Thanksgiving, part two

Friday night’s Thanksgiving dinner was absolutely wonderful. Earlier in the afternoon, we brought another table over from Rosemary and Rafa’s flat, borrowed dishes and teacups from Nazi, and finished our preparations for the nine friends who were joining us (Zane, Helen, Bill, Rosemary, Rafael, Taraz, Nazi and their two boys). Luckily on Fridays, we get out of school at 12:30. We had lumenarias and candles all around and classical music in the background.

The menu consisted of four roasted chickens, garlic green beans, mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash, cranberry jelly (imported from Germany), Greek salad, and seeded whole wheat rolls. Helen’s partner Bill made a huge tureen of gravy and a British style stuffing (it was like a corned beef meatloaf that was quite good). For dessert, we offered pecan pie, a melk tart (custard pie) and watermelon. It was really delicious if I can say so myself.

Russ started the evening off with a round of American history and thanksgiving trivia, giving silent homage to his Uncle Don who was notorious for stumping everyone each November. The group was surprisingly into it. Next, everyone said something for which they were thankful followed by the silence that comes with eating when hungry. Colorful conversation included topics such as Formula One racing, interpretations of the Koran, and old American television shows that had been seen in the far corners of the globe. (Colombo, I love Lucy, and the Beverly Hillbillies were some of the favorites). It was a lovely evening and Russ and I were both thankful that we could give something back to the friends who have done so much for us.

Yesterday morning we were up early to go to the annual Kgale Siding Craft Fair. It was a massive array of vendors selling everything from beaded work to pottery to sculpture to plants to baked goods. We picked up a few small things and were glad to go early because it turned out to be a very hot day.

Later in the afternoon we went to the local (air conditioned) sports bar (O'Hagan's) with Zane and Bill to watch a rugby match between England and South Africa. I used to know all the players on the Springbok side when I lived in Namibia, but that was a long time ago and Zane filled us in on the team's strengths and weaknesses. The reining world cup champions beat England and it was an excellent way to spend the afternoon.

We also had Thanksgiving leftovers and probably will today too. Keeping the tradition alive. I really do enjoy a turkey (ok, chicken) sandwich with mayo, lettuce, and cranberry sauce.

Today was also incredibly hot and hopefully that means rain is on the way. We went to the mall because of the air conditioning and then to the school for a swim. We are thankful for the relaxed pace this weekend. Russ is almost finished with most of his school work (just a few more reports and then grading final exams). It is really hard to believe that we will be out of school in two weeks!

Giving thanks, part one

Yesterday, I found myself quite introspective. Russ and I decided to consciously take on a spirit of gratefulness and went around the school thanking people for what they do. Whatever problems the school might have, there are some wonderful people here. It is a odd feeling to be celebrating a holiday inwardly; no one here knew or cared much about the holiday which means so much to us. It was like we had a secret that we were kind of sharing.

There is something to living away from home that creates a certain disconnectedness, a feeling that because we are out of sight, we are somehow out of the minds of people back in the US. Russ and I had a long discussion earlier in the week about how while home is wherever we make it, there is a larger circle of friends and family that we are naturally missing.

I am thankful today for a great many things: my wonderful caring husband Russ, our families back home who we were able to skype with over the past two days, the new friends we have made here and the fun we have with them, for the second summer I am having (I really do like wearing sundresses and sandals), for better fruits and vegetables than I expected, for our slower lifestyle, for the brilliant blue sky with expansive puffy white clouds, for the coolness of the mornings and evenings, for the freer evenings ahead for Russ and me (his students move into exams next week), for the kids in our complex who always make me smile, for Imelda who cleans our house (she is really a gift), for reliable internet service here at the school, for so many friendly Batswana (their smiles are infectious), and for the upcoming vacation time. I do not miss the gross commercialism that so invades the rest of the world, particularly today. There is certainly Christmas advertising in the stores here, but it is fairly mild. So that is another thing to be thankful for.

Last night, we went over to Jill and Steve Thompson's house for Thanksgiving. They have only been in Botswana since January, but have carved out a life and career overseas for the past fifteen years. They reminded us so fondly of our friends Irene and John who we met thirteen years ago in Namibia and who had similiar backgrounds. Their house was a haven every time we visited them in Windhoek. Shelley, the other American teacher at the school and her family came as well. Working or contracting with the State Department has its pluses, and their house was a lovely garden compound hidden behind high walls, and had a full kitchen with all the appliances (a convection oven! a food processor!). I have to say I miss having a microwave. We sat outside and ate and drank over delightful conversations. We feasted on smoked turkey with all of the trimmings, even pumpkin pie. True to form, I think we ate too much, but there is nothing like this kind of comfort food. It definitely sets a standard for tonight, which I don't expect to be as gracious in our small flat, but still will be a very enjoyable evening with our friends. I will leave that for another blog later this weekend.

Copy that!

