Boo!

As far as holidays go, I like Halloween. I like it. I don't love it so much that I Iook forward to it all year long (I mean it's no American Thanksgiving after all), but I don't dislike it. I am happy to celebrate it if it seems appropriate, and happy to skip it if it does not.

In South Africa it seems like there is a minimal yet possibly growing interest in Halloween. Generally there are no decorations or extra supplies of candy for sale in the stores. I did see this one (yes one) table with a display of Halloween items at one of the local grocery stores. 

The other stores have nothing going on. In fact, many stores have already have put out Christmas decorations. 

Mr. Deep told me that one of the offices in the building where he works put up some Halloween decorations and that some people from his office remarked about it, wondering what the display was for. Mr. Deep said he told them about Halloween, wearing costumes and such and he just got a bunch of blank stares in return. I reminded him that people here use the word costume to mean a bathing suit (I'm going to put on my costume and go in the pool) so maybe that was the cause of the confusion?

Given these circumstances I was fine with skipping Halloween this year. 

And then we got this SMS/text which went to all residents in our neighborhood.

"Save the date! Halloween trick or treating will be on Saturday, 31 October 2015 starting from 4:30 p.m. Prize giving will follow for the best dressed (moms and dads too), and house decorating. See you there! 

I was a little confused by the text. Mostly about "see you there." See you where exactly? See you at your own house as you give out candy to trick or treaters? Will costume and house decorating judges be coming around to judge? Or is there some sort of party at the clubhouse? What if you are an adult but are not a mom or a dad? Can you still wear a costume or is that considered weird?

Due to my confusion I decided to ignore the SMS and continue along with my plan of skipping Halloween. Unfortunately Mr. Deep also gets these text messages and he was immediately intrigued and wanted to discuss it.

First, he wanted to know if we still had any of our old costumes. Of course the answer to that question is no because when you are moving half way around the world and trying to purge the number of belongings you have down to a manageable state, old tangled wigs, masks and costumes definitely do not make the cut. I am sure that Mr. Deep and I had the conversation about getting rid of the costumes and I am sure that he said at the time that we should not bring any of that !&!%^$ with us, but he has a little game that he likes to play with me, called "I'm annoyed because we don't have something/I can't find something that I need/want and I know that you threw it away." And he's not wrong, because I get rid of many, many things away and I think he should be happy that he did not marry a hoarder. 

On the topic of costumes, I reminded him that months ago we had the idea to be Duckworth and Lewis for Halloween. I think we could easily create DL costumes out of things that we have around the house, but he didn't think that was appropriate at all (meaning he doesn't think it's good enough to win) because even though I know he's not saying it, I know that is what he wants.

Second, house decorating. Mr. Deep's exact words were, "we have to do it" and by we he meant me because remember I am in charge of household operations. As I write this it October 28th and not one house in our neighborhood is adorned with any decorations. This leads me to believe that either 1) no one here cares about Halloween or 2) people here are so competitive that they don't want to tip their hand as to their design plans for fear of being outdone by a neighbor. I'm 99.9% sure that no one cares. That combined with the fact that there are no decorations for sale in the stores. I guess a person could go on Pinterest  and find creative ideas for decorations that can be made out of old coke bottles, pipe cleaners and paper mache' but if a person has just spent the better part of the last few days making Santa shoeboxes, than a person probably doesn't feel like whipping up a batch of homemade spider webs and creating ghosts out of lollipops.  And we all know the easiest and coolest Halloween decorations are jack o lanterns and since it's now spring and not fall there are no pumpkins to be found at this time.

Yesterday morning I happened to come upon this flyer over the at Clubhouse.

I'm not sure that you can read it but it says that kids are encouraged to trick or treat, and that if you are interested in giving out candy you should decorate your house in some manner or stand outside with your treats so that kids know where to go and where not to go. Also, the last line is the best. "We plan to be done by 5 p.m. latest, so there will be time to get ready for the World Cup Final!" Even though South Africa is not in the final, everyone will still want to watch and they want to alleviate any concerns that participating in Halloween activities will cause you to miss the rugby. 

