Storms, Monkeys & Big Questions from Little Explorers

The last two days have been a little quieter, but full of small moments that made them special.

As usual, the kids started their mornings with homeschooling. Today, Assunta and Polyxena wrote their first test, and they both did really well. We are so proud of how committed they are.

Our first real highlight came during the night: a proper storm.

I woke up when the ventilator stopped. Outside, rain was pouring and the wind was howling. We opened the windows, and soon the girls woke up too, as it had become too hot without the fans. Once the cool air came in, everyone fell back asleep. Polyxena, somehow, didn’t even notice the storm.

The electricity didn’t return until around 9:30 the next morning, but power cuts are nothing unusual here. Luckily, one socket runs on solar power, so breakfast was saved. And the best part: the rain cooled everything down. For once, it didn’t feel overwhelmingly hot.

The next day stayed cooler, and Polyxena even put on a jumper because she felt “cold,” which made me smile, as it was still well above 25°C. “Now it’s almost like home,” Assunta said.

Breakfast has recently come with its own kind of excitement.

This morning, we spotted a whole group of monkeys right outside. While Shida just laughed at our enthusiasm, as they are more of a nuisance than a joy, we were completely fascinated. Mothers carrying their babies, jumping through the trees, we could have watched them for hours. Julius observed them carefully and concluded that the mothers do all the work while the babies just hang on. Not a bad observation at all.

Later that day, the kids called me over to the wall at the end of the garden. They had discovered the beautifully coloured gecko again, with a red head and a blue-green body. It stayed perfectly still, as if waiting for us to admire it. Then, after a bit of quiet waiting, a second one appeared, this one brown.

Of course, that led straight to more questions. Were they the same kind? Maybe one male and one female, like some birds where one is brightly coloured and the other more subtle?

And if so, which one was which?

We didn’t have the answer, but it’s definitely something we want to find out.

In the evening, we went to the beach.

The kids started building sandcastles, but the tide came in faster than expected. Julius tried to save his castle with seaweed, but the ocean was stronger, and in the end, it was completely flooded.

So they moved on to jumping waves, which reminded them of a wave pool we visited last year. That led to another big question: how does the ocean actually make waves?

We talked about how wind creates waves, and how the sun, moon, and even earthquakes can play a role. The kids are keen to explore this more.

Another highlight has been the fruit. Our “Znüni” is filled with mango, melon, small bananas, apples, and the sweetest oranges we’ve ever tasted. A friend showed them to us earlier this week, otherwise I might have mistaken them for lemons, as their skin is more yellow-green than the bright orange we’re used to from Europe. Inside, though, they are incredibly sweet, juicy, and easy to peel. We really love them.

These were our highlights, nothing extraordinary, but full of new experiences, questions, and small discoveries. And that’s exactly what makes this journey so special.

Today, the beach was full of people, with music playing since the afternoon, as it marks the end of Eid. So we wish everyone celebrating, Eid Mubarak!

If you’d like to follow along and receive our next stories directly in your inbox, feel free to sign up 😊