Africa for the first time

Had a great evening on Friday going for sushi in Observatory with friends from Smuts and Fuller days. Haven't been to Obs since varsity days and the last time I saw the one friend was in 2010. They both have PhDs now and are doing really well. I do at times feel like I've underachieved when I am with people from Smuts and Fuller. Hoping to meet up with them again before I leave.

Had the board meeting yesterday before going to the airport to fetch Beth and Andrew. I had to give a quick feedback on the situation in Zim and it's implications for the project. Other than the fact that we should have elections next year, I had to say it is pretty hard to say. Bond notes are still in effect and there is still a cash crisis.

It was very windy on the drive to the airport with my aunt. The southeaster was blowing round the mountain and buffeting the car. The plane from Joburg arrived on time despite this but it took a while for everyone to collect luggage. While we were waiting I spotted friends I knew from Zim who now live in Australia who were waiting for their parents who were on the same flight as Beth and Andrew. It was really nice to see them and catch up. When everyone came through and we headed out I then bumped into another friend from Fuller days and we will try meet up next week. Small world.

On the drive back to Constantia I switched into French tour guide mode for Andrew - well not in French. Pointed out UCT and where I was in residence and then Kirstenbosch where we're going today and other places. Andrew was very taken with my aunt and uncle's garden when we got back as you just don't really get gardens that size in normal houses in the UK. Think he and Beth are pretty exhausted - they haven't woken up yet today. When they get up we'll try plan what we're going to do this week properly. It's quite fun having someone who has never been here before to explore with, although he is a bit nervous about crime, which is probably not a bad thing.

My ZANU PF sugar daddy

Slept so well last night - I actually have been having insomnia this last week on the lower dose of lithium but last night I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Chilled at my aunt and uncle's this morning and contacted some Cape Townian friends. Things will get busier when my sister arrives tomorrow and my cousins get back next week and of course I will have the wedding and pre-wedding events. My good friend Warren picked me up at lunchtime and we went to what we thought was Greens Restaurant in Constantia but it is now Bootlegger. This threw Warren a bit as he already knew what he wanted but it was pleasant any way and we sat on the terrace sipping chardonnay and catching up. The moment of great hilarity though was when I thought Warren was asking me about the new Zim president but he was enquiring about a guy I really like back home. I proceeded to say well he had been involved in the Gukurahundi massacres, was still strongly ZANU PF and was over 60. Warren's face was a picture but he only interjected and realised who I was talking about and how we had gone off on trajectories when I started talking about his cabinet choices. He really had thought that somehow my ideologies had shifted and I was now pursuing someone high up in ZANU PF. We both thought it very funny and so did my aunt when I got home and told and she said she is very relieved too that I am not.

It is still very hot today, tomorrow may be cooler and we pray possibly may even rain. I am trained from Zim about recycling water and using it sparingly. I think my English brother in law may have to adjust. One person who had written an article on the water crisis here said that they had told their daughter that the day Cape Town runs out of water she must immediately leave as they fear civil war will erupt. Hopefully not but when they hit zero stage and all water resources have been used up the army and police are supposed to man water points around the city - scary. The first time I went to Switzerland with the Youth Encounter on Sustainability group and we presented on water scarcity around the world at Academia Engelberg, Cape Town had been highlighted as a city that would face acute water stress in the next ten years. We presented then on what could be done and the Freshwater Research Unit at UCT had highlighted this too even further back. Desalination seems to be the only option but it could have been done before now as suggested back then, and when it does happen it is going to make the price of water really high.

I sadly will miss seeing one of my best friends Gail by a couple of days here in Cape Town as she is coming back home from Switzerland to see her grandmother who is ill. Hopefully will see a fair few others. We are going to the Matthew Mole concert at Kirstenbosch on Sunday evening, joining the wedding group at the beach Monday, I'm going wine tasting with the wedding group at Ernie Els' wine estate on Tuesday and the climb up Table Mountain is happening on Wednesday morning. So those are plans so far. Tomorrow at lunchtime I've got a Skype board meeting for Xen Arts the dance project my friend Xenoula directs that uses dance as a way to tackle social issues and bring hope. She is based in the UK and does a lot of outreach work there but once a year she comes and runs workshops in Zimbabwe with local dancers and offers it to vulnerable groups.

Xenoula's intergenerational dance project in the UK she did a year or two ago as part of Xen Arts.

