Celine has followed me home. Complete with a mini-series on TV about her life. Titanic is on TV tomorrow (I think, or maybe it's on New Years' - I tried not to listen to the preview on TV...). She was even singing at the first restaurant Hiwet and I stopped at in Addis. Sigh. I just can't get away from that woman.
And now I'm going to bed. I'll write more sometime later. I promise. But honestly, there are just so many more distractions here than I'm used to - magazines, radio, tv, books, libraries, nephews, friends, phones, cousins, aunts, uncles... and nice cozy beds with flannel sheets and fluffy duvets :)
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas was great...
... but I'm too tired from all the fun to post any of the photos of it. So that will come... maybe tomorrow... I just wanted to let you know that I haven't actually turned into an icicle over the past few days. I've even left the house once or twice!
Monday, December 22, 2008
I'm not quite frozen yet...
But going from 40C to -25C in the space of a few days is a little bit of a shock to one's system!
I almost didn't make it out of Jb, due to a missing stamp in my passport. It was one of the most stressful two hours of my life. I won't go into the details, 'cause I don't want to relive the whole thing... but in the end, about 15 minutes before my plane was supposed to leave, the immigration guy had my passport in his possession and was NOT going to let me have it for anything. He just kept saying, "You're in big trouble..." All I could do was stand in the middle of the airport trying not to cry and praying! I had called all the people I knew to call (even tried calling Richard in Uganda, though I couldn't get through :( ) to see if they could get me out of this pickle... but to no avail. I had even looked everywhere for my Immigration Buddy. But he was no where to be found, either.
So what to do. I just stood there for a few minutes, just waiting for something to happen. Because something had to happen... either a miracle would happen and the guy would change his mind, or the plane would take off without me...
And then, a miracle DID happen. I never thought I would be so happy to see my Immigration Buddy... but there he was, a vision in his brown suit, striding through the doors. I'm sure he was so pleased that I was so pleased to see him, and I immediately shook his hand in greeting and launched into my problem. He dropped everything he had, strode over to the immigration desk with me in tow, told the immigration guy that was giving me the problem that I am his wife and I am a very good woman, grabbed my passport, grabbed the stamp, and I was on my way! What an amazing answer to prayer - this guy that I complain to no end about actually strode in at the very last minute and became my knight in shining armour (except that the only thing shiny about the day was my face, as I'd been running around in the 40C heat!).
Another one of my friends who works for an aviation organization was there, as well, and was sticking around to make sure I got out ok, so he walked me through the security and made sure I got on that plane to leave. What a comfort it was to have Peter there to put me on the plane, as I was so relieved from all that stress that I was almost in tears again! I was just so ready to leave that country, and I had no idea what was going to happen if I didn't make it on that plane when I was supposed to! So I was thanking the Lord that Immigration Buddy walked by when he did - on his day off, no less. There was no reason why he should have been at the airport that day, but he was, and he just happened to come and find me just a few minutes before my flight took off!
Now the tricky part is going to come when I get back. He did me a huge favour. What do I do in return... without giving him the wrong idea, if you know what I mean?! But I'll worry about that later. For now... I'm enjoying all the wonders of being home!
From Jb, I flew to Addis Ababa, where I stayed with my friend Hiwet again. My favorite taxi driver friend picked me up from the airport (where we actually landed early and I got through immigration incredibly quickly - so quickly, in fact, that I had time to eat a Twix chocolate bar whilst waiting... mmmm.... my first Twixt in almost a year!), and I went to Hiwet's house. My three days in Addis were so incredibly relaxing - I drank a lot of macciatos at the cafe near Hiwet's place, I visited some good friends, I strolled around the shops enjoying some lovely things, I read a couple of good books... and I slept so much in the nice cool fresh air! It was lovely.
Celine, however, followed me to Addis. Everywhere I went, there she was. Her heart was still going on and on and on...
But everything in Addis really went without a hitch, and I had a great refreshing and relaxing time. Of course, the days went much too fast, but I was also getting a bit anxious and ready to come home to see my family and friends here.
The rest of the journey home went as smoothly as it ever could. There were absolutely no problems with anything. I even had nice people to chat with on the planes and while waiting in the airport. And mommy was at the airport with a nice warm coat, mittens and a toque for me to put on when I arrived!
Since I got home, I've been trying to stay warm, doing a little shopping, got my hair cut (something that hasn't happened in several months!), drinking hot tea, doing a little more shopping, enjoying electricity and paved (albeit icy!) roads, and playing with my new computer (my other one died in Jb - I had been borrowing one from the organization I work for), and catching up with friends and family. Oh yeah, and sleeping under a great big blanket, snuggled in some lovely flannel sheets!
Only a few more sleeps and I get to see my sister, bro-in-law and nephews... and I'm SO excited. I'm just sorry I haven't had more time to talk to them on the phone - I seem to be out a lot these days :( But they're coming in a few days, so I can't wait to see them!!
And now, since I've been up later than I have been in days, I should probably tear myself away from the fireplace and put myself into those flannel sheets of mine... mmm... so cozy and warm...
I almost didn't make it out of Jb, due to a missing stamp in my passport. It was one of the most stressful two hours of my life. I won't go into the details, 'cause I don't want to relive the whole thing... but in the end, about 15 minutes before my plane was supposed to leave, the immigration guy had my passport in his possession and was NOT going to let me have it for anything. He just kept saying, "You're in big trouble..." All I could do was stand in the middle of the airport trying not to cry and praying! I had called all the people I knew to call (even tried calling Richard in Uganda, though I couldn't get through :( ) to see if they could get me out of this pickle... but to no avail. I had even looked everywhere for my Immigration Buddy. But he was no where to be found, either.
So what to do. I just stood there for a few minutes, just waiting for something to happen. Because something had to happen... either a miracle would happen and the guy would change his mind, or the plane would take off without me...
And then, a miracle DID happen. I never thought I would be so happy to see my Immigration Buddy... but there he was, a vision in his brown suit, striding through the doors. I'm sure he was so pleased that I was so pleased to see him, and I immediately shook his hand in greeting and launched into my problem. He dropped everything he had, strode over to the immigration desk with me in tow, told the immigration guy that was giving me the problem that I am his wife and I am a very good woman, grabbed my passport, grabbed the stamp, and I was on my way! What an amazing answer to prayer - this guy that I complain to no end about actually strode in at the very last minute and became my knight in shining armour (except that the only thing shiny about the day was my face, as I'd been running around in the 40C heat!).
Another one of my friends who works for an aviation organization was there, as well, and was sticking around to make sure I got out ok, so he walked me through the security and made sure I got on that plane to leave. What a comfort it was to have Peter there to put me on the plane, as I was so relieved from all that stress that I was almost in tears again! I was just so ready to leave that country, and I had no idea what was going to happen if I didn't make it on that plane when I was supposed to! So I was thanking the Lord that Immigration Buddy walked by when he did - on his day off, no less. There was no reason why he should have been at the airport that day, but he was, and he just happened to come and find me just a few minutes before my flight took off!
Now the tricky part is going to come when I get back. He did me a huge favour. What do I do in return... without giving him the wrong idea, if you know what I mean?! But I'll worry about that later. For now... I'm enjoying all the wonders of being home!
From Jb, I flew to Addis Ababa, where I stayed with my friend Hiwet again. My favorite taxi driver friend picked me up from the airport (where we actually landed early and I got through immigration incredibly quickly - so quickly, in fact, that I had time to eat a Twix chocolate bar whilst waiting... mmmm.... my first Twixt in almost a year!), and I went to Hiwet's house. My three days in Addis were so incredibly relaxing - I drank a lot of macciatos at the cafe near Hiwet's place, I visited some good friends, I strolled around the shops enjoying some lovely things, I read a couple of good books... and I slept so much in the nice cool fresh air! It was lovely.
Celine, however, followed me to Addis. Everywhere I went, there she was. Her heart was still going on and on and on...
But everything in Addis really went without a hitch, and I had a great refreshing and relaxing time. Of course, the days went much too fast, but I was also getting a bit anxious and ready to come home to see my family and friends here.
The rest of the journey home went as smoothly as it ever could. There were absolutely no problems with anything. I even had nice people to chat with on the planes and while waiting in the airport. And mommy was at the airport with a nice warm coat, mittens and a toque for me to put on when I arrived!
Since I got home, I've been trying to stay warm, doing a little shopping, got my hair cut (something that hasn't happened in several months!), drinking hot tea, doing a little more shopping, enjoying electricity and paved (albeit icy!) roads, and playing with my new computer (my other one died in Jb - I had been borrowing one from the organization I work for), and catching up with friends and family. Oh yeah, and sleeping under a great big blanket, snuggled in some lovely flannel sheets!
Only a few more sleeps and I get to see my sister, bro-in-law and nephews... and I'm SO excited. I'm just sorry I haven't had more time to talk to them on the phone - I seem to be out a lot these days :( But they're coming in a few days, so I can't wait to see them!!
And now, since I've been up later than I have been in days, I should probably tear myself away from the fireplace and put myself into those flannel sheets of mine... mmm... so cozy and warm...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
I'm Home!
It's 8:09pm, and I'm sitting in front of my parent's computer, wearing long sleeves, long trousers and big blue fuzzy slippers ... and I'm still cold. +40C to -21C in the space of a few days is just not right. I just might go into hibernation after all.
Anyways, my mind isn't exactly clear at the moment, since it's been a few days since I've slept in a bed! But I wanted to let you all know that I'm home, safe and sound. I had a wonderful few days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, sipping macciatos and visiting friends, and just resting, so if it gets warm enough to leave the house, I'm all rested and ready to go... if it gets warmer out there...
Anyways, my mind isn't exactly clear at the moment, since it's been a few days since I've slept in a bed! But I wanted to let you all know that I'm home, safe and sound. I had a wonderful few days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, sipping macciatos and visiting friends, and just resting, so if it gets warm enough to leave the house, I'm all rested and ready to go... if it gets warmer out there...
Saturday, December 13, 2008
One last blog...
... just to let you know how excited I am about spending the next few weeks in a rat-free, cockroach-free, snake-free, dust-free, sweat-free environment, where I can snuggle in my bed, under a blanket and sleep without wondering what the scurrying is all about, where I can nestle my clean little pink toes in the soft warm carpet, instead of trotting around on hard concrete floors all the time, where I can drink nice fresh milk, instead of UHT milk from a box.... oh, I can't wait!
Even tomorrow night, I will be snuggled in my friend's apartment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where I'm sure I will have my fill of injera and shiro and good visits with friends. Plus, the weather is supposed to be in the low - mid 20's as a high! Perfect weather!
But I've still got several things to do before I sleep tonight. Including figuring out what to do about the rat that is trapped behind my bathroom drawer...
Oh yeah, a bit of excitement for the day - the fence burned down next to our house this afternoon! I wasn't actually home, but I heard all about it. I just went to do some last minute errands this afternoon and I came home and found the charred remains of the fence. It's actually very surprising that something like this hasn't happened before, as there are so many burning piles of trash everywhere, all the time!
Anyways, I digress. I've got stuff to rat and dust proof since my plane is leaving in 12 hours :)
Even tomorrow night, I will be snuggled in my friend's apartment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where I'm sure I will have my fill of injera and shiro and good visits with friends. Plus, the weather is supposed to be in the low - mid 20's as a high! Perfect weather!
But I've still got several things to do before I sleep tonight. Including figuring out what to do about the rat that is trapped behind my bathroom drawer...
Oh yeah, a bit of excitement for the day - the fence burned down next to our house this afternoon! I wasn't actually home, but I heard all about it. I just went to do some last minute errands this afternoon and I came home and found the charred remains of the fence. It's actually very surprising that something like this hasn't happened before, as there are so many burning piles of trash everywhere, all the time!
Anyways, I digress. I've got stuff to rat and dust proof since my plane is leaving in 12 hours :)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Time flies...
Really, time does fly sometimes! After tonight, I just have one more sleep in my bed here in Jb, then 3 sleeps in Addis, where I will stay with my dear friend Hiwet again, then one or two sleeps on a few planes... then I'm sleeping in my bed in my parent's house! Yahoo!
Since I plan to be busy tomorrow night with my packing and putting everything and anything away that can be covered and hidden from the dust and critters, I don't plan on blogging much tomorrow. And then since my own computer is dead (I'm using a "company" computer at the moment), and I will be in Addis, which has notoriously horrible internet... I may not get around to blogging for the better part of the next week.
I hope you won't miss me too much while I'm 'enroute' home. But I'll see you from that side... and maybe I might even be able to post a video or two that I've been saving up (but only because our internet here isn't fast enough to actually upload them!).
If you think of it, could you please pray that this trip goes smoothly - I'm never quite sure if all my tickets are actually going to work or not, and if my luggage is going to travel with me, or if something completely unexpected is going to happen! So please pray that all this travelling goes smoothly and that I will be able to have some rest during the next few days, too. Thanks so much, and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing some of you in the next month! TTFN :)
Since I plan to be busy tomorrow night with my packing and putting everything and anything away that can be covered and hidden from the dust and critters, I don't plan on blogging much tomorrow. And then since my own computer is dead (I'm using a "company" computer at the moment), and I will be in Addis, which has notoriously horrible internet... I may not get around to blogging for the better part of the next week.
I hope you won't miss me too much while I'm 'enroute' home. But I'll see you from that side... and maybe I might even be able to post a video or two that I've been saving up (but only because our internet here isn't fast enough to actually upload them!).
If you think of it, could you please pray that this trip goes smoothly - I'm never quite sure if all my tickets are actually going to work or not, and if my luggage is going to travel with me, or if something completely unexpected is going to happen! So please pray that all this travelling goes smoothly and that I will be able to have some rest during the next few days, too. Thanks so much, and I'm really, really looking forward to seeing some of you in the next month! TTFN :)
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
What's wrong with this picture?
Me, ensconced in my mosquito net, with Zane at my feet, at 10:17pm.
Life sure has changed since those guards have been turning off the generator at night! I no longer get to go on a 10:30pm star-gaze (which, actually isn't so bad, since the moon is nearing full-ness, the stars aren't that great at the moment).
I'm feeling really tired tonight - I was kept awake by a dehydration headache last night, and was out and about ALL day today in the heat again. I had a very interesting day, though.
Started out with a trip to a little pre-fab cabin in the parking lot near the President's office. That's where I got to renew the travel permits for me and Jackie. Pesky guy in the office tried to charge me a little extra fee... but when I started talking to him in Arabic, he quickly shut his mouth about that extra $15 that I was "supposed" to give him because Jackie wasn't physically present to renew her pass. Like any normal people go themselves to get those passes renewed anyways!
Anyhow, it didn't take me that long to get the permits, though I had to argue a bit to get what I wanted, and in the end they still refused to give me anything longer than a 3 month permit! Normally we get 6 month permits, so we only have to go through this whole process twice a year. Looks like that's just been upped to 4 times a year :( I did talk to a friend later today, though, and she confirmed that she wasn't able to get 6 month permits anymore, either. So it wasn't just me, which is somehow a little comforting.
