Laundry Fun

November 13, 2009 at 1:26 pm (Botswana)

This is our washing machine.

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It’s a pink bathtub, located at a most inconvenient level to make your back ache and your knees sore. The alternative is using the kitchen sink, which can fit approximately two dish towels, a pair of socks, and a shirt at one time.

Here’s how we do laundry: Fill the tub halfway with hot water, sprinkling in a bit of handwashing detergent. The package says 3/4 a cup…but I never put in even half of that. As you can see, there are still lots of bubbles and lots of soap. Put your clothes in…first the lights, saving the reds and darks for later. Once the clothes have been submerged and swirled around, I usually walk away and do something else, letting them soak in the warm, soapy water for a while. Then take each item, swirl around in the water, use your knuckles to work on areas of stain, then wring out as much water as you can. Pile up little wads of soapy clothes all around the bathtub while you systematically empty the tub of the clothes. Next, using the same soapy water, do the same with the reds and darks.

Now, let all the water drain, rinse the tub, then fill with cold, clean water. Again, submerge the lights, swishing around and around to be sure all the soapy water is rinsed out. Again, wring out as much water as possible, then deposit little wads of clean, wet clothing into our single laundry hamper. Set towels and washrags to one side, as they need to be rinsed a second time (if only rinsed once, the little bit of soap residue makes them dry hard). Then rinse the reds and the darks.

Again, drain the tub, fill (not quite so full this time) with cold, clean water, pouring in a couple tablespoons of laundry softener. Submerge the towels and washrags, swish around, and wring out. (Wonder to yourself why the hardest thing to wring out – the large bath towels – must be wrung out 3 times in one washing.) Drain the tub and sit back to catch your breath.

Yeah, you!!! Now it’s time to visit the dryer, which is of course, a series of lines strung around the yard. We have one carousel, two extra long lines between the trees, and approximately 100 clothespins. Clothes must be turned inside out before hanging, otherwise the beating sun will fade and bleach your clothes in only one afternoon. Clip away! (I might add, this is my favorite part. There is nothing so relaxing as hanging out clean laundry in the morning sun…of course, I’m usually sweating like a pig by the time I get done!)

Now stand back and admire your work. Try not to feel discouraged that spending the last 45 minutes on this activity only washed your clothes from the past 3 days and the towels and rags from yesterday.

It’s almost Thanksgiving, right? I am so thankful…

I am thankful that I have an abundance of clothes. I only brought one suitcase with me, yet I still have enough clothes to go more than a week without having to wash. I try not to let it build up and rather do a little every day, but still…I have the option of waiting if I want to. I don’t have only two outfits that I rotate to wash and wear – like a lot of people that I now know.

I am thankful that we have running water. So many don’t. As much work as it is to wash clothes by hand, I can’t even imagine having to carry my own water from the pump outside, or from the stream down the road (which, consequently, is dry this time of year). Then, water brought in by hand must be taken out by hand…

I am thankful that we have hot water. Boiling water on the stove to add to my laundry water would be quite a task indeed. Of course, if we lacked hot water, I probably wouldn’t bother boiling and would just wash in cold.

I am thankful we have electricity to make the hot water. The power has only gone out twice since we’ve been here – and neither time for very long.

I am thankful that the clothes dry quickly. With the hot sun and slight breeze, most clothes dry in a hour, towels in two, and sheets in 20 minutes. This means that you don’t have to be quite so careful to fully wring things out after the last rinse, when your arms already feel like jelly.

I am thankful for the exercise, and for the fact that I am physically able to wash my own clothes. I have two arms, two hands, two legs, and ten fingers. They are all used in doing laundry. It really is a great workout program. Already, I can tell that I am improving. I can do more laundry at one time, and it doesn’t wear me out as much as when we first got here.

I am thankful that I don’t have to wash everybody’s clothes. :) My mom and I do a couple loads each day, taking care of our clothes, my dad’s clothes, the towels, sheets, and rags…and that is enough to keep us busy. We have helped the guys out on occasion, but there is no way we could wash everybody’s clothes and still be able to do anything else. It would be a full-time job.

