Gentle Ben

It is all about Ben.  For anyone who was somehow spared the announcement and early pictures of my new grandson, here he is in all his glory.  He arrived three weeks early on September 14 but all was well and he and his parents - and most definitely his grandparents - are happy to bask in new baby warmth.

And for those who can't get enough...
https://picasaweb.google.com/101059434098833506191/BenSFirstWeekHighlights?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL2z0faw3NoH&feat=directlink#

Like the commercial says, a baby changes everything.

Well, maybe not EVERYTHING...
I am adding to my litany of excuses for not writing with a few new additions: someone stole our minutes.  No, really.  In the fourth most impoverished country in the world, someone had the capacity to steal our minutes.  And not once, but twice.  The computer guru determined on one of our frequent flyer SOS calls that someone had managed to log onto our wireless and use up all our time.  He installed high level security and we bought more minutes.  A week later, no access.  Much to his surprise (that we had not done something wrong - again) it had been hacked again. He added XX-large security.  Then one of the two towers in Mozambique went down.  Since our pouch email has been taking well over a month to arrive (did you know Rick Perry had entered the GOP race?),  I am beginning to think carrier pigeon might be the best way to stay in touch. 

Since my last blog:
I became a grandparent. I had a job. I quit a job. Carl had a birthday. 

After a frustrating month at CDC, and prompted in part by a desire to be able to go see Ben, I decided to leave.  The position was not well-defined and seemed determined by reactions to immediate needs and crises.  Decided I had been there, done that - an NTJ  in a world of FSPs. 

How OLD are you?
Carl put both feet in his sixth decade in late August.  We spent most of the night looking for his keys.  Entertainment opportunities are very limited here.

The $5,000 tooth?
Carl broke a crown which required two trips to Nelspruit in South Africa,  Crown was expensive.  Gas was expensive.  Several nights meals and lodging were expensive.  Then on the second trip he decided to order a new pair of glasses.  Which required a third trip.  On the plus side, we drank tap water and found the best building supply store in the world.  We also are now an item on the local news/website.  Happened to be there when a SA group we really like, Freshly Ground, was giving a concert.  We had our picture taken and are now featured on the http://www.mpumalive.com/ website. Autographs free.

We also managed to tack on a trip to the Great Escarpment area of northwest South Africa, an area defined by ravines, mountains and waterfalls.  It is often obscured by dense cloud fog because of the altitude but we lucked out on clear skies and spectacular views.

Entertaining progeny
This worked both ways.  Our youngest son Brian finished his work in Capetown and came here for a few weeks before he heads back to the states.  We were able to show him Maputo.  The second day we signed him up at the gym.  We did take a great trip to Kruger Park, seeing all the big five within 28 hours (giraffe, elephant, hippo, lion, water buffalo and leopard).  We learned that the big five were determined by early game hunters based on the degree of danger - e.g. which animal was more likely to kill the hunter before the hunter killed the game?  It was amazing and an act that we are not likely to repeat.  We also had other rare sightings - sable antelope, cerval, civet, wild dog, a herd of over 100 water buffalo, and a lion attack.  We stayed at a small lodge with only 12 cabins total.  The open dining area sat across a dry river bed from a watering hole.  Three elephants took up semi-permanent residence there. During dinner, the elephants wandered off and several rhino appeared followed by five lionesses and a male lion.  A wild dog entered from the other side.  In a split second two of the lions took off after the dog across the river bed, ending just below our table and  what we assumed was an electric fence.  It was an electrifying performance, although not literally.  The next morning in daylight I realized the fence was not actually electric.  In fact, we were told a staff person had to accompany us to our cabins at night because they really could not keep out the cats and a lion had come through a week earlier.  I actually think the staff were more afraid than we were.  They were not armed so not clear on what exactly the defense would have been.  Human sacrifice??

