Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
a uniquely Namibian experience
I had a wonderful experience at the chemist the other day. As I was standing waiting for my credit card to go through, I was listening to the 4 ladies behind the counter having a chat.
Initially they were having a wonderful gossip about someone and how to handle that someone. This conversation was between three of them. One black woman and two coloured women, they were all speaking Afrikaans. Which, in my opinion, is the best language in which to gossip. It's a gutteral language that comes from the back of the throat and is full of onomatopioa and words and phrases that cannot be translated directly into English. Even the word for gossip sounds like what it is. Skinner - pronounced 'skunner', with the R at the end rolling around like the aftertaste of a Cabernet Suavignon.
While I was waiting, they were joined by a tall blonde woman who addressed them in German. Without hesitation and without thought, they all switched to German. Then two of them broke off to speak in Afrikaans again. At which point they were interrupted by a customer speaking English, and of course they responded to him in English. My credit card went through and the Blonde lady spoke to me in English too. All this swtiching between languanges happened without comment from them, and they were all flawless in all three. The whole conversation was fluid and lyrical in a way I have never heard.
It seems as though, in Namibia, you can pick the pieces of the three languages that best express your thoughts, and because almost everyone has the same smattering of those languages, they understand you. Having the choice of languages almost adds another language, one that only a small set of people in the world speak and it gives them intimate knowledge of what you mean to say.
Initially they were having a wonderful gossip about someone and how to handle that someone. This conversation was between three of them. One black woman and two coloured women, they were all speaking Afrikaans. Which, in my opinion, is the best language in which to gossip. It's a gutteral language that comes from the back of the throat and is full of onomatopioa and words and phrases that cannot be translated directly into English. Even the word for gossip sounds like what it is. Skinner - pronounced 'skunner', with the R at the end rolling around like the aftertaste of a Cabernet Suavignon.
While I was waiting, they were joined by a tall blonde woman who addressed them in German. Without hesitation and without thought, they all switched to German. Then two of them broke off to speak in Afrikaans again. At which point they were interrupted by a customer speaking English, and of course they responded to him in English. My credit card went through and the Blonde lady spoke to me in English too. All this swtiching between languanges happened without comment from them, and they were all flawless in all three. The whole conversation was fluid and lyrical in a way I have never heard.
It seems as though, in Namibia, you can pick the pieces of the three languages that best express your thoughts, and because almost everyone has the same smattering of those languages, they understand you. Having the choice of languages almost adds another language, one that only a small set of people in the world speak and it gives them intimate knowledge of what you mean to say.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Mom's Birthday
Yesterday was Mom's bday and we had such a lovely day. It started with the traditional brack of dawn present opening. We were all up for coffee before school started and Mom enjoyed her presents. In the evening we watched some absolutely fabulous tennis - Senea vs Henin. Go Henin! Which made us terribly late for dinner at the Taal. The Taal is the only Indian restaurant in WHK and the food is EXCELLENT, their menu is varied and has many vegetarian options. It was absolute heaven to enjoy all that deliscious food in the company of my family. NC joined us as one of Mom's extra daughters and luckily St could stay around for an extra day and joined us too. It made a very lively crowd but not big enough to be impersonal. Once we were all disgustingly full we rolled home and ended the evening with some West Wing. Such a lovely day!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Southern African and Namlish terms
Things you may read and not understand...
Braai - barbeque but usually with more meat. ew.
Padkos - food you take with on a road trip
ummmm can't think of any more right now. I'll get back to you on that.
Braai - barbeque but usually with more meat. ew.
Padkos - food you take with on a road trip
ummmm can't think of any more right now. I'll get back to you on that.
days when you should have just stayed in bed.
Tough day in the classroom today. I have been promising to show them the Gandhi movie for weeks now, and have also been trying to show it to them. Finally I got the keys to the cupboard and the classroom where the tv and dvd machine are. Allegedly. All the kids troop in, get themselves arranged in front of the cupboard, I open it and viola! No DVD machine... I dispatch a student and her buddy to borrow one from the Bursar... they return. No double adaptor. I dispatch her again... they return. No cord to connect the tv to the DVD player.
Now let me tell you that 20 mins of the 45 min lesson is gone already. The movie is 3 hours long. The maths is not working out in my favour. Also, the natives are getting restless. Not sure if that is a Conrad quote, but it ought to be. And I now sympathise. The volume of chatter is rising and one dear child has already threatened another with his chair, as if to tame a lion. I, in turn threaten with detention, for both of them, for good measure. Guess what... they girl returns. The cord is quite magical and has appeared to disappear. Impressive. There is now 15 minutes of the lesson left and it was at this point that getting up at 6 to be at school and spend my morning with these little muffins, these little fruitpies, these little cupcakes takes it's toll and I banish them to the field where they can be loud and energetic away from me and my detention forms.
Tomorrow I am taking my own dvd player, my own double adapter and my own cords. I will also have detention forms and extra homework at the ready, just in case of power failures or unavoidable natural disasters.
PS. Gandhi was a super caloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis. Go Mary Poppins!
Now let me tell you that 20 mins of the 45 min lesson is gone already. The movie is 3 hours long. The maths is not working out in my favour. Also, the natives are getting restless. Not sure if that is a Conrad quote, but it ought to be. And I now sympathise. The volume of chatter is rising and one dear child has already threatened another with his chair, as if to tame a lion. I, in turn threaten with detention, for both of them, for good measure. Guess what... they girl returns. The cord is quite magical and has appeared to disappear. Impressive. There is now 15 minutes of the lesson left and it was at this point that getting up at 6 to be at school and spend my morning with these little muffins, these little fruitpies, these little cupcakes takes it's toll and I banish them to the field where they can be loud and energetic away from me and my detention forms.
Tomorrow I am taking my own dvd player, my own double adapter and my own cords. I will also have detention forms and extra homework at the ready, just in case of power failures or unavoidable natural disasters.
PS. Gandhi was a super caloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis. Go Mary Poppins!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Mother's day in Cape Town
We spent Mother's day driving around the Cape Peninsula, stopped at a market for treats and shopping and ended up at a fish and chip place on the harbour. It was beautiful. The best moment was wondering up and down the wharf looking at the boats and enjoying the company.
Cape Town photo's as promised
The first image is of me at a winefarm. One of the best things to do in Cape Town is to drive out to Stellenbosch and that general area and pick three or four farms to stop at, then end up at Fairview for lunch with all the cheese you can eat. It's my version of heaven!
The second is the highly recognisable Table Mountain as you drive in from the road that leads north to WHK.
School fun day
We spent the day at the school today, mostly under a marquee tent. The sun was shining and there was a lovely, chilly breeze to remind us that it is still winter. The stalls were all selling deliscious and tempting foods and sweets. We each had something different for lunch. I should pause and explain fun day for the non-St. Paulians. It is a day where each class arranges a money making scheme and the whole country is invited to participate. There is always a tea stall, a braai and beer stall and the pillow fight. More recently there have been some new additions. Stir fry, the best biltong and candy floss in Namibia (allegedly) and dodgeball!
Also C was part of a very impressive and toe tapping display of ballroom dancing. She is giving K and I lessons. So far we can half cha cha and a little bit Rumba. I want to Merengue. K wants his laptop and for us to leave him alone please.
The Internet goddess is a fickle sprawling tarantula
Yay! We have internet again after four dry and horrible weeks. So will pick up where I left off soon. but meanwhile to keep you company - here are a few photos from our cards night which is becoming more and more rowdy! In fact they have become so rowdy that we have had to institute an new rule. There is a hat that goes around, and when you have played your turn you must put the hat on the next person's head. Otherwise we alll lose track of who's turn it is and it takes us half an hour to play one round!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Cape Town in May
While I wait for more pics off K's camera - here is one of him on Atlantic Beach taking pictures of rock pools.
The Cape Town trip was all I hoped it would be, nostalgic, comfortable, surprising and all the shopping you could dream of! It is actually amazing how much cheaper everything there is compared to whk. We stayed with M, Mom stayed with Aunty T and so we spent quite a lot of time driving around. Which turned out to be a lovely way to re-familiarise ourselves with the mother city I don't think that I would ever choose to live there permanently but I could see us spending another couple of years there. The population of the city has grown ridiculously but the city hasn't and so now it really feels like it is overfull. No matter what time you are driving on the highways or when you are in the malls, on the beach, walking around downtown, there are SO many people around all the time. To the point where you are constantly asking yourself: don't these people have jobs to go to?? Having lived in DC and now in WHK where it never feels like the town is overflowing with people, it was very suffocating and oppressive to know that so many people were doing the same thing and wanting the same thing from the same small space that you are occupying. I guess we all had a little culture shock.
Of course all the good things about CT are still good. The best day I had was wondering around downtown, up and down Long street and in the Botanical gardens. We were in and out of second hand book shops where the books were piled high on the shelves, floors and and all surfaces available. We stopped in one of our old-time favourite coffee shops and had milkshakes. Although we had forgotten how much people smoke in CT and now that we have not been exposed to it, it really is obnoxious and interfered with our milkshakes to the point that we went and sat outside!
