And you thought Canada Post was bad....

I realize it's been a very long time since a blog post by either of us. There has been a lot going on, we just haven't had time. I promise I am going to take time in the next week or so to do some serious updating, but for now, I'm going to talk about something new I experienced the past two weeks. 

It recently came to my attention that there is an actual post office here. Of course there are couriers like DHL, UPS and FedEx, but for some reason it never occurred to me that there would be a post office; certainly not one that would ship internationally. A friend had looked in to sending a package with the major couriers to Great Britain and it was going to be a ridiculous $180.00. We were happy when we found out that there was a post office that promised to be at the very least a bit cheaper. 

There are very many people in our lives having baby girls in the next couple weeks - or in the last month. Seriously - so many of you are having babies that I can't keep up! There are some ladies in the market that make amazing hand stitched dresses. Seriously hand stitched, they sit in their booths and you can watch them make them - many of the other booths order shipments from the capital city of dresses that are made in some sort of dress factory. I've long admired them, and decided that I would attempt to send some dresses for the new babies. 

I purchased the dresses and bought padded envelopes, wrapped the dresses in several plastic bags to avoid getting wet, and utilized a rather large amount of packing tape. We don't really have a return address so I had to make something up, knowing full well that if the packages didn't make it to their destination they most certainly weren't going to make it back to me. 

Then it was off to the post office. Thinking I would get all my errands out of the way in the morning, that was my first stop. First we went to the very large postal place that apparently is the regional courier for inland shipments. They told us they only shipped letters. Weird - they sell boxes for parcels. So then we went to the other building - a much more dilapidated building kind of hidden in alleys in the city. We walk in the door and there is a very small amount of space for customers, the entire place is sectioned off and has glass (plastic) from the counter up to the ceiling. The very nice lady gladly mailed my postcards for me - only $0.80 each - isn't that what it costs to send a letter within Canada now? Unfortunately, the packages couldn't be sent because they needed to be opened and inspected by a customs agent that wasn't there. I asked when they would be there so that I could come back and was told "Usually between 3-4 in the afternoon, but sometimes between 2 -3, and sometimes in the morning, it just depends on when and if his bus comes." That was helpful. 

It took two weeks of going every single day and either just missing them, or them having not been there that day. Finally, yesterday, I had success! I arrived at 3:10 and the customs agents were there, hallelujah! I had to fill out 3 forms for each package (luckily I was only sending three this time), and then the woman behind the counter had to fill out 2 additional forms per package. Then I was asked to cut each package open. After that was all done, I was given the forms and the packages back and was asked to sit and wait. I had my driver with me, thank goodness, or I wouldn't have a clue what was going on. We then sat and waited for 40 minutes. A man came to get us and took us through a tiny little door so that we were behind the plastic partition. A woman at a little desk had a notebook in which she was drawing her own columns. Then she had to write down all of the information on the envelopes and all the forms by hand, opening each package and inspecting every single dress to make sure I wasn't sneaking anything else out of the country. Once each package was approved, I was then directed to another desk to retake the package, and then I had to sign on the tap over the cut to prove that it was me that cut it open and not someone else in the shipping process. 

Finally I was given the go ahead to pay for the packages. To send three parcels, each weighing between 3 and 4 lbs, to Canada, cost me $30. They claim that it's going to be 20 days until they reach their destination. I find that highly unlikely. A friend send a package to Dubai and was told 8 days and it took 6 weeks. Honestly I'm just going to be happy if they make it! 

I've decided for the next batch of shipments I had planned - postcards and packages - I'm going to just get them all done at once so we only have to spend one entire afternoon at the post office :) What astounded me the most, which I know shouldn't have astounded me at all, is the amount of paper work that goes in to it and that it's all done by hand. I noticed that one of the stickers put on the packages was a bar code. I have no earthly idea what for since there is no way to do that. Presumably in Antanarivo they will have the capability to scan the item. 

Either way - it was an experience. So there are 5 post cards and 3 parcels on their way to Canada. If you get one, please let me know they've arrived, we'll keep a tally of how long each took! 

The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever

Here is the recipe for the Chocolate Cake I made for Matt's birthday - along with the delicious icing I just posted. I made two round cakes and layered them together with some icing and raspberry jam in the middle. MMMMM Good!

