Home Care, KICS, O-Zone and the maid

Yesterday we went to Home Care. It's a small (by European standards) store with the most improbably assorted bunch of stuff you might imagine. It's got lavishly displayed china sets, pictures, rags, electric appliances, blankets, carpets, tea sets, tupperware boxes, candles, garden hose bits and pieces and a whole toy / stationary section. To my delight we found a small inflatable pool for the kids for 20$. Now we just need to buy a big carpet to put underneath, since our tiles are so slippery when wet. We also wanted to buy a frying pan to replace the charcoaled remains left behind by the previous tenants. However, when we got to the cashier's desk, we were told that we couldn't buy it because there was no price tag on it. "You can buy it tomorrow." Can't wait.

This morning we went to visit the school E will be attending from August. It's called Khartoum International Community School (KICS www.kics.sd ) and it's run by V's company and therefore paid for our kids. Otherwise the kindergarten level tuition is about 7'000$ (US) a year for half days and no food included. High school level tuition reaches beyond 20'000$ a year. For somebody like me coming from a public and hence completely free school system, this is like the fifth dimension... Anyways, the facilities are beautiful, the staff was more than welcoming and E cried because he was not allowed to stay there. So I guess this is a good sign.

To help him get over his sadness and me to calm my rumbling stomach, we went to O-Zone for brunch. It's an ice cream shop / bakery / cake shop with a big shaded garden area. We had some coffee, sandwiches, juice, chocolate croissant and waffle. The kids loved it and they were happy to run around on the grass. I enjoyed it a lot too.

And about the maid... Well, I guess I am definitely not brave enough. V's former company's maid was available for a few days this week, so we asked her if she could come and clean the kitchen. As mentioned earlier, the whole flat is in dire need of a deep scrubbing type cleaning and while I am ok dealing with the daily mess, this needs more dedication than I am able to provide with two small needy children. So Sara washed and scrubbed our kitchen cabinets, tiles and floor for two days and now it's sparkling clean.