The Quirks of Our Little Home

Jess writes:

For the purpose of posterity – so as to never forget those little details that are so often misplaced in memories of moving and settling and living and moving again – I wanted to offer up a post on some of the more interesting aspects of this little, two-room place we call home here in Africa. It begins as such…

The Walls: Our walls are made, like most in our area, entirely of a thick concrete with a partially stucco and partially smooth finish. Due to the unique texture, they are often painted in very odd colors (for example, teal and pink as in our case) or whatever mixture of colored sealant that will actually stick to the surface. And while durability may be the intent of the concrete construction, concrete does not match so neatly with the wooden beams that they meet with at the top with the ceiling. Thus, there are spaces and gaps – anywhere from an inch or two to half a foot, where the concrete has begun to crumble away. As harmless as this may seem, small chunks of falling concrete are less risk-free than anticipated when they land on tables, computer equipment, kitchen appliances and, in the rare case, ourselves. Furthermore, though we are reasonably safe from these mini, interior avalanches while asleep under our mosquito net, it is not uncommon to be awoken to a small boulder that has been dislodged from the wall by a scurrying lizard (or perhaps a mouse… ick) as it runs the length of the spaces between the wall and beams. We’ve gotten rather accustomed to these minor sleep disturbances and have taken to merely sweeping up the debris in the mornings.

The Roof: Oh our roof. Perhaps the bane of our living existence in this country. The roof is constructed of layered and overlapping strips of corrugated tin. Thus, the ceiling not only acts as a convection oven during the hot, summer days, but also as an amplifier to everything that falls on it – say, seedlings, twigs or rain. A good rainstorm will cause the whole house to vibrate with an unbearable beating of noise, usually beyond the audible level of anything else. For this reason, Adam and I have adapted to yelling only necessary questions and answers to one another while siting across from eachother on the bed. And in some instances, we have almost literally scared the life out of eachother by entering the other room without shouting our presence and facing the terrified surprise of the other when he/she turns around to find the other standing right behind. Sorry. But back to the rain… the other curious (or as we like to think of it, completely idiotic) characteristic of our roof is that it is completely flat. But what should that matter?? Well, when it rains, the flat, corrugated tin roof does nothing to dispel the rain off the sides of the house – as with a normal, slanted and guttered roof – so water simply pours in from random dents and divets in the construction, creating miniature (and sometimes not-so-miniature) waterfalls in our kitchen/living room and our bedroom/office. Furthermore, as the walls have those aforementioned gaps between top and ceiling, the flatness of the roof makes possible the most interesting and horrifying of water features down the insides of our walls – creating rivers of tiny rapids crisscrossing the landscape of our floor and pooling in the lowest areas that we now call ‘the ponds’. So why, you ask, would they not just slant the roof and eliminate the problem all together? Our answer: that would just be far too convenient and, afterall, this is Africa.

The Floors: Our floors, like every other home we have seen in South Africa, are covered with polished, multi-mixture concrete. Luckily, this makes sweeping quite easy as there are no hardwood-floor cracks or tile indents with which to compete. Being polished concrete, however, it has an uncanny ability to attract dirt and dust that ingrains itself in the tiny pores of the polish. And after several years of polishing, sweeping, re-polishing and re-sweeping, the floors have a tendency to take on the traits of the Arctic Ocean in response to global warming – that is, growing ever so slowly a half centimeter a year from the layers and layers of newly acquired covering. For this reason, I have all but given up on actually keeping the floors ‘clean’ and have merely resigned myself to ridding only the piles of dirt that become visible to the naked eye and, of course, the chunks of concrete wall and dead insects that are scattered about in the mornings.

The Water: We don’t have any running water inside the house, but I think I’ve beaten that dead horse a couple times before, so just refer back to some of our previous posts…