 

                             Hippo with symbiotic bird



Water buffalo herd



       Water buffalo herd sleeping in a pile

                                                                         





Leopard at night (you will have to trust us on this one)

Brian was also a good playdate.  We had great walks and discussions and long workouts at the gym.  And we played board games.

Row, row, row your boat
Water is an issue here.  The so-called water system was built in colonial times by the Portuguese and uses ceramic pipes.  Seems to have the durability of fine china.  Several times since we have been here the road had flooded.  Yesterday we hit a new high watermark of about 3 feet.  A couple hours later eight guys with two shovels were digging a hole at the break source and pumping out water.  Did not actually see any pipe replacement.  And we thought four wheel drive was just for game parks.

Hurry up and wait
While much of the apartment has come together. thanks in large part to the be-all, end-all building supply store in Nelspruit, our living room furniture has yet to appear.  It was ordered the first of August to be delivered in 60 days.  Guess we needed to clarify whether that was 60 days, 60 business days, 60 days squared?  Have also been trying to order a cabinet.  Four containers arrived in port over a month ago.  However, no one in the store seems to know what is in the containers.  They do not have a list; they get one list at a time; they open one container at a time.  Think I will leave a message for our computer hacker to see if he can access the lists.

Post 9-11 or The Ugly Americans
We are in a third floor apartment.  The complex is surrounded by a wall with electric wire and has two guards 24/7 at the entrance gate.  There is no violent crime.  Seems safe enough, right?  WRONG.  We are required to have another guard as the complex does not use the official US company.  We also have had grills installed on windows and doors ($10,000 of your taxes at work). We also have an alarm system. Residents on the first floor leave their windows open all night. It is ironic that a system that purports to protect Americans instead actually seems to be a blatant way of advertising "Americans Live Here". 

The Meaning of Life

What I have learned -

• Africa is not always hot  - we have slept with comforters and worn sweaters
• If there is a mosquito in Maputo, it will bite me
• Water is not always cleansing
• A lousy job might be better than no job
• Love means sometimes having to say you're sorry
• Family and friends mean more as time goes on
• Living life means taking risks      

I am working on travel plans and hope to be rocking my grandson mid-November and in the northern Virginia area early to mid-December.  Seems like plane reservations would not be a difficult endeavor, but everything here seems to be exponentially more difficult.  Hope to catch up with as many people as possible.

Ciao, ciao

Look Ma, I'm blogging

Mozambican's Law
The Mozambican version of Murphy's Law is this: if that American woman starts blogging, turn off the power.  Internet connection has been less than sporadic and has the attention span of a gnat.  A battle to get in and a war to stay connected.  Difficult enough under "normal" circumstances but complicated even more by power outages, which have been numerous.  Every time the power goes out we have to reset everything.  We learned the hard way it is not just the connection that matters, it is the order in which it is done.  Instead of 1-2-3, we were doing 1-3-2.  Since that seems to be the way most things operate here, it should have worked.  The IPad often continues to work for emails.  According to the IT guru it has something to do with short waves and long waves (cut and highlights?).

Who knows where the time goes?

It has been a while - sometimes it seems like a LONG while - since my last post.  Some things have changed - a great trip to South Africa and a job.  Some things have not - we are still in the same house living out of our suitcases and eating off the Corelle plates that came with the Welcome Kit.  We do have a new apartment as of August 1. Just not quite move-in ready.  As in it had not been painted for 4 years and none of the lights worked.  On August 12, patching of walls and removal of dysfunctional light fixtures commenced.  As of August 14 the walls that had been patched were not painted and the walls that had not been patched were painted.  Light fixtures had been removed but not replaced.  We need to move next weekend.  Too bad the timing does not work for a Halloween Haunted House.  On the plus side, the views from the verandah are fantastic and we often go at sunset with cheese, crackers and a bottle of wine.  Things always seem better on the way out than they do on the way in.

Current balcony view - the water truck filling the cisterns

News flash!  We are actually (almost) moved!

