Wordless Wednesday - Happy Halloween

Science Lessons

On of the tough things about homeschooling in Malawi is science.  More specifically shopping for science lessons.  Basic things like balloons or modeling clay are either impossible to find or ridiculously expensive.  We needed balloons for something, I forget what, but we went to 5 different stores before I found balloons.  I was all excited and grabbed the package.  Dave stood there looking at the price, until finally he asked slowly, "Are you really going to pay 10 dollars for a bag of balloons?"  Sigh.  I guess not when you put it that way.

Anyway, the two older boys have started working out of their chemistry book, yes I have both boys working out of the same book even though they are different grades.  I don't remember much from junior high science, do you?  I have yet to be able to find everything needed for any of the experiments, and the boys and I were getting really frustrated.  Yes we have been able to watch the experiments performed on Brain Pop or Discovery Streaming, but it really isn't the same as doing the experiments yourself.

Finally I had an epiphany! Last Christmas Colin got a super-duper huge electronics set complete with teachers manuals and student learning guides.  Out with chemistry, in with electricity.  Looking at the first few lessons had me trying desperately to remember the difference between series and parallel circuits. I know one of those is the reason when one Christmas light goes out on the tree they all flipping go out, but I don't know which or why, and actually I don't much care. I finally asked Dave for help.  Mr."I-did-advance-electronics-in-the-navy"  has taken over the science lessons for the Alonzo and Colin. Yay!!

Now I am sitting here with my feet up listening to him drone on and on about protons and electrons, charged particles and switches.  The boys are totally enraptured.  They're happy they are learning "real" science. Dad's happy to be involved in the homeschooling and teaching something he likes.  I am happy.  I'm relaxing with a beer.  Now all I have to do is find someone who wants to teach the boys reading, or math, or writing.

Wordless Wednesday - Zomba On Horseback

Pumpkin Lips

One thing every parent knows is that when the kids get really quiet they are up to something.  Today I went to investigate my suddenly way too quiet kids and found this:

Pumpkin lips tattoo.  Just fabulous. 

Wordless Wednesday - Last Consumables Shipment

Exactly!

I have struggled to write a coherent or even semi-coherent blog post about events of the past week.  I must have a dozen or more attempts at expressing my thoughts.  Thankfully there are those in the FS blog-o-sphere who are far more eloquent than I.

With permission, and gratitude,  I am reposting from Globehoppers.  She did a wonderful job compiling some of the many posts dealing with the tragedy.  Thank you Michele for allowing me to share this with my readers.

Around the Interwebs.

The past week has been filled with emotion across the region and throughout the FS/DS.

Anxiety.

Worry.

Sadness.

Loss.

Anger.

Disbelief.

Fear.

The world media and the Foreign Service blogosphere exploded with personal accounts of working with the fallen,what our jobs mean in a worldview, updates as our buildings were infiltrated, dread about the next target, reactions to our colleagues and friends in harm's way, and the little we could do but watch and wait.

Many articles reflected the emotional roller-coaster of being part of the FS/DS family.

emailfromtheembassy is here in Jordan and married to our RSO: "It ended with me finally truly understanding what kind of life we were living, when everything can change without a moment's notice, when the people you love are out there, somewhere, doing things you can only imagine, to stop the bad guys from hurting the good guys. It ended with me realizing that my husband could have died, could still, at any time die, because of the work he does, because he chooses to run into situations from which other people run away."

So many tried to explain what we do and why we do it.

ohhenrythomas wrote An elegy for men I never met: "I listened to a call-in radio show this week, on which caller after caller demanded to know why “we” don’t try and explain to “those people” what freedom of speech means in America.  “Don’t you know that that’s what diplomats DO?,” I howled at the stereo.  And, finally, it occurred to me:  No.  No, they don’t know.  Most people don’t know what it is that Foreign Service Officers, like Ambassador Stevens, and Foreign Service Specialists, like Sean Smith, do."

Discussions on freedom of speech, freedom of dissent, and misguided anger.

Arab Spring nations don't yet grasp freedom of dissent: "These are people who were born and raised in dictatorships. They are accustomed to thinking that a government controls its citizens -- that a film or documentary cannot be produced without government approval. For decades, this has been the reality of their lives, and they strongly believe that the Western world and its citizens have a similarly controlling relationship between individuals and government."

But the most hard-hitting were the blogposts from those on the ground.

Whatever is Lovely by bergamotorange, the director's wife of the American School in Tunis: "Grief has these predictable stages.  Denial is always first and we were certainly in that state all through the first night and then the acceptance set in and so did the mourning.  Saturday, we faced reality either visiting school or scrolling through pictures on Facebook  trying to figure out whose classroom the charred remains represented.  There were constant phone calls and emails from friends in Tunisia and around the world to offer condolences and help to rebuild."

