Tammy Days

Wow! Last night we received our second donation, and boy were we excited! I almost cried (which doesn't say soooo much cuz I cry all the time). Either way, both donations were for $100.As a nomadic family, we have an online presence and sell products and my skype coaching services to fund our journeys. In honor of Tammy Portnoy and her donations, we'd like to declare "Tammy Days" and dedicate these last two days in her honor. Thank you Tammy.

Here in Costa Rica, $100 covers our family for two days:
$30 rent at the ranch
$6 buses to and from the animal rescue
$10 food we make at home (salads, rice, beans, fruit)

Tammy Day #1 looked like this...

We meant to go volunteer but missed the bus and because it was pouring rain and we don't have umbrellas and we're not sure we won't get killed on the side of the narrow dirt road to the animal rescue, we decided on a hang out day at home:

7:35 wake up (bus left at 8 and its a forty minute walk)
israeli salad, melted cheese on tortillas for breakfast
8-12 girls whipped out their workbooks, solai did math, dahnya word games, the kids all made funny movies for their friends at school, we did skype with kobi's parents
1 lunch of rice, beans, avocado, and salad
2:30-4 mom and dad take our first afternoon nap in weeks (so fun!), kids get to watch a movie to ensure they don't wake us up every second with "she looked at me" or "he took my pet shop's toy's head off"
4 woken up by kendall and louis that we have a meeting NOW in florencia with the head of the educational institute who wants to coordinate with us a volunteer program involving potentiall english for kids and adults, "clean your soul" gabi- things for adults, and computers for adults.

we got ready furiously and went.

5:30-6:30 kids bored in meeting and a wonderful reminder that (as i told the director) that my kids need to have something meaningful or fun to do while kobi and i teach otherwise, we can't teach. they said they could arrange fun activities in the next room and invite the kids of the parents learning with us, to play with our kids

7 director invited us to a restuarant for dinner!!! how cool to eat out! very nice. kids got bored, tired, and hungry at the restaraunt. it was not pretty. they also were not thrilled with the food. joy.

9 put super tired and adorable kids to be with greek mythology book. soooo cool. we read about hera and how jealous she was of all of zeus's many mortal wives. she took poor IO, zeus's newest bride turned into a white cow, and tied her to a tree with argus, her one hundred eye guard watching her. when argus was killed (long story), she took his hundred eyes and put them on her favorite bird, the peacock. thus, the peacock has that gorgeous tail with argus's hundred eyes.

[just in case you wanted all the details tammy :-) ]

Tammy Day Niumber 2:

5:45 wake up. kendall has decided to volunteer with us today! how cool. kobi packs our breakfast, fruit, water, and made pasta.
7:15 we leave for the bus yelling at one of our kids (who will remain unnamed) for not putting shoes on fast enough and almost making us miss the bus

7:45 we accidentally catch the early bus. (he was late)
8:15-12:30 volunteer as the asis animal rescue. today, we saw the baby squirrel had been moved to a vet's house, the owl's cage is half open to encourage him to leave when he's ready, and the 'friendly' baby monkey who is jealous of anyone short who may compete with him bit dahnya really hard on the arm. (on monday, he had bitten solai)

we fixed and repainted signs, fed all of the animals, cleaned out cages, pet puppies, dogs, slothes, this really slow looking bear/miget, and julia the raccoon. we held birds, fed some makaws, and played with that adorable squirrel who orazi has named "chaveri" (friend). the staff jaime, leon, tiente, and david were as usual, kind, generous, friendly, and loving to us

the kids wanted to use a macceta, but not in a nice, dignified way like on monday. they wanted to use it with its full force. so, we got to blaze an old trail was covered by leaves, roots, and jungle tangles. the kids worked soooooo hard and furiously.

1 lunch served and prepared by kobi. freshly-made salad and pasta.

1:30- 2:30 more trail blazing
2:45 we go wait for the bus
3:10 bus comes and we get to ride with the locals (which we love!). guy next to dahnya won't stop smiling. i'm sitting at the back door which the driver forgets to close. i hold on tight and enjoy the fresh air and amazing views

we walk home and talk about our day, our thoughts, and the boy you called wolf

4-6:30 showers, hang out, kids explore the ranch, i'm online answering emails and writing this, i skype with my dad in panama twice, kobi does sukudu
6:30-7:10 SUPRISE! the super nice guy who rents land for his horses to be on this ranch (who brought us chick feed after we lost ours) comes by WITH HIS HORSE ALL SADDLED UP!! he takes the kids (and lets kobi)ride. when the kids ran after him with a 'thank you tip', he refused. what a sweetie.

7:15- dinner (we'll see what we're doing but its probably salad, avocado, and maybe some hard boiled eggs left from breakfast

tonight we're reading Hephastus, The God of Fire.

off to help with dinner.

Tammy, thank you for these two days. They have been used well in your honor.

Posted in: Nomadic Parenting, Press Coverage, Tough Times