It’s like living in Michigan…only different

I still have my morning cup of coffee, only now I must make it in a French press. I know many of you in Michigan (and elsewhere) may also make your coffee In a French press, but I miss my automatic coffee pot! I just can’t quite get the ratio of water to grounds down, so my coffee is either weak as water or so strong I need to keep adding sugar and milk.

Speaking of sugar and milk, that is now all I have available to add to my coffee. I know they do have some powdered creamers, but I am fairly certain Italian Sweet Crème creamer has not yet made its way to South Africa, and if it did, it would probably cost upwards of $10, so I wouldn’t be buying it.

Today is the second day I am doing laundry. We do have a washing machine in our kitchen, which is quite handy as it is right next to the front door. I must exit this door to carry my laundry out to the line to dry. Again, I know many of you already line dry your clothing (and prefer it!) but I still have clothes on the line that I hung up too late last night and they still are not totally dry. I hope they are done drying soon as I can tell by the sound our washer is making that they next load is almost ready to be hung out!

In Michigan, we woke up to an alarm clock or our children fighting ; ) Here in Africa, we wake up to hornbills flying into the window. Yes, they’re back! This morning I thought Darin or one of the kids was trying to get my attention by pounding on the window and I was getting a bit perturbed because I was trying to sleep in past 7:30. I finally rolled out of bed and found my family huddled together on the sofa watching daddy play Angry Birds. That’s when I realized our hornbill “friends” have reappeared.

In Michigan, we would often see squirrels running across the street or maybe the occasional deer if we happened to be out in the country.  As I type this, there is an ostrich walking by just outside our fence, and we’ve also seen wildebeest, impala, blesbok, giraffe and zebra. We are trying to enjoy these delightful creatures while we can as we will eventually move out of this house. Contrary to what you might believe, there are not wild animals just roaming around all of South Africa. The area we are staying in is called Dinokeng and is actually a game reserve.

I’ll leave you with one similarity to our life in Michigan. It is winter here now, and while it isn’t Michigan cold, it is pretty chilly, especially in the morning and at night. With no central heat, our brick and thatch home is especially cold at night. Jori, our little hot body, did not get the memo that it is COLD right now. Last night she was running around in her undies, while the rest of us were in pants, sweatshirts and slippers, and this morning she is out in short sleeves, her bright green Capri pants, and a skirt. Her sweatshirt is hanging up in a tree. She has worn flip flops almost every day. Even Darin has succumbed to the cold and is usually wearing long pants and socks, but our girl who happily played in the snow wearing short sleeves and no gloves is showing us that she is still the same little hot box here that she was back in Michigan.