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 Ladies - sorry to crash your thread, but DH, DS(3yrs) and I (will be about 24 weeks pregnant) are supposed to be in Java at the end of January - after reading Liger's posts, I am mildly concerned about rains and malaria mossies - how worried should I be??

Hello ladies
Lots of lovely (and embarassing!) news from you, Suedonim. Gorgeous family.
Good news for me - the snow melted!! But is expected back very soon . I always said when I moved here that the 'proper' winters would be the true test of whether I could hack living here. But then our first winter was very mild compared to normal so I've managed to make it to 18 months wthout scurrying home! Let's see how this one pans out. I'm so superficial, aren't I! Basing my country of residence on the weather .

Had an eventful week. I managed to fall down some concrete stairs outside work on Wednesday and land on my face. Was very lucky not to break any bones or teeth. I'm just very bruised, cut, and swollen, especially on my face . Of course, it is the latest gossip in town ('the foreign woman fell and went to hospital') so I have had endless calls to get -the-- gory details ask how I am!

Coolmama - can't help with your Q but I'm sure one of the others will be along soon enough.

thank you very much - I'm sure someone will.

Hello everyone,

Lovely to catch up on all your news. Sue, fabulous photo's, your smiles show what awonderful day it must of been - had me smiling too

I've been back in Aceh a week, but a busy week so I've not been on MN till now. Dh has gone to London today for a 3 (!) day meeting. Not sure the meeting is worth carbon emissions but still, here I am.

Coolmama, sorry to have alarmed you! Whreabouts in Java will you be? That makes a big difference. Here in Aceh we have high levels of dengue and malaria, so we have to be vigilant constantly. Also low levels of general healthcare amongst the population. In other parts of Indonesia healthcare is better and incidents are less. Bali where we were the other week was very relaxed in comparrison to here in terms of mosi's. Our worry is heightened because if we did get malaria, or dengue even, we would have to get on a plane to get decent medical care. January will still be rainy season, we arrived here in January and had a few bouts of heavy rain over a couple of weeks and then it was all over.

If it helps, since my last posts it has barely rained at all, so the mosi population is down again and things have calmed alot. Use nets and spray in the house, and do your best not to let them in the house in the first place.

So, Bali was lovely, Dh even managed to find me some salt and vinegar crisps! The place where we stayed made fresh pasta! we ate salads with rocket and watercress in them, with lovely french dressing! They had mango lassi. And homemade ice cream. I felt good for most of my time there, coming home was a different matter. Felt all sicky again the first evening back in our house, just the smell of the place! And there was a powercut in action when we got in, it lasted for hours. My ds was delighted to be home, it took me and dh a few days to get over the Bali blues.

The other news is I have taken on a lovely lady to help clean the house and play with ds. Just in the afternoons. Its heaven, I can go and snooze with ds and wake up to a clean house! She speaks wonderful English which means she can bond with ds easily, and all in time for my dh being in London. It has been hellish trying to keep the house clean when i can barely face going in the kitchen for feeling sick! I think things are slowly getting easier though.

I have gone on too long and must go to bed! Good luck with getting ready for Nairobi Cameroonmama!

night night

ooh and Princess, that fall sounds nasty you poor thing!

Hi all
Just a quickie. Was wondering if any of you had any thoughts and advice on my little dilemma re having a baby in UK vs in new country? It's all only theoretical at the mo. I'm not pregnant, but we want to work out how to do this, if at all. TIA.

Thanks Liger. I'm getting better now. I still look scary though!! DS kisses me just the same, bless him.

PSL, that sounds a horrific fall. I'm glad you're on the mend now.

Liger, I'm at your trip to Bali but it's great that you had such a good time. IKWYM about smells making you feel sick. For years I couldn't bear the scent of lavender because I had to walk past a huge hedge of it every day when I was expecting ds1. At least that wasn't as bad as a friend's association of ideas. She spent so long clutching onto the loo that eventually the mere sight of her engagement ring made her sick!

Cocobear, it's been very hot here, too, the hottest since we arrived, I reckon. I remember thinking all last year that it never got quite as hot as in Jakarta, where dd2 was dressed as a penguin for the Xmas play in temps of 107deg!! But it's pretty toasty now, a bit much for me. (Uhoh, it's thundering....)

