HOME?
Well, we have returned to Mozambique with all its color and sound and smell and sweaty heat. We have come back to the place we left... The road back was longer than the road away... there was more waiting and preparation and regretting the preparation that was too late. Why didn't I do that earlier? I don't know. Maybe I have learned this time... maybe...
I have my many excuses for not keeping up my promise to publish a "weekly snippet". Maybe I'm back on track. Yesterday, Mikael managed to get MY computer to connect to the internet via the dial-up connection. So if all is well, he will manage to connect it again tonight and I will publish this snippet from Vila Ulongwe near the Malawi border of Tete province in Mozambique in southern Africa.
We have been in this place (Vila Ulongwe which isn't really Tete) for just a week. HOME now to our kids. It takes a week or being unpacked to feel at home in contrast to the other stops in the journey where: You leave the BIG suitcases in the car.Your available possessions are in your backpack.You get to drink coca-cola at all the breaks because Mom forgot to bring enough water.You have to ask how many nights you will sleep in this bed.You have to ask what country you are in now.You have a swimming pool outside your door.
In the other places John asked "Are we going home?" We could just say "we are on the way" and hope that would satisfy for now. Now John doesn't ask if we are going home, so we assume that he is settling in. Now I've dug into the BIG suitcases and we even have closets to put our clothes away. We have our toothbrushes in the bathroom beside the sink and our towels hang there waiting for us all day long. We can go out and shop and come back and put things away in the house... not in the car. These are signs that we are home.
As for the journey... it was a joy, though long and quite drawn out. It did take time to transition to this world of African affection. Walking into a shop in Tete last week, the shopkeeper asked where I've been... he recognised me and noticed that I'd not been around. That is a sign of homecoming. Big smiles in church and handshakes that begin with a friendly *slap* and progress to a firm shake and end with a reluctant release. "Dissapeared one" I am called, followed by the unfortunate compliment that I've gotten fat.
It takes just about a week to adjust to a different way of communicating, shopping, eating, expectations of comfort level are lower... the power goes out more often... we have mosquito nets over the beds... we have a housekeeper who scrubs our clothes and washes our dishes... we all have flip-flops and I wrap a capulana over my jeans that are already just a little bit looser than they were last week. "Saturday candy" can be 6 feet of sugar cane to share... like chewing a piece of bamboo soaked in sugar water... the fibers can work like dental floss at times, so maybe it isn't so bad for you. Bugs...just here... all the time...
You sleep with the pings of bats, the chirps of frogs, and trills of crickets... and awaken to the sound of distant roosters... and the smell of firewood smoking and the swish of the twig-broom outside your window.
The power is off now at 6:30pm. It has just rained the first good downpour of the season. Thunder rumbles in the distance... the crickets are greared up again... and the kids are happily writing in their new-faded-notebooks that have a picture of Madonna on the front... "Yesterday the cat had kittens. I was amazed!"
HOME for now, anyway.
I have my many excuses for not keeping up my promise to publish a "weekly snippet". Maybe I'm back on track. Yesterday, Mikael managed to get MY computer to connect to the internet via the dial-up connection. So if all is well, he will manage to connect it again tonight and I will publish this snippet from Vila Ulongwe near the Malawi border of Tete province in Mozambique in southern Africa.
We have been in this place (Vila Ulongwe which isn't really Tete) for just a week. HOME now to our kids. It takes a week or being unpacked to feel at home in contrast to the other stops in the journey where: You leave the BIG suitcases in the car.Your available possessions are in your backpack.You get to drink coca-cola at all the breaks because Mom forgot to bring enough water.You have to ask how many nights you will sleep in this bed.You have to ask what country you are in now.You have a swimming pool outside your door.
In the other places John asked "Are we going home?" We could just say "we are on the way" and hope that would satisfy for now. Now John doesn't ask if we are going home, so we assume that he is settling in. Now I've dug into the BIG suitcases and we even have closets to put our clothes away. We have our toothbrushes in the bathroom beside the sink and our towels hang there waiting for us all day long. We can go out and shop and come back and put things away in the house... not in the car. These are signs that we are home.
As for the journey... it was a joy, though long and quite drawn out. It did take time to transition to this world of African affection. Walking into a shop in Tete last week, the shopkeeper asked where I've been... he recognised me and noticed that I'd not been around. That is a sign of homecoming. Big smiles in church and handshakes that begin with a friendly *slap* and progress to a firm shake and end with a reluctant release. "Dissapeared one" I am called, followed by the unfortunate compliment that I've gotten fat.
It takes just about a week to adjust to a different way of communicating, shopping, eating, expectations of comfort level are lower... the power goes out more often... we have mosquito nets over the beds... we have a housekeeper who scrubs our clothes and washes our dishes... we all have flip-flops and I wrap a capulana over my jeans that are already just a little bit looser than they were last week. "Saturday candy" can be 6 feet of sugar cane to share... like chewing a piece of bamboo soaked in sugar water... the fibers can work like dental floss at times, so maybe it isn't so bad for you. Bugs...just here... all the time...
You sleep with the pings of bats, the chirps of frogs, and trills of crickets... and awaken to the sound of distant roosters... and the smell of firewood smoking and the swish of the twig-broom outside your window.
The power is off now at 6:30pm. It has just rained the first good downpour of the season. Thunder rumbles in the distance... the crickets are greared up again... and the kids are happily writing in their new-faded-notebooks that have a picture of Madonna on the front... "Yesterday the cat had kittens. I was amazed!"
HOME for now, anyway.
Makin' me homesick. Do you know about the DC lights. There's a little switch near the door of my study. Also a power inverter in the closet for charging laptops etc. Tis the season for power outs.
ReplyDeleteJeni, my sister,
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing. Everything seems to go in stride for you. So glad that little Johnny is settling in. Tell him Aunt Pam loves him. Katie and Jake are great big sister and brother for him.
HOme is where they are.
Love you all! Try to stay cool.
Blessings,
Pam