Some adjustments

We moved into our new apartment on Monday after one night in a hotel. The apartment is really nice, probably (definitely) the nicest apartment we have ever lived in, with the smallest kitchen. We are still trying to organize and pick up the clutter since we moved in and promptly dumped the contents of all nine checked bags and three carry-ons all over the place. The school has been keeping us so busy that we have hardly had time to put things in their proper places or even talk to each other much. The director, principle,and many staff members of the school have been very accommodating, helpful, and will bend over backwards to do anything we need. So much so that we feel a little sheltered. I have yet to leave the apartment complex on my own without being driven by one of the drivers in one of the school minivans.

We keep comparing this move-in experience to our experience of arriving and getting settled in Kenya, which is to say, it is completely different. I remember our first evening at the training center on our second or third night in Kenya when another, more experienced volunteer said he would walk us down to town. At the last minute he decided he'd rather stay home and told us to just go down the road, turn left and wander into town by ourselves. It was one of the most terrifying experiences and I remember it clearly, the first impressions of wandering around on our own in Kenya. After an hour or two the Peace Corps van drove through town and gathered us up since we couldn't find our way back home. I laugh now because Naivasha is such a little tiny town that it would be impossible for me to feel lost there even a couple weeks later, but at the time it seemed like miles and miles of unfamiliarity.

So, I have not had that sort of experience here yet. Instead we are having the very different experience of moving into a brand new apartment, complete with washing machine, microwave (which is possessed and beeps incessantly at all hours of the day and night and is currently unplugged), fridge, two bathrooms, one of the best showers I have ever had, and AC throughout. There is even an appliance that was a complete mystery to me: a sort of dish dryer/sterilizer where you put in washed and rinsed dishes and a UV light turns on to finish off the job. I'm trying it out on some of Milan's cups and bowls and things since I am so paranoid about him getting any tap water and getting sick.

The apartment is fully furnished with really nice, brand new furniture. We have never had a place that looks so pro, with all matching furniture and clean new walls. I know in a short while it will look more like home with toys all over the place and our books and things, but for now it seems pretty sterile. I'm hesitant to put holes in the walls and move stuff around, thinking the people who really live here will need it back any day now.

Milan is adjusting fairly well, but it has been a tough few days. The jet lag was really rough and he was major cranky-pants for much of the time so far. Today he actually slept a full night (me, not so lucky) and is having a regular nap, so he is in much better spirits. But he is definitely expressing some of his anxiety and discomfort the only way a 2-year old can: tantrums. He is not enjoying his celebrity status here, where every time we are out someone comes up and wants him to jump into their arms. Milan has taken on the habit of waving his hand at them and saying "bye bye" (which they think is super cute and only eggs them on) or clutching his hands to his chest and turning to me and crying "mommy mommy" (which people also think is pretty cute). And then he'll totally loose his cool over something small when the heat and exhaustion and culture shock get the best of him, like today in the vegetable market when he dropped the little lychee fruit that someone had given him as a present into the mud. He was inconsolable until a man came up to him, talking in Chinese very loudly, and made a little shrimp walk up to him and kiss his arm. That caught his attention for a minute, and then he started crying again. People mean well and are so curious and friendly to him and he just wants to be left alone.

He was in better spirits yesterday evening when we went for a walk around the apartment complex. Many of the residents here in this community of 15+ apartment buildings go out walking as a family in the evenings, and Milan was so thrilled to be catching the little frogs that live in the river and ponds behind our building and running around in the cooler air that he even greeted a few people in Chinese after Tim and I did. There is a toad in the school courtyard that we have caught and released everyday so far, and hundreds of little frogs, so he is in heaven. We went to the school playground today (which Milan insisted on calling Getty Park, you Wheaton Moms will appreciate that), and ended up in the indoor (read: air conditioned) playroom for the kidergarten and pre-school kids, since the students aren't back yet. I think we'll be spending alot of time hanging around those play areas! There is another new teacher and his wife here with a 1-year old, so I'm sure we'll be getting together often, as well as another teacher's wife who is not working at the school who I can't wait to get to know better.

Because I have to get in the habit of posting pictures, I'll attach one of the plane ride. This is Milan, hour 13 of a 14-hour flight, listening to Baby Beluga on continuous loop and watching the video announcement warning about H1N1 flu symptoms. We made it.

I'll post more pictures on Flickr.