Weary but in the Mother City, although my suitcase nearly wasn't

Three am is really flipping early. Made it to the airport by 4.30 but entering the drive in, two what looked like reservist police stepped out and seemed to be flagging us down. Given the hour and the fact that they weren't traffic police we drove on but did eye the AK rifle slung over the one's shoulder. Don't know what that was about. My flight seemed to be leaving on time but I got down to the gate and saw out the door the teeniest tiniest plane to travel from Harare to Joburg I've ever seen for the main commercial airport. I also wondered how on earth all the people waiting to board were possibly going to cram in but miraculously they did. Decided the airline should be Not-so-Fastjet as we were happily walking out onto the tarmac to board when they signalled for us to go back into the airport and wait again. We left eventually.

Well all was tickety-boo until I got to the luggage carousel in OR Tambo. First off I became acutely aware that everyone around me was suddenly speaking in German and I didn't recognise anyone from my plane. I thought to myself, surely the plane from Zim couldn't have had that many German tourists onboard. Well I checked the carousel monitor and found out we were sharing the carousel with a flight from Munich - ah! Well I then noticed that the same plastic wrapped bag that looked very similar to mine but wasn't kept going round and round. This continued until it was the only one left and I was the only one at the carousel. I was truly blessed at this moment to encounter the most amazing airport luggage officer called Philemon. He immediately deduced what had happened - someone had mistakenly taken my bag and he went into operation mode and efficiently did all that was required to get my bag back. He was so friendly and calm I didn't feel any alarm by this and luckily my next flight had been deliberately booked for a bit later in case something like this happened. We tried phoning the person whose bag I now had but it was a Zim number and they weren't answering. I was told to proceed to my next flight and my bag would be located and delivered to my aunt's doorstep. So suitcase-less I proceeded to domestic departures - the lightest I've ever travelled.

I had just checked-in when my aunt messaged to say Philemon had phoned her and said my suitcase was going to be put on my plane and I could get it off the carousel in Cape Town. Delighted I went through security and wondered round duty free drinking a much needed cup of Vida flat white. Sitting waiting to board 5 minutes before boarding time I happened to notice Philemon walking past me. I waved and was just saying thank you when he said he had come looking for me as I had to go back to the Kulula checkin desk as they couldn't put my suitcase through due to security. It was pure fluke we had spotted each other. For some reason OR Tambo doesn't do announcements in the domestic departures. As it was now boarding time we had to hot foot it back through the security gate but when we got to the Kulula desk they were reluctant to let my bag go through at this point. Philemon was a true champion and patiently argued that in fact he had had my bag for two hours but couldn't locate me and that I had actually already checked in. They wouldn't budge and by this time it was 5 minutes until my flight was to depart. Finally Philemon won them over - we hurriedly had to go back through a special side security gate where, flustered, I had to get my laptop out all over again and then sprint to the boarding gate. Thankfully I made it and I am indebted to Philemon. He was the best airport officer I have ever encountered and I intend to write a letter of praise to his department at OR Tambo. I actually got a follow up phone call when I got to Cape Town to check my bag had made it to Cape Town. Blown away!

Well Harare was refreshingly crisp this morning and Joburg was supposedly only 11 degrees, although I don't believe it was that cold. Cape Town on the other hand is 38! Am a little fatigued from the early start and slight drama - thank goodness for lithium, I'm not sure I would otherwise have remained so calm. Have spent the afternoon chatting away to my aunt and uncle and catching up since I last saw them. I'm going to sleep well tonight.

Checked in - there was internet!

Today has been a little frenetic but I did manage to see my friend Michelle who was back visiting from the UK with another friend briefly at lunch time which was really super. I went round swiping for stuff I bought yesterday but couldn't pay for when everything was offline. Made a last minute dash to Maasdorp market to get two other things and everyone seemed to be on a go slow. Then went to swipe at the central pay point and once again payment wouldn't go through - well at least I hope it jolly well didn't, must check now. Ended up having to part with very precious US dollars but it had to be done.

Rushed home and packed (hope I'm under 20 kg) and then in my haste to get to Greendale I misplaced the gate remote twice - really started to think I had finally lost the plot completely but found it in the dog biscuit bag, thank goodness. I taught my last two lessons before heading to Cape Town. Both of the Chinese parents are keen for me to continue teaching as soon as I get back from South Africa - the one father was almost keen for me to teach on Christmas Day but I said I would like Christmas off. As I had time between teaching I stayed on with my five year old and he created his own game which was quite intriguing and well thought out. Reminded me of the old pinball circuits and he even constructed a pouch to store the balls. My ten year old needed to learn his numbers in French and had a new song - Le Verdon to learn (it's not as exciting as Mon Bateau de Papier). His dad gave me his school report and it wasn't bad, the areas he needs to work on though are  dictation and conjugation of verbs. I think I need to enjoy the break for the next ten days as I'll be back to work after the 19th.