I am thankful that when I get home in January, I will be able to take all my clothes, dump them into the washing machine, press a button, and WALK AWAY.

:)

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Our House, Pt 2

November 12, 2009 at 11:21 am (Botswana)

In the back yard of the house, we have several varieties of fruit trees. :)

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There are sweet oranges and sour oranges…

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There are grapefruit-like oranges…

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Look who was hiding in the orange tree!

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We even have an avo tree…I hope it produces avos while we are here. :)

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There is a lemon tree…

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And this is what happens when the oranges fall on the ground. It’s a feast for millipedes!

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On Being a Sister

November 10, 2009 at 2:52 pm (Family)

I have 3 brothers – 2 older and 1 younger – so I have a bit of experience with this topic. Of course, family dynamics will change from house to house, so do keep that in mind. For instance, I know that some families don’t tease – nada, zip, nilch. We, however, tease a LOT. Probably a little too much. So that, of course, tempers my opinions and reactions.

Katina asked on this post, “So, I am wondering your perspective on brothers being that you had only brothers. How was/is that? We only had one boy in my family and now I have three sons. I am always on the lookout for more information on what I am (and Sophia) to expect as I have no idea. Do you get used to their teasing? Do you mind being surrounded by 7 guys in Botswana? Is that easy for you because you had brothers? What advantages/disadvantages do you think you have because of having only brothers. What is most important for Sophia to do to suceed with all her brothers!?”

As I started to answer Katina, I realized that my comment was turning rather wordy, so I summarized a quick idea and promised a later post. Here it is. :)

First of all, to answer the questions simply: Yes, you get used to teasing; I don’t mind being here with 7 guys, it is easy for me (probably easier than with 7 girls); there are lots of advantages to having only brothers (and a few disadvantages perhaps – but I have a hard time seeing them); and the best thing to succeed with brothers is as follows.

DO learn to deal with teasing.

Teasing is how brothers show affection. Brothers generally have a hard time coming right out and saying a compliment or a rebuke of any sort, so they tease. They tease to tell us we are doing a good job; they tease to politely ask us to change something.

If your family teases a lot, you will get used to the teasing. Don’t take things too seriously or personally. You learn to make your own comebacks and tease yourself. Of course, as boys are growing up they need to learn what is appropriate in teasing, and what is ‘too much’ and sisters can give them invaluable learning opportunities (as they run away in tears). I quickly learned that running away in tears only got more teasing for me, but my brothers soon learned when I was really upset by something they said.

So when boys tease, there are several responses. A sister can fight back, but the day will come (soon enough) when the brother will be stronger. A sister can lash back with her words, and it has been my experience that girls are much better in the verbal department and soon learn to cut down brothers to nothing but a tiny speck on the floor. This however, is certainly not the response that God would want us to have, and usually just makes a brother very mad. Light teasing back is good…a bit of verbal sparring as it were…but sisters soon find that they can never win that way and things can quickly get out of control to land in the first two categories. The third response is to just be silent.

DO learn to hold your tongue.

Silence….ah, that is the sister’s best tool. To pretend you don’t even hear the comment in the first place, or to simply smile and walk away…it lets all the air out of the remark, and brothers usually don’t know what to do next. :)

The Lord has had to teach me a lot about ’soft answers’ and ‘holding my peace.’ Boys (much like men) don’t want to be bested by a girl, and though a sister may find it necessary from time to time to use her literary gifts to put a brother (generally a younger brother who is teasing inappropriately) in his place, she is usually better off just holding her tongue and sweetly walking away.

When brothers are angry – hold your tongue. When brothers tease too much – hold your tongue. When brothers say stupid things – hold your tongue.

This brings us to the third thing I think all sisters should remember…

DO remember that you are training men.