So I vote that we whip up some batch of alcoholic type witches brew (that I would be happy to muster the energy to search Pinterest to find a recipe for) and download some scary music and play it outside our front door to entice trick or treaters. We can wear our regular clothes and hang out in our plain-jane not overly decorated house and hand out candy to any kids that come around and if no one shows up we will just eat the candy. How's that for a plan? 

Santa Shoeboxes - the Reveal

Remember I shared in my last post that I had what I deemed as amazing creative concepts for the Santa shoeboxes? Well I am now ready to unveil the concepts and the finished products including the gifts purchased for each box. Good news! All the gifts fit into the boxes! Bad news I spent too much money on gifts. 

The crafting part wasn't the disaster I imagined. I do see some flaws in my work but I didn't cry or throw any boxes at the wall. Mr. Deep, who clearly read my last post, kindly pretended he couldn't see any of the defects that I pointed out to him on the boxes.  Or maybe his eyesight is just really poor.

I did end up getting the plastic boxes from Plasticland. They are nice and sturdy but glue doesn't want to stick to the plastic so I had to get creative and use tape. The tape caused a few wrinkles that I don't love but that I will live with. 

The theme I imagined for the 9-year old boy box was the African Big 5. They are rhino, buffalo, elephant, lion and leopard. I know from my trip to the zoo that boys love animals especially big ones and they love to take pride in the fact that these are African animals. 

I had planned to use some decorative tape as part of the boy box decor given the glue problem but the tape kept tearing. Much like the paper towels and tin foil that you buy here that seem to tear everywhere except where you want them to tear. 

This tape fiasco was how the project began and I was sure it was only the beginning of my challenges but luckily it was the only serious setback and things went pretty smoothly after that. I had to skip the green decorative tape and proceed without it.

This is the top of the boy box. I bought a small desk calendar that contained African wildlife pictures and cut it up to get pics of the big five. Oh and Tshepo is the little boy's name in case you were wondering.

side of box

side of box

2 of the 5 animals I put on the inside walls of the box

On the inside of the top cover I added fun facts about the big five. Ugh, you can really see the tape wrinkles. I may have to redo this part. 

Then I added foamy star stickers and a few embellishments to the sides of the boy box and it was done! Stickers seemed to attach to the plastic without any problem.

I think boys are easier to please than girls (I can hear male readers around the world wholeheartedly agreeing with me) and also younger kids are easier to impress than older kids. So I was nervous about creating a box for an 11 year old girl. Eleven seems like a tough age, not a little kid, but not a teen either. I didn't want to make the box too grown up but also not too childish. The theme I imagined for the girl shoe box was positive messaging/self confidence type stuff combined with things that are shiny. 

Tape wrinkles! I need a laminating machine! I also added the girl's name to her box and I could barely make it fit!

I bedazzled the sizes of the girl box with stick on jewels, foamy hearts and 3d butterfly stickers. When I thought maybe I had added enough, I kept on adding.

Now, onto the contents. There are certain requirements for the content of the boxes. They are: toothpaste, toothbrush, bar of soap, wash cloth, outfit of clothing, educational supplies, sweets (not anything that can melt) and a toy. The cost of the contents should be R250 - R350 (about $18-$25 USD.)

Girl contents and yes it is quite girly. Hopefully she's o.k. with that.

soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm (cherry of course) face cloth, 3 nail polish set with file, gummy candy, candy necklace, notebook, highlighter, pens, pencils, eraser, a mind enhancing game called IQ that is like a puzzle, polo shirt, shorts

Boy contents

t-shirt, shorts, gummy candy, skittles, notebook, pencils, colored pencils, eraser, soap, face cloth, toothbrush, toothpaste, glow in the dark stick on stars, what seems to be a new and improved metallic silly putty type substance, a rubber bouncing ball

The boxes are now complete and I will be dropping them off on the 29th to the Santa Shoebox people and they will deliver them to the kids sometime between now and Christmas. It was a really fun project and I will definitely sign up again next year.

Mr. Deep asked me if there was a prize for the "best box decorating." Clearly the man learned nothing from our camping trip and his competitive nature has not diminished in the slightest!

labeled and ready for drop off

Martha Stewart Part 2

While I wasn't concerned about trying to recreate the South African recipes that I wrote about in my last post this next project might be more challenging. While it sounds completely innocuous my personality is such that sadly I am going to turn it into a major undertaking and my self esteem will likely suffer. The project might involve large amounts of frustration and maybe even some crying.  It will be a good idea for me to work on this project while Mr. Deep is not home so he doesn't have to endure any freak outs.