It's not this bad but I do wish I got paid to not work in school holidays. Instead they are sometime my busiest times.

Seems the army parade caused a bit of congestion and confusion in town today but luckily my route to Greendale was fine. Driving back from Newlands at the end of the day I hit a fair bit of traffic and it was raining quite heavily. Bit of thunder though which is nice and the sound of crickets. Wish I could take some rainwater to Cape Town. OK I'm off to bed. Have to be up at an ungodly hour and navigate my way to the airport.

No internet in Harare most of today

There are some things that you really do need it for though.

It's been an interesting day today. Started off with craft for the home schoolers. Told my 7 year old baby Jesus was born 2000 years ago and would have had a donkey, not a push chair. She misheard me and said, 2 million years ago? Er no, that would make him Australopithecus. We listened to French children songs (I've never heard Disney in French before, we didn't just listen to Disney though) and some Piano Guys and Lindsey Stirling on violin (this was inspiration for my older student as she's learning violin). At one point her little brother interrupted and said was the French song in Shona? I thought it rather funny as it was a particularly classical piece.

KIDS UNITED - Tout Le Bonheur Du Monde

Not the song my four year old thought was in Shona but close :P

Well I'd just quickly tried to make an online payment which miraculously went through this time straight away (only to be told my previous payment had also gone through when I thought my bank was returning it to my account). Had just done this when it seems the internet in the whole of Harare, if not the whole country? went down. This meant whatsapp didn't work (not a humungous train smash as you could still text or if needed call) but more crucial no POS swipe machines were running as they need to be online. This proved a nightmare later as I was trying to do final gift shopping for family in Cape Town and I had to pay in cherished cash. One shop actually said since I was a regular customer they would let me pay tomorrow and swipe - I don't know I would be that trusting but I do go there very regularly so they know who I am :P The other issue for me was that I use the internet for some things in my lessons. Luckily was able to improvise and make do with the materials I had on hand but am going to make sure my lessons for tomorrow are no-internet-proof. Hoping things are back to normal now it's come back. Apparently they were booting out the poor pavement vendors in town. I don't know if the internet outage had anything to do with that. There is also apparently a parade into town by the defence forces tomorrow. I don't know if that was why Borrowdale Road was teeming with army personnel yesterday. The shop assistant in one gift shop I went into this afternoon asked me as I was leaving if I thought we had a future under the new government. It caught me on the hop and I said I was a little pessimistic and didn't know if we necessarily had a "new" government. He said he thought everything was going to come right and that we have got rid of the bad - I hope he's right.

My Chinese five year is now definitely set to leave Zim in March. He won't go back to Sharon School and there is a chance he may join my home schoolers in the mornings. We'll see. The good news (I am going to miss him terribly so yes there needs to be good news!) is that it looks like we will continue our lessons via Skype. In China they only start junior school at 7 years old but from the sounds of it nursery school is gruelling. Poor boy will then have me for an hour each evening when he gets home after 4.30 pm. I got to see his school report from this term and it was pleasing to see the teacher thought his vocab had come on a long way. But yes, I am going to miss him dreadfully - he is the high point of my day and I  always leave a lesson with him with a smile.

Need to keep reminding myself of this.

On a final note, my dear mother asks me this evening, "It's this Thursday you're going to Cape Town?" Um yes mother, which Thursday were you thinking it was, it is two days away.

Avoiding Glitter Day 1

We embarked on a morning of craft today with the home schoolers. The seven year old was very enthusiastic but her brother had gone to bed late and started flagging mid session. His sister promptly told him he must get going as this was the most fun day of the school year. I did want to say we had done craft at the end of last term but held my tongue. To try get them familiar with Christmas carols since they don't seem to know any I played a continuous stream all morning (yes I was a little over it by the end - we might listen to French songs instead tomorrow). My seven year old informed me she thought carols are rather sad. I played one French one and they thought that was more lively. Today we worked on making a nativity set out of toilet rolls and using various pieces of card and paper I have at home (trying to make use of some of my art supplies - I must stop hoarding). My older student really threw herself into this, even thinking that baby Jesus needed a nappy and then at the end saying how about a push chair! Whilst she was busy gluing she came out with the statement that one day we were going to see each other in heaven. I thought this rather sweet, until her next comment which was that she would be so shocked to see me there - thanks :P

This was the only carol my students thought was happy. I guess they semi have a point.

