mosi nets, power cuts, loose grasp on the local language - anyone else live off the beaten track??

[liger]

...but with access to Mumsnet obviously, so maybe not that unbeaten a track but...
what do you enjoy, what do you find difficult?

I am a SAHM living in Indonesia, there are good things and bad things about being here with a 2 year old and it would be great to share them, anyone else?

I think this is a long-shot, but I think a while back I saw a Mumsnetter in Nigeria, and one who had lived in Cameroon would love to hear from you?

Hi, Liger! I suspect I'm the one you're referring to in Nigeria. We used to live in Indonesia and really liked it there.

Hi Suedonim, thanks for responding,
Its spooky that you also know Indonesia, as I lived in Nigeria as a child. Can I ask where abouts you are?

We are due to leave here early next year and hope to eventually make it back to Africa for a bit while our ds is still young. This is my first time oversea's as a Mum, and its been interesting finding out whats easy and what isn't!

I'd love to hear more about your dc/dc's and your set up in

That's a coincidence, Liger! We're in Lagos atm. We just have the one dd here with us as the other three are older now. I think I'm the only person without a nanny here - some families at her primary school have a nanny for each child! Dd has just started senior school so nannies are not so much in evidence now.

We live in a v nice apartment, on the eight floor. We have views over the lagoon and Third Mainland Bridge in one direction and Lekki in the other. Dh's contract ends in Dec so we're waiting to see what happens next, whether we go back to Scotland or stay on in Nigeria.

Where are you in Indonesia? We lived in Jakarta. How long have you been there?

Liger - I'm the one who was in Cameroon! We are in Somerset just now but moving back to Africa to Nairobi in early january, I used to be Cameroonmama and have just changed to Nairobiorbust. Come back to Africa and join us. Hello sue have the rains stopped now? Many cauliflowers around just now?

We have 3 dc, 6,3 and 5 months and I am looking forward to being back in Africa. We also did the nanny thing part-time in Cameroon as I just couldn't imagine what I would do if I wasn't looking after the dc. I hope to do the same in Kenya but it'll depend on whether I have to go back to work.

Are you enjoying Jakarta?

Ahhh, Cameroonmama, so that's where you are. Nairobi - ooo, that's all bright lights, big city after Cameroon, eh?

Hello Liger and Suedonim - I'm in Accra. Not as exciting as Lagos, or as violent! But I do sleep under a mossie net, power cuts are frequent and I swear the road in front of the house will be impassable soon if this rain doesn't stop.

So a bit off the beaten track...

Does anyone else sometimes get a wry smile out of the 'hardships' suffered by those on the US/Australia threads?

How's the baby coco?

I shall be a fish out of water in Nairobi after Douala and the backwaters of Somerset. I'd better get my baking skills back up to scratch

Apparently you can get everything in Nairobi, but I think I shall still sleep under a mozzie net, the matatus are still equally dangerous and I have positively misssed dodging potholes in the rain. Hardships, what hardships?

Has it not stopped raining yet? Poor you...

Oh this is nice, that there is a little collection of Mumsnetters scattered about the globe!

I'm in Banda Aceh, not Jakarta, so definitely mosi nets and power cuts here, and also a distinct minority being a youngish Mum amongst the largely single and fancy free Aid community. We have been here since January, and only planned to be here for a year.

I know Nairobi well, having visited there every few months for 3 years when I was working, I never lived there but it felt like I did as I ended up with a paralell life of friends and places to go that were as familiar as home.

I often daydream about Nairobi, ooh Java House coffee, beautiful big old tree's, the cooler climate, less mosi's, places to go!!! I will make it back there one day!

i just spotted a scratch on ds's leg and asked him where it came from, he said 'BIG squito' He knows what we worry about most!

I will no doubt moan about the difficulties of Banda long into the night if I get the chance, but there a good things too. I love that ds can identify Banana trees. Pawpaw trees and Cassava at 2.6, and spotting grasshoppers and gecko's, and watching ants 'roads' of course. And his playgroup has an average class size of 6!

