Postcards from South Africa: 01.24.11

Sunday morning we woke up completely beat. I was still in the throes of jet lag and both of us had been working 'round the clock (well, other than plenty of Saturday's tea times!). We opted out of church to spend the morning having church together, followed by a long (and eventually hot) walk out in the fields.

The cows are very, very friendly. Extremely friendly. Okay, a little bit too friendly. The minute they saw us enter their section of the field a whole herd came rambling toward us. It was honestly kind of freaky to see them coming at us like that--and with such confidence!--so we hopped the gate when they got too close for comfort.

See the progression below!





Yee-haw.

Postcards from South Africa: 01.23.11

Postcards from the farm.

(1) Road from the nearest town to the farm (it's been unusually rainy).
(2) View from the front porch.
(3) Sulia's rose garden.
(4) View from a morning walk.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

We are told that this area is the armpit of South Africa -- that there's not much in this region that is of beauty. Well, we beg to differ. Pretty fabulous armpit, right?

Postcards from South Africa: 01.22.11

Amazingness alert, amazingness alert! We were invited to visit the home of an Afrikaner farming family waaay out in the middle of the African plains -- hours from anything. This family is close friends with our roommate, Dierk, and welcomed us with open arms (fresh roses in our farmhouse bedroom, a Rooibos tea break every few hours and wonderful food). The next few postcards will feature images from our weekend with them.

A few fun facts:
1. Their house was built in 1902 by adventurous Afrikaner farmers. It is made of mud covered in plaster. The home smells earthy inside but the mud material keeps it very cool during the hot summer days.

2. They are primarily cattle and crop farmers (corn, sorghum, soy) and own 1000 cattle. They describe all their animals (farm dogs, cattle, sheep, etc.) as born again Christians and read scripture to them -- especially Psalms -- on a regular basis. We have never before known people who cherish their animals this much!

3. Sunday brought dramatic thunder storms to the farm. Drew went out on an evening jeep ride into the riverous mud roads and describes this adventure as a very memorable experience.

4. "Braai" is the South African term for BBQ -- and let me tell you, they know how to Braai! The farmers' family came over to welcome us our first night on the farm and brought out the wheelbarrows and other Braai equipment, all full of charcoal and covered with grates. They loaded them up with fresh meat from the farm and Drew made them proud with his carniverous appetite.

I'll get us started here with two photos from the Braai. (1) Drew holding his new little buddy ("Freek" -- pronounced "Free-ek") and sitting with Dierk, our flatmate. (2) The Braai, warming up for the meat. EAT UP!

(1) (Forgive the funny coloring; this photo was taken in the dark so I had to play around with it for it to be somewhat decent! Remember, I'm no photographer...)


(2)

Postcards from South Africa: 01.21.11

For you curious souls, a little photo of our living quarters!



Introducing, the bedroom and study (bedroom at night, study during the day). One of us usually uses the desk in here (or kicks back on the bed with a book) while the other sets up shop at the kitchen table. The second bedroom is currently in use by our flatmate, a dear friend from Germany who is also just beginning his PhD in Drew's New Testament Studies program. When he moves out we will turn that room into the formal office.

Postcards from South Africa: 01.20.11

Biker Dad, this one's for you! Look closely. Her jacket reads "Lady Riders of South Africa."



She was riding just behind a flatbed truck full of chickens. Lady Rider, watch out!

Postcards from South Africa: Day 1

Today, being my first full day in Pretoria, I was pleased to have accomplished two major goals--jet lagged and all. (1) Get connected with the outside world. Enter our new cell phone. At 198 Rand (you do the math--it's 7.25 Rand to the US Dollar) the price couldn't be beat. Strange thing was that we found the phone in a Forever21-esque clothing store, in the back corner... who would've thought... and (2) locate, purchase and consume Rooibos tea. I purchased the brand I recognized from my dear South African friend Nicky's cupboards back in Chicago and it has exceeded my expectations.

Other achievements of lesser mention include joining a gym (and working out with Rugby players featuring legs the size of tree trunks), visiting "the largest mall in Africa" and not getting hit by a car (driving on the "wrong" side of the road).

Postcards from South Africa.