When I am not in the ESL or Learning Support rooms or a classroom, I take up residence in the science faculty room for internet access. This room also houses the school's SOLE color printer. Can you see where this is going? While the school has a few other black and white printers around campus, the schmancy color printer is the one of choice. It is amazing to see what comes through here. The room is quite hub of activity as teachers come to pick up their printing, which can be quite superfluous. While this is neither exclusively an African OR a teacher trait, it absolutely blows my mind as to what people choose to print. The kicker today - someone printed off 25 pages of a color catalog from the internet. Sizse, the technology guru here, patiently changes tonor about every other week and paper needs to be replaced about every other hour.

Some of you will remember the dog woes Russ and I have talked about. Our neighbor Lawrence had a dog who was constantly barking, especially when we went out in our backyard. Actually, he would always say that the dog belonged to his wife and not him, but fact of the matter is there was still a dog in his flat (I say his because since he is the teacher, the flat has been allocated to him). Anyway, the dog has now gone back to the Humane Society and we have a quieter neighborhood.

Looking for a sizable watermelon to take to the Thanksgiving dinner and pool party we have been invited to tomorrow by an American couple. While we have been promised turkey and pumpkin pie, it is too hot to have all the traditional dishes that I will try to recreate on Friday night for our friends who have never experienced a Thanksgiving dinner.

I forgot to mention that we went back to Sanitas this past weekend. Sanitas has the lovely cafe in the middle of their garden nursery that we discovered the previous weekend. We spent a few hours there as Russ corrected papers and I read a book while we also just talked. Finally found a proper cup of tea with warm milk and a real scone with clotted cream, so I was quite pleased with the whole afternoon. On Sunday afternoon, we went for drinks at the restaurant at the Mokolodi Game Reserve and that was an equally pleasant experience. These are welcome breaks for us both as Russ and I can unwind and talk about so many different things. The rest of the weekend was spent visiting friends and going for walks in the camel thorn tree forest close to our house. We usually run into cattle on these walks but our presence does not seem to bother them. It has been fascinating to watch the progression of new growth. Flowers, groundcover, and leaves are sprouting all over the place.

Much ado about nothing

First thing yesterday morning, we were told that DEFINITELY we would be going to the Immigration office for what would be the final step in achieving residency. So Russ and I juggled our schedules and waited for Diesel the driver to take us down to the office. Diesel is great about greasing the bureaucratic wheel at most government offices, so we were happy to wait for him. One hour turned into two, two turned into four, and then without much resignation Lydia, the administrative secretary, told us that the right paperwork was not yet done and that perhaps we should check back on Friday. With a smile, I told her that Russ' tourist visa expires next week, and with an equally wide smile, she told me it would be no problem. So, as Linda Newell told me many years ago, "trust the process." Ok.

THE QUEUE FOR THE DAY is at the bank (45 minutes), not to deposit a check into our own account, but to make a payment for a holiday trek into the Tuli Block in eastern Botswana. It's a cash-based society with few people willing to take credit cards. It is only November 23, but the end-of-the-month crowds have already started. It does seem that the end-of-the-month phenomenon where people are paid and spend their paychecks takes a good two weeks straight out of thirty days.

The December holiday essentially starts on December 10 and we are planning on going to the banks of the Limpopo River in the Tuli Block for a few days, then return to Gab to hopefully collect our shipping. If everything goes as planned AND we have our visas sorted out, then we will go to Zimbabwe for three weeks. If not, then we will stay in Botswana where we have another invitation to go up to the Moremi Game Reserve.

Setswana saying that I learned today - "You are making me hungry" (you say this to someone that you see a lot or run into frequently). Funny.

My lime green toenail polish is apparently causing quite a stir with the grade 3 girls. That makes me smile.

I really like working with my three ESL students who I see at least two to three times a week. There is a grade 6 boy from China, a grade 4 girl from Japan, and a grade 2 girl from Norway. They are delightful. Most of the other work I do is in reading groups with students who have learning issues.

Kgale Hill and the surrounding hills around the city are starting to remind us of the Berkshires in the middle of summer. Everything is so green and the vegetation is filling in previously barren and rocky land. Even in our backyard, grass is starting to grow although I would hardly say that we have a lawn.

Not living on bread alone

Tuesday was my early day at school and Russ’ late day (because of softball practice which fortunately ends next week). It is also usually a pretty good day to go grocery shopping. There are six chain stores here in Gab, and four of them are extremely close to the flat and school, which is a good thing because if one store is out of something (as it often is), you can quickly run into another.

Here’s a rundown. Woolworth’s is not your grandmother’s five and dime store and is in a class of its own. I heart Woolie’s for its organic, free range, comforts-of -home food options. This is where I get our red leaf lettuce every week and other treats like hummus, pita bread, and pineapple. Spar is the southern Africa answer to Stop n Shop as it has has most everything and the selection is good. Payless and Shoprite are my go-to stores when I don’t find what I need at Spar. The two other stores which are slightly out of the way are OK which is great for vegetarian and Indian food options, while also cheaper on staples; Pick n Pay has fantastic meat and bread departments and is second to Woolie’s for produce and hard to find items. Liquorama is the package store in the area, and World Foods is an outfit that caters to the restaurants but sell retail foods from overseas (we have been able to get German mustard, smoked beef bacon, polenta, pickles, cranberry sauce - for Thanksgiving next week and other delightful delicacies).

