Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?

So, I've been telling you about Pastor. His name is Mlungisi Dlamini to be exact, and yes, I asked. He is a real Pastor. His church is near where we are staying. And the congregation is about 60 people strong. Pastor wears a lot of hats. He preaches at this amazing church, he works with the youth in his community, he recently ran for Parliament (and only lost by 54 votes!), and he is a wonderful part of our adoption agency's family. Pastor is supposed to be our driver. But he is much more than that. By the end of our first day, I knew he was going to be my very good friend and advisor. He is teaching me his language. I am teaching him the little Hawaiian that I know. He is teaching me interesting little tidbits about life here. I am teaching him knock knock jokes. Badly. (You're supposed to say banana three times, then orange, not orange three times, then orange again!)

How's this for an interesting tidbit. Here they call speedbumps, sleeping cops. It just cracks me up.

So, this morning we attended a service at Pastor's church. It was an eye-opener on many levels. The church was a simple building made of wooden planks with a tin roof. It was insulated by sheets of plastic. Our very soft-spoken friend is a fiery preacher and he was inspiring to listen to and watch. He would preach in English and his wife would translate, all while matching his tone, volume, and intensity. Their words would overlap and weave together and for me, at least, this made the sermon that much more beautiful. There were about 60 adults and perhaps 2 dozen children in attendance. The children were wonderfully behaved. If they got antsy, they just wandered outside for a bit and wandered back in when they felt like it. The music was beautiful and heartfelt. It was a true place of worship and it was an honor to be there. The only part that was difficult for me was when Pastor asked me go to the front and say a few words. I was so overwhelmed by being there in the first place that I felt choked up the entire time.

After the service, we spent a short time outside talking with Pastor's wife and some others. We were introduced to a couple from England/Arkansas that are working to build a classroom for Pastor's church. I've been invited back to see school in session. I can't wait.

At one point during the conversation, I turned slightly to see a group of four boys staring at me. The littlest one walked up to me and took my hand. It was absolutely the sweetest thing. I bent down and introduced myself to each one in turn. They were so shy that they whispered. They really liked my camera and got a huge kick out of picture of a monkey that I showed them. I told Pastor that next week, I need to wear pants to church. I want to play with the children!

I knew this trip was going to be magical. What I didn't realize was that the magic would start before I even met my daughter.

Who are You and Why are You Entering my Village?

Today, Mom, Pastor, and I went to the International Trade Fair. We actually started out going to a glass blowing place, but Pastor called the Government Representative who is managing the process for our adoption to check in and she told him to bring us to the fair. It was huge. There were tons of people, tons of kids, tons of exhibitors, and absolutely no food. But no matter, I was able to make arrangements with our Representative (who was tending a booth at the fair) to meet Luyanda on Tuesday.

!!!!!!!!!!

I'm trying to "manage" my excitement though. Tuesday is 3 days away and a lot can happen (or not happen) in three days!

And how's this for really fun? We ran into three of the people who were on the tour with us at the Cultural Center yesterday! Who'd a thunk it? You might remember that the tour was interactive. At one point another guest and I were told to act out a scene where a man enters the village and is greeted by a young girl (that was me). I had to greet him on my knees. Albert insisted we actually talk out the scenario. So, I said, "Hey, who are you? Why are you entering my village?" My partner, who I later learned is named Festus and lives in Nigeria, said, "I am just a man looking for an African woman." I said, "Well, I'm not African" in a tone that communicated "so good luck buddy." The whole thing was strange and awkward. And since our tour guide, Albert, didn't provide any parameters for the scene which we were acting out, I didn't know whether this gentleman was playacting or just shooting the breeze to get through the scene as quickly as possible.

After the tour we ran into him at the restaurant and were introduced to his companions, Malima (from Namimsia) and Joseph (from Zambia). I had to ask, "So did you really travel this far to look for a woman?" He laughed and acknowledged that the whole thing was pretty uncomfortable and that he didn't know what Albert had wanted him to say, so he just started saying anything.

So, how fun is it to run into these three at the trade fair? Super fun! Here I am in this country where I don't know anyone, I don't know the language, I don't understand the customs, and I bump into people who actually shared an experience with me. It was a strangely comforting feeling. Our tourmates were on the second level of a staircase and I waved and called out from across the street. After crossing over to join them, I overheard Festus saying to a friend, "It's so funny that I am seeing this woman here. I proposed to her yesterday!" I don't think that "proposed" has quite the same meaning in Africa. *smile*

(In the picture: Me, Malima, Joseph, Mom, Festus, Festus' friend, and Pastor.)

