Ah warm weather, barbeques, long summer nights...for us, that will have to wait until November. Meanwhile, we were hoping to meet another Peace Corps volunteer in East London for the weekend, but the backpackers (hostel=shower!) was full. Instead, we are meeting up with her next weekend. We haven’t seen another American (besides each other) in over nine weeks, so we’re really excited to have a fun weekend away. Plus, next weekend is payday, which means there will be A LOT of drinking happening at our site. It’ll be nice to miss this month’s debauchery.
Unfortunately, we only get South African holidays off, so we’ll be back at work on Monday. We are supposed to attend a child protection awareness event in a nearby village on Monday, so we’ll let you all know how that goes. Have an extra hamburger or brat for us.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
The High-Five Gang
Highlight of the week:
It all started with 2 young girls who live down the road from us who love running out when we walk by to say “molo” (hello) to us. This has turned into us exchanging both greetings and high-fives with them. Their mothers laugh whenever they see us, because the girls, probably about three-years old, will literally sprint when they see us coming. Slowly, other kids have begun joining in the ritual. Now whenever we walk by the area where they live, we have numerous children (ages 3-6) running up to give us high-fives and say “molo, buthi” to Matt and “molo, sisi” to Sara. It’s been a tough week (for many reasons), but seeing the kids, who we now call the "high-five gang" line up to receive high-fives definitely cheers us up.
Bizarre item of the week:
As I believe we’ve mentioned before, Sara found a dead worm under her pillow a few weeks ago. This morning, we found yet another dead worm in the basin where we dry dishes. Where are these worms coming from? And where else are they hiding in our house? Seriously, so weird.
It all started with 2 young girls who live down the road from us who love running out when we walk by to say “molo” (hello) to us. This has turned into us exchanging both greetings and high-fives with them. Their mothers laugh whenever they see us, because the girls, probably about three-years old, will literally sprint when they see us coming. Slowly, other kids have begun joining in the ritual. Now whenever we walk by the area where they live, we have numerous children (ages 3-6) running up to give us high-fives and say “molo, buthi” to Matt and “molo, sisi” to Sara. It’s been a tough week (for many reasons), but seeing the kids, who we now call the "high-five gang" line up to receive high-fives definitely cheers us up.
Bizarre item of the week:
As I believe we’ve mentioned before, Sara found a dead worm under her pillow a few weeks ago. This morning, we found yet another dead worm in the basin where we dry dishes. Where are these worms coming from? And where else are they hiding in our house? Seriously, so weird.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Okay, so people read this blog :)
Thanks for the comments!
I'm up at almost 5 a.m., b/c operation stop the condensation was a major fail. We have windows open, but I think they are only serving to lower the temp in here down to frostbite levels. I may be exaggerating due to the lack of sleep, but my fingers are definitely turning numb.
We'll blog again as soon as we get some rest. Hope everyone is having a good week!
I'm up at almost 5 a.m., b/c operation stop the condensation was a major fail. We have windows open, but I think they are only serving to lower the temp in here down to frostbite levels. I may be exaggerating due to the lack of sleep, but my fingers are definitely turning numb.
We'll blog again as soon as we get some rest. Hope everyone is having a good week!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Becoming Nocturnal
Well, we’ve figured out the problem with the leaking roof. It’s not that the roof itself is actually leaking (except when it rains extremely hard for several days in a row). Instead, condensation forms on the inside of the tin roof, which is also our ceiling. During the night, the condensation builds and gathers until it eventually starts dripping down, usually around 3 or 4 a.m. And again last night, a significant amount of the dripping took place over our bed.
After burying ourselves under the blankets didn’t help us go back to sleep (dripping water all over is fairly loud), we tried wiping the condensation off the tin with our precious paper towels. Yes, paper towels are precious these days (PC cut our allowance, which we will probably blog about soon). Anyway, despite attempting to wipe up the water and opening a window on a cold night in hopes of drying the house, we didn’t get much sleep last night.
We do, however, have a plan. We are going to try to cut down in the evenings on anything that creates steam. This means no more bathing or boiling drinking water at night, and rice and pasta must be cooked in the afternoon. If this doesn’t work, our next strategy is to become nocturnal. The dripping doesn’t usually begin over our bed until about 3 or 4, so we should be able to get in a nice sleep from the hours of 5 to midnight.
