There must exist a handbook that every trinket-selling person across the globe has a copy of, and this must be its title. I’ve heard it from hawkers in South America, Mexico, China, India (oh my god, India!) and now, all different parts of Africa. In some cases it’s the only English some of these guys know, but they say it proudly and repetitively, despite the smirk it always elicits from me. As if all their competitors give me bad price.
Friday morning, 7am. Sitting outside on a peaceful patio with my morning coffee and a good book in the most perfect temperature imaginable — 72 degrees Fahrenheit — under a cloudy sky pregnant with rain that never seems to fall. The only sounds are of birds chirping, gardeners chatting, the occasional rumble of thunder in the distance, and my cat’s collar bell chiming as he runs after foolhardy lizards. Lucy the monkey hears us stirring and bounces down from her bamboo perch to squeak new year’s greetings after my month-long absence. She doesn’t often vocalize but when she does, I’ve decided it sounds a lot like Chewbacca.
I must admit, I’m making this up. There is no controversy. The world of linguistics seems pretty settled that immersion is the best way to learn. But I think they’re all wrong. I think this should become a controversy.
When I left Congo a month ago, the jacarandas were in full bloom. Now upon my return this weekend, it’s the flamboyant’s turn. The sticky purple blossoms of the jacarandas are an annual reminder of our original September arrival, while the fiery-red flamboyants announce the rainy season is about to begin. Both are a sight to behold.
So five years ago today we moved into our little base camp bungalow here in the bush. If you’d told me then we’d be staying this long, I would’ve never believed you. It’s quite possible I would have talked myself out of it. I certainly would have had a much different conversation with our now very-long-term cat sitter. (God bless you, Rob.)
Potjie (poy-kee): Noun. Afrikaans. A three-legged pot-bellied cast-iron pot used for cooking over a fire. Usually by pot-bellied beer-drinking men.
It’s that time of year around base camp where we feel it’s not quite hot and dusty enough, so we light a huge fire and gather round to cook in cast-iron pots all day long. It’s the annual Potjie Cooking Competition, an homage to our South African employees and contractors. Last month Seb and I celebrated our fifth.
I was poking around online the other day when an article called “The 20 Most Peaceful Countries to Visit” caught my eye. It was one of those slide show-style type of articles… the kind where you must click “Next” for each new piece of information, and is badly written to boot. I’m generally against click-heavy articles, but every now and then with an interesting topic and pretty pictures, they suck me in.
Their top 20 was filled with Scandinavian countries, of course, and the usual European suspects along with Canada (#7), New Zealand (#4) and Australia (#9). I didn’t realize already-on-our-wish-list Japan was so peaceful at #8, and one really big surprise was Bhutan at #18, a Himalayan mountain kingdom that officially measures their “Gross National Happiness.” I think our travel wish list just grew a little bigger.
I wore this t-shirt yesterday in honor of NASA’s historic fly-by of our favorite dwarf planet. Something which I most likely would have missed in the weekly news over here if it weren’t for my super smart, scientifically-minded, space-news-following husband. I’m giving it a good try, though. Lately we’ve been settling down in the evenings for our second viewing of last year’s DVD purchase, Cosmos with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Despite watching an entertaining host and a highly-produced extravaganza of color and special effects, complete with cartoon demonstrations for the imaginatively challenged, not to mention having learned some of these things in school once upon a time… I remain utterly, hopelessly lost. The music and graphics oddly put me in the mood to visit Epcot Center, make me hungry for funnel cake, and then put me right to sleep. This science stuff might as well be fiction to me.
Not to say I’m not a nerd; I totally am. Just a capital-memorizing, building-databases-in-my-spare-time kind of a nerd, not a nerd with, you know, the slightest ability to understand algebra or astrophysics. Yet even I can find this t-shirt funny.
One of my three amazing sisters-in-law posted an article on Facebook recently about the lingering shame of breastfeeding in public. I agree; I think it’s a strange society indeed who uses sex to sell nearly anything, who maintains a thriving porn industry, who worships scantily-clad celebrities and models and even tries to dress like them while shopping at Walmart… yet who gasps audibly when faced with a mother breastfeeding her child in public.
I think we’ve got it backwards. We’ve oversexualized breasts to such a point that it seems dirty for a baby to actually feed from them. We don’t want to know about it, and we certainly don’t want to see it.
Apparently even doing it behind closed doors is not far enough away. An office coworker of mine Continue reading
In Europe you cannot throw a rock without hitting a cathedral. There’s probably a clever pun there somewhere, but all I really mean to say is that there’s a lot of them. In America we may have a larger variety of churches of different denominations, one on every corner sometimes, but Europe dominates in centuries-old, beautiful Catholic cathedrals. They seem to punctuate every skyline, whether you’re in a major metropolitan area or a tiny village in the country.
I’ve had the opportunity to see some really beautiful churches during my travels and adventures. Each time I step inside one to admire its architecture, its tranquility, or its shelter, I always think of my dad, and how much he would love seeing what I’m seeing. The feeling is strongest, of course, whenever I’m inside an old-world Catholic cathedral, my dad’s chosen faith. So to wish him a Happy Father’s Day, I’ve put together a collection of the most interesting ones I’ve got on digital record.
It turns out I’ve got quite a few, far too many for one post. Since I’m kind of going with a French theme at the moment, this will be the “French edition.” Future editions may be forthcoming… I’m thinking an African Edition would be fun, and there’s also temples, mosques, synagogues… so much variety. Next week we’ll be exploring Jewish culture during our stay in Kazimierz, Kraków. But in the meantime, I hope you like this one, Dad. Happy Father’s Day!!
Adventures in Congo 