We all cried when Ambassador Stevens, Glen Doherty, Sean Smith, and Tyrone Woods came home under the U.S. flag.  We all are hurt and angry that our Embassies and Consulates are bearing the brunt of the people's outrage.

I had a disturbing exchange with a teen back in the States over the weekend.  His answer to the troubles here was very simple: Evacuate and Neutralize.

Think on that bold an brash statement.

It's that sort of armchair patriotism that can truly put us at risk.

cheerfulstoic points out a truth that all Americans should realize: "When you join the foreign service they tell you that you are now the face of the United States of America, on duty or off, in the office or at home, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And we are expected to conduct ourselves in a manner that reflects well on our country. Well, guess what America. You are - all 314 million of you - the face of the United States of America. In this interconnected modern world you don't even have to leave your house for a foreigner to meet you and judge you and your country by your words and deeds."

We are a thick-skinned Service.  It's part of my definition of Diplomat.  People say and do awful, hurtful, and mean things to us and about our beloved United States of America.  But it's not a sign of weakness to not hit back.  It's the exact opposite.  In its most basic state, it's something more playgrounds should teach.

We can get angry.  Get hurt.  Get sad.

But then we get back to work and reopen our doors.  You don't curse the people of your host nation.  And you certainly don't walk all over your host government with an inflated sense of righteousness because of what's happened.  And you don't take the acts of a few thousand and lay waste to millions.

Why are we even here?  To expose other nations to what we hold so dear.  Freedom of speech.  Freedom of religion.  Freedom of dissent.  These we define as basic human rights.

All humans.

We ask questions like "What can we do to help remedy this?"

"How do we open the lines of communication again?"

How do we explain to them that the freedoms we enjoy come at a cost: of hearing things we don't like; of seeing things we find offensive, of being told we are wrong, of having components to our society that are truly hateful.

As diplomats our answers to these questions do not involve bullets.

Learn about what we do.

America's Other Army

Our Diplomats Deserve Better

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A Sad Day

Today is a sad day. On Wednesday I usually post a Wordless Wednesday pictures.  Not today.

Today I am morning the  loss of four American heroes.  These heroes worked to uphold the policies of the US government.  No, they weren't Marines. No, they weren't Army infantry.  They weren't Air Force, Navy or even Coast Guard. They were members of a much smaller group.  They were diplomats.  Card carrying members of the United States Foreign Service.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and two other Americans who names have not yet been released pending notification of family were killed in Libya yesterday.

I didn't have the privilege of knowing either of the men, but the Foreign Service is, in many ways, like a small town.  If you don't personally know someone, then you know someone who does knows them.   Six degrees of separation does not exist in the FS, more like one degree, or at most two. This is especially true in these times of FB, blogs, and twitter.  Just days ago I read a post about Ambassador Stevens, at the time I smiled and thought what a wonderful guy to work for.  Sean Smith was a husband and father, and through a blog link that passed my way this morning, I learned he was also an avid gamer. It puts a rather personal face on these men I have never met.

My thoughts and prayers today are with the family and friends of the fallen.

Things Kids Say - Homeschool Edition

Dave was working with Gray tonight on his math.  Gray was not into the assignment, which is why he was still working on it after dinner tonight. Dave decided to give us both a break and take over from me  for a while.

At one point he looked up at Dave, his eyes brimming with tears and stated, "My brain is all full, I can't learn anything else."

I'm afraid I had to leave the room so he wouldn't see me laughing.

Wordless Wednesday - JUMP!

Things Kids Say Math Edition

Mom:  How much is 18-10?

Child: I don't know I don't have eighteen fingers.

Wordless Wednesday - Family

Wordless Wednesday - Homeschooling

Wordless Wednesday - Secretary Clinton Visits Malawi

Malawi, the Good and the Bad

It's that time again. Bid lists are out. Much of the FS world is now busy researching, worrying, lobbying, and dreaming about the next post.  Researching posts is tricky and time consuming.  You are relying on relatively few resources to decide if Banjul or Guayaquil  is someplace you can live for the next three years.  Jill, who hosts the  FS BRU came up with the brilliant idea to have each of us write a blog post highlighting the best and worst of our current post to help out those of us bidding this time.  So here goes.

The Five Best Things About Malawi

1. The lake.  Lake Malawi is huge. It runs almost the length of the country.  There are lots of little places along the length to the lake where you can go for a get away.  By far my favorite get aways are Domwe and Mumbo Islands at the south end of the lake.  What's not to love about this?   It's paradise, right?

2. The yards.  Most houses here have a huge yard.  I love our yard.  It has a pond, a vegetable garden, a patio, 2 screened porches, and lots of room for the kids to run and play.  This is the first house with a yard we've had since joining the FS. I've really missed being able to sit outside on Sunday morning sharing a quiet cup of coffee with Dave.  Of course I don't have to mow the grass, I have gardeners for that, or I might like the yard a whole lot less come rainy season.  Man does that grass grow quick once the rain starts.  