The Electricity: I feel that I should dedicate this section to Jill Peters, who has experienced the incredibleness of our little home’s electricity to a far greater extent than either Adam or myself. I’ll explain: I would describe the electricity in our area as semi-consistent, meaning that it is on most times, except for the pre and post-storm blackouts and the during-storm brownouts (why the electricity stays on better during a storm and not before or after a storm will always remain a mystery to me). We are lucky, therefore, to be able to cook, heat water, and run our computer mostly to our convenience. We are unlucky, however, in the fact that our house is apparently not ‘grounded’. Meaning that any contact with an electrical outlet, switch, or appliances will likely provide you with a ‘morning jolt’ that you were probably hoping would come from your coffee instead. Thus, we wear shoes around the house at all times (not such a difficult sacrifice considering my description of the floors in the previous section), but for the primary purpose of ‘grounding’ ourselves. Jill, however, we have equated to the lab rat that never quite figures out where the cheese is, regardless of the physical stimuli (sorry Jill, I had to include it!!) Jill is a barefooter, including in the house. So, we often know when she is attempting to use the stove or turn on a light, not by the smell of food or by the change in lighting, but by the immediate yelp that follows these interactions. But she has not been the only victim in our home’s love of innocent electrocutions, Adam and I both have experienced this same ‘jumpstart’ when doing menial tasks after a rainstorm (read as: flooded house). Standing in water, as we should have realized before our first electrical encounter, serves as an incredible conductor of electricity, shoes or none. And I cannot forget to point out here that, unlike the in the States where the common household voltage is 120V, South Africa has a frighteningly high voltage of 220V!! And from personal experience, we can all tell you that this makes a significant difference – think shaky hands and an inability to focus clearly for a while afterwards…yikes!!

The Furniture: Finally, I reach the most comforting aspect of our little home – the couches, the chairs, and the bed. And while ‘comforting’ should not be misconstrued for ‘comfortable’, our furniture does offer us an immense sense of feeling at home. The couches, for example, actually allow for visitors as well as a place to sit separately while one or the other works in the kitchen or the bedroom – and I should mention here that ‘separately’ might seem to be an odd adverb to describe our couch sitting, but you would be surprised how nice it is to rest, even for a short period, someplace independent of your spouse with whom you spend all of your waking (and sleeping) hours as Peace Corps Volunteers. And on the subject of spending time together, our bed – for reasons not nearly as exciting as you may first assume – is our home’s sanctuary. Under our mosquito net, on top of our over-stuffed, Peace Corps-provided comforter, we spend much of our evenings and weekends sitting on that bed. We eat there, we watch movies and TV shows care of our computer there, we send emails and check Facebook there, we work from home on days that we don’t trek to work there, we read there, we listen to music there, we play cards there, we nap there, and last on this list of the uses of our bed, we actually sleep there. Our bed, as it turns out, is our home-away-from-home-in-our-home. Hmm. It’s also worth noting that since the start of our rainy season, we have become very protective of our comforting furniture and have been able to make it all surprisingly portable. Thus, when the water features on the walls and waterfalls in the rooms start to pour down, we are able to clump all our furniture (not only couches, chairs and bed, but also bureaus, kitchen cupboard unit, wash table, etc.) snuggly toward the centers of the rooms so that the rivers can divert cleanly around them and the ponds can pool safely beyond their reach. All of these earthly belongings that make us feel at home in our home, therefore, have become puzzle shapes in the tetrus game that is our two-room house during a flood. Nevertheless, the water always dries, the furniture stays reasonably undamaged, and we can always retire after a long day of work and long evening of waterproofing to our double-size haven in front of a fan.

And that is our home in a nutshell – virtually the size of a nutshell, in fact – from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, and from sitting spot to resting spot. As much as this two-room structure is often a recipe for disaster, and usually on the brink of complete destruction from flood water, electricity shortages, or scurrying reptiles, there is still something about it that feels somewhat right. And regardless of all the challenges that it doles out from day to day, we often find ourselves smiling at our humble abode, marveling at the joy one can find in such a small, simple way of living, and feeling very at ‘home’ in our quirky, little home.

RWO: Gangsters Holding Hands

Jess writes:

Speaking of gangsters… a young, gang-ish, boy here is called (as mentioned above) a ‘Tstotsi’. They are easily recognizable by their slightly too-nice and well-fitted clothing and the trademark, floppy, fisherman hat. Just like they see on TV and in movies, they walk with a swagger, head tilted to the side, shouting in low, abrupt bursts, their familiar slang – Eitha! [Hey there!], Howzit? [How are you?], and Sharp sharp! [All good!]. In general conversation, this slang would be used only between the younger, males of a group, but our lovely, little Tstotsis will use these greetings with anyone and everyone they pass (excluding, perhaps, some very discerning Gogos). But we haven’t yet reached the irony of this whole culture…

You see, as which many countries around the world, holding hands in South Africa is considered a very casual sign of friendship. This gesture does not even indicate a specified level of affection (as with the arm-in-arm gesture of girlfriends), but is merely a statement of, “I know you fairly well and am standing next to you.” Thus, even the Tsotsis will sometimes fall into this familiar habit and… every once in a while… if you’re lucky enough… you’ll get one of the greatest sights of all:

Two young kids, attire and styles urbanized and ghetto-fied, walking along with their own rythym and strut, eyeing and catcalling all the young ladies that pass, shouting their “Eitha’s” and “Howzits” across parking lots… with fingers interlocked in a most gentle of clasps. Ahhh… it kinda just changes the whole rough-and-tough-ness of it all, doesn’t it? I Love it!