After burying ourselves under the blankets didn’t help us go back to sleep (dripping water all over is fairly loud), we tried wiping the condensation off the tin with our precious paper towels. Yes, paper towels are precious these days (PC cut our allowance, which we will probably blog about soon). Anyway, despite attempting to wipe up the water and opening a window on a cold night in hopes of drying the house, we didn’t get much sleep last night.
We do, however, have a plan. We are going to try to cut down in the evenings on anything that creates steam. This means no more bathing or boiling drinking water at night, and rice and pasta must be cooked in the afternoon. If this doesn’t work, our next strategy is to become nocturnal. The dripping doesn’t usually begin over our bed until about 3 or 4, so we should be able to get in a nice sleep from the hours of 5 to midnight.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Culinary Masterpieces
The title is a bit (or a lot) of an exaggeration, but we are working with a hotplate and a toaster oven, so cut us some slack. As we’ve mentioned, we have learned how to cook homemade pizza, but our repertoire has continued to expand: we’ve also started making tacos. And by making tacos, we mean we even make our own tortillas. Homemade tortillas, in case you’re interested in making them, are way better than tortillas purchased at the store.
Let’s see what else we have "mastered." Matt has perfected the art of making pancakes while Sara lounges in bed on Saturday mornings. We’re really not sure why we used to purchase pancake mix. Homemade is almost as easy and significantly more delicious. We made hummus this week, which was not entirely successful, but we think we’ll get it right next time. Sara may have started baking cookies and brownies much more frequently than necessary, but it’s totally worth the calories. We also pop popcorn on the stove/hotplate, which we recommend trying as an alternative to microwave popcorn. I feel almost like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Okay, Laura and Mary probably weren’t enjoying tacos in the big woods or on the prairie, but whatever.
Next up, we want to try making doughnuts and bagels. If anyone has a good sesame bagel recipe, please let us know. If you read this and decide to head over to Bagel Nosh, we don’t want to hear about it.
Our apologies: We have tried uploading pictures to this blog on multiple occasions, but it eats up our data much too quickly. Sara tried uploading photos to Facebook Friday at a cyber cafe, but that was also a fail. We promise to post pictures eventually. Until then, you can continue to enjoy our wit and enlightening observations. Ha. And by “you,” we mean our mothers and Amy G., who may well be the only people reading this blog.
Finally, congrats to Katherine Henning for graduating college this weekend! Even though you make us feel old, we love you.
Let’s see what else we have "mastered." Matt has perfected the art of making pancakes while Sara lounges in bed on Saturday mornings. We’re really not sure why we used to purchase pancake mix. Homemade is almost as easy and significantly more delicious. We made hummus this week, which was not entirely successful, but we think we’ll get it right next time. Sara may have started baking cookies and brownies much more frequently than necessary, but it’s totally worth the calories. We also pop popcorn on the stove/hotplate, which we recommend trying as an alternative to microwave popcorn. I feel almost like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Okay, Laura and Mary probably weren’t enjoying tacos in the big woods or on the prairie, but whatever.
Next up, we want to try making doughnuts and bagels. If anyone has a good sesame bagel recipe, please let us know. If you read this and decide to head over to Bagel Nosh, we don’t want to hear about it.
Our apologies: We have tried uploading pictures to this blog on multiple occasions, but it eats up our data much too quickly. Sara tried uploading photos to Facebook Friday at a cyber cafe, but that was also a fail. We promise to post pictures eventually. Until then, you can continue to enjoy our wit and enlightening observations. Ha. And by “you,” we mean our mothers and Amy G., who may well be the only people reading this blog.
