Wednesday without words

Wednesday without words

P.S. This is what I will be doing today but on a different route.

25 random things about me

I’m back after one week of involuntary internet withdrawal. It took me that long to establish an internet connection at my temporary home (for the next half year). During this week (without internet) I was tagged twice on Facebook with the meme “25 random things about me”. Now I will follow Tim’s example and also post it on my blog.

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to Facebook “notes” under tabs on your profile page (if it’s not there, use the “+” to get to it), paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the upper right corner of the app) then click publish).

1. I am dyslexic and had a hard time in school with German and English, but was top of the class in Math. I consider it God’s humor that he called me into a language related work. This year I plan to learn my seventh language.

2. I can’t read a book or article without finding spelling mistakes.

3. I was not allowed to speak the local dialect as a child so my pronunciation sounded rather “German” (not Austrian), to the point that some Austrians would not believe me that I am Austrian, especially after 3 years at a Bible college in Germany. For Germans it was always clear that I am not German but Austrian. Talk about identity conflict.

4. I hate traveling but keep doing it a lot for the sake of God’s calling. I have lived in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Mexico, France, USA, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Mali. I have visited Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Zaire, Chad, Kenya, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Santa Domingo, Croatia, Greece, and maybe some more which I forgot. I even travelled three times to Eastern Europe as Bible smuggler before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

5. My original training was in plastic engineering, as part of a technical high school, but equivalent to a college degree. I would have needed to work in this domain for two years to obtain my engineers title, which I never did.

6. I am fascinated by other cultures and love to observe and analyze cultural differences. I also love guessing where people in public come from and what language they speak.

7. I am an organizer and love logic puzzles. My love for whodunits probably falls in the same category.

8. I first need a framework before any detail information makes sense to me.

9. I got my first camera at age 14 and loved photography ever since.

10. I am from the tribe of “hunters and gatherers” – in the past this meant catching frogs, lizards, grasshoppers, and collecting stamps, coins, dried plants, books, song texts, poems, etc. – Now most of my collecting is digital: photos, music files, computer programs, song texts, articles, etc). And I no longer put dead mice in my colleague’s in-baskets.

11. Ten years ago I started painting watercolors. I have experimented with a few other painting techniques but haven’t done a lot in recent years.

12. I love all kinds of dancing and started teaching others to dance at age 16. I once opened a ball with the Lutheran Bishop of Austria, Oskar Sakrausky – he was a very good dancer. During a recent furlough I won two tickets for the Concordia Ball, the ball of the Austrian Press club, in the Vienna Rathaus (city hall). It was a challenge to find all the things (dress, shoes, accessories) AND a dance partner within three days but it was great fun.

13. During school I learned playing recorder, during Bible college guitar, and during a recent furlough I started playing clarinet. I did not get very far with playing the pan flute.

14. During the same furlough I took singing classes and even reached the high B. During the next furlough I learned to more use my chest voice. Regrettably I am better in singing along than singing solo.

15. I love musicals and grew up listening to West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Man of La Mancha, Anatevka (Fiddler on the Roof), Porgy and Bess which my father had on tapes – old-fashioned big tapes.

16. I have a large family because my mother had 7 siblings and my grandfather 12. One of my great-grand-fathers was a wood turner. During his journeymanship he travelled all over Europe mostly on foot – Dresden, Vienna, Trieste, Lyon, Paris, London, and eventually got married in Paris with a wife sent from back home. Another line of my ancestors goes back to the Huguenots from France who fled to Czechoslovakia and later came to Austria.

17. I love watching (and photographing) sunsets and other sun atmospheres and clouds. They can calm my spirit in incredible ways. Watching birds from close by touches my heart deeply.

18. I can be very curious. Which really helps with strange food – I have eaten porcupine, snake, bush rat, monkey, gazelle, elephant trunk, elephant guts, cat, giant frog (3kg! photo below for those who can’t believe it), caterpillars, termites, locusts. Elephant trunk is the finest meat and caterpillars with koko leaves in peanut sauce was my favorite dish in CAR.

19. I won a bike with three gears at age 14 in a youth traffic quiz. I had it for may years until it was stolen in the Netherlands.

20. For a real vacation I like to read a lot and swim, preferably in the ocean with lots of surf. A special bonus is when I also have a chance to do windsurfing which unfortunately does not happen very often.

21. I never stick to a recipe but like to change it and call it creativity.

22. I learned the hard way that maintaining relationships is more important than avoiding high telephone costs.

23. I am half-African when it comes to temperatures after living in Africa for 15+ years – I hate the cold, and everything below 26C/80F is cold for me, which does not mean that I like it when it’s too hot, i.e. above 32C/90F.

24. I think that there are no black people, not even in Africa, because even those called black are shades of brown.

25. I love worshiping God through songs and started expressing them through free style worship dance a few years ago.

At first I could not think of so many random facts, but after reading the list of several friends, my own list got longer and longer, until I had to delete a few.  Let me know if you have done a similar list on Facebook.

Relative Pushiness

I was on a flight with a Malian airline together with a lady from Mali. During one of the stopovers a hostess told her rather harshly to sit down. At first I did not even consider it as unusual. It only dawned on me, when my neighbor complained about this brusque behavior to another hostess, that this was not very typically Malian. She afterwards explained to me that she finds it very difficult to live in Cameroon because the general tone of voice is much more aggressive than in Mali. She was coming home for a vacation and looking forward to recover in the gentler environment in Mali.