My personal trainer put me through 40 minutes of heavy going cardio at lunch time. I guess it was preparing me if I want to climb up Table Mountain with others from the wedding group. My PT did say if I do she'd recommend pacing myself but taking short breaks not long ones. Today's cardio had me doing plank jumping jacks (a new one, which was tough!) and then moving my hands in and out while planking (this was hard too - mountain climbers now seem easy, never thought I'd say that). Halfway my PT told me to rest til I was ready for me to start the next thing - she said she had to avoid eye contact to not give away what was coming next. I think I was a purplish hue at the end. Hopefully means I can make it up Table Mountain next week, my PT thinks I can, will see. My friends getting married are a lot fitter than I am.

Having trouble trying to make payments online. My bank has now switched to all transactions having to be done on the internet - you can no longer do it at the bank. The trouble is payments have to go through the RBZ and they can only be processed between 8 am and 2 pm on weekdays. I made one payment at the weekend not knowing this and it left my account but didn't reach the person. Still waiting since last week Tuesday for it to be returned to my account, sigh. On the way back from teaching French this evening I drove along Borrowdale Road past State House and St George's. There are army bases along that road but there was a lot of army presence along the way, even an armoured vehicle by the airforce base which was a little unsettling as I don't know why one of those is still out. Still a rocky road ahead with Zim, one takes each day as it comes.

Advent

Well for those who follow my blogging, you'll be pleased to know I am talking to my sister again - phew. She and her husband unfortunately had a break in while they were out on Friday night in Swindon and they contacted us on Saturday morning to tell us what had happened. There they were thinking crime would be worse in southern Africa. Luckily they are both fine but the person who broke in trashed their living room and it has left them feeling vulnerable. All this did mean I spoke to my sister again though and we're on better terms.

Been translating the song Mon Bateau de Papier by Jean Humenry as my Chinese French student needs to know it off by heart by Tuesday. Have the song stuck in my head now. We looked at Aztec gods and goddesses in French on Friday and he drew me his own version of one which he described in French as being a cross between Chantico, the Aztec goddess of fire and Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun. Am enjoying using French again and listening to French music. It is a beautiful language.

Went to two films this weekend. The Dance Trust of Zimbabwe's premier for Paddington Bear 2, where we were the oldest members of the audience by quite a long shot but which was delightful and then Justice League, which had a really quirky humour. Have spent most of the rest of the weekend preparing to do craft with the home schoolers this week for Christmas, finding French conjugation exercises, looking for material on the Amazon River and then ironing to pack for Cape Town. I have to be at the airport on Thursday morning at 4 am - arrrgh! I am not a morning person. Copious cups of coffee are going to be drunk. Hopefully the plane leaves on time - have heard stories they don't always. Will be a little thwarting if they don't when you think of the hour you woke up and hopefully we get to Joburg in time to catch the connecting flight.

Getting excited for Cape Town. My friends whose wedding I am going down for have organised some fun group activities during the week before the wedding and I have also heard from some friends. Trying to pack so I don't need to do laundry as the water crisis is quite dire. They are starting to build water desalination plants, possibly this should have been done earlier. When I did freshwater ecology in third year, there were predictions then that Cape Town would run out of water by the year 2020 and that was more than ten years ago.

Went along to the St George's advent service this evening and it brought a strong sense of nostalgia for when we used to go to St George's chapel on a Sunday for mass with my god mother. There was something very comforting singing the traditional carols and saying the responses and prayers in unison. Am having to teach my home schoolers Christmas carols as they don't seem to know them, not even Away in a Manger. After the service we had port and mince pies on the terrace of the "castle". This also brought back memories of being in the Passion Play when I was in form one under the direction of Elaine Gillespie. Saw a few of my former Convent teachers and some school friends. I was blown away when a lady who was several years ahead of me at school and who is blind recognised me by voice. I didn't really know her at school and since then I've only really spoken to her once when I worked for the Wild Tree coffee shop at Cyril Rogers' former home so I was amazed. Spoke to a family friend and they reckon things are still going well politically despite the cabinet announcement and that the way the "coup" happened was miraculous.