Expectations

There are days here when I suddenly remember again how much more time it takes to live here than in the western world.  I love living here and generally don't mind that things are inconvenient or that it takes forever to get something accomplished that should have taken 5 minutes.  It's just an observation.

This week we are in Mwanza because 1) Our house that was supposed to be finished 4 months ago still isn't and we have no place to live in Geita, and 2) We had several things to do/buy that can't be done in Geita.  Today Brett spent 2 hours looking for a dish-drying rack.  There are no such things as dishwashers, so you'd think a little drying rack would be easy to find because surely everyone uses them.  Not so.  The first one Brett finally found, made of wood and metal, was about $40, so we decided we could do without a drying rack.  But then he stumbled upon a plastic one, priced at only $12, so we bought two.

Before that, Brett spent an hour at the post office because the guy we were supposed to pay to get our packages wasn't there.  Where was he?  Who knows?  Probably having breakfast or doing a favor for a family member, or maybe even just talking to a friend.  It's expected that someone will not always be where they are supposed to be, even at work, so waiting is just a part of life.

When I went to make a sandwich for lunch today, I discovered our bread was moldy. Thankfully we are in Mwanza, so I actually can just run to the store and get another loaf.  In Geita, though, I generally have to make the bread myself, which takes a few hours, and makes for a rather late lunch.

If you have a list of 10 things you want to accomplish in a day, you'll probably be lucky to get 2 of them done.  We've stopped making lists of 10 things to do.  The thing is, no one cares that those things don't get done.  It's ok with everyone if it happens the next day, or the next day, or the day after that.  The pace of life is slower--a lot slower, and if it takes 2 hours to find a dish drying rack and that causes you to  be an hour late to meet with someone, that's ok.  That person probably wasn't really expecting you to be on time anyway.  In fact, they probably only arrived 5 minutes before you.

You probably think this way of living is bothersome.  But it's all about expectations.  If you think your car should be out of the shop at 3:00 just because someone said it would and you planned your day around that, then yes, you will be bothered.  But if you have no expectations about when it will actually be ready, you'll be content as can be.  We have learned to be content with the slowness of life.  In fact, we've actually grown to like it.

Bad Bacteria

The last 3 days have been pretty rough for our family. All is well now, so don't worry.  But here is the story.

Sunday, Brett started feeling a little funny in the tummy, but didn't think much of it...until about midnight when he woke up feeling more than a bit funny in the tummy.  I'll leave out the gory details, as I'm sure you can imagine what it's like to suffer from gastroenteritis.  Anyway, he couldn't keep any food, water, or medicine in his system and was getting severely dehydrated.  16 hours later, we finally decided he needed to go to the hospital.  Now, as most of you haven't been to Africa, I'm not sure you can imagine what hospitals in rural Africa are like.  The fact that we were willing to go means Brett was pretty bad off.  But then we had an idea.  There's a South African/Ghanian gold mine just outside of town that has a hospital.  We knew that it would be significantly better than the town hospital, but getting into the gold mine is difficult.  You have to have special permission, and they don't give it out very freely.  However, our teammates Carson and Holly are renting a house from a man named Gaston, who is an engineer at the mine.  We'd only met him a few times, but we called him up anyway and, being that he is extremely kind, he managed to get us permission to come to the mine.  So that we did.  We dropped Baylor off to stay with Alicia, another teammate, and went on our way.

When we got there, Brett had a temperature of 101 and his blood pressure was 70/47.  The doctor's said he was pretty bad off. Everyone was incredibly nice and knowledgeable.  They hooked him up to an iv and tested him to find out what he had.  Turned out to be a nasty bacterial infection, probably coming from food or water.  Fortunately, it's almost impossible to pass on to other people.  Three days and 14 ivs later, Brett feels much better and this morning was released.  He's now resting on the couch watching a movie on a not so great copy dvd.

We're really glad to be all back together and mostly healthy.  Praise God for taking care of us!

Firsts

Yesterday Baylor rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time.  Today she lifted herself up a little bit on her arms.  While I'm super proud of her little feats, I also fear she will be on the move way sooner than I would really like.  But doesn't she look cute in her ducky outfit?

Also, today I saw a snake for the first time since I moved to Africa.  I'm pretty happy to have gone 10 months without having seen one, and wasn't too thrilled with this one.  But fortunately, Severin, who works for some of our friends, bravely killed the little beast with a mop.  He was perhaps not the most dangerous little fellow.

Today Brett put together a bike for the first time.  He also met with the new local head of immigration.

Exciting firsts for the whole family.

