Slideshow of January Photos

Some of these you've already seen, but here's the best of January.

My New Nikon D90

Kariba

Newlyweds, Veena & Ken

Ken & Veena, friends of ours here, have moved on to work in South Sudan. To mark an end of that era, in November Olga planned a weekend in Kariba, a lake town about a 5-hour drive north of Harare. I wanted to go, but bringing the kids would have changed the dynamic. No one else from this group of friends has kids. So David, in a gesture of unselfishness that his wife won't soon forget, offered to stay home with the kids and let me go.

It was the first time I've traveled alone (child/husband-free) for fun (as opposed to for work) for eight years or so. The memories of my pre-family, traveling days came rushing back. Granted, my husband is "the boss" of more than half the group that went, and the other half are his golf buddies, so it wasn't exactly far removed from my real life. But there was so much time for myself, so little thinking-for-others. I was free to read, write, do-whatever-the-hell-I-wanted. I found it to be extremely therapeutic. Just two days, mothers and fathers out there, two days: I highly recommend it.

Biggest catch

The best part of Kariba is the fishing. Until that weekend, I had never caught a fish in my life, but tiger fishing is totally addictive. I caught one, a 2.5 pounder, and that was after hours of standing in the pouring rain.

Now, normally, standing in a downpour to fish is not something I would have ever imagined enjoying, but once you've lost a big one that twisted and flipped through the air on your line, fighting for its life as you used all your strength to reel it in, you just can't stop casting again in the hope that you'll get it or it's larger cousin next time. With this type of fishing, you cast out far, then quickly reel it in, so it's also satisfying to be active, casting over and over to get it just right, hearing the line unwind, sailing through the air, then plop in the water.

The hippo and crocodile population on the lake has exploded in recent years due to hunting restrictions and the croc farmers releasing a certain percentage into the lake. These also are some of the most dangerous animals in the country. At one point we had to pass through a narrow set of sand bars that probably had 20 hippos, mostly submerged except for their eyes, ears and backs, just 50 feet away. The crocodiles with gorgeous yellow and black patterns on their tails seem almost harmless on the banks until they pop up on their fat legs and slither speedily towards us, disappearing under the water by our boat. Needless to say, there is no swimming in Lake Kariba, but all the wildlife certainly adds to the overall excitement of a simple fishing trip.

Yes, those are hippos.

...for more from that trip:

Last days of the school break

The sun is shining – blue skies with white clouds. The garden is green from the daily rains. I can hear the pool filling with water from the mouth of a concrete fish hanging over the deep end. A nice cool breeze whispers the fronds of the palms. The high branches of the pecan tree bend. Birds as small as humming birds fly among the leaves outside my window. Their wings are iridescent green, and their chests are bright red. I can hear three other birds, bigger ones, whistling and chirping to each other….and Miles humming to himself as he runs down the hallway then calls to the gardener’s son: Panache, I got a cactus!

At the Brookfield produce and gardening shop, he picked out a spiny dark green cactus as tall as his thumb. I got the echevaria sertosa, a pale-green, fuzzy cactus that looks like an open flower and will have orange blossoms.

A slug that I noticed yesterday hanging above the kitchen door is now high on the hallway wall.  It’s really too high to reach, and who wants to climb a ladder and pull a slug off a wall anyway? It’s better than the nest of flat spiders and fleas that infested the Moon Close house where we lived last year. With the rains come the little creatures, but it’s really not so bad – an advantage of elevation.

Mambo, who we adopted as a little kitten in October, has earned his keep, presenting the remains of at least two rats at our front door. We love Mambo, whose high energy and tolerance of playful kids fits well with our family. Have you seen the Olivia books with the little-girl-pig carrying her cat just under the front legs so that his whole body stretches out? This is Eliza who will hold the cat just so…while she is brushing her teeth, for example. If only Mambo would not wake me at 4 a.m. for his early morning snack.

