Tootsie is one lazy travel dog...

While Tootsie has been flitting about the globe since our last post, she has neglected her duties of nudging us with her wet nose to update the blog. As she's now settled into her new life in Ecuador, we're hoping she will take her job more seriously.

  

Tootsie has made this her resting spot as it is one of the
only carpeted spots in the house.

So here's the quick update to get everybody back up to speed on the Manella clan. 

March 2012: Meri accepted a job as foreign service officer with the US Department of State

May 2012: Meri and the kids left Kosovo for good and Mike came back for a temporary assignment in DC. Meri started her new job with State and the kids hung out in Jersey for a few weeks with Gram and Pop until they had a spot at daycare in VA. We all moved into the Oakwood apartments in Falls Church, which is basically the temporary stopping grounds for many State Department employees between posts, especially those with children.

June 2012: Meri found out that she would be serving a 2 year tour in Guayaquil, Ecuador doing consular work at the US Consulate General (http://guayaquil.usconsulate.gov/).

July 2012: Mike returned to Kosovo to try and figure out what options he might have to get a posting in Ecuador.

September 2012: After a few hard months separated and losing all hope that USAID and State could find a way to get us all in the same place at the same time, Mike decided to resign from his post and come home.

November 2012: We drove to Miami, hopped on a plane and now we live in Guayaquil.

Unfortunately for us, the Consulate was not able to find a permanent house for us before we arrived. The good news is that the temporary house that we are in is pretty nice. Actually, as far as temporary housing goes, it's amazing. It is located in a gated community where many other consulate families live. For now, the place is nice enough, but once our air shipment arrives, it is going to be TIGHT. Hopefully they will find us something soon although the outlook isn't very good for us to be in a permanent house before Feb/Mar. So, we are making our place as homey as we can and are getting to know our resident geckos, iguanas, toads and scorpions.

A view looking down our street.
Our house is at the other end. 

Staying cool in the backyard. We do have a little pool, but
it's been un-swimmable due to iguana poop. Luckily it'll be
open for business again on Monday.

In the mean time, Meri is busy learning her new job and Mike is busy keeping the kids out of trouble and cooled off. Mike now signs most emails Mr. Mom which is pretty accurate. We think the kids are a bit confused because all of a sudden they can't seem to keep Mama/Dada straight. The kids being the globetrotters they are, have settled in very well. Zack is using a bit of Spanish very regularly (leche, agua, hola) and Zoe has a bunch of words that she will only pull out when bribed. Mike is applying for a job at the Consulate so hopefully he will start working 9 to 5 too to keep from going bonkers. We think we have found a nanny to help out with the kids and are hoping to get her contract straightened out before Christmas. 

Speaking of Christmas, it was touch and go for a while whether Santa was going to find us. Thankfully Amazon ships pretty quickly to this part of the world so the kids will wake up to a few gifts. Now, if we could just find a Christmas tree...

A Day in the life of Zoe

Circle time with Ms. Teuta and Ms. Elma, Zoe's teachers.

As we recently got a bunch of great pictures from Zoe's teacher of her day at school, I thought I would try and capture what her normal day is like here in Pristina.

Monday through Friday, Zoe is up and dressed and ready for school. In January she started going by herself to school with the Buchas. William Bucha is one of her best buds and is in the pre-k class at her school. His dad is nice enough to drive Zoe in the morning to save us a trip.

Ribbon cutting ceremony at new ILG
building in Veternik.

Her school, ILG (International Learning Group http://www.ilg-ks.eu/ ) moved over the winter break to a new location which is awesome! Before it moved we had to go to the other side of the city to get to her school which was at that time in two rented homes. The school moved along with all of the teaching staff to a new location which is probably farther by miles but much easier to get to. The added bonus is that it is very near one of the main grocery stores we shop at so its pretty convenient to pop in and pick up a few things for dinner when I pick her up in the afternoon.

A chemist in training?

Anyway, Zoe's class starts at 8:30 and ends at 12:30. She spends her days, learning, singing, dancing and playing outside. They go outside even in the snow to play which is awesome. Although, it's been too cold lately for them to go outside at all. Luckily the new building has an indoor play area as well.

Zoe's buddy Marina who moved back to the
States in November.

Zoe's classmates are from all over the place! I think there are 25 countries represented in the school overall. The only drag is that there are a lot of kids that come and go as their parents jobs end here in Kosovo and they move back home or to their next post. Zoe's best friend Marina left in November to move back to the States but she rebounded and I think it's safe to say that Fransje is her new bestie here. Obviously, Julie and Maeve are her best NJ friends!!!

Zoe and her pal Fransje.
Luckily Fransje lives right down the street from us!

After school Zoe eats lunch, watches a show and in theory takes a nap. Naps are unfortunately becoming a thing of the past. Being the social butterfly that she is, we have been going to more and more afternoon play dates at her friends' houses and also at the Embassy. She's a busy little kid but seems to have adapted to the international lifestyle with no trouble.

Zoe and William playing in the snow during a Friday
afternoon play date.