Of course, the sister herself is not doing the training since that is the job of the parents, but there is much she can do to help, especially with younger brothers. It is easy as a younger sister to just defer to my older brothers – to trust their judgment, let them make decisions, to respect them as men. When it comes to younger brothers, however…that is where things get a little scary. For a big sister who is more mature and generally makes better decisions to trust a younger brother who has not yet proven his reliability…it can be a hard area to ‘let go’ of, especially if said older sister is used to being the second Mommy.

But one day these brothers will be leading their own families. There will come a day when they will have to be in charge and make decisions. As the big sister, I can know exactly what needs to be done and boss everyone else around, but that is only remedying the current situation and not building character. By deferring to my brother’s opinions and letting him make decisions, I am not only letting him get experience in leading, I’m also learning submission, even when the decisions wouldn’t be MY first choice.

DO be a girl.

Brothers don’t generally want a sister who is just like another brother. My parents never discouraged me from playing with my brothers, and we would run around with toy guns, build forts, dam up the creek, play with walkie-talkies, ride bikes. But my parents did encourage me in girly toys as well – most of my time playing ‘boy’ games were done with a baby doll strapped on my back, a bonnet on my head, or a basket on my arm with ‘gatherings’ for supper. I never really got into sports, and I think my brothers preferred it that way. Having two brothers older than me, there was never a time when I could wrestle them down, so we never really got into that. (I think my dad would have severely punished them should they have seriously tried to wrestle me anyway.) I was the girl, and my interests definitely ran a bit different than theirs did. We had lots of common interests and loved to spend time together, but there was definitely a difference in our pursuits.

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Latest picture I have of the 4 of us – 2006? It’s been a while…

In my opinion, a sister that loves her brothers and loves to spend time with them can use these four things to make their relationship sweet. As my brothers and I are all older now, we still have very close relationships, being able to talk to each other about almost anything, and loving nothing more than to spend time together. We still love to tease as much as we ever did, and I have no problems respecting them and their opinions.

Do any of you sisters have any more suggestions to add?

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Just Call Me Milly

November 8, 2009 at 4:37 pm (Miscellaneous)

I live in a house of 7 tormenting little brothers.

With the exception of one, I have grown up with all of these guys since they were barely walking (I actually remember ‘babysitting’ some of them!). Of those, with the exception of two, they are practically my little brothers, being in ministry together and our families spending much time together over the years. And of course, one of those really is my little brother, who urges them all on to bigger and better teasing. All of them, missing their own sisters to torment, heap on my poor head all the teasing they can muster.

They call me Maid – affectionately so, I like to imagine. They like to choose interesting outfits in town that they think I should wear, they like to make up all sorts of deficiencies in my completed tasks, and they all are convinced that I owe my brother $20 from a bargain we made 15 years ago. (As I recall, I paid my debt, but they all think otherwise.)

It’s almost like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, except I really am a sister and not a wife captured against my will.

*sigh*

At the end of the day (and usually in the middle of the day too), it is very nice to have my own room to lock myself into. I’m fairly certain I would start knocking heads together otherwise. :)

Oh…here’s proof. :)

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Feeling Overwhelmed

November 4, 2009 at 2:56 am (Bible Reflections, Botswana)

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It’s a good morning in Botswana. Sunny and breezy…I have my coffee, my Jungle Oats, and a quiet house.

“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.” Psalm 61:1-3

MY PART: I am at ‘the end of the earth’ and overwhelmed…I should cry and pray to Him

HIS PART: He is the Rock, the Shelter, the Strong Tower…He will hear, attend, and lead me to the Rock

No reason to be overwhelmed today!!!

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Our House in Botswana

November 1, 2009 at 3:34 pm (Botswana)

I shamelessly stole some pictures from my brother’s Facebook page, because I am too comfortable at the moment to walk in the other room and get them off his camera. :)

This is the outside of the house we are staying in! The yard needs a bit of work, but it really is a nice house. There are a lot of us here right now (9 for now, 1 more coming this week), but it suits our needs. These pictures were taken from the front gate, and go in order from left to right across the front of the house.

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House 2
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Tomorrow I’ll have to get some more pictures of the back yard. We have some fruit trees, which I was very excited to discover! :)

This is the vehicle we are using while here:

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This is us when we all squish into said vehicle:

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A little cozy, huh? (Front to back, left to right: Dad, Mom (with a laundry basket on her lap), Rachel, Sam, Ben, Andrew, Nathan (unseen, but sitting behind me), Titus (with a green table balanced on his head), and Jon)

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My Kitchen Curtains

October 31, 2009 at 12:57 pm (Botswana, Interior Decorating)

You knew it wouldn’t be long before I had to redecorate something around here… :)

This house had some unique challenges. Of course, it needed a good scrubbing and a bit of TLC, but there were some further problems to be addressed. One of these problems was a set of shelves needed for the office supplies. My brother and I rigged up a 3-tiered bookshelf by taping together three paper boxes and setting them on their side. It works for now, but is starting to get a bit saggy. We may have to look into it a bit more. LOL

The first time we walked in the house, it was around 4 o’clock, and the afternoon sun was streaming (beating) in the kitchen window, heating up the entire house. From noon until the sun goes down, the sun shines straight into these windows in the back of the house.

My solution? I found an extra bed sheet (there were several sets of twin sheets already in the house), some clothespins, some strips of cloth to tie it back, and a pair of scissors to cut it up. The result:
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I’m pretty happy with the results, although it wouldn’t really work as a long-term solution. But it works for us, and the red of the sheet against the butternut yellow of the walls goes perfectly with the couple of Autumn towels we brought with us.

Here is the rest of the kitchen:

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Friday, October 30th

October 30, 2009 at 4:59 pm (Botswana)

Being on this missions trip has been completely different from any other one I’ve had. Other trips have been centered around three main endeavors: mass literature distribution, childcare, and computer/office work. It’s given me a lot of experience and made me fall in love with country after country. My love of travel and new experiences make missions trips very exciting and memorable, but this time, even though we’ve only been in Botswana for a week, I can tell it is different.

This is the first time I’ve been so involved with the people. Already I can feel my heart falling in love with this place and these people – even though outwardly it is probably the ugliest country I’ve been in yet (in terms of scenery, etc). In just one week, I’ve had so many opportunities with the people like I haven’t had on any other trip. I scheduled a study for Monday and it cancelled. It was a bit of a discouragement to start the week, but I chalked it up to “this is Africa” and the week moved on. By the time today ended, the number of studies I have done this week stands at five, with three different ladies, not counting some of the serious discussions I have had while handing out literature on the street. I have three more scheduled for tomorrow, and next week is filling out the same way. These are not normal Bible studies like I usually have in the States either – these are ladies hungry for the Gospel. It is like they hang on every word I say, and they ask so many questions! It is very humbling, very exhausting, and very exciting!

Already I am dreading our departure date.

I can’t give very many specifics on the blog for privacy reasons, but I do appreciate all of those who have been praying for us! Your prayers are being answered daily! If the first week has been this exciting, I can’t wait to see what happens in the coming months!!! :)

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Wednesday, October 28

October 28, 2009 at 4:40 am (Botswana)

It’s a breezy, sunny morning here in Francistown. All 5 guys got in safely yesterday and I can hear them now, having a planning meeting in the other room. There are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up, and we need some sort of schedule and plan for moving forward. The task seems too big and unattainable at this point, but where we are unable, God is sufficient. I really say that sincerely, because we are working with some odds against us. We are in a different culture, a different weather (exhausting heat), and a different time zone. Many things simply take more time to do and keep up with, just given the nature of this country.

I compiled a book of contacts yesterday, using a book that had previously been put together, a stack of postcards with scribbled notes, and several pages of names and phone numbers taken down by other people. These contacts range from already saved and baptized converts who have been studying the Bible since the beginning of the year to people just met on the street last week. The book numbers at around 70 people, all who we need to contact, meet with, and try to set up weekly or daily studies while we are here in the country. I think I am most overwhelmed by the number of ladies in the book which is almost equal to the number of men. My mom and I are responsible to contact all the ladies, but there are only two of us, where there are currently seven guys in the house to contact the men.

We also organized the correspondence courses, getting a workable system set up so that they will not take too much time each week. The post box must be checked every couple days, the returned studies graded, certificates printed, new contacts added to the database, and all the new studies mailed out. I’ve done correspondence schools in a couple different countries, but it is always an interesting challenge to learn a new postal system. There was quite a bit of literature in the house, spread around and not very organized. It all had to be inventoried and boxed up, the boxes numbered, and stacked in the garage. With so many people coming and going, it is good for us to be as organized as possible.

On a different note, I did my laundry this morning. :) There isn’t a washer or dryer here in the house, and though we do have the option of taking clothes to a laundry service, this of course costs money, and it takes them a couple days to get everything done. (As an interesting side note – when you take the clothes to the laundry service, they dump them into a huge burlap bag, then hook it up to a giant scale. You pay by the kilogram, 11 pula for wash/dry/fold and 14 pula for wash/dry/iron/fold. [12 pula=$2, and a week's worth of laundry for the four in my family weighed 19 kg.] They then dump the bag out and inventory every item by type – socks, pants, shirts, etc. You pay up front and are given the list of items, then come back a couple days later to take it all home.) Having limited clothing available to begin with, I think we are going to try to handwash as much as possible. This takes me back to my days in Thailand, when our washing machine decided to randomly streak our clothing with blue and red stripes. If I remember correctly, we finally got it fixed, but not before we spent a couple months handwashing items every day. It isn’t too bad if everyone takes care of their own clothing, and if you spend a few minutes every morning to wash your clothes from the previous day. If you let it build up too long, it becomes a bit overwhelming, as you can probably imagine. I don’t mind handwashing my own clothes, but I hope they don’t give me the job of handwashing everyone’s clothes. :)

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October 25, 2009 at 5:12 pm (Africa, Botswana)

Botswana is definitely not the same as South Africa.

It is strange, really, because I expected it to be. And in a lot of ways they are very similar, but there are some marked differences that I have noticed – just in my two days of being here in Botswana.

For one, the people are much friendlier. That is not to say that the people in South Africa aren’t friendly, it just seems that there is a greater level of friendliness. There seems to be more of a trusting of white people, a friendship mentality, rather than a server to the greater.

There aren’t many white people, though we have seen a few. This is very different from South Africa, where the towns are mostly inhabited by the whites, and the villages by the blacks. In Botswana, towns and villages are inhabited by the blacks, with a few white people sprinkled throughout. From those we’ve talked with briefly, it seems that most of them have fled from Zimbabwe for the time, or have moved here from South Africa to get away from the busyness.

Botswana is much more laid-back than South Africa is. (And that, right there, is saying something!) Things don’t happen fast. Lots of people still ride donkeys and mules, though that is mostly outside of town.

The house we are staying in is very nice, though in need of some TLC. The yard and house exterior is pretty run-down, and the bathrooms could use some updating, but for the most part, it is a beautiful house. Not new, but not old – tiled throughout, four bedrooms (all will be very full after Tuesday), two bathrooms, and a good-sized living area. When we arrived at the house, it was in need of a good scrubbing (after a year of short-term missions trips, mostly men…you can only imagine) and organization. As usually happens, everyone who came left something behind. Over time, it just became a grand unorganized mess. But it is all righted now…and we are happily situated.

There is internet at the house (yay!) but bandwidth is limited, so there will be no loading of pictures and videos without first locating an internet cafe for the bigger projects. When I do locate and visit the cafe, I will try to upload some pictures, however…I need to take them first. :)

Today we met with some of the people and had a Bible study service. We also went grocery shopping and stocked up on everything we need. Tomorrow is busy with some more errands as we try to find things around town and the first of the Bible studies (I think we have some scheduled every day this week). Then Tuesday we get five new workers – two from Chile, one from South Africa, and two from Pennsylvania. My mother and I will be the only females in this group, so your prayers and sympathies are much appreciated. :)

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