After the permit place, I went to drop off some reports and papers at the Ministry of Ed. That's always an interesting place to be, too. Seems one of our colleagues missed the bus to the big meeting in a different town yesterday. So Jackie might have to present something about languages in education at this big meeting. I wasn't able to get a hold of her to tell her that... so... hopefully she's ready for a little impromptu presentation to a room full of 150 people!
Once that was all taken care of, it was back to the office for a bit. I put the finishing touches on the layout of a newsletter that I've been working on with one of the language teams here. They have a really talented artist on their team, and with his art and my brilliant layout... well, I must say, that newsletter looks really good. I haven't a clue as to whether or not the content is good (I don't know a single word of that language), but aesthetically, it's beautiful, if I do say so myself :)
Once that was finished, I went and met a friend over the lunch hour. We were going to go back to the same place where I bought some Christmas presents last week. They got one thing in which I had ordered last week, so we went to town. Unfortunately, the place was locked up tight, so I called Eunice - the woman who works there. She told me that they were at this exhibition at someplace I'd never heard of before. So the next 45 minutes was quite a gong show of me and Eunice calling each other and trying to figure out where I was and where she was and how I was supposed to find her.
Obviously, there are no street signs or addresses in this town. Directions go something like this: Go to the tarmac road. Turn left down that road where they fix all the old trucks. Then you will pass the cemetary/garbage dump, turn right and go until you see the tent which is blocking the road. Go towards the road that goes to Comfort Hotel. Then you go until you see all the people gathered between the tukels.
It's really quite chaotic, but I got a nice tour of some parts of the city I've never been to before! Anyways, I'm really glad we perservered and found the place, because it turns out that there was a real exhibition at this "self-help" place. There were a few different groups selling various bits and pieces of things - clothes, crafts, food items, as well as showing off the furniture and brick work, computer and catering skills that they're learning there. It was really a neat thing to see! And it was all so well done and the compound in which it all took place was so clean and nice and well-kept. It was really a pleasant surprise!
I'm just sorry that I didn't have more money in my pocket to buy more things! I love buying useful things from these ladies groups, becuase they really do a lot for the grass-roots development. If these women can make a little extra income, their children can be fed, can go to school, can get the medicines they need. It's really a good way to support them, plus I get some good stuff for gifts (and for myself to use!). I bought myself a set of potholders, since we don't actually have any decent ones - I normally end up using a rolled up tea towel to hold my hot pots. But now I have a lovely set of hand made pot holders from a local woman in some beautiful African fabric.
And I must say that I'm really impressed with Eunice, as she really went way out of her way to try to get me there! She even used her own phone credit to call me and make sure I was on the way and see how lost I really was. When she finally saw me getting close, she came running out of the building and waved frantically at our truck while talking to me on the phone until I saw her :) It's really a nice thing when people go out of their way to help you, rather than trying to get an extra bit of money out of you.
Anyways, that all being said, I was thinking that I was just going to pop down to the usual shop this afternoon and be home in less than an hour. The whole thing ended up taking almost 3 hours - and all of that during the hottest part of the day. So by the time I got back home, guzzeled some water, ate a bit of lunch (leftovers from our little dinner shindig last night) while answering my emails, the day was almost over again! At 5:30, I went with Annamarie to the tailor at the end of our street so she could get another dress made. I'm still not quite convinced of the skills of this tailor, but maybe if he does a good job on Annamarie's dress, I might trust him with a piece of one of my beloved fabrics...
And from there, we went straight off to fetch another friend, whom I haven't seen in weeks, to enjoy some dinner with her and one of her visiting colleagues. Then, of course, I had to drive them home (thankfully they don't live too far from my house!), and came home and, of course, guzzeled a few more cups of water.
And now I'm completely exhausted. Doing pretty much anything in this heat just takes it out of me. And to top it off, Zane is sleeping on top of my feet- to keep them warm?! Or just because he loves me?! We decided to keep Zane in the house last night, because Annamarie had a little encounter with a fuzzy little four-legged creature on her way to the loo in the wee hours of this morning. Hopefully Zane will get to work a bit later when all the scurrying and chewing action starts up tonight...
By the way, the rat is STILL living in my office drawer. I just can't seem to get rid of them. Does anyone have any advice on how to keep rats out of one's office drawers?!
Life sure has changed since those guards have been turning off the generator at night! I no longer get to go on a 10:30pm star-gaze (which, actually isn't so bad, since the moon is nearing full-ness, the stars aren't that great at the moment).
I'm feeling really tired tonight - I was kept awake by a dehydration headache last night, and was out and about ALL day today in the heat again. I had a very interesting day, though.
Started out with a trip to a little pre-fab cabin in the parking lot near the President's office. That's where I got to renew the travel permits for me and Jackie. Pesky guy in the office tried to charge me a little extra fee... but when I started talking to him in Arabic, he quickly shut his mouth about that extra $15 that I was "supposed" to give him because Jackie wasn't physically present to renew her pass. Like any normal people go themselves to get those passes renewed anyways!
Anyhow, it didn't take me that long to get the permits, though I had to argue a bit to get what I wanted, and in the end they still refused to give me anything longer than a 3 month permit! Normally we get 6 month permits, so we only have to go through this whole process twice a year. Looks like that's just been upped to 4 times a year :( I did talk to a friend later today, though, and she confirmed that she wasn't able to get 6 month permits anymore, either. So it wasn't just me, which is somehow a little comforting.
After the permit place, I went to drop off some reports and papers at the Ministry of Ed. That's always an interesting place to be, too. Seems one of our colleagues missed the bus to the big meeting in a different town yesterday. So Jackie might have to present something about languages in education at this big meeting. I wasn't able to get a hold of her to tell her that... so... hopefully she's ready for a little impromptu presentation to a room full of 150 people!
Once that was all taken care of, it was back to the office for a bit. I put the finishing touches on the layout of a newsletter that I've been working on with one of the language teams here. They have a really talented artist on their team, and with his art and my brilliant layout... well, I must say, that newsletter looks really good. I haven't a clue as to whether or not the content is good (I don't know a single word of that language), but aesthetically, it's beautiful, if I do say so myself :)
Once that was finished, I went and met a friend over the lunch hour. We were going to go back to the same place where I bought some Christmas presents last week. They got one thing in which I had ordered last week, so we went to town. Unfortunately, the place was locked up tight, so I called Eunice - the woman who works there. She told me that they were at this exhibition at someplace I'd never heard of before. So the next 45 minutes was quite a gong show of me and Eunice calling each other and trying to figure out where I was and where she was and how I was supposed to find her.
Obviously, there are no street signs or addresses in this town. Directions go something like this: Go to the tarmac road. Turn left down that road where they fix all the old trucks. Then you will pass the cemetary/garbage dump, turn right and go until you see the tent which is blocking the road. Go towards the road that goes to Comfort Hotel. Then you go until you see all the people gathered between the tukels.
It's really quite chaotic, but I got a nice tour of some parts of the city I've never been to before! Anyways, I'm really glad we perservered and found the place, because it turns out that there was a real exhibition at this "self-help" place. There were a few different groups selling various bits and pieces of things - clothes, crafts, food items, as well as showing off the furniture and brick work, computer and catering skills that they're learning there. It was really a neat thing to see! And it was all so well done and the compound in which it all took place was so clean and nice and well-kept. It was really a pleasant surprise!
I'm just sorry that I didn't have more money in my pocket to buy more things! I love buying useful things from these ladies groups, becuase they really do a lot for the grass-roots development. If these women can make a little extra income, their children can be fed, can go to school, can get the medicines they need. It's really a good way to support them, plus I get some good stuff for gifts (and for myself to use!). I bought myself a set of potholders, since we don't actually have any decent ones - I normally end up using a rolled up tea towel to hold my hot pots. But now I have a lovely set of hand made pot holders from a local woman in some beautiful African fabric.
And I must say that I'm really impressed with Eunice, as she really went way out of her way to try to get me there! She even used her own phone credit to call me and make sure I was on the way and see how lost I really was. When she finally saw me getting close, she came running out of the building and waved frantically at our truck while talking to me on the phone until I saw her :) It's really a nice thing when people go out of their way to help you, rather than trying to get an extra bit of money out of you.
Anyways, that all being said, I was thinking that I was just going to pop down to the usual shop this afternoon and be home in less than an hour. The whole thing ended up taking almost 3 hours - and all of that during the hottest part of the day. So by the time I got back home, guzzeled some water, ate a bit of lunch (leftovers from our little dinner shindig last night) while answering my emails, the day was almost over again! At 5:30, I went with Annamarie to the tailor at the end of our street so she could get another dress made. I'm still not quite convinced of the skills of this tailor, but maybe if he does a good job on Annamarie's dress, I might trust him with a piece of one of my beloved fabrics...
And from there, we went straight off to fetch another friend, whom I haven't seen in weeks, to enjoy some dinner with her and one of her visiting colleagues. Then, of course, I had to drive them home (thankfully they don't live too far from my house!), and came home and, of course, guzzeled a few more cups of water.
And now I'm completely exhausted. Doing pretty much anything in this heat just takes it out of me. And to top it off, Zane is sleeping on top of my feet- to keep them warm?! Or just because he loves me?! We decided to keep Zane in the house last night, because Annamarie had a little encounter with a fuzzy little four-legged creature on her way to the loo in the wee hours of this morning. Hopefully Zane will get to work a bit later when all the scurrying and chewing action starts up tonight...
By the way, the rat is STILL living in my office drawer. I just can't seem to get rid of them. Does anyone have any advice on how to keep rats out of one's office drawers?!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The Hedgehogs have Landed
Yup, two little baby girl Hogs have been successfully transported to Grace in Uganda. The funny part is how they got across the border. This is from an email she sent me (slightly modified to protect the innocent...):
[He] told the Ugandan officials that he was taking them for a traditional ritual. On Christmas they bless the hogs, then release them and this is an ancient custom. The Ugandans totally bought it!!! They said, “Oh!” When they told him that they needed the proper paper work for them, he patiently explained that since he wasn’t going to eat the hedgehogs, they didn’t need the paperwork.
So, there you have it. If you want to EAT the hogs in your traditional Christmas ceremonies, you need to bring the paperwork. I have a stamp, so I could probably give you the appropriate paperwork that you need. All is takes is a signature and a stamp :) (But don't worry - I treat my stamp with respect and would certainly not do anything that could be construed as an abuse of the power of the stamp!).
[He] told the Ugandan officials that he was taking them for a traditional ritual. On Christmas they bless the hogs, then release them and this is an ancient custom. The Ugandans totally bought it!!! They said, “Oh!” When they told him that they needed the proper paper work for them, he patiently explained that since he wasn’t going to eat the hedgehogs, they didn’t need the paperwork.
So, there you have it. If you want to EAT the hogs in your traditional Christmas ceremonies, you need to bring the paperwork. I have a stamp, so I could probably give you the appropriate paperwork that you need. All is takes is a signature and a stamp :) (But don't worry - I treat my stamp with respect and would certainly not do anything that could be construed as an abuse of the power of the stamp!).
Monday, December 8, 2008
Fellowshipping
I had an odd evening this evening, though in some ways, it was very "normal"! We have a group of Christian expats here that meets on Sunday evenings, for prayer and Bible study and some singing and all that sort of thing. It's been running for a few years now, with varying degrees of involvement from various people along the way. Somewhere along the way, I volunteered to do some of the "administration" for the group (ie, sending out email annoucements, making sure there was a schedule for who was leading particular bits on a given Sunday etc.). And in the past, there's been a great group of people who have been involved, very informally, in the leadership of that group.
However, many of those who were lending de-facto leadership have either gone or will be going in the next few weeks. Going and not coming back. So it was falling more and more to ME to organize things. And I was feeling a bit of pressure to keep things moving along. So two weeks ago, we had a meeting on a Sunday evening, and I expressed the fact that I needed help to keep this thing going... if people, indeed, wanted it to keep going! And amazingly enough, a bunch of people stepped up and said that they would be willing to help with various aspects of keeping a group of about 30 people organized and meeting every week.
So tonight we had our first little "steering committee" meeting! What a joy it was to meet together with 4 other people and discuss the options for what the group should study next, and how we should structure things and which direction we want to go with it. And also to pray for the group together. It was great! I feel quite excited about the group again, which is good, because it's so good to have some "fellowship" (whatever that is - I don't like that word... but at 11pm, I can't think of a better word for it, and you all know what I mean!) and some studying and some learning from the Word and from each other. But it was starting to feel a bit like a burden to me, because I didn't feel like anyone else wanted to keep going with the group. Now, though, I know that people want to continue with it and I think we've got a bit of new life in the group again. It's very exciting.
Our meeting was in the home of a new family who moved here 2 months ago. Yes, that's right, I said a FAMILY. There are little blond children running around this town and living here full-time! That's a real first. Really, it's been a very long time since I've sat and played with Lego with a couple of little blond boys. And it's never before happened in Jb, that's for sure. There's just something very normal about drinking tea and having a sort of "church" meeting in a home with a couple of children running around and not wanting to go to bed.
It was all just so normal, and yet, so abnormal for this town. I'm so thankful that this place is changing and that it is becoming the sort of place that families will move to. I guess it's a bit of what happened when the Wild West started to get a bit tamed - it suddenly became a safe enough place for people to actually CHOOSE to bring their families to (of course, there are plenty of local families here - but I haven't heard of anyone who has actually chosen to move their family here in the past few years). So it's really encouraging that this young family has decided to live here. I can't wait to come back after Christmas and go over to babysit so I can get in on some more Lego action...
However, many of those who were lending de-facto leadership have either gone or will be going in the next few weeks. Going and not coming back. So it was falling more and more to ME to organize things. And I was feeling a bit of pressure to keep things moving along. So two weeks ago, we had a meeting on a Sunday evening, and I expressed the fact that I needed help to keep this thing going... if people, indeed, wanted it to keep going! And amazingly enough, a bunch of people stepped up and said that they would be willing to help with various aspects of keeping a group of about 30 people organized and meeting every week.
So tonight we had our first little "steering committee" meeting! What a joy it was to meet together with 4 other people and discuss the options for what the group should study next, and how we should structure things and which direction we want to go with it. And also to pray for the group together. It was great! I feel quite excited about the group again, which is good, because it's so good to have some "fellowship" (whatever that is - I don't like that word... but at 11pm, I can't think of a better word for it, and you all know what I mean!) and some studying and some learning from the Word and from each other. But it was starting to feel a bit like a burden to me, because I didn't feel like anyone else wanted to keep going with the group. Now, though, I know that people want to continue with it and I think we've got a bit of new life in the group again. It's very exciting.
Our meeting was in the home of a new family who moved here 2 months ago. Yes, that's right, I said a FAMILY. There are little blond children running around this town and living here full-time! That's a real first. Really, it's been a very long time since I've sat and played with Lego with a couple of little blond boys. And it's never before happened in Jb, that's for sure. There's just something very normal about drinking tea and having a sort of "church" meeting in a home with a couple of children running around and not wanting to go to bed.
It was all just so normal, and yet, so abnormal for this town. I'm so thankful that this place is changing and that it is becoming the sort of place that families will move to. I guess it's a bit of what happened when the Wild West started to get a bit tamed - it suddenly became a safe enough place for people to actually CHOOSE to bring their families to (of course, there are plenty of local families here - but I haven't heard of anyone who has actually chosen to move their family here in the past few years). So it's really encouraging that this young family has decided to live here. I can't wait to come back after Christmas and go over to babysit so I can get in on some more Lego action...
