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.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
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.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Baby It's Cold Outside
(Sorry about the corny title. Moving on.) Winter is coming. And it gets seriously cold. It was 47 degrees at 8:00 yesterday morning. INSIDE our house. I don’t want to even imagine how cold it was at 4 a.m. We have almost perfected the art of layering to go to sleep. Matt wears a pair of pajama pants over a pair of sweatpants and two long sleeved shirts over a t-shirt. Sara usually wears lined North Face pants, a t-shirt, a long sleeved shirt and a large sweatshirt. We then sleep in sleeping bag liners under two sheets, two big blankets and two throw blankets.
We have both obviously lived in much colder environments and thought we should be able to handle the cold. When we could see our breath while still in bed, however, we decided enough was enough. Yesterday, we took a public taxi to our shopping town and purchased a kerosene heater. By the way, don’t google “dangers of kerosene heaters” if such a heater is your only viable option. We purchased kerosene at a store in town, which was poured into a two liter empty soda bottle, and we were ready to go. Matt was able to set up the kerosene heater fairly easily, and we were able to spend our evening in relative warmth. We turned the heater off when we went to bed though. For now, we’re paying heed to the scary carbon monoxide warnings (damn you, google). We’re also trying not to think about the fact that winter doesn’t officially begin for another month…welcome to Africa.
We have both obviously lived in much colder environments and thought we should be able to handle the cold. When we could see our breath while still in bed, however, we decided enough was enough. Yesterday, we took a public taxi to our shopping town and purchased a kerosene heater. By the way, don’t google “dangers of kerosene heaters” if such a heater is your only viable option. We purchased kerosene at a store in town, which was poured into a two liter empty soda bottle, and we were ready to go. Matt was able to set up the kerosene heater fairly easily, and we were able to spend our evening in relative warmth. We turned the heater off when we went to bed though. For now, we’re paying heed to the scary carbon monoxide warnings (damn you, google). We’re also trying not to think about the fact that winter doesn’t officially begin for another month…welcome to Africa.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Holidays
The past week has been the perfect storm for holidays here in South Africa. Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays. Wednesday April 27th was also a holiday commemorating the 1994 elections that were the first ever held under South Africa’s new constitution – when Mandela was elected president. And next Monday is a holiday as well, but our co-workers can’t remember what the holiday actually is because there are too many this time of year. I think it’s something like Workers’ Day, or May Day. So what does all this mean for our work schedule? It means that we’re going to put one day of work in during a 10-day stretch. Not too shabby. The one regret is that we are not allowed to leave our site during our first 3 months – the preferred nomenclature among volunteers is “lockdown” – so we are unable to fully take advantage of this amazing stretch of holidays.
With one notable exception. Last weekend Peace Corps staff allowed all of us to travel anywhere within our province for the Easter Weekend. Anxious to enjoy the end of good weather, we spent three nights on the beach in East London. Mother Nature cooperated, and the days were in the 70s and there was very little rain. We even squeezed in a visit to the mall and caught a flick (for what it’s worth, we recommend that you guys check out the King’s Speech if you haven’t already). We stayed at a hostel across the street from the sand that had a great surfer vibe and was immediately next door to a solid restaurant/pub. We met a South African guy who was fascinated about our membership in the “Los Angeles fraternity of law.” We kept trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade him that it wasn’t precisely how it’s depicted in movies.
One of the amusing parts of the weekend was that whenever we talked to South Africans at the hostel, they couldn’t believe that we were living in a village, let alone didn’t own a car. Their jaws dropped when we explained that we took 3 public taxis to drive the 50 miles from our village to the hostel. To clarify, they did not think it was idiotic or dangerous for us to live there, but rather they were thoroughly impressed that we left the US to live there. It was actually very uplifting. And as an added bonus to the weekend, one of the guys already added us as friends on Facebook.
Now we are back in our beautiful village and it’s hard to believe that we’ve been here over a month. We still don’t return to work for four more days, so that should give us a lot of time to keep trying to woo the neighbor girl. Which means Sara will be baking cookies tomorrow. And probably the next day.
With one notable exception. Last weekend Peace Corps staff allowed all of us to travel anywhere within our province for the Easter Weekend. Anxious to enjoy the end of good weather, we spent three nights on the beach in East London. Mother Nature cooperated, and the days were in the 70s and there was very little rain. We even squeezed in a visit to the mall and caught a flick (for what it’s worth, we recommend that you guys check out the King’s Speech if you haven’t already). We stayed at a hostel across the street from the sand that had a great surfer vibe and was immediately next door to a solid restaurant/pub. We met a South African guy who was fascinated about our membership in the “Los Angeles fraternity of law.” We kept trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade him that it wasn’t precisely how it’s depicted in movies.
One of the amusing parts of the weekend was that whenever we talked to South Africans at the hostel, they couldn’t believe that we were living in a village, let alone didn’t own a car. Their jaws dropped when we explained that we took 3 public taxis to drive the 50 miles from our village to the hostel. To clarify, they did not think it was idiotic or dangerous for us to live there, but rather they were thoroughly impressed that we left the US to live there. It was actually very uplifting. And as an added bonus to the weekend, one of the guys already added us as friends on Facebook.
Now we are back in our beautiful village and it’s hard to believe that we’ve been here over a month. We still don’t return to work for four more days, so that should give us a lot of time to keep trying to woo the neighbor girl. Which means Sara will be baking cookies tomorrow. And probably the next day.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Update on neighbor girl
We offered her a cookie this morning. And she took it (without crying). Progress!
We are traveling tomorrow morning to East London (the closest big city to us about 80k) for the weekend. We are staying at a backpackers there and are planning to go to a MALL and probably see a MOVIE. It's supposed to be warm on Sunday (Easter), so we'll probably spend the day at the beach. You can tell, however, that we're most excited for the MALL and MOVIE. Maybe too excited. Anyway, we probably won't update again until early next week. HAPPY EASTER!!!!!! Love, Sara and Matt
We are traveling tomorrow morning to East London (the closest big city to us about 80k) for the weekend. We are staying at a backpackers there and are planning to go to a MALL and probably see a MOVIE. It's supposed to be warm on Sunday (Easter), so we'll probably spend the day at the beach. You can tell, however, that we're most excited for the MALL and MOVIE. Maybe too excited. Anyway, we probably won't update again until early next week. HAPPY EASTER!!!!!! Love, Sara and Matt
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Our neighbor girl . . .
. . . is seriously terrified of us. She's between 1 and 2 years old, and she cries and runs into her house whenever she sees us. Not to be cruel (b/c she is honestly scared), but it's actually fairly comical. We originally thought that maybe we were the first white people she's ever seen - at least up close. We thought that maybe she just couldn't figure out what we even are and felt it best to stay away. Her grandma tries and tries to get her to like us, but it just isn't working.
Another neighbor told us yesterday that the only white people she's really been in contact with are white doctors who gave her shots, so she believes she's going to receive an injection whenever she sees us. I guess I don't really blame her for crying and running away. My plan to win her over with brownies might need to be stepped up a bit though.
Another neighbor told us yesterday that the only white people she's really been in contact with are white doctors who gave her shots, so she believes she's going to receive an injection whenever she sees us. I guess I don't really blame her for crying and running away. My plan to win her over with brownies might need to be stepped up a bit though.
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