Having lived in Cameroon and Mali, I was partly aware of these differences in mentality. It was very interesting to hear this so clearly expressed by a Malian living in Cameroon. When I arrived in Cameroon recently, I was rather unprepared for the hustle at the airport and the pushy behavior of basically everybody, from porter to taxi men. I was no longer used to it. It made me very thankful that the airport in Mali is not at all like this. Through my recent experience in Cameroon, people that I previously considered pushy in Mali (e.g. sales people in the market) no longer seem all that aggressive.

A Questionable Gift

On a recent flight a Malian discovered that his seat was next to a female traveler. He was very delighted and considered it a blessing to sit next to a woman. He explained the importance of women with a Mande proverb: “When somebody gives you a woman (or wife), he gives you a whole neighborhood (or town district, quartier, fr).” Knowing how many African women are forced to bear more children than is good for their health, I remarked “Let's hope that she is not worn out before she finished producing the neighborhood.” To which he replied, “But that is her calling in life, to be worn out, to suffer.”
I could not have agreed less, but realized that we have very different world views.

Arrived

Our trip went well on Saturday, even though it got rather late. We already got off to a late start in the morning because Timothee depended on a friend’s taxi to get to my place and had little control over when they got going. Also, it seems that we had a lot of head wind, plus the drag due to 6 chairs and 2 sacks on the roof rack. We took very few breaks and even ate lunch while driving. Nevertheless, time got short and I had to drive the last leg after sundown, which is very strenuous. But I arrived safely, praise the Lord.

I was very thankful for all the things Idrissa and Maryama had already prepared for me:
* the fridge was switched on
* the clay pot and the water filter were filled with water
* the dust covers were taken off the furniture
* everything was nicely cleaned
* the dirty laundry had been washed and was sitting on the table (it seems that washed clothes should never sit on the floor, therefore the laundry basket has to sit on the table – this always amuses me); I even found some towels in it and did not need to search for them.

Yesterday was Sunday, but I did not drive to Konna for the service. It would have been to strenuous after the long trip. There were enough things that needed doing here.

When I got up in the morning, it was only 75 degrees. Brrrr – so cold. That got me the idea to light some candles. A desire you rarely have in this climate.

Shortly after that I hear some rattling noise in front of the house. Seni and a friend have come to fill up our water barrels on the roof, and are setting up the ladder. Normally they come in the evening. Maybe their father had heard about my arrival and sent them to make sure that I have water in the house.

First task this morning is to discuss lunch with the Idrissas. As I walk over to their place, I notice this unpleasant strong wind blowing. I completely forgot that this is normal at this time of year. I bring Maryama one cabbage and some pieces of squash for our lunch. Since I feel like celebrating my return, I propose to eat a duck. Idrissa and I go to have a look at our poultry. One idea was to eat the white cock, but since it is our only one, I refuse. They are not so difficult to get, but it is not so easy to have one that does not crow all the time, or fight, etc. Eventually we agree on one of the ducks. I also give Idrissa the vinegar necessary for its preparation according to their tradition.

After that we take a look at the garden. Some plants are growing nicely.
Unfortunately the chickens still manage to get in and have already ruined a lot. And the lizards eat the flowers of the green beans and other plants. Too bad, no lettuce. I had counted on it and did not bring any. Oh well, no salad then this week.

Then I take time to have breakfast. In between I get some visitors. Soumare accompanied by Jango are the first friends from the village to welcome me back. Since it is cold they refuse the usual drink of water as a sign of welcome. As they have heard about my accident, they also need to inspect the car. They don’t stay long since the rice harvest has started and there is a lot of work in the fields to be done. (I can’t imagine what it must be like to stand in cold water while harvesting. No wonder, so many of them get ill.)

A little while later Idrissa comes with his helpers to lift off the heavy sack from the roof rack that his brother has sent with us. Only now can I drive the car completely into the car port.

In all these encounters I realize that I am very happy to be back. At the same time it is tiring. So, I am all the more grateful that my energy levels are nearly normal, otherwise our reunion would be subdued.

I was gone for quite some time – everywhere I need to change the calendars from August to December. Several unfinished tasks lying around remind me, that I left for 10 days, but was gone for more than three months.

God's timing

When talking to a friend yesterday about my plans to go back to the village at the end of next week, she remarked: That is the first time that I hear you say that you are ready to go. She was right. So far I had made an effort to go back, but more out of a sense of obligation, without really being ready.

In the last few week, I had made plans several times to travel back, but somehow it had not worked out. In one case, it even meant moving to a different apartment (which I did not enjoy) because the guesthouse was fully booked. In each case I felt that it was OK to stay for another week or two in the capital. But after some time I thought I should pull myself together and go back to the village. I told myself that if I just took things easy, I
would manage despite my low energy levels.

So what is different this time? I have started making the necessary arrangements and telling people when I will be coming. I plan to still see the doctor next week and have a last check-up before leaving. This is just to make sure that there is no physical/medical problem at the root of my fatigue. It is not completely sure that all tests will be finished before my departure. And still, I don’t worry too much about it. Maybe because I did not crash recently after a normal working day. So, I do have the impression that I am really getting better every day.

All together, I just have the impression that the Lord knew when I will be able to handle the change back to village life with its challenges. He allowed the different reasons that kept me from leaving earlier. This time I have much more the feeling that this is just the right timing, God’s timing. PTL.