I think the best experience of the trip was catching up with old acquaintances. People have changed and yet still stayed the same, so that the visits were full of curiousity about the new parts of them and the comfort and warmth of the recognisable ones.
more photos to come.
Monday, May 07, 2007
At night
Something about the desert and the lack of cars sent H's car into spasms of loneliness and it kept setting off the alarm. Of course this was mortifying out there, because the alarm could be heard for Km's! But it did make for some amazing photography for K while he was taking his night pictures. In this one you can see the alarm flashing on the car as well as how the landscape was lit by the moon.
Spitzkoppe photos
The first photo is of a barking gecko. We kept hearing a "kek kek kekk" noise and wondering what bird it was. It went on late into the evening and K remembered someone saying that the sound of the barking gecko drove birders crazy. So we went on a hunt and found one. Their little giggle (for it sounds more like that than like a bark) accompanied us all night.
The second photo is of a piece of bushman art that is high up in the rocks under a ledge and has a very mystical feel to it.
The third photo is of me in the famous arch at Spitzkoppe.
Spitzkoppe
This weekend, on a whim, we decided to drive out to the Spitzkoppe and camp there for a night. The Spitzkoppe is a mountain about half an hour outside Usakos and three hours drive from WHK.
It is a granite extrusion into the bedrock, where the bedrock has been eroded away leaving this massive formation standing alone in a flat gravel plain. The rock is orange from oxidised iron in the rock, which makes it even more obvious on the white, brown and grey gravel plains. Driving towards it, Spitzkoppe turns from a shadow, slowly into a magnificent monolith, completely dominating the skyline.
The campsites are very rustic, there is no running water and essentially you know it is a campsite only because there is a metal drum acting as a dustbin. This does add to the atmosphere of heat and emptiness. Camping there, it is possible to feel entirely alone in that landscape. All that is visible is the Spitzkoppe and the plains dotted with acacia's and dry grass. At night there were other campfires visible, which gave us a feeling of safety, knowing that there were other people nearby. We really do have such a strong herd-instinct as humans. It is an intense experience thinking you are alone, and hearing nothing but the wind and the blood in your ears.
In the evening, after we had had our braai, the moon slowly rose, and as you will see from the photos, it lit up the landscape almost like daybreak. We were amazed at how powerful the moonlight was and how it changed the lanscape and made it eerie. I imagined that the landscape that the river Styx runs through must look like the Spitzkpoppe did on Saturday night.
It is a granite extrusion into the bedrock, where the bedrock has been eroded away leaving this massive formation standing alone in a flat gravel plain. The rock is orange from oxidised iron in the rock, which makes it even more obvious on the white, brown and grey gravel plains. Driving towards it, Spitzkoppe turns from a shadow, slowly into a magnificent monolith, completely dominating the skyline.
The campsites are very rustic, there is no running water and essentially you know it is a campsite only because there is a metal drum acting as a dustbin. This does add to the atmosphere of heat and emptiness. Camping there, it is possible to feel entirely alone in that landscape. All that is visible is the Spitzkoppe and the plains dotted with acacia's and dry grass. At night there were other campfires visible, which gave us a feeling of safety, knowing that there were other people nearby. We really do have such a strong herd-instinct as humans. It is an intense experience thinking you are alone, and hearing nothing but the wind and the blood in your ears.
In the evening, after we had had our braai, the moon slowly rose, and as you will see from the photos, it lit up the landscape almost like daybreak. We were amazed at how powerful the moonlight was and how it changed the lanscape and made it eerie. I imagined that the landscape that the river Styx runs through must look like the Spitzkpoppe did on Saturday night.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
In other news
We are getting ready to go to Cape Town for ten days. K has set up various appointments with clever people who can help him with his project and I have made a VERY long and complex shopping list which gets added to every day. Thank goodness for our spacious Hank the Tank.
Otherwise, school is out and I should be updating my CV and learning all about Ghandi, which is our gr. 8 topic for the next semester. Instead I am availing myself of my mother's bookclub books which are all in a large box under her desk. Ooh, they have such good books. I highly recommend: "The time travellers wife". fascinating idea, quite bizarre and so interesting.
I am spending the day at home waiting for our new bed! Which was a bday present from K's folks, it's going to be So great!
In sad news, Henry's gallivanting has got him into trouble with our neighbours. SIGH. Apparently he thinks he should replace their two month old baby and has been caught a number of times sleeping in the baby's cot. The family are naturally irate, but actually being very sweet about it. As a result though, Henry and Oleo have had their garden priviledges intirely revoked and we are once again cleaning litterboxes. SIGH. We are going to try putting lion poop around our garden wall in the hope that that will keep Henry in, but I don't hold out much hope. Also - where on EARTH does one get lion poop????? I am sure they have plenty of it in Etosha, but how does one actually lay one's hands on it. And also - how badly does it smell???
Otherwise, school is out and I should be updating my CV and learning all about Ghandi, which is our gr. 8 topic for the next semester. Instead I am availing myself of my mother's bookclub books which are all in a large box under her desk. Ooh, they have such good books. I highly recommend: "The time travellers wife". fascinating idea, quite bizarre and so interesting.
I am spending the day at home waiting for our new bed! Which was a bday present from K's folks, it's going to be So great!
In sad news, Henry's gallivanting has got him into trouble with our neighbours. SIGH. Apparently he thinks he should replace their two month old baby and has been caught a number of times sleeping in the baby's cot. The family are naturally irate, but actually being very sweet about it. As a result though, Henry and Oleo have had their garden priviledges intirely revoked and we are once again cleaning litterboxes. SIGH. We are going to try putting lion poop around our garden wall in the hope that that will keep Henry in, but I don't hold out much hope. Also - where on EARTH does one get lion poop????? I am sure they have plenty of it in Etosha, but how does one actually lay one's hands on it. And also - how badly does it smell???
Beware the Ostrich!
Before we arrived at the Galloway farm we had been warned about the Ostriches there. We passed on the message to the Bronze group that should any ostrich approach them, they were to immediately lie down on the ground and not look up. The kids seemed suitably impressed, and understood that the breeding pair were naturally protective of their newly hatched chicks.
We set out at a blistering pace early on Sunday morning and hadn’t been walking 45 minutes when an Ostrich appeared on the horizon. It was on the horizon and so we tried not to worry about it or think about it. But the problem with something being on the horizon is that the horizon gets closer, it also doesn’t help if the thing on the horizon is a curious bird and decides to come take a look. So very quickly the Ostrich became something we needed to worry and think about!
Luckily our head leader is someone whose head is very capable. She got the students to slow down and group together. By this time the Ostrich was extremely close to us, and becoming a little agitated. He indicated his agitation by fluffing his wings at us and setting his chin in an aggressive manner. By the time the Ostrich was close enough to see his very large middle toe, which can rip a man from chin to groin in one powerful kick, we had the kids standing in a huddle, with their backs facing out and Their eyes very determinedly down.
If you have ever seen an Ostrich up close you will understand why we were all freaked out. The thing was taller than K. And wide, and does actually quite closely resemble those things from Jurassic park that chased the kid around the kitchen. Pterodactylpolysaurus something or other.
Ostriches will peck at anything shiny, and for that reason we told the kids not to show the Ostrich their eyes. They all had to look down at the ground, but what was funny was that they immediately become obsessed with the concept. They were worried about their earrings, their watches and the zippers on their backpacks. After about 15 minutes of this huddle we started to move the whole group away. Some of the kids were so worried that they were walking backwards and of course there is a tree here called “wagnbietjie” – in English: Wait a little. The thorns of the tree hook into any fabric or skin that comes past and at least one child had to wait while we untangled them.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, we did eventually manage to move everyone far enough away that the Ostrich forgot about us. They do after all have brain’s not larger than a walnut. Of course when we got back to parents and the school later in the day, there were grand stories of being attacked by an ostrich and rescuing each other mightily. If you look closely at the previous photo you will see in the distance the mighty beast that terrified us so.
We set out at a blistering pace early on Sunday morning and hadn’t been walking 45 minutes when an Ostrich appeared on the horizon. It was on the horizon and so we tried not to worry about it or think about it. But the problem with something being on the horizon is that the horizon gets closer, it also doesn’t help if the thing on the horizon is a curious bird and decides to come take a look. So very quickly the Ostrich became something we needed to worry and think about!
Luckily our head leader is someone whose head is very capable. She got the students to slow down and group together. By this time the Ostrich was extremely close to us, and becoming a little agitated. He indicated his agitation by fluffing his wings at us and setting his chin in an aggressive manner. By the time the Ostrich was close enough to see his very large middle toe, which can rip a man from chin to groin in one powerful kick, we had the kids standing in a huddle, with their backs facing out and Their eyes very determinedly down.
If you have ever seen an Ostrich up close you will understand why we were all freaked out. The thing was taller than K. And wide, and does actually quite closely resemble those things from Jurassic park that chased the kid around the kitchen. Pterodactylpolysaurus something or other.