We are going away for the weekend this afternoon as its a holiday weekend for Eid, I'll check in again on Monday. I hope you all have good weekends

liger x

Hello everyone! NairobiOB, it's still raining. The season was slow getting off to a start, but it's made up for it now. We had 20 inches in one day, back in July. Traffic is awful now. Dd is at a new school and I'm often spending four hours a day in the car, potholes and all. I haven't seen a single cauliflower this year! They must have forgotten to plant them. I can't believe your baby is 5mths now - wow!

Coco, Accra is held up as a model for Lagos to follow, people who've been there praise its cleanliness, friendliness etc. It's a fave w/end destination.

Bandah Aceh, that's well off the beaten track, Liger! Are you with the Aid people as well? How many expats do you have around?

Poor suedonim! We're drowing in cauliflower over here - haven't seen them this good in ages. In fact, all the fruit and veg is great right now, as opposed to last spring, when all you could find was slightly dessicated zucchini.

It's hard to believe Accra's a model for anyone else... It must be pretty bad over there! I mean, it's a pleasant enough place in many ways, I like living here, but the traffic is terrible, the smell of burning garbage is omnipresent, the power is patchy (but improving) and there's bugger all to do at night.

NairobiOB - Had DD in London in June, but was back here by August. It's lovely to be back, too, even with all the rain. Still, rain or no, it's VERY hot ATM. Have to change DD's nappies constantly to avoid bottom rot.

mosi nets? not now (snow imminent )
power cuts? oh yes, and it results in water cuts (as the water pump is of course electric )
loose grasp on the local language? let's just say that conversations can be interesting sometimes...

But access to MN is a must obviously. Oh, and very exciting, we got broadband this week!! No drains but we do have broadband! Now that's sophistication .

Things I enjoy - the peace and quiet, the views
Things that are difficult - having to be always prepared for the worst (weather, seasons etc). Life in the UK is so easy sometimes and there are days when I miss that. Oh, and having no toddler groups to drop in to for a cuppa and a chat.

I'm nowhere exotic like you guys. In eastern europe but very rural. How long have you been in Indonesia, liger?

Aha, so all our caulifowers are in Ghana!!! It's strange that there are none here atm. The veg is pretty poor all round at the moment, maybe because of the rain spoiling crops.

PAL, broadband?? It is available here but so expensive that we hobble along with our dial-up. Btw, did you used to be Steppemum?

no, I yam what I yam (sorry - excuse the poor vegetable joke, been bottling veg for far too looooooong ). Used to be Burek for a while but have only been on MN since Jan.

Broadband isn't as cheap as the UK but has become affordable lately. We're not officially 'allowed' it of course because we are foreign residents so have had to install it using our friend's name .

Lol @ Yam - dd2 is always making up yam rhymes. Are you permanently in E Europe or are you on a posting?

Hi Princess, where abouts in Eastern Europe are you? Its good to see you are flouting the laws of your host country .

Manioc, now thats a waste of a vegetable in my opinion..

Sue get yourself over to the beaches south of Douala for a weekend, fabulous and plenty of veggies! You just have to suffer the odd Frenchman in the process. Strangely enough I had a brilliant broadband connection in Douala, not so cheap but essential for my sanity. Traffic in Africa one of my pet hates, I think Nairobi is as bad as Lagos so I shall be suburb bound most of the time.

I can't believe Banda Aceh is so well equipped, well actually on second thoughts I shouldn't be surprised as the Aid community always seem to be able to set up such sophisticated communications systems quite quickly..what does your dh do Liger? Is it very interesting living there and how are the communities recovering?

I think you can all be proud of yourselves for surviving life of the beaten track! I live in Berlin now and it's OK but when I lived in the deep south of Germany in a tiny village it was like going back in time and I needed my trips to UK to get the feeling I was in civilization for a while - I bet you can't fly back so often so that makes it even harder.
I was close to depression after 3 years in our village, I was so relieved to get out although the dc had a great time, healthy outdoor activities, forests and fields to roam about in and fresh air which we miss in Berlin. Can't even let them wade through the fallen leaves for fear of stepping on a hidden dog plop here!

admylin - I get days like that every so often. But after a trip back to the UK last summer I realised that I would find it even more difficult to live over there now after having this life out here. For starters, it would take us our whole working lifetime to be able to afford what we have here, and I would go mad in the meantime .... so that is enough motivation to keep living here . Ask me again in ten years time though!