Well, we have arrived to Pretoria, safe and sound (though certainly jet lagged). Our arrival followed on the heels of a pretty crazy few weeks. We packed up our apartment (again) and moved out in order to make room for our subletter, spent 10 fabulous days in the Big Apple (yes, we were there for the 26" record snowfall, during which we made midnight snow angels on Madison Ave) and then I returned to stay with a dear friend in Chicago while Drew went on to South Africa to begin his program. I joined him yesterday and am getting acclimated quickly. We have so very much to be thankful for!

My days are full with work, much of which involves writing, so I cannot commit to thorough blog updates. What I would like to commit to, however, is keeping a pictoral journal and publishing the photos here as I go. I am no photographer but I think this will be a unique opportunity for me to express our experience here in pictures. So? Thus begins my three month "Daily Photo: Postcards from South Africa" adventure!

Our hosts are beautiful people, our roommate is a blast and our lodgings are "just right." Kentucky Fried Chickens are everywhere, so I know I'm abroad!

xoxo.

Onwards & Upwards!

Today's the big day.

Wish me luck! :)

Head in the Books

I've spent the last two weeks pumping my brain full of hopefully useful facts. Facts about the brain. My qualifying exam is Monday, and I am thrilled to be *almost there*! If I can just push myself a bit further... 31 hours left to go...

Drew's surgery went well. He is gaining mobility little by little, but it is almost a full time job getting him to rest. He feels like he should be going to school, attending meetings and "getting things done," but that's hard to do while you're on oxycodone! Of course, it can be frustrating to be stuck in a chair -- but he is hopeful that soon, very soon, he will have full mobility of his arm again and will be a better man, once again able to exercise and live life without pain. We are THANKFUL!

Things we are thankful for:
+Friends. The most amazing and supportive friends we could ask for.

+Meals brought to our door throughout the week, lovingly made gluten-free.

+Momma Debbie's loving touch, making sure our home is clean and our needs were tended to earlier this week (needless to say, we were sad to see her leave!).

+Sunrises and sunsets -- a home with a view!

+A dog who forces us outside into the (finally) cold Fall air for joyful romps in the park, encouraging us to interact with our community and take breathers throughout the day.

+That SOUTH AFRICA is JUST AROUND THE CORNER! Good things lay ahead. In fact, I'll leave you with a photo of Pretoria's skyline. We can't wait for January. :)

Cozy Ruski Shoes?

I woke up on time: bright and early to get in a few hours of studying for my Neuroscience PhD qualifying exams, but had an email in my inbox about a potential subletter for the time we're in Africa. She wants to swing by tonight so... I had to whip our "student home" (=books everywhere, dishes in sink, enough to make this clean freak go mad!!) into shape. One hour later and we are dusted, vacuumed, and clean kitchen-ed. PHEWF.

I told a friend yesterday: I think we need a nanny!!

Amidst all this, I need to find time to shop for winter boots. Being a no car family, it's not easy to make it to the mall (the city is full of darling boutiques, but for a decision like this I need options...). We were unsuccessful over the weekend, but this morning as I was scrubbing the stove a faded memory of Russian felt boots that a missionary friend of mine owned came back to life. What were those called again??

Five minutes of google searching and -- victory! Valenki. Totally clunky, but I hear they are the most comfortable boots known to man. You are meant to cut them down to the height you want using a simple pair of scissors. And the galoshes are removable for dry weather or indoors wear. Perfect for another frigid Chicago winter, perhaps?

Vague Update

There are weeks when I feel as though I have kept up on this here blog due to the amount of time I have spent absorbing the content of e-friends' blogs... design blogs, mommy blogs, crafty blogs, inspirational blogs written by simply "really cool" individuals... they make me feel like I've been bloggishly prolific. My actual blog tells me a different story. Sorry, you friends who remain.

Truth be told, I've being doing so much writing lately that there I times I feel like I might run out of words. Work has not been easy this year. There are many wonderful things (presentations, publications, grants, invitations, accolades, challenges with ridiculously short deadlines, and -- thank God -- an enjoyable relationship with my advisor). But... I've had to face some unfortunate social stress in my work environment. All together I am a lucky (busy) woman and I will learn from this. Because I am determined to learn from this.

