Tag Archives: family

Jul31

Rolling hills: Okayama Family

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Rolling hills: Okayama Family
Rolling hills: Okayama Family

A friend put me in touch with his friend here, whom he has only met remotely — and at last, after failing to synch up during my Kyoto trip in 2019, we arranged to meet.

She and her family rolled out the red carpet (and the sushi!) for me, gently folding me into their loving, erudite, serene domestic circle. A clan of academics, the mother met the father in graduate school as a visiting student from Taiwan. He still researches plant molecular biology. Now their elder daughter investigates Scottish missionaries in Asia, while the younger sculpts heteromorphic dogs as a professional ceramicist.

This weekend, they treated me to a cozy futon, Japanese cooking, and a tour of their hometown.

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Apr29

The Solitary in Families: Visiting the USA

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The Solitary in Families: Visiting the USA

The weather has turned. When I left mid-March for my first visit home in nine months, the sun blazed more often than not. Now cool breezes, clouds, and a freak hailstorm enliven our days.

The first term of school has ended; the second began three weeks ago. It is almost autumn in South Africa. Another mile-marker: As of April 5th, one third of my Peace Corps commitment has elapsed.

March blurred by with my first end-of-term exams bearing down.  Meanwhile my head was muddled with packing for back-to-back trips: first, training in Durban, then two weeks at home in the USA.

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Sep24

All Who Are Dear to Us: Family Appreciation Day

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All Who Are Dear to Us: Family Appreciation Day

With teaching practicum and our language assessment behind us, I must confess to cherishing the misapprehension that the last two weeks would be leisurely in comparison. As you might guess from the lapse since I last wrote, that was not the case.

Since my final farewell with the learners in Bundu, I have slept in three different beds.  A million moments have passed, with dozens of photos attending them, but this day deserves its own recognition: Family Appreciation Day at SS Skhosana.

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Aug2

The Gates of Larger Life: Weekend Away With the Family

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The Gates of Larger Life: Weekend Away With the Family

On my way home from Kwamhlanga, I pondered how to describe my weekend away.  My host mother had invited me there for a sojourn to her mother’s house.  The town wasn’t far, but we would be staying overnight.

What was the occasion, exactly?  “Church.” 

I suspected there was more involved, since she had broached the subject weeks in advance and invested the days preceding in amassing buckets of handmade amakheki (sweet biscuits or ‘fat cakes’).

“What will we be doing?” I ventured, in my elementary Zulu. 

“Praying.”

Despite the apparent logic of these replies, I couldn’t quell the sense that something more awaited me.

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Jul6

All That We Can Desire: Packing for Peace Corps

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All That We Can Desire: Packing for Peace Corps

In February when the Peace Corps accepted my application to teach English in South Africa, my brain started turning over the all-important question: What to pack?

“I’m hoping to go with just a backpack,” I told a friend.

She was aghast. “No!”

Maybe she has a point, I thought.  It doesn’t seem like much for two years and eleven weeks of living abroad.  What if I’m not ready?

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Aug9

Hello Goodbye

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Hello Goodbye

DSC_0263Our first Sunday afternoon in Ecuador reflected the pace of life there — for the missionary family at least.

After our early morning dining and outings, we relaxed with the kids, welcomed the new guests, packed up for camp, and detoured to the beach on the way.  At times like these, Kevin and Beka often can’t confirm our plans until days or even hours beforehand.  Living life with them requires a flexibility and calmness comparable to a weather vane’s: ever pivoting, ever erect.

This particular day, the breezes blew fast but fair. Read the rest of this entry →

Aug1

Full House

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Full House

Girls at HouseThe boys share a room.  The girls share a room.  The baby sleeps in the shower.  All in all, seven people live in a wooden house built by Kevin himself.  Dusky red-leaved plants line the yard; a frilly tree from Florida sprouts medicinal properties in the back.  A wall painted sky blue encloses this patch of jungle.  About a year ago, the family admitted the need for more space.  Now a two-apartment guest house reclines, across the yard.  Our first night there, its tin roof sheltered us from the downpour outside. The rain pounded as if from a shower nozzle, forcing Rachel and me to shout to each other over the noise. Read the rest of this entry →

Jul20

Daedalus

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Daedalus

cloudy skyIts body barely houses a single pilot, but its wings stretch across an airport terminal. The man-powered craft, “Daedalus,” on display above the escalators, weds fragility, with its transparent plastic skin, to the strength implicit in its wingspan. It’s a feat of engineering – and its name suits it. The famous Icharus could fly, but his father, Daedalus, built him his wings. Plus, Daedalus understood the properties of the building materials better, and so refrained from pushing them past the point of failure. No wonder the modern-day engineers chose his name for their work. Read the rest of this entry →