Day in the life of Molebogang Part Two

Ok, so another day in the life of KAREN, part two. (I’m sick of Molebogang again.) This morning, I woke up to this LOVELY double rainbow outside of my window. Nice, huh? I love the African sky. It is always, always gorgeous. I don’t know if our sky back home is gorgeous and we just can’t see it through the trees, or if it just isn’t as gorgeous. I’ll take trees over gorgeous at this point. ;-) There are a couple of shots of the rainbow, of course. And then a “trick” shot hoping to capture the image of a rainbow coming out of my “God can.” Several years ago, I learned the secret of happiness: quit worrying and give your troubles to God (or whatever you name your Higher Power). I also learned, that you can easily represent this surrender with a physical representation: a God box. You simply make a container that represents a “higher power,” and feed it slips of paper with your worries listed on it. A good friend suggested a “God can” because of the double entendre. My God can is relatively new here and so far the entries include my sons (they are almost ALWAYS in there!), my primary school (because I worry about my integration there), a woman’s name that I worry doesn’t like me, and ME! I thought it would be fun to grab a shot of the rainbow coming out of my God can. It kind of worked. But seeing the rainbows this morning was absolutely glorious! What a treat!

A bit more for my worry worts... See all of the fresh fruits and vegetables I have access to? I can buy apples, pears, bananas, limes, pineapples, limes, and guava. For veggies, I can buy English cucumbers, peppers, cabbages, carrots, beets, potatoes, and butternut squash. For seasoning, I can buy fresh onions, garlic, and ginger root.

It's taken some time to make peace with the tomatoes bought here. When I first arrived (it was still winter), they were sold as these small, pale, greenish pink things. I didn't even know what they were until someone told me. I've learned to let them ripen in on my window sill which helps a great deal, but they are a far cry from the super steaks and heirloom chocolates I grew back home earlier this year. But I have hope that the home-growns out in the community garden will make me happier.

Here too, are fresh eggs and butter. And I'm sprouting lentils for a very fresh vegetable. I have sprouts growing constantly so I have them 3-4 times a week.

Several of you still are worried about my water situation. My water situation IS FINE! As you can see, I have taps in my room, in the bathroom sink, kitchen sink, and bath tub. We're advised not to drink water from the taps here in South Africa, so I boil my drinking water and run it through the Brita.

Also, while I was without water for two days when I originally arrived at the college, my water hasn't been shut off since. But you can see that I have a cabinet full of emergency-water-supply.

Here is a shot of laundry day: as you can see, my "washer" is my bath tub and my "dryer" is a line with clothes hanging, my fan providing a drying breeze.

I often think of my Grandmother Simon when I hand wash clothes. I've heard stories that she was not happy with her washing machine when they first came out back in the days; she was not convinced the machine was getting her clothes clean enough.

I have the opposite worry: that I'm not getting them clean enough!

I also know why machine washers have two rinse cycles: the washing isn't so bad; it's the rinsing that is tricky! And of course, centrifugal force goes a long way with getting the water wrung out of the clothes! I think of Grandma while ringing: she was certainly strong enough to wring water out of clothes. I'm hoping that all of this wringing builds me some upper body strength, but I'm not there yet!

One of the other volunteers mentioned, way back in training, a great way of making money here in rural South Africa: bring in the old-time wringers to sell to the women in the villages! Indeed.

I'll be quiet for a couple of days, as I'm off to Kimberly for a Dr.'s appointment. I am going to the "big city" for a routine check. Since my appointment is for late in the day, I'm staying overnight and won't return to campus until late Thursday. I won't have a lot of time to sight see, but I hope to have enough time to get a feel for the city for future trips.

Kimberly will probably be my "vacation spot," since I feel overwhelmed at the thought of going very far from my town. Believe it or not, I'm not a good traveller. I don't travel well by car and the crowded mini-bus koombies are quite a challenge. I will rally for a trip to Kruger but it will take me awhile to find the least painful way of travel. I'm checking into the train (would LOVE to ride the train as I never have ridden any train!) and Greyhound.

I have two years to figure it out! Until Friday then! Karen