 

The Best Chocolate Cake Recipe (Ever)

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1.5 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon espresso powder *

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water *

 

*I have learned that espresso powder or coffee makes an excellent addition to a chocolate anything recipe. It makes the flavor of the chocolate pop and so intense. I did not have espresso powder, and after some research learned that if a chocolate cake recipe calls for boiling water, cut out the espresso powder and in place of the boiling water use fresh brewed strong dark coffee. It accomplishes the same thing. Worked amazingly for me!

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray or buttering and lightly flouring. (I used parchment paper).

 

2. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well.

 

3. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute to add air to the batte.

 

4. Distribute cake batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

 

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.

 

6. Frost the case with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

 

I put the cake in the fridge for a few hours and topped it with some maraschino cherries. So good!

 

Recipe credit: http://www.addapinch.com

 

Enjoy!

DELICIOUS Buttercream Frosting

I have decided to use this blog to keep track of some of the recipes that I've used here that I really like. This is a recipe for buttercream frosting that was amazingly tasty. When I made it I was short 1.5 cups of icing sugar, so I just used extra white granulated sugar. I also didn't have espresso powder - but I bet that would have made it even more amazing.

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

 

 

Perfect Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe

 

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 cups butter, softened

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

5 cups confectioner's sugar

0.5 cups milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

0.5 teaspoon espresso powder

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

 

1. Add cocoa to a large bowl or bowl of stand mixer. Whisk through to remove any lumps.

 

2. Cream together butter and cocoa powder until well combined.

 

3. Add sugar and milk to cocoa mixture by adding 1 cup of sugar followed by about a tablespoon of milk. After each addition has been combined, turn mixer onto a high speed for about a minute. Repeat until all sugar and milk have been added.

 

4. Add vanilla extract and espresso powder and combine well.

 

5. If frosting appears too dry, add more milk, a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the right consistency. If it appears too wet and does not hold its form, add more confectioner's sugar, a tablespoon at a time until it reaches the right consistency.

 

Recipe credit : http://addapinch.com

 

So good on a chocolate cake! The guys raved about it when I made it for Matt's birthday!

Post-Malaria thoughts

I'm knocking on my forehead(you know, knock on wood) as I write this, hoping that the last couple of blood tests confirming I am Malaria free remain correct going forward. What an "adventure" as my dad put it when I called to tell my parents that I had contracted a bout of Malaria. An adventure, sure - if you count cycles of relentless sweats, pressure headaches, bone rattling uncontrollable chills, and oh so much heat on your list of to-do's. :)

Anyhow, as Lisa put it in her post I was the lucky host of P. falciparum (click here for the wiki link) Malaria parasites, contracted as best we can tell at the Tiki bar in camp in the last 21 days. Why me you ask? Because I was lazy with prevention, the blame lies solely with me. Like most expats that do a lot of time here you grow very comfortable with the fact that you have not contracted malaria in your time here. As we are not short term visitors, medically, it is inadvisable to continue taking anti-malarial drugs past 3 months and simply practice prevention through long pants, shoes, and spray during the ~1.5-2 hours a day that you are at risk (6PM-8PM) of bite. So wearing shorts, flip flops, and sitting outside during that time frame at the Tiki bar for the last 20 months on a regular basis it was really just a roll of the dice.

You see, Malaria isn't something that the mosquito acquires naturally as part of it's lifecycle. Mosquitoes actually have to bite someone else infected with Malaria and then bite you in order to infect you. The parasite itself actually lives in the saliva of the mosquito(yum) rather than the blood and is transferred with the initial bite. So to be infected you have to a)be out and about when the particular type of mosquito can be due to temperature/humidity b)be exposed and not wearing spray c)get bitten by the exact type of mosquito that can carry d)said mosquito must have bitten someone who was infected with Malaria within it's short 1 month lifespan e)within 2KM since they are only able to travel that far at a maximum during their lifespan. Add on top of that the fact that there have been no expat infections in the camp in months (I am one of 5 ever to get it from our expat community) and I won the Malaria lottery! Somehow I don't feel so lucky. Is this how the powerball winners feel? Hmm..