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Game Park
My dear friend Grace in Uganda has a bit of a "thing" for hedgehogs. When she lived here with us, she led hedgehog safaris, and had quite the hog research project going on. She even exported a couple of hogs with her back to EBB. Sadly to say, the female hog died after giving birth to a round of babies who also passed away. They were just too homesick for their native soil, I think.
Then last time Richard and I drove down to EBB, we tried to bring a replacement 'wife' for Spike, the remaining male hedgehog in Grace's menagerie. However, soon after crossing the border, those poor little hogs succumbed to their homesickness, as well, and they didn't make it all the way. They were rather unceremoniously buried in the red dust of Uganda somewhere along the road.
Richard is driving to EBB tomorrow again. So last night, the guards were given a mission to find a couple more hogs so Spike could try out a second wife. The guards found 3 little hogs, and carefully placed them in a box for us to figure out which ones were suitable little wives, and which ones would end up just sitting around and huffing and watching football with Spike.
Turns out the guards caught two little boy hogs and just one girl. Anyways, Richard and I took good care of them today, lovingly placing them in a big trunk, feeding them some peanuts and other tasty morsels, giving them some water, and thinking about how we could tie a little string to their ankles to allow them to play in the grass, yet keep them close to 'home' until tomorrow morning.
However, by about mid-day, we found that the bigger boy hog had jumped ship - climbed right out of his trunk! Amazing little climbing hog! The other two, including the remaining girl, were still happily sleeping the heat of the day away.
So we went out for lunch, though we did some reinforcement of the lid, to keep the others in. However, this evening, when we went to check on them... they were ALL GONE! I can just imagine a Pixar movie about escaping hogs. It would be SO cute. There would be a whole rescue brigade to come and rescue the hogs that were being carted off to a foreign land... I can just see it now...
Anyways, on the way back from trying to check on the escapees, Richard and I were walking back between the containers and the guesthouse, and I saw something slithering rather close to Richard's flip-flop clad feet. I mentioned it to Richard, and I have never seen him jump so far, so fast! Poor guy is rather scared of snakes - with good reason, I suppose, as most of them are poisonous around here.
Of course, then we had a problem - since we were on either side of the passage-way through the containers, with a snake in between. And both of us in flip flops. Richard just yelled at me to run the other way... and he ran to get a big stick. By the time I had made my way the long way around, Richard had already beat poor little snake quite senseless. And was just continuing to beat it to make sure he was good and dead. Sure enough, he was good and dead, so Richard picked it up with the stick and threw him over the fence. These encounters with these pesky little snakes make me really, really glad that I don't have to venture out into the night to turn off the generator anymore! The guards have been turning on and off the generator all week, and it's such a relief to not have to take care of that every night now!
I did have to dodge a few frogs on my way back to my house from the guesthouse, though, which is also quite a challenge, especially when I'm not sure if that rustling in the grass is from the frogs or from another snake...
Then last time Richard and I drove down to EBB, we tried to bring a replacement 'wife' for Spike, the remaining male hedgehog in Grace's menagerie. However, soon after crossing the border, those poor little hogs succumbed to their homesickness, as well, and they didn't make it all the way. They were rather unceremoniously buried in the red dust of Uganda somewhere along the road.
Richard is driving to EBB tomorrow again. So last night, the guards were given a mission to find a couple more hogs so Spike could try out a second wife. The guards found 3 little hogs, and carefully placed them in a box for us to figure out which ones were suitable little wives, and which ones would end up just sitting around and huffing and watching football with Spike.
Turns out the guards caught two little boy hogs and just one girl. Anyways, Richard and I took good care of them today, lovingly placing them in a big trunk, feeding them some peanuts and other tasty morsels, giving them some water, and thinking about how we could tie a little string to their ankles to allow them to play in the grass, yet keep them close to 'home' until tomorrow morning.
However, by about mid-day, we found that the bigger boy hog had jumped ship - climbed right out of his trunk! Amazing little climbing hog! The other two, including the remaining girl, were still happily sleeping the heat of the day away.
So we went out for lunch, though we did some reinforcement of the lid, to keep the others in. However, this evening, when we went to check on them... they were ALL GONE! I can just imagine a Pixar movie about escaping hogs. It would be SO cute. There would be a whole rescue brigade to come and rescue the hogs that were being carted off to a foreign land... I can just see it now...
Anyways, on the way back from trying to check on the escapees, Richard and I were walking back between the containers and the guesthouse, and I saw something slithering rather close to Richard's flip-flop clad feet. I mentioned it to Richard, and I have never seen him jump so far, so fast! Poor guy is rather scared of snakes - with good reason, I suppose, as most of them are poisonous around here.
Of course, then we had a problem - since we were on either side of the passage-way through the containers, with a snake in between. And both of us in flip flops. Richard just yelled at me to run the other way... and he ran to get a big stick. By the time I had made my way the long way around, Richard had already beat poor little snake quite senseless. And was just continuing to beat it to make sure he was good and dead. Sure enough, he was good and dead, so Richard picked it up with the stick and threw him over the fence. These encounters with these pesky little snakes make me really, really glad that I don't have to venture out into the night to turn off the generator anymore! The guards have been turning on and off the generator all week, and it's such a relief to not have to take care of that every night now!
I did have to dodge a few frogs on my way back to my house from the guesthouse, though, which is also quite a challenge, especially when I'm not sure if that rustling in the grass is from the frogs or from another snake...
A week of Firsts
In the past few days, I've had some "firsts" in Jb.
- I browned ground beef that was bought in Jb! That's a first. I had forgotten what it was like to cook meat and make it into spaghetti sauce! Amazing. I'm still not quite sure where to find the shop where it was bought - the stuff I cooked up was given to Annamarie, but I've been given directions to the shop where it was bought... so I'll go searching for it when I come back!
- I bought toothpaste - CREST! I bought it at my favorite Eritrean "supermarket", which just got a new shipment in. Normally, the "brand" name toothpastes can only be found at the special expat grocery store, which is super-duper expensive. And thus far, I've been able to keep myself supplied with toothpaste brought in from home or from Kenya or Uganda. But I've been in this town for almost 6 months without leaving... so I finally had to buy some toothpaste. And just at the right time, my favorite Eritreans brought some in from Saudi Arabia. At a very reasonable price - $2 for a tube. You know you've been somewhere a LONG time when you start having to buy toothpaste and underwear in a city. I've not gotten to the point where I've had to buy underwear yet... but oh man, it's definitely time to go home and replace what I've got!
- I ate Turkish Delights that our dinner guests brought for us on Friday night. Yes, we hosted yet another dinner party on Friday evening - it's becoming a habit... a very good habit!
- I went to the new Chinese pre-fab palace shop. Quite the place, full of clothes and furniture and household supplies, all direct from China! I actually broke down and got myself a pair of flip flops with a little flag from this country on them! They're really quite cute - they have a pink surfer theme going on, with palm trees and surfers, and then have an imprint of the country name and a little plastic flag glued on the toe-piece. Very cute. But don't tell Grace - I got her a pair, too, but they're a surprise. Now we have yet another pair of matching Jb shoes. Our Thanksgiving matching shoes are a bit worn out, I think.
- I went to a new Eritrean restuarant which isn't too far from our house. It's quite nice - decorated in sort of a "nouveau tukel" decor. Bright solid colors on the walls, tasteful furniture made of chunky wood. Very sophisticated, actually. And they were playing this lovely easy-listening jazz sort of music, rather than some obnoxious East African pop, Celine Dion or Amharic music. We ordered some shiro and tibs, and then I spoke some Tigrinya to the manager. Then the price suddenly went down! It was good food. Nice fresh injera, nice laid back clientele. Helpful waitress. We liked it so much, we went back again this afternoon for lunch :)
- I installed a program on one of the teams' computers which didn't require a whole bunch of logging off and logging in onto different user accounts to make sure it worked across all the accounts - I think I'm getting the hang of some of this software and multiple user accounts! Yup, I spend Saturday morning in geek-land and it wasn't such a bad place to be...
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Two Weeks!
Yup. Two weeks. And I will be sleeping in a real bed. I can't wait. Mom, please fill the refrigerator with chocolate milk, chedder cheese and raspberry yogurt, and have some whole wheat seedy bread on the counter! I'm coming home!
Am I excited about going home for a few weeks - um, just a little! With the heat rising, the dust clouds billowing, and the work piling up... it seems like a really good time to take a holiday.
However, I think tomorrow might be a public holiday here. And then there might be another public holiday for the Eid al Adha next week. But I'll just work- got one or two things I need to get done before I take off, eh?
Anyways, we have had some fun, too. Yesterday, after work, Jackie, Richard, Annamarie and I met at a fancy restaurant and indulged ourselves in a cappuccino. Yum yum. We pay Starbucks prices for it, but sometimes, you just gotta treat yourself. While we were sipping, Richard was regaling us with stories. One of the funniest stories has to do with one of the local tribe's marriage customs. Seems on the wedding night, the bride and her groom have a bit of wrestling match. If the bride wins the match, she can run home to her mother, because she has married a man who will be unable to protect her. However, if the man is able to defeat his new bride in the wrestling match, she is happy and proud that she's got herself a real man who will be able to slay the dragons for her, so to speak. Apparently, both the men and the women spend most of their pre-marriage lives practicing for their big wedding night wrestle!
Since we had just stocked up on shea body butter, we were thinking that it might be advantageous for the woman (or the man, depending on your perspective) to smear themselves with shea butter before the match begins - they'd be so slippery that their opponent wouldn't stand a chance!
Ok, so maybe that's not so funny. It sure seemed funny yesterday as we were drinking our cappuccinos :)
Nothing too noteworthy happened today, either. Um, let's see... I had to go and get some little cakes from the corner store for a little farewell tea we were having for a staff memeber today. As I was walking out the gate, a couple of the staff members were really puzzled by the fact that I was walking, and not taking a truck. They just couldn't figure out why I was on foot (why I was "footing", as they say here). Maybe I need to walk more often, just to prove to my colleagues here that I actually DO know how to go out on foot, and not just in a truck!
It was hot today, but we had our Arabic lesson early, while the generator was still on. So I could enjoy a little breeze from the fan whilst trying to put together coherent sentences in Arabic. I think I'm a real "people-pleaser" - my whole motivation for wanting to learn Arabic is so people will smile and be happy that I'm speaking their language! During our lesson, I'm always just so fully concentrating on making Justin, my teacher, laugh or say, "Sah! Very good construction!" Anyways, even when we fail, he is very encouraging and is always telling us, "Good try... but say it like this..."
Anyways, I have a whole 4 days now until our next lesson - hopefully I'll make the time to do some studying...
Am I excited about going home for a few weeks - um, just a little! With the heat rising, the dust clouds billowing, and the work piling up... it seems like a really good time to take a holiday.
However, I think tomorrow might be a public holiday here. And then there might be another public holiday for the Eid al Adha next week. But I'll just work- got one or two things I need to get done before I take off, eh?
Anyways, we have had some fun, too. Yesterday, after work, Jackie, Richard, Annamarie and I met at a fancy restaurant and indulged ourselves in a cappuccino. Yum yum. We pay Starbucks prices for it, but sometimes, you just gotta treat yourself. While we were sipping, Richard was regaling us with stories. One of the funniest stories has to do with one of the local tribe's marriage customs. Seems on the wedding night, the bride and her groom have a bit of wrestling match. If the bride wins the match, she can run home to her mother, because she has married a man who will be unable to protect her. However, if the man is able to defeat his new bride in the wrestling match, she is happy and proud that she's got herself a real man who will be able to slay the dragons for her, so to speak. Apparently, both the men and the women spend most of their pre-marriage lives practicing for their big wedding night wrestle!
Since we had just stocked up on shea body butter, we were thinking that it might be advantageous for the woman (or the man, depending on your perspective) to smear themselves with shea butter before the match begins - they'd be so slippery that their opponent wouldn't stand a chance!
Ok, so maybe that's not so funny. It sure seemed funny yesterday as we were drinking our cappuccinos :)
Nothing too noteworthy happened today, either. Um, let's see... I had to go and get some little cakes from the corner store for a little farewell tea we were having for a staff memeber today. As I was walking out the gate, a couple of the staff members were really puzzled by the fact that I was walking, and not taking a truck. They just couldn't figure out why I was on foot (why I was "footing", as they say here). Maybe I need to walk more often, just to prove to my colleagues here that I actually DO know how to go out on foot, and not just in a truck!
It was hot today, but we had our Arabic lesson early, while the generator was still on. So I could enjoy a little breeze from the fan whilst trying to put together coherent sentences in Arabic. I think I'm a real "people-pleaser" - my whole motivation for wanting to learn Arabic is so people will smile and be happy that I'm speaking their language! During our lesson, I'm always just so fully concentrating on making Justin, my teacher, laugh or say, "Sah! Very good construction!" Anyways, even when we fail, he is very encouraging and is always telling us, "Good try... but say it like this..."
Anyways, I have a whole 4 days now until our next lesson - hopefully I'll make the time to do some studying...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Snow in Italy
I haven't blogged much lately because it's been snowing in Italy.
Yes, that's right. I guess we live in a "Global Village" or something (Marshall McLuhan, one of my favorite communications theorists, by the way, was who came up with that term). So anyways, I won't get into the technical details of it (because they're a bit hazy to me anyways!), but when it snow in Italy, I get a flashing orange light on my VSAT modem and I don't get any internet.
But then again, there's not been too much to blog about - I'm just looking forward to going home! I leave in 10 days! Yahoo! But perhaps you might be interested to know what my day was like today...
A few weeks ago, in a meeting with some of the very important people in government, we set up a meeting with a "task force" that was set up to deal with some of the language and education issues in the Ministry of Education here. So this morning was set to be our big inaugural meeting. Jackie and I gathered our bits of paper, my computer on which to take the minutes... and we called up our colleague at the Ministry to confirm the time. Yup, no problem, the meeting was going to happen as scheduled.
Unfortunately, Matt had taken one of the trucks, and Richard needed the other truck to go get some papers stamped at a different Ministry... so we had to beg a ride off of Richard in order to get us to the meeting. We were just like "normal" NGO workers who have a driver to take them everywhere :)
Anyways, we made it to the Ministry only 5 minutes behind schedule.
Unfortunately, only one of our colleagues, Moses, was there. So we waited. And waited. And waited some more. As it turns out, even the guy who was supposed to chair the meeting didn't turn up! So Jackie, me and Moses hashed out a bit of a plan and divided up some of the work amongst ourselves. And I got a Coke to replace the coffee that I didn't have time to finish before running off for the meeting... so the morning wasn't a complete waste of time! But close. I think poor Jackie was so wound up from the frustration of this lack of a meeting that she wanted to walk all the way home - me, being the lazy one, wasn't too keen on carting all our junk through the mid-day sun, even though it's only a couple of kilometers... but I convinced her to wait under a tree with me for our driver/Director of Administration to arrive in the beat up dusty old truck.