Again through a conversation with Lauren, I learned about the Santa Shoebox project. It's a wonderful charitable effort to provide hundreds of thousands of Christmas gifts to needy children across South Africa. As soon as Lauren told me about it I knew I wanted to sign up. What makes this program so special and unique is that when you register on the website you choose the gender and age of the child or children that you want to provide for. Then, for each child chosen, you find  a shoe box, decorate it in a festive manner and fill it with gifts specific to that child based on age and gender. There are some items that you have to include in the box such as a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap. Can we just pause here to reflect on how sad it is that these children do not have these items and that they will be happy to receive them?  

Here are some of the challenges. First, you have to have a shoe box. I hate clutter so I don't have any. Second (and most alarming) you have to decorate the box in such a way that the child who gets the box isn't looking at the gorgeous boxes all of his or her friends received and wondering what's wrong with his box. Three, you have to creatively buy and pack the gifts so that they will fit in the box. I already know I am going to buy way too much stuff and that I will not be able to fit it all and the lid will be falling off. Note, you don't attach the lid to the box as the volunteers from the charity need to be able to inspect the box. So I can't pack the box the way I would pack my own suitcase - by sitting on it.

I want to reiterate that I really, really want to do this. I have been thinking about this project like crazy since I signed up. Having worked with the kids who live in Diepsloot I know these kids are going to be so excited to get these boxes (even if poorly decorated) and I also know that these might be the only gifts that they receive this year. 

Getting boxes isn't that hard. I can either buy shoes for myself (tempting but not really the point of the exercise), go to shoe stores and see if they have any extra boxes or buy plastic shoe boxes. The third option is a great excuse to visit a store called Plasticland which is an organizers paradise. They have every kind of box and storage item you can imagine. A plastic box is actually a good idea because the Santa shoe box website says that the child will likely keep the box. Remember that these kids don't have their own rooms and likely don't have their own bed so having a box where they can keep their personal treasures is a big deal for them.

While I think I am good at fashion and home decorating, I am not good at drawing, painting, crafting or wrapping gifts. I am also not good at baking. Even when making the simple lekker pudding recipe I was only about 2 minutes away from a smoke filled house. Any project that I take on that needs to come out looking a certain way is usually a major disappointment. Whenever I need to wrap a gift I try to get Mr. Deep to do it because he is very meticulous and all gifts that he wraps end up looking great. No, there is not a chance I can get Mr. Deep to agree to decorate these boxes for me.

So now you are thinking that I should just come up with a very simple concept for the box designs, something that I know I can handle and can make look o.k. with not a lot of angst. And you're right, that is what I should do but here is what is wrong with me. My imagination does not match my ability. I have these awesome ideas (artistic concepts really) about how I can decorate these boxes in a most creative manner and I am going to try to recreate what I have in my head. This means I need to buy at least one extra plastic box because at least one is sure to come out looking like complete crap and I will need to start over. This is the point when the crying might occur.

I signed up to provide boxes to a nine year old boy named Tshepo and an 11 year old girl, named Samkelisiwe (before dropping off the box you affix a coded label to it to ensure it goes to the right child.)  I chose the nine year old boy because in working with kids in grade 3 and 4 through Edu Fun, I think I know what a nine year old boy would like - answer; pretty much anything. I signed up to give a box to an 11 year old girl because I apparently had a moment of temporary insanity. I have no idea what an 11 year old girl would like. I only know what I would have liked when I was 11 and I'm pretty sure this girl does not want the Journey Escape album on cassette or pink legwarmers. So I have to give this one some thought. While Christmas is a way off, I have to drop off the completed boxes on October 29th. The charity needs time to check all of the boxes and get everything organized before they begin to deliver. 

I will document my creative process, box decoration and gift selection in my next post. The good, the bad and the ugly.

It was a great album!

Martha Stewart Part 1

The next few blog posts are going to have some commonalities. This week, I am taking on two projects which I'll be writing about. Both are going to be domestic goddess-like in nature and both project ideas came about through conversations with my personal trainer Lauren.