RWO: Oh, those Chicago Boys

Adam writes:

During our travels around South Africa we came across a funny colloquialism used frequently in northern Africa. Whenever I would tell an African that I was from near Chicago they would always ask if I was a “Chee-ka-go boy” and laugh. Apparently “Chicago Boy” is a colloquialism referring to a really clever and dangerous gangster or “tsotsi”. When we asked why Chicago, they told us it was because we had the worst gangsters there. We finally figured out that they were referring to the days of Al Capone and they are convinced that Chicago is still the most dangerous city in the States.

Travelogue: Kruger National Park, The Sequel

Adam writes:

Since Jess has already written an extensive Travelogue about Kruger in the past, this one will simply serve to mention those great new sights and sightings this time around.

This time, instead of booking a day trip with a tour company, we booked the trip with Paul, one of the owners of Nelspruit Backpackers. We stay with him and his wife Natalie, and there three lovely children, fairly regularly as Nelspruit is usually the launching point for our travels and our last night of showers on our return trips. They are wonderful people with whom we have become friends over the last year. So this time our guide was not only familiar with the park, but we were quite familiar with our guide which made for a far more enjoyable day than the first trip, and we loved our first trip. Also making this trip more fun, was the fact that we went with two other PCV’s whom we consider close friends. So all and all, we were set for a day of fun with friends.

Again our trip was marked with tons of sightings of what we have taken to calling the familiar things. Animals like Elephants, Warthogs, Impala, Kudu, Steenbok, Baboons, Monkeys, and Guinea Fowl. Not to say that we were any less impressed by these magnificent and beautiful creatures, but how fortunate we are that we now consider these animals ‘familiar sights’. There were some differences though. This time we saw a lot more baby and juvenile animals in general and specifically of some of these. Baby Monkeys, Baboons, and Impala were common. And thoroughly proving Jess’ argument that everything is cute when it is a baby, were the baby Warthogs. That’s right, they were freaking adorable. To be honest I was tempted to jump out of the car and kidnap one when it wandered a little too far from momma. But the reality that momma was meaner, stronger, and faster than me was driven into me by my loving and caring wife. Too bad, he would have been cute for a while and then, according to Paul, ugly yet delicious as a juvenile, a perfect combination. Another stark difference in this trip was that we would see far more water animals, e.g. Hippos and Crocodiles, as it was the rainy season and there were more watering holes and the rivers were higher, and more birds due to migration patterns.

My biggest fear for the day driving into the park was not that we wouldn’t see any of the big cats, for they are a rare sight indeed, but that we wouldn’t see any Giraffes. It had been nearly six months since our last visit and Jess was still heartbroken that she had yet to see a Giraffe in the park. You see, Giraffes are supposed to be one of the more common sights in Kruger and Jess is nearly obsessed with their goofy shape. We were a few hours into the visit and had seen plenty of animals and were on our way to Skukuza for some coffee and breakfast when Jess started yelling “STOP” at the top of her lungs. There in the trees on the side of the rode were four Giraffes! I cannot begin to describe how giddy my wife was. We sat for nearly twenty minutes snapping pictures and taking video as the rest of us joined in and joked around about her excitement. As far as Jess was concerned, we could call it a day. We would continue to see Giraffes throughout the day.

After our morning break we headed out again. Soon we started seeing beautiful birds. There was the European Roller which had beautifully brilliant blue wings. Shortly after that there was a sighting of the Ground Hornbill. This is a large ground bird the size of a young turkey with a bright red face and bill. We were able to see three of them hunting in the grass for bugs and small rodents. This was a big deal as there are only an estimated 250 of these birds in all of Kruger, a park that is roughly the size of Israel.

Soon after this we stopped to watch a large group of Impala that was joined by a small heard of Zebra. The Zebra soon broke away and we followed them for a while down the road. Paul explained to us that though the Zebras stripes would make them seem like an easy target, Lions only see in black and white so the stripes actually made the Zebras hard to discern and when they move it can be quite confusing to the predator.

