twenty-something years of "what have you been up to?"

Month: October 2006

  • Missing that Certain Slant of Light

    When Mike and Emily were living in San Francisco they pointed out the frustrating lack of seasons in the land of fog. The seasons are subtle in San Franciso, but they exist: the light changes and there are pumpkins in the stores. In Portland, Oregon, like the east coast, autumn is in your face. Leaves FILLING the streets, the trees blazing with color, and it starts to get cold–our first year there Camille had to wear a sweater (a kid’s cashmere sweater! I had bought it used at the Town School for Boys store on Sactamento Street in San Francisco) under her Halloween costume.

    Here there is nothing, season-wise. The land that time forgot. It’s still summer. I head out the door for my little trot around the stadium at 9:15 am and say to myself, wow, it’s 90 degrees. Stefan wants to be a tiger or an elephant for Halloween, and I’m afraid any costume like that will be too hot. The trees are same, the lizards are the same. In Portland, spider webs suddenly appear, like the spiders got the memo about Halloween.

    They do have pumpkins here, they are big and green. Unlike the Leshers, Elisabeth’s parents who lived in Cameroon, we won’t get to make a calabash-jack-o-lantern that lasts 40 years.

  • no longer vitamin D deficient

    In_the_pool

  • Never in my life…

    For the first time in my life, I ordered an artificial Christmas tree. This is tough, coming from a man who lived in Oregon where they grow Christmas trees and every year, send the Mother of all Christmas trees to be displayed on the White House lawn. But a decorated palm tree doesn’t cut it for me. So I spent the extra money for a delux one to look as natural as possible (Colorado noble fir with a foldable metal stand). It just arrived yesterday in a box. Made in China. I’ll let you know.

    I must say that in general, our lives have been made much easier here by the invention of the internet. I’ve been buying groceries, clothes, and appliances. Granted, we don’t have internet at home (yet!), but when we do, watch out baby!

    One of the women here at work, came in this morning feeling run down and I was the first to know that she is pregnant! The line turned blue! This is her first pregnancy and for some reason, I got teary eyed when I told her. She called her husband over and they are very happy. I was trying to be informative but instead, used up an entire box of Kleenex with them. I think I was crying more than they were. I scheduled her exam and screening for another day. I’m all choked up and can hardly see strait! A Chordas gene I inherited from my uncle. Good thing I’m not an obstetrician! I keep saying to myself, "Never in my life did I think I would be doing this!"

    Last Friday, we went to the Peace Corps swearing in hosted by the Ambassador. The Peace Corps volunteers just finished their training and are about to embark on their 2 year assignments to tiny villiages deep within the interior of Niger. One gave a very touching speech in French about trying to answer a little boys’ question about why he would want to give up McDonalds hamburgers and fries to join the Peace Corps and go out there and do such a thing. He told the boy that it was to do just that; sacrifice McDonalds so that he would know exactly what that meant. I find that it’s more than that. Being able to say; "Never in my life did I think I would…" makes me realize that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing: giving meaning and purpose to my life. So I’ll continue to stay up late at night thinking about the guy I’m treating with parasites and cry when I find out you’re pregnant.

  • Bread

    Well, that is interesting that mac users can see the picture, but others cannot. I’ll leave the picture up and work out the bugs after I have my machine at home, someday. It was also great to see so many faces at once! Hi!

    Walking home from the kids school I pass by the bakery, called Delice. It’s close to us and everyone says the best bakery in town. They have great croissants, madelines that are lemon flavored, slices of chocolate-swirled tea bread and baguettes. Usually we buy some of everything. The other day I bought just two baguettes and was surprised at the price: 300 cfa. That means a baguette is 33 cents. When we first got here they had a bread I liked better than the baguettes, it was denser and a little darker. I finally remembered that it was called pain parfume and I asked about it. They told me that they are waiting for the flour. "I’m waiting too, then," I said.

    There is a small grocery store near the kids school too, they cater to the expat parents at the school. There is a good selection of wine and cheeses, a fridge full of butter and yogurt, cookies, cans and bottles of sauces, and the only place I’ve seen any version of brown and powdered sugar. Eggs are stacked on the counter, the laundry detergent is brands you’ve never seen before. They have one kind of bread. The kids love it. It’s sliced white, but not fluffy. 850 cfa so that’s like $1.70. CaSt have french toast every morning. Stefan gives me the highest compliment: it’s as good as the frozen french toast from Trader Joe’s.