Old Meets New

One thing about living in Africa is the contrast of old against new. Many times technology and advances of the first world collide with third world customs and infrastructure. What you get can be a big mess, an exhilarating adventure for a country, and a confusing sort of lifestyle. Take this country, for example.

People carry around iPhones and iPads, yet a good portion of the population still lives without electricity. Those who have money flaunt it when they have it – shopping at stores with price tags that make me feel like I’m shopping on Fifth Avenue, women with jewel-encrusted fingers and name-brand everything stroll down a dusty street with an $2 umbrella to shade from the sun. Donkey carts and BMWs share the road, and no one seems to bat an eye. A great importance is put onto education, and yet it’s not uncommon to meet teenagers who never finish school, barely learning to read and write. Western philosophies and ideas permeate the thinking of the younger citizens, yet when it comes time to settle down and marry, everything is done in the old ancient custom with rituals and labola and the whole family being involved.

Ladies still wear the traditional dresses, some even the traditional wear from along the Namibia/Botswana border – large, full dresses with puffy sleeves and yards of material around their waists, topped off with a matching fabric hat, two ‘horns’ pointing out on either side of the head at least eight inches. You might see a lady in traditional dress one day, and the next she will be in skinny jeans, a tunic top, and strappy high heels.

Modern medicine has made great advances, and one thing this country can boast of is good treatment options for those with HIV, about one half of the population. Yet people still go to the witch doctors as well, buying potions and bones, stones and powders, believing if they pray a certain prayer or drink a certain drink or make a certain journey that their illness will be healed.

And always there are beggars. While those who have it flaunt it, they seem very reticent to share with others, or at least we always feel like we are targeted by the beggars because we are ‘the white people’ and therefore must be infinitely wealthy. Sometimes I want to point to others and say, “I can’t begin to afford the clothes that she is wearing. Why don’t you go ask her?” There is rarely a day that goes by that someone doesn’t ask for money.

A brand-new, four-lane highway has just been completed outside of town. This beautiful, smooth road surface has wide shoulders, ample lighting, clearly painted lines… all somewhat rare features around here. Driving down this beautiful road, however, you still want to keep your wits about you, because the area is shared with several herds of cattle and goats. Just because it’s modern doesn’t mean it is advanced. :)

So this is the world of old collides with new. I'm sure there are more examples, but I'm having a hard time thinking of them. The longer I live here, the more this seems 'normal' to me and doesn't stand out as different or odd. But as I said, this old meets new is exciting, confusing, and always entertaining. :)

Happy

Or maybe I should say "Blessed."

I'm just brimming over with gratefulness for this simple, beautiful day. Here's why:

-It got cooler last night than it has in a while. I actually slept under a sheet... amazing, I know!
-Cool night means cool morning breezes and we were able to have the windows open to the beautiful fresh air much later than usual.
-A quiet day at home puttering around to tend to many things that needed to be done.
-The power stayed on, the air conditioning worked, and I made a huge pitcher of iced coffee to sip.
-My baby girl dog, Kiara the rottweiler, has not been feeling well for a couple weeks now. We found the problem was a certain plant she was chewing on, so I pulled it all up and she improved, then got worse. Turns out there is a cousin of the original plant that is worse that she started chewing on when we took away the first. I pulled all THAT one out (and a few more for good measure) a couple days ago. She's much more her old self today, jumping around and playing. I hope the poisonous-plant-chewing is now behind us... I don't like to see her sick. :(
-Here's the menu for this evening: pesto made from fresh garden ingredients, grilled sourdough pizza with homeade sausage, and glazed doughnuts still warm from the oven.

All in all, a simple, beautiful day full of good things. :)

Namibia 2012

We took a trip to Namibia. This has long been a dream of mine and you can't imagine how excited I was when all the pieces fell into place. How tragic would it be to be so close (next country over) for so long and never get to visit one of my top ten 'to visit' countries? I'm so glad it worked out and we had a wonderful trip... seeing vast amounts of Africa we had never before visited.

I kept a brief journal everyday, outlining what we did, what we saw, and where we drove. I intended to keep it short, but it ended up a little longer than I anticipated. I'm posting it here anyway, because I know there are a few out there who are interested in knowing every detail about the trip (living vicariously and all that). If you're not interested in reading, you can just look at the pictures. ;) This is a somewhat long and picture-heavy post, so I've posted it all after the break...

Chicken Teriyaki

This is a beginning stage of my newest favorite recipe, Chicken Teriyaki. 

I don't have a picture of the end product, but really... how can something that starts out this beautifully taste bad? I just love all these colors and wish I could give you a sample of the smell too!