Two more days until school starts. The nearly four-week Christmas holiday has flown by. Apparently having nothing to do all day is just the kind of day that Miles loves. He is singing now and building a tower with his big cardboard bricks in his room. That is not to say that I won’t get a request from him in five minutes for the iPad or a Walking with Dinosaurs dvd. We haven’t been very strict with our restrictions on those things over the holidays.

It’s night now and Miles had a special day with us without his sister around. Eliza is spending the night at Aljosha’s (Jana Lou’s brother) - her first sleepover invitation, and her first time without her parents or brother. Miles drew some wonderful pictures for his “mamy” and “dady,” and then helped David roll out and cut homemade pasta for dinner.

Christmas is Coming, then Went

(Here's what I started writing Dec. 9)

For years we've lived in Muslim countries where Christmas was a tiny fraction of what we'd experience in the U.S. Here in Zimbabwe, I found tall cut cedar trees for sale at several places just in our neighborhood. There are billboards advertising Christmas hams and caroling events. Every little shop has a gift basket conveniently on offer. Stores are staying open later for the shopping frenzy, and everyone is making plans to travel, to host and/or to party. Everyone will be on holiday. All schools will be out. OK, there's no snow, but at least the evening rains have gotten it chilly enough to light a fire at night.

When we all got excited about putting up the tree, I tried to remember when we'd had a tree before. It was 2006 after Eliza was born and Miles was just 2. ...which also explains why we have ZERO Christmas decorations. We have always either been traveling to be with family or fresh off the plane in a new country.

It's a been a year since we first arrived here. We had just moved into an empty, unfurnished house. Christmas Eve after the kids were asleep, I threw some old party decorations on a potted plant (ant-infested we realized the next morning) and placed the few toys we'd been able to bring with us and keep secret from the kids while living in the hotel for three weeks. We were lucky to have our friend Clementina still in Harare who had us over for a nice party.

(Continuation...January 5, 2011)

So like last year, we haven't travelled. We have had a quiet month at home. But the difference is striking. Last year, there was so much to do to settle in, but the holidays were an impediment to getting anything done since the real-estate agents were on holiday, etc. I couldn't drive yet and didn't know my way around. This year, we have our house and our tree, and it has just been a pleasure to RELAX!

We had Christmas dinner with friends, attended Christmas parties, had play-dates and day trips, hosted a baby shower, but mainly just relaxed at home. Finally, it was nice to attend a big New Year's party that we'd gone to last year. This time instead of barely knowing anyone, we knew quite a few people. It's starting to feel like we're more settled here.

Writing Christmas cards to teachers.

Spending time with friends: Bettina...

and Clemens: Janalou, Aljosha & Noah's parents

at their house where they have a new tree house...Here E hauls the message trolley up to the other kids.

Baby Shower:

Andrea & Chuck

Veena - transfering to South Sudan soon :(

Chuck...dad-to-be

Veena, Olga & Andrea (all Mercy Corps)

Andrea, mom-to-be

David plays tennis with his golf-buddy

...Jovan

Thanksgiving Day

For the first time in my life, I got up Thanksgiving morning and started preparing the meal and kept working on it until it was time to eat that afternoon. With Tari managing the kitchen mess and her helper, Vaida (aka Fadia), straightening up the mess the kids made of the rest of the house, the day was actually fun. At noon, Tari and I had a Courvoisier as a tribute to Mom.

I had thought Matt, Kim & Quinn would be flying in that afternoon, but their flight had been changed so they were actually arriving Wednesday night. Quinn wouldn't sleep in a room by himself, so the whole family piled on to our modest double bed in the guest room...not the best sleep. We did breakfast...I bought a quiche...Thursday morning, and then I took them to Doon Estates, a shopping area. Kim helped with the stuffing and young berry cobbler. Matt kept an eye on the turkey and made the gravy. David got back from work in time to start making early afternoon mimosas. Bettina and her three kids (+ another helpful nanny) arrived at 2, and we ate around 3:30. Some Mercy Corps guys, Amanuel and Mort (visiting) joined us about mid-meal.

