bright eyes + blue eyes

geckos

 

I have kind of gotten used to seeing geckos around the house.  At first I was frightened when I pulled back a curtain and something skittered away.  And it took me a little while until I was sure that the droppings I found around the house were from geckos, not mice.  And I could not figure out where that chirping noise was coming from until I realized it was the geckos. 

Now I kind of like their ghostly, now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t presence.  At night, they hang out by the lights (when we have power) and eat all of the insects that have made their way inside.  And they’re fast!  It makes this TED lecture all the more interesting:

Secrets of movement, from geckos and roaches: Robert Full on TED.com

(the entire talk can be viewed here.)

circumcision

I’ve been learning about an important rite of passage in southern Tanzania.  Boys between the ages of five to eight are circumcised, and that marks their first steps towards adulthood.  The actual circumcision is followed by a trek into the forest with elders, and a big family celebration takes place upon the boys’ return.

Circumcision is viewed as a cultural practice, so it’s not offered as a procedure in the hospital.  Nonetheless, it’s done by a medical officer under local anesthesia.  Twice a year, medical personnel post announcements about when they will offer circumcision.  On the appointed days, a makeshift surgery is set up at the school, and fathers bring their sons to be circumcised.  It costs 10,000 Shillings per child.

The child has a few days to recover.  Then he goes into the woods with a group of about 20 boys and elders.  They stay in the forest for two or three days, and they learn about all sorts of things.  I know I haven’t understood everything about this rite of passage, but here’s what I’ve gathered the boys learn from the elders:

• Sometimes adults need to be left alone, and you cannot enter a room without knocking. From what I've understood, the sex education stays pretty vague at this stage.

• You always need to show respect to your parents and other older people. Apparently, the accompanying elders become authority figures, and parents will later threaten the children by saying that they'll tell the elders about their misbehavior.

• How to slaughter a chicken.

I’m sure there’s much more that they learn, but I’ve had a hard time understanding conversations about this topic.  Maybe people are using words from Kiyao or Kimakonde, local dialects, that I don’t speak. 

We had a funny experience that clued us into this whole rite of passage.  Two of our guards, Chado and George, came to H. to ask him about paying for the circumcision for their sons.  H. didn’t understand what they were talking about, so he asked me if I would come and help.  I didn’t understand either.  We got a dictionary.  The words they were saying were not in the dictionary.  So we said, “Describe whatever you’re talking about.”  We understood that they were talking about boys and cutting.  Hmmm.  It took us a few seconds, and then we got it…  Oh!  They must be talking about circumcision!  We all had a good laugh about the whole charade.

sambusas

 

East Africa is really influenced by Indian culture.  Surely the ties go way back, since they have the Indian Ocean in common.  I have heard that during colonialism, Britain encouraged Indians to come to East Africa to establish businesses.   It’s had a lasting effect.  Many of the businessmen and store owners here are ethnic Indians, whose families have lived in Tanzania for generations.

Personally, I enjoy the Indian influences on Tanzanian food.  Take for example sambusas, which are really samosas.  There’s one guy who walks around town selling samosas, and they’re the best I’ve ever had.  I want to ask him if I can come and prepare samosas with him so that I can learn how to make them, too.  My husband thinks that I shouldn’t do it, because it’s quite possible that I’ll be put off from the samosas once I’ve seen his kitchen.  The concept of a Health Department has gotten much traction here yet, so that’s probably a good point.  I want to keep eating this guy’s samosas. 

So I’ll ask you.  Got any good samosa recipes or tips?

mama abbie

There’s a trick to the names around here.  If you hear someone called Mama Abbie, who would you think that would be?  You would think someone was referring to my sister named Abbie, right? 

You would be wrong.  Mama Abbie is the woman who I know as Mom (also known as Virginia).  Abbie is her first born child, so she would be known here as Mama Abbie.

When new parents name their firstborn child, they should be awfully careful about picking the name.  Regardless of the gender of the child, a mother is called Mama {Name of Firstborn} and a dad is called Baba {Name of Firstborn}.  So, for example, in Tanzania, I would now be calling Chrissie, my friend with a baby boy, by the name Mama Owens.

The principle can also be extended a generation, so that grandparents are called by the name of their first grandchild.  The grandparents of a child named Nelson would start being called Bibi Nelson (grandma) and Babu Nelson (grandpa). 

I like this tradition of changing a name to reflect a person’s new identity as a parent or grandparent.  Parents all over the world are a proud breed.  I like how front-and-center it is here.

lucky woman with a small glass of sunshine

I am not much of a morning person.  Even if I have a full eight hours of restful sleep, I always want to stay in bed longer.  I can doze like a champ, and I stay pretty groggy for a while after I make it out of bed. 

