top 10 list

1. best recycled t-shirt worn by a ugandan:  "Europeans Love Bush"

2.  best TIA (this is africa !?!) moment of the week:

"i'd like a dry white wine."
"okay" as she scribbles something on her palm.
out comes a glass of red wine.
"no, i asked for a dry white wine."
"well, our bar man isn't hear yet."
what!?! to help you distinguish between red and white?

3.  best kid moment- we're in the car on the way home from school.

jude, "mommy! on friday we're supposed to dress up because it's career day!"
bryn, "yeah! i'm going to be an architect!"
me,"that's great bryn! what are you going to be jude?"
jude, "a vampire magician!"
me, "but jude, isn't it career day? not halloween?"
jude, "yes mommy! i want to be a vampire magician! why are you laughing?"

4. sweetest moment-  mike asked the kids what they'll miss most about mommy when she's away in kenya for the week- i got- snuggling, reading with me, and her laugh

5. best food experience: aubergine, pumpkin, feta, sundried tomato stack at the gately in entebbe tonight- delicious

6. funniest food experience while at the gately:
"can we have african tea?"
"yes.  with spice?"
"no spice, just tea."
out comes the pot.  
"mike is it me, or is this just milk and spice? but no tea?"
"yes.  in fact, there is no tea in the tea, but there is spice."

7. best medical moment of the week- having dr. jean of 'save the mothers' available to perform a stat c-section for a friends ugandan nanny 

8.  worst medical moment of the week- pulling 100s of little poison caterpillar hairs from zoe's foot that i only noticed after putting on my glasses and looking with a head lamp.


9. best quote of the week- "know thy self" socrates (followed by zoe listing 10 qualities about herself - i was happy that there 8 likes, and only 2 dislikes!


10. best face of the week- 

sunday night top ten list

1. best TIA moment of the week -  a man, walking buck naked down the street.  not a crazy looking man, not shuffling, but striding down the street, as if he were carrying a briefcase.  not a minor street, not a highway, not a street in the slums, the street that my kids school is on, in a nice neighborhood. i'm not sure this falls in the catagory of This Is Africa- but i was just informed tonight that one punishment for theft can be stripping the person and forcing them to walk naked down the street- (either that or being burned alive)- i'd take naked.

2. best thing i heard all day, "YES!! i got the spot right next to mommy!" (jude) how loved does that make me feel?

3. sweetest little moment, although thankfully there were many, coming home from a great night out with mike to this on the door step. a la bryn

4. best good old memory zoe, "remember when you used to come to see me at preschool?  remember when you came for my birthday? i loved that."  probably most of her memories with me from ages 2-5 happened in that room that smelled of crayons and graham crackers (one of the best smells EVER) because i worked across the street as a crazy, angst ridden, migrainy and highly sleep deprived resident, who would crawl across the street to smell her little head every chance i could- as it was still with in beeper range. 
i think trauma memories get buried for a long time- zoe and i are now just now- recalling those years.

5. best bad old memory zoe, "do you remember kevin from my kindergarten class? he was SOOOO mean to me.  i still remember the smell of his lunchbox!"

note zoe pink princess in front, note kevin big kid in blue sweatshirt on right

 6. best food of the week,  the prawns in our entree special last night at mediterraneo. unbelievable, flown in from mombasa, and i don't even like prawns. 

7. best random attempt to know more than your little brother fact of the week, oh there are so many to choose from.  this one was over heard from my bed one morning. 

jude, "do you know what a leprechan is?"
bryn, "what?"
jude, "it's one of those lizards that can run really fast across the water!"
bryn, "no.  that's a Jesus lizard."
jude, "oh yeah."

8.  best medical moment of the week, taking a sick child to IHK, the international hospital kampala, and seeing the oncologist, having blood work, a chest x-ray, and abdominal ultrasound, and leaving with an appointment the next day with a surgeon for an excisional biopsy, all in less than three hours and costing ~ 120$. giving me faith in some systems in uganda.

9.  best quote of the week: 

10. best face of the week: