January 4, 2016
When we first arrived in
Madagascar, I noticed that those who had the luxury of a clothes line didn’t
hang their laundry as I usually did.
They merely draped the garments over the line and perhaps attached a
clothespin in the middle to keep them from flying away when the wind came
up. I didn’t understand this method
until I started hanging out my own laundry.
January 23, 2016
Among the supplies that the
Rector’s wife had purchased so we would be able to function here these three
months was a packet of clothespins. She
also kindly offered to let me wash our clothes, etc. in her automatic washing
machine, rather than having to wash them by hand or have a helper do it. After the first couple of loads, I came home
from class and helped Wil hang the clothes on the three lines he had stretched
across our back porch. Shirts and light
items were easy to hang. Jeans, towels,
or any other heavy item pulled the light-weight clothespins apart and landed on
the floor or required a quick arm to catch them.
When I inspected the clothespins, I
saw that they were poorly constructed out of the cheapest of wood, some with
bark still attached or holes where cut through knots. Besides, the groove where the spring rests in
these pins was barely deep enough to hold it.
With such flimsy pins, no wonder clothes must bear their own weight over
the line rather than being hung from it!
Understanding dawned. The
clothespin is only good for keeping the wind from blowing the garment away—as
long as the wind isn’t too strong.
Clothespins
·
* * * * * * * * * * * *
25 January 2016
“I’m telling you about a experience
I had” begins a typical English essay in the writing class I teach here at AUZ
(Zurcher University) in Madagascar. It
seems to be traditional here to first tell your audience what you will
talk/write about and, if speaking, apologize for taking their time. So, like Pam who taught the classes before
me, I tell them to do as their audience expects, but I let them know there are
other ways to begin, too.
In the Voice and Diction Class, for
example, I suggested that a good question could act as a hook to draw their
audience in and get them started thinking about the topic they will
present. When I asked for the beginning
and main points of the speech each student had chosen—in writing, three out of
five opened with a question or two. So
they are listening at least. These are
second year students rather than first year ones who are in the writing
class. So how long they have been here
does make a difference, I guess.
·
* * * * * * * * * * * *
30 January 2016
A beautiful Sabbath day is nearing
its end. We did get to Sabbath School
during the lesson study and participated in the English class today. Each of the three languages taught here at
AUZ (or UAZ in French) is represented in Sabbath School classes. The English class is the smallest, of
course.
This week we stayed for the church
service. The sound system appears to
have been repaired: It was neither too loud nor terribly distorted like it was
two weeks ago. Today’s service, after
the initial announcement period, showcased the very young. A whole row of children no more than 12 years
of age sat across the platform and conducted the whole service, including a
homily given by twin boys. Four junior
high students led the praise time, and the children’s choir provided special
music. The University choir also sang
two numbers, but they were the only adult representation during the church
service.
A fourth year theology student,
Mario, came to sit next to us and translate.
I thought he did quite a good job.
Since it was in French, mostly, Wil says he understood bits and pieces
of it. Mario had a hard time following some of what the young homilists said,
but then, so did I! I was pleasantly
surprised when, during one of the University choir’s songs, Mario was soloist. I knew he had a good voice because I had heard
him during the congregational singing.
It took me about two hours to put
dinner together today. We already had
potato salad left over from when Wil made it this week, and I thought I’d bake
the largest eggplant the student got in the market for us yesterday. But when I picked the eggplant up, I found it
had several soft spots on it that meant I had to take off the brown and cube it
up instead of slicing it. Then I had planned to also cook some of the green
beans, which sounds easy, but they had to be washed first, the stem ends cut
off, and boiled. Wil likes his green
beans seasoned with onions, tomatoes, and herbs like basil.
In order to make the eggplant into
something edible, I peeled two small red onions, cut up a green pepper and a
half, and sautéed all of this in some oil. Meanwhile, I still had to peel and cut the
onions for the green beans, peel some garlic, and open a large can of tomatoes
in juice for both dishes. I added first
tomatoes and salt to the eggplant mixture and let it boil. Then I added tomatoes to the onion and garlic
mixture, threw in some salt, and then poured the cooked green beans in and let
it simmer a bit. All this peeling of
small onions takes time, and the garlic is harder to peel that what we get at
home. Wil commented this morning that
they seem to have an extra skin next to the clove.
So perhaps, besides my not being
the most efficient person in the kitchen, you can see why making dinner took so
long. Wil had started a book playing on
the computer, so we were both listening to that while he waited and I
cooked. Once it was done, we both
enjoyed the meal.
P.S. The following numbers (-19.6609514,
47.1613884) represent our latitude and longitude on planet earth while we are
at Zurcher University in Madagascar.
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