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