The Other Side of the Story

Yesterday was a bad day.  Like the kind of day that makes you question what exactly you are doing with your life.  It wasn't the kids that set me off or this country, but a feeling of complete isolation and loneliness.

I fully expected to be frustrated, upset, in love with this place and in awe all at the same time. Anyone that moves to a new location, whether abroad or to a new town usually experiences a full range of emotions.  I remember when we first moved to Thailand and I didn't even have a bike and I felt like I was totally stuck.  It was too hot to walk anywhere and I had 3 littles under 6, so that made walking anywhere even more difficult.  I was frustrated, felt completely alone, and would go days without even talking with another adult.  I hated it. I ended my time in Thailand with an amazing group of friends.  The boys had friends they could play with everyday in our neighborhood.  I could hop on my motorbike and take the kids to a coffee shop or out to lunch when we needed a break.  My life was full, we were all happy, I really could not have asked for a better time in my life.

After a month in Chile, I have been transported right back to my first year in Thailand.  I don't really know anyone and don't really have anyway to meet anyone.  I don't have a phone, a car, a bike, any transportation and the boys have not really had a chance to make any friends.  And you know what?  I hate it.  I'm angry we moved.  I'm missing the amazing support system I had in Thailand.  There is no place within walking distance that the boys and I can go to escape our house.  I'm frustrated and lonely.

I'm not posting this for sympathy or a pat on the back, but posting to show the full range of the life we have chosen.  I post these beautiful pictures from amazing places we have been and it may seem like we are all very happy and enjoying our new home.  I wanted to make sure that I kept it real because so often we only see one side of the story.  The side that looks good to everyone.  We don't see the difficult side of the story.

I do see a glimmer of hope that has been pulling me through my current set of frustrations.  I see us 3,4,5 years down the road here and I see us happy, fulfilled, and complete.  It took me 5 years to build the community I had in Thailand.  It was a lot of work and took a lot of time.  It was so many playdates and uncomfortable situations.  It was pushing and stretching myself to get out there and meet people when all I wanted to do was stay home.  It was meeting so many people and waiting to find the ones we connected with and friends that were positive influences for the boys.

 I know all of this can be possible here in Chile too.  It's going to take a lot of time.  There will be lots of outbursts and temper tantrums, mostly from me.  :)  But we will get there little by little.

I saw this posted today and I am going to try and make today a better day by remembering this.

Week In Review: September 11-17-Things that make me happy, American Ninja Warrior, & Recipes

It's week two of school and I hardly took any pictures. But, I did take a lot of pictures of things that made me happy.  I mentioned last week I was in a little mood and so this week I decided to focus on things that are great about living in Chile so far.

On Sunday, Greyson was invited to a paintball party.  The location looked amazing and he had so much fun.  He cannot wait to go back.

 The paintball location

While Ben and Greyson were at that, Britton, Lincoln, and I went on a hike through the trails in our neighborhoods.

We started out the school week with a beautiful book that was given to us by some wonderful friends. If you homeschool, you need this book.  It quickly has become a favorite in our house.  

You know it's a good day when your table looks like this at the end of it.  

I tried a few new recipes this week.  I made this yummy cream cheese coffee cake and baked pretzels. I also made my own coffee creamer.  I never realized how easy that was.  We also had taco Tuesday at our friend's house.  I need to take photos the next time.  I also starting going to a cooking club this week.  This week, we made Jamaican meat & veggie patties.  They were delicious.

 Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

 Coffee Creamer

 Baked Pretzels

Jamaican Veggie patties

Just look at those sunsets!  Ben chose a house with amazing views.  I am just in awe every night when the sun sets.  It is absolutely beautiful.  

Other things that made me really happy this week:

Our shipment came!!  It was like Christmas.  It was so much fun opening all the boxes.  Although, we are still arranging, organizing, and trying to find places for everything.  Everything made it in one piece and we are so happy to have all our belongings again.  

I have a dishwasher!!  I haven't had a dishwasher for 5 years, so I am ecstatic about this.  I am very, very thankful to have a dishwasher. 

Brotherly cuddles make me very happy.