Ostriches will peck at anything shiny, and for that reason we told the kids not to show the Ostrich their eyes. They all had to look down at the ground, but what was funny was that they immediately become obsessed with the concept. They were worried about their earrings, their watches and the zippers on their backpacks. After about 15 minutes of this huddle we started to move the whole group away. Some of the kids were so worried that they were walking backwards and of course there is a tree here called “wagnbietjie” – in English: Wait a little. The thorns of the tree hook into any fabric or skin that comes past and at least one child had to wait while we untangled them.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, we did eventually manage to move everyone far enough away that the Ostrich forgot about us. They do after all have brain’s not larger than a walnut. Of course when we got back to parents and the school later in the day, there were grand stories of being attacked by an ostrich and rescuing each other mightily. If you look closely at the previous photo you will see in the distance the mighty beast that terrified us so.
Friday, April 27, 2007
IYA information
Here is the website that explains the IYA - International Youth Award. http://www.intaward.org/IAA/index.aspx
It started from the Duke of Edinburgh Award which some of you may have heard of and even participated in. It is a fantastic program and I recommend it to any young person who can get involved in it!
It started from the Duke of Edinburgh Award which some of you may have heard of and even participated in. It is a fantastic program and I recommend it to any young person who can get involved in it!
IYA and the Bushmen
This past weekend we went on another trip with the IYA – have I explained the IYA? Mmm, don’t think so, will do so in another post. Anyway, we packed 21 teens into a number of cars and headed north on the Okahandja road. WHAT? You ask, Are we doing going on ANOTHER trip with teenagers? Did we not learn from the last one?? But I have signed up for being and IYA leader and so must go, and therefore K must go too!
This trip was for the bronze award youngsters to have their expedition. Bronze is really all about training to do silver and gold level IYA. They learn how to put up a tent, how to hike silently so that they see interesting things, how to work together as a group and how to skip bathing.
The first leg of the trip was out to Abaadi where we were led on a walk by a pair of bushmen. They were dressed traditionally and showed us fascinating things like how to store water in ostrich eggs, how to identify uses of indigenous plants and how to make fire with two sticks. The students had so much fun doing the last! One must call the fire at the same time as rubbing vigorously. The way to call fire is with an eerie combination of clicks and eees, something like “tchai tchai eeeeeee”.
We also learned how to bake bread using an old anthill as an oven, the bread was mixed in a bucket and then placed under the anthill and covered with coals. I have rarely tasted anything so delicious!
After Abaadi we drove back to the Galloway farm where we set up our campsite in a riverbed. The kids made potjies while the adults chilled with a bottle of wine and appreciated the view. It was fascinating to watch the youngsters figure out who knew how to make a fire, who knew which stick went where on their tent and who was the most afraid of snakes! It was lovely to see that the people who are not the popular ones in school suddenly were everyone’s best friend because they had been camping before.
After sunset, dinner and marshmallows the students self-regulated and went to bed early. We woke them at 5, when it was still dark and felt like night, and headed off on a stiff walk around the farm. By the time we came home in the bus there was not a young voice to be heard, only snores!
This trip was for the bronze award youngsters to have their expedition. Bronze is really all about training to do silver and gold level IYA. They learn how to put up a tent, how to hike silently so that they see interesting things, how to work together as a group and how to skip bathing.
The first leg of the trip was out to Abaadi where we were led on a walk by a pair of bushmen. They were dressed traditionally and showed us fascinating things like how to store water in ostrich eggs, how to identify uses of indigenous plants and how to make fire with two sticks. The students had so much fun doing the last! One must call the fire at the same time as rubbing vigorously. The way to call fire is with an eerie combination of clicks and eees, something like “tchai tchai eeeeeee”.
We also learned how to bake bread using an old anthill as an oven, the bread was mixed in a bucket and then placed under the anthill and covered with coals. I have rarely tasted anything so delicious!
After Abaadi we drove back to the Galloway farm where we set up our campsite in a riverbed. The kids made potjies while the adults chilled with a bottle of wine and appreciated the view. It was fascinating to watch the youngsters figure out who knew how to make a fire, who knew which stick went where on their tent and who was the most afraid of snakes! It was lovely to see that the people who are not the popular ones in school suddenly were everyone’s best friend because they had been camping before.
After sunset, dinner and marshmallows the students self-regulated and went to bed early. We woke them at 5, when it was still dark and felt like night, and headed off on a stiff walk around the farm. By the time we came home in the bus there was not a young voice to be heard, only snores!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Hank the Tank
Here is a piccy of us and Hank the Tank. Named for the blue politician in X-men. I know, so far off the geek radar it hurts. But he’s blue and huge and when he gives us trouble we can call him Beast. It’s been quite a feat to get the dealership to sort him out – and I’ll name names… General Motors are a total pain in the arse. We are driving to Cape Town in a couple of weeks and the dealership has promised to have him sorted out by then, so hold thumbs etc for us! Meanwhile feast your eyes on the fabulousness that is a ’95 Volvo in almost mint condition, or rather, heading towards mint condition!
You say Tomato
I have now been back long enough to notice some essential differences between the two places I call home. The first and most noticeable is the lack of plastic spoons in Namibia. Or maybe it’s just Whk that insists on only eating off only the finest cutlery.
We used to use our thousands of plastic spoons to dish our cat’s food. That way we could feel like we were recycling the wretched things. Here, we have been reduced to using our own cutlery and then two precious plastic forks, one of which has lost all but one tine. In DC, plastic spoons were practically thrown at you! Coffee shops, Chinese takeout, lying around on the streets, magically appearing in the back of your spatula drawer. Here I have had to BEG the local chicken joint to share their spoons with me and I am becoming know as the crazy spoon lady.
I have one spoon now, but it has taken me three months to get it and I am still guarding my two plastic forks (named Winnie and Minnie) like they are a matching pair of diamond earrings!
We used to use our thousands of plastic spoons to dish our cat’s food. That way we could feel like we were recycling the wretched things. Here, we have been reduced to using our own cutlery and then two precious plastic forks, one of which has lost all but one tine. In DC, plastic spoons were practically thrown at you! Coffee shops, Chinese takeout, lying around on the streets, magically appearing in the back of your spatula drawer. Here I have had to BEG the local chicken joint to share their spoons with me and I am becoming know as the crazy spoon lady.
I have one spoon now, but it has taken me three months to get it and I am still guarding my two plastic forks (named Winnie and Minnie) like they are a matching pair of diamond earrings!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
mad skillz
In this pic you can see my sis doing a very complex manouvre called trapezing. The essential idea is that you strap yourself into a harness and then trust that harness with all your body weight and drop off the side of the boat. This makes the boat go MUCH faster and also tilt. For some reason, this is thought to be fun. For me, it mostly meant that I wouldn't pee on the boat out of fear, cos my rear end was hanging over deep blue sea and goodness knows what IN that sea! Clearly, my sis has an over-developed sense of adventure and should share just a little of it with me.
mmmmmm
Whoah - I reallllllly am craving Chipotle. The creamy guacomole spread all over the black beans, with the crunchy green peppers and the strong onions. All laid on a bed of fluffy, warm rice. Mmmmm, and if you're not on diet - the contrast of the cold sour cream in between, and the cheese to hold it all together. mmmm
Oh dear.
Oh dear.
Walvis Bay
Here are a few photos - full story to come later once I have finished my history homework!
There was a resident seal at the yacht club who came up on shore and barked to be fed at 4 every day. He was very cute and did tricks for his fish! Actually, it may have been a she. Mum went over to talk to her/him and it rolled over in the water like it wanted it's belly scratched! Which is a bit like a leopard asking the same! At one point someone's rottwieler was running around on the beach and there was a brief face off between him and the seal. My bet was on the seal, especially if they got back in the water, but the rotty was smart enough to back off to a safe distance and bark instead.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Orange river
This is K and I coming down a rapid called sjambok... in English... the equivalent of a cat-o'nine-tails.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Orange River - pictures four and five
On the last evening, the campsite was very large, we were basically camping out in a river mouth that had dried up. The boys couldn't resist putting sticks in the gravel for goal posts and playing some soccer. These are the same boys, who on the first night, wanted to sing Manchester United songs at close to midnight when everyone else had gone to bed long ago. They went to sleep talking soccer and woke up talking soccer. So when K bounced the ball on his head and some other fancy stuff, the boys were immediately smitten!
Watching them play in the dust with the sun setting on the mountain behind them was seeing soccer as poetry.
Orange River - pictures two and three
This gives a good sense of the geology and what it was like to be on the river with all the canoes, surrounded by water and mountains. In front is the guide giving the signal to stop.
Monday, April 02, 2007
wishes won't wash dishes
B and S wash dishes at their place next door, and I wash dishes at ours. I miss our dishwasher. Although, even if we used ALL our dishes we still wouldn't fill a machine. So I guess it's a blessing in disguise! Not to mention the water saved!
House & Home
Here are a few pictures of the house as we have done it up. I was given a new digital camera and so can finally put up pics - if I can get the internet to work with me, baby!
The first is of C and K at work in our dining room on a Sunday morning.
The second is of part of our kitchen, we seem to have unintentionally found a striped theme for the downstairs.
The lawn looks like it is starting to recover which makes the smell of the manure we put down worth it. Not that we can lie, walk or sit on the lawn without getting poo all over us yet. Hopefully we'll get it healthy just in time for winter!
I just cut some bougainvilla to put in our house, it doesn't have a scent but it is so exuberant, even in a vase that it livens up the lounge and K's fave sitting and reading the paper chair.
We are slowly starting to get to the place where we are completely set up and the admin is over, and we can actually start living a daily life. For me this involves getting up with the cats, walking around a few blocks with H before it gets too hot and then working on my history before going in to St P to teach it. For K it means running around in the car and eventually ending up at DRFN for some work.
Monday, March 26, 2007
The Great Orange River
The geography of the river is largely towering granite walls painted in red, oranges and blacks. The rock is folded and creased and cut sharply through the middle where the river has carved a path. Often in the morning and evening we were in the shadow of the mountains on either side of us.
It is hard for me to describe the feeling of being on the water in that place. In the early morning there are so many sensual experiences. The cold and wet grass tickling your feet. Drops of water falling off the paddle onto your bare legs as you pull your self through the water with smooth, even strokes, twisting your hand and shoulders to put the blade into the water. the sun burns the backs of your eyes as you watch a bird that is just a black shape against the light blue sky. In the evening the feelings are very different. Your body is exhausted and done. Your brain is on hold from feeling completely dominated by the environment around you. There is dirt everywhere but it is comforting and feels like it is keeping you warm. There are so many things that simply do not matter on the river and living becomes elemental. It is so physical all day that the physical becomes all you can focus on. Food, sleep, water are all your body needs. It leaves your mind and spirit completely empty and then fills it with the unforgettable scenery which becomes seared onto your pupils so that even when you close your eyes at night, in your sleeping bag, you see the silouette of the granite against the sky. And even in the night the physical environment cannot be ignored. It seems as though you must memorise every star and all the star dust and their place in the sky before you can sleep. It cannot be possible that anywhere else on the world is the sky as full as the earth.
It is hard for me to describe the feeling of being on the water in that place. In the early morning there are so many sensual experiences. The cold and wet grass tickling your feet. Drops of water falling off the paddle onto your bare legs as you pull your self through the water with smooth, even strokes, twisting your hand and shoulders to put the blade into the water. the sun burns the backs of your eyes as you watch a bird that is just a black shape against the light blue sky. In the evening the feelings are very different. Your body is exhausted and done. Your brain is on hold from feeling completely dominated by the environment around you. There is dirt everywhere but it is comforting and feels like it is keeping you warm. There are so many things that simply do not matter on the river and living becomes elemental. It is so physical all day that the physical becomes all you can focus on. Food, sleep, water are all your body needs. It leaves your mind and spirit completely empty and then fills it with the unforgettable scenery which becomes seared onto your pupils so that even when you close your eyes at night, in your sleeping bag, you see the silouette of the granite against the sky. And even in the night the physical environment cannot be ignored. It seems as though you must memorise every star and all the star dust and their place in the sky before you can sleep. It cannot be possible that anywhere else on the world is the sky as full as the earth.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
rain, sunburns and the Orange river
Oleo just came dashing in, disgusted that the sky is once again promising to fall on her head. It has been thundering and lightning all day and the humidity is gross. You could say that a monkey is getting married cos it is raining at last, but the sun is till shining through the drops. The humidty after the rain is always worse because the water evaporates off the hot concrete.
K went to a workshop yesterday and didn't know it was outdoors. As a result he spent most of the day in a borrowed hat and trying to hide his crispy forearms under his shirt, behind his back and any other place that could give him some relief. His face is brown as a farmer's but his arms are nothing short of two large lobsters. Sleeping next to him last night was like sleeping next to a radiator. I on the other hand am looking more like my natural colour. Just from swimming and walking around I have got a healthy hue back.
We will be canoeing down the Orange river next week, we'll be going with the International Youth Award students. Four adults, fifty teens - promises to be fun. I made the lead teacher promise to let me be in the same canoe as K and his sunburn. I am feeling more than a little apprehensive as I have never even managed to make a kayak go backwards, let alone forwards over rapids! The advantage of having fifty kids with you is that I won't have to wash a single dish! I am looking forward to sitting at a fire, watching the glow of the embers, while the unending stars are above us.
K went to a workshop yesterday and didn't know it was outdoors. As a result he spent most of the day in a borrowed hat and trying to hide his crispy forearms under his shirt, behind his back and any other place that could give him some relief. His face is brown as a farmer's but his arms are nothing short of two large lobsters. Sleeping next to him last night was like sleeping next to a radiator. I on the other hand am looking more like my natural colour. Just from swimming and walking around I have got a healthy hue back.
We will be canoeing down the Orange river next week, we'll be going with the International Youth Award students. Four adults, fifty teens - promises to be fun. I made the lead teacher promise to let me be in the same canoe as K and his sunburn. I am feeling more than a little apprehensive as I have never even managed to make a kayak go backwards, let alone forwards over rapids! The advantage of having fifty kids with you is that I won't have to wash a single dish! I am looking forward to sitting at a fire, watching the glow of the embers, while the unending stars are above us.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Catchup
I have now been here two weeks and as cliched as it is, time seems to pass differently here. It is like two weeks have been stretched out till I never left. And yet, I seem to not have done very much in the days I have had.
The house is all set up, and we have hung pictures, which goes the furthest to making a place feel like home. We bought and borrowed furniture from various sources so that now we have a lovely lounge and small dining room table. Most of you will understand that a small dining room table doesn't leave much space for scat or speed scrabble. Which is fine as we end up next door at L's most nights anyway.
C is already tired of speed scrabble but the rest of us love it so much that a night hasn't passed in the last six that we haven't played a game. The scat has gone down equally well with the more rowdy crowd. Of course that makes me happy as my bliss is to play cards all night, every night.
The cats are in heaven, Henry gallavants and is fast making buddies with all the neighbours, including L's cat and H's two wee dogs. The one is actually smaller than Henry - giving him an unfair advantage, it won't be long before there are complaints about our roving ginger boy. Oleo is as happy as a pig in mud, she has favourite spot under a bush for her mornings, and a spot in the ferns for the hot afternoons. They are getting along and even snuggle together with me when it finally cools down at about 3 in the morning.
I am walking everyday with H and in the evenings with L, the only times of the day when you want to be moving further than the fridge for water, which must be boiled and then cooled before drunk. On these walks I get thrills from all the birds I see that I have missed. This evening we saw guinea fowl, as well as the blue waxbill which looks like it was dipped in paint.
I have occasionally swum in the new town pool with R and that is lovely. As always, getting in is the hardest part. Your body is warm from the car ride, and the water is still cold from the previous night. Swimming under the sun, with the water glinting in front of me makes me impatient for visitors so that I can share these simple things that define life here.
The house is all set up, and we have hung pictures, which goes the furthest to making a place feel like home. We bought and borrowed furniture from various sources so that now we have a lovely lounge and small dining room table. Most of you will understand that a small dining room table doesn't leave much space for scat or speed scrabble. Which is fine as we end up next door at L's most nights anyway.
C is already tired of speed scrabble but the rest of us love it so much that a night hasn't passed in the last six that we haven't played a game. The scat has gone down equally well with the more rowdy crowd. Of course that makes me happy as my bliss is to play cards all night, every night.
The cats are in heaven, Henry gallavants and is fast making buddies with all the neighbours, including L's cat and H's two wee dogs. The one is actually smaller than Henry - giving him an unfair advantage, it won't be long before there are complaints about our roving ginger boy. Oleo is as happy as a pig in mud, she has favourite spot under a bush for her mornings, and a spot in the ferns for the hot afternoons. They are getting along and even snuggle together with me when it finally cools down at about 3 in the morning.
I am walking everyday with H and in the evenings with L, the only times of the day when you want to be moving further than the fridge for water, which must be boiled and then cooled before drunk. On these walks I get thrills from all the birds I see that I have missed. This evening we saw guinea fowl, as well as the blue waxbill which looks like it was dipped in paint.
I have occasionally swum in the new town pool with R and that is lovely. As always, getting in is the hardest part. Your body is warm from the car ride, and the water is still cold from the previous night. Swimming under the sun, with the water glinting in front of me makes me impatient for visitors so that I can share these simple things that define life here.
A Closed Mouth gathers no Foot.
Last night I sat at my Mother's table and played cards with her, my two sisters, a boyfriend and my husband. The title of this post was something said by S - the boyfriend. It made us all laugh so hard and in that moment I was overrun by the feeling of being home and being held in the normalcy of here.
There are so many changes to the town, and to the people that are here, almost everything is slightly different. Whole new suburbs where, for me "here be dragons" was once stamped on the map. Wanaheda, Rocky Crest, Prosperita, these were not words that were part of my childhood. Now they are sections of the city I have never been to, in a city where I have lived in 18 houses in half a dozen suburbs, in a city where half a dozen suburbs was all there was.
There are also things that are the same and it is these things that give me silence in my soul. The roads still smell like evaporating petrol. The smell of rain (petrichor - I looked it up) and the smell of dust are all sensory reminders that I am where I always have been in my heart. They also remind me that these smells will always be here, wherever I go. The backs of my Mother's hands are still as soft as talc and the couch's texture is grainy. The sky is so blue and all the other colours are washed out by the sun. Everyone spells colours this way.