All in all, it was a very nice day. The things that didn't go as expected: no glass factory, no lunch, were more than outweighed by the things that did: setting up a date to meet Luyanda and making new friends (Festus is from Nigeria but lives here).

Another fun part of the day was that there were many government officials from several countries at the fair and we got to see this country's version of Barack and Michelle Obama!

We ended up getting some dinner at a beautiful restaurant. Pastor ordered Buffalo wings in honor of my mother. I told him about my belief that Buffalo Wings that are made outside of Buffalo are never really Buffalo Wings. After he had eaten, he admitted that they weren't so great. He concluded that I must have been right, these were not true Buffalo Wings and therefore did not deserve to have the name. The Pastor renamed them Uffalo Wings.

That cracked me up.

Exactly How Many Cows am I Worth?

Technology. You gotta love it. Unless it’s not working for you.

First, I could not for the life of me locate an adapter for this country in Hawaii. Note to families yet to travel: Although I’m told they are around, I checked all the usual suspects and nobody had what I needed, so start looking now. Finally found three adapters at the Atlanta airport. I’ve been here two days and I’ve broken two of the three. Fortunately, adapters are sold here at the grocery store and they are of better quality than what I got in Atlanta.

Had a little trouble with my MacBook powercord at the hotel on Tuesday, but got it working with some jiggling. Arrived at the Guesthouse on Wednesday and settled in. Plugged in my computer so that I could touch base with home and found that, again, I couldn’t get power to the computer, no matter what I tried. Wednesday was a difficult day simply because I did not believe I could do this trip without regularly talking to Russell and Zaffron, which I do via skype.

The enormity of what I'm doing hit me. And the length of the time that I'll be away from my family hit me. It left me feeling a little beat up.

So, Thursday my plan was to do everything I could to fix the problem. (My thanks to my awesome husband for immediately going to the Apple store and buying replacement parts, to Tony (the proprietor here) for tracking down a tech store for me, and to Amy for calling one of her techie friends and letting him know I might be calling!) But before I left the house I tried again… and I had power! No reason why. I’m nervous about losing it again, so no one is allowed to come within 3 feet of the computer cord…. Don’t want to disturb its happy place.

So, YEAH I’VE GOT POWER! I didn’t have a chance to connect since I was running out the door when this all happened. But I couldn’t wait to skype my family when I got home later that night.

So, you can imagine my dismay, chagrin, utter horror, when I plopped into my seat (careful not to touch my power cord), logged in, pulled up a browser, and saw those dreaded words, “page not found.”

WHAT WHAT WHAT?!?!?!

(Remember in the movie, The Christmas Story, when Ralphie says fudge, but he really didn't say fudge? Remember when Ralphie's mother called his friend's mother to tell her that Ralphie had learned the word from her son? Remember the What What What? shrieking reaction from that other mother? That's the kind of WHAT WHAT WHAT?!?!?! moment I was experiencing here.)

Can this be? Can this truly be happening to me? Did I just get my computer working only to learn that I didn't have internet access? Yep.

There was no network available for me to hook into. Where did it go? I didn’t want to wake Tony to find out (it was after 9:00). So I went without connectivity for another night. This morning, Tony told me that there was lightening last night, so he unplugged the network. Apparently they have had fire shoot out of the outlets during lightening storms and he wanted to protect his network. I could understand that. Problem is, when he plugged it back in, it wouldn’t work. So, I went all day today without connectivity, until just a short while ago, when it quietly and mysteriously came back.

And for that, I am grateful.

Despite my challenges with modern technology, I’m really enjoying my time here. On Thursday, Mom and I visited the candle factory. It was cool watching one of the staff take a white ball of wax and turn it into a lifelike zebra in 10 minutes. The Candle Factory does not offer shipping service. It’s too bad, there were two items that were oversized that I would have liked to pick up. Prices here are super reasonable. I'm hoping to return home with many treasures.