A contrast in  black and white

South Africa is a beautiful country and Capetown rivals any city in the world.  It is defined by Table Mountain and water and is in easy driving distance of gorgeous wine country and a northern Californian-like coastline.  If it also weren't also defined by apartheid it would be perfect. 

Looking up at Table Mountain

Looking down from Table Mountain

We had a wonderful respite enjoying drinking water of the tap, walking on pavement, spending time with our son and seeing Fishhoek where he lives, and taking full advantage of the wine country.

Fishhoek Beach

Visited the town of Hermanus, known for viewing whale migrations.  We were early in the season, although we did see some whales and fell in love with the town. 




            Seals sleeping upside down

But wait - there's more - a bonus side trip to Betty's Bay to visit the largest penguin colony outside of Antarctica.



March of the Penguins at Betty's Bay

Brian is working with a UK based volunteer group, supervising programs for children and youth in the townships.  We visited one day care site housing 35 infants and pre-schoolers in two rooms smaller than most American family living/dining areas.  The outside play area was minimal and the main attraction was a small sinkhole in the concrete the kids have turned into a sandbox. Kudos to the woman who runs the center, the volunteers who give their time and my son for his commitment.

 


The three of us spent several days in Stellenbosch touring vineyards.  Stellenbosch is an old university town, quite charming and quite dominated by whites and money.  The contrast from the townships was literally a black and white experience.

Seidelberg Vineyard near Stellenbosch
Table Mountain in background

Goat tower at Fairview Vineyard.  The goat cheese here
 was as good as the wine.



This is a marriage cup.  The couple each drinks out of one side at the same time but the woman is not allowed to use her hands.  The first person to finish is "in charge".  Guess who won?



Life in a freezer
Mozambican Law number 2: have the coldest winter ever when Pam and Carl arrive.  All we heard before we came was how hot it was here so packed appropriately with all summer wear.  We have now come to agree with the locals that it is COLD.  Our house, as are pretty much all buildings, is constructed of cinder block and concrete effectively creatingthe ambience and warmth of a dungeon.  Some days we wear more clothes inside than out. 

Let the games begin
Maputo will be hosting the All African games in mid-September.  There is a "push" to get things ready.  There is a praca (circle) nearby that is apparently part of the beautify Mozambique campaign.  They have been digging dirt and pushing it around for about a month.  There is also a pile of plants.  The plants have yet to make it into the dirt.  This is also the only place in town that has a disguised utility pole and box.  See if you can find them in the pictures.

Alphabet Soup

Oh yeah, the job.  What was I thinking?  I am now the Communications person for the Mozambique Center for Disease Control office.  Work is from 7:30 - 5:30 and because I am the eligible family member (EFM - read dependent) there is an automatic salary reduction to about one-third of what any sane individual would want to be paid.  CDC is populated almost entirely by staff with highly technical and or medical backgrounds.  To date the job is composed largely of deciphering acronyms on multiple tiers: the U.S. Government (USG); the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which is under Health and Human Services (HHS); medical terminology (not even trying on this one); and, because the focus here is HIV/AIDS using PEPFAR funds, another layer of terms unique to that culture.  See what you can guess below:

ANC, AVT, OVC, CT, MISSAU, DPS, HES, HESS, MC, MICS, MIS, MOH, NRTI, NNRTI, SDP, SI, QIP, QAP, ABC and 1,2,3...
(Please send answers to P Doran, c/o/ CDC)

Journey to the center of the earth
Potholes, often qualifying as sinkholes large enough to swallow small children, are ubiquitous.  Occasionally one gets filled in only to create two more.  Perhaps a variation of the moving dirt piles.  Speed bumps are present outside all ex-pat or high end areas.  The odd thing is drivers will do whatever they can to go around the speed bumps only to sink into a 2 foot hole on the other side.  I have been told much of the work has been done by the Chinese.  Maybe there is lead in the pavement as well.

