Welcome to the Secos!: June 2008

Disney Cruise

Hi everyone,

I haven't had much time to blog...or do anything else for that matter...but I'm finally trying to get caught up (heck, it only took me 5 months to mail you all a CD of our trip to Colorado.) So, here is a photo of all of us on the Disney Cruise. I know Pat posted some scenic shots, but I thought I'd prove to all of you that we clean up pretty darn good for dinner!!

Labels: Disney Cruise

Jaime's whereabouts

I just talked to Jaime. She doing her first family stay. She will be there for about 2 months. She will have a weekly visit to Rosso, and she will update her blog when she is there. The little village she is in does not have any electricity and therefore no computers. She has taken a lot of pictures and says it is beautiful. She has not had an opportunity to put them up yet, and she does not know when she will. She said the connections are so slow that her friend took 3 hours to load 20 pictures on his computer. Anyway, she is with a family of 3, mom, dad, and a daughter who is 22. She cannot communicate with them at all. They do not speak either French or English. It is a dialect of Arabic. They live in the middle of the desert a little north of Rosso but not near the ocean. She is doing 7 hours a day of language training. She has her own bedroom. It has 4 walls and a roof but no furniture at all. She has her own bathroom, but it is just 4 walls, no roof, and a hole in the middle of the floor. She played with her family in the sand dunes last night and then needed a shower. They emptied the dish/kitchen water that they had used to cook with during the day into a bucket and gave that to her to wash in. She said it was brown. She does not know what she is eating, but she says it is not bad. This is a very conservative Muslim area. She cannot wear American clothes at all. They made her a "moolafa"(phonetic) which is about 6 yards of fabric. She is supposed to wrap herself in it, but she does not have that much height so she cannot master it and it falls off of her. She met some young boys who live nearby. When they state their age they say the year they were born and then you do the math, they were '93, so they were Anna's age. Jaime was sharing her pictures with them and learning how to say all the different family members. They offered her a camel in exchange for her sister. She did not tell me if she accepted. Two other volunteers are fairly close to where she is.Anyway, I just thought I would share with everyone! Jaime sounds very happy!! She said she will try to post something Wednesday. By the way, her cell phone did work from where she is!

The Arch

OK. I put Jaime's blog link on the right. The Arch pic is in Cabo. It is the famous Arch. The beach in front is lovers beach. Behind it is divorce beach. We got in a water taxi and did a little tour of the area. It was a blast. We were bobbing around quite a bit. Jordan and Olivia loved that part.
Yes we are done with cruising for a while. Hopefully next one will be when my teeth are in a glass next to the bed. We do have Jaime's number but don;t think we want to bother. We will watch the blog and communicate that way for a while.

Nice pictures

Nice pictures, but we need to see more of the kids! The arch one looks like where I did some snorkeling a few years back with Sam, Jaime, and Anna. Was that in PVR? Why are you done with cruising for a while? I love it. It is easier for a mom with kids traveling alone, and it is cheaper than other trips.
Hi Jordan and Olivia, keep up the good work in school! We are proud of you! You are true Hemstreet kids!
Are you guys checking out Jaime's blog too? It is interesting. She is not posting on this blog. Too many of her friends want to blog with her too, and we needed to keep it separate because of that. We have been able to talk to her a few times. She has a cell phone and it is working well from Rosso, but she is not expecting it to work as well when she gets to her village. For now it has been nice. Anna talked to her for a long time yesterday, from the train! The ticket taker on the train was overhearing her conversation. She was talking about monkeys, and goats, and eating eyes. He just had to ask! It is weird. If you want her number, just ask! I found a long distance calling card for .19 a minute. Anyway, check out the blog. Can we put a link on here right to her blog?

Happy to see Jaime In Africa!

We look forward to seeing what Jamie see's. Should be fun. A short update and some pics. The kids are out of school. They both were recipients of many awards at school. I think Olivia got around 8 of them and Jordan around 4. (I may have to edit the numbers later when the kids see this)

We just got back from a Disney cruise yesterday to Cabo, Puerta Vallarta, and Mazatlan. We are still tired. Done with cruises for a while.