Finally, congrats to Katherine Henning for graduating college this weekend! Even though you make us feel old, we love you.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Water Issues
Our host family in Limpopo had running water and a bathtub, which was awesome. They didn’t have hot water though, so we had to warm up water on the stove for bathing. This meant that you ultimately only had a couple of inches of water in the tub (unless you wanted a freezing cold bath), but at least it wasn’t a bucket. The problem was that the water was often “out.” They were at the end of the village water line. Thus, when the tank “on the mountain” was low, there wasn’t enough water to reach our house. Luckily, they had a few large storage containers outside, and there was a tank down the road where Uncle Jacob would lug empty buckets in his wheelbarrow to get more water. When it rained, the water in the mountain tank would rise, and we would have running water again in the house. So although it sucks walking on muddy roads, we were constantly hoping for rain. It didn’t come often.
Despite the lack of a bathtub, it was nice having a constant supply of running water here in the Eastern Cape. That is, it was nice until last week when the water stopped. Luckily, it was only off sporadically for a couple of days. It was off again for several hours again this week, but it has been fine since then. This is much better than the days (and even weeks) we’d go without running water in Limpopo. However, the problem is that we don’t have water in storage here or an outhouse, so we are not equipped to deal with water shortages. You may think you’d never hope for an outhouse, but you begin to question yourself when you’re not sure when your water will come back on. We may have, additionally, gone an extra day (or two) beyond decent cleanliness last week without bathing due to the water shortage. It happens.
The other major difference compared to Limpopo is that here in the Eastern Cape it rains. A LOT. In fact, today is the fourth day in a row of rain. We are supposed to be moving out of the rainy warm season into the dry cold season. So far, however, it feels more like we are stuck with the worst of both worlds: the cold and the rain. When your roof is tin and nailed onto not nearly enough wooden beams, the tin pulls away from the beams when it’s windy, leaving you with holes in your roof. We’ve been lucky in that it usually doesn’t leak when it rains. Except when you hit about day three of rain in a row. Which was yesterday. Thankfully, it’s only been leaking in one area this time (so far).
Strangely, the time when the roof leaks the most is not when it has been raining but when the weather warms up a bit. When this happens, the roof starts leaking at night. Unfortunately, one of the leaks is directly above where Sara sleeps. This means that she has been woken up (more than once) by cold water dripping on her face at 2 a.m. Trust me, it’s quite unpleasant.
By this point it probably goes without saying that the weekend has been fairly uneventful. We’ve holed up in our home due to the rain. We’ve been playing cards, watching movies on the laptop and reading (we both finished our 13th book since coming to South Africa!). Hope everyone had a nice weekend and HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY!
Despite the lack of a bathtub, it was nice having a constant supply of running water here in the Eastern Cape. That is, it was nice until last week when the water stopped. Luckily, it was only off sporadically for a couple of days. It was off again for several hours again this week, but it has been fine since then. This is much better than the days (and even weeks) we’d go without running water in Limpopo. However, the problem is that we don’t have water in storage here or an outhouse, so we are not equipped to deal with water shortages. You may think you’d never hope for an outhouse, but you begin to question yourself when you’re not sure when your water will come back on. We may have, additionally, gone an extra day (or two) beyond decent cleanliness last week without bathing due to the water shortage. It happens.
The other major difference compared to Limpopo is that here in the Eastern Cape it rains. A LOT. In fact, today is the fourth day in a row of rain. We are supposed to be moving out of the rainy warm season into the dry cold season. So far, however, it feels more like we are stuck with the worst of both worlds: the cold and the rain. When your roof is tin and nailed onto not nearly enough wooden beams, the tin pulls away from the beams when it’s windy, leaving you with holes in your roof. We’ve been lucky in that it usually doesn’t leak when it rains. Except when you hit about day three of rain in a row. Which was yesterday. Thankfully, it’s only been leaking in one area this time (so far).
Strangely, the time when the roof leaks the most is not when it has been raining but when the weather warms up a bit. When this happens, the roof starts leaking at night. Unfortunately, one of the leaks is directly above where Sara sleeps. This means that she has been woken up (more than once) by cold water dripping on her face at 2 a.m. Trust me, it’s quite unpleasant.
By this point it probably goes without saying that the weekend has been fairly uneventful. We’ve holed up in our home due to the rain. We’ve been playing cards, watching movies on the laptop and reading (we both finished our 13th book since coming to South Africa!). Hope everyone had a nice weekend and HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
When You Don't Have TV...
“I know that guy Osama Bin Laden is after you, why do you think?”
