September

Okay, so it's not officially September yet, but it's getting close.

Last year, September was a wonderful month for me because I was spending the month in Mauritius with my fiance. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed having all of that time together. We also were able to get civilly married here in Mauritius before our religious "real" wedding in December.

September is also the month of my husband's birthday. Funny enough, my father-in-law and my nephew also share birthdays in September and they all fall two days apart starting on the 8th.

Now last year, when I was here, I had only brought shorts and t-shirts with me. It is still winter here, but I only remember being cold a handful of days. This year, I am wearing jeans and a fleece pullover. It appears as though I have become a weenie in a very short time. Yikes...

Not much has been going on in this corner of the world, but I did find something at the South African grocery store yesterday that made me ridiculously happy. What was it you ask? Miracle Whip! I can't wait to whip up some tuna sandwiches... Ironically, I also found dill and sweet pickles there! Hurray!!!

Yep, that's it. It takes very little to excite me...

In other news. We are getting closer to starting our house. We are hoping to talk to the bank this week to get the wheels turning. Crazy stuff.

I guess I'm really out of things to say. So... I'll catch you later.

Spring???

As August melts away in September, I get the feeling that I am experiencing spring in Mauritius. The sun is rising earlier and staying out just a touch later. (In Mauritius the hours of daylight don't change drastically between the seasons) The air is warming a bit...

Last year I spent the month of September in Mauritius with my husband and his parents before heading back to the U.S. to prepare for our wedding. I remember the month was cool and damp. It made me happy because I realized that there were days when I would want to wear jeans and a sweatshirt, even in Mauritius. :-) I also remembered that because I was coming from summer time in England, all I brought with me were shorts and t-shirts...

I also remember knowing that summer was just around the corner...

This is where my concern comes. Summer. Ugh...

Don't get me wrong. I like the sun as much as anyone else, it's the heat and humidity that I am not looking forward to. I am not looking forward to being on mold patrol to keep everything from getting ruined. I am not looking forward to taking two showers a day just to stay fresh. I am not looking forward to leaving the doors and windows open all the time (especially since there are no screens on the windows). I am not looking forward to wearing jeans and socks at my in-laws house no matter how hot it is in an effort to not be eaten alive by bugs. But... there are a few things I am looking forward to, and I am going to focus on those until winter finds it's way to me again... So. These are the things I am looking forward to:

1. All of the good holidays happen in the summer here. Thanksgiving and Christmas included. I am looking forward to that. I am also looking forward to having my first "REAL" Christmas here. Last year, we had just moved in so we didn't have a tree or do any of the traditional Christmas things.

2. Fresh avacado... I can't wait to make guacamole!

3. The sound of the fan running at night. (It's really soothing to me)

4. Okay... so that's about all I have come up with so far, but I'm really trying!

For all of you in different hemispheres, I hope that you enjoy your autumn and pray that you will enjoy winter as much as I did.

Summer Holiday

I know it's been a while. I have been away on a summer holiday. Now I am back at home trying to fight the pile of laundry that is left...

This year my husband and I spent most of our vacation on the island of Rodrigues. Rodrigues is another island that is part of Mauritius although it is quite a distance away. The flight was one and half hours, which is not bad...

There is nothing not to love about Rodrigues. It is a beautiful island with lots of scenic views. You can see the ocean from almost everywhere. The mountains and valleys are awesome. The island is MUCH cleaner than Mauritius. You don't see polution everywhere and the air is cleaner too. There are fewer people there, fewer cars and just more peace and quiet.

Much of the island exists on agriculture so you see lots of goats, chickens and cows as you drive. The people are friendly and genuine. The food is really good! They make the most amazing sausages. Super Yum!

I'm not a huge fan of salted fish but am planning to taste the dried octopus we brought home sometime this week. I guess we'll see what I think of it...

I'd love to pack up and move to Rodrigues. Maybe someday we will. But for now, it will linger is my mind as the peaceful holiday getaway.

Home Sweet Home

I've recently returned from England where I was conducting business on behalf of the company I work for. Having lived in England for about 18 months, I find things there familiar and comforting. I know how to find my way around, and how to fit in with my surroundings. I am comfortable with the lingo and know what it means when you say, "Bob's your uncle".

Interestingly enough while I was there, I began to feel homesick for my new home. Granted, much of that has to do with my husband. I missed him like crazy... But I found myself craving the smells and sounds of home. I would've loved to have a pizza from the shop downstairs, and craved the flavor of dhal pourris.

I think what I have discovered is that it takes about 6 months for a new place to feel like home to me, and once it does, that's the place I want to be. I remember on my first visit to Mauritius, I couldn't wait to get back to England. I craved it because I understood how things worked there and everything there was easier for me. I could easily understand the language and could read and understand the signs and the labels on items in the grocery store... Things there were familiar.

Now that I have made Mauritius my home, I feel comfort in the fact that I can't understand the language. I can't read the signs and I have come to love looking at the pictures on the label to figure out what I'm buying. That has become comfortable and normal for me.

I guess having the chance to look back in this way has shown me how much you can change in such a short time. People are adaptable. Your environment is what you choose for it to be. For me, home is home no matter where it happens to be simply because I choose it to be this way. And after being away for a short time, I can say with confidence, there's no place like home. (Except maybe America) :-)

As a side note, there are several things I took advantage of in England:
1. Fresh Milk. I must have drank almost a gallon. I'm not even a milk person, but boy did it taste good.
2. Reliable, public transportation. I was able to take the train over the weekend to visit a friend in the south.
3. Pimm's on a hot summers day. Enough said.
4. Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Again, enough said.
5. The combination of flights that allowed me to catch up on all the movies I didn't know were made.
6. The chance to realize how much I love my island home.

Foreigners say the strangest things...

I was thinking today about stupid things I've said over the years. Believe me. I have some doosies. It's not always a case of sticking my foot in my mouth... In some cases, it is related to my poor knowledge of the language around me. For example, one day our security guard asked me if I was planning to drive here. I proceeded to explain that my husband was out of the country and that our car was at my parents in law. He just smiled and nodded. Only after I had walked away did I fully understand the question he had asked...

More recently I have discovered that I have given some of the worst compliments ever since arriving in Mauritius. I am fortunate that my husband frequently has to translate them. Often times he takes my words and makes them sound much nicer... However, there are some situations in which you know that a compliment is required and you simply blank. You literally can't think of something good to say. It might be that you are still in shock. You can't believe that you actually ate whatever that was and that you haven't expelled it just as quickly as you swallowed it... It might be that your mouth is still so on fire from the chilies packed into the delectable dish that your mind simply can't cope and all you can do is wipe the tears from your eyes as you cough and scan the table for water. Or it might just be that you are surrounded by the socially awkward and you realize that the language and cultural barrier only amplify this problem, thus requiring something to be said. These events lead to compliments or comments like the following... "Did your mom teach you how to do that?!!!", "Everyone really has their own spin on fried chicken here.", "I've never experienced that texture before.", and my personal favorite, "I never knew you could do that to fish."

Hopefully these things all sound better when translated into French. :-) I guess I still have a lot to learn about cross-cultural living. Lesson 1. How to come up with sincere compliments that actually sound like compliments. If this lesson fails, then I need to work on Lesson 1.a. How to sound sincere when giving a false compliment.

If you are planning to travel here, don't worry. Most of the food is awesome. But if you are invited to someones home, keep an open mind, a sincere compliment in your mind and some antacids in the car.

Under the weather

Over the past week I have had my first encounter with "la grippe". (French for the flu) Luckily it has not been a terrible overtaking of my entire body, more like an untimely inconvenience. I've had the soar throat, runny nose, fever and aches, but the symptoms haven't been super intense...

I can say from my experience in college, single adult life, and in England as well, that the only thing worse than being sick is being sick and away from home. Mom is not there to make you soup and spoil you. You have to buy your own orange juice and pick up your own tissues from wherever you've let them fall. It's a shame really...

However, being sick in another country is a whole different experience. I had my first encounter with international illness on a trip to Jamaica in the winter of 1999. During the last night of my stay on the island I began feeling really unwell and thought that I had a bladder or a kidney infection. That night I lay freezing under a sheet as the others travelling with me lay sweating under a ceiling fan... Luckily the next day we started home. During a layover in North Carolina I ended up laying on the floor of the airport covered in coats and surrounded by hand luggage. Then, I took a Tylenol before getting on the plane for the final leg of my journey and unfortunately it broke my fever so fast that even the airline hostess was fanning me with a magazine on board. Ultimately it became known that I had somehow gotten e-coli and that was the reason for my illness...

The next experiences came during my time in England. Most illnesses there were minor colds contracted by riding public transportation...

The funny thing to me is that when you are sick, you seek the comforts of home to a greater degree. You look for "Kleenex" brand tissues, and the type of over the counter medicines you are familiar with like "Vick's" and "Robitussin" Unfortunately, these things might not be available and so you try to make do with what you can get.

Luckily during this recent illness I was able to get Kentucky Fried Chicken mashed potatoes and gravy (a total comfort food for me). And my husband did a great job of pitching in and taking care of me as well. He took over for mom and bought me orange juice and picked up my tissues...

Hopefully next week I'll have a new fun experience to share, but for this week, I'll continue to enjoy my time on the couch...

A Few of My Favorite Things

This past week when I was at my French lesson, one of my fellow students made a comment about how America has the best junk food. I have to agree with this sentiment. The student mentioned is from Armenia and she was particularly impressed with our pizza.

Thinking on this further, I call to mind many of my favorite things about America. Some of my favorite things I can replicate here, some of them I can't. Some can be imported from friends and family, and some can't. Many of the things that I miss the most simply can't be re-created here. Obviously, I miss the people of America... my friends and my family. They can never be duplicated or replaced. They are simply missed.

I have come to discover that no matter where you are, you seek out the things that are comfortable to you. In England, I found comfort in things like Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Charmin toilet paper. Familiar brands of toothpaste and frozen foods made me happy. They reminded me of home and I didn't feel so very far away. Obviously England is not so different from the U.S. as Mauritius, but I find myself finding comfort in similar things... Familiar brands are fewer and farther between here. I can find Doritos, but not in U.S. flavors. Luckily, some things are the same everywhere. I smile when I see Chips Ahoy and Oreo in the cookie aisle and my heart would be broken with out Diet Coke. Thank goodness that's freely available here.

Other things I find comfort in include NPR Radio, my Newsweek magazine subscription, the quilt my grandmother made me for my wedding, pictures of family and friends, and DVDs of my favorite 90's sitcoms.

On a tough day I still crave American junk food and I think perhaps I always will. It's possible that as I spend the rest of my life on this funny little island, I will find replacements in Mauritian things, but I will always have a place in my heart for American familiarity.