Cameroonmama, home is Aberdeen for us - from the sublime to the ridiculous! We're from Kent originally, though so are kind of rootless in some respects. You are going to be so busy over Xmas/NY - I hope it all goes well!!!

It looks as though dh will be signing on for another two years here, providing medicals get passed etc. It's going to be a bit of a scutter, moving from one employer to another and I'm not sure how that will pan out. We live in furnished accomodation atm but will get unfurnished with the new employer so I'm not sure whether I have to arrange a shipment when I go home. We don't want to bring out our stuff from home because we'll need it when we go back for holidays. IKEA here I come????

I'll admit to having put up our newly acquired Xmas tree yesterday. I normally put the tree up the last weekend before Xmas but as dd2 and I go home next week I thought I'd get it up now. I'm beginning to see the lure of a teeny-weeny plastic tree. It took about 30mins to get it all done, while it takes me hours at home to put up a real one, and much cursing & swearing. I also wrote all my Xmas cards over the weekend, with dd2's help. It usually takes me ages so now I'm missing having something to fret about! Not sure whether to do a round robin letter or not. I know they're naff but now I'm coming round to the view that regarding RR's as naff is actually a form of inverted snobbery.

thank you very much - we have been advised that end Jan is not necessarily the best time to go to Java due to the rains, so we are Thailand-bound instead. Will save the Java trip for another time.

Merry Christmas to all overseas Mumsnetters! I hope Santa is good to everyone and that 2008 also brings all you could wish for.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, in snow and sunshine, mosquitoes or rain! I look forward to Christmas tales from across the globe

We are on our final countdown to officially join you all, the house is all packed up and taken away and dh and I have spent the last two days cleaning and sorting. We have found a lovely retired couple to rent out our house to and now we just have the car to try and sell. We are installed at the inlaws until January 2nd (who are being v v patient with 2 lively dc and being charmed to bits by a perfect baby ). I am rather tired so it had all better be worth it

Merry Christmas to all too! Hope you all had a lovely time. Also all the very best fun, happiness and adventures for 2008.

Had a perfect white Christmas here. Woke up to find it was snowing on xmas morning, on top of what had already fallen a few days before. It was magical. Nice big tree. And santa found us, to DS' delight.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Cameroonmama, bit worried for you with recent events in Nairobi. Are you postponing the move a bit? If not, then welcome back to the madness!

I, too, thought of you, Cameroonmama, wrt to your upcoming move to Nairobi. What's the latest inside info?

things are not looking too good. We are getting continued updates and the recent outbreaks of violence are turning more and more tribal. People can't get around so they are not able to go to work, therefore nothing is opening and it is difficult to get food and money etc. Friends in Kampala say that they are now experiencing fuel shortages too as the borders are closed. We are still in Somerset at the IL and have postponed our flights until Sat, which hopefully by then may see a calming in the situation. I think tomorrow will be particularly difficult if the opposition leader manages to get his million people march/protest to happen as the gov have banned it from happening. Didn't we just pick our timings? Nobody expected it to be so bad...it is very depressing not just for Kenya but for democracy in Africa. Still, we like a challenge and I'm sure others have arrived in their newly adopted country in the middle of political unrest and a potential coup and survived Keep your fingers crossed.

I'll be keeping fingers crossed for you, CM. about the tribal aspect.

All my best new year wishes to everyone!

CM, I came online just to see how you are doing, I was imagining you trying to settle kids into a new home with huge uncertainty all around but am glad to see you have postponed for now.

We are in Singapore waiting to go for a scan ( the last one wasn't 100% positive so we are hoping for better news, a long story for another time).

In our hotel I have a TV for the first time in ages and CNN are going overload on the Kenya story, interviewing people who have been in the country for a few weeks asking their opinion on Kenya's future! It drives me mad! It is so sad that it has turned out this way, and the Eldoret incidents sounds very worrying. There has been this undercurrent of violence for a long time, and Nairobi would fairly often close down after the police/military quashed some uprising or other, it just rarely made interntational news.

Hoping you are all well, and I'm looking forward to more chats with you all in 2008. After Singapore I have just one week left in Banda !