I realize as I'm writing this that I never closed the loop with all of you regarding my personal training. I had three of my six free sessions with Jeffred and then my remaining three were with Lauren. I selected her randomly by looking at photos of all of the trainers on a wall at the gym. My logic was that it might be nice to try having a woman trainer. I figured if I can't have Wilson I might as well change it up entirely. After the three free sessions went well, I continue to work with Lauren once a week. I don't want to be one of those annoying people who think everything that she is doing at that moment is the best thing, but I will say having a female trainer has been good for me. Lauren focuses on my problem areas and when I work out with her I never feel like I am going to throw up. That doesn't mean it's not hard but it does mean that I don't have to do push ups, pulls ups or the dreaded ropes anymore. Instead she focuses on very targeted exercises for my abs, arms, thighs and butt. We also talk throughout the workout. Sometimes I think she might forget to count my reps because we get so involved in talking. 

The first project I am taking on this week is to cook two South African dishes. Bobotie and lekker malva pudding. Bobotie (pronounced boo boo tea) is a dish that incorporates Dutch and Cape Malay influences. It's made with spiced ground meat (called mince here) either beef or lamb can be used (I used beef), and it has an egg topping. OK, maybe it doesn't sound that appetizing but Lauren told me that although she is now a vegetarian, the one meat dish that she misses eating is bobotie.  If that isn't a ringing endorsement I don't know what is! The second dish is a dessert called lekker malva pudding. Malva pudding is a very popular desert here and I have eaten it in restaurants (I have not eaten bobotie.) When I told Lauren that I wanted to try to make some traditional South African dishes she told me about bobotie. Then, I mentioned that I liked malva pudding and against her better judgement (she is trying to make my ass smaller remember) she told me about her favorite lekker pudding recipe. Lekker means good in Afrikaans. She then went to all of the trouble of calling up her relatives and getting both of these recipes for me. 

A few thoughts about the recipes. First it's interesting how many similar ingredients these recipes use. It must be that these are the type of ingredients that were easy for people to come by back when these dishes were created. It might also mean that you are not supposed to make them both on the same day. Second, it's strange to cook something that you've never eaten before and something that you've never even seen before. Now I know how Julie Powell must have felt! Finally, I think the lekker pudding would be a delicious Thanksgiving dessert in addition to the pumpkin pie for my American readers to try. 

Bobotie
1kg minced beef or lamb - equals 2.2 pounds
1 thick slice white bread, cut off crusts - I bought a loaf of unsliced bread and cut a piece about the width of two regular slices
250ml milk (slightly more than a cup divided in half)
2 onions, chopped
30ml butter (6tsp)
30ml rajah curry powder (6tsp) - rajah is a brand of curry powder. Any kind will do!
10ml salt (2tsp)
Pinch of pepper
Juice of 1 lemon or 30ml vinegar - I used a lemon
5ml brown sugar or 15ml apricot jam - I used 3tsp apricot jam but you could use 1tsp brown sugar
2 eggs
Bay leaves - I even bought a new bottle of bay leaves. I think the one I had was from the 90s.

Serve with
Rice
Chutney - I bought a bottle of chutney. I meant to make rice but I forgot. I think bobotie would also be good with potatoes
Slice banana (optional)
Chopped tomato and onion with vinegar

Preheat oven to 160'c equals 320'f
Soak bread in 125ml milk (about 1/2 cup) until very soft, mash with fork.  
Sauté onion in heated butter. Add curry powder and seasoning and cook for 2 min.
Add lemon juice or vinegar, soaked bread, brown sugar or apricot jam, and meat. Cook until meat changes color. I cooked it through so I could taste it and see if I liked the seasoning.
Stir with a fork to remove the lumps. Pour meat mixture in greased pie dish.
Beat eggs and remaining milk together and pour over meat.
Arrange bay leaves on top and bake for 30 minutes. 

bread soaked in milk and then mashed

Cooked meat mixture with onion and seasoning

bobotie fresh out of the oven

Mrs. H.S. Ball's Chutney. Mrs. Balls, hahaha

On the plate with a crisp garden salad

Lekker Malva Pudding
1 cup apricot jam (smooth) - this comes in a can and is the consistency of grape jelly
1 cup milk - I used whole milk
1 cup flour (self raising)
2 eggs
20ml butter, (5tsp) melted
15ml vinegar (3tsp)
5ml bicarbonate of soda - this is baking soda


Sauce
2 eggs
2 cups cream
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 180'c equals 356'f  - I think 350 would be fine
Mix apricot jam, milk, flour, eggs and butter
Mix vinegar and bicarb
Mix all together
Bake in oven mixture is brown and firm, about 45 minutes - in my oven it only took about 30 minutes
Remove from oven to cool (if time allows). Is better if you can.

