Different rhythms....

Yesterday was our last walk back and forth to school for the next two and a bit weeks. We're in "at home" mode...and, although it's destined to be a holiday with revision pretty high on the agenda, I'm still counting on having time for some crafting and fun inshallah.

This morning everyone is busy organising revison time-tables and figuring out what they're going to do with their bits of spare time in-between cramming for the next term ahead.

School in Arab countries is pretty intense, it's all about exams, and points and exams, and points and cramming facts in your head in enough time to regurgitate them for the EXAMS!!  My third eldest had her last exam last week, and two days later her maths teacher gave them a mock exam for next terms work...

The system here is beyond crazy . But, we carry on regardless.. missing home schooling, but somewhat grateful for the fact that the children are progressing and have become fluent and able to study in a second language. And while the school year in Algeria is pretty intense, is also fairly short and we can concentrate on having the best of both worlds... some schooly school and some good, wholesome, nuturing home schooling.

Of course the change in rhythm means there's less pressure to get things done between the trips back and forth to the primary school.. for that I am extremely grateful... especially as this week alone we've had our water supply cut four times already , which in itself isn't too bad, but they've been all day ...  we always have some water stored in barrels, but that's only used for washing dishes, toilet usage and floor cleaning.

With no water, in a country where you can only cook from scratch  this presents somewhat of a problem on the cooking front... and it gets a little bit ugly on the laundry front after four days worth of nine peoples laundry slowly taking root in the wash basket but hey... it's all part of the fun of living in Algeria right?

Of course my biggest concern during the holidays is keeping the marauding fridge foragers out of my kitchen. And if anyone has ant tried and trusted ways of actually filling a teenage boys belly to capacity and stemming what seems to be an ever present hunger, then answers on a postcard please.... 

One of the high points of our week has been DD21 and her experimental baking... I bought her a couple of cookery books the other day and she's working her way through them slowly and blessing us all with very tasty & surprisingly economical teatime treats..

So we've been busy this week taking LOADS of step by step pictures for recipe posts... aren't we good girls

Right now though, while I'm busy writing this, I have an 8yr old passing me random sums she's jotted down to correct for her, a 12yr old asking me to spell some difficult words for her and I'm actually  meant to be translating my 8yr olds French book and making up some maths worksheets for her. Requests for cups of tea, cups of keffir and queries about lunch make my train though somewhat difficult to keep hold of, but I'm getting there...
And like I said the pressure is off, I can take my time now and get things done at a slower, more comforting pace.

Less comforting is the view from my kitchen window these days. It used to be sky... now it's the house opposite which is still being built but owners have moved in regardless and not only are they very noisy and prone to late night arguments, they've also blocked out all daylight from my living room and we quite literally have to have the light on all day now. The area in which I live is densely populated and more and more people are building UP, in order to house their ever growing families..all the house where I am are dark, and dismal and not conducive to a good Vitamin D intake...

But, it's all good in the long run I guess. We balance things out by finding other things to be grateful for and remembering that there are other out there in more volatile places and in far less fortunate circumstances than us.. which reminds me of the very funny conversation I had with the man from the Irish Emabassy in Berne the other day who sounded very concerned at my being here at all and urged me to stay in touch because I live in such a volatile country... little does he know that for most of us the most volatile part of our day is when the hole in the floor otherwise known as the toilet gets blocked and threatens to overflow or when we find a an outside roach of monster proportions in the house... But again, I'm grateful for the fact that someone I don't know felt concerned enough to ask if we were okay. 

And we are..alhamdulillah.