Arriving in Harare

Harare International Airport
Our first view of our new home

We are alive! Our internet is iffy, we only have wifi with an antennae right now like Kigali. But the fiber optic cable is supposed to be here within 6 weeks, or so they say. I am loving the pool, it even has a little waterfall in the corner. I have swam almost everyday.  It has been overcast and rainy off and on. We are coming into the rainy season.  The house is nice, but there is no guest bungalow, :( All the bedroom are in one hall behind a safe haven door. Eric's ARSO, Lynn Wells, is great. Her  personality is perfect for Eric. She is smart, capable, and a self starter, but she is also nice, easy going, and friendly. Her brother is LDS, he joined the church when he was a teen. She grew up in Santa Maria, my first area on my mission, small world. She is letting me use her car until ours gets here. I even went to the grocery store and the embassy by myself. I have to say things like "now I am going to make a left hand turn, right handed." I only panic when no one else is on the road and I can't remember if I am on the right side or not, haha. We have had workers here all week painting. There was a face in every window until Thursday. I have officially been offered the CLO position, now we have to jump through all the DC hoops and such. Don't know how long it will take, but I am glad I have been able to be here through all the work and hook ups. An easy way to describe what A CLO does is I am the Relief Society pres. of the embassy. I work with the assistant ambassador to make sure the people are happy and doing well. I keep him informed if there are illnesses, problems, or concerns among the people and families. I plan parties and other social events for the embassy community. I liaison with the schools to make sure there are openings for incoming students, work with any needs the school may have, and work with school administration if there are any problems. I am also a part of the emergency action committee. If there was an emergency, I represent the needs of the family and communicate any instructions back to the families. I am also a listening ear to anyone who needs. My other hat is cruise director. I plan parties and events to keep people happy happy happy. We went to dinner at the DCM's (assistant ambassador) house. It was our first social outing.It was nice. I really like everyone I have met so far. So much more personable than either Baghdad or Belgrade. I was ready to go home before Eric. Usually, he dreads these things. Eric seems to really like most of the people he is working with. They seem to be good eggs. Our things should start arriving in the next couple of weeks. It will be nice to settle in. I am already thinking about where I want to put things. We have three fireplaces. One in the living room, family room, and the den. They just remodeled the kitchen and the two bathrooms. They are really nice. We have hardwood floors and a front porch and a back veranda as well as a huge built in barbecue with a patio. Yesterday I strolled around the yard. We have a mango tree, a mulberry bush, a grapefruit tree, a papaya tree, an avocado tree, and a banana tree! Very excited. We also have a large garden that we will need the gardener to replant when he gets here next week. He is in South Africa right now. This is the nicest place we have lived.  We went shopping Saturday. They have really nice shopping here. We even found the Gouda cheese we liked in Rwanda. Eric bought him some running shoe. It is strange to be in a country that speaks English and uses the US dollar. We went to a store that was really cool. It is called Finnerday's. It was established over a 100 year ago by white Zimbabweans. It is a hunting, fishing, safari gear store. Really cool stuff they even have their own shoe line with shoes made of water buffalo and some kudu, a type of deer. Eric wants the kudu shoes. I told him if he uses his running shoes three days a week for three months he can buy them. He was thrilled with the idea, haha. The manager's name is Petah (Peter) and he couldn't be cast better if Hollywood did the casting. He has a long ponytail, sideburns, a shirt unbuttoned enough to know he has a really hairy chest, and he knows his stuff.  We finally located our housekeeper. She had been the housekeeper of the previous RSO. We had agreed to hire her, but with us arriving so late and having our house changed at the last minute, we couldn't find her. Eric had his local investigator find her. She has been working for embassy families since 1985! She has been the housekeeper for the RSO for 20 years. She is getting older. It is probably a good thing we don't have kids with us. I don't think she could handle the work load. She starts Monday. It is different here we have maid/gardener quarters on the property. It will be strange to have them living here.  Internet still hit and miss.  Love, Kathy Downtown Harare Those beautiful flowering trees are everywhere and they smell wonderful

Trip to a Turkish Hammam

I grew up in a small town of 150 until I was 10 years old. This town was so small that when I was 5 years old I sold Christmas cards to everyone in town. I had just learned how to ride my bike. I could ride, but I wasn’t very good at getting started. At each house my neighbor would come out after the transaction was made and give me a push start to the next house. I sold enough Christmas cards to earn my very own record player and speakers. My Dad is a tinkerer. He always had “junk” around that "a guy could" make something out of. Next to his workshop he had a large old truck frame with axles, tires, and steering column, but that was it. My friends and I imagined it was our own personal jet airplane. We traveled all over the world in our jet visiting exotic lands and having exotic experiences. Even in all our imaginings we never imagined anything quite like my day at the Turkish Hammam.

