All on my own

Kyusik and the boys left about two hours ago, so I am all alone in the cottage now. We managed to do one last lunch at Gavas, the Zimbabwean restaurant that we really enjoyed once already.  Their slogan is "sadza with soul." They have lots of outdoor seating, and it's very family friendly. The last time we were there, there was a bouncy house that the boys used. We ordered the whole grilled bream (fish) again because we liked it so much, as well as a roadrunner (chicken) stew, and half of a grilled chicken with chips. The dishes all come with a side of sadza (maize meal similar to polenta), the equivalent of collard greens, and sugar beans. They also bring a little container of house-made spicy sauce. You only need a tiny dollop because it's so hot! Once your dishes arrive, they come by with a metal pitcher of soapy water and a bowl so that they can pour water over your hands to clean them. 

Afterwards, Kyusik wanted to drive downtown. There's not a whole lot to see other than a Parliament building and a square. We rushed back so that we could do one last run together around the Greendale neighborhood. As far as capitals go, Harare is quite sleepy and really lovely because you don't have people harassing you every time you step outside. We definitely got people who would assume we were from China but for the most part, we were often greeted with a friendly "Hello, how are you?" as it's rude to not ask how someone is doing before launching into conversation. 

I've been doing a lot of vegetarian cooking using NYT and Smitten Kitchen recipes. We went through a lot of red and brown lentils and a ton of local produce: tomatoes, onions, carrots, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and lemons. We also tried a huge avocado which we didn't enjoy because it's much sweeter than the ones we are used to and had to throw most of it out. The thing Kyusik, Bryce, and I really loved were the local passionfruit. We would buy lots when we went to Food Lovers, the upscale grocery store. After seeing how much we enjoy passionfruit, Enris, the regular cleaner who also cleans Viv's house, brought a bunch of granadillas, a close relative of passionfruit, from the tree on the property and bestowed us with a huge bag of them today. She has been teaching us all Shona, the language that a majority of Zimbabweans speak around here. The other major language, Ndebele, is mostly spoken in the South, near Bulawayo and the provinces where most of my work takes place. 

We were really lucky that we were able to borrow my colleague's friend's car, a Honda Fit that has a navigation system that speaks to you in Japanese. Apparently there a lot of used Japanese cars on the road here. I was never brave enough to drive because you have to drive on the left side of the road. It's a harrowing experience because you are constantly having to avoid huge potholes, unmarked speed bumps, and cars going into your lane, on the rare occasion when the lanes are marked. Some of the traffic lights at certain intersections are out, and every time you try to make a right turn, there are other cars doing crazy things, sometimes sneaking up behind you and passing you on the right side. Another interesting thing to note is that people still use compact discs to listen to music because the cars are so old and you often can’t get streaming services like Spotify to work because of lack of network.

The electricity has been a lot better the last few days, so we don't always have to rush to try to use the oven to bake cookies or bread or do the laundry. When it is out, we have to warm up bread and any leftovers on the stove. The first time I made beer bread, I had to try to finish cooking it on the stove because the electricity went out in the middle of baking. We went through close to 4 kgs of flour, with all  of the pancakes, Irish soda bread, beer bread, and cookies I made. Fortunately I had the foresight to buy 3 bars of Lindt chocolate (dark, orange, and mint) which I then used for chocolate chip cookies. We also made some good gluten free peanut butter cookies that don't require any flour. 

Here are a few photos of the drying rack behind our house, our lunch at Gavas, and the boys with Enris. You will see that Teddy finally got washed because Acadian was getting bitten while he slept at home and now here. We suspect that Teddy may have been a bedbug host. I've also included a photo of the sign at the nearby grocery store within walking distance, where we would often pick up a few items. As you can see, the exchange rate (in USD, international cards, and South African rand) changes daily and is much worse than the current black market exchange rate of 750 Zim dollars to 1 USD. Most menus don't even have prices on them because the prices are always changing, or they have a price sheet at the back that corresponds to each of the dishes, which I assume they change out when prices go up. 

I think we've all started feeling pretty homesick the last week. However, when it was time to leave, Bryce said that he wanted to stay, if only the electricity was on all of the time. The lack of central heating really didn't seem to bother the boys much at all. They would just hoard blankets on their beds. It was Kyusik and I who got cold at night, usually because we were staying up later. We started wearing blankets around our waists, joking that it was the latest Zimbabwean fashion. I am very glad that I brought my down jacket. We all went through a lot of vanilla rooibos and peach apricot rooibos tea that we had bought in Capetown. 

Kyusik and the boys are flying on Qatar Airlines from Harare to Lusaka, Zambia, about a 1 hour flight. They then have a 2 hour layover before their 7 hour flight to Doha, Qatar. After a 2 hour layover there, during which I hope they get some good Asian and Middle Eastern food from the food court, they board a 15+ hour flight back to SF, arriving on Sunday afternoon around 2 pm. I also really hope they will be able to rouse themselves from a nap in order to do a quick Costco run before it closes as we have no food in the fridge!