The truck, by the way, that's looking so awful that when Richard was locking it in the parking lot this morning, someone called out to him and asked him, "Why are you bothering to lock the doors - no one wants to steal THAT!". I think I need another recreational water-based activity on the weekend... washing the second truck, even though the first one is already dirty again.
Anyways, after a delicious lunch of beans and rice and bananas, Richard and I jumped in the relatively clean truck and went off to town. We had to go get yet another letter stamped in a different Ministry, which was surprisingly quick and easy! As I was waiting for Richard to talk with the man with the stamp in the office with the fabric walls, I noticed a lovely poster about how people should plant trees. And the most amazing and surprising thing is that it was written in both English AND the local dialect of Arabic! That's one of the first posters I've seen written in local Arabic, as it's not normally a written language. But of course, as a literacy specialist, I always like to see things written in a language that people actually know. There are SO many posters and health brochures etc written here in English - a language that only a very small proportion of the elite are literate in! Silly NGOs just keep publishing all their community development materials in English. Sigh... I could go on. But anyways, I was delighted to see this poster printed using the local language.
After our little trip to the Ministry, I went to do some shopping at a little cottage industry shop. There is a group of women who have joined together to make a certain product from local resources, and they sell it here in town now. I've also seen it in some fancy shops in Nairobi, and apparently they're going to start selling it in the US soon. I don't want to give away the secret, as I did quite a bit of my Christmas shopping there :) But it's good stuff, I tell you. You'll like it, I'm sure. It's so much fun going anywhere with Richard, too, because he just loves people - he loves to laugh and make people laugh. A real charmer, that one... but in a good way. So now I'm good friends with the woman who runs the shop, and she will call me when she has a certain product in stock next week, which she didn't have today. Considering how much money I spent there today... I hope she will give me a phone call next week (by the way, I didn't spend all of my own money - I was shopping on behalf of a friend from here who just moved back to Canada, too!).
But of course, no outing with Richard would be complete without a trip to the hardware store! This time we were looking for some chain for Matt to put up some trusses for the new steel tukel that he's building. Yes, tukels are usually made from wood and grass. For some reason, ours is being made from steel. Anyways, he wanted some small chain - 12 meters to be exact. But the price for the chain was going to be over $200.00 US. So we went away without the chain - I had already spent all my money on Christmas presents - besides the bit that I spent wasn't going to even make a dent in $200! Maybe they'll use a rope instead... But stink, I forgot to get the rat glue to finally catch that rat that keeps peeing in my office drawer... I guess tomorrow is another day...
Oh dear me... time goes too quickly. My laptop battery is about to die. I kinda lost track of time tonight, since I didn't actually have to turn off the generator tonight! Yup, for the first time here, I didn't have to go out of my house at 10:30pm to turn off the generator. Richard taught the guards how to switch on and off the generator yesterday, so I'm completely off duty now! Yahoo! What a difference this is going to make... though I'm still staying up way too late tonight...
Yes, that's right. I guess we live in a "Global Village" or something (Marshall McLuhan, one of my favorite communications theorists, by the way, was who came up with that term). So anyways, I won't get into the technical details of it (because they're a bit hazy to me anyways!), but when it snow in Italy, I get a flashing orange light on my VSAT modem and I don't get any internet.
But then again, there's not been too much to blog about - I'm just looking forward to going home! I leave in 10 days! Yahoo! But perhaps you might be interested to know what my day was like today...
A few weeks ago, in a meeting with some of the very important people in government, we set up a meeting with a "task force" that was set up to deal with some of the language and education issues in the Ministry of Education here. So this morning was set to be our big inaugural meeting. Jackie and I gathered our bits of paper, my computer on which to take the minutes... and we called up our colleague at the Ministry to confirm the time. Yup, no problem, the meeting was going to happen as scheduled.
Unfortunately, Matt had taken one of the trucks, and Richard needed the other truck to go get some papers stamped at a different Ministry... so we had to beg a ride off of Richard in order to get us to the meeting. We were just like "normal" NGO workers who have a driver to take them everywhere :)
Anyways, we made it to the Ministry only 5 minutes behind schedule.
Unfortunately, only one of our colleagues, Moses, was there. So we waited. And waited. And waited some more. As it turns out, even the guy who was supposed to chair the meeting didn't turn up! So Jackie, me and Moses hashed out a bit of a plan and divided up some of the work amongst ourselves. And I got a Coke to replace the coffee that I didn't have time to finish before running off for the meeting... so the morning wasn't a complete waste of time! But close. I think poor Jackie was so wound up from the frustration of this lack of a meeting that she wanted to walk all the way home - me, being the lazy one, wasn't too keen on carting all our junk through the mid-day sun, even though it's only a couple of kilometers... but I convinced her to wait under a tree with me for our driver/Director of Administration to arrive in the beat up dusty old truck.
The truck, by the way, that's looking so awful that when Richard was locking it in the parking lot this morning, someone called out to him and asked him, "Why are you bothering to lock the doors - no one wants to steal THAT!". I think I need another recreational water-based activity on the weekend... washing the second truck, even though the first one is already dirty again.
Anyways, after a delicious lunch of beans and rice and bananas, Richard and I jumped in the relatively clean truck and went off to town. We had to go get yet another letter stamped in a different Ministry, which was surprisingly quick and easy! As I was waiting for Richard to talk with the man with the stamp in the office with the fabric walls, I noticed a lovely poster about how people should plant trees. And the most amazing and surprising thing is that it was written in both English AND the local dialect of Arabic! That's one of the first posters I've seen written in local Arabic, as it's not normally a written language. But of course, as a literacy specialist, I always like to see things written in a language that people actually know. There are SO many posters and health brochures etc written here in English - a language that only a very small proportion of the elite are literate in! Silly NGOs just keep publishing all their community development materials in English. Sigh... I could go on. But anyways, I was delighted to see this poster printed using the local language.
After our little trip to the Ministry, I went to do some shopping at a little cottage industry shop. There is a group of women who have joined together to make a certain product from local resources, and they sell it here in town now. I've also seen it in some fancy shops in Nairobi, and apparently they're going to start selling it in the US soon. I don't want to give away the secret, as I did quite a bit of my Christmas shopping there :) But it's good stuff, I tell you. You'll like it, I'm sure. It's so much fun going anywhere with Richard, too, because he just loves people - he loves to laugh and make people laugh. A real charmer, that one... but in a good way. So now I'm good friends with the woman who runs the shop, and she will call me when she has a certain product in stock next week, which she didn't have today. Considering how much money I spent there today... I hope she will give me a phone call next week (by the way, I didn't spend all of my own money - I was shopping on behalf of a friend from here who just moved back to Canada, too!).
But of course, no outing with Richard would be complete without a trip to the hardware store! This time we were looking for some chain for Matt to put up some trusses for the new steel tukel that he's building. Yes, tukels are usually made from wood and grass. For some reason, ours is being made from steel. Anyways, he wanted some small chain - 12 meters to be exact. But the price for the chain was going to be over $200.00 US. So we went away without the chain - I had already spent all my money on Christmas presents - besides the bit that I spent wasn't going to even make a dent in $200! Maybe they'll use a rope instead... But stink, I forgot to get the rat glue to finally catch that rat that keeps peeing in my office drawer... I guess tomorrow is another day...
Oh dear me... time goes too quickly. My laptop battery is about to die. I kinda lost track of time tonight, since I didn't actually have to turn off the generator tonight! Yup, for the first time here, I didn't have to go out of my house at 10:30pm to turn off the generator. Richard taught the guards how to switch on and off the generator yesterday, so I'm completely off duty now! Yahoo! What a difference this is going to make... though I'm still staying up way too late tonight...
Sunday, November 30, 2008
A Lack of Creative Energies
Yeah, so it's been hot. And it's been sucking my energy. So I haven't felt much like blogging. I tried going on a "Complaining Fast" for a few days this week. I wasn't going to complain at all about the heat or the dust or the printer cartridges that keep emptying or the rat poo in my office drawer or ... but it's really hard! I need to really get back on top of being thankful for the things that I do have, and the people around me and the fun that it really is to live in this place! So this week, I'm going to try again for a day or two of a "Complaining Fast"! We'll see how it goes...
But yeah, it has been hot. That's not a complaint, that's just a matter of fact! It was, according to the radio, 43C on Friday. That's hot. And that's not a complaint, just a fact. At least it's still cooling down quite nicely in the evenings, and I've enjoyed some star-lit walks around the compound in the stillness of the night. The stars are truly amazing out here, especially since there's no electricity in the city (again, not a complaint, just a statement of fact!). So once the generators go off, it gets nice and quiet and peaceful... well, that is, until Celine starts singing (again, not a complaint, just a statement). But even Celine's heart going on and on can't disturb the peacefulness when you look up at a sky sparkling with stars. It's really gorgeous, and I could sit out in the "parking lot" of the compound for hours watching them, having some nice quiet time and just enjoying the cool, fresh night air (cool being in the high 20'sC!)
This weekend has been pretty uneventful, actually. I had a really nice dinner with some Dutch friends on Friday evening - we had some amazing sausages (imported directly from the Netherlands!) and hutsput (sorry if I spelled that wrong!). It was all topped off by a stroop waffle! I love it that my friend had to go back to the Netherlands for a meeting - and since they know of my Dutch background, they wanted to share their treats with me! Wasn't that nice!? I do think we can add "hutsput" to our repetoire of meals here, as it doesn't take much to make it. It wouldn't quite be the same without the sausage... but...
I also had a tad bit of culture shock on Saturday afternoon. A new supermarket opened up here. Wow, is all I have to say. You can actually take a trolly (um, er, I mean, a cart) and push it up and down a couple of aisles! I think there are 5 whole aisles, brimming with stuff - mostly from Kenya and mostly WAY over priced. But it's nice to know that I can go and find odd things once in a while for something special. For instance, they have icing sugar, in case I ever want to sprinkle a little on my french toast some morning. They also have a nice range of shampoos and lotions, though you pay the equivalent of $9 - 10 for a regular sized bottle of shampoo! But in case of shampoo emergency, at least it's now readily available.
Speaking of shopping, I also ventured into the market on my own on Saturday afternoon. No one else wanted to go shopping, but we needed to stock up on our eggs and tomatoes etc for the week, so I put on my cap, jumped in the truck, and roared off into the sunshine. I had a really nice time in the market, actually. It was quite nice to go on my own, to be able to look at what I wanted to look at, to stop and chat when I wanted, to stop for a bottle of water when I wanted... very nice. I only got one marriage proposal from a man who owned a little "accessory" shop (lots and lots of cheap plastic shiny things from China!), and then the Eritrean guy who sells cold water and soda asked me when I was taking him back to my home country with me.
I also found a few mangos, some pineapple, and the usual veggies. But the real fun purchase of the day is a blue, yellow and black striped mat! I've been wanting to get a little mat for a while now - just something to put down on the floor in case I want to sit on the ground, or to take outside and put on the ground in case I want to lay under the tree and read a book. So I went to my friendly house-hold guy (the same one who we bought our beautiful mugs from) and he gave me a good deal, complimenting my Arabic the entire time :) It's really a lot of fun to be able to communicate with these folks in the market, using my little bits of Arabic, and it really makes them smile, too!
So all in all, it was a very successful shopping day for me on Saturday. It just fascinates me to see all the stuff that's becoming available here these days - really it's so different from when I first came. I still remember the first Thanksgiving I was here (two years ago!) and Grace and I went to the market to stock up for our feast. We were so excited to find our orange tie-dyed flip flops in the market - back then, it was amazing to just see flip flops in the market! Now... wow, it's a completely different scene. I tell you, this town is changing.
I've also decided that as it's getting hotter, I need to have a Sunday afternoon "water-based recreational activity" each week. Last week I had myself a little pool party in the verandah. This week, I washed the truck. I just couldn't stand the filthiness of the truck anymore, so I parked it in the shade, got out the hose and buckets and scrubbed it all, inside and out. It was still a pretty sweaty affair, but boy does that truck look shiney again!
And then tonight, we had our fellowship group and started looking at an Advent series - I'm hoping that in the midst of my complaining fast, I can also focus my thoughts more on the coming of Christmas... and not just the celebration of the birth of Jesus, but the hopeful, joyful expectation of his coming again!
But yeah, it has been hot. That's not a complaint, that's just a matter of fact! It was, according to the radio, 43C on Friday. That's hot. And that's not a complaint, just a fact. At least it's still cooling down quite nicely in the evenings, and I've enjoyed some star-lit walks around the compound in the stillness of the night. The stars are truly amazing out here, especially since there's no electricity in the city (again, not a complaint, just a statement of fact!). So once the generators go off, it gets nice and quiet and peaceful... well, that is, until Celine starts singing (again, not a complaint, just a statement). But even Celine's heart going on and on can't disturb the peacefulness when you look up at a sky sparkling with stars. It's really gorgeous, and I could sit out in the "parking lot" of the compound for hours watching them, having some nice quiet time and just enjoying the cool, fresh night air (cool being in the high 20'sC!)
This weekend has been pretty uneventful, actually. I had a really nice dinner with some Dutch friends on Friday evening - we had some amazing sausages (imported directly from the Netherlands!) and hutsput (sorry if I spelled that wrong!). It was all topped off by a stroop waffle! I love it that my friend had to go back to the Netherlands for a meeting - and since they know of my Dutch background, they wanted to share their treats with me! Wasn't that nice!? I do think we can add "hutsput" to our repetoire of meals here, as it doesn't take much to make it. It wouldn't quite be the same without the sausage... but...
I also had a tad bit of culture shock on Saturday afternoon. A new supermarket opened up here. Wow, is all I have to say. You can actually take a trolly (um, er, I mean, a cart) and push it up and down a couple of aisles! I think there are 5 whole aisles, brimming with stuff - mostly from Kenya and mostly WAY over priced. But it's nice to know that I can go and find odd things once in a while for something special. For instance, they have icing sugar, in case I ever want to sprinkle a little on my french toast some morning. They also have a nice range of shampoos and lotions, though you pay the equivalent of $9 - 10 for a regular sized bottle of shampoo! But in case of shampoo emergency, at least it's now readily available.
Speaking of shopping, I also ventured into the market on my own on Saturday afternoon. No one else wanted to go shopping, but we needed to stock up on our eggs and tomatoes etc for the week, so I put on my cap, jumped in the truck, and roared off into the sunshine. I had a really nice time in the market, actually. It was quite nice to go on my own, to be able to look at what I wanted to look at, to stop and chat when I wanted, to stop for a bottle of water when I wanted... very nice. I only got one marriage proposal from a man who owned a little "accessory" shop (lots and lots of cheap plastic shiny things from China!), and then the Eritrean guy who sells cold water and soda asked me when I was taking him back to my home country with me.
I also found a few mangos, some pineapple, and the usual veggies. But the real fun purchase of the day is a blue, yellow and black striped mat! I've been wanting to get a little mat for a while now - just something to put down on the floor in case I want to sit on the ground, or to take outside and put on the ground in case I want to lay under the tree and read a book. So I went to my friendly house-hold guy (the same one who we bought our beautiful mugs from) and he gave me a good deal, complimenting my Arabic the entire time :) It's really a lot of fun to be able to communicate with these folks in the market, using my little bits of Arabic, and it really makes them smile, too!