Beat sauce ingredients together and pour over pudding mixture. Place back in oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, until sauce is brown on top - in my oven this took about 20 minutes

apricot jam

The fun chemical reaction of vinegar and bicarbonate 

The cake part. I got it out of the oven just in time.

With the sauce on top before baking

The finished product. Yum! Yes, these two dishes kind of look alike with their egg topping. But they taste completely different. 

Titanic

I was recently invited to join a women's social group here in Joburg. This group meets regularly to participate in all kinds of diverse activities. On Wednesday I attended my first event. The outing was a visit to a traveling exhibit about the Titanic. This exhibit features artifacts pulled from the ocean floor as well as details about various passengers and crew. Afterwards the group had lunch together. 

Although the Titanic exhibit is normally something that I would be interested in I had to drag myself to the event yesterday. I had horrible jet lag that resulted in not being able to sleep more than two or three hours the entire night before. Instead, I was awake shoveling food in my mouth because my body clock was so messed up and I was convinced that I was hungry.

I spent most of the morning feeling sorry for myself and thinking about how I could get out of going.  I finally decided that I needed to go because it would not make a positive first impression to not show up. Also, the woman who invited me to join the group organized the visit to the exhibit and I told her I would be there. I told her this on Tuesday (I landed back in Joburg on Monday) when I was feeling absolutely fine and was busy patting myself on the back thinking I had escaped jet lag. Even as I drove to go and meet everyone I was still concocting excuses (lies) in my head about why I couldn't make it. Luckily I remained honest, persevered and did attend.

Upon arrival each person was given a boarding pass that contained a name and details about a real passenger who was on board the Titanic. We could then see by looking at a diagram of the ship where that passenger's cabin was located. At the end of the exhibit we saw a list showing the names of who survived and who did not.

As you probably know from the movie starring Leo DiCaprio, everything on the Titanic was based on class. There were different dining rooms, menus and china used based on the class of ticket purchased. Most of those people in third class were immigrants heading to America. I learned that while not lavish, traveling third class really wasn't that bad. Each third class passenger had his/her own bed and had access to more food daily than he or she likely was used to.

The boarding pass

The details on my boarding pass about the passenger and her family

I was surprised that the woman listed on my boarding pass, Mrs. Hudson J.C. Allison (maiden name Miss Bess Waldo Daniels) did not survive as the largest number of survivors were those traveling first class. I did some research, and by research I mean that I read through the free issue of People Magazine that they handed out at the exhibit which contained more details about some of the passengers. By the way, this part was not really explained and I did think it was odd that as we were leaving each of us were strongly encouraged to take home a free copy of South Africa's People magazine. I didn't realize the connection until I read through the magazine later that night. 

Anyway, reading through People I learned the details surrounding Mr. and Mrs. Allison and their two year old daughter, all three of whom did did not survive.  Their daughter, Loraine Helen, was the only child from first class who died and her body was never found. The Allison's three female servants, who were traveling with them, did survive but their butler, Mr. George Swane did not. When the Titanic began to sink, Mr. and Mrs. Allison were frantically searching for their one year old son, Trevor, who was with his nanny. The couple refused to board a life boat without their son. Tragically, the reason they couldn't find their son was because he was already safely on a lifeboat with the nanny. Trevor was the only member of the family to survive. He was adopted by his uncle but later died from food poisoning when he was 18. The article said there were many people on the Titanic who chose to die because members of their family were not going to be able to get on life boats. I wonder if that would still happen today? Can you imagine a more heart wrenching decision? 

Things that are Dumb

I am a pragmatic person. I like to do things in order and be as efficient as possible. When I have completed a task I prefer not to revisit it. That is why the potential of having to find a new house and move was bugging me so much. Finding a house had already been taken care of and now it was going to have to happen all over again? Didn't people understand that it was crossed it off the list? 