So the recipe I linked to... you should really try it out. I use rice instead of noodles, and I've done it with both beef and chicken. What I like about it most is this: you cook your rice or noodles in one pot and then one skillet does everything else. You cook the meat, set aside, saute the veggies, set aside, simmer the sauce, then dump everything back in and stir it up. Really helps cut down on the dishes, and dishes is my least favorite thing about cooking. I am a master at using the fewest amount of things possible, just so I don't have to wash more dishes. That's one reason why I hate using measuring cups and would much rather eyeball it... measuring cups are the worst to wash. The flour gets stuck down inside and there are just so many of them! But I digress...

Need a quick an easy meal... try this Chicken Teriyaki. Trust me. :)

Bookish Birds

Another Friday night, another paper craft, another corner of my room made more homey. 

I had this idea and looked online to try to find someone else who had done the same thing for some tips or tricks. Couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, so I just winged it. Ha!

Pardon the non-matching pillowcases... LOL! Amazing what an old book and some ribbon will do, huh?

My Closest Neighbor

My nearest neighbors are a masked weaver bird couple... they live in the thorn tree right outside my window. They can be pretty noisy about 5 o'clock in the morning, but I've learned to sleep through their singing/screeching. :) 

Here is Mr. Weaver sitting in a 'ring' of woven grass. This is the beginning of yet another nest he is building for his sweetheart. These male birds work tirelessly, building a nest every day until their mate approves the nest for egg-laying. I've seen this particular couple bird build a couple dozen nests until one was finally approved. 

Here's a video I took at the very beginning of the nest-building process, quite a while ago.

Isn't that amazing? I could just watch him for hours, the way he chooses his materials and builds his nest, one little piece at a time. 

Here are all the nests that are currently hanging on the tree. See the nest in the middle of the group, with that little tuft of grayish-white sticking out of the bottom? That is the one they are actually using. The others are ones that were rejected. Every day the male weaver comes and 'fixes' portions of their new nest, tearing out the old, putting in new pieces. The stuff sticking out of the bottom is the downy feathers the female lined the nest with before laying her eggs.

And here are some of the eggshells. I just think they are beautiful! There was an eggshell on the ground each morning for five or six days in a row. I was trying to collect them all, but Firestorm beat me to it on some days. Apparently, he thinks eggshells taste good. :)

This picture doesn't really show you how small the eggs are. The whole eggshell is probably about the size of my pinky from the first knuckle to the tip, less than inch long. 

I'm looking forward to the baby weavers getting some flying lessons in a few weeks. :)

The Potential of a Thought

"And thus begins February, the month of love. Chocolates, flowers, hearts, everything pink and glittery and romantic – all pointing to one particular holiday that some of my friends like to call “Single Awareness Day.” Perhaps the most depressing day of the year for a single girl, one might feel like all the married people are taunting with their relationship status. Every decoration, every bunch of roses, every couple with starry gazes just reminds you that you are yet single and unattached. There’s no one to send you chocolates and flowers.


"Before you get too Eeyore-like, let’s look at some truths. “Truth? How boring is that?” you might ask. Actually, not very boring at all. Did you realize that your emotions are directly related to your thinking? If you think about how you are ‘all alone,’ your emotions will soon reflect that thinking. If you dwell on the thought that ‘no one really loves you so there must be something wrong with you,’ it won’t be long until you find your feelings out of control and resentful of others. Wrong thoughts lead to wrong emotions and eventually wrong actions. Have you ever acted on impulse because of how you felt? You immediately knew what you did was wrong, but it felt so good in that moment! That can trace back to the way you were thinking."

Continue reading on this month's Grace & Honor... and take a few minutes to check out some of the other great articles, too!

Wallflowers

Have you ever gone for a period of time without making something? Am I the only one who starts to get twitchy when I can't be creative? One very hot week with no baking or sewing + one bare corner of my room + one old magazine + some buttons and glue + one Friday movie night = Wallflowers.

Got the idea from here. 

And some real flowers from my beautiful orchid. Four blooms in all, and they've been showing me their faces for well more than two weeks now. How long do orchid flowers last anyway? I must research this some more.

The long awaited piano, finally playable. Much time is spent here, and I'm thinking about downloading a piano course to work through in the coming months.

Amazing orange and gray clouds one evening. The evening sky in Africa is rarely boring. 

All Together Night

If I was home in Pennsylvania, this is exactly the sort of night that I would revel in. I would take my dog out into the evening and simply soak up the deliciousness.