So all in all, it was a very successful shopping day for me on Saturday. It just fascinates me to see all the stuff that's becoming available here these days - really it's so different from when I first came. I still remember the first Thanksgiving I was here (two years ago!) and Grace and I went to the market to stock up for our feast. We were so excited to find our orange tie-dyed flip flops in the market - back then, it was amazing to just see flip flops in the market! Now... wow, it's a completely different scene. I tell you, this town is changing.
I've also decided that as it's getting hotter, I need to have a Sunday afternoon "water-based recreational activity" each week. Last week I had myself a little pool party in the verandah. This week, I washed the truck. I just couldn't stand the filthiness of the truck anymore, so I parked it in the shade, got out the hose and buckets and scrubbed it all, inside and out. It was still a pretty sweaty affair, but boy does that truck look shiney again!
And then tonight, we had our fellowship group and started looking at an Advent series - I'm hoping that in the midst of my complaining fast, I can also focus my thoughts more on the coming of Christmas... and not just the celebration of the birth of Jesus, but the hopeful, joyful expectation of his coming again!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
How to catch termites
Today in the Writers' Workshop we were looking at how to write "procedural texts" and instructions. One of the examples was "How to Catch Termites". It was quite an impressive story, and ended with the fact that if you have a "clever wife", she might be able to cook you a scrumptious dinner of termites the very same day that you catch them!
There was also an interesting section telling the termite catcher that he must eat one raw termite as he is catching them to prevent getting a stomach-ache when he eats the rest of his catch later. There is a caveat, though, in case he forgets to eat the raw termite.... he simply has to tie a piece of grass around his leg and that will take away any stomach-ache he might get when he feasts on the termites!
Yup, just a few cultural differences between here and there!
There was also an interesting section telling the termite catcher that he must eat one raw termite as he is catching them to prevent getting a stomach-ache when he eats the rest of his catch later. There is a caveat, though, in case he forgets to eat the raw termite.... he simply has to tie a piece of grass around his leg and that will take away any stomach-ache he might get when he feasts on the termites!
Yup, just a few cultural differences between here and there!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Gisim tai giamulu haragam
I can't believe I've been having Arabic lessons for so many months, and just now learned how to say, "I'm sweating"!
And man, are things ever starting to heat up here. Rainy season is definitely over. And somehow, it seems to have ended over night. I literally woke up one morning last week, desperately in need of lip balm and hand lotion. On the way across the compound to my office, my feet were crunching on the drying grass and weeds. When the breeze blows, the tin roof is peppered with the pitter patter of falling leaves. Dry season has officially arrived.
I think the thought of the heat that is to come is almost worst than the heat that is currently here! I'm definitely spending more time in the afternoons sweating in my office - for the last few days, it's been hovering around the 36C mark inside my office, with the fan blowing (that is, when the generator is running). It's at the point now where when the generator goes off at 5pm, I can't last much longer in the office without the fans - gisim tai giamulu haragam katir because it's just so hot and still. This afternoon, I just came home at 5:30 and had a little nap, stretched out (well, as stretched out as one can be on a wicker love-seat) in the verandah.
I was also feeling hot this afternoon because I was running from one office to another - trying to contain a virus. I wonder if NGO workers who are working to contain cholera or menengitis outbreaks feel like I've been feeling over the past two days. There are about 25 computers on the compound (I counted one day last week exactly how many computers there are, but I've now forgotten), and there's a lot of information and files shared between all of those computers. So when one computer got a virus here... it spread like wildfire. 6 computers on the compound have now been infected - three are still needing some serious attention from the community health worker.
I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out the path of the infection, and the rate of it's spread, doing community awareness raising and mobilization to try to stop the contamination from spreading any further and trying to get the computer users to alert me ASAP when they see any of the signs and symptoms. Yesterday afternoon, I thought I had the virus contained, and I breathed a sigh of relief. But then, this afternoon, three more computers exhibited symptoms, so it was back to work.
And all of this in the midst of facilitating a Writer's Workshop, finishing up some literacy books, and dealing with a plethora of emails requesting all sorts of information and asking me to do all sorts of things... in my 36C office. Phew, no wonder I've been sweating a bit today.
Speaking of which... I think I'd better go take a shower...
And man, are things ever starting to heat up here. Rainy season is definitely over. And somehow, it seems to have ended over night. I literally woke up one morning last week, desperately in need of lip balm and hand lotion. On the way across the compound to my office, my feet were crunching on the drying grass and weeds. When the breeze blows, the tin roof is peppered with the pitter patter of falling leaves. Dry season has officially arrived.
I think the thought of the heat that is to come is almost worst than the heat that is currently here! I'm definitely spending more time in the afternoons sweating in my office - for the last few days, it's been hovering around the 36C mark inside my office, with the fan blowing (that is, when the generator is running). It's at the point now where when the generator goes off at 5pm, I can't last much longer in the office without the fans - gisim tai giamulu haragam katir because it's just so hot and still. This afternoon, I just came home at 5:30 and had a little nap, stretched out (well, as stretched out as one can be on a wicker love-seat) in the verandah.
I was also feeling hot this afternoon because I was running from one office to another - trying to contain a virus. I wonder if NGO workers who are working to contain cholera or menengitis outbreaks feel like I've been feeling over the past two days. There are about 25 computers on the compound (I counted one day last week exactly how many computers there are, but I've now forgotten), and there's a lot of information and files shared between all of those computers. So when one computer got a virus here... it spread like wildfire. 6 computers on the compound have now been infected - three are still needing some serious attention from the community health worker.
I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out the path of the infection, and the rate of it's spread, doing community awareness raising and mobilization to try to stop the contamination from spreading any further and trying to get the computer users to alert me ASAP when they see any of the signs and symptoms. Yesterday afternoon, I thought I had the virus contained, and I breathed a sigh of relief. But then, this afternoon, three more computers exhibited symptoms, so it was back to work.
And all of this in the midst of facilitating a Writer's Workshop, finishing up some literacy books, and dealing with a plethora of emails requesting all sorts of information and asking me to do all sorts of things... in my 36C office. Phew, no wonder I've been sweating a bit today.
Speaking of which... I think I'd better go take a shower...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
A pictoral history of my weekend
On Friday night, we had a dinner party with Zane:
Well, ok, Zane wasn't the only guest of honour - we had some of our neighbors and friends around, and had a great time together. Zane was just there as a male being to keep Chris company as the only other guy!
We've been having a series of dinner parties lately, and it's just been so much fun to have friends over to share a meal with.
However, that evening, our drains stopped draining :(
So early on Saturday morning, Richard came over to see if he could help us. We realized it was a job that called for some African Duct Tape:
Seriously, Africans can fix absolutely anything with a bit of old tire inner tube. They use it to keep all sorts of things together and to repair everything from plumbing to cars to furniture. Amazing stuff. They even made shoes out of it, just like we make wallets and book covers out of duct tape.
Unfortunately, the job is rather a bit bigger than just using a little "African Duct Tape", so it will require the other guys who work on the compound to do a bit of digging through the drain pipes tomorrow, but for now, Richard got it draining a bit, and then fixed the leak.
Here's what our little drain spout looks like now, for those of you handy-dandies out there:
Unfortunately, in the process of trying to "help", I stepped on a bougainvillia thorn! Ouch. It went right through my shoe and up into my foot. Oh, it hurt. It even drew blood. But once Richard was finished fixing the drain, he had a look at the bottom of my foot and confirmed that the thorn had come cleanly out and didn't leave a bit in my foot to fester. But if my foot starts festering sometime in the next few days, at least ya'll will know what it's from... anyways, I don't have any photos of my bloody foot, most of you will be pleased to know. And I can walk again normally today, so I don't think it will require a medical evacuation anywhere :( But because of my whining and complaining about all the blood and pain, Jackie brought me breakfast and coffee whilst I sat soaking my foot... so I did get some sympathy :)
The rest of my day was quite productive - we have a workshop this coming week, so I was busy organizing handouts and doing all that sort of stuff to get ready.
In the afternoon, I went out to visit Richard's chickens again, which was a really nice break from being in the city. Of course, you don't go anywhere with Richard without talking to all the neighbors, which was quite a lot of fun. I do think my Arabic is improving, and I can start to follow some of the conversations that people are having around me. I'm sure I get the details wrong - tenses and references and things are still sometimes a bit confusing for me, and of course a LOT of the vocabulary is missing, but I'm at the point where I can pick out some of the important words and start stringing some ideas together.
At one point, a girl walking by asked if she could trade skirts with me, and I was even able to respond with a bit of a joke to her in Arabic! So I was rather happy about that - but it's exhausting to have to concentrate so hard just to pick up a few straws of conversation.
We also saw the chief of the area again, and he asked when I was coming to build my house out there. Richard told him that I won't come live there because there's no internet :) I agreed.
I did bring my camera again with me, and I got some really nice photos out there:
These are hibiscus bulbs which are going to be dried to become tea leaves.
I think the neighbors all thought I was crazy, going around taking photos of the plants and chickens, but I'm really enjoying having some time to take some nice photos, and actually seeing some new things which are worthy of nice photos! (Well, at least I think they're nice photos :D)
Since it's suddenly gotten really hot here again, we went in the coolish part of the day - just before sundown. And we got a view of a beautiful sunset. With all the dust in the air, the colors were just amazing.
And then this evening, we worshipped the creator of all these beautiful scenes to the sounds of... get this... BAGPIPES!
This is our Sunday evening fellowship, and we were led by Peter, who plays the bagpipes. It was great fun! I love the group, and we always have a great time together, worshipping and sharing together.
But phew, all this fun has tired me right out... so it's time to sleep so I can be prepared for our Writer's Workshop tomorrow!
Well, ok, Zane wasn't the only guest of honour - we had some of our neighbors and friends around, and had a great time together. Zane was just there as a male being to keep Chris company as the only other guy!
We've been having a series of dinner parties lately, and it's just been so much fun to have friends over to share a meal with.However, that evening, our drains stopped draining :(
So early on Saturday morning, Richard came over to see if he could help us. We realized it was a job that called for some African Duct Tape:
Seriously, Africans can fix absolutely anything with a bit of old tire inner tube. They use it to keep all sorts of things together and to repair everything from plumbing to cars to furniture. Amazing stuff. They even made shoes out of it, just like we make wallets and book covers out of duct tape.Unfortunately, the job is rather a bit bigger than just using a little "African Duct Tape", so it will require the other guys who work on the compound to do a bit of digging through the drain pipes tomorrow, but for now, Richard got it draining a bit, and then fixed the leak.
Here's what our little drain spout looks like now, for those of you handy-dandies out there:
Unfortunately, in the process of trying to "help", I stepped on a bougainvillia thorn! Ouch. It went right through my shoe and up into my foot. Oh, it hurt. It even drew blood. But once Richard was finished fixing the drain, he had a look at the bottom of my foot and confirmed that the thorn had come cleanly out and didn't leave a bit in my foot to fester. But if my foot starts festering sometime in the next few days, at least ya'll will know what it's from... anyways, I don't have any photos of my bloody foot, most of you will be pleased to know. And I can walk again normally today, so I don't think it will require a medical evacuation anywhere :( But because of my whining and complaining about all the blood and pain, Jackie brought me breakfast and coffee whilst I sat soaking my foot... so I did get some sympathy :)The rest of my day was quite productive - we have a workshop this coming week, so I was busy organizing handouts and doing all that sort of stuff to get ready.
In the afternoon, I went out to visit Richard's chickens again, which was a really nice break from being in the city. Of course, you don't go anywhere with Richard without talking to all the neighbors, which was quite a lot of fun. I do think my Arabic is improving, and I can start to follow some of the conversations that people are having around me. I'm sure I get the details wrong - tenses and references and things are still sometimes a bit confusing for me, and of course a LOT of the vocabulary is missing, but I'm at the point where I can pick out some of the important words and start stringing some ideas together.
At one point, a girl walking by asked if she could trade skirts with me, and I was even able to respond with a bit of a joke to her in Arabic! So I was rather happy about that - but it's exhausting to have to concentrate so hard just to pick up a few straws of conversation.
We also saw the chief of the area again, and he asked when I was coming to build my house out there. Richard told him that I won't come live there because there's no internet :) I agreed.
I did bring my camera again with me, and I got some really nice photos out there:
These are hibiscus bulbs which are going to be dried to become tea leaves.
I think the neighbors all thought I was crazy, going around taking photos of the plants and chickens, but I'm really enjoying having some time to take some nice photos, and actually seeing some new things which are worthy of nice photos! (Well, at least I think they're nice photos :D)
Since it's suddenly gotten really hot here again, we went in the coolish part of the day - just before sundown. And we got a view of a beautiful sunset. With all the dust in the air, the colors were just amazing.
And then this evening, we worshipped the creator of all these beautiful scenes to the sounds of... get this... BAGPIPES!
This is our Sunday evening fellowship, and we were led by Peter, who plays the bagpipes. It was great fun! I love the group, and we always have a great time together, worshipping and sharing together. But phew, all this fun has tired me right out... so it's time to sleep so I can be prepared for our Writer's Workshop tomorrow!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Language Lessons have resumed!
Our Arabic teacher came back a few weeks ago from a neighboring country, so we've started back up with our lessons! Yahoo! Granted, it's a bit difficult having lessons from 5 - 6 pm, after a full day of work. But I think my tired brain just makes for a good laugh for my teacher, Justin! Jackie and I have lessons together with Justin in our verandah, twice a week. It's really a lot of fun, actually. We aren't following a book or anything, just talking and telling stories and learning from that. Normally, our stories center around the crazy things that happen to us every day - I know the word for "presidential convoy", "soldiers", "minister of education", "rat", "rat-trap" etc... all the important words to know for every day life here! We also know a lot of vocabulary related to cleaning and babies.
Anyways, not only does our teacher get a kick out of teaching us, I'm also great entertainment for the rest of the staff who work with us here. I have to try out the new things I learn, and of course, I make rather a lot of mistakes! But everyone is so good natured about it, and so encouraging, so I just keep on trying... and anyways, it's nice to see people smiling and laughing as they go about their work - so what if I'm the one they're laughing at all the time! I'm just happy I can be so entertaining :)
Anyways, not only does our teacher get a kick out of teaching us, I'm also great entertainment for the rest of the staff who work with us here. I have to try out the new things I learn, and of course, I make rather a lot of mistakes! But everyone is so good natured about it, and so encouraging, so I just keep on trying... and anyways, it's nice to see people smiling and laughing as they go about their work - so what if I'm the one they're laughing at all the time! I'm just happy I can be so entertaining :)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Change back
By the way, some of my faithful readers told me that they couldn't read my blog properly since I changed the template. So I switched back... sorry if you liked the new one! Maybe someday I'll take the time to figure out how to do a customized look. But for now, you're stuck with a 'canned' template :)
Barriers to Schooling
Part of my job here is to help promote the use of learners' mother tongues in the formal school system. So I get to rub elbows with all sorts of government people and UNICEF people and other NGO people from the education sector. And I really enjoy this aspect of my job - it was a pretty steep learning curve at first, but I'm really starting to get a hang of the "lingo" and I'm getting to know more and more people in the little education sector circle! It was quite nice today, actually, because I haven't been around to many of meetings or anything lately - there's just been too much going on with the other aspects of my work for me to get out much - and so many people said that they'd missed me! I even got great big bear hugs from these two wonderful UNICEF women that I love! It's good to have these sorts of relationships with people like that, so we can talk freely and openly and share about what's going on - information sharing is always a problem here, and it's really, really hard to be on top of all the new things that happen, or new appointments in the government etc. So it's important to just sit and chat with poeple once in a while!