Anyway, treatment was pretty simple for those curious, I was admitted, tested, confirmed, and put on the following:

• 2 x daily x 3 days - 4x50mg Coartem (link)
• 2 x daily x 5 days - 1x50mg Doxycycline (link)
• Large amounts of oral & intra-muscular anti-inflammatories/pain killers to treat the symptoms (fever, headache, chills)
• Daily blood tests confirming organ function & parasite levels
• 12 x daily blood pressure, temperature, and blood oxygen level checks (these are fun at 2AM)
• Copious amounts of complaining to Lisa and milking every bit of sympathy I could (thanks dear)

Coartem is pretty neat, it's a combination of drugs that kills the parasite and the first approved by the FDA for use in the United States in '09. Very effective, quite "light" in terms of it's impact & side effects and actually tastes oddly like a fruit candy rather than the horrible tinny flavour of Doxycycline. Common side effects include Anorexia (SCORE!), death, and something else I didn't read. Kidding about the death bit.

Anyway, last blood test yesterday confirms I have no parasite levels in my blood. Minor symptoms including my current headache and temperature fluctuations are common for the next couple of weeks. Long term I can expect anything from full blown recurrence(low chance of that) to never having an issue again. I am told my immune system will actually actively kill P. Falciparum parasites should I be bitten again in the next ~4 months, but going to do my best to not test that theory.

Thanks to all for the love, support, and messages - they are definitely appreciated. Thanks also to Lisa for being totally awesome and sitting in my wonderful hospital room for 3 days whilst I enjoyed providing the utmost hospitality to Malaria.

Cliff's Notes:

• Had Malaria, it sucked
• Cured (hopefully)
• Am not a walking disease vector (for Malaria anyway)

More reading if you aren't suitably terrified:

1. WHO Malaria Fact Sheet
2. CDC Malaria Fact Sheet
3. Coartem fact sheet

Pineapple Upside Down Cake - make this now, it's amazing!

So being that I now have the time to experiment in the kitchen, and am trying all sorts of new things, I thought  would post the ones that I liked the best on here for the sake of not losing the recipes, and so you could give them a try.

I am not a huge fan of pineapple, but I planted pineapple plants in my garden a few weeks ago. Turns out that to plant those, all you do is chop the top off a pineapple and stick in the ground. This left me with 8 pineapples to do something with. I will share two of the recipes. This one was by far the most popular. Rave reviews from everyone at the potluck as well as people we have had over for dinner. So moist and delicious.

fresh market pineapple

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 (20 ounce) can sliced pineapple (I used 20 ounce fresh chopped pineapple)
10 maraschino cherries, halved
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1cup white sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. In a 10 inch heavy skillet with a heat resistant handle, melt 1/2 cup butter or margarine over very low heat. Remove from heat, and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over pan. Arrange pineapple slices to cover bottom of skillet. Distribute cherries around pineapple; set aside.

3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

4. Separate the eggs into two bowls. In a large bowl, beat egg whites just until soft peaks form. Add granulated sugar gradually, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks at high speed until very thick and yellow. With a wire whisk or rubber scraper, using an over-and-under motion, gently fold egg yolks and flour mixture into whites until blended. Fold in 1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine and almond extract. Spread batter evenly over pineapple in skillet.

5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertip. Loosen the edges of the cake with table knife. Cool the cake for 5 minutes before inverting onto serving plate.

Not beautiful but I promise it is oh so delicious. Top it with whipped cream and you'll never want another kind of cake again!

*** I do not have a cast iron skillet, or one with a heat resistant handle. I have a pie pan that is large, so I made the cake in it and just melted the butter in a little pot and transferred it. The surface of the cake is brown and mine was cracked a bit when finished. Also, make sure you gently do the loosening with knife so that you don't gouge the sides of your cake, but do not skip this step. It will not come out of the pan when you flip it over otherwise.

Recipe credit from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Old-Fashioned-Pineapple-Upside-Down-Cake/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=old%20fashioned%20pinapple%20upside%20down%20cake&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1

Malaria Sucks...

...a lot.

This past weekend, Matt and I were supposed to be heading out with our friend Ian on a 4 day bike and quad adventure up the coast. Matt hadn't been feeling like himself for the past week or two, but attributed it to work stress and was looking forward to the time off of work and out of camp.

