I like words.  One of my favorite types of words is adjectives.  As a result, I have assigned an adjective to each foreign country in which I’ve lived.

To Italy, I have assigned the adjective beautiful.  Italy is a country of beauty, and Italians are a people who understand beauty.  They use beauty in every aspect of their lives.  Italians speak the most beautiful language and eat the most beautiful food.  They wear the most beautiful clothing and drive the most beautiful cars.  They build the most beautiful buildings, create the most beautiful art and compose the most beautiful music.  Even their hand gestures are beautiful.  Italy has the most beautiful landscapes, seascapes and sunsets.  Italy is the epitome of beauty.

To Taiwan, I have assigned the adjective fun.  My time in Taiwan was probably the most fun time of my life.  We went fun places, ate fun food and had fun friends.  I don’t think that I have ever laughed as much as I did during my time in Taiwan.  I laughed at the Taiwanese, I laughed at myself, I laughed at my family and I laughed at the hilarious and bizarre experiences we had in Taiwan.  When I think of Taiwan, I can’t help but smile!

To Jordan, I have assigned the adjective relevant.  Jordan is a relevant country.  For such a tiny nation, with virtually no natural resources, Jordan is very important.  It is important to the United States, it is important to the Middle East, and though many people don’t realize it, Jordan is important to the world.  Jordan is the only stable country in its region.  We lived in Jordan during a relevant time in the history of the Middle East.  We lived in Jordan during the emergence and growth of ISIS.  We witnessed the mourning and outrage of the Jordanians at the horrific murder of their pilot Muath al Kasasbeh  We experienced the humanity, generosity and compassion that Jordan exuded as Syrians refugees poured into the country.  Our world-view was forever changed because of the relevance of Jordan.

So, now we have lived for three months in South Africa and I think that I have found my adjective for this country.  I realize, of course, that after three years here, my adjective may change.  But for now, to South Africa I have assigned the adjective easy.  South Africa is the first country, outside of the U.S., where I look like a local.  Because of this, I easily blend in (until I open my mouth and they hear my accent.)  Jason and I are constantly commenting on how much South Africa reminds us of the U.S.  Their history is similar to ours, their landscapes are similar to ours and everyone speaks English.  I can purchase everything I could ever want or need in South African stores.  South Africa has big, beautiful highways like the U.S. Their cities are new and modern, like in the U.S.  And the staples of their diet?  Meat and potatoes!  It is so easy to live here that I often feel like I’m back in the U.S.; like this should not even be considered an overseas post.  It is so easy to live here!

Finally, I have lived in one other country.  To the United States of America I assign not an adjective, but a noun.  To the U.S. I assign the word home.

Spring has sprung in South Africa!  Pretoria’s nickname is Jacaranda City.  The whole city has turned purple and it’s spectacular!

I begin this post by saying that there are two things in this world that I despise:  snakes and rats.  Really, that’s it–that’s all that I despise.  Just one step above despise, in the loathing category, I would have to put cigarettes, cigarette smoke, cigarette butts, cigarette packaging, ashtrays, cigarette induced emphysema and lung cancer–pretty much all things cigarette related.  But that’s pretty much the only thing I loathe–cigarettes.

Back to things I despise:  Friday night I was alone in the house (hallelujah!) while Jason and the boys were at a rugby match and the girl was at her friend’s house.  I was enjoying a Project Runway marathon in the family room, when I looked out the sliding glass window and saw, not a snake, not a cigarette, not a snake smoking a cigarette, but a giant rat against the brick wall which surrounds our house.  A mere 30 feet from the open sliding glass door.

I! FLIPPED! OUT!

My pulse increased, I broke out in a sweat and my brain went into survival mode.  I could think of only one thing to do–and though it may be a bit unconventional and eccentric, it’s the only thing I could think to do.

I ran to the freezer, grabbed a giant handful of ice cubes, ran back to the opened sliding glass door, and while heaving ice cubes one at a time at the rat, I yelled, “DA** YOU TO HE**!!!” (minus the asterisks.)

After I had thrown all the ice cubes in my hands, I ran back to the freezer, grabbed another handful of ice cubes and did the same thing again.

And then I did it a third time.

It turns out that I have really bad aim, because, though I made about 25 attempts, I didn’t hit that rat a single time.

Not sure what the neighbors now think of us.

I’m afraid that my 11 year-old has been ruined.  I guess that it was inevitable, having lived outside of the U.S. for the past 5 years.  After all, she was only 6 when we moved abroad.

Today we went to the Hazel International Food Market.  One of the best things about Pretoria is all of the weekend food markets.  Hazel Market is amazing!

Hazel Market has food stalls from just about everywhere: South Africa, the U.S., India, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Morocco, Mexico, Holland, Belgium, Canada and there is even a food stall from our beloved Jordan.  And they are all AMAZING!  There are also stalls with fresh produce, cheeses, ice cream, raw meat, spices, jams & honeys, juices & smoothies, pastries, coffee, tea, beer and of course, South African biltong; it really is a food lover’s paradise.

This morning we all had smoothies and cinnamon filled crepes.  Then Noah had a bacon-wrapped bratwurst sandwich and barbecued ribs in a cup; Elizabeth had Indian curry and samosas, I had bean quesadillas with pico de gallo and guacamole, and Jason had some sort of German egg sandwich.  We all left stuffed to the gills.

Sounds good, right?  Well, here’s my concern:

Every time we have gone to the Hazel Market, Elizabeth has gone straight for the Indian food.  And anytime she has a choice of food, she will pick Indian, Thai or Arab.  Every Time!  And she will never, ever pick Mexican!