I do miss WDC. She is a large and vibrant city that sucks your time and leaves you with a nervous and tense energy that almost never fades until you collapse on your couch determined to ignore her, waiting, just outside the window.
WHK is so different, the breeze blows in my open door, and warmth of the passing day leaves a layer of dust on my skin that seems to make my day slow and gentle.
There are so many changes to the town, and to the people that are here, almost everything is slightly different. Whole new suburbs where, for me "here be dragons" was once stamped on the map. Wanaheda, Rocky Crest, Prosperita, these were not words that were part of my childhood. Now they are sections of the city I have never been to, in a city where I have lived in 18 houses in half a dozen suburbs, in a city where half a dozen suburbs was all there was.
There are also things that are the same and it is these things that give me silence in my soul. The roads still smell like evaporating petrol. The smell of rain (petrichor - I looked it up) and the smell of dust are all sensory reminders that I am where I always have been in my heart. They also remind me that these smells will always be here, wherever I go. The backs of my Mother's hands are still as soft as talc and the couch's texture is grainy. The sky is so blue and all the other colours are washed out by the sun. Everyone spells colours this way.
I do miss WDC. She is a large and vibrant city that sucks your time and leaves you with a nervous and tense energy that almost never fades until you collapse on your couch determined to ignore her, waiting, just outside the window.
WHK is so different, the breeze blows in my open door, and warmth of the passing day leaves a layer of dust on my skin that seems to make my day slow and gentle.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Keir's View
This is the view from the Library at Gobabeb in the desert. The White tower in the left is the water tower and has become the icon of the research station.
The morning of
I'm packed, and my plane clothes are laid out on the bed. My toiletries are all in a one gallon bag ready for TSA. I have done all the admin nuisances that I can get done before I leave and now I am lying on the couch feeling the bubble of butterflies for the first time since we booked our flights.
There is a series of events involved with flying that adds to the build up of excitement for your arrival. First you wait in the house, bags packed, dressed, everything done, waiting to leave. There's a flurry of activity as you lug your bags downstairs, hugs all round and then get arranged in the car. Then the airport as you stand in the multiple queues to you get through. There is such a feeling of relief when you hand over your luggage and then again when you get through security and can put your shoes back on.
All the waiting creates momentum for the moment that your head pulls back and the plane magically and fantastically takes off. 7 more hours in the USA, 19 hours in SA, a total of 17 hours on the plane and then home!
There is a series of events involved with flying that adds to the build up of excitement for your arrival. First you wait in the house, bags packed, dressed, everything done, waiting to leave. There's a flurry of activity as you lug your bags downstairs, hugs all round and then get arranged in the car. Then the airport as you stand in the multiple queues to you get through. There is such a feeling of relief when you hand over your luggage and then again when you get through security and can put your shoes back on.
All the waiting creates momentum for the moment that your head pulls back and the plane magically and fantastically takes off. 7 more hours in the USA, 19 hours in SA, a total of 17 hours on the plane and then home!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
ROARRRRRR
I start to have even more compassion for circus animals, and commit more to cirque du soliel every day that this move progresses. I now empathise with any creature that is made to jump through hoops. I have had to do the same to get everything in place. Every hoop imaginable; pink ones, yellow ones, little ones, big ones, thin ones, fat ones. (or is that worms?) In particular, to get the cats to Namibia required hoops of fire. And K and I weren't the only ones who had to make the leap. Big Shout out to B for driving all the way out to Annapolis to the USDA vet services. BUT today I got the call that they had arrived safely and happily and hungrily at our new home. I love to imagine my hubbles, and my kittens snuggled on the couch watching the sunset and breathing the dusty Namibian air.
To tempt you to visit - attached are pics of the garden and the view onto the garden. That bench is begging for a G&T.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
it fast approaches!
Wow - just a little over one week left to go before I leave. Here is a pic of the front of our new place. Keir will be moving furniture etc this weekend. It's a massive place and it's going to be great to have so much space. It'll feel wierd coming back to the States after all that sunshine and air.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
The properties of light
Last night on my way home from work I stopped at the grocery store. From there I was struggling back down the hill with my heavy bags, wondering how easy it is to dislocate a shoulder, and whether I should figure out a better way to carry the heaviest bag, when I looked up.
In front of me was a huge construction site, basically a big hole in the ground with cranes in it. Beyond that was another construction site, the building standing, but with no filling, no walls, just concrete and ropes of steel holding the whole structure together. Beyond that was the spire of one of the many churches in our neighbourhood. (All Souls's I think - click here for an image of it - http://www.travelphotobase.com/f/DC16/DCS59.HTM) It was a classic DC scene - actually, probaby a classic city scene, but what made me stare was the frozen moment of light on all these structures.
The hole in front of me, and the cranes in it, were in shadow, and their ugliness hidden in the passed light of dusk. The almost-building behind it was shining, the leftover sunlight from the day was reflecting off all the metal in the structure, it made the whole building into a crosshatch of bright light and dark holes. The church spire was swathed in a low hanging cloud, stretched out like a duvet. The top of the cloud was white, the center was grey and stormy and the bottom of the cloud, the part that was snuggled around the spire was red and orange and yellow and all the colours in between.
I didn't think about my groceries again till I got home.
In front of me was a huge construction site, basically a big hole in the ground with cranes in it. Beyond that was another construction site, the building standing, but with no filling, no walls, just concrete and ropes of steel holding the whole structure together. Beyond that was the spire of one of the many churches in our neighbourhood. (All Souls's I think - click here for an image of it - http://www.travelphotobase.com/f/DC16/DCS59.HTM) It was a classic DC scene - actually, probaby a classic city scene, but what made me stare was the frozen moment of light on all these structures.
The hole in front of me, and the cranes in it, were in shadow, and their ugliness hidden in the passed light of dusk. The almost-building behind it was shining, the leftover sunlight from the day was reflecting off all the metal in the structure, it made the whole building into a crosshatch of bright light and dark holes. The church spire was swathed in a low hanging cloud, stretched out like a duvet. The top of the cloud was white, the center was grey and stormy and the bottom of the cloud, the part that was snuggled around the spire was red and orange and yellow and all the colours in between.
I didn't think about my groceries again till I got home.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
winter crisp
Today is one of those days for feeling semtimental and reflective. Walking to work was cold. My face was cold but the rest of me was snuggled into my fabulous winter coat. Cold, crisp air blowing my hair out of my face, and the sun shining down on my squinting eyelids. This is the best kind of winter day, it is just refreshing and not depresssing.
I got into the office and everyone is in a good mood, sleepy, but happy to see everyone else, happy to have someone else to share the early morning dark of the office with. We commune in the kitchen, the bright lights and smell of coffee assisting in our grunting waking up. Everyone's hands are busy, there's toast in the toaster oven and naturally there is someone standing with the fridge door open looking inside but really only seeing their crumpled, warm bed that they left behind. My tea is sweet and milky and everyone telling banal stories from the night before is soothing. We all scatter down the hallway to stare blankly at the computor. Do people who get in at ten have the same half hour of coming-to, or do they walk into work brains fired and ready to start the day?
I don't really want to let go of the warm fuzzies this morning. BBC2 is helping, "the magic numbers" is excellent early morning assistance.
I got into the office and everyone is in a good mood, sleepy, but happy to see everyone else, happy to have someone else to share the early morning dark of the office with. We commune in the kitchen, the bright lights and smell of coffee assisting in our grunting waking up. Everyone's hands are busy, there's toast in the toaster oven and naturally there is someone standing with the fridge door open looking inside but really only seeing their crumpled, warm bed that they left behind. My tea is sweet and milky and everyone telling banal stories from the night before is soothing. We all scatter down the hallway to stare blankly at the computor. Do people who get in at ten have the same half hour of coming-to, or do they walk into work brains fired and ready to start the day?
I don't really want to let go of the warm fuzzies this morning. BBC2 is helping, "the magic numbers" is excellent early morning assistance.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Life is Cruel
Earlier today I was sent a link by someone who loves me very much. It took me about two hours before I had time to open the link.
http://www.johnpauljonesarena.com/event_details.asp?id=27
Eric Clapton is playing in Virginia! For a shining, sparkling moment I was ecstatic. Then I looked at the date, he is playing in Virginia Tomorrow. Tomorrow, Tomorrow. I feel like the opposite of orphan Annie.
There is no way I can go. Even were there tickets available, which would be a miracle in itself, I can't dump work tomorrow. We have funders coming in, I have to be here.
Like I said, Life is cruel.
http://www.johnpauljonesarena.com/event_details.asp?id=27
Eric Clapton is playing in Virginia! For a shining, sparkling moment I was ecstatic. Then I looked at the date, he is playing in Virginia Tomorrow. Tomorrow, Tomorrow. I feel like the opposite of orphan Annie.
There is no way I can go. Even were there tickets available, which would be a miracle in itself, I can't dump work tomorrow. We have funders coming in, I have to be here.
Like I said, Life is cruel.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Ferrero Rocher
Undoubtedly, indisputably, THE best chocolate there is. My challenge to you... name one better. You won't be able to....
