Mission: Moving to Jamaica - part 4

In February it was my turn to enter the real world and get a job. I was very lucky and got a nice job at a dental laboratory. Also in February we managed to get the land line installed and eventually the internet working. Now I am trying to catch up with my e-mails and hoping to get back in shape soon regarding the challenges I was taking part in. I missed the deadline of my last gift certificate, so now I have to work twice as much to get it back. I also missed a lot of wonderful freebies and great challenges, but I knew I had to give up some of my daily things when I moved to Jamaica.

However, things are slowly getting back to normal and now I have to learn to juggle between being a full time mom, a full time wife and having a part time job. I would make my part time job a full time one, but unfortunately the two hours journey to home and the fact that my five years old would be home alone for most of the afternoon, stop me from being in the office for eight hours every day. Hopefully, next September, when Alex is supposed to start preparatory school, I will turn my part time job into a full time one.

In the meantime, I hope I will have enough time to join some challenges and make some new layouts. I will start my “come-back” with a few photos of my new home and new life.

I have some photos with the V-day cards I made for my husband.

Mission: Moving to Jamaica - part 3

In January, we decided Alex knows enough English to get around and send her to school. So once again she had to adjust to a new environment, a new teacher, new class mates and a completely different educational system. If in Romania she was going to kindergarten and was in the second year, in Jamaica she is going to basic school and thus she is in grade two. Here she has to wear a uniform and a special physical education gear. Her uniform is light blue and dark blue and her P.E. gear green. She wears green every Wednesday and her color is green because she is in the “green house”. 

Every school has a Sports Day and on that day the “houses” in the school compete against each other. The academic year is divided into three terms and she started with the second term of the second grade. I will say this - with the risk of you thinking I am bragging: Alexandra is a very good student and she already caught up with the rest of the class. It’s almost as if she’s been with them from the very beginning.

I’ve already mentioned how different school is and if Alex is adjusted to it because she doesn’t know a lot about other educational systems, I still have trouble understanding some of the steps of this system.

Mission: Moving to Jamaica - part 2

November passed between working on the house and packing and unpacking our things. On my husband’s birthday we got the first dog, a mix between German Shepard and Golden Labrador. We named him Scout and a week later we got him a little friend to keep him company in the yard when we are not home. The second dog we got was a pure breed, a German Shepard and we named her Sara although in her papers she is Nicole. There is a difference of about three weeks between the dogs, Scout being the older one, but now the difference is not noticeable anymore. When we brought Sara, she was so small neighbors thought she was a cat. J Now, three months later you can see she is going to be a gorgeous dog.

December was moving in month as well as painting and cleaning. We also did a little shopping and spent some of the money we had. We also spent the first Christmas as a family in our house. The kids got a play station and a couple of games as well as other little gifts. I baked for the first time in my life and both the cake and the cookies were gone before the New Year came.

Jamaica - random

Although I did not have time to digiscrap or internet to do any challenges, I tried to pick up the camera from time to time and capture some of the new moments in my new life and things around us. I won't show you the boring pictures with how my house looked before and after having windows, or before and after being painted. I won't show you how I tiled the bathroom or what appliances we bought. Yes, I do have pictures with all - had to show my mom that I am living comfortably and that everything is okie. So I will show you one of the first pictures I took with Alex in Jamaica as well as a couple of plants and trees from my street.

 

Mission: Moving to Jamaica - part 1

I can’t believe it’s been almost five months since I posted something on my blog. A lot of things happened during this time and there were a lot of new things I had to get used to and live without. First of all me and my little one moved from Romania to Jamaica. Yes, pretty much the other corner of the world, but I am not sorry we moved. We arrived here beginning of November and while for Alex it was just a matter of weeks to pick up both English and Patois, I was worried about the big change in her life. When we got here, the only familiar face she knew was her father’s whom she only saw on the web cam for the last two and a half years.

Their meeting at the airport was like love at first sight. The two and a half years of talking on the phone or in some chat were wiped away with a kiss and a hug. From that moment on it was Daddy this, Daddy that, but it didn’t mean I got a break. I had to be there with her all the time. In the beginning I was her interpreter, but as time went by she picked up more and more words in English and she didn’t need me around so much anymore.