The Wooden Church (Kathedraal) in Paramaribo

This is the largest wooden church in the western hemisphere and was just recently reopened after a 10 year restoration. Amazing building inside with its soaring ceilings and arches all out of wood! We were attending a baptism mass of a friend's baby. The songs were sung in Surinamese, English and Dutch so it was interesting.

Christmas in Suriname part 2

Gotta have some "bling bling" in the house.....slowly but surely getting there.....

Dec 4, 2011: Attended the Women's International Event to enjoy a night out. Wow, lots of food from all sorts of different countries including Norway. The entertainment from India was especially nice as three girls danced some Indian folk dances. Christmas music is played everywhere but its still strange to hear "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" when its 90F out.

Christmas in Suriname

The Christmas season started a few days ago but its now in full swing. Here is Monique with her nieces, Tory and Erika at Tulip while shopping for Thanksgiving ingredients.

As promised

Noodle House Progress!

I FORGOT to add a picture of our kitchen: blonde bamboo, Martian Sunset countertop...painted side panels.....I realize though that I don't have a picture of it finished~ will get another pic taken!

Here is the house soaring in the early evening light 6:20 pm today Nov 16, 2011 ( remember it is pitch dark here at 7 pm)  We tackled putting new siding on the East side only as that is the "weather beaten" side of the house.  The salvages planks we'll use to restore the rest of the house that is still in good shape. 

House looks big huh....it's the 10'6"ceiling height on the main floor  or stone level!!

Small crane on the truck hauling away our iron stairs that we cut away in April of this year.....time to reclaim the yard!  This iron piece has been the attraction of a few passerby's.....one trying to haul it for us to get 20 ct/kilo for it, we discovered that he is one of the "junkies" in the hood, may have even stolen our water meter earlier in the year for the copper that he may have gotten 50 cts for......the meter was way more valuable....

Ahhh, finally a running toilet...running to the neighbors was getting old...still waiting for the shipment to clear that contains our p-traps and hardware for drain pipe.  It's looking like "something" finally.

Work, Entertain and Rest.....all at once....Surinamese style

Drainage pipes from the roof leading to the main ditch...This is also the front of the building facing the street.

Roti day!

Today with our friend Lynette we made Indian Roti with curry chicken with potatoes simmered with long beans/yard beans, eggplant and young chestnut "meat"curry. Wow, it was soo good especially since the Roti was my favorite "Clap roti" or Paratha. After the roti is cooked on the stove its " clapped" between your hands while its hot to "explode" it or shred it. In Trinidad this roti is called "Bus Up Shut" or Busted up shirt!  We missed the lime chutney, but it's being made.....still so keep tuned for the follow up, perhaps with bara (Indian donut), pilouri, etc etc

 Monique likes to roll hers like a huge burrito while I just take pieces of the roti to pick up the "goodies".

We've been busy!

We now have a front wall, the water system is finished. The concrete rubble was placed to help stabilize the bank of the drainage canal.  

We found the antique railing next door to use on the front porch. Its from the old school house in town  dates from the late 1700's. Cool huh. The front balcony and entrance will be built in the old Colonial style so this is a "key" find to achieve this. 

The bathrooms tiling is almost completed thanks to friends who loaned us tools so I could do the tiling myself. Soon we will be able to move in and enjoy the "Noodle House".

We are back in Suriname!

After being away it is great to be back in Suriname! We missed our friends and family here so lots of catching up to do on all the local news. I am just posting some pictures mostly today as I am too tired to write.

Monique buying fruit

 

Yes, when it rains it pours!

I love the evenings at sunset

This is the famous bar Tori Oso.

Camping at Ohanapecosh

We drove up on Friday the 16th to Mt Rainer National Park to camp until Sunday. It was a beautiful day on friday so the drive was nice and hardly any traffic. Must be because its late in the camping season but we found a nice campsite before the crowd came in late to the campground.
Here is a picture of the campsite.

Camping at Leavenworth

Since we finally got our "stuff" shipped out to Suriname on Wednesday, we decided to escape on the weekend to go camping. Leavenworth is about 2 hours driving and is usually warm. Well, it was 97F so it was plenty warm and we camped next to the river to stay cool. Ended up taking a nap after setting up the Westy and a hangmat between two trees. Monique fell asleep on a mat on the ground next to me...what a lazy afternoon! On Sunday we stopped at a fruit stand to buy a few "just picked" fruits and then drove back over Highway 2. That was a pretty drive and not much traffic either. The Westy did great averaging 20+mpg for the trip.

My other interests

We have 3 older VW's that we drive and enjoy. The 77 VW Westy is nearly 100% restored and great fun to camp in. A 1976 Porsche 914 2.0L that I have had since 1995 that is pretty much restored but is also set up for track/AXing. Our newest addition is a 1970 Karmann Ghia convertible that has had really one owner. Its a fun summer driver that I will restore in the near future.

What are we doing in Suriname!!!!

On March 8th, 2010 Monique and I arrived in Suriname to take over managing Lifestyle Interiors, a kitchen cabinet shop. We jumped right in trying to improve the business, new techniques, marketing etc. Slowly orders started flowing in especially once we imported Bamboo plywood and people saw how exciting our designs were.

Monique owned a small house in Suriname which we decided to repair and renovate. We made a ton of progress but we will finish it when we get back.

Food is amazing in Suriname so what's a blog without food pictures!

"What does Suriname look like?" We are asked all the time so here is a few pictures of Suriname from our eyes.