Anyways, today I went to an all day workshop today in which a study on the economic and socio-cultural barriers to education in this country was presented. The consulting company that did the study presented their findings and wanted input from others in the government and partners. For the most part, the study was really well done - very thorough, well presented... but they missed a huge key factor! They didn't mention language at all! Doesn't it seem rather obvious there is a barrier to education if a teacher is teaching in a foreign language that the child doesn't know?
But for many people around here, education = English. You are educated if you speak English. It doesn't matter if you can solve problems, or think critically, or analyze information or comprehend something you've read, or express your thoughts in a well-thought out essay. No, if you can converse in English, even if it's just something you've learned by rote memory, you are educated.
So there's a bit of an uphill battle sometimes to help people realize the potential of learning first in their mother tongue! (once again, I will refrain from stepping up onto my soap box...)
But I had some opportunities to have some input into this study that's being done, which will also form the basis for the recommendations for the "way forward" for education in this country! It's a bit of a scary thought sometimes, because Ministers and other important people, both in the gov't and in NGOs are actually starting to listen to what Jackie and I have to say about becoming literate in the mother tongue before moving into using English as a medium of instruction. So please pray that Jackie and I speak wisely and can give good advice on the situation here. Because it really is such a privilege to be able to have a part in building up this country and working towards better education for the children here.
By the way, there was a funny quote that I wrote down today during a conversation about corporal punishment for learners in the classrooms. The man who was speaking said we need to train teachers in alternative methods of discipline - he suggested teachers give the children books to read as punishment rather than caning them! Man, I really hope the teachers of this country don't see, gasp, reading a book as a form of punishment! I guess that's why we need to keep having Writers' Workshops, to make sure there's something decent to read in people's languages so they don't see it as a punishment... um, my brain is tired from all my talking today and I'm starting to ramble, so I'd best get this posted and go to sleep!
Anyways, today I went to an all day workshop today in which a study on the economic and socio-cultural barriers to education in this country was presented. The consulting company that did the study presented their findings and wanted input from others in the government and partners. For the most part, the study was really well done - very thorough, well presented... but they missed a huge key factor! They didn't mention language at all! Doesn't it seem rather obvious there is a barrier to education if a teacher is teaching in a foreign language that the child doesn't know?
But for many people around here, education = English. You are educated if you speak English. It doesn't matter if you can solve problems, or think critically, or analyze information or comprehend something you've read, or express your thoughts in a well-thought out essay. No, if you can converse in English, even if it's just something you've learned by rote memory, you are educated.
So there's a bit of an uphill battle sometimes to help people realize the potential of learning first in their mother tongue! (once again, I will refrain from stepping up onto my soap box...)
But I had some opportunities to have some input into this study that's being done, which will also form the basis for the recommendations for the "way forward" for education in this country! It's a bit of a scary thought sometimes, because Ministers and other important people, both in the gov't and in NGOs are actually starting to listen to what Jackie and I have to say about becoming literate in the mother tongue before moving into using English as a medium of instruction. So please pray that Jackie and I speak wisely and can give good advice on the situation here. Because it really is such a privilege to be able to have a part in building up this country and working towards better education for the children here.
By the way, there was a funny quote that I wrote down today during a conversation about corporal punishment for learners in the classrooms. The man who was speaking said we need to train teachers in alternative methods of discipline - he suggested teachers give the children books to read as punishment rather than caning them! Man, I really hope the teachers of this country don't see, gasp, reading a book as a form of punishment! I guess that's why we need to keep having Writers' Workshops, to make sure there's something decent to read in people's languages so they don't see it as a punishment... um, my brain is tired from all my talking today and I'm starting to ramble, so I'd best get this posted and go to sleep!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
I'm a plastic tea pot...
... short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout...
Ain't she a beauty!? I plan to make many cups of iced tea within her beautifully whimsical plastic walls.
This is the photo I meant to post last night, until that pesky little lizard got in the way! I didn't actually see where he went, but I carefully shook out my pillows, untucked my mosquito net and shook it out, and tucked it back in again... and I didn't feel anything crawling over my as I slept, so I assume he was as scared of me as I was of him...
Anyways, my plastic teapot is my newest find in Juba. It actually goes quite well with the new mugs that we found in the market two weeks ago:
Do you see a theme developing here? The colors don't seem to show up so well on the mug, but really, in real life, they are so lovely.
It has been amazing me over the past few weeks just how much I have learned to appreciate a lot of the simpler things in life living here. I have such fun going to the market to see what I can find there - and if something happens to catch my eye, it ends up giving me a lot of joy for many, many days. I spent a couple of dollars on a set of four matching mugs, and somehow, my coffee and tea times have been filled with much more pleasure than when I was drinking it out of plain old chipped white mugs.
When I go to the produce section of the market, life is simple because I know exactly what's going to be there - tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, potatoes, green pepper, eggs, bananas, limes and pineapples (well, usually!). I might be pleasantly surprised by the appearance of an avocado or two, or maybe some nice looking carrots or even green beans! But generally, the simplicity of it makes life easy. Not too many decisions to be made on what to buy in the produce department, that's for sure!
And somehow, I've been finding some contentment in that simplicity. The beauty of my new mugs, the whimsical pattern on my tea pot, the smooth red skin of a tomato, the juiciness of a pineapple... I'm learning (and even usually succeeding!) at being content with these simple things.
(But don't get me wrong - I'm really, really looking forward to a whole litany of things when I go back home for Christmas - hot showers, cheesecake, electricity, paved roads, high speed internet, TV, bookstores, telephones plugged into the walls instead of cell phones, glass in the windows... but I do think living here has certainly given me a much, much greater appreciation for the simple things in life, which I don't want to lose even in the midst of all those wonderful things at home!).
Anyways, those are just a few rambling thoughts tonight as I sit and admire my plastic tea pot.
Ain't she a beauty!? I plan to make many cups of iced tea within her beautifully whimsical plastic walls.This is the photo I meant to post last night, until that pesky little lizard got in the way! I didn't actually see where he went, but I carefully shook out my pillows, untucked my mosquito net and shook it out, and tucked it back in again... and I didn't feel anything crawling over my as I slept, so I assume he was as scared of me as I was of him...
Anyways, my plastic teapot is my newest find in Juba. It actually goes quite well with the new mugs that we found in the market two weeks ago:
Do you see a theme developing here? The colors don't seem to show up so well on the mug, but really, in real life, they are so lovely.
It has been amazing me over the past few weeks just how much I have learned to appreciate a lot of the simpler things in life living here. I have such fun going to the market to see what I can find there - and if something happens to catch my eye, it ends up giving me a lot of joy for many, many days. I spent a couple of dollars on a set of four matching mugs, and somehow, my coffee and tea times have been filled with much more pleasure than when I was drinking it out of plain old chipped white mugs.
When I go to the produce section of the market, life is simple because I know exactly what's going to be there - tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, potatoes, green pepper, eggs, bananas, limes and pineapples (well, usually!). I might be pleasantly surprised by the appearance of an avocado or two, or maybe some nice looking carrots or even green beans! But generally, the simplicity of it makes life easy. Not too many decisions to be made on what to buy in the produce department, that's for sure!
And somehow, I've been finding some contentment in that simplicity. The beauty of my new mugs, the whimsical pattern on my tea pot, the smooth red skin of a tomato, the juiciness of a pineapple... I'm learning (and even usually succeeding!) at being content with these simple things.
(But don't get me wrong - I'm really, really looking forward to a whole litany of things when I go back home for Christmas - hot showers, cheesecake, electricity, paved roads, high speed internet, TV, bookstores, telephones plugged into the walls instead of cell phones, glass in the windows... but I do think living here has certainly given me a much, much greater appreciation for the simple things in life, which I don't want to lose even in the midst of all those wonderful things at home!).
Anyways, those are just a few rambling thoughts tonight as I sit and admire my plastic tea pot.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
All out of sorts...
Celine's heart was going on early tonight (she started at 10:35pm!), so I'm sorta all out of sorts!
I had a good time in the market today, though. I found the most amazing plastic tea pot. Yes, that's what I said, a plastic tea pot. I don't think I want to actually make hot tea in it, but it's perfect for ... gack!!!!
sorry for the interruption - there was a lizard crawling on the inside of my mosquito net right next to my head! I tried to shake him out... but I'm not actually quite certain where he's gone. I gotta go make sure there's not another lizard lurking in my pillow before I go to sleep! Gack!! Will continue this post tomorrow!
I had a good time in the market today, though. I found the most amazing plastic tea pot. Yes, that's what I said, a plastic tea pot. I don't think I want to actually make hot tea in it, but it's perfect for ... gack!!!!
sorry for the interruption - there was a lizard crawling on the inside of my mosquito net right next to my head! I tried to shake him out... but I'm not actually quite certain where he's gone. I gotta go make sure there's not another lizard lurking in my pillow before I go to sleep! Gack!! Will continue this post tomorrow!
Friday, November 14, 2008
The cultural chasm
Sometimes I forget just how different my world is from the world of the people that I work with every day. This morning, there were two little things that really reminded me of it and helped me put my feet back on the ground in this place!
First thing happened before I had even had breakfast - I was in my kitchen making coffee with my little filter and some hot water, when I noticed Elizabeth starting to clean the kitchen floor with a wet rag. Elizabeth has been working in our house for two weeks, since our regular much-loved Sunday is on "maternity leave". Now, I had noticed that the floors in our house were getting rather dirty (I like to run around barefoot on our cement floors because it's cooler than wearing even flip flops all the time!). And I also noticed that there were cobwebs gathering on our mop.
So even before I had breakfast, I put two and two together and figured that she hadn't been mopping our floor. So I asked her (in my very limited Arabic!) if she knew how to use a mop. She didn't. Of course - she lives in a mud hut with a dirt floor - why would she need to know how to mop?! So we had a little lesson on how to mop. And she did a great job - grabbed her baby (who comes to work with her every day), tied the baby to her back and started mopping with great gusto! And our floor is amazingly clean today :) Scrubbing the toilet and sink is another thing we've been working on teaching her - again, she's never had a toilet or a sink in her house - she has a pit latrine and a bucket of water. So why should she have learned how to use Vim to scrub the scum off the sink?!
And I am also very aware of the fact that if you put me in a tukel with a dirt floor and a squatty potty hole in the ground and asked me to keep it clean, I'd also be completely clueless, too! I think the women who work with us already think I'm a complete failure as a woman, since I don't know how to make asida or ugali, I don't want to have a baby next year, and I'm not actively seeking a husband to cook for!
The second little thing that happened today to make me realize just how different I am was when one of the translators (who, by the way, has been working with us and using a computer for close to two years now!) came to my office to ask a computer question. I happily trotted along with him to his office to see what the problem was. It's too late tonight to write out all the details, but it was such a basic thing that he needed help with - something that I would have thought the guy was doing every single day, but he was so confused! So once again, it was a good reminder for me to really go back to the basics again and again. I sometimes take for granted a lot of things on the computer which have become second nature to me, and they're really quite a foreign concept to the guys that I work with here!
But I still love the challenge of trying to somehow cross this cultural chasm between my own culture and the one that I find myself in here! There's always something somewhat surprising to keep me on my toes, and I love how so many of these little daily situations make me think about my own assumptions and the little things that I can so easily start to take for granted - like how to use a mop, but more importantly, things like how I see the world, how I see relationships, how I see God, how I order my 'world' and value things and people... And having a few challenges to these things can only help me figure things out better, and hopefully will help me sort out the good things in my own culture and perhaps even replace some of the not-so-good things with some of the better things from a different culture!
Perhaps this is also a part of what that Proverb is about... something about "iron sharpening iron"... Probably causes a few sparks now and again, but in the end, both bits are sharper and more effcetive to do what they were created to do!
Sorry if this is a bit of a rambly post - we had a dinner party here tonight, and though it's quite late, I'm still rather wound up after all the fun we had! I'm so tired, but not the least bit sleepy...
First thing happened before I had even had breakfast - I was in my kitchen making coffee with my little filter and some hot water, when I noticed Elizabeth starting to clean the kitchen floor with a wet rag. Elizabeth has been working in our house for two weeks, since our regular much-loved Sunday is on "maternity leave". Now, I had noticed that the floors in our house were getting rather dirty (I like to run around barefoot on our cement floors because it's cooler than wearing even flip flops all the time!). And I also noticed that there were cobwebs gathering on our mop.
So even before I had breakfast, I put two and two together and figured that she hadn't been mopping our floor. So I asked her (in my very limited Arabic!) if she knew how to use a mop. She didn't. Of course - she lives in a mud hut with a dirt floor - why would she need to know how to mop?! So we had a little lesson on how to mop. And she did a great job - grabbed her baby (who comes to work with her every day), tied the baby to her back and started mopping with great gusto! And our floor is amazingly clean today :) Scrubbing the toilet and sink is another thing we've been working on teaching her - again, she's never had a toilet or a sink in her house - she has a pit latrine and a bucket of water. So why should she have learned how to use Vim to scrub the scum off the sink?!
And I am also very aware of the fact that if you put me in a tukel with a dirt floor and a squatty potty hole in the ground and asked me to keep it clean, I'd also be completely clueless, too! I think the women who work with us already think I'm a complete failure as a woman, since I don't know how to make asida or ugali, I don't want to have a baby next year, and I'm not actively seeking a husband to cook for!
The second little thing that happened today to make me realize just how different I am was when one of the translators (who, by the way, has been working with us and using a computer for close to two years now!) came to my office to ask a computer question. I happily trotted along with him to his office to see what the problem was. It's too late tonight to write out all the details, but it was such a basic thing that he needed help with - something that I would have thought the guy was doing every single day, but he was so confused! So once again, it was a good reminder for me to really go back to the basics again and again. I sometimes take for granted a lot of things on the computer which have become second nature to me, and they're really quite a foreign concept to the guys that I work with here!
But I still love the challenge of trying to somehow cross this cultural chasm between my own culture and the one that I find myself in here! There's always something somewhat surprising to keep me on my toes, and I love how so many of these little daily situations make me think about my own assumptions and the little things that I can so easily start to take for granted - like how to use a mop, but more importantly, things like how I see the world, how I see relationships, how I see God, how I order my 'world' and value things and people... And having a few challenges to these things can only help me figure things out better, and hopefully will help me sort out the good things in my own culture and perhaps even replace some of the not-so-good things with some of the better things from a different culture!
Perhaps this is also a part of what that Proverb is about... something about "iron sharpening iron"... Probably causes a few sparks now and again, but in the end, both bits are sharper and more effcetive to do what they were created to do!
Sorry if this is a bit of a rambly post - we had a dinner party here tonight, and though it's quite late, I'm still rather wound up after all the fun we had! I'm so tired, but not the least bit sleepy...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
A funny conversation
I just wanted to jot this little conversation down before I forget about it...