Today we visited the Cultural Village. Very fun and somewhat goofy. My mom & I really enjoyed the singing and dancing performance. The tour was interactive whether you felt like interacting or not. Our guide, Albert, would assign the guests various roles such as village chief or first wife and encourage us to act them out. There was one couple from Italy who were rather reserved and didn’t want to pretend. They’d say, no no no, no thank you, and back away. That didn’t stop our guide. He would just continue on with his story, and assign the role to another person. The funny part was, 10 minutes later, he’d tell the Italians that they were some other family members and the whole, no, not us, no thank you, begging off would begin again.

I’m still not catching everything that is said to me the first time I hear it. Sometimes I have to ask people to repeat themselves. Sometimes I don’t realize I’ve misheard. Today, a boy walked by Albert and they exchanged a few words. Albert then teased me in the same way he must tease other women every single day. He said, “that boy over there thinks you are very attractive and would like to offer 7 cows for you!” I called to the boy, “only seven? I’m worth at least 8!”

Later on, during the tour, Albert told us all that a bride cost 17 cows. He said this several times and it dawned on me that I had misunderstood. I had heard 7 when Albert had said 17. Here I was trying to be cute, when actually, I had responded to his offer by lowering the price!

Okay, I’m tired. I’m going to bed. I’m happy to be one more day closer to meeting my new daughter.

You Know You've Arrived When You've Been Hustled

Day 2 of travel and already it's been exciting! Left Honolulu on Sunday afternoon for the 8 hour flight to Atlanta. Spent the day sleeping at Hollee's house! THANKS GUYS! Then met my mom at the airport for our flight to Africa.

When I got on the plane, I asked the attendant how long the flight was. She said, "15 hours and 3 minutes." I turned to mom and said, "It's 15 hours, Mom." And the flight attendant said, "Don't forget the 3 minutes."

While I was not excited about the prospect of being on the plane that long, I was looking forward to the movie extravaganza. I had been told that the 777's have screens in the back of the seats that entertain you the entire flight.

Mom had the whole flight planned out. We would chat until midnight, then she would go to sleep. I planned to watch movie after movie... it would be a treat! We got on the plane and my mother's screen wasn't working. Then came an announcement that we would be delayed taking off because the entertainment system was on the fritz.

HORROR!

They ended up rebooting the system twice and got it working after about a 50 minute delay. Well worth the wait, in my opinion. I couldn't imagine 15 hours on a plane without some fictional person's drama to keep me entertained.

I experienced a tiny thrill after lift-off when I scrolled through the menu and found at least 6 movies that I had missed because date nights are few and far between. We each picked a movie. Mom chose Last Chance Harvey, I chose Rachel Getting Married. We pressed play and... nothing. The system wasn't working. We were able to get the monitor in the empty seat between us working, but there was no sound... and the Japanese subtitles didn't help any.

I have to give the crew a nod of appreciation. They tried. They rebooted that system at least 7 times (I'm no longer a fan of Linux). To no avail. Believe it or not, it wasn't that bad. For whatever reason, I arrived feeling pretty good and not a bit achey. It felt more like 10 hours than 15.

When we arrived, we sailed through "passport control" and then flew through customs where the officer who approached me said that Hawaii was a scary place. I just nodded and smiled. I didn't realize at the time that he was a customs officer, since he talked and walked with me at the same time. I guess that was my inspection.

After we exchanged our currency we were descended upon by the porters. Two guys took our bags and we trotted along behind trying to make small talk. My guy had never heard of Hawaii. A minute later, we arrived at the shuttle terminal and I hand our guy some money... he pulls out a much larger bill and says, we're working the night shift, we don't take any less than this. He said that he and his friend would split it.

I hadn't worked my head around the exchange rate yet so I agreed. When I took out the money he changed his mind saying that they each deserved that amount. I said, no, he could split it with his friend. We went back and forth just a little when he shook my hand and said, "a tip is a tip" with a sunny smile.

I knew I had been hustled, but I wasn't sure for how much. Finally did the mental math and realized that I tipped him a little less than $14 for 60 seconds of chit-chat and pushing a cart. But that's okay -- He was happy. I'm enjoying it now that I realize I didn't fork over a fortune. I've been duped at least once in every country I've ever visited. (In Nepal, Kerry and I got squeezed by a 7-year old.) Just one more little story to add to the many I hope to acquire while on this amazing adventure to get daughter #2.

The date

So, yesterday, we found out that a date had been offered to us to travel to pick up our daughter. I think I'm more afraid of this than I was of giving birth.

It feels like I should start writing things down.