Post 217

Daniel got tired at the furthest point away from home base during one of his walks.

Notice the flat sea and deserted beach.

Emma learning to write - notice the tongue!

Our 217th post is marked by Lice, yes you read right, we all have lice!

The creche phoned Fiona today to say she needs to pick-up Daniel as he has lice in his hair. turns out Emma and their friend Andrew plus another child had lice too. Seems there is very little that you can do avoid lice as the adults jump very easily to new people - it is not an issue as regards cleanliness etc. Anyhow, so we have all had shampoos and hair combing to get all the eggs etc. out. All our bedding and clothes have been washed and dried so hopefully we've nipped it in the bud. The various sources on the internet say it is quite difficult to eradicate. We'll see.

Both Fiona and I develop itches everywhere when we heard we may have lice - not a nice feeling. We probably missed the signs as we could not identify one if it fell into our hands with a big label "lice."

To change the topic, I hope you are all watching Amazing Race! They're in Vietnam and are visiting some of the places that we have a great affection for, namely the City of Hanoi and Halong Bay. Nice to see it all again - very special places and memories.

Tonight Emma found out how to walk down the steps into the lounge without crawling or holding onto things. We first noticed this after an attempt to go down resulted in her falling. Well, after that she did it like a natural - with lots of laughs to accompany each successful attempt. she always leads with her left foot. Daniel watched but made no real attempt - he'll be there in a few weeks.

Thank you for the messages of concern about the xenophobic attacks. We are quite safe as they are happening in the squatter settlements where more foreigners live as they cannot really get into the more established areas such as Soweto etc. Hence the conflict as the poorest of the poor live in these places. What is interesting to see is how ordinary people are helping the displaced foreigners. Ordinary people are contributing a great deal to help out. Maybe there is a heart out there!

Fiona is going to be contacting the various organisations so she can identify any baby twins etc. that could be helped on behalf of SAMBA - we have so much stuff that we have received from SAMBA that is waiting for a request.

Enjoy!