Avacoados make me so happy.  They were so expensive in Thailand and you can buy them by the bag here.  They have become a staple in our house now.

 My new elephant mug from Thailand made me very happy and a little homesick.

Lincoln is also training for American Ninja Warrior.

I also made a trip into the city to get fabric to re-upholster some chairs in our house. I have never upholstered chairs before, so that will be fun to learn.   We also ended the weekend at a potluck for all the new teachers at Nido.  It was nice to get to meet so many new people.  

Ben has this week off, so we are taking time to work on the house and build lots of furniture. Hope everyone has a great week!  

Week In Review: September 4-10, 2016- First week of School, Dog, Furniture, & Chilean Celebrations

It was a big week in la casa Roth.  We took the Sunday before school started to explore a couple of the many parks in our neighborhood.  There is no shortage of parks in Chile.  The boys love pretending to be on American Ninja Warrior at the one park.  So many things to climb on and now they have all mastered the monkey bars.

First week of School

We started back to school this week and had our annual "Not-Back to School" Breakfast.  I decorated the table and the boys had a breakfast of muffins, scrambled eggs, and sausage.  Then we jumped right in to our lessons.  We started out with a school interview and the boys read them aloud to each other. Then I brought out a roll of toilet paper and asked them to take as much as they would like. Well, they think more is better, but in this case they had to share something about themselves for each square they tore off.  It took a long time.

This week we started with about half of our lessons.  I am still waiting on our shipment to arrive and that has quite a bit of my curriculum in it.  The boys worked on handwriting. math, spelling, lots of Spanish, reading, 50 States, and grammar.  We  will be adding in everything else once we get it, which should be September 15th!!

For math, Britton and Lincoln are still using Horizon's math and Greyson is starting with Teaching Textbooks.

What we are reading

During our daily read aloud I am reading, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.  I cannot put this book down.  It is beautifully written and has such a sense of sadness and optimism all at the same time.  I can't wait to find out what happens in this story.  

                                                          

At night I am reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick to Greyson and Lincoln.  Do not let the size of the book turn you away because so much of this story is done through illustrations. I'm still not really sure where this book is going, but in a good way.  It's such a mystery and I am intrigued to see where it is all going to end up.  

                                                        

I am reading Superfudge by Judy Blume to Britton.  Britton and I have really enjoyed reading the Fudge series together.  Just a classic!

                                                           

Chang

Chang (elephant in Thai) is officially our dog.  This week we bought him a collar, gave him his first bath, and the vet came to our house to give him his first check up.  She told us he is around 3 years old and seemed very healthy.  She gave him his vaccines and parasite medication.  She was a little worried that he would bite her when she gave him his shots, but he was so good.  I honestly don't know how this dog was not raised by someone.  He is so calm.  Listens when we tell him to sit or stay.  And we can walk him around the whole neighborhood without his leash, even though there are a million dogs barking at him.  He just follows along and never makes a sound.  He really is a great dog so far.  Besides tearing apart my garbage every few days.  

Excitement this week

We got our new furniture this week.  This guy custom builds and makes this furniture.  I am really pleased with how it turned out.

We finished everything on our schedule for the week!  Huge success!!

I made a big pot of applesauce for the boys.  Want to guess how many liked it?  One!  Really, boys?  It's applesauce.

 I got my printer.  I don't think the boys were as excited as I was.

We ended our first day of school with lots of smiles.  One boy may have even claimed that he had fun!  We ended our week by going out to dinner at a cute little place and had burgers, empanadas, and papas fritas. Yum!!  And I didn't take any pictures!!

Chilean Celebrations

Next weekend is Dieciocho, which is the Chilean independence day.  Ben will get a week off of school and there will be a ton of celebrations.  Ben's school started the celebration off today with lots of Chilean activities.  There was music, dancing, and horses.  The boys even got to try and climb the greased pole.  It was a lot of fun.  We even had some yummy Chilean food.  But forgot to order water without gas.  We got carbonated water instead of flat water.  Yuck.

 Not one of my children

Lincoln 

 Britton

 Greyson

Feliz Dieciocho