On Tuesday afternoon, he noticed that his knees hurt, which usually means for him that the flu is on it's way. We went to bed and he tossed and turned most of the night. Wednesday morning he got up to get ready for work and said that he had what felt like a migraine. It hurt to have his eyes open. He went to work anyway. By the time he got to work he was sweating uncontrollably. He went to talk to his boss, who took one look at him and told him to go come, he looked gross. It is about a 15 minute walk from his office to our house, and by the time he got here he had completely sweat through his clothes, including his jeans. When he walked in the house my first thought was that he looked like he had stood in someone's sprinkler for a while.

He changed his clothes and laid on the couch, the sweat stopping after about a half hour. He fell asleep for around 40 minutes, and when he woke up he was shivering uncontrollably. I got him a blanket, as we initially thought he was just cold from the air conditioning. The shivering didn't let up and he decided to get in the shower. I got layers of clothes ready for him and a hot towel in the dryer and let him be. I went to check on him about 10 minutes later and even though the shower was almost scalding hot and he wasn't shaking anymore, his lips and under his eyes had turned blue. I immediately told him to get dressed, we were heading to the clinic.

Our vehicle does not have plant access, and the clinic is on plant site, about a 20 minute drive from our door to the clinic door. This is not a distance that Matt could have walked. I called up a friend who's vehicle has access and we borrowed her driver and headed to the clinic. The minute we walked in they noticed the blue tinge to his face and put him in a treatment room. They checked all the standard things - eyes, ears, throat, temperature - and did a malaria test. It almost immediately went positive. Everything was making sense now, as he was experiencing classic symptoms of malaria.

A regimen of anti-malarial medication, as well as pain meds were started, and he was admitted to the clinic for a minimum of 72 hours. The real pain with malaria is that the fevers and chills are cyclical. You feel great for a little while and then you feel a headache coming on, and your fever spikes and you are in a remarkable amount of pain that is hard to do anything about. You just need to get the fever down. I watched Matt go through 4 of these cycles. The one at home on Wednesday morning, and then one on Thursday morning were the absolute worst, though he says over night that first night in the clinic was pretty bad as well. I never want to see anyone go through something like that again. The pain from the fever (it was over 40 degrees), was intense, and it took 2 ibuprofens, a codeine, and eventually an injection of pain meds to give even a little bit of relief.

He finally fell asleep around noon on Thursday and slept until 4:30, and woke up feeling a bit better. Luckily we were now past the first 24 hours and things were looking like they might improve. Although there was the occasional fever, he never spiked over 40 degrees again, and was able to come home on Saturday morning after three miserable days in the tiny little sardine can of a room he was in. 

He continues to improve, though the fevers can still happen for up to 10 days, so he is off work until at least Wednesday. They are sure that the parasite is gone. This was confirmed every single day with blood and urine tests. He needs to keep going on the medication for a little while longer just to make sure, but it looks like he is in the clear.

They told me at the clinic that it was going to be alright because he had non-complicated malaria and it was going to be easy to treat. We got the official name today and I did some research. They are dirty rotten liars. But first:

Malaria Selfie!

A card from the guys when they came to visit - they are hilarious..

:( - the wrist brace is from a quad incident, but that's another story.

Spending three days on a bed that's so small you can't even stretch out flat is pretty miserable. This is the size of the entire room. So small. Though it did have it's own comically tiny bathroom.

So it turns out that Matt had Falciparum Malaria. According to Wikipedia, this is the malaria that causes the highest number of malaria deaths. Great. They did not tell us that at the clinic, assuring us that it was good, we had caught it early, and he would be fine. They are very smart. I would have lost my mind.  Luckily, Malaria is no longer the kind of parasite that continues to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life. Once it is treated and killed with the meds, it is gone. There is no vaccine for it, but it can be killed. Living in a Malaria zone means that you may get it again, but only if you have the unfortunate luck of being bitten by an infected mosquito again. The mosquito only gets infected by biting someone that has malaria and then biting you. They are not carriers of the disease on their own. It is also only certain kinds of mosquitos (females) in a certain period of their lifespan, that can only fly a maximum of 4 feet off the ground. So basically it's those damn ankle biters.

For those that are interested, here is the Wikipedia article on the kind of malaria:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmodium_falciparum

And here is one on malaria in general:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria

There are anti-malarial drugs that you can take, but they are not recommended for more than three months as they basically tear apart your liver. So the best practice here is to be religious with bug spray that has deet, and to cover up at night. It is far too hot during the day for them. I am going to invest in large amounts of citronella things, and am going to be looking for tiki torch type things that burn citronella oil so that I can put them around our little back yard, as we love to sit on the porch and play cards in the evening.

