Well, since I last posted, Mike and I had a baby, said goodbye to our beloved first post of Praia, Cape Verde, spent a whirlwind nearly three months in the United States and moved all of our belongings, including our precious cargo of Jack and Strela to the capital city of Austria, Vienna. Phew.
Now that we are (mostly) settled into our new home, I’d like to at least pretend that I am going to start blogging again. While this tour may not have the quirks and interesting side stories of Cape Verde, there is so much to do and see to keep us adventurers very busy.
We have been in Vienna just over two months now and love it so far. Mike thinks this is the most urban neighborhood we have ever called home, as we are fortunate to live in the city center, close to amazing sights, restaurants and shopping! I may need to get a job, either to keep me from shopping or be able to afford to do so. ☺ But I am not getting a job just yet, so Baby Jack and I explore the city, take a Music Together class on Monday mornings, and join a couple playgroups (really so Mommy can make some friends!).
If you want to SEE what we have been up to, check out our Flickr site. www.flickr.com/mralles. I try to upload pictures monthly, but we also post random pics on the go from our working cell phones!
Excited to be on a new adventure, and excited to be back to blogging. Everyone keeps telling us that now that we are in Europe, we will get tons of visitors. They are about as flabbergasted that we had 20 visitors to CV as they are that we liked it there. Check out our visitor list and poll.
Auf Wiedersehen for now!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Monday, June 13, 2011
Big Day!
The weeks that we were waiting for our next assignment were filled with great anxiety and a little sadness. We started to realize our time in this special, tiny place was coming to an end, an end that will come rather quickly. But as soon as we found out about Baby Ralles (due October, 2011) and Vienna (ETA March, 2012), we started thinking about the future with equal anxiety but this time much more excitement.
The Ralles Adventure timeline:
August- Rachel returns to the U.S. to wait for Baby Ralles
September- Mike comes for a visit and brings Strela to the U.S.
October- Mike returns in time for Baby Ralles’ arrival
Early December (est)- The Ralles Family (minus Strela) returns to close out in Praia
End of January (est)- The Ralles Family leaves Praia for the U.S. (training in DC and home leave)
End of March (est)- The Ralles Family reunited with Strela head on for the next adventure in Austria!
We hope to see as many friends and family as possible in our time in the States. As for 2012, our visitor count in Cape Verde stands at 20. Can we surpass that in Vienna? Only you know the answer!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Playing Catch-up
1. March 6-8th Carnival! After not doing anything remarkable for the all-important holiday of Carnival in 2010, we decided to pick up and head to the island of São Vicente for the celebration this year. São Vicente, and its capital Mindelo, is known for its lavish parades, all night parties, and general Carnival flavor. We got it all! We spent four or five days there eating, drinking, and being merry in the company of good friends from Praia and my cousin Amanda visiting from the States! See photos for the elaborate costumes and beautiful scenery of São Vicente.
2. Rachel got a job! At the beginning of April, I started as the Community Liaison Coordinator (CLO) at the Embassy, which Mike kindly refers to as the Social Chair. It is the PERFECT job for me, because not only is it all about working with people at the Embassy, which I love, it is also only part time (8:30-12:30) so I still manage to fit in long afternoon naps, General Hospital, and time with Strela. Oh, yeah and cooking and grocery shopping at eight different stores as well.
3. Visitor’s Galore! We have been the luckiest (and busiest) of all the officers at the Embassy keeping up with our plethora of visitors. In January, Mike’s cousin Erica came for a week and along with vacationing, did some really interesting work and research into Cape Verdean politics and elections. After she departed for her own whirlwind trip around the world, our friends Elizabeth and Joe from DC came for a week and we certainly made the most of pool time, a hiking day trip, and of course more eating. As mentioned above my cousin Amanda’s visit was perfectly timed with Carnival for a trip to another island, but she also got to see all that Santiago had to offer with afternoon trips to Cidade Velha and Assomada. In April, we had our first mini-visitor, Mike’s friend from Minnesota, Tobit, and his wife Thia brought their 2 ½ year old cutie pie, Aven. Tobit and Mike snuck away from Praia for a few days to hike the picturesque island of Santo Antão, while Thia, Aven and I spent our girl-time at the beach and pool in Boa Vista. Aven seemed to LOVE the African wildlife, and here that means cows and goats. This, we welcomed Mike’s cousin Steve and his two buddies flying in from Minnesota. They mark our TWENTIETH visitors, which we think is incredible! We feel so fortunate to have such adventurous family and friends, and are definitely the leaders in visitors to Embassy Praia. Go Ralles Adventurers!
4.U.S. Trip Extravaganza! Mike and I just got back from a fantastic vacation in the States. We know that our life sort of looks like a vacation all the time, but this was our first family-free (sorry moms and dads) vacation since our honeymoon and we did it up! First we made a quick stop in our old stomping ground of Chicago. The weather totally cooperated and we got to spend some serious quality time with good friends and of course (here we go again) good food. We especially enjoyed a trip to Whole Foods with Rachel Sher, where we commandeered a box and just walked the aisles filling it with things we miss from America. Rachel ended up getting a couple of new things for her pantry as well ☺.
Then from Chicago we ventured West, as far west as I have ever been, to the Pacific Northwest. We arrived on a beautiful and sunny day, took in a Seattle Mariners baseball game (they actually won!), took the ferry to Bainbridge, walked the markets of Seattle, and spent some time with our CV friends Kelly and Ná.