Liger x

Thanks all for your concern, fingers crossed it doesn't get any worse tomorrow after the protest. At the end of the day it is those that can afford to suffer the least who suffer the most

Liger I am sorry to hear you are having some scan worries and all my thoughts are with you. I hope that things work out for you, keep us posted and do let us know if you need any support.

CM - glad you've postponed, though I know that's difficult. But have no fear, we're shipping out Ghana's president to the rescue. At my personal request, he'll have it all sorted out for you by Saturday. (Actually tonight there are conflicting reports on whether he's going or not.)

Liger, hope it's good news at the scan. All the very best.

Sorry to hear you're having some problems, Liger and I hope all goes well with the next scan.

The Kenya situation doesn't look good. Apparently all UK holiday companies have cancelled their clients' trips for now. Are you delaying a bit longer, CM?

Liger, how did you get on?

At the moment we are still going to go on Saturday, after talking to people it seems that our community is not affected too much as is often the case. Its not ideal but I'm not sure if it is better to stay here in limbo. As ever the reporting is slightly exaggerated but it is most definitely a crisis that could deepen. What to do, what to do?

Princess have you had enough of the snow yet? Not to mention causing a major bustup on your entirely innocent other thread

Coco - did you work your magic on Mr Kufour?, please please try your hardest, how are your relations with Mr Tutu? I want to go back to Africa NOW

Sadly Kufuor decided to postpone as well, as the Kenyan government didn't seem keen for his visit. Suspect they may change their minds in a day or two.

The violence sounds very bad and depressingly tribal, but that also means its less likely to concern you directly. I suppose maybe I'd delay a week and see which way it goes if I could easily do so. But am sure if you travel tomorrow you'll be absolutely fine. Tell us about the scene at the airport - it will probably be just you and the various govt representatives flying in, while everyone else ditches!

Don't think FCO has pulled out non-essential staff, even.

Liger, still hoping all the best for you.

And, ooo, what was princess's bustup??

I was hoping that if we went tomorrow we could have an aisle for each family member but we have decided to stay until Thurs as the schools are staying closed until the 14th and dh has an important meeting to go to in London, also the house is empty and we need to go kit it out, which is not easily done if there is a fuel/food/staff shortage. Also we have a friend who is one of your lot there and she reckoned it was best to stay here until later in the week.. if it was just dh and I or even if we had our 'home' there already we would have gone tomorrow. Lets hope it doesnt go too tribal...

Princess's thread was the one on giving birth in the UK.

Tell me, how is Shoprite these days? Can I send you some cheese before I leave?

LOL it's all gone quiet over there now! I think they have flounced now! But got some useful info despite the squabbling so it is time for a chat about how/when/if we do this. DH keeps doing puppy dog eyes at me and saying he wants another baby so it is definitely time for me to explain the boring ins and outs to him.

CM, I'm sick of driving in snow and keep daydreaming about the summer, so I guess that, yes, I am getting a bit sick of it. But know that I shouldn't complain!

Now, out of interest, have any of you come across distribution of charity christmas boxes in any of the countries you are in? Was very very yesterday and something that happened here. See this thread. I'm sure that something dodgy is going on.

Princess, ahhhhhh. Well. FWIW,I have a friend who chose to give birth here (Accra) and, long story short, nearly bled to death. And everyone here always says to her: how could you be so irresponsible (for not going back to UK). I don't think she was irresponsible, just couldn't figure out what to do about the NHS tourist thing. So you either get it in the neck for being a leech on the NHS, or for failing to leech off the NHS, or for not having the money to go private!

Here's my two pesewas, away from the prying eyes of the chancellors: go back if you're afraid to give birth in Bosnia. As a taxpayer, I'd way rather subsidise an expat mum who needs to come back than risk her life or that of the new little British citizen by forcing her to have the baby somewhere without proper neonatal units or blood screening. That said, Accra ain't Bosnia, so I don't know what conditions are like there. Good luck with the decision! Do whatever's best for you and your baby and your family.

CM - Shoprite has, as predicted, fallen victim to the curse of running a retail business in Ghana. It's still pretty good, but they clearly have a lot of problems getting their stock out of customs! Have plenty of cheddar and stilton in the freezer from our last trip to London.