Move it or lose it
There are several military and/or presidential compounds in Maputo, recognizable by white-washed walls and relatively clean sidewalks.  There are also guards.  Throughout the city there are piles of broken concrete along the streets and sidewalks, remnants of the potholes.  Apparently these piles can indicate a no-walk zone.  Found this out after stepping over a pile and having a guard chase me with a gun.  In contrast, the smaller city of Nampula had a smaller compound and a smaller pile of rocks.  There the guard just clapped at me.  Life in the big city.

To have or have not
This is a culture of haves and have-nots.  Unlike many third world countries and our experience with Latin America, it does not have a highly visible and concentrated area of wealth.  Rich and poor are sometimes separated by just a wall in the City and there does not seem to be enough of a wealthy class to support concentrated consumerism.  However, since we arrived two large South African based grocery stores have opened in the City.  Now we can buy four rolls of dollar store quality paper towels for $12.  The plus side is you can now probably find what you want; the down side is it takes a paycheck.  Cost of living is cheap if you are willing to buy off the street vendors and clean your vegetables with bleach.  Otherwise this is a surprisingly expensive place to live.


And as the sun sets...
Later these days.  We now have light until almost 6.  Everyone keeps saying the weather will be hot soon and we have paper towels of sorts.  A friend from the states was here last week and brought us New Yorker magazines, Sports Illustrated for Carl and Fitness for me.  I am looking forward to thin thighs and killer abs.  As they say here....ciao, ciao.

These boys were watching a very fancy carnival at the Portuguese International School.  It is emblematic of how I often feel - on the outside looking ibn.

Wintering in Maputo

It is the dead of winter in Maputo and the locals are bundled up in hats, scarves and jackets.   I still sweat when I run  This does not bode well for the summer months.  When I talk about how nice the weather is, everyone says "just wait".  In all fairness to the freezing natives, it did reach an extreme low of 43 degrees the other night.  Someone was actually telling me he thought Maputo might get snow. It feels more like a desert climate - upper 50's at night and low 80's during the day.  It is odd to us that it gets light so late in the morning and dark so early at night with these kinds of temperatures.  When I talk about dark mornings and evenings, everyone says "just wait".  I expect to be sweating from 5 a.m. onward and waking up with the sun at 3:30 a.m. once summer arrives. 

Going to the dogs
Mozambiquans do not domesticate pets.  In fact, most are very scared of dogs.  Enter the expats who travel with pets at the same rate they travel with children.  Some claim the dogs are for security.  Some wealthy Mozambiquans seem inclined to follow the lead.  Our street has several homes with multiple dogs who compete at night for the canine version of American Idol.  This sign was painted on a fence of a home under construction (essentially "No dog poop").  There are more piles of poop outside this fence than the rest of the City combined.  Ironically, the fence now has a new sign: "Beware of the dog".

Just do it...
Given my heretofore rate of shoe destruction I invested in the hummer version of running shoes.  They claim to actually have concrete in the soles.  Two weeks and they are still in one piece but I am getting calf muscles the size of giant redwoods.  I am experimenting with some new routes and indoctrinating a whole new slew of guards in what crazy white woman do for fun.

The Maid, Part III
We received our first phone bill.  Since we have never touched the phone imagine our surprise with a $100 bill.  She seemed surprised we figured out she was making calls.  The kicker - when we paid her for June less half of the bill amount she asked "Was that bill just for May?"

Walking on the shore
Below are scenes from the beach.  It is very popular, particularly on weekends.  I know because the number of bottle caps and amount of broken glass rises exponentially by my Monday morning run.  There is a kind-of, sort-of paved walkway also used as a parking lot and vendor by-way.  Capalunas (material used to wrap as a skirt by Africans, tablecloths by expats), batiks, and empregada (maid) uniforms hang from gerry-rigged clotheslines.  Beer, soda, beer, bread, and beer are sold out of coolers.  We have also witnessed baptisms in the water. 

Up close and personal
And this is why we don't go in the water.  Explains why people want to be baptized when going in.