We then had our first encounter of the day with a watering hole that was full of Hippos and Crocodiles. However, they were refusing to surface much. Later in the day we would find a spot where we would snap some great photos of Hippos coming to surface and get a few great looks at the Crocs. The day was marked with such watering holes, which was exciting as Jess and I had only seen these animals through binoculars barely making them out on the last trip.

There was some real excitement when we saw a giant flock of White-backed Vultures circling in the air ahead of us. We were all hoping that this meant we might be able to spot a big cat feasting. As we drove up, we realized that something in fact had been killed, an Impala, but it had already been picked clean and left behind. It was evidence that things did hunt and get hunted in the park, though we wouldn’t be privy to seeing it that day. We would spend the rest of the day spotting what we began calling ‘lion rocks’ and ‘leopard trees’ but in fact no actual Lions or Leopards. But there is always next time.

For lunch Paul took us to a pavilion overlook as we had packed a picnic of sorts. It was a beautiful spot that allowed some time to look through binoculars and get a grander look at the park. What I saw reminded me of watching Jurassic park as a kid. On the banks of a river there were Hippos sunbathing and playing in the water, a few kilometers away there were the necks and heads of Giraffe standing above the tree line of the neighboring grove of acacia. In the grasslands beyond there were a few Rhinoceros and herds of Impala and Zebra. All of them were together in one expanse of land grazing and going about their business. It was there that I understood why people always say that after Kruger, zoos no longer cut it.

There were a couple more notable bird sightings in the afternoon. Towards the very end of the day was a Goliath Heron, the largest Heron in the world. We watched for ten minutes as it pulled a fish from the water and had lunch. Our favorite, however, was a King Fisher. This bird is relatively small, maybe eight inches or so, and as the name implies, he hunts fish. This particular one had already caught itself a meal and was perched on the side of the bridge. You see, since King Fishers are so small, they must make sure that the fish is completely dead and not moving because if the fish is to wriggle or flop on the way down, it would lodge itself in the bird’s throat cutting of air supply and most likely choking it. So we proceeded to watch as the bird repeatedly and violently smacked the fish against the concrete. With every smack there was a resounding chorus within the car of “Bam!”. And yes, we have video, to be posted at a later date. This spectacle would come to be known as the ‘King Fisher Beat Down’.

Towards the mid-afternoon spirits were falling as our chances to see one of those elusive cats began to drop and everyone was feeling the effect of our 4:30 wakeup call when our fellow PCV said “Stop”. Jess then confirmed that she too had thought she saw something. And in fact they had, a two ton White Rhino. He was barely visible through the bush and so Paul pulled around a bend and we had a perfect view of this guy through an opening in the trees. He was wallowing in the mud and he was huge. We were excited to see him up so close and boy was he excited too. We were able to snap some really great photos from our vantage point and Paul would bang on the roof of the car to get his attention so we could also get some shots of him looking at us. We all decided that there was big, and then there was Rhinoceros big.

Our last notable spotting of the day was as we were driving out of the park. It was raining pretty good and we had all but given up on cats when Jess and Paul spotted a couple of Mongoose darting across the road. Paul told us that this was a sure sign of a predator nearby and sure enough he was right. A few meters up the road were a pair of juvenile Hyenas standing in the road. As they stood only feet away from the car we were able to grab some great close up shots in spite of the rain.

So, we didn’t see any cats. That means that Jess and I have yet to see a Lion, but we all agreed that this was a great trip into the park. And Jess and I agreed that this trip was even better than the first one. We now understand the addictive allure of Kruger National Park and you can bet that we will be back in search of a Lion. Oh, and Jess got to see her Giraffes.

RWO: Pay Up, Big Boy!

Jess writes:

When a woman is to be married in South Africa, the future groom’s family pays “Labola”, a gift to unite the two families. Labola usually consists of 10 cows, each representing a virtue of the future bride (and 11 cows if the future bride is still a virgin)! More currently, the future groom’s family pays a monetary amount, accompanied by traditional and contemporary gifts. However, the concept of “cows as payment” is still a very prominent one. So that, when our female, American volunteers are proposed to (which, usnruprisingly, is often), another male (usually a supervisor or neighbor) will jump in to help negotiate Labola for the PCV. We’ve had up to 20 cows offered for some volunteers, due entirely to the exotic, “celebrity” status of Americans in this country!!! Eish!!