Thursday, September 07, 2006
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." Oscar Wilde
At some point in the night I became aware of a warm, small and purring body lying against my thigh. At another point he shifted to actually lie on me. He was, of course, lying on my bladder, but since he had seen fit to forgive me, I magnanimously forgave him for reminding me I needed the loo.
As a result of the bladder I had bad dreams, but I forgave him for those too since he lifted his little head when I woke up from them and started his purr engine roaring till I felt better.
mmm - I love my cat.
As a result of the bladder I had bad dreams, but I forgave him for those too since he lifted his little head when I woke up from them and started his purr engine roaring till I felt better.
mmm - I love my cat.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
[Water is] the only drink for a wise man. Henry David Thoreau
I am weak! I have no willpower! I am awake. Sigh. Coffee again.
No one can hold a grudge like a cat
Brain the size of a walnut and he uses up the limited space to remember that he is not speaking to me. At the beginning of the week I treated him to his monthly flea medication. This involves catching him, holding him down and dropping some oily smelly stuff onto the back of his neck where he can't get to it. Then I release him and he runs around the house like something is chasing him. To top this off, I have to lock him in the house all day on flea-meds day, otherwise he finds someone to clean it off.
Needless to say, Henry is pissed. Very pissed. So peeved he has to show me how peeved he is. I was sitting on the couch with my roomy, he came over and lay down on her lap with his back to me. We knew he was punishing me because he clearly wasn't happy to be there, his ears were back and he wasn't purring. When I tried to be friends again his tail started twitching as if to warn me that an attack was imminent. My other roomy still has a scar on her nose from when she was being friends, so I gave up on trying to get some kitty luv and decided to go to work. He wouldn't even say goodbye to me when I left.
When I got home he was so excited that someone was there to alleviate his boredom other than his sometime demented and tortured sister that he momentarily forgot how peeved he was and was even prepared to chase a fluffy toy. But then he recalled that his neck was sticky with meds and had to stalk away from me and said fluffy toy in a superior manner. His next tactic was to sit just out of reach and glare at me while I attempted to ignore him and nap on my bed.
He continues to give me the cold shoulder. Frankly I am just relieved he didn't pee anywhere to display his disaffection.
Who says cats have less personality than dogs!
Needless to say, Henry is pissed. Very pissed. So peeved he has to show me how peeved he is. I was sitting on the couch with my roomy, he came over and lay down on her lap with his back to me. We knew he was punishing me because he clearly wasn't happy to be there, his ears were back and he wasn't purring. When I tried to be friends again his tail started twitching as if to warn me that an attack was imminent. My other roomy still has a scar on her nose from when she was being friends, so I gave up on trying to get some kitty luv and decided to go to work. He wouldn't even say goodbye to me when I left.
When I got home he was so excited that someone was there to alleviate his boredom other than his sometime demented and tortured sister that he momentarily forgot how peeved he was and was even prepared to chase a fluffy toy. But then he recalled that his neck was sticky with meds and had to stalk away from me and said fluffy toy in a superior manner. His next tactic was to sit just out of reach and glare at me while I attempted to ignore him and nap on my bed.
He continues to give me the cold shoulder. Frankly I am just relieved he didn't pee anywhere to display his disaffection.
Who says cats have less personality than dogs!
Thursday, August 24, 2006
He taketh away and he giveth
I know I know, I have it the wrong way round. But I just have to make the point that even though my father successfully ensured that all the avocado in the house was his, he also shared with me something that has affected who I am and the choices I make. I am not talking here about the usual dad stuff; groundings, school grades, shoelaces. I am talking about elemental stuff, things that will never change no matter how old I am, things I have no choice about. I am talking about Tracy Chapman and Eric Clapton.
"We improve ourselves by victories over ourself. There must be contests, and you must win." Edward Gibbon
I have done it. I have kicked caffiene. I have not had coffee in a week, I have only had one and half cups of tea today, and I am awake, alert and ready to analyse my budget! To the D's of the world... it is possible! Let's see how I am faring at 3pm though. That is the true test, when I still have another hour at the office, I have done all the interesting things for the day, sleep was and is a long way away and lunch is using all the brain power left in my body. THEN we'll see.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
How things change
When I was a child, the smell of cheese made me feel sick. I could not understand how people could eat cheddar and enjoy it, let alone blue cheese! I vaguely recall that I had a gouda and peanut butter sandwich, which, I think is to blame for the aversion. What I don't recall is at what point things changed. I luuurve cheese. I eat it on everything, every day. It's the sole reason I have put on so many pounds. And just when I thought I had reached the peak of my cheese-eating, we are offered the delight, the joy, the rapture of Cambozola.
Right now I am eating a large bowl of oatmeal. It's deliscious. It has nuts and craisins and honey. Back in the day, I went to a playschool during school vacation while my parents were working. The first order of the day at the school was to get a good healthy bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. The problem was this: the oatmeal had been sitting on the stove-top since about 5am. It was congealed, it tasted slightly of the burned bottom of the pot and there were no nuts, craisins or honey. Needless to say, it took a long time to eat that bowl every morning, and it took a long time before I realised that it was not oatmeal's fault that it was so unpalatable.
Also when I was a child I had an aversion to Avocado's. Why would I deprive myself of this delectable delight? Well, actually, it was my Father who deprived me. He should have had sons, a whole bevvy of them. Instead he had daughters, so while he did scale down his teasing, tomfoolery and pranks, he still scarred me for a long time. I was 11, that awkward phase of becoming aware of your body and realising it has betrayed you before you have even hit puberty. Puppy fat abounds, hormones rage. My mother was in the bath, my father making a sandwich. he got that gleam in his eye as he took the pip out of the avocado, the gleam that says; "Run, Forest, Run!" I, not being named Forest, did not run.
My Father tenderly placed the pip in my shorts, while I kicked and screamed. Then dragged me into the bathroom where he announced to my semi-submerged Mother that I had Pood my pants. It is quite remarkable how similar an avo pip is to poop in your pants. Needless to say she was shocked and appalled. Not because her husband had played a cruel joke, but because her 11 year old daughter had lost bowel control in such a spectacular fashion.
It was another 10 years before I ate my first avo. I had been living out from under his roof for four years at that point, and felt safe enough to be within spitting distance of an avo pip. I have now been living on my own for 11 years, and am even speaking to him again. I also ADORE avocado.
Right now I am eating a large bowl of oatmeal. It's deliscious. It has nuts and craisins and honey. Back in the day, I went to a playschool during school vacation while my parents were working. The first order of the day at the school was to get a good healthy bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. The problem was this: the oatmeal had been sitting on the stove-top since about 5am. It was congealed, it tasted slightly of the burned bottom of the pot and there were no nuts, craisins or honey. Needless to say, it took a long time to eat that bowl every morning, and it took a long time before I realised that it was not oatmeal's fault that it was so unpalatable.
Also when I was a child I had an aversion to Avocado's. Why would I deprive myself of this delectable delight? Well, actually, it was my Father who deprived me. He should have had sons, a whole bevvy of them. Instead he had daughters, so while he did scale down his teasing, tomfoolery and pranks, he still scarred me for a long time. I was 11, that awkward phase of becoming aware of your body and realising it has betrayed you before you have even hit puberty. Puppy fat abounds, hormones rage. My mother was in the bath, my father making a sandwich. he got that gleam in his eye as he took the pip out of the avocado, the gleam that says; "Run, Forest, Run!" I, not being named Forest, did not run.
My Father tenderly placed the pip in my shorts, while I kicked and screamed. Then dragged me into the bathroom where he announced to my semi-submerged Mother that I had Pood my pants. It is quite remarkable how similar an avo pip is to poop in your pants. Needless to say she was shocked and appalled. Not because her husband had played a cruel joke, but because her 11 year old daughter had lost bowel control in such a spectacular fashion.
It was another 10 years before I ate my first avo. I had been living out from under his roof for four years at that point, and felt safe enough to be within spitting distance of an avo pip. I have now been living on my own for 11 years, and am even speaking to him again. I also ADORE avocado.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
small surprises
I love it when life gives you little happy surprises. Like when someone at the office has made five roses tea, in a tea pot, with a tea cosy. Or when your loved one calls on their way home, and is much closer to home that you thought they would be. Or when your cat suddenly remembers a game you haven't played with him in three years. Or when the bus arrives as you do. My life is suddenly filled with these kinds of things and perhaps I just was not in the right frame of mind to recieve them, but now that I am aware, I hope they happen all the time!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens excursion
There is a Kenilworth in Cape Town too. I don't recall that they have any gardens though, and even less likely - aquatic gardens. We managed to get all the house-mates dressed, fed and sunblocked in an hour and bundled into the car to drive up to NE DC. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens is apparently the best thing to do in August in DC. This is quite a claim as there really are MANY things to do in DC, in any month. The gardens completely met my expectations! Mostly because I have never seen plants such as these!
August is when the lotuses bloom. I always imagined that Lotuses were like lillies, floating peacfully on the surface, reflecting their colours off the mirror of the water. These lotuses however were astonishingly different. Their leaves are huge, like elephant ears, as one of the house-mates commented, waxy and rough to the touch. The flowers are Giants as big as my head when they are open fully, and the buds are like massive artichokes, but beautifully pink and red. The leaves, flowers and buds are all appended on the end of a long, rubbery and solid stem, which brings them up out of the water, high up above the heads of visitors to the gardens.