I visited Istanbul for the first time last week with my husband. While there he wanted to take me to the neighborhood Hammam, traditional Turkish bath, he went to last year with our son. This particular hammam was built in 1505. It is separated into a male and female side. We entered and the proprietor escorted me over to the female side. There were three older overweight ladies sitting watching soap operas. They greeted me with a few grunts as they couldn’t speak English and I don’t speak Turkish. They handed me a towel the size of the ones I use to dry my dishes and pointed to the dressing rooms that were all glass from the waist up. I should have realized that this was a foreshadowing of the openness that was to come. I was instructed through more grunts and hand gestures to completely disrobe and to wrap the dish towel around myself as best I could.

I came out and was directed through a thick wooden door into an all marble room. I walked from room to room, but was completely alone, “hello?” I stepped back out to only be motioned back through the door. The middle room was like a sauna. I sat on a marble slab and sweat like I have never sweated before in my life. It was pouring off of me. Just about the time I was wondering if  anyone was ever going to come and find me, one of the ladies came in, turned on the water in one of the marble basins, motioned me over, took my towel from me, hung it up, and instructed me to sit on the step next to the basin and “wash, wash.” She then left. There was a plastic bowl on the edge of the basin so I scooped lukewarm water and poured it over me again and again. I would sit for a while and then “wash, wash” again. It seemed like forever, but it was probably like 15 minutes.

I could hear water running and see suds flowing in the room next to me. After a few minutes my hostess entered in nothing but green granny panties. She had washed herself to prepare for my Turkish bath. She directed me to lie on the marble slab face down. She then proceeded to dry brush all the dead skin off of me with a rough mitt. I need to describe my hostess. She was much larger than the woman pictured above, not so dark, and very well endowed (translation= her breast hung to her waist). As she would scrub me, her bosoms would brush against me. I would have to try and not let my hands cup them as she scrubbed my arms. I have to say I was a little out of sorts. She then turned me over and dry brushed my front. Let me reiterate, I was buck naked! When she wanted me to move she would say, “Hup!” Once she finished my front she had me sit up. She placed my face in her cleavage and then scrubbed the back of my neck and shoulders. With a “Hup!” and a “wash, wash” she sent me back to the step by the basin. While I was rinsing off, she also rinsed off. We are still in the sauna room. She even pulled out the back of her green granny panties and dumped a bowl of water down them. When I was finished she had me return to the marble slab for another round of bosom bump and to be lathered up like I have never been lathered before. I kept sliding allover the marble slab and she would pull me back. Back and front, and sitting with my face in her cleavage, I was lathered and massaged. It was actually quite relaxing if I kept my eyes closed.

“Hup!” back to the step to be rinsed off and then shampooed. She left me to relax and pour water over me from time to time. Talking to my hubby afterwards, I guess there was even a hotter room further back, but I didn't know about it. I was supposed to go back and forth between the super hot and hot rooms. Oh well, I sat there and reflected on my days traveling on Dad’s truck bed. I never could have imagined me here doing this. How did I end up with this life? What more surprises does the Lord have in store for me as I move through this adventure called life?

After a while she returned in a dish towel of her own to let me know my husband was ready to go. She gave me a larger thirsty towel to dry off with and wrap up. I returned to my glass box and changed back into my street clothes. There was a skinny elderly woman preparing for her bath as I left. $25.00 and 2 hours had truly, truly given me an experience of a lifetime.

My Unexpected Journey

Watched The Hobbit last night for my birthday. I love JRR Tolkien. As I watched last night, I realized I am the hobbit. When Eric proposed this foreign service life I adamantly said no, no, no. I even agree with "how can I leave my books, my garden, my chair? I am comfortable here." I did not want this life, I thought. We had our dream home in Southern California. We had spent two years remodeling our 2400 square foot, 3 car garage home that opened up onto an half acre garden with a pool and a stream running through the back. I get choked up writing this, really.

I made the mistake of praying about it. I asked The Lord what he wanted me to do. I was reading the Old Testament at the time.  The words in Genesis 12:1-2 jumped out at me. "Get thee out of thy country, thou shalt be a blessing." I am not comparing myself to Abram, I am just saying The Lord used the words to speak to my heart. I got a strong feeling in my heart and an impression came to my mind that this is what we were supposed to do. I cried and argued and tried to ignore it. But every scripture I read seemed to jump out and condemn me for not being willing to go. In the end I too ran out the door on this adventure.

Though I still miss home sometimes, more so lately since both of the kids have grown and moved out, I love the adventure and myself and my family have been blessed in so many ways because of the foreign service life we have lived. Just as in the Hobbit, adventure doesn't mean easy or glamorous. It is difficult and scary and I still get homesick, but even today, I would run out the door to greet it. 

