trufflewogs

trufflewogs
Originally uploaded by Bad Fishie

I know it's difficult to see at first, but imagine these beauties dipped in melted chocolate and decorated with a white frosting swirl. These are peanut butter truffles in their drab larval stages.

Interesting cultural note- almost everyone here turns their nose up at the idea of a peanut butter-chocolate mix. They think it sounds gross. But then I don't think much of that oily pickled green mango-chili chutney they serve.

Also the Honest-to-Goodness true blue KFC at the mall by our house always has a line out the door and around the corner. Go figure.

pollywogs

pollywogs
Originally uploaded by Bad Fishie

I know it's difficult to see at first, but look at that black cloud under the surface. They were following each other pointlessly in swirls and billows of slippery black almost-frog. Some caught in the algae at the edge and died there.

I'm nothing like a pollywog. I hope.

Sleeping orphan

Peniel
Originally uploaded by Bad Fishie

I was taking pictures of orphans for sponsorships and this one smiled at me while we were filling out her papers. After I took her picture for the file she fell asleep in this woman's arms. When I asked if I could take a picture, the woman misunderstood and tried to wake her up for the photo. Fortunately, she went right back to sleep.

Dung Beetles

Dung Beetles
Originally uploaded by Bad Fishie

I saw these dung beetles at a game park on Saturday. They were completely fascinated with their ball of dung. I am not interested in dung. Well, maybe I am a little interested if it is a very perfect ball. If the crap is in a very perfect sphere, densely packed and beautiful, I have been known to become fascinated with it.

One thing Americans do better…

There are acceptable substitutes for just about everything but lawn mowers.
Granted, my grass was very long, but it took me three hours to mow my lawn with the borrowed plastic electric mower in the picture. The blade has a small swing, the bag is small, and it is underpowered. It is a vile color.
When the container came, I blessed the lawn gurus in my native land. Made of metal, the beauty that we shipped has a 4 horsepower gas engine with a big swing, a big bag, and it's painted red. I haven't offered to mow the neighbor's lawns yet, but I'm tempted. It decadent, egotistical, and a great joy to be pushing that much muscle all over the yard.

Keys Again

Lately I'm finding that the absorbing problems of life are not the big things, but the small irritations of trying to learn to live gracefully in another culture.
Chief among these frustrations is the sheer number of things I have to carry in my pockets. I have five remote controls for various doors and gates, three keychains, an electronic ignition key, a wallet, a flash drive, an iPod, and a cell phone. I am always juggling all this jingly stuff (I need this keychain and the black remote to start the car and I need this remote and the silver set of keys to get into the office.)
I am considering getting a man-purse. I have rejected out of hand the idea of a carabiner on the belt buckle with iPod and phone holsters. I am a self-respecting geek. But a man-purse is still a stretch. They have those cute little wrist loops, I could find myself at the mall, say, swinging the wee bag along like Little Red Riding Hood.
Maybe a satchel of some sort- then I could pass for a Canadian, or maybe a hip Swede. Of course, then I would need a moleskine which I know I wouldn't use. I barely even use a blog.

I expected...

Okay, so we're in Africa and there's tons of stuff I didn't expect. I didn't expect Ubuntu Linux to be such a great friend. I didn't expect bananas on pizza (it's not as good as it sounds.) I didn't expect to have to do Information Technology as much as I do. I have to authenticate myself a lot. I counted twelve times that I have to use a key, a security remote, or a password between the time I get up and the time my computer boots at work in the morning. I didn't expect that.

I also didn't expect to love the smell of the red dirt, the goosy sound of the hadida ibis birds at 5:30 in the morning, fresh flaky bread at the Super Spar bakery and butterier butter. I didn't expect to shop in a mall that could house Vintage Faire Mall in Modesto twice over. I expected more iPods, fewer cell phones, cheaper cream cheese, more expensive steak. I didn't expect to get hooked on rugby so fast. And some people tell me cricket is even better. We'll see.