Born on the 25th of June
June 25th is Independence Day, the day Mozambique became an independent country and gave the Portuguese 3 days and 3 suitcases to leave.  This was a Saturday.  Music and drinking started about 1 p.m. on Friday.  Partying continued - LOUDLY - for about 36 hours and then everyone must have passed out.  I was told this is a family celebration day.

North by northeast
Carl was making a trip up to the north to visit volunteers and I tagged along for part of the trip to see another part of the country and visit Ilha de Mozambique.  The Ilha is a small island in the Indian Ocean that served as the capital for over 300 years as it was a critical juncture in the trade routes to the east.  It was heavily influenced by Goa as well as the Portuguese.  It has been declared a UNESCO site although apparently funding for rehabilitation has been expended and much still remains in disrepair.  There is a sizable fort and a Cathedral /museum that have been restored and it is easy to get a sense of colonial life from the remaining ruins.  The island is about 1.5 kilometers by .5 kilometers: half is the colonial side and half is "macuti town".  This is a bairro that sits a couple meters below ground level.  Macuti refers to the palms used for roofing.

 

How the other half lives
Here is a Peace Corps Volunteer's house. 

Here is a Peace Corps Volunteer's outhouse.

Nao falo portuguese
I started Portuguese lessons.  Now I can say "I don't speak Portuguese" - in Portuguese.

CIAO!  We are off to Capetown to go whale watching, wine-tasting and see our youngest son.

Back in the saddle...

So much for great intentions of posting every week or so.  I really meant every month or so...
However, there are excuses, some of which are actually valid.  Internet connection was capricious and arbitrary not only from day to day but from minute to minute.  Part of this is the technology status here, part of it is our location, part of it is the cable company gives priority to businesses who pay for a separate internet connection, and part of it requires paying your bill.  When the connection died completely the IT expert from Peace Corps came over.  Turns out we had not paid.  Who knew?  We never got a bill.  Which leads me to...

Mail Service - to be or not to be?  That is the question.
We have been told there is mail service.  People actually tell us they are mailing us things, like our passes to the fitness center that were supposed to come in 10 days as of 5 weeks ago.  The conundrum is: one post office in the City, no mail boxes for posting, no mail boxes at any residence.  Carl says they do get mail at Peace Corps.  Courier, carrier pigeon, hidden in the bread vendor's box?  Another Mozambique mystery.

Food preservatives are your friend OR Why I am Learning to Love Bananas
WARNING: Explicit Language

Food bought on the street has a short shelf life.  Actually, food bought in the stores has a short shelf life.  There are no preservatives and refrigeration can be limited and sporadic with power outages.  I now have personal knowledge of just how limited the life span.  Last week woke up feeling not well, became increasingly cold during the day and decided to make an appointment at the Health Clinic to check for malaria.  They told me it was probably one of the many viruses rampaging their way through the City streets.  Carl came to pick me up, took one look and marched me back in whereupon I promptly passed out, woke up spewing toxic waste and went into shock. The official diagnosis was "systemic contamination".  I had eaten something bad, it fomented into a wicked brew in the digestive system, spread throughout the body until it reached critical mass and had to be disgorged at lightspeed force.  Loss of minerals and dehydration caused shock.  Spent the next couple of days in the hospital/clinic with a an IV drip, swallowing potassium pills and drinking calcium and magnesium fizzies.  Have enough minerals in me now to be mined for profit.  Go back later this week for blood check but feel fine.  New rule of the house is no leftovers.  Eat it or leave it.

The hospital was a very small, seven room clinic that included heart patients, pediatrics, and the various sundry ill and wounded on one floor.  I was in a room with 4 beds but luckily the only person. The administrators contribute significantly to employment statistics as there was a ration of about 50 staff to every patient.  I am not sure I quite cracked the code on the hierarchy but know they were classified by color: red t-shirts. blue button down shirts, blue coats, white coats and scrubs.  The shifts changed once each day and night and I believe every person on each shift stuck their head in at least once so the door was opened and closed every two minutes.  However, the service was good and the building spotlessly clean.  Some young man cleaned the bathroom for 45 minutes twice a day whether it needed or not. One of my best moments was when a young doctor checking vitals and giving me one of the many rounds of mineral cocktails in the middle of the night asked me "Is this your first visit to Mozambique?"