A young man we met a couple weeks ago asked us this question. We’re not sure whether it was a serious question or a half-joke. Considering he had previously asked Sara if she was a CIA agent it’s probably the latter. I was reminded of his comments, however, in the wake of this weekend’s events.
Bin Laden’s death is the most significant American event to occur since our arrival in South Africa, and it was interesting to experience it while being on the other side of the world. Many of you heard the news Sunday night and probably spent much of your evening glued to your television sets. The news came to us in the form of a phone call from Matt’s parents at 5:30 a.m. on Monday morning. It was surreal news to awaken to, and about 15 minutes after the phone call Sara received a text message from her sister telling us the same news.
When we got out of bed at about 9:30 (Monday was a holiday, our lives aren’t that amazing) Matt immediately used our modem and signed onto the internet, where the news was plastered everywhere. We read about the celebrations in Times Square and at the White House. Facebook was littered with our friends’ (some more so than others) insightful comments. Over breakfast, we talked about Bin Laden’s death and its implications for our country’s future.
Then we got dressed, took a taxi into King William’s Town where we did some shopping, and surrounded ourselves with people seemingly ambivalent to the news. Had our cell phones been turned off, we likely would have gone through the entire day without ever hearing about million-dollar compounds in Pakistan.
Yesterday we bought a newspaper, interested to see how the South African press would cover Bin Laden’s death. It did indeed make the front page, but the article didn’t discuss the details of the attack or even make a reference to 9/11. Instead, the article was filled with quotes from South African intelligence experts who opined that any counterattacks would probably not be directed at South Africa but rather North America, specifically the United States. Pretty incisive journalism. You had to flip through several pages of the newspaper to read about what actually transpired in Pakistan or commentary on how Bin Laden’s death would affect the War on Terror.
Thankfully we have internet access at work . . . .
I know this blog entry is not that informative and probably not that interesting either. However, it was an experience for us to live through a major event knowing that it was receiving constant press attention back at home and everyone was talking about it. It’s difficult to articulate, but the experience made us simultaneously feel very connected yet disconnected from the United States.
A young man we met a couple weeks ago asked us this question. We’re not sure whether it was a serious question or a half-joke. Considering he had previously asked Sara if she was a CIA agent it’s probably the latter. I was reminded of his comments, however, in the wake of this weekend’s events.
Bin Laden’s death is the most significant American event to occur since our arrival in South Africa, and it was interesting to experience it while being on the other side of the world. Many of you heard the news Sunday night and probably spent much of your evening glued to your television sets. The news came to us in the form of a phone call from Matt’s parents at 5:30 a.m. on Monday morning. It was surreal news to awaken to, and about 15 minutes after the phone call Sara received a text message from her sister telling us the same news.
When we got out of bed at about 9:30 (Monday was a holiday, our lives aren’t that amazing) Matt immediately used our modem and signed onto the internet, where the news was plastered everywhere. We read about the celebrations in Times Square and at the White House. Facebook was littered with our friends’ (some more so than others) insightful comments. Over breakfast, we talked about Bin Laden’s death and its implications for our country’s future.
Then we got dressed, took a taxi into King William’s Town where we did some shopping, and surrounded ourselves with people seemingly ambivalent to the news. Had our cell phones been turned off, we likely would have gone through the entire day without ever hearing about million-dollar compounds in Pakistan.
Yesterday we bought a newspaper, interested to see how the South African press would cover Bin Laden’s death. It did indeed make the front page, but the article didn’t discuss the details of the attack or even make a reference to 9/11. Instead, the article was filled with quotes from South African intelligence experts who opined that any counterattacks would probably not be directed at South Africa but rather North America, specifically the United States. Pretty incisive journalism. You had to flip through several pages of the newspaper to read about what actually transpired in Pakistan or commentary on how Bin Laden’s death would affect the War on Terror.
Thankfully we have internet access at work . . . .
I know this blog entry is not that informative and probably not that interesting either. However, it was an experience for us to live through a major event knowing that it was receiving constant press attention back at home and everyone was talking about it. It’s difficult to articulate, but the experience made us simultaneously feel very connected yet disconnected from the United States.
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