Jordan played his first "drinking game" at the pool at El Cid. There was a big pool volleyball game going on and Jordan joined. In typical Mexican fashion, 3 people, 2 in weird costumes came to the game with a bottle of tequila and whomever missed the ball had to drink. Of course he did not really drink but adults did. We had a blast.

First phone call from Jaime en Mauritanie

I talked to Jaime this morning. She is loving this adventure so far. She said the volunteers were greeted at the ferry from Senegal to Mauritania by tons of people cheering for them. They played Justin Timberlake music and said "Americans". They served a meal of fish and couscous for dinner. She is sleeping outside in her tent. She did take pictures, but has not had the opportunity to get on a computer yet. Look for those on her blog later this week. She was awaken this morning at 5:30 by a call to prayer. They had goat and rice for lunch today. She said they roll the rice in a ball using only their right hand and eat it. Then wipe their mouths on their shoulders. She told me about their (no) left hand rule! (Ask me if you do not know, or explain it to the young ones.) She said it is very hard to eat without using your left hand at all. She tried peeling and eating an orange with one hand and said it was hard to do. This week they will go to a market and pick out fabric so they can have clothes and head wear made. She is with 14 other people in the health project. They will be in their tents for the 1st week, then off to host families for 10 weeks. She said the language is a very different French. She loved talking to me. I found a prepaid card for .19 cents a minute. If you guys want to call occasionally, she would love it. She has a cell phone. I do not know how well it will work when she leaves the city, so you might want to call her soon. Dial just like this: 011 (222) 458-5032. I tried a few times before I was successful. She said 9:00 pm is her time is best. It is 5 hours later than Chicago.

Photo of Rosso from Wikkapedia

I just grabbed a photo of Rosso from a window a couple floors up. There is a river very close-by The Atlantic ocean is close too. The tall building is probably a Mosque. Rosso kind of resembles Tijuana. Senegal is on the other side of the river. According to Wikkipedia, Rosso peridoically has to deal refugees form both countries. Hopefully Senegal and Mauritania can live peacefully. Take care of yourself Jaime and follow your own best instincts. Be careful too. Love Grandpa Mike and G'ma Nancy.

P.S. Maybe you can communicate with Skype or Vonage (if you have access to the internet)

Photo of Rosso Mauritania from Wikkipedia

Rosso is on the river that separates Senegal and Mauritania. It is near the ocean and a river. Who knows how safe they are to swim in ?

Kevin helping Jaime to the car.

It feels like 27 months worth of stuff!

Jaime left!!

Hi everyone! Jaime really got on the plane! Anna and I took her to the airport on June 17. She headed for Atlanta. Anna and I had a good cry, but we are so excited for her. She is absolutely sure of her decision, and she is so happy! She spent 2 very full days being prepped for her adventure. (Shots, malaria meds, psych tests, paper work...) On her way into the hotel, she met a group of young adults. They asked her, "Peace Corps?" She said yes. They said, "come on, we are going out to karaoke." She had a blast. They really bonded. She says she loves what she is doing. All the people are like her! They actually even exhausted her, that is a first. I talked to her this morning (it's her birthday) before the bus came to get them. (Her roommate woke her up this morning with a piece of cheesecake with a candle on it!) There is a group of 80 volunteers traveling to the staging area in Rosso, Mauritania. She will be living outside in a pup tent for the next 10 weeks. They will be trained and evaluated and then matched with a village. So beyond the next 10 weeks, we do not know where she will be. She thinks she will have Internet access while in Rosso, so blog and email her while we can! She will be using mostly her new blog. In case you do not have it, it is http://jaimepollard.blogspot.com. Pat, maybe you could put a link to her blog on this one? Also if you want to post on it and help make it cooler, let me know how to send you an invitation. Snail mail takes forever to Mauritania, according to the Peace Corps, but they say the volunteers love to get packages from home. I posted a bunch of info from them on how to send packages on Jaime's blog. I put it under comments because I was not able to post on her site yet at that time. Anyway, we can all enjoy this together with Jaime by staying in touch with her! What a cool opportunity for our other kids too. Jaime wants to set up pen pals with the kids, when she gets settled. The Peace Corps suggests getting teachers involved with classroom stuff too. Stay tuned!