Jackie and I are working on making calendars with some of the translation and literacy teams here, which means that they need to have translations in their languages for words like "Easter" "Good Friday" and "Christmas". One team that we were talking with about this had quite a long discussion amongst themselves (in their language) about "Christmas".
After a few minutes, the team leader said, "Let me ask you this..." and he proceeded to ask whether we celebrate the day we are conceived, or just the day that we are born! Seems this particular culture celebrates (and has a name for!) both the day they were conceived and the day they were born. In fact, from the conversation, it seems that perhaps the day they were conceived is somehow more important than the day of their birth!
Somehow, this makes sense to me... though, um, er, well, somehow, I don't really know that most people really want to think about the day they actually were conceived... but maybe I'm still a bit too Western or naive on this one!
Jackie and I are working on making calendars with some of the translation and literacy teams here, which means that they need to have translations in their languages for words like "Easter" "Good Friday" and "Christmas". One team that we were talking with about this had quite a long discussion amongst themselves (in their language) about "Christmas".
After a few minutes, the team leader said, "Let me ask you this..." and he proceeded to ask whether we celebrate the day we are conceived, or just the day that we are born! Seems this particular culture celebrates (and has a name for!) both the day they were conceived and the day they were born. In fact, from the conversation, it seems that perhaps the day they were conceived is somehow more important than the day of their birth!
Somehow, this makes sense to me... though, um, er, well, somehow, I don't really know that most people really want to think about the day they actually were conceived... but maybe I'm still a bit too Western or naive on this one!
Good Morning!
Normally, Zane is thrown out of the house every night. It's gotten to be my little ritual - I go turn off the generator, poke around outside for a while (the air is always so cool and quiet at night!), get ready for bed, poke around some more, do some blogging and reading... and then, just before I'm about to nod off, I wake the cat up from his slumber, chuck him out the door and lock everything up for the night.
Last night, though, as I was doing my reading, the cat came under my mosquito net and patiently waited while I folded up his little mat at the end of the bed, and he was just being so cute... so I let him sleep at the foot of my bed, instead of throwing him out to the mercy of the wilds. Plus, I was feeling a bit bad because the night before, he had had some kind of accident - obviously he couldn't tell me what happened, but he came home in the morning all covered in mud, limping, and looking rather forlorn. Something must have been seriously wrong with him, because he let me give him a rub down with a very wet rag, which I did to make sure he wasn't bleeding or anything. Which he wasn't. So I figure he must have fallen out of a tree or something.
Anyways, I let Zane sleep in my little mosquito net cocoon with me last night. But he woke me up at about 6 am with a bit of a scruffle under my bed. I thought at first he was just trying to wake me up so I could let him outside to go pee or something. So I got out my headlamp and was able to step down out of my bed... when I saw what the real scruffle was about. Zane was busy batting around a little rat carcass! He just looked at me proudly and seemed to say, "Good morning!". Ew. I didn't want to deal with anything... and well, quite frankly, Zane is normally a very clean eater. So I planned to just let him sit there and munch on his breakfast, thinking that by the time I woke up again a while later, all remains of the rat would be gone.
So I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. Then I heard a funny slap, slap, scruffle, boof. And a little scampering. And then the same thing again. Then I felt something hit my bed. And more scruffling.
I somehow didn't want to know what was happening, but I just couldn't help myself... so I turned on my headlamp again, just in time to see Zane grab the rat in his mouth, throw him up in the air, and swat at him like he was serving a tennis ball! Now this I just couldn't deal with - I knew I'd never get back to sleep with the thought of a dead rat being batted around my bedroom in the dark!
So I got out of bed, carefully avoiding Zane and the rat. As soon as Zane saw me coming, he grabbed the rat in his mouth and started growling at me - I'm sure he thought I was going to steal his breakfast!
I got to my bedroom door, opened it, then went to open all the other doors to the outside so I could chase Zane out, hopefully while he still had the rat in his mouth.
And sure enough, Zane was smart enough to know exactly where I wanted him to go - so he happily ran into the yard with his big breakfast. Yum yum. As for me, I locked the doors all up again, and went back to sleep - but still thinking about all the other little rats that are probably still lurking under my bed...
Last night, though, as I was doing my reading, the cat came under my mosquito net and patiently waited while I folded up his little mat at the end of the bed, and he was just being so cute... so I let him sleep at the foot of my bed, instead of throwing him out to the mercy of the wilds. Plus, I was feeling a bit bad because the night before, he had had some kind of accident - obviously he couldn't tell me what happened, but he came home in the morning all covered in mud, limping, and looking rather forlorn. Something must have been seriously wrong with him, because he let me give him a rub down with a very wet rag, which I did to make sure he wasn't bleeding or anything. Which he wasn't. So I figure he must have fallen out of a tree or something.
Anyways, I let Zane sleep in my little mosquito net cocoon with me last night. But he woke me up at about 6 am with a bit of a scruffle under my bed. I thought at first he was just trying to wake me up so I could let him outside to go pee or something. So I got out my headlamp and was able to step down out of my bed... when I saw what the real scruffle was about. Zane was busy batting around a little rat carcass! He just looked at me proudly and seemed to say, "Good morning!". Ew. I didn't want to deal with anything... and well, quite frankly, Zane is normally a very clean eater. So I planned to just let him sit there and munch on his breakfast, thinking that by the time I woke up again a while later, all remains of the rat would be gone.
So I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. Then I heard a funny slap, slap, scruffle, boof. And a little scampering. And then the same thing again. Then I felt something hit my bed. And more scruffling.
I somehow didn't want to know what was happening, but I just couldn't help myself... so I turned on my headlamp again, just in time to see Zane grab the rat in his mouth, throw him up in the air, and swat at him like he was serving a tennis ball! Now this I just couldn't deal with - I knew I'd never get back to sleep with the thought of a dead rat being batted around my bedroom in the dark!
So I got out of bed, carefully avoiding Zane and the rat. As soon as Zane saw me coming, he grabbed the rat in his mouth and started growling at me - I'm sure he thought I was going to steal his breakfast!
I got to my bedroom door, opened it, then went to open all the other doors to the outside so I could chase Zane out, hopefully while he still had the rat in his mouth.
And sure enough, Zane was smart enough to know exactly where I wanted him to go - so he happily ran into the yard with his big breakfast. Yum yum. As for me, I locked the doors all up again, and went back to sleep - but still thinking about all the other little rats that are probably still lurking under my bed...
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Baby is home!
This is what I was doing for an hour this evening:
Since "our" baby is no longer in the hospital, it was time to do the official new baby home visit today! We went together with Mary to see Sunday and her baby after work today. What fun we had! This little baby boy is so beautiful, and all he was doing the whole time we were there was sleeping, had a little drink of milk, waved his little fists in the air a few times, eyeballed who was holding him, and then went back to sleep. He wasn't even afraid of the sweaty white girl :)
But that could be because he was pretty sweaty himself! It's different here - moms keep their babies completely wrapped up, even when it's 35C in the house because they think if the baby gets cold, he will get sick. So the poor little babies are always sweating, but they're always covered and wearing lots of clothes. Sunday had just changed baby's little outfit because he peed in the first one, so I took the opportunity to take his picture while he wasn't all bundled up!
However, I must admit, there are some advantages to the bundling - there are at least a few layers of cloth to soak up the pee when you cuddle with them! I have to admit, I still haven't figured out what happens when they poo... but I've been around enough babies here to know that they just pee all over everything, and it doesn't seem to be a problem!
Anyways, we had a really nice visit with Sunday and Mary and baby Salah. Jackie and I were thinking about the last time we visited there, we could hardly say two words to the family, as we just didn't know enough Arabic. But today we had lots of things to chitchat about, and we could even tell mildly amusing stories and understand bits of what other people were saying! That's a real encouragement to see that my Arabic is getting a bit better, actually with not too much effort on my part (I rarely, if ever, study beyond the occassional lesson that I get!). It's motivation enough to make me think that perhaps I actually should open my little notebook of words and study once in a while, too, so I can actually continue to improve!
Another bonus of the time with Sunday was that we got to eat some really tasty food - a stew made from green leaves and peanut paste, soaked up with balls of sorghum and cassava asida. For those of you familiar with Kenyan Ugali, the sorghum cassava asida is sorta like the sticky version of ugali. Sticky and hard to eat with your hands, but so tasty. I love sorghum! Everytime we eat it somewhere, I think to myself that I really should eat it more often, but I haven't a clue as to where to buy it here, or how to cook it! So I guess I'll just have to keep visiting people to make sure I get a steady diet of asida :)
Since "our" baby is no longer in the hospital, it was time to do the official new baby home visit today! We went together with Mary to see Sunday and her baby after work today. What fun we had! This little baby boy is so beautiful, and all he was doing the whole time we were there was sleeping, had a little drink of milk, waved his little fists in the air a few times, eyeballed who was holding him, and then went back to sleep. He wasn't even afraid of the sweaty white girl :)
But that could be because he was pretty sweaty himself! It's different here - moms keep their babies completely wrapped up, even when it's 35C in the house because they think if the baby gets cold, he will get sick. So the poor little babies are always sweating, but they're always covered and wearing lots of clothes. Sunday had just changed baby's little outfit because he peed in the first one, so I took the opportunity to take his picture while he wasn't all bundled up!
However, I must admit, there are some advantages to the bundling - there are at least a few layers of cloth to soak up the pee when you cuddle with them! I have to admit, I still haven't figured out what happens when they poo... but I've been around enough babies here to know that they just pee all over everything, and it doesn't seem to be a problem! Anyways, we had a really nice visit with Sunday and Mary and baby Salah. Jackie and I were thinking about the last time we visited there, we could hardly say two words to the family, as we just didn't know enough Arabic. But today we had lots of things to chitchat about, and we could even tell mildly amusing stories and understand bits of what other people were saying! That's a real encouragement to see that my Arabic is getting a bit better, actually with not too much effort on my part (I rarely, if ever, study beyond the occassional lesson that I get!). It's motivation enough to make me think that perhaps I actually should open my little notebook of words and study once in a while, too, so I can actually continue to improve!
Another bonus of the time with Sunday was that we got to eat some really tasty food - a stew made from green leaves and peanut paste, soaked up with balls of sorghum and cassava asida. For those of you familiar with Kenyan Ugali, the sorghum cassava asida is sorta like the sticky version of ugali. Sticky and hard to eat with your hands, but so tasty. I love sorghum! Everytime we eat it somewhere, I think to myself that I really should eat it more often, but I haven't a clue as to where to buy it here, or how to cook it! So I guess I'll just have to keep visiting people to make sure I get a steady diet of asida :)
Monday, November 10, 2008
I can't find a good title for this little bit of nothingness tonight.
Let you think my truck keys got taken away by gun-toting soldiers, I thought I should post something on the blog tonight. Unfortunately, I'm just not feeling that blog-ish tonight. All I can think of sharing is the fact that I killed two mosquitoes in the last few hours - both of them had just been feasting on my blood. And one of them was INSIDE my mosquito net. That's not supposed to happen! Maybe I need to fix that Zane-inflicted hole...
Anyways, Celine is singing my goodnight song, so it's time to close up and dream about the Titanic.
Anyways, Celine is singing my goodnight song, so it's time to close up and dream about the Titanic.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
If I were a chicken... 2
In July, I composed a touching blog about where I would like if I were a chicken in this city. The following day, Steve sent me a picture of me as a chicken. It's nice to remember Steve. I miss him. But yesterday, I did manage to remember to bring my camera out to my favorite chicken run in town.
Feast your eyes on this:
Plenty of sorghum to go around for all my chicky friends when they come to visit.
I'd even have some funky bugs to keep me company (can you see it? It was beautiful shiny black with bright red stripes!). And of course, I'd be a happy little chicken, because I'd be surrounded by old containers from my compound...
Really, what more could you ask for!? Anyways, it was a very nice relaxing afternoon out at the chicken run. It's so peaceful out there - no traffic, very little trash, no soldiers... I even got to meet the chief of the area. He offered to give me land... but then said I had to build a big house on it with all my dollars :( Ha! I guess I should have shown him the truck I arrived in, and then he'd realize I sure don't have the kind of dollars he was expecting! But I had a nice walk through the suburbs and a nice little visit with the chief, plus just a nice time sitting and watching the chickens peck the ground, enjoying the peace and quiet for a few minutes.
Feast your eyes on this:
Plenty of sorghum to go around for all my chicky friends when they come to visit.
I'd even have some funky bugs to keep me company (can you see it? It was beautiful shiny black with bright red stripes!). And of course, I'd be a happy little chicken, because I'd be surrounded by old containers from my compound...
Really, what more could you ask for!? Anyways, it was a very nice relaxing afternoon out at the chicken run. It's so peaceful out there - no traffic, very little trash, no soldiers... I even got to meet the chief of the area. He offered to give me land... but then said I had to build a big house on it with all my dollars :( Ha! I guess I should have shown him the truck I arrived in, and then he'd realize I sure don't have the kind of dollars he was expecting! But I had a nice walk through the suburbs and a nice little visit with the chief, plus just a nice time sitting and watching the chickens peck the ground, enjoying the peace and quiet for a few minutes.
Something New
We had quite an adventure this evening. It all turned out alright, though. Richard used his "get-out-of-jail-free" card (yes, you literally can use it get out of jail in this country!), and we were ok. But there was a minute there where I thought one of us was going to be dragged off to the military prison, or worse!
I just realized that now I'd better tell the details of this story tonight, or you'll all be worrying about me all weekend!
It's actually a very simple thing, and I don't want to say too much, actually, let I get in trouble from my host government... so here's a simplified version of what happened:
Jackie, Richard and I were going out for dinner with our South African friends. The South African was driving. At the end of our street, we had to wait for the vice-presidential motorcade to go by. Which we did. However, the driver didn't see the very last mini-van cruising by on the wrong side of the road. And we almost pulled out in front of him. Fortunately, we stopped before we actually DID pull out. But that mini-van decided to stop, as well.
Seems the van was full of bodyguards with rather large weapons. And they weren't too happy that we were about to pull out in front of them, even though it was a completely innocent mistake on the part of the driver! No shots were fired, but there were quite a few soldiers who jumped out of the van (with their guns) and they ended up taking the keys to the landcruiser that we were all in, and left us sitting in the middle of the road!
Hm. Now what? Well, now the khawaija show began! There we were, stranded on our street corner, with no extra keys for the landcruiser. First order of business was to get the truck out of the middle of the road. So Richard plus three white women and a cute little brown South African started pushing the car, much to the amusement of the folks sitting around on the corners smoking their shishas! The Richard ran back to our compound to bring our Toyota Hilux around.
While Richard was getting the truck and the keys, we were all standing around on the street corner, trying to ignore the stares of the overly-friendly street-corner folks. There were a couple of groups of guys who came and just openly stared at us, standing right in front of us and just staring. I don't know that I'll ever get used to that one!
Thankfully, we weren't too far from home, so Richard didn't take too long to get back with the other truck. He also brought the extra set of keys to our Hilux, which, frighteningly enough, both opened the doors to the Landcruiser and started the engine!
