s been an amazing journey. I also am a bit fearful of the pain returning to our house and unpacking everything we have in storage will be. It’s something I have to get through, so we will manage.

Happy March to everyone at home!