Dana’s Avenue

Okay, it’s finally happening. I’m starting to get a little bit uncomfortable now and then with this big ol’ tummy.  (I begin my third trimester Saturday.)  I tend to sit kind of slouched forward and that pushes my belly right into my ribs and apparently my stomach. I have to sit straight up (or lie down) to give myself some room - especially after a meal!  I’m starting to realize the weight I’m carrying too.  It has taken the first two trimesters but I’m finally feeling pregnant - and when people meet me they look at my belly.  (Tanzanians don’t talk about pregnancy so they wouldn’t ask me anything about it - but they do notice.)  I think I’m also developing a bit of a waddle but I don’t think I walk like that all the time.  My belly button is all bandaged up because it’s out in all its glory and gets sore from rubbing against my shirt.  Sometimes I even hit it on things.  Sheesh.

Otherwise I still feel good overall.  I’m enjoying pregnancy and feeling the baby move a lot.  Jonathan will take one more tummy picture of me a week before we leave.  Then we’ll continue them after we get to the U.S.  All the previous tummy pictures can be found on his blog.

The other day in town we found some pasta and pasta sauce.  The pasta was “real Italian pasta”.  I always look at the country of origin before buying anything and this real Italian pasta came directly from Canada.  Oh well.  :)  The pasta sauce is just a plain tomato sauce from America.  (There’s a brand here called American Garden that you can find a few limited items in.)

That night Jonathan and I came back to the banda and didn’t want to go to the dining room so we made the pasta meal and ate outside on our porch at dusk by candlelight.  It was one of the nicest meals we’ve had here.  The familiar taste was wonderful.  Now it wasn’t anything fancy and we actually never ate our spaghetti that way when we lived in the States but it was still very familiar and we felt like we were living in the lap of luxury.

We bought a little more sauce so we can do 2 more of these meals before leaving.  I’m tempted to make it every night but it wouldn’t take long to get tired of it so instead we’re saving it to treat ourselves with.

Of course, today for lunch we had grilled cheese sandwiches and corn.  That seemed gourmet to us too.  We ooh’ed and aah’ed all the way through it.  Yum, yum!  It’s amazing how little it takes sometimes!

There is a couple here at the campsite who is going to Mbeya on Friday and has offered to take our stuff to the SIL office there to be stored while we’re gone.  That means we pack now instead of later.  (Nothing I’m against at all!)  I just love planning things like this.  I don’t like actually trying to figure out where all the stuff will go (we’re low on boxes) but I love the process.  I also like downsizing a bit although it’s not like we have tons of excess here anyway.

This afternoon I took my little notepad and went room-by-room making a list of everything I want to take to the States.  That way we’ll know to leave that stuff and just pack everything else.  We have to remember that it’s going to be COLD when we arrive.  It’s so hot here now that it’s easy to forget.  And by the time we leave it will be warming up a bit there.  We don’t want to pack much so we’ll have as much room as possible to bring back baby stuff.

I can’t believe we’ll arrive in the States 2 weeks from Sunday!  We only have 10 days of class left (as of Wednesday afternoon).  We’ll be at the campsite 14 more days.  And Christmas is only 3 1/2 weeks away!

Not that I’m counting…

(Good Safari)

Well, we got back from the safari to Ruaha National Park safe and sound yesterday afternoon.  We spent the evening unpacking and getting settled back in.  Today we dove back into classes and now we’re totally beat.

The trip was good.  It was interesting to see the scenery between here and there.  It was a 3 hour bumpy ride.  On Saturday evening we got to the campsite and cooked pasta over an open fire.  The next morning we got started at 5:30am.  The drive to the park was a bumpy 30 minute drive.  We saw a few antelope and giraffe on our way there.  (The animals don’t know where the park boundaries are.)

In the park we saw hippos, crocodiles, a fish eagle, giraffe, antelope, dik-diks (dwarf antelope - so cute), warthogs, monkeys, elephants, buffalo, many birds, and another big animal that we’ve yet to identify.  I really wanted to see hippos and they were the first thing we saw.  Everything else was icing on the cake from there although it took us a long time to see elephants.  We saw lots and lots of elephant poo without seeing the animals themselves.  And they’re BIG.  For goodness sakes.

We drove around the park (which was also extremely bumpy - and extremely hot) for over 7 hours before finally stopping at a lodge for lunch.  We were SO tired of being in the car.  The food was good and really rejuvenated us so we’d feel like driving for a few more hours on our way out.  The lodge is called Mwagusi and the price to stay there is staggering!  For residents it is $130 per night PER PERSON.  For non-residents it is $390 per night PER PERSON.  It’s a nice place…um…without air conditioning and electricity is run off solar panels.  The animals come right through the lodge areas though so that’s cool.  We were fine with our $20 per night tent outside the park.  (It had real beds in it and the staff was wonderful!  It was also quiet and peaceful.)  Maybe one day the rates will come back down for the lodges inside and we’ll treat ourselves to a vacation.