And I will enjoy my last few years at Northwestern. THIS WILL BE FUN. I repeat this mantra daily.

I miss the Northwest. I miss the MOUNTAINS. Salt water. I miss my amazing, inspirational, crafty and absolutely hilarious best friends. I miss spare time. But even in the hardest moments I do not forget that this is a season. A season for hard work, determination, sweat & tears. During this season I am determined to choose joy, to love my husband, to give to my church and community, and to believe--to trust--that peace, quiet, and--I hope!--mountains lay just around the corner.

Specific update in list form:
- I have transferred departments. It took ~3 months from start to finish, but with the support of my two advisers I navigated the very political waters to slip out from the grasp of the School of Music and into the Neuroscience PhD program. This is good news for me on many fronts (particularly when it comes to future hire-ability), but requires that I take A SECOND ROUND of PhD comps. Because I wasn't crazy enough in the first place. Who takes PhD comps twice?? DANA LUCILLE HAMBLET STRAIT. That's who.

- Also on the professional note, I won a grant. A big one. One that makes me very proud. I'll be in school a bit longer because of it, but it's worth every second. Thank you, NIH, for my NRSA. This non-Ivy league educated, mid-level music major definitely didn't see that one coming.

- We spent a good 3 weeks in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. I will post pictures--soon. Drew and I went from Chicago to Seattle to Olympia to Portland to Olympia to Spokane to Priest Lake Idaho to Spokane to Chicago. And, a la Chris Farley, it was AWESOME.

- I held two of my best friends' babies this summer. I already introduced you to Cami, but Maile gave birth to Adah recently and I will post photos soon! She's GORGEOUS.

- We have accomplished another summer of CSA organic veggie box-ing. And little has gone to waste. Also more on that later.

PhD, here I come.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

Pretty much one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.

Enjoy!

Ode to another Chicago summer

Dear Summer in Chicago, how I love thee!

I appreciate you for...

::Biking to and fro
::Pitchers of Sangria (our favorite, greasy though delicious pub is just a few blocks from us now that we've moved)
::Evening walks with Molly along the lake--and it's still light out!
::Visits from friends
::SYTYCD (if you don't know what that stands for, you're missing out)
::Jogging outdoors
::Lakefront picnics with Drew & Molly (and a bottle of wine)
::Someone's always throwing a party
::Activity on the streets
::Coffee on the patio @ Metropolis
::HEAT!!!

And, my favorite part? YOU HAVE NO SNOW. Winter, you can stay away from these parts for as long as you like.

cute, right?

is this not the most amazing cardigan??

I love Etsy!!

a canyon... in Illinois!

Guess what, guess what-- the Straits took a weekend OFF!! (okay, not an entire weekend--but enough for us!)

It's rare that we head out of town without an event to be at and people to see, so Friday morning we packed up and busted out of town for the Northwest corner of Illinois for some communion with God's great outdoors, just the two (well, two+pup) of us. We hiked, swam, napped, trail ran, and ate our way through the weekend.

To Apple River Canyon we went! After hours of driving through cornfields (seriously, can't Illinois grow anything else??) we were floored to find a hilly state park featuring miles of canyons and gorgeous winding rivers. See? A canyon in ILLINOIS!!


We never stop missing the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but we have loved learning to enjoy the Midwest--it's full of surprises, and this one included miles of hiking trails.

One of my favorite aspects of camping has always been THE FOOD. Thanks, Dad, for teaching me how to camp in style! I loved waking up as a kid to Dad's sizzling stove and now love to wake up before Drew and start a big breakfast. Molly also adores this part of camping... Here? Begging for bacon.


CHECK OUT THIS TONGUE ACTION!!


Saturday morning we quickly got on the trails...


...and even more quickly, this 50% Retriever pup leaped into the water, where she spent most of the rest of the weekend battling sticks.



Molly definitely didn't stop until we got home. We all crashed pretty much right after walking in the door.


Drew: THANK YOU for making this happen, despite this summer's insanity! We will definitely be returning, although not before we make a few more exciting summer trips.


I love summer 2010!