It’s un-American not to ever choose Mexican!!!!!  All Americans love Mexican food (well, ok, Tex-Mex).  And it’s always hard to find decent Mexican food overseas.  American ex-pats are always lamenting the lack of decent Mexican food.  Listen in on just about any water cooler conversation between Americans and it is probably about Mexican food.  And when we find even sub-par Mexican food, we gorge ourselves.  We have to!  I’m pretty sure it’s in our Constitution!

But somehow, my Elizabeth will always choose butter chicken over burritos, curry over chimichangas, and falafel over fajitas.

She’s completely ruined!!!!

Easily, my favorite room in my new house in Pretoria is the kitchen.  It’s big and bright and airy.

What you don’t see is that right now it reeks of burnt microwave popcorn.

When you first get to a new post, the littlest things can make your day.  Things like: finding just the right disposable heads for your husband’s razor (did that today), discovering a really great Indian restaurant (did that last weekend), or returning home from running errands and realizing that you didn’t drive on the wrong side of the street once (have yet to do that).  On the other hand, the little disappointments–you try to shake those off (I can live without Lysol for 3 years, right?)

But when really bad news comes, it’s hard to shake that off.  So here’s the news, both good and bad:

Bad news:  Yesterday we learned that our 7900 lb. ground shipment that was sent in June from the port of Aqaba in Jordan–which we were told was awaiting customs at the port in Durban–is actually not our shipment.  This was discovered when customs officials opened the containers and realized it wasn’t our stuff–though the paperwork said it was.  Not sure what was in those containers; maybe 7900 lbs. of Lysol (a girl can hope).  And furthermore, the State Department didn’t know where our shipment was.  Upon hearing this news, the first image in my mind was of my children’s baby journals lying on the bottom of the ocean somewhere off the coast of Morocco. (I’m a writer, not a scrapbooker; hence, my children have baby journals rather than scrapbooks.)

Good news:  By noon yesterday, the shipping company had located our shipment–not at the bottom of the ocean, but safe and sound on dry ground.

Bad news:  Our shipment spent the past two months traveling to the US–not South Africa.

Bad news:  It will probably take another 2-3 months for our stuff to get to us.

Taking deep breaths … trying to focus on the positive … don’t want to be one of those high maintenance diplomat wives … as long as my stuff is here by Thanksgiving … more deep breaths.

OK, I’m good now.

And so, in keeping with the vein of trying to stay positive, I learned my first word in Afrikaans–albeit, a rather strange word.  The word is pikkewyn which means penguin.  We live on Pikkewyn Ave.  Who else in the world can say they live on Penguin Ave.?  That alone is reason to stay positive for another 2-3 months.

We have now been in South Africa for 5 days, and in those 5 days I have felt the whole gamut of emotions:

Awe:  As we drove in from the airport and looked out over South Africa for the first time.

Excitement, then some frustration, then some disappointment, then some longing, followed by resolve:  As we entered out new house for the first time, then spent a little more time getting to know the house and all of its quirks.  The good thing about a new house is that as each day goes by, it feels more and more like a home.  Our house is beautiful, but there are some things we are going to take a little time to get used to–which is not necessarily a bad thing.

White-knuckled fear:  Driving on the left side of the road for the first time.  I’m afraid that I wasn’t particularly kind to my husband the first time he drove our rental car.  I may have yelled at him a couple of times when he was driving on the wrong side of the road.  Then when I drove for the first time, a few expletives may or may not have come out of my mouth as I swerved from the right lane to the left lane to avoid oncoming cars.

Joy:  Going to church on Sunday.  I felt at home again singing the familiar hymns and hearing the scriptures that I love some much.  Though they sound very exotic when sung and read with the local South African accents.  I can tell already that we are going to love our new ward and the South African Mormons.

Cold:  I know that cold isn’t an emotion, but I have felt cold a lot since arriving.  Currently, the southern hemisphere is in the midst of winter.  Pretoria has beautiful weather and the days have been mostly in the 70’s.  But at night the temperature drops and our house gets really cold and the heater currently only works in two of the rooms.  My blood is still thickening up from the summer we left in the US and I will admit that I have been a little whiny.

Delight: As Elizabeth and I visited her new school, the American International School of Johannesburg–Pretoria campus for New Student Orientation.  The campus was beautiful and the school had a nurturing atmosphere.  Jason and the boys had a similar experience when visiting the school’s Johannesburg campus where the boys will attend high school.

Frustration:  When I learned that, though our air and ground shipments are in country, we can’t get them until we have been granted diplomatic status–which could take up to three weeks.  In Taiwan and Jordan, we had immediate diplomatic status, so this whole process is new to us.

Gratitude:  For our social sponsors (a family who are assigned by the embassy to take care of newbies like us) who had our house all set up when we arrived; beds made, food in the fridge, toilet paper in the bathrooms, flowers on the table and a delicious hot lunch of authentic Mexican fajitas.  Then on Saturday morning they took us to an amazing international food fair.  And if that wasn’t enough, they then invited us over for a dinner party on Saturday night where they cooked amazing paella.  And they have been incredibly kind and generous answering all of my dumb questions.

Sadness:  Verging on tears when I realized that my tradition of making chocolate chips cookies for my kids arrival home from the first day of school (which I’ve done since my oldest was in kindergarten) will be virtually impossible.

Hope:  Probably the strongest emotion that I’ve felt in the past 5 days.  Hope that our kids will have a good first day of school tomorrow.  Hope that they’ll make good friends and be assigned good teachers.  Hope that they’ll find acceptance and that they will quickly acclimate to this new home.  Hope that Jason’s work will be fulfilling and that he will be appreciated for all of his wonderful qualities and skills.  Hope that I can quickly figure things out so that I can hold this family together and provide all they need at home.  Hope that we will quickly come to love South Africa as much as we loved Taiwan and Jordan.  And hope that I won’t lose my mind in the process of it all.

I think that we’re off to a good start.