Baghdad Birthday Surprise

I just had a wonderful surprise. I love working with USAID. It is not surprising that an organization who's entire job is to care about others would be full of caring people, but it still brings daily delight when their caring is expressed. Today that caring was directed toward me. It is my birthday. All my family and friends were wondering what kind of birthday I would have in lock down on an embassy compound. So far it has been lovely. My kids called this morning to wish me a happy one. My husband gave me a beautiful Boluva watch before he left for work. I was called to a planning meeting and when I arrived there was a gorgeous chocolate cake with my name written in Arabic and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me including the director. I almost cried. My dear Iraqi coworker brought the cake in with her to work this morning. Coming to work entails dropping off her child before 6:00 am and driving through check points to arrive at the Embassy at 8:00 am. The check points are a few 100 meters apart. At each check point she has to stop her car, roll down the windows, open the trunk and hood, get out and step away from the car. During the election season it was taking them sometimes 7 hours and they wouldn't make it in to work before the end of the day.

My name is the squiggles you can see at the front of the cake. It reads from right to left.

Reset Button

So I started this blog when our family moved to Kigali Rwanda in 2007. I thought it would be a great way to keep our family updated with our doings in Rwanda. I posted twice...

It is now 2013. Our family lived in Rwanda for 3 years, 2007-2010 and had many amazing experiences from seeing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints establish a branch, have an apostle visit, missionaries arriving to helping establish the International School of Kigali with some other parents who wanted to see a true international school in Kigali. Our daughter was the first graduate of the school and received a full scholarship to University of Utah. I didn't blog it.

We moved to Belgrade Serbia, 2010-2012 with our family lessened by one. Our son got involved with choir, theater, and soccer. He graduated from the International School of Belgrade. We were a part of a small branch of the LDS church and were able to get to know many great Serbians. I didn't blog it.

Well now we are empty nesters. Seth is in Utah preparing for an LDS mission. He received his call to the California San Fernando mission. Katie got married in December to a great guy and my husband and I are alone in Baghdad Iraq. I think it is time to start blogging about it.

Baptisms in Rwanda

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a great one here in Kigali. We had two baptisms! The baptisms were scheduled for 1:00pm at Lake Muhazi. It is about an hour drive from Kigali. We planned to leave at noon so we told everyone to be there at 11:30am :) Aline and Odette, a mother and daughter who are investigating the church, needed a ride and they live near us. I told them to be ready at 11am. Seth was like, "why do we have to leave so early?" I told him it was so we would be on time. An hour?! he says. Well we loaded up the car with a big garbage bag full of baptismal clothes, one set was given to us by the mission president and we bought another set when we were home this past summer. We had another bag full of towels and we had a basket with six dozen muffins I had made the day before.

We got to Aline's and Rodrig was the only one there to meet us. He climbed in and we headed down the dirt road to their little cement house. When we got there everyone was running around getting ready. Aline and four kids hop in, but no Odette. Aline tells me in the little English she knows that Odette is at a marriage. So she guides us to pick up Odette. We travel to a mutatu (local for bus) stop and there is Odette and Shaka, one of her children. They pile in and we are finally on our way at 11:20am. That, Seth, is why we had to set out an hour early. We arrived at the Rumanika's where we were meeting at about 11:40am. The only ones there were three young men who are street boys who Johny has started bringing. Last activity they got left because they were too late. They were on time today! Everyone rolled in and we got the mutatu we had rented, our Land Cruiser, our Land Rover Discovery, Fabian's Toyota, and one other vehicle which John Roller, a member visiting from Virginia had loaded to the gills and we rolled out about ten minutes past noon. There were 47 of us total. The Samuel family met us there so we had 50 people total at the baptism.

We drove on paved roads until we got out of the city and then they started to be full of pothole we had to slalom through. After about 30 minutes we turned on to a dirt road that was rutted and full of puddles. We passed over three bridges that looked like they were made out of pallets laid over the creek. We arrived at 1:00pm at the Gurasaba Guest house on Lake Muhazi. Eric and Jean Maire Rumanika (that is a man's name) had gone on Friday and reserved the bungalow near the lake for changing and the bowery for the program and refreshments. Rogers was baptized first by Joshua Opar, he is from Kenya and is married to a Rwandan. Eric baptized Innocent, who is Jean Marie's nephew. It was so beautiful. While the men changed we went up to the bowery and sang hymns. We didn't have any accompaniment so we had to sing A' Capella so I had to lead. By the fourth song, I was hoarse! Eric says he could hear us as they were changing. When we sang "I Am A Child of God" he could here the local children down by the lake humming along. There seems to be something about that song that every spirit recognizes. After the men returned, we had a talk on the Holy Ghost and closed the meeting, they were confirmed Sunday in church. The Spirit was so strong there as well. After the baptism we had to have refreshments, of course. I had made six dozen muffins and there was soda at the guest house. Some of the people went for canoe rides after. Everyone had a great time. There was the Spirit, food, and fun. It looks like we will have eight baptisms next month to celebrate our branch's one year anniversary.