Finally

I'm finally rejoining the blog world.  Sorry for my lack of posting, but I had a few minor complications following Baylor's delivery (all better now), then I couldn't access my account for some reason, and then we spent 4 days traveling back to Geita.  But don't worry, you'll soon be back to reading regular accounts of our ever-exciting life here:)

We've been back in Geita 4 full days now and are currently staying in some friends' house while they are out of town until our house is completed.  Yes, our house is still not finished.  But it's close this time.  Really.  Just needs some screens in windows and a water tower.  Well, and all the interior cabinetry, closet doors, shelving, etc....but that stuff's not necessary to live in a house.  Anyway, it should be soon. I'll make my first trip into town tomorrow to greet people and let them know we're back.  Actually, we've been informed that everyone already knows we're back, but still, it's customary for me to go greet them and tell them anyway.  It's so nice that everyone knows our every move.

Well, I'll write more later, but I'll leave you with a picture of Baylor enjoying her first time in the ocean.

 

More Baylor Pics

After 6 days of trying, I have finally succeeded in posting these pictures.  You're probably thinking this is due to the newborn, but really it's just because of the internet.  We've had some troubles there the last few days.  But don't worry, no more waiting to see the cuteness.

These two pictures were taken in the hospital just 12 or so hours after her birth.  She was very alert for a newborn, and content and happy to play and sleep.  This has since been replaced with eating and more eating and crying when she's not eating.

Our first family photo away from the hospital.

Baylor is not a fan of bath time.  I myself love bath time.  In fact, I wish I had time for a sudsy soak with a ducky every day.  Baylor does, however, enjoy being wrapped up in a nice, soft towel afterwards and being cuddled by her Baba.  In case you don't recognize him, the guy in the second picture is Brett.  Yes, Sasquatchy Brett has left, hopefully never to return again.  It's so hot here, we were only home from the hospital 30 minutes before he darted off to get his shave and a haircut.  The reactions of our friends here were highly entertaining to watch. None of them had ever seen Brett without the shaggy hair and scraggly backpacker beard before.  Baylor has a pretty strong grip, so it was probably wise of him before she ripped out a big chunk anyway.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a big fan of sheep, and am pretty happy about the fact that my daughter's initials spell BAH.  In honor of this, we bought her this little sheep outfit so that she can not only look adorable, but also maybe start counting early and get a good night's rest (the good night's rest is really my dream though).

Introducing Baylor... Finally

I'm happy to introduce to you our beautiful, wrinkly daughter,

Baylor Adelaide Harrison.

Born December 4th (12 days late), 2:00 am

Weight:  7 lbs, 10 oz

Length:  They apparently don't take this measurement at Tanzanian hospitals.

(We'll let you know the next time we're near a tape measure...)

Everybody's happy and healthy.  More details later.

Crafts, Curries, and Cullens

Today we went to Makutano, a big craft fair in downtown Dar.  Local artists bring their many wares and sell them at somewhat puffed up prices to tourists and other expats.  There were all kinds of things available, from clothes to jewelry to 15ft. long metal crocodiles.  I tried to convince Brett that we needed to strap that thing to the top of our car and take it back to Geita for our front yard.  What says welcome more than a large snapping beast?  We didn't buy very much, but it was enjoyable, nonetheless,  and I know a lot of Tanzanians made a lot of money that they don't often have, so I'm glad to have participated.

After the fair, we went to a community Thanksgiving dinner.  This was the most unusual Thanksgiving dinner I've attended.  First, it wasn't on Thanksgiving.  Second, I only knew a few people.  Third, it was held at the home of two South Africans.  Fourth, there were not only Americans, but also the aforementioned South Africans, Britains, Tanzanians, and Indians.  And fifth, this was an everybody bring a dish meal, and the food was a bit different than what I expected.  Our little group brought green bean casserole, corn casserole, and apple pies.  So traditional we are.  When we walked in the room the overwhelming aroma was curry.  Not quite the cinnamon and sage smells I was expecting.  They had two turkeys, one of which was grilled, and the other of which was seasoned with all kinds of Indian spices I don't know the names of.  There were also a few other dishes I've never seen on the dining room table at this time of year.  It was all good, though it was a strange mixing curried meat and raisins with sweet potatoes and marshmallows.

After our very American Thanksgiving, we headed to the movies with friends to watch New Moon, the latest in the Twilight series.  I've read all the books and really enjoyed them, but thought the first movie was horrible.  But the movie theater being air-conditioned, I was more than willing to sit through the second installment (which started 30 minutes late), and it was actually a lot better than the first.  I think that was mostly due to the fact that the guy that plays Edward Cullen was not in the movie for much of the time, greatly increasing the general talent level of the cast.

It was nice to get out of the house and break the monotony of sitting and waiting.  We've been doing that kind of a lot lately.