The park gate closed at 6:00pm and we went back to the campsite for another pasta dinner.  This time the staff gave us extra food to go with it and our little scraps became quite the meal.  Jonathan and I were in bed at 8:45 that night and slept until 8:30 the next morning.  We had our breakfast of eggs, toast, and cereal then hit the (bumpy, hot) road for the 3 hour journey back to Iringa.

It was really fun to see the animals in the wild and to see them so close.  All the bouncing around a vehicle though I got very tired of and the heat was draining.  I’m sort of glad to be back in a familiar place.  I’m not sure when I’ll get back in a car again! 

We took about 1,000 photos and a few videos.  Jonathan will post the pics on the website soon.  (Don’t worry.  He won’t post them all!)

Okay, so campsite living hasn’t been nearly as bad as I feared.

At first it was extremely hard because we were in tents and they aren’t all that secure against critters. They were also cold at the time (now that wouldn’t be a problem - the weather has warmed up A LOT). Being sick during that time didn’t help either.

Then we moved to a banda where we stayed with another couple. That made things much better because we had our own bathroom so no more going outside with the “wildlife” in the middle of the night. Being sick caused challenges with that one too but overall it wasn’t so bad.

Now though we’re in a banda next to the river. A breeze comes through during the day to keep it from getting too hot for us. We have a bathroom and a kitchen. A stocked kitchen thanks to care packages!! Of course we can’t really make all of our own meals but we have a lot more flexibility with food than we did before. I actually don’t mind being there in the banda now. The only challenge we still have is the food they serve us just because 4 months is a long time to be eating the same things. And so many things have onions and bell peppers that I end up picking through things a lot and sometimes just opt out all together. I can handle those things every once in a while but not at every meal day after day for months. It just gets kind of old. I’m excited to be in our own home making our own meals. Those will also be repetitive but they’ll be ours.

The banda we’re in is nice and shaded too and in those trees there are tons of birds. There’s even a hawk nesting in one right next to us. One night coming back from dinner we saw an owl hovering just outside. We’ve had a lot of fun checking everything out. And it’s just a nice place to relax, read, study, and make egg salad, mac&cheese, grits, or PBJ. We feel the most settled now that we have since arriving.

Recipes found online show temperatures in Fahrenheit.

The dial on our oven is in Celsius.

And it does make a difference.

These are cinnamon sugar pecans. Sort of…

We’re back on for safari…  Now we’re leaving today (like - now) and coming back Monday.  Honestly, my personality doesn’t like this on again, off again stuff but I’ll adjust.  Spontaneous I am not.  Maybe this is a test…

Well, we thought we were going on safari today but the guy we were going with is extremely sick so the trip is off.  Maybe another time…  I’m sort of looking forward to a weekend of relaxing since we were just traveling last weekend too.  I can also do some studying.  Maybe. 

For the first time since arriving, Jonathan and I will be going on safari! We’re leaving this afternoon, spending all day tomorrow in the game park, then returning sometime Sunday. It should be a fun time away. Hot (very hot) but fun! The park is called Ruhaha and is 3 hours away from the campsite. We’ll camp about 20 minutes outside the park. We should see elephants, giraffe, zebra, birds, impala, warthogs, etc. And if we’re lucky we may see something like a lion or cheetah. I’d really like to see some hippos myself. That would be the biggest treat to me I think. Jonathan, I’m sure, will post lots of pictures!

Oh how I wish it was cool outside. I wish I was beginning my day, after sleeping in, with the parade followed by Charlie Brown (maybe this time Lucy won’t pull the ball away) - all the while smelling the turkey cooking. I wish I had the day off to stuff myself with cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, broccoli with cheese, and pumpkin pie. I wish I was lying on a couch with a full tummy watching football, football, football. I wish we were there to see our families even if it meant eating more than one big meal today. (Oh the sacrifices!)

But. Today is not Wishgiving. It’s Thanksgiving.  And I am thankful.

I’m thankful for God most of all Who has given me a life far away from emptiness and darkness, filled with hope of eternal life with Him.

I’m thankful for the most wonderful husband in the whole world. (Sorry, ladies.)

I’m thankful for the opportunity to carry a baby and start a family.

I’m thankful for my parents who have gotten me to the place I am today and shaped me into the person I am today. Although they didn’t raise a perfect person (who does?) they did a pretty good job I’d say (I was there to see the challenges they faced but didn’t realize at the time I was causing them.) and I’m grateful for the many memories and traditions I gained throughout my childhood.

I’m grateful that God has kept me healthy even here and while pregnant. I’m grateful God has kept the baby healthy even when I could barely take care of myself. I’m grateful God has kept Jonathan healthy through the transition to life in Africa.

I’m grateful for our many, many friends who make us feel loved and connected even when we’re miles away.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend Christmas at home and then to give birth in a safe environment, sharing the experience with friends and family.

I’m grateful for the provision of God. He has provided everything we have needed - in ways we couldn’t have imagined!

I’m grateful for all this and more. So even though I’m missing the Macy’s Day Parade (tell me if anything changes), turkey, and football I’m beyond thankful! I hope you are too.