The most remarkable feature for me were the seed pods. I had seen them in specialty shops that sell incense and potpourri, but never known what they were. They grow up out of the center of the flower, starting as an emerald green and then drying out to dirty brown. At first glance it looks like an old-fashioned shower head, with the seeds sticking out of many little holes. The holes slowly expand as the pod dries and shrivels and that allows the seeds to drop out, falling 5 feet into the water below.
Kenilworth in DC has certainly given me an experience that Kenilworth in Cape Town never did. Although I hear they have some protected marshlands in the center of the race track. I doubt that you would see people wondering around there with their mouths in a constant 'O' of wonder at the spectacular behemoths nodding above them.
**Forthcoming attraction: photo's
August is when the lotuses bloom. I always imagined that Lotuses were like lillies, floating peacfully on the surface, reflecting their colours off the mirror of the water. These lotuses however were astonishingly different. Their leaves are huge, like elephant ears, as one of the house-mates commented, waxy and rough to the touch. The flowers are Giants as big as my head when they are open fully, and the buds are like massive artichokes, but beautifully pink and red. The leaves, flowers and buds are all appended on the end of a long, rubbery and solid stem, which brings them up out of the water, high up above the heads of visitors to the gardens.
The most remarkable feature for me were the seed pods. I had seen them in specialty shops that sell incense and potpourri, but never known what they were. They grow up out of the center of the flower, starting as an emerald green and then drying out to dirty brown. At first glance it looks like an old-fashioned shower head, with the seeds sticking out of many little holes. The holes slowly expand as the pod dries and shrivels and that allows the seeds to drop out, falling 5 feet into the water below.
Kenilworth in DC has certainly given me an experience that Kenilworth in Cape Town never did. Although I hear they have some protected marshlands in the center of the race track. I doubt that you would see people wondering around there with their mouths in a constant 'O' of wonder at the spectacular behemoths nodding above them.
**Forthcoming attraction: photo's
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Substitute
Tea is not that bad really... you just have to drink it two hours before you would have had your cuppa coffee to get the same eyelids peeled back feeling at the right time. Also, drink two or three cups instead of one. And then pee all morning long.
Monday, July 31, 2006
coffee breakdown
One week of vacation, getting up at 10:30 everyday.
One long drive back from the beach.
One glass of wine to get over the drive.
One morning of getting up at 6:30.
Sixty One emails clamouring for my immediate attention.
All equals one cup of coffee that I should not be drinking. SIGH.
One long drive back from the beach.
One glass of wine to get over the drive.
One morning of getting up at 6:30.
Sixty One emails clamouring for my immediate attention.
All equals one cup of coffee that I should not be drinking. SIGH.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
the greatest thing about the United States
Toilets that flush automatically. No need to remember to flush. Just think, all those hours my Mother spent training me, each time she asked: "did you flush?", wasted! Unnecessary! I just know that it was a Mother who came up with the idea of self-flushing toilets! it is one of my favourite topics to tell people about overseas. Also - tissues with lotion! Genius! Bet you a Mom came up with that one too!
Of course these things do have their downsides. For example - the loos at work are a little boisterous. I believe the idea behind self flushing toilets is that they save water. Well I think the loos at work are scared of humans and flush in panic. I open the cube door:'OMG a human!', - flush! I turn around to start undoing my belt:'yikes what's it doing?' - flush! I sit: 'OMG it's sitting on me!' - flush!
At which point I start to get annoyed, not only because of the waste of water, but because now my bottom is wet. AND THEN, when I am done, I stand up... nothing. I do up my belt... nothing. I wave in front of the red light... nothing. I open and close the door to the cube a few times... nothing!! It's as if the commode is in shock. Eventually I give in and press the teensy weensy button provided... flush! And now that it is on a roll... I Open the door; 'She's leaving!' - flush! close the door: 'Yay' - flush! wash my hands: 'phew' - flush! like I said, boisterous, but in principle, the best thing about the United States.
Of course these things do have their downsides. For example - the loos at work are a little boisterous. I believe the idea behind self flushing toilets is that they save water. Well I think the loos at work are scared of humans and flush in panic. I open the cube door:'OMG a human!', - flush! I turn around to start undoing my belt:'yikes what's it doing?' - flush! I sit: 'OMG it's sitting on me!' - flush!
At which point I start to get annoyed, not only because of the waste of water, but because now my bottom is wet. AND THEN, when I am done, I stand up... nothing. I do up my belt... nothing. I wave in front of the red light... nothing. I open and close the door to the cube a few times... nothing!! It's as if the commode is in shock. Eventually I give in and press the teensy weensy button provided... flush! And now that it is on a roll... I Open the door; 'She's leaving!' - flush! close the door: 'Yay' - flush! wash my hands: 'phew' - flush! like I said, boisterous, but in principle, the best thing about the United States.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
meeting misadventure
Today I re-discovered the un-enviable position of falling asleep in a meeting. Or rather, trying NOT to fall asleep in a meeting. There were only three of us, so no dozing in the back of the conference room for me. No legs out in front of me, arms folded high on my chest and eyes delisciously closed for a nap.
No, no, I had to contribute, or if not contribute, at the very least I had to keep my head where it should be: on my neck and not on my chest. For a while I tried keeping notes to keep me awake. But that had me looking down, and down meant chin on chest and that was just a natural position for a nap, may as well just have laid my head on my notebook.
Second I tried flexing my calf muscles, I have heard that getting the blood flowing will keep you from falling asleep. But how do you clench your calves without clenching your buttocks? It started to look like I was desperately holding in a pee and was getting some worried looks from my boss. So I decided I would practice that one when back to my desk and no one would be concerned with me gently bobbing up and down in my seat.
Third I tried the deep breathing trick, get oxygen to the brain and all that. Well, either I was breathing wrong, or I don't have a brain, but that just made me feel more like taking a nap.
So, maybe I should allow myself to have a cup of coffee before going into a meeting. It's just so embarrasing when your head suddenly jerks up and you blink and squint at the same time and the other two people in the room seem perky and smart.
yours in continued caffiene deprivation
No, no, I had to contribute, or if not contribute, at the very least I had to keep my head where it should be: on my neck and not on my chest. For a while I tried keeping notes to keep me awake. But that had me looking down, and down meant chin on chest and that was just a natural position for a nap, may as well just have laid my head on my notebook.
Second I tried flexing my calf muscles, I have heard that getting the blood flowing will keep you from falling asleep. But how do you clench your calves without clenching your buttocks? It started to look like I was desperately holding in a pee and was getting some worried looks from my boss. So I decided I would practice that one when back to my desk and no one would be concerned with me gently bobbing up and down in my seat.
Third I tried the deep breathing trick, get oxygen to the brain and all that. Well, either I was breathing wrong, or I don't have a brain, but that just made me feel more like taking a nap.
So, maybe I should allow myself to have a cup of coffee before going into a meeting. It's just so embarrasing when your head suddenly jerks up and you blink and squint at the same time and the other two people in the room seem perky and smart.
yours in continued caffiene deprivation
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Time IS relative
3:17pm - For my bank account and my waistline (or my butt, or the flabby bit under my arms) I am attempting to give up coffee. Which should not be that hard to do. I only have one a day, at the beginning of the day, and I don't think coffee is actually addictive. right?
3:18pm - It is now 3:18 and I am convinced that a. green tea is no flavour substitute for a moccachino, b. 3 cups of green tea does not one cup of coffee make, and c. Einstein was right. Although I have an improvement to make on his theory. It is also possible for time to, in fact, flow backwards.
3:20pm - I could swear it was four o'clock, half an hour ago. I even checked the start menu to be sure that my computor clock was correct. Of course, my cell phone clock could be wrong too...
3:16pm - Mmm, maybe FOUR cups of green tea make one cup of coffee?
3:18pm - It is now 3:18 and I am convinced that a. green tea is no flavour substitute for a moccachino, b. 3 cups of green tea does not one cup of coffee make, and c. Einstein was right. Although I have an improvement to make on his theory. It is also possible for time to, in fact, flow backwards.
3:20pm - I could swear it was four o'clock, half an hour ago. I even checked the start menu to be sure that my computor clock was correct. Of course, my cell phone clock could be wrong too...
3:16pm - Mmm, maybe FOUR cups of green tea make one cup of coffee?
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Good news about culling
I love it when I can read happy news. This piece is about badger culling in the UK, the general public have come out against it. Yay!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5172360.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5172360.stm
Save the Seals
Just feeling the need to do my bit - the annual culling of seals is about to happen in Namibia. In general, I support the concept of culling, but in this case it is just the kind of stuff to give me nightmares where I wake up needing to be held. The preferred method of culling the younger seals is to club them over the head and then stab them through the heart. This puts me so much in mind of the quote: life is nasty, brutish and short. In this case the death of the seals is nasty and brutish, but not short. Doing something about this is as easy as opening your email. have a look at these sites for some really constructive information and actions to take.
http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals_around_the_world_south_africa_latest_news.html
http://www.oipa.org/campagne/seals_namibia.htm
The second site has a petition to sign. I never know whether petitions work, but it makes me feel better to make my mark.
