If one joined Facebook for Birthday well wishings alone, it would definitely be worth it. I crossed another year this past week and had several dozen friends ranging from grade school through dance career, teaching, and career change, all wishing me a Happy Birthday, and reminding me of many years of unforgettable experiences and relationships.
As much as I would like to wax philosophical about the 'meaning' of being 52, I have been in a far more pragmatic mood this past month and don't have a lot to say (Maybe that is a characteristic of someone in their 50's?--just don't get me started on IRAs or retirement funds :-). Actually I would observe in general that I seem to be less patient than I was in my youth. I am wondering if this is a natural unavoidable change like pattern baldness and loss of vision, or is it a direct result of having children? Will it continue to get worse or level out at 65? I so don't want to turn into a grumpy old man, any suggestions on how to keep it light and easy going after the 5th decade?
We did not celebrate again this week formally, some Birthday gifts drifted in throughout the week from various friends and by mail. We had had the big folk dance last week which was our official celebration of my Birthday (although we did not bill it as such.)
This week was the last week of our reporting deadline. It has now come and gone and we succeeded in putting in all we received, although that is not the same as saying we completed everything. There is a bit more left as far as late reports and plans, but we will deal with them as they come in. The real pressure is definitely off though.
The week also had me tied up in a two day brain-storming session in collaboration with many other Christian NGO's who had formed a consortium to try to get a large grant from USAID for peacebuilding. (disclaimer: MCC may not accept money from USAID, but I was representing our partners who may receive this money directly.) It was a long but interesting process to watch a proposal emerge from a group of about 30 people. (I am used to working alone on new ideas, so groupthink was a new experience to me.) But through many sessions of plenary and breakout groups we did manage to put together a goal and some objectives. I have no ideas how much chance it has of succeeding, but it was a good effort.
Rebecca was busy finishing up entries in our database, then David got sick on Tuesday and Wednesday which meant she needed to stay at home those mornings. Despite the setback we did finish what we needed to by Wednesday.
We did have a few social events worthy of note. We went to our friend Tim and Jeanette's for dinner (South African missionaries), it was another one of the several Birthday events I had during the week. It was nice except David and their daughter Isabel are a bit competitive for the same toys.
Thursday Rebecca went out with her friends for Ladies Night while I stayed home with the kid. She gave a funny report about trying out a new restaurant set up by a Belgian that claimed to be a restaurant and pastry shop.
We are used to getting a version of an item on a menu we are familiar with only to find the Burundian version is quite different. I remember ordering a Greek salad and gettting something I would have called cole slaw. But I think the ladies had the most extreme experience of this I have heard to date.
There was an item on the menu listed as Tapas, which, if you are familiar with it, is a type of hors d'oeuvre--the menu listed a plate featuring olives, some rolled cold cuts (prosciutto, salami) some cheeses like brie, and other imported items.
The service was incredbly slow and Rebecca said she imagined that they were trying to figure out what to make since she doubted they had any of the ingredients or even knew what tapas was.
Sure enough, when the plate came it had some samosa's, the local Congolese cheese, fried plaintain, french fries, and remarkably, absolutely not one ingredient described in the menu. When they confronted the waitress with this fact and said they had received the wrong order she said no, that was tapas. When asked why there was not one item mentioned on the menu, she told them they did not have any of those ingredients. The mzungu ladies explained to her that this would have been something good to tell them before they placed the order. According to Rebecca, the waitress still seemed quite surprised when the order was sent back.
This is another trivial example of the problem I have described and we experience in more serious ways on a regular basis. It has to do with being able to get accurate information from someone when they know it may not be what you want to hear. I cannot tell how many times I have had the experience of trying to figure out what the facts are when people are deadset on only telling you what you want to hear rather than what is actually true. It is not just a problem for mzungus. It is a cultural norm here to keep harmony, even if it means hiding of fudging reality. I expounded on this in more detail in my blog of Jan. 2010 Confronting a Culture of False Hopes .html
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| Kids playing in our room at Amani guesthouse Kigali. |
We met our volunteers on Saturday for breakfast and did some shopping the afternoon. On Sunday morning we went to the Friends Church and were fairly impressed that Oren and David made it through 2.5 of the 3.5 hour service. (David took a nap and Oren played snake on mom's cellphone for some of it.) But they were not distracting. Since it was all in Kinyarwanda I did not understand much of it, but the singing was very nice.
After church we had a long lunch meeting with the legal rep. of the church and lead pastor (since MCC is under the Friends Church in Rwanda.) It was good although it did require the kids to sit quietly through another long meeting. We rewarded them afterwards by taking them to a pool and playground. We were surprised how cold the water was there! Kigali is definitely cooler than Bujumbura in general. Fortunately we brought along our long sleeve shirts and jackets.
Monday was the highlight because after our morning meetings with partners, we went to the airport to pick up Rebecca's dad. Dr. David Sack (Papa Dave to the Grandkids) is here in Africa for a conference on vaccine development in Zanzibar. But since that is relatively close by, he came a week early to visit us. Our plan was to pick him up in Kigali and bring him back down to Bujumbura.
We are excited to have him here and he brought many things back from the US for us and for some of our partners as well, particularly children's books and letters from kids who want to be penpals with some batwa children at the Hope School. We will pass through Burasira and the Hope School on our back to Bujumbura.
Dave also brought back a new camera for me. I had ordered it online through Amazon several months ago and just got it. The timing is good as the flash on my old camera no longer works. It is a Canon G-12 so hopefully those who follow this blog will see some improvement in the quality of pictures. I am very excited about it, I admit.
First photo with new camera: Rebecca, David Oren and Papa Dave
at Sola Luna, an Italian restaurant in Kigali
1 comment:
Less patient than you were in your youth?
Maybe that is because you are living in Burundi now?
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