Over all it was quite edible. Here's the menu review:

• Turkey: alternatively called "young" or "is that a chicken?" Shipped from Brazil, it was the only turkey available in town and half the size of an American one. Still, it tasted great. We used the Blackberry Farm cookbook for this and other recipes. 
• Gravy: a bit too heavy on the flour for my taste but one can't easily critique one's husband's boss. Still: edible.
• Stuffing: BBF cookbook. Not as good as Mom's mom's recipe. Peppers and giblets (don't like). However, we were able to use a number of ingredients from the garden: herbs, peppers, celery, etc. Found that mealie meal (staple of diet here) makes for a fine cornbread, so will be doing that again for sure. 
• Mashed Potatoes...BBF - fine
• Roasted broccoli medley...colorful but not anything to get excited about
• Roasted butternut squash with sage...should have doubled the recipe and we forgot to throw in the craisons AGAIN
• Pumpkin bread-pudding...too mushy but tasted ok with the pears soaked in Courvoisier and fresh whipped cream
• Young berry cobbler...too liquidy and lemony and the crust didn't turn out right but still tasty...and it had to be on the menu given the number of young berries growing outside the kitchen window
• Pecan Pie...hands down the winner in excellence!! This one was 100% Tari's. Recipe from BBF but had to substitute the sorghum syrup with good old corn syrup...although it was not nearly as thick and gooey as pecan pie usually is.
• Bettina also brought a salad and sauteed spinach which we needed as the above wasn't enough (see below)

After dinner, we moved under the big pecan tree for dessert...highlight of the evening was eating pecan pie under the tree that supplied the pecans. When it was dark enough to light the fire in the fire-pit table under the tree, the after work crowd started rolling in. (D forgot to mention to me that we would have another 5 guests coming.) This was the crew I'd gone with to Kariba the weekend before. They ate up most of the left-overs which was great since we were heading out of town the next day, and the night ended very pleasantly with fireside chat. 

The kids who had basically been allowed to roam around late into the night were found half asleep on their feet when I eventually figured they should be put to bed. Eliza was standing at their crafts table sleep-coloring. She's been into drawing and coloring a lot these days.

Mambo also rose to the occasion, performing a scaled-down, safari sun-downer, hunt-to-kill performance. It was a good fight, but the rat got away. However, he did succeed in dropping a nearly dead baby rat on Kim's foot at breakfast the morning before they left.

original meal crew: Matt, me, Bettina, David & Kim 

the kiddos: Aljosha, Miles, Janalou, Eliza & Quinn

Bettina & baby Noah

the host

the hostess

kid congregation point for all events

A funny thing about Zimbabweans

Zimbabweans, and I guess I'm talking mainly about the whites here, let their children walk around everywhere with their shoes off. Have I mentioned this before? I mean, I'm from the South, but rules (laws?) about wearing shoes in restaurants and stores and such are pretty well enforced...or rather, there seems to be a general consensus that it's a good thing to wear shoes.

But here you will see moms taking their kids grocery shopping in proper grocery stores with no shoes on (gross!). Or in the nicest neighborhood steakhouse, you will see families having Sunday lunch, and the kids will be walking around in the restaurant...in and out of parking lot, back yard playground and bathrooms!...with no shoes on! (Double gross!)

It never ceases to amaze me.

Another funny thing about Zimbabweans is that pretty much all the kids wear uniforms to school, and in the case of big high school boys, they are still wearing what amounts to a short-sleeve button down, with a tie!, tucked into a pair of elastic-waist cotton shorts made from the same material as the shirt, and I'm talking above the knees shorts, knee socks the color of the shirt and shorts pulled up to the knees (always!), and brown or black leather shoes. And kids put up with it! Can you imagine anything more humiliating for a strapping 16-year-old young man than to wear that? Girls have sensible, cute little dresses, but the boys look like total idiots.

And what's even a little sad is that a lot of grown men continue to dress that way. Having been in Muslim countries for 5 years before coming here, I still cannot get used to seeing a man in a pair of short-shorts...at work! Even shopping, I'll just see a grown man out of the corner of my eye, his big belly almost completely concealing what is probably his old school boy shorts. It's too much!!

But it's just the way things are here.

random man at work lunch... You should have seen the other guy.