It’s a cool sort of evening, light breeze being the center show. It sweeps through my window in gusts, pulling back the curtains as if some living thing is there. It ripples over my bare arms and teases the wisps of my hair. I would say it is sweet with promise, but this breeze has no scent at all. If I close my eyes and imagine, I can smell the scent of childhood.

Just me in the night, tree limbs silhouetted against a periwinkle sky, the first stars peeking out, and no one to hear me as I murmur my prayers unhindered to the heavens. Fireflies winking from the creek bed, croaking toads in the pond, bats chirping as they dance overhead. The scent of fresh-mown grass, moist earth, honeysuckle growing wild.

It’s a beauty I remember when the breeze turns like this, and it leaves an odd pang in my heart.

Africa is a beautiful place, but it isn’t the same sort of beauty. The other is an easy beauty – the night was safety. Nights were for happy times – long walks in the twilight, a book by flashlight under the blanket, sleepovers and sweet dreams.

Nights in Africa mean danger. They are beautiful, certainly. Breath-taking sunsets, chirping cicadas in thorn bushes, the heavy scent of cycad after it rains, so many stars as if someone broke open a jar. But night means darkness, and darkness brings evil. We try to be smart and stay where it is safe once darkness falls.

This is why this breeze tonight – so welcome, so soothing – is also so bittersweet, bringing up memories and hopes and limitations and dreams all together. 

The Art of Living Without Power

We've been having power outages. And not just the occasional sort of power outage that we get every few weeks... no, we've had our power out at least once every day for the last eight or nine days, for about two hours each time although sometimes up to six hours, and on some days more than once in the day. There's no predictability about it either... sometimes it is first thing in the morning, sometimes late morning, or afternoon, evening, middle of the night. Three times, I've been about to make Chicken Teriyaki when the power suddenly flickered out. Dinner then became some sort of chicken on the grill, and I think I'll take Chicken Teriyaki off the menu for a while in case I'm the problem. Although, four times I started uploading a video for my dad and the power went off partway through the upload, so maybe that's the real culprit. :)

This is a country-wide problem, and from what I understand, a new power plant they specifically built to help carry the extra load during this summer is having technical difficulties and malfunctioning equipment. South Africa is having its own power issues, so they have no 'spare' electricity to send our way.

I've done some thinking about when I prefer the power to be out, and I'm really torn. Power off during the day doesn't really affect too much... you can still read, work, clean, cook on the grill, make coffee, run errands, and even use a laptop if it is charged. The downside is that it is SO HOT right now and it is pretty disgusting when you can't even have a fan on. That makes all the 'normal' functioning you wish to do pretty non-existent, because all you feel like doing is sitting in a chair, sipping ice water and fanning yourself while sweat drips down your back. I know that 'ladies' aren't supposed to admit to *ahem* perspiring, but let me tell you, in the middle of summer here I get pretty sweaty on a good day, much less when there is no moving air and the temperature is quickly rising about 110F. Power off at night is a little easier to handle as far as temperatures go, especially if there is a nice breeze. The problem is the bugs, because you don't want to completely lock yourself in with no open windows or doors, but the bugs are attracted to my scent especially when coupled with the glowing screen of whatever device I happen to be curled up with. The screen in my window helps with this a little bit in my bedroom, but we don't have screens in our living room, so the bugs really become a problem in the evening, when it is still a little early to go to bed. A couple greedy mosquitoes had quite a feast on me the other evening, and I've been itching ever since. :)

It is pretty amazing how soft we Americans can be. I mentioned something to one of my friends about the problem of the power outages across the country, and then I remembered that she doesn't even have power in her house at all, so it wasn't really affecting her all that much, other than at her job.

Here's a 'You Know You're in Africa'... when you're in the grocery store and the power suddenly goes out, in other countries, everybody gasps and a few may even scream. In Africa, when the power suddenly goes out in the grocery store, everybody just lets out a big sigh of resignation, and then continues shuffling around in the half-light, waiting for the generators to kick in.

Between these power outages and a recent string of water outages, I'm perfecting the art of how to do without those things. It's amazing how far you can make 2 liters of water stretch when it has to be your 'personal supply' for the next day. And it's amazing how much just the stirring of a fan can make such a difference in your comfort. All in all, life just goes on, even when these things happen. It doesn't take long to learn to adjust, to prioritize of what to charge and heat and power when the electricty does come back on (priorities, you know... you never know when it will go back off!). You soon learn to have all available empty jugs filled with water and clearly marked 'tap' and 'filter'.

The good news is that we got our piano power supply, and I've been having a lovely time getting my stiff fingers back in shape. That is, when the power is on. :)