Just as we were about to jump in the truck and be on our way, the mini-van of soldiers came back. And Richard started talking. It actually took him a while to talk his way out of things, and he had to show his special super powered get-out-of-jail-free card so they wouldn't haul our South African friend off to the military prison. I'm sure thankful Richard has that card! The soldiers finally gave the key back for the Landcruiser, and we were on our way again.
It was just a little bit of a hair-raising adventure before dinner!
I just realized that now I'd better tell the details of this story tonight, or you'll all be worrying about me all weekend!
It's actually a very simple thing, and I don't want to say too much, actually, let I get in trouble from my host government... so here's a simplified version of what happened:
Jackie, Richard and I were going out for dinner with our South African friends. The South African was driving. At the end of our street, we had to wait for the vice-presidential motorcade to go by. Which we did. However, the driver didn't see the very last mini-van cruising by on the wrong side of the road. And we almost pulled out in front of him. Fortunately, we stopped before we actually DID pull out. But that mini-van decided to stop, as well.
Seems the van was full of bodyguards with rather large weapons. And they weren't too happy that we were about to pull out in front of them, even though it was a completely innocent mistake on the part of the driver! No shots were fired, but there were quite a few soldiers who jumped out of the van (with their guns) and they ended up taking the keys to the landcruiser that we were all in, and left us sitting in the middle of the road!
Hm. Now what? Well, now the khawaija show began! There we were, stranded on our street corner, with no extra keys for the landcruiser. First order of business was to get the truck out of the middle of the road. So Richard plus three white women and a cute little brown South African started pushing the car, much to the amusement of the folks sitting around on the corners smoking their shishas! The Richard ran back to our compound to bring our Toyota Hilux around.
While Richard was getting the truck and the keys, we were all standing around on the street corner, trying to ignore the stares of the overly-friendly street-corner folks. There were a couple of groups of guys who came and just openly stared at us, standing right in front of us and just staring. I don't know that I'll ever get used to that one!
Thankfully, we weren't too far from home, so Richard didn't take too long to get back with the other truck. He also brought the extra set of keys to our Hilux, which, frighteningly enough, both opened the doors to the Landcruiser and started the engine!
Just as we were about to jump in the truck and be on our way, the mini-van of soldiers came back. And Richard started talking. It actually took him a while to talk his way out of things, and he had to show his special super powered get-out-of-jail-free card so they wouldn't haul our South African friend off to the military prison. I'm sure thankful Richard has that card! The soldiers finally gave the key back for the Landcruiser, and we were on our way again.
It was just a little bit of a hair-raising adventure before dinner!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Ah, peace...
Funny, it's quiet tonight. I hear nothing except the distant rumble of some far-off generators, some frogs singing, and crickets... well... cricking.
No people shouting or laughing or crying or talking. No cars or motorbikes tearing through the night. No gunshots. No Celine.
It's quiet.
Too bad that's such a blog-worthy occurrence!
No people shouting or laughing or crying or talking. No cars or motorbikes tearing through the night. No gunshots. No Celine.
It's quiet.
Too bad that's such a blog-worthy occurrence!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Zane's not the only one who can catch a rat...
Yesterday afternoon, I went looking for my cell phone. Though I don't get very many calls, I carry my cell phone around with me everywhere - I guess it's just the possibility of communicating with someone "out there" (ie, off the compound!) which keeps me going. So I normally have at least one of my phones with me (um, er, don't ask just how many phones I have - believe me, they each serve their own purpose because there are 4 networks here, none of which work consistently...). Yesterday afternoon, someone who used to live here and work with us came back to visit. She flew through Entebbe, where my dear friend Grace lives with her daughter and menagerie of creatures, including a hedgehog, imported from where I live.
Anyways, Grace sent me a great little care package - a Montanan t-shirt, a can of popcorn, some marshmellows and some chocolate! Mmmm... an amazing little care package, that's for sure. But I digress... so I was looking for my phone so that I could send her a text message to say "thanks!" for the goodies. But I couldn't find my phone anywhere. A little voice in the back of my head told me to keep looking for it. I knew that I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything until I found that silly phone (and no, I couldn't use one of my other phones to text her, because the other networks don't work to send international texts during the day!).
So I looked everywhere - high and low. I dumped everything out of my purse/bag, searched my desk drawer (where I was dismayed to find evidence of yet another rat infestation), I looked everywhere in my house. I also went to each of the offices that I had been in earlier in the day, to see if I had left it in one of those offices. Nothing. So I took one of my other phones (see, one of the advantages to having more than one phone!) and started calling the lost phone - thinking the ringing would lead me to its location.
It rang several times, and I went to several different buildings on the compound, but I didn't hear it ringing anywhere.
Finally, someone answered my phone! At first, I thought it must be one of the guys who works on the compound, and he had found the phone somewhere and was answering it for me. But turns out, the guy who answered my phone told me to meet him in the market, where he would discuss giving my phone back to me! I couldn't believe it! I was really quite shocked and flabbergasted and didn't quite know what to say. Thankfully, one of the guys who works with us, here, Dominic, happened to be walking by, so I grabbed him and had him talk to the guy who had my phone.
They talked for a few minutes, and still, the guy was telling us that we had to come to the market and he would discuss the terms of getting the phone back. I think he must have thought I would come on my own and pay him something to get my phone back.
Little did he know, I work with a bunch of guys who treat me like their daughter. My posse here looks out for me, I tell you. About 10 of the guys who were still around today (this was just after the office closed for the day) called a meeting, to try to figure out what in the world was going on and how this guy had gotten my phone.
After a few minutes' discussion, we figured out that someone had come into the office (obviously while I had popped out for something) and was asking around for some money (seems his wife had died a little while ago, and it's quite a normal thing for people to ask friends and co-workers to help with the funeral expenses). He was known by one of translation teams, so he had first been in their office, and then I guess he figured he would come to the office that I share with Jackie and Peter. Jackie and I weren't there, and Peter didn't have anything to give him... but he did see my cell phone on my desk! It could only have been this particular guy, as we had no other visitors or "outside" people come to the compound all afternoon.
While we were discussing this, Dominic tried calling my phone again. And again, the thief answered. This time, he pretended to be the police and said that he was at the police station, and had been arrested, so we shoudl go immediately to the police station and pick up the phone.
So immediately, I jumped in the truck, thinking that Dominic and Isaac (our staff who knew the guy best) would come with me, and the rest would go their own ways and get home, and out of the rain that had started to fall. But instead, three of them jumped in the cab of the truck, and four of them climbed in the box! So off we went, the white girl and her posse, gone to catch a rat.
However, once we got to the police station and the phone wasn't there, they realized that the thief who had been answering the phone was just telling tales, and he wasn't actually arrested.
Fortunately, the guys who knew him also knew where he lives - in fact, he's one of their neighbors! So we all got back in the truck and off we went to this guy's house! Now already, I'm raise quite a crowd - a white girl with a crew of men (and most of these guys are not small guys, either!) marching through the neighborhood, weaving between the mud huts and through people's yards. I don't think too many white folks have visited that neighborhood!
Then we really caused a stir when my posse stormed into the guy's grass hut! They found him right there in his hut, negotiating with someone who wanted to buy my phone, which he held in his hand!
Dominc dragged him out of the hut, and I think he wanted to beat him up a bit (unfortunately, that's just a normal way to deal with conflict here - lots of violence and beating). But the rest of us put an end to that before it began. But there was still lots and lots of shouting! Anyways, he was caught red-handed, and all the guys knew obviously that it was my phone he had in his hand. He was still slightly drunk, I think. My crew asked me what I wanted to do with him - if I wanted to take him to the police or anything. I decided not to get in the middle of all that. I figured that him having been made a spectacle of in his neighborhood was probably enough punishment! I learned this morning, though, that his neighbors had actually beaten him this morning - seems he has been causing other trouble in the area, as well, so they finally gave him a beating.
There is quite a lot of shame here in stealing, and it seems especially if you steal from a guest in your home or even a guest in your country. I just couldn't believe that he would steal from a place where he knew people, nor could I believe he actually answered the phone repeatedly when I called! He was not a very smart thief! And yet, it all worked out amazingly well, because if we had been 5 minutes later in coming, the phone would have been sold to the other guy, and there's no way I would have gotten it back.
Now my phone is really not very expensive - I only have cheap phones - but it would have been such an incredible inconvenience to have to go downtown to cancel the SIM card (the number), to get a new one, to find all the phone numbers again in my contact list, and to figure out what to do about getting a new phone... I just don't have time to deal with all that at the moment!
I also learned a couple of things. First, don't mindlessly leave things laying around! This is the first thing that's ever gone missing like that from the offices, but I don't want it to happen again!
But secondly, I learned that when I have a problem, these guys who work here are really going to look out for me. They all banded together to figure out what to do. They jumped in the truck, in the pouring rain (and believe me, Africans do NOT like to be out in the rain!) to come with me to sort this issue out. As we were getting in the truck, I expressed my surprise at how they were all coming with me - and one of them replied, "Of course we're all coming - we're family". That really meant a lot to me. I always knew these guys are good guys and like to be helpful. But to have them all band together like that around me, and to do what they could do help me was really special. I feel very protected - which is rather important when you live in a place like this! I know, without a doubt, that if I have any trouble anywhere, I just need to call one of these guys and they will do everything they can to help me out.
So I'm thankful for this little problem that I had with the "rat" yesterday because of the good lessons I learned.
(by the way, credit for the title of this post goes to one of our visiting consultants... you know I can't come up with creative titles on my own :) ).
Anyways, Grace sent me a great little care package - a Montanan t-shirt, a can of popcorn, some marshmellows and some chocolate! Mmmm... an amazing little care package, that's for sure. But I digress... so I was looking for my phone so that I could send her a text message to say "thanks!" for the goodies. But I couldn't find my phone anywhere. A little voice in the back of my head told me to keep looking for it. I knew that I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything until I found that silly phone (and no, I couldn't use one of my other phones to text her, because the other networks don't work to send international texts during the day!).
So I looked everywhere - high and low. I dumped everything out of my purse/bag, searched my desk drawer (where I was dismayed to find evidence of yet another rat infestation), I looked everywhere in my house. I also went to each of the offices that I had been in earlier in the day, to see if I had left it in one of those offices. Nothing. So I took one of my other phones (see, one of the advantages to having more than one phone!) and started calling the lost phone - thinking the ringing would lead me to its location.
It rang several times, and I went to several different buildings on the compound, but I didn't hear it ringing anywhere.
Finally, someone answered my phone! At first, I thought it must be one of the guys who works on the compound, and he had found the phone somewhere and was answering it for me. But turns out, the guy who answered my phone told me to meet him in the market, where he would discuss giving my phone back to me! I couldn't believe it! I was really quite shocked and flabbergasted and didn't quite know what to say. Thankfully, one of the guys who works with us, here, Dominic, happened to be walking by, so I grabbed him and had him talk to the guy who had my phone.
They talked for a few minutes, and still, the guy was telling us that we had to come to the market and he would discuss the terms of getting the phone back. I think he must have thought I would come on my own and pay him something to get my phone back.
Little did he know, I work with a bunch of guys who treat me like their daughter. My posse here looks out for me, I tell you. About 10 of the guys who were still around today (this was just after the office closed for the day) called a meeting, to try to figure out what in the world was going on and how this guy had gotten my phone.
After a few minutes' discussion, we figured out that someone had come into the office (obviously while I had popped out for something) and was asking around for some money (seems his wife had died a little while ago, and it's quite a normal thing for people to ask friends and co-workers to help with the funeral expenses). He was known by one of translation teams, so he had first been in their office, and then I guess he figured he would come to the office that I share with Jackie and Peter. Jackie and I weren't there, and Peter didn't have anything to give him... but he did see my cell phone on my desk! It could only have been this particular guy, as we had no other visitors or "outside" people come to the compound all afternoon.
While we were discussing this, Dominic tried calling my phone again. And again, the thief answered. This time, he pretended to be the police and said that he was at the police station, and had been arrested, so we shoudl go immediately to the police station and pick up the phone.
So immediately, I jumped in the truck, thinking that Dominic and Isaac (our staff who knew the guy best) would come with me, and the rest would go their own ways and get home, and out of the rain that had started to fall. But instead, three of them jumped in the cab of the truck, and four of them climbed in the box! So off we went, the white girl and her posse, gone to catch a rat.
However, once we got to the police station and the phone wasn't there, they realized that the thief who had been answering the phone was just telling tales, and he wasn't actually arrested.
Fortunately, the guys who knew him also knew where he lives - in fact, he's one of their neighbors! So we all got back in the truck and off we went to this guy's house! Now already, I'm raise quite a crowd - a white girl with a crew of men (and most of these guys are not small guys, either!) marching through the neighborhood, weaving between the mud huts and through people's yards. I don't think too many white folks have visited that neighborhood!
Then we really caused a stir when my posse stormed into the guy's grass hut! They found him right there in his hut, negotiating with someone who wanted to buy my phone, which he held in his hand!
Dominc dragged him out of the hut, and I think he wanted to beat him up a bit (unfortunately, that's just a normal way to deal with conflict here - lots of violence and beating). But the rest of us put an end to that before it began. But there was still lots and lots of shouting! Anyways, he was caught red-handed, and all the guys knew obviously that it was my phone he had in his hand. He was still slightly drunk, I think. My crew asked me what I wanted to do with him - if I wanted to take him to the police or anything. I decided not to get in the middle of all that. I figured that him having been made a spectacle of in his neighborhood was probably enough punishment! I learned this morning, though, that his neighbors had actually beaten him this morning - seems he has been causing other trouble in the area, as well, so they finally gave him a beating.
There is quite a lot of shame here in stealing, and it seems especially if you steal from a guest in your home or even a guest in your country. I just couldn't believe that he would steal from a place where he knew people, nor could I believe he actually answered the phone repeatedly when I called! He was not a very smart thief! And yet, it all worked out amazingly well, because if we had been 5 minutes later in coming, the phone would have been sold to the other guy, and there's no way I would have gotten it back.
Now my phone is really not very expensive - I only have cheap phones - but it would have been such an incredible inconvenience to have to go downtown to cancel the SIM card (the number), to get a new one, to find all the phone numbers again in my contact list, and to figure out what to do about getting a new phone... I just don't have time to deal with all that at the moment!
I also learned a couple of things. First, don't mindlessly leave things laying around! This is the first thing that's ever gone missing like that from the offices, but I don't want it to happen again!
But secondly, I learned that when I have a problem, these guys who work here are really going to look out for me. They all banded together to figure out what to do. They jumped in the truck, in the pouring rain (and believe me, Africans do NOT like to be out in the rain!) to come with me to sort this issue out. As we were getting in the truck, I expressed my surprise at how they were all coming with me - and one of them replied, "Of course we're all coming - we're family". That really meant a lot to me. I always knew these guys are good guys and like to be helpful. But to have them all band together like that around me, and to do what they could do help me was really special. I feel very protected - which is rather important when you live in a place like this! I know, without a doubt, that if I have any trouble anywhere, I just need to call one of these guys and they will do everything they can to help me out.
So I'm thankful for this little problem that I had with the "rat" yesterday because of the good lessons I learned.
(by the way, credit for the title of this post goes to one of our visiting consultants... you know I can't come up with creative titles on my own :) ).
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