We are also very lucky to have a lot of support here. Matt's boss immediately made calls to ensure I had a vehicle with access on plant site so that I could be with Matt as often as I wanted, friends gave up their driver to get him there, we had constant phone calls and text messages (from people here and people at home) checking on both of us, on Thursday night a friend made me dinner when I got home late from the clinic, and we had tasty fresh out of the bakery oven chocolate croissants brought to us. Ian doesn't even hate us for cancelling on him a day before we were supposed to leave. People are awesome <3.

Rest assured that Matt is recovering nicely, has no organ damage or lasting effects, and is doing very well. Now lets just hope that I don't get it either - I am much more of a suck :)

Two months of normal(ish)

Lisa came up with (or stole) the wonderful idea of putting together our thoughts on the first two months of her time here. I warn you that the following may be disjointed, rambling, and at sometimes mushy, revealing, or totally insensitive. With that disclaimer out of the way, here goes the bullet points (i like bullet points).

• It's pretty great
• Having your wife around is awesome (if it isn't - maybe it's time for you to reconsider your priorities) so it's pretty obvious that it's a great. It took a few days to get adjusted to normal again but beyond that I'd say it's better than it's ever been as you're forced to communicate, work together, and enjoy time with each other more since we're fairly isolated. As a couple that's pretty awesome as it grants us the opportunity to grow closer and be more awesomer(yea, it's a word) than we would had we had all the convenient distractions of home.
• It's pretty stressful
• For both of us! Lisa has to worry about remote school stuff, staying sane in a closed camp, meeting all of the new people that I already for the most part know, doing a bunch of home making things that I'm sure initially seem enjoyable but probably turn into a chore, be 15000KM from the dogs, family, regularly scheduled activities, job, home, etc and on top of which put up with my shit, and I have a lot of shit!!
• But it's still pretty great.
• Weekends off and hour changes are nifty (but rare)
• Now that I'm residential I'm supposed to only work 40 hours and 5 days a week. The reality is there is much more to do than that and you're stuck trying to ensure your pace matches and/or exceeds that of your rotational colleagues. I certainly have a new appreciation for "those lazy residentials" that I thought had it great. Don't get me wrong, it is better (especially with Lisa around) but it's also not easy to get time not-work time. That said, so far I've managed to take three Saturdays off and they've made for some excellent breaks.
• 3.5 months is a long time but 6 months is longer
• So far I've been away from home since June and it's starting to wear on me that I've yet to have my previously regularly scheduled 2 weeks off out of every 8. My brain understands this but my subconscious still seems to operate on the assumption that at any moment I will be jet setting home. The home sickness is a wee bit stronger than it has been in the past and I am definitely consciously aware that there is a long slog until we get to see everyone at Christmas. Don't get me wrong - it's character building, it makes you better appreciate what you have (and are missing), and all-in-all I wouldn't change the choice we made but it being away does wear on you more than perhaps I gave credit.
• Seeing / doing / experiencing more
• Since Lisa has been here I think we've done more in country than I ever did (other than ride dirtbikes into the hills). Lemur parks, beaches, restaurants, impromptu baking sessions and upcoming exploring are all totally excellent things that we have and are planning on doing. It's been awesome and I am thankful for what's passed and excited for whats to come.
• Hard choices are good choices
• Being here requires that you be confronted by the results of your decision to be here daily. Every day I think about where we would be had we not made the decision to do what we've done over the last two years. I'm sure we would be happy but I'm not so sure we'd have grown as much as we have as a result of the experience. It's made me realize that those difficult choices that previously I was a bigger fan of approaching bullishly and oftentimes ignorantly were not things to be afraid of or shy away from but opportunities to seized. So yes, the decision was hard and the stress has been great but all in all it's pushed us to grow, change, and adapt to situations and surroundings that we would've avoided previously. Whether that avoidance motivator be fear, apathy, or otherwise, thinking through and making the call has forever changed us as people and a couple and it's awesome. There will be more hard choices in the future, as there always is, but we will be ready to approach them as opportunities to grow rather than things to shy away from.

My bullet points have unintentionally turned into "Matt's Chicken Soup for the Expat Soul" rather than "Matt's coherent thoughts on what's been going on the last two months" but hopefully you get the point. :)