The MAID
Our tenuous relationship continues.  She closes all the interior doors except those to the storage room and the pantry.  Maybe this is cleaning dyslexia.  She closed the security grates on the front door.  The front door is 2 inches of wood with 2 deadbolts.  The guard sits next to it.  Not a security risk.  When I asked her to open up she said she throught  I had the key.  I don't.  Entry to our house is now past the cisterns, the washtub, the mops hanging to dry on the clothesline, the guard's bathroom and through the back door.  We really need to entertain more.

Turning wine into water - if only
Water here is precious.  All our water for cooking has to be boiled first and we can only drink bottled water.  This is timely and costly.  We have actually left partially full bottles of wine at restaurants but we always take the water bottle. 
Maputo Wildlife
The series of required rabies shots prior and anti-malarial medicine gave us some pause prior to coming but to date we have had little cause for concern.  Only found lizards crawling on the dresser twice.  And woke up one night to a swarm of mosquitos on the inside of the mosquito netting.  Maybe we had it wrong - the mosquito nets are to trap mosquitos.  After a 15 minute battle we retook the bed.  Left the bloodstains on the netting as a warning against any new attacks. 

Honey stop the car!  Oh never mind, it is just another giraffe...
Really?  Two trips to the game park and we are blase about giraffes?  It is the Type A approach to game observation: check off all the animals on the list.  Impala, warthogs, monkeys, elephants, giraffes, and birds have made the list to date. Learning about scat versus dung.  Also a check-off list for that.

 


Urban Agricuture
Communities are tucked into any and all places.  The bairros are large, stable and true communities, not far off the main roads but well hidden from those who do not want to take the path less travelled.  Small subsistence farm plots also show up on any and all open scraps of land: along fences, the side of the road,  medians the abandoned race car track.  We have a corn crop at the end of the street.

Our "street".  Cornfield is behind the trees on the left.  Our house is behind the pine trees on the right.

Woman working her plot in the field behind our house - as seen looking over the electric fence.

Jack and Jill went up the...WHAT?

Kids will be kids is a universal truth.  Just across from us is a concrete culvert.  The children get pieces of cardboards and use the walls for skateboarding, sledding snowboarding, etc.  It is fun to watch them.  The downside is that I have seen what they are landing in.  They also get cans and bottles from the trash by the sides of the road, make a hole in the side and insert a cane stalk to make push toys.  It is fun to watch them.  The downside is that I have seen what they are walking through.  Many are barefoot, most are raggedy, but all seem happy.

Speaking of kids...

A picture of our grandson

Oh wait - talk about halfway around and upside down.  Here is a better shot.

And the winner of the the Tacky T-shirt Contest is...
The third world is the depository of all the tacky t-shirts to ever go in the Goodwill bag.  It makes for interesting reading while walking.  You will be amazed to know I saw someone who is part of the College Park, University of Maryland Academics Team!  Also a very dark woman who is a chocoholic.

Not Enough Stuff
Our air shipment arrived.  I was very excited as I had put in a new pair of running shoes, all my allergy medications, and a couple good pots and pans.  Here is what came: the top to the ice bucket, two wine coolers, Carl's coffee bean grinder and coffee maker, my aerobic clothes, and all of Carl's clothes and shoes.  In fact, I think he must have actually gone out and bought things to fill up the boxes.  I am not pointing any fingers but will just mention that Carl signed off on that shipment.  So we continue to cook with one small pot, one large pot, and a small pan - all of which I believe were rejected by quality control from the Dollar Store. 


Five weeks, five days.....