Same Same

...but different.

It doesn't really matter where you are in the world; many aspects of daily life remain the same. Part of it is the practice of routine; setting up those little rituals that bring order to chaos, making things familiar in the midst of the unknown. Keeping our way of life helps when we are faced with transitioning into a new situation - a new job, home, language, culture. After all, kids still need to be bathed, fed, snuggled and put into bed.

Of course, making a huge move across the world has meant that many areas of our life have had to change. And that has been, for the most part, a good thing. While we have tried to keep our home routines fairly similar to what they were in Brazil, some things have just had to go.

Our kids still eat oatmeal for breakfast, but here I also have to pack lunches for school. (Very thankful, however, for the option to buy school lunches every once in a while when I don't manage to get their lunches packed)

While our kids had two bedrooms in Brazil, here we have packed them all into one (very large) room, and they love it.

We have adjusted so quickly to not having a car or using car seats. The twins sit pretty nicely on our laps when we go out and about in the tuk tuks.

I am surprised that we've managed without a microwave or oven. The microwave was used daily in Brazil for heating food, milk for the babies bottles, and mommy's half-finished coffee.

I can no longer drop the older kids at school and come home to snuggle with my babies and enjoy a second breakfast. While technically I am working "part time" - I spend almost every day at school planning lessons, working on organizing and keeping up the music department resources, oh, and teaching of course. :)

On the way to school with our neighbors. 

I have been so amazed at the way our family has adapted to our new reality; the kids are thriving in school, the babies love their nanny, and both David and I are feeling productive and fulfilled in our various jobs.

We're putting these kids to work! :)

All this is not to say there haven't been hard adjustments to make or challenges to overcome, but we celebrate the progress we've made, and press on to deal with the problems at hand - like how we have had no running water at our house for the past day.....