Grover (not the muppet) and some pretty amazing Pico de Gallo

While we were in Cameroon, I often commented that the best Mexican food in all of Africa could be found at la casa de Arriaga. Most people got it, that means at my house. Well, here we are in DC (Virginia, actually) and I might still make the claim that the best Mexican food that we can find is right here at home.

Alberto makes an excellent pico de gallo. For those of you who took high school Spanish, you may realize that the translation of this is actually "Rooster beak". However, there is nothing fowl about this dish. It is the most amazing combination of tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro and other stuff that you will ever taste. Alberto said that I could post the recipe as long as I included a copyright. I am not sure if you can copyright recipes that you randomly post on the internet, so instead, here's a picture. If you want the recipe, you can email me and I will share.

A few chips and a Mexican cerveza and you are in heaven

We had some other food with this, as well, but the pico was the star of our table. We will probably continue to try out Mexican places around DC and will continue to lament their lack of true Mexican-ness. Oh well, on to the super cute pictures that I have to share today.

We have a new member of the Arriaga family. Some of you follow me on Facebook and will have already seen these pictures. Grover is our new puppy and he is the cutest little guy that I have ever seen. He is a Morkie (Maltese Yorkie) and has wrapped us all around his little puppy paws. At only 3 1/2 pounds now, we only expect him to grow to around 8 pounds when he is full grown, so he is the perfect size for a traveling family. He can fit under the seat in front of us on the plane, which takes a lot of the stress out of traveling. Okay, enough details, here are the super cute pictures of our super cute puppy.

Sofia loves our new puppy and as you can probably see, Alberto is enamored with this little ball of fluff. 

School is going well for both Sofia and I. The weather is starting to get cooler and fall is just around the corner. We are looking forward to a real autumn for the first time in several years. We are not quite as excited for the winter. 

Until next time...

Home Leave and Oakwood, again

Hello everyone! We have returned from Africa and spent a fabulous month on home leave with our family and friends. We made our way to Falls Church and are firmly ensconced in Oakwood once more.

Let's get started on an update. Alberto and Sofia left Cameroon at the beginning of July to spend a month in Mexico with Alberto's family. By all accounts, it was a fun trip. Alberto did not take a lot of pictures, but here are a few that I did get.

Puente de dios, Tamasopo

Sofia with her cousins in Mexico

While Sofia and Al were living it up in Mexico, I finished up my tour in Cameroon. It was mostly business as usual, however, I had some great friends to keep me busy so that I didn't miss my family too much. Can you tell we were having a good time?

Nancy was an excellent hostess.

I nicknamed this party Winefest 2014

Doni, Karen, Nancy, Vilma and I are doing our best Rockette kick line. 

It wasn't very good but we had a ton of fun.

After a month apart, we came back together again in Philadelphia to spend time with my family and some of our friends. We had a great pool party with our amazing friends, Richie and Brandy Rea and their kids, Spencer and Meagan. Since most of the pictures include me in a bathing suit, I will spare you the agony, but some of these pictures are too good not to share.

Spencer and Sofia having a great time.

Hours of fun with a huge beach ball!

Alberto thinks that he is in the Olympic diving competition!

We went to Navarre Beach, Florida during our home leave. My dad and Deb were able to spend time with us while we were there. We didn't actually take a lot of pictures since we were enjoying the water most of the time, however, we rented a boat one day and I got some great shots of that.

Captain Al

Sofia and Buela

My beautiful girl

This may be our first "selfie"

Me and my girl

One of the best parts of our home leave was visiting with my family and spending time with my mom, my brother and his family. I have lots of great pictures of the kids but I will just put a few here so as not to bore everyone to tears.

Sofia with Annie

Smiles all around

Fun in the sprinkler and bubble maker

And when it starts raining, we play in the rain with pool noodles

New nephew, Henry Logan

I always love a little guitar music from my brother, Wes

Sofia is having fun!

Henry is having fun!

After a few short weeks of home leave, we had to begin our trek to Falls Church, VA so that Sofia could start 4th grade and I could start training at the Foreign Service Institute. We meandered our way to Virginia, taking back roads and stopping on the way in Gatlinburg, TN. I got to share the Pancack Pantry with Al and Sofia and we went to the Aquarium of the Smokies. And what would a driving vacation be without some Fantasy Golf? We made sure to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway for a while just to get the full experience. Here are some shots that I took along the way.

Glad to be in Tennessee

Looks pretty good!

Sofia and her fishy friends posing for a pic

The drive was interesting and very beautiful. We were very glad to have gotten off the beaten path and meandered through the mountains. 

We have now been in Virginia for about a week. Sofia started school and I have started my training. We have gotten mostly settled in our new home and are glad to be here. This blog is intended to chronicle interesting things that we do on our adventure, so I will post again when something more than just everyday life happens. I leave you with some school shots of Sofia.

Until next time...

First day, a little nervous

Second day, much happier

Last few weeks in Cameroon...

So here I am spending my last few weeks in Cameroon alone. Anyone who checks in regularly knows that Alberto and Sofia left a week ago so that they could spend some time in Mexico with Al's family. He hasn't been home in a couple of years and I wanted Sofia to get to go, so this was the best time. What it means though, is that I am still here in Africa, since I can't leave until a prescribed date. So we packed our stuff just before they left and now I am sleeping on a very uncomfortable government-issued mattress and eating on government-issued plates. Guess which one makes me sort of cranky...it's not the plates.

Anyway, I get to pretend to be a single person for a few weeks. Sounds great, right? Well the only issue with that is that since we have already sold our truck, I am basically at the mercy of the motorpool and any of my friends that I can beg for a ride. Being alone in a mostly empty house with no wheels, is pretty tough. Oh well, I have made plans to rectify this situation.

I have planned dinner with friends for the next three nights. I want to laugh and talk and have a good time, because I must remember that Cameroon was a good place for us. We have been happy here. Sofia learned a lot and Al and I made some really excellent friends. I do not want my final memories of Cameroon to be sitting in the dark in my empty house watching old episodes of "NCIS" on the internet.

So I will go out with friends; I will laugh and talk and drink wine and I will take my camera and get pictures of all of these amazing friends. That way when we move on to the next adventure and I am finally reunited with my family, when they ask, "So what did you do while we were gone", I will actually have some stories to tell.

T-minus 22 days and counting...until next time.

An update...at long last

I realize that it has been a while since I shared any pictures or stories about our life here in Cameroon. We had a few events over the last couple of weeks that were photo worthy so a new blog post was a must. 

We are starting to think about our departure from Cameroon. It will be a busy few months while we sort through and sell some of our stuff. It is challenging to plan to have most of your things in storage for more than a year.Oh well, we signed up for this and we are really looking forward to our next big adventure.

Well, enough of that, on to the pictures.

Here are some good shots of Sofia just before Friday Night Live, the school talent show.

We also celebrated International Women's Day, Cameroonian style. We had the girl scouts march with us and as always, the clothing was something to see. It was much better this year than last, but honestly, that isn't saying much.

MY friend Angie and I. I really wish I had her hat!

Three different levels of Girl Scouts participated.
Daisy, Junior, and Brownie