Fortunately, it seems like we are going to be able to stay in our house. We handled the situation in the way that we, as Americans, thought was best. We hired a lawyer.  Right after he got involved everything seemed to change and now it looks like we will be able to stay in this house with the same lease terms under the new owner/landlord. I won't truly believe it until the new lease has been signed (note, Mr. Deep insists we do not need to sign a new lease) but hopefully we dodged a bullet and moving remains off the things to do list.

The universe didn't want us to get too comfortable though because now the project that we have to do over is our visa applications. Yes, the entire visa application process that I wrote about in this post and this one has to be redone. The reason? Mr. Deep's office here in SA has changed it's name slightly and that requires us both to get new visas. 

And that is dumb.

If redoing the chest x-rays (we don't have TB) and the mounds of paperwork was not enough of a pain, it seems that I have a syndrome which makes my visa application even more challenging to complete.  I don't have readable fingerprints. An FBI background check is a requirement for the visa application and to get the background check you have to submit a set of inked fingerprints.

Every every time I get an inked set of fingerprints from the local police station and we submit them to the FBI they get rejected. We have submitted four separate sets of my fingerprints and they all have been rejected. Mr. Deep, who is apparently normal as far as fingerprints go, was approved on the first submission. Each of my rejection notices contain the following statement, 

"your fingerprints have been successfully received by the FBI, but are unable to be processed. There are a small percentage of individuals in which the fingerprint image quality is very low.   
An individual, by the nature of their work or age, may have very thin or worn ridges in the pattern area."

Work or age? Did I type so forcefully over the years at work that my fingerprints rubbed off? Or maybe it was dialing into all of those conference calls that did it? Did I do a lot of work where my hands were soaking in acid for hours on end and I just don't remember it? Did all of my nail biting somehow harm my finger tips? 

To the naked eye all appears normal

Which leads me to more things that are dumb. First, I have been in South Africa since shortly after my first FBI background check less than a year ago, so it would have been tough for me to commit a felony in the U.S. while living here. Second, it's dumb that we are still relying on ink fingerprinting (hey 1920 called and they want their technology back) when we have other methods such as electronic fingerprinting that could be used as common course of action. It's like when you go to vote and a 90 year old woman has to look in a book, IN A BOOK, to confirm if you are actually a registered voter. How have we not progressed past checking things in books and inking people's hands when we can send the Hubble or whatever that craft was called into space to send down photos of starlight that was generated 30 years ago? In proof-reading this post Mr. Deep says the starlight was generated more than 30 million years ago. OK, great, whatever that proves my point all the more.

Electronic scanning of fingerprints does exist. That is what I had to do the first time when we were still in the U.S., and my fingerprints were rejected and I first became aware of my print deficiency. At that time, a guy from an accredited company came to our house, hooked me up to a machine and scanned each fingerprint until it was legible and then submitted all of my prints to the FBI for approval.  Within 48 hours the background check was complete. So it can be done. But, the only companies that the FBI will accept scanned fingerprints from are located in the U.S. And that's - you guessed it - dumb! We did inquire to see if this prior set of scanned fingerprints could be used to conduct this latest background check but the fingerprint scans apparently are destroyed after they are submitted. 

So I have to make a trip to the U.S. on Monday. It's a 15 hour flight each way and I have to go by myself. It's going to cost Mr. Deep's company thousands of dollars in airfare and I do mean thousands because I'm going to sit in the very front of the plane if you know what I mean.  All this for a ten minute fingerprinting procedure. We are returning to the U.S. for Thanksgiving in less than two months but these fingerprints need to be done now. 

Of course it will be nice to be able to see my parents and a few of my friends. I should not complain about a free trip home (but I will anyway.) I wonder how many Starbucks coffees I sip down in the few days that I am back in the U.S.?  I can get a new iPhone while I am there since mine is old and looks like a brick. I can eat pizza by the slice every day and I can eat Mexican food. I can wander around Target aimlessly. When I talk people won't hear an accent. I will sound normal. When I order water can pronounce it wawdder instead of saying waw-teh. It will be fun.  But it's still dumb.