Observations

I go to Curves in Hermiston, Oregon on a regular basis . While in Windhoek on Monday I went into the local Curves to have my picture taken. The equipment was just the same as in my local Curves but I didn't exercise. Melissa, a missionary here in Otjiwarongo, is putting me through my paces in a way that is very difficult for this ol' gal.
While driving in to Windhoek on Monday we came up behind this truck loaded with wood. I was able to take this photo through the windscreen (windshield). It was only when we got quite close that we discovered it was all held in place with a rope.For the life of me I don't know why the above writing is underlined. It isn't even a choice I can make here on blogger.

Eggs: This morning I'm in the process of making deviled eggs for a baby shower to be held this evening. The eggs were all brown, as are all the eggs I've so far seen. Are they any healthier than white eggs? Nope, they just came from brown chickens. If you don't believe me, look it up on the internet.

Baby Shower: Baby showers are conducted somewhat differently here than in the USA. Instead of each person bringing a gift, the invitees are asked to give sums of money..whatever it is felt they can afford. Then the hostess or someone she asks purchases baby gifts for the honoree. This way no one is embarrassed if they are unable to spend much toward a gift. My part in the festivities was to buy items for a game--a classic shower game. Items on a tray...show for a bit...name as many as you can. At the end all of the items will be given to the mother. My allotment to spend was N$200 (approximately $25 US). I purchased thirteen items including nappies and something called Gripe water which must be used if the baby is having a little indigestion.

BBC Food: I am enjoying watching the Food Network from BBC. It is very different than the American Food network. There is no Emeril Lasgasse, no Rachel Ray, no Bobby Flay...But we do have Ainsley Harriot on a program called Off the Menu, where 2 teams work to recreate a recipe from a famous South African restaurant. Quite entertaining. I also like Jenny Bristow Light, who shows how to cook things with less fat. Others I like are The Endless Feast (which comes from America), Master Chef at Large, a program where they are searching for a winner whose prize will be that they get to work in a restaurant. So far all I've seen are cookoffs where they choose someone to be in the quarterfinals. I have yet to see the quarterfinals. After awhile, Aaron will say, "Can't we watch something else?"

Hallmark channel: The Hallmark channel here is somewhat different than at home. There are some really good things to watch on it. Midsomer Murders is interesting. I also really like McCloed's Daughters--a series out of Australia. It is from 2004 but they are new to me.

For news we get CNN out of Britain, and the BBC News. One nice thing is that we are not hearing TOO MUCH of the election goings on in the US--no ads. How nice!

We enjoy reading the Namibian newspapers and seeing how they are viewing what is going on in the world. They are concerned about what is happening in Zimbabwe.

Enough observations, my eggs are awaiting deshelling!!

Our little helper

Aaron and I are once again in Otjiwarongo, Namibia for 3 months. This year the missionaries, Mark and Victoria are living in the house in front of us. Last year this house was being worked on and it finally got to the point where they could move in in June. It is very nice to have them close by although I have promised that I won't be dropping in all the time.

Between our flat and the house was nothing but dirt. Mark had the workers put in a sidewalk of paver blocks between the two houses. Aaron asked how I'd feel if we put in some money and had a larger area covered. So we did and it is so nice. It is big enough for both pickups to be parked on it and still we have room to walk in front of them. The picture to the right is Gino. Gino is almost 4 years old. He is the son of Pauline and Seigfried, both of whom work for the missionaries and the Bible School. Gino comes to work with his parents and entertains himself quite nicely. He speaks very little English but we seem to get the idea of what he wants. The picture shows him helping to carry the small blocks over by the house. He was chattering away to his dad and gesturing. I asked if he was saying that he was putting the bricks in a nice stack. That was a pretty close translation.

I received an email telling me that someone had subscribed to my blog. But I have no idea who as it came out in computer gobbledygook. So whoever you are...enjoy.

Winging our Way

On June 4 we flew from Seattle to Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. The movie on the flight was The Spiderwick Chronicles which I soon realized was not a movie I was interested in so I listened in on the conversations between the FAA controllers and the pilots of planes in the area, including ours. As we flew across the country our flight was handed off from one locale to another and each one asked the various pilots to check in. I heard a lot of G'day and we were in the United States. Must be a shortcut way of greeting. As we flew along I realized that many, many planes were being put into a holding pattern. There was very bad weather in the D.C. area, including a tornado that caused the tower at the airport to be evacuated for a period of time. One pilot asked how much longer this would be happening as he was running low on fuel. A couple of planes may have landed in Richmond, VA if I understood all the lingo correctly. One pilot said they were getting a pretty good knocking around and asked if there was an alternate level they could fly at. Again, if I understood correctly, he was told to continue where he was.

Finally planes were beginning to be allowed to land. The debris had been cleared from the runways. I'll bet there was a lot of activity going on that we never saw, but I sure do appreciate all of the hard work done to allow all those planes to land safely.

So when we landed we had to get over to terminal A for our international flight on South African Airlines. We arrived with a little time to spare, but not enough to get any lunch. At about 5:00 p.m. Eastern time we boarded the plane and we sat there and we sat there and we sat there. Ay yi yi!! Seems all that time that we couldn't land the planes waiting to take off couldn't because of the storm so there was a real back up. The pilot had people communicating with the officials to explain that due to our very long flight that working hours for the staff was going to be a real problem if we couldn't take off soon. Finally at approximately 7:00 p.m. we were given clearance to take off and after we were in the air the pilot explained that if we'd had to wait one more hour the flight would have been delayed 24 hours. I'm glad that didn't happen because then we'd have had to get ahold of Mark and Victoria in Namibia to let them know we'd be late...really late.

About 16 hours later we landed in Johannesburg, South Africa where we then hurried to our next flight. Guess what!!! That flight was delayed by about a half hour also. Then when we landed in Windhoek our luggage hadn't--along with just about everyone on the plane. So while Aaron was filling out paperwork, I went to look for Mark and Victoria. They were drinking coffee in the cafe and I walked up to them and said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we are here. The bad news is our luggage isn't."

Eventually we left the airport and headed off on the 3 hour drive to Otjiwarongo. The lights of the city looked good in the distance. Our long day's journey into night was finally over.