Nairobiodblood - sometimes 'working the system' is the only way to move forwards, iykwim! We are learning gradually how to make things happen our own way! Oh, and we're in bosnia btw.

Suedonim - we're living here permantently. We sold up in the UK last year and have been here 18 months now. "Living the dream" and all that blah .

Princess we are experts at working the system Bosnia though, now that is interesting. What made you choose Bosnia?

We too are moving permanently - eek! Though we shall keep two properties in the UK for the time being as a safety net. We have been back in the UK for a year, and had another baby and there are just not enough hours in the day, nor enough space in our house and I am looking forward to being able to do some meaningful work as well as having a better lifestyle. Saying that though, I have really really enjoyed this year being here, but maybe because I always knew it would be temporary.

Cocobear - I have just realised you are selling out on us! Brasilia sounds like fun. How will you cope with life without potholes?

I bet Suedonim leaves Nigeria now in December and I shall be all alone in Africa

Apparently Brasilia has multiplex cinemas and hypermarches. And NO MALARIA. Can you imagine?? I can turn the kids loose in the garden after 4.30 without fearing for their lives/covering them in MosiGuard/changing them from shorts into long trousers and sleeves.

Still, that's over a year away, and I'm going to enjoy my last year here.

Just had a sort of welcome party for the baby yesterday, which exhausted me. You know, you have 'a few people' over around here and suddenly the house is swarming with children and their parents. It's fun, but it's a lot of cooking!

And DS's 4th birthday is next month. Does anyone else notice that expat birthday parties can get kind of out of control? How many kids is an unreasonable amount?

Admylin, it's good to get back to civilisation now and then. I know a couple of people IRL who've had a spell in Germany and they both found it quite difficult. Really, anyone who moves out of their comfort zone and survives is doing well!

PAl, selling up in the UK and moving to Bosnia is v exciting, in my book! What made you choose that country in particular? I'm currently reading Neal Ferguson's 'War of the World' about wars of the 20th Century which details a lot of E European history. It's fascinating and oh-so-sad how different peoples are so horrible to one another.

Coco, you're going to Brasilia? (Sue scurries off to look at an atlas) How long have you been in Africa? No malaria sounds excellent. One advantage of being on the 8th floor is no mozzies, I must say. Being by the lagoon has meant we had a terrible plague of moths in May and now we have dragonflies. I didn't used to mind them but now I've been told they feed on sh*t so am worried about getting germs from them. Oh, life in Africa is one long worry!!

Ah, the 8th floor... that's the way to do it. We had a stonker of a storm last night, and we always have to go empty out DS's tyre swing and empty half a can of Raid at it or we're breeding a malaria epidemic by lunchtime.

I've been in Africa about 2 years this time around, but I've lived in Kenya and Tanzania long ago.

Lol and yuk at the malaria breeding ground! I'm not surprised the war against malaria isn't being beaten here, there's so much standing water. I was talking to a long-time expat and she told me that there used to be insectors who would inspect your house/compound for danger areas. She said she once got such a telling-off because she had an old tin on the kitchen windowsill with some water in.

As for being on the 8th floor, Lagos is built on sand and when it'ds very wet I sometimes think of the Bible's advice to only build your house on rock!!!

Oh yes, I just remembered what I was going to ask the Africa contingent!! Do you have proper mattresses for your beds or do you have these god-awful 'Mouka' foam ones that are hard as nails?? Honestly, when I go home I feel like I'm going to suffocate in the depths of my mattress!

if you think manioc is a waste of a vegetable then you haven't had cassava pudding yet as made in the caribbean. yuummmmy!

Suedonim - we have 'real' mattresses. I actually find the Latexfoam ones kinda comfy, though. (It's what you get in guesthouses here.)

Ours are so hard. I've got killing backache today from it. I brought a duvet from home to pad dd's bed as she's all skin and bone and found it difficult to get comfy. She's off school today with a cold. I swear she gets more colds here than in chilly Scotland!