After a grand time in Seattle we drove north to Vancouver for my first trip across the border to Canada, eh? (Yes, I have been to Albania but never to Canada) We had an awesome visit with Mike and Lily Leung (you may recognize them from our 2010 visitor list). Mike was an excellent tour guide, showing us all of Vancouver and then Lily hosted us for a night up in charming Whistler. I am sure you are not surprised to hear that we also ate our way through yet another city, but the food is just so good, and there are so many choices, like a KimChi Korean Burrito and Poutine! Photos from our USA vacation are coming soon.
After a rainy drive back south to catch our flight, we left Seattle armed with some Copper River Salmon and headed to NJ for a couple nights before flying to Lisbon. Since this is probably the best Portuguese we (and by we I mean Mike) will ever speak we decided to take it for a ride and spent a few days in Porto, Portugal, which was beautiful with sunny, warm weather, and of course more food. It was only a little awkward and mildly embarrassing when I opened my mouth to speak Portuguese and out came Cape Verdean Kriolu. Oh well!
Well, if you are still reading this long, drawn out post, THANK YOU! And because you are still reading, I promise to be a better blogger in the coming months!
Lots of love from the land of sunshine!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Sometimes I forget we live in Africa...
Then I take Strela for a walk and find a large grazing horse on the way. Strela looks at it like it is an oversized dog, and she doesn't know if she should run to it to play and run away in fear. Luckily she is on a tight leash, so doesn't have the option of doing either.
Yesterday during our walk we encountered three cows and their owner. I tried to joke around with him that in America it would be strange to find cows grazing in the middle of the city, so that is why I was standing on the street corner taking pictures of his livestock. The humor seemed lost on him, but then again this was all in Kriolu so who knows what I was really saying.
Then during lunch, my conversation was interrupted by a pick-up truck driving past with huge speakers on the back blasting music announcing the big event at the most popular club this weekend. This is a common occurrence in Cape Verde as the most popular means of advertising. Legislative elections were last weekend and we were relieved when they were over because that meant that we wouldn't have to trail these trucks on the road blasting the opposition party's loud, but catchy, song (see video), MESTI MUDA! This means, "need change," wonder where they got that campaign idea from?** Thank goodness we live in a quiet cul-de-sac!
Last week I started a new tradition that I know I will miss when this experience ends. We have an orange tree in our front yard that has become quite prolific in producing delicious, unique oranges native to Cape Verde. They are green and yellow on the outside and their flesh is a key lime color. They are sort of a cross between the sweetness of an orange and the tartness of a lime and their juice reminds me a little of grapefruit juice but sweeter. Though it takes me about thirty to forty oranges to make a pitcher of juice, I don't mind taking the time because it is SABI! And really, what else do I have to do? :)
Sometimes it is easy to forget where we are when we spend time in our house dubbed mini-America by our friends who don't have all the perks that come with being in the Foreign Service. Especially after last week when we received a shipment of goodies from the States that we purchased and shipped when we were home in October. I don't know what we were thinking with our several flatbed carts at Costco, we have no place to put all of this stuff! In fact, I have itemized four major boxes to store some extra canned and dry goods until we run out of what I can fit in our pantry. Ah, life in Africa. In all seriousness, in the four months it took for all of this food and drink to make it here by boat via Antwerp and the Canary Islands, I have gotten completely used to making due with what I have available to me, that I was almost annoyed that I had to deal with all of these things. Then we ate chips and salsa and had a Mexican feast complete with Corona so I decided, hey I could live with this.
Love from Mini-America to Maxi-America!
**Please note that The Ralles Family does not endorse any candidate, political party or policy in Cape Verde.
Yesterday during our walk we encountered three cows and their owner. I tried to joke around with him that in America it would be strange to find cows grazing in the middle of the city, so that is why I was standing on the street corner taking pictures of his livestock. The humor seemed lost on him, but then again this was all in Kriolu so who knows what I was really saying.
Then during lunch, my conversation was interrupted by a pick-up truck driving past with huge speakers on the back blasting music announcing the big event at the most popular club this weekend. This is a common occurrence in Cape Verde as the most popular means of advertising. Legislative elections were last weekend and we were relieved when they were over because that meant that we wouldn't have to trail these trucks on the road blasting the opposition party's loud, but catchy, song (see video), MESTI MUDA! This means, "need change," wonder where they got that campaign idea from?** Thank goodness we live in a quiet cul-de-sac!
Last week I started a new tradition that I know I will miss when this experience ends. We have an orange tree in our front yard that has become quite prolific in producing delicious, unique oranges native to Cape Verde. They are green and yellow on the outside and their flesh is a key lime color. They are sort of a cross between the sweetness of an orange and the tartness of a lime and their juice reminds me a little of grapefruit juice but sweeter. Though it takes me about thirty to forty oranges to make a pitcher of juice, I don't mind taking the time because it is SABI! And really, what else do I have to do? :)
Sometimes it is easy to forget where we are when we spend time in our house dubbed mini-America by our friends who don't have all the perks that come with being in the Foreign Service. Especially after last week when we received a shipment of goodies from the States that we purchased and shipped when we were home in October. I don't know what we were thinking with our several flatbed carts at Costco, we have no place to put all of this stuff! In fact, I have itemized four major boxes to store some extra canned and dry goods until we run out of what I can fit in our pantry. Ah, life in Africa. In all seriousness, in the four months it took for all of this food and drink to make it here by boat via Antwerp and the Canary Islands, I have gotten completely used to making due with what I have available to me, that I was almost annoyed that I had to deal with all of these things. Then we ate chips and salsa and had a Mexican feast complete with Corona so I decided, hey I could live with this.
Love from Mini-America to Maxi-America!
**Please note that The Ralles Family does not endorse any candidate, political party or policy in Cape Verde.
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