Be warned, the sites are pretty graphic, and probably not something you should look at, at work, or without a tissue box nearby.
As Francois Hugo says on his site: For the seals
N
http://www.seashepherd.org/seals/seals_around_the_world_south_africa_latest_news.html
http://www.oipa.org/campagne/seals_namibia.htm
The second site has a petition to sign. I never know whether petitions work, but it makes me feel better to make my mark.
Be warned, the sites are pretty graphic, and probably not something you should look at, at work, or without a tissue box nearby.
As Francois Hugo says on his site: For the seals
N
Saturday, May 06, 2006
An expedition
We do not usually have a car, living in the city makes it unnecessary. When by chance and the love of a good friend we do have a car and the weekend looms sweet and long and empty in front of us, we feel the need to do something we cannot usually do.
We keep hearing that it is at this time of year that one can see many and varied and beautiful warblers. So our expedition began. Diane read the birding blogs, I asked the birder at my work for the best birding spot and Keir polished up his camera lens. Early on Saturday morning we stirred ourselves and grumpily got through the shower, or rather, I grumpily got through the shower and Keir mostly did it in a fog of sleep. Diane, of course had been awake since sparrow fart, and was not in the least hungover from the previous night's margheritas at Haydee's. She was definitely perky, but as she had made coffee, Keir and I graciously forgave her. We made a quick stop at Heller's Bakery for donuts, brownies (I had a sudden craving) and more coffee and then we were on our way, after a brief spat over whether Keir knew where he was going or not.
We headed across the Potomac and into deep dark suburban Virginia and were much relieved when we started to see the first sign for Huntly Meadows, our destination de jour. When we pulled into the semi-filled parking lot the sole inhabitant was a dour faced man strapping a Bazuka to his back. On second look, it wasn't a bazuka, merely a spotting scope. The size of his lens made us certain that we had come to the right place to fullfill all our birding expedition dreams.
Huntly Meadows is a treasure trove of mixed ecosystems. They have a mature marshland surrounded by young, old and medium forest. The visitors center is a low and dark building and is well camouflaged in the trees. It is also closed until 9am, so make sure you don't drink two cups of coffee before you get there.
We headed into the forest, where the trunks of the trees were long and headed skywards to burst out of the canopy in spring greens, and within minutes I was rooting around in the backpack for my Binoculars. It was so wonderful to walk underneath and between those trees, feeling the cool breeze and looking up with my mouth slightly open in awe of the serenity up there. It is no wonder that we could hear a dozen different songs coming from all directions.
The mission was to find warblers and so we decided to try and focus on songs that we had not heard before, and then try and spot the bird itself. None of us have much experience, and even though we could hear the birds we had difficulty finding them. Luckily we were also completely content to just wonder along the pathway and enjoy the fact that we were outside without a coat, hat, scarf and gloves. Well, we had hats, but they were the sun kind, not the warm kind. We did see a few little birds we were unable to identify except as being lbj's or european starlings, but we were having no luck with the warblers.
I was looking at a nest in a dead tree about 8 trees diagonally away from me, when the nest moved. immediately the binoculars hit my face and I was trying to locate the bird, at the same time making wild gestures with my free hand for Keir and Diane to look too. It was a huge bird, easily 20 inches, flecked brown and puffed out, preening himself. The first bird that sprang to mind was that it was an eagle of some sort, but then he looked up sharply into the canopy and I saw the face. It was an owl! Owls are the most exciting bird for me to see. I think they are the bird of stories to me, the barn owl, keeping the farm clean of vermin, the scops owl, tiny and wonderful, and all owl calls, haunting and stirring. At that point I could have turned around and gone home and the day would have been seared in my memory. A couple of other birders came along the path to see what was fascinating us, and helped us identify it as a Barred Owl with liquid dark eyes looking out from a dark brown face.
Eventually we set off on the rest of our expedition, but it was the elation from seeing the owl that kept me going all day. The rest of the walk was also amazing. We met more wonderful, helpful experienced birders who indulged our excitement of seeing the common yellowthroat, carolina wren and a multitude of blackbirds. The best spot in Huntly Meadows, or at least, that part of Huntly Meadows that we explored, is a blind that has forest behind it and looks out over the Marsh. Sitting there, enjoying the sun we saw barn and tree swallows, an egret, canada geese, Mallards and the mighty Great Blue Heron, bird of Maryland, but hanging out in Virginia.
You can also walk out around the Marsh to the mudflats and see waders. We saw, with the aid of our new friends, greater and lesser yellowlegs, killdeer, semipalmated plover and baby chick Canada Geese.
For anyone who has a car, you should get into it, and head out there. My birder friend from work was so right when he said it is a wonderful place for new birders to go and become enraptured with birding. The birds are so close, and they live in happy concert with squirrels, turtles, snakes and the biggest toad I have ever seen. If you go next weekend, maybe we'll see you there, except this time, I will skip the margherita and get up earlier, maybe I can be perky too.
We keep hearing that it is at this time of year that one can see many and varied and beautiful warblers. So our expedition began. Diane read the birding blogs, I asked the birder at my work for the best birding spot and Keir polished up his camera lens. Early on Saturday morning we stirred ourselves and grumpily got through the shower, or rather, I grumpily got through the shower and Keir mostly did it in a fog of sleep. Diane, of course had been awake since sparrow fart, and was not in the least hungover from the previous night's margheritas at Haydee's. She was definitely perky, but as she had made coffee, Keir and I graciously forgave her. We made a quick stop at Heller's Bakery for donuts, brownies (I had a sudden craving) and more coffee and then we were on our way, after a brief spat over whether Keir knew where he was going or not.
We headed across the Potomac and into deep dark suburban Virginia and were much relieved when we started to see the first sign for Huntly Meadows, our destination de jour. When we pulled into the semi-filled parking lot the sole inhabitant was a dour faced man strapping a Bazuka to his back. On second look, it wasn't a bazuka, merely a spotting scope. The size of his lens made us certain that we had come to the right place to fullfill all our birding expedition dreams.
Huntly Meadows is a treasure trove of mixed ecosystems. They have a mature marshland surrounded by young, old and medium forest. The visitors center is a low and dark building and is well camouflaged in the trees. It is also closed until 9am, so make sure you don't drink two cups of coffee before you get there.
We headed into the forest, where the trunks of the trees were long and headed skywards to burst out of the canopy in spring greens, and within minutes I was rooting around in the backpack for my Binoculars. It was so wonderful to walk underneath and between those trees, feeling the cool breeze and looking up with my mouth slightly open in awe of the serenity up there. It is no wonder that we could hear a dozen different songs coming from all directions.
The mission was to find warblers and so we decided to try and focus on songs that we had not heard before, and then try and spot the bird itself. None of us have much experience, and even though we could hear the birds we had difficulty finding them. Luckily we were also completely content to just wonder along the pathway and enjoy the fact that we were outside without a coat, hat, scarf and gloves. Well, we had hats, but they were the sun kind, not the warm kind. We did see a few little birds we were unable to identify except as being lbj's or european starlings, but we were having no luck with the warblers.
I was looking at a nest in a dead tree about 8 trees diagonally away from me, when the nest moved. immediately the binoculars hit my face and I was trying to locate the bird, at the same time making wild gestures with my free hand for Keir and Diane to look too. It was a huge bird, easily 20 inches, flecked brown and puffed out, preening himself. The first bird that sprang to mind was that it was an eagle of some sort, but then he looked up sharply into the canopy and I saw the face. It was an owl! Owls are the most exciting bird for me to see. I think they are the bird of stories to me, the barn owl, keeping the farm clean of vermin, the scops owl, tiny and wonderful, and all owl calls, haunting and stirring. At that point I could have turned around and gone home and the day would have been seared in my memory. A couple of other birders came along the path to see what was fascinating us, and helped us identify it as a Barred Owl with liquid dark eyes looking out from a dark brown face.
Eventually we set off on the rest of our expedition, but it was the elation from seeing the owl that kept me going all day. The rest of the walk was also amazing. We met more wonderful, helpful experienced birders who indulged our excitement of seeing the common yellowthroat, carolina wren and a multitude of blackbirds. The best spot in Huntly Meadows, or at least, that part of Huntly Meadows that we explored, is a blind that has forest behind it and looks out over the Marsh. Sitting there, enjoying the sun we saw barn and tree swallows, an egret, canada geese, Mallards and the mighty Great Blue Heron, bird of Maryland, but hanging out in Virginia.
You can also walk out around the Marsh to the mudflats and see waders. We saw, with the aid of our new friends, greater and lesser yellowlegs, killdeer, semipalmated plover and baby chick Canada Geese.
For anyone who has a car, you should get into it, and head out there. My birder friend from work was so right when he said it is a wonderful place for new birders to go and become enraptured with birding. The birds are so close, and they live in happy concert with squirrels, turtles, snakes and the biggest toad I have ever seen. If you go next weekend, maybe we'll see you there, except this time, I will skip the margherita and get up earlier, maybe I can be perky too.
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