3. New businesses.  Since we arrived two years ago a number of new businesses have opened expanding our options for shopping and eating out.  We now have a Spar (a sparsely stocked Spar, but it's another option for groceries) and a Game.  Still no Starbucks. Oh Well. We  do have Ama's Kohfi who's carmel latte keeps my Starbucks cravings at bay, and they make a mean mocha caramel cake.   Latitudes is a fancy new place perfect for a night out.  And if you are really in need of a mani/pedi or a massage, Tips and Toes is just the place. It's only been open two months but it usually seems to be busy.  I'll be heading there later this week when my kids head off to Green Camp.  

4.  Critters.  This is Colin's contribution to the list.  He loves wildlife and our back yard is full of critters for him to catch and terrorize. Hedgehogs, tortoises, lizards, frogs, it has it all. He has memorized the birding book and puts it good use identifying all the avian visitors to our back yard.  Thanks to the pond we get a lot of beautiful birds visiting us.  From the the tiny blue Waxbills to the occasional Heron they are very cool. 

                                       

5. Safari. Safari recharges my batteries and makes me fall in love with Africa all over again.  Going on safari was a childhood dream, one I really didn't think would ever come true, but since moving here it has, over and over again.  I never get tired of going on safari.  There are not a lot of options for viewing wildlife close to Lilongwe, but there are places close enough to enjoy over a long weekend.

                                             

6.  Community.  I know it was supposed to be 5 good things but I have to include the community here. Maybe it is a small post thing, but there is a real sense of community, and not just among the embassy folks.  It is very nice thing to be a part of. I am really looking forward to school starting in a week because it means that all my friends will be returning to post and I am looking forward to getting all caught up on what's been happening in everyone's life over the long school break.  

The Five Worst Things About Malawi

1. Grocery Shopping. This is a consumables post for a reason.  Grocery shopping takes hours.  You end up going to every single grocery store in town and still come home without some of the things on your list.  It has been much better the last few months, but last year there were long stretches of time where you couldn't buy butter, or sugar, or sodas, or beer.  Yes I said BEER.  It is getting bad when you can't get beer. Even when you can buy beer the choices are Carlsburg green label, Carlsburg Special, Carlsburg Stout, and Kuche Kuche.  I really wish I had know this when we were packing out in Germany I could have brought some Dunkels and Hefeweizen with me.  

2.  Traffic.  It isn't the same kind of traffic issues you have in someplace like Manila or Jakarta but driving here is awful.  People don't even slow down for red lights, pedestrians walk in the middle of the road to keep out of the dust or mud, bicycles are everywhere and they all seem to have wobbly tires so they weave and swerve in front of you without warning, and worst of all are the minibuses which are simply a health hazard.  The roads are full of potholes, and the edges are badly eroded sometimes having drop-offs of 8 or more inches where there should be a shoulder.  It is easy to flip a car if you are not paying attention to the edge of the road.  

3. Smoke.  My neighbors on all sides dispose of trash and yard debris by burning, this on top of their staff using wood to cook all of their meals.  The smell of smoke permeates my house at all times.  My throat was never this raw from the pollution in Jakarta. Leaving town doesn't help either.  Crop residues aren't composted or plowed back into the soil, instead they are raked into big heaps and burned.  Flying in during dry season you can spot dozens and dozens of smoke plumes when flying over.  

4.  Critters.  This one balances Colin's love of critters.  While theoretically I love that he is getting the chance to develop his love of nature there are critters in our yard I would prefer not to know about. Specifically spiders.  Big hairy spiders. I hate spiders.  HATE THEM! And we seem to have a colony of giant baboon spiders (tarantulas) in the back yard.  Colin has no problem scooping them up and carry them around. UGGH!  YUCK! 

Oh, and the cockroaches.  And ants.  There are ants every-flipping-where. They are horrible.  My snake phobia has reached all new heights.  It makes no difference that we haven't found even one dangerous snake in our yard, I am terrified than one day I will walk out and there will be a mamba waiting for me.  Just knowing mambas and cobras and boomslangs live around here is enough to make me crazy. 

5. Internet. The internet speed has really increased since we moved here two years ago.  It is still really expensive, but at least it is now fast enough to actually be able to watch a YouTube video.  The big problem is vandalism.  The lines are constantly cut, and sometimes stolen. It's not unusual for us to have no internet for days at a time due to someone stealing the copper or cutting the fiber.  This weekend alone there were at least 7 lines cuts that I know about.  It is very frustrating, especially as we head into this year of homeschooling when I am really going to need the internet. 

If anyone out there  is looking at bidding on Malawi PLEASE feel free to contact me.  It's not a bad posting, but it sure makes a difference in your happiness if you are prepared.  

Wordless Wednesday - Olympics