Orange juice is one of the things that helps to cut the morning fog in my brain.  Of course, I love hot coffee in the morning, too.  But that comes eventually.  I need a boost before I manage to get going with the coffee-making.  For years, orange juice has been my solution.  I like just a small juice glass, only 3 or 4 ounces.  Almost every time I drink orange juice in the morning, I think, ‘That’s like liquid sunshine.”

In the past few months, I have also had this recurrent thought when drinking my orange juice: ‘I am a lucky woman.’ 

That is because my husband has gotten into the habit of bringing me orange juice in bed.  (He happens to be quite cheerful in the morning and pops right out of bed.)  One of the best things about a good spouse is that they know the areas where you are weak and have some ideas about how to help you to get through them.  Morning grogginess is a trivial example of this.  Nonetheless, it is a true demonstration of building a marriage on understanding and daily kindness. 

I suspect that we will look back on these years together in Africa as a particularly intense and intimate phase of our marriage.  I fully expect that life will get more hectic, and on lot of mornings it won’t be possible for the orange juice delivery service to come by my bed.  That’s just all the more reason to cherish the present. 

I know there will be moments in the future when I close my eyes and smile to myself at the image of a big hand reaching inside the mosquito net to offer me a small glass of liquid sunshine. 

It’s my ideal, perfectly customized picture of a caring act – small, but immensely meaningful.  I am, indeed, a lucky woman.

more on mozart's genius

 

{scrabble game, during our family's recent visit}

-+-+-

When Hunter was a youngster (I can't remember exactly how old...), he was on the same baseball team as a young man named AJ. According to Hunter, AJ's dad was very hands-on & very determined to see his son improve. He worked with him constantly. He demanded a lot of his son when it came to baseball.

So, where is this AJ kid now, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you.

Last year, AJ signed a 5 year $82.5 million contract with the New York Yankees.

That baseball success story reminds me of the quote I posted yesterday...

"Destiny, quite often, is a determined parent."

Here's the thing, though. I think it takes both. I think that Mozart had exceptional natural ability AND a determined parent. Same with AJ. Same with Venus & Serena. Same with Jacqueline du Pré. Same with Benjamin Carson. (Who else comes to your mind? Michael Jackson, maybe? Who else?)

It also makes me wonder about the alternative situation. What about when there is a lot of natural ability, but no determined parent? That's an entirely different category.

Honestly, it seems like a lot (but not all) of these "success stories" have messy, tangled lives & fractured relationships with the parent who helped make the achievement possible.

the creative habit

Hello, beautiful little green lovelies! ...soon to be delicious little red lovelies!

-+-+-

The film Amadeus (and the play by Peter Shaffer on which it's based) dramatizes and romanticizes the divine origins of creative genius....

Of course, this is hogwash. There are no "natural" geniuses. Mozart was his father's son. Leopold Mozart had gone through an arduous education, not just in music, but also in philosophy and religion; he was a sophisticated, broad-thinking man, famous throughout Europe as a composer and pedagogue. This is not news to music lovers. Leopold had a massive influence on his young son. I question how much of a "natural" this young boy was....

Leopold taught the young Wolfgang everything about music, including counterpoint and harmony. He saw to it that the boy was exposed to everyone in Europe who was writing good music or could be of use in Wolfgang's musical development. Destiny, quite often, is a determined parent.

The Creative Habit, page 8

by Twyla Tharp

I really enjoyed this book & appreciate the author's emphasis on the importance of structure, routine, and discipline, even in creative endeavors. I found the above selection to be pretty interesting & I have more to say about it--in some ways, I agree with Tharp...but in other ways I don't.

At the moment, I'm going to go vacuum the guest room. (Dad & little brother coming in town tonight as part of their college-visiting trip. Hooray!)

More tomorrow. 

the question of the day

 

cucumber : from our garden

font : futura

color scheme : cucumber soda

has anyone ever used a treegator?

(1) Pop quiz #1:

Fill in the blank: ___ % of the US population lives in a metropolitan area.

For the answer, click this link.

(disclaimer: the statistics are almost 3 yrs old)

America by the Numbers: Where We Live
Time 10/22/06
What a great visual representation.

(2) Food for thought: 

I read an interview with the author of the following book recently. Made me want to read the book.

$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner

(book excerpt can be read here.)

(3) Craft Inspiration:

Video Tutorial: Make Your Own Photo Journal

Photojojo, 9/12/2007

(4) Slow Release Watering System:

We have some dogwood trees on the side of our house which are in need of some TLC. I think we should get a few of these nifty treegators.

Seems like such an efficient/effective way to help the root systems.

(5) Pop Quiz #2:

Name one thing which Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln have in common.

The answer (well, at least one of the answers...) can be found in the first paragraph of this very interesting article:

 

Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin?

By M. Jones

Newsweek 7/7/08

hubby + children + lake + laughter