Here are some of the things on my list on any given week: Freshpak (rooibos) or Five Roses (black) tea; Black Cat peanut butter (not as frosting-like as Jif but still more than we are used to); Fig or berry jam; Ouma rusks (like a biscotti or hard biscuit); Whole wheat seeded rolls or bread (baked on premises); Bulgarian plain yogurt (fruit on bottom for Russ); Some kind of meat (chicken or lamb most often; but beef and wors also common choices, fish in this landlocked country is a poor option); Corn flakes (bought in one kilo boxes), weetbix or granola; Provita whole wheat crackers; Kalamata olives (taken out of brine and put in olive oil); Avocados, green beans, lettuce, bananas, pineapples, lettuce, other fruits (basically whatever looks good); Juice (guava, mango, pineapple – orange does not at all taste like Florida orange); some kind of vegetarian option (there are some so-so frozen soy products); Cheese (options are few, but occasionally we can find brie, camerbert, mozzarella. Woolie’s has stilton. We mostly get cheddar or gouda. Processed cheese abounds); English-style meat or veggie pies; Staples like rice, potatoes, lentils, peanuts, raisins, oats; Eggs (a teacher at school has chickens, so sometimes we get them from her); Crisps (potato chips) like Simba chutney or standard salt and vinegar; always a few cans of Coke and Coke Light; Handy Andy is a cleanser for around the house; Chocolate (usually some kind of a Cadbury bar).

So no, we are not starving. In fact, I have probably gained five (no wait, 8)pounds on the tea and rusks alone which I love.

It is a misty, cloudy day and the coldest one I have experienced in my time here. Kgale Hill is enshrouded in fog and it feels like we are more in East Africa than the desert. Great sleeping weather.

My queue for today was at the pharmacy where I logged about fifty minutes. We have good medical insurance, and it was no problem to fill prescriptions written in the U.S. The irony: while Botswana has the best HIV anti-viral treatment program just about anywhere in the world (free to everyone), our health insurance does not cover birth control, which while at a nominal cost still misses the point.

The rest of my day besides seeing a couple of children was to try and recover Russ' documents. We opened the computer and all of his documents were missing. He did a backup last week so all is not lost but it does mean some extra work. Sigh.

Fun in the sun...and the shade

We had SUCH a good weekend. With Gab known as a fairly sleepy city, we sure did a lot. I loved every new place we discovered. Late Friday afternoon we drove out to the Yacht Club at the Gaborone Dam with Helen and her partner Bill (who is here for 2.5 months from the UK), Zane, Chris, Afro and Roger. The club is open to the public on Monday through Friday and the bar at the top gave us a splendid view of this large body of water. We enjoyed our sundowners and then went down to the beach for a braai. This group likes to eat and that works for us; it seems like many of our activities are focused around food. I love that the evenings are so comfortable that I do not need a jacket.

I spent part of Saturday at the Riverwalk Mall, which has the best bookstore in Gab. It is easy to just lose myself there for an hour or so looking through travel and non-fiction books. But it also was an extremely productive morning as I was able to return two things without a long wait or hassle and I was also in and out of the bank fairly quickly. Small successes!

That evening we went out to Caravela, a Portuguese restaurant located downtown, with Helen, Bill, Rosemary, Rafa, and Zane. It was lovely sitting in their garden, which reminded us of O Portuga in Windhoek. The food was very good and it was a relaxing evening. I had the house special chicken and Russ had the traditional steak with egg in gravy.

We went to the Anglican Cathedral Sunday morning. Their first service starts at 7:30 because of the heat but they had large fans affixed to the walls. It's a wonderfully blended and vibrant congregation. After that we drove casually around the somewhat deserted city and found a bakery in the African mall and had a greasy, creamy, utterly delicious donut. Then somehow we ended up at Sanitas which is an amazing oasis in the middle of nowhere. Sanitas is a large nursery with all sorts of plants and trees. They also have a lovely tea garden and we spent another hour having the third part of our breakfast which pretty much carried us over to dinner. It was hard to even imagine we lived in the desert surrounded by so much lush foliage. I told Russ he could come here to correct his papers!

Russ really cranked out a good amount of school work. I was really impressed. He wrote four final exams which will be given in two weeks and wrote a number of reports (report cards here are in narrative form along with a grade).

Later in the afternoon we went swimming at the school's pool, which was a welcomed break in the day (and a nice perk too!) Shelley, the other American teacher, was there with her two kids as well. Last night, we poured over maps and books to get some ideas about how we might spend the December holiday which is coming up quickly. Instruction ends on the 9th and teachers are released on the 16th for a month. Stay tuned...

Pula and power

Yesterday was a monumental day.

We had our first real downpour yesterday (pula is the Setswana word for rain, also the name of the currency). It rained for almost 18 hours continuously, starting the previous evening. Up until now, we have had violent thunderstorms, but the rain only lasts about 10 minutes. This rain was the steady, cool rain that makes one want to stay inside with a book curled up on the couch. There are still huge puddles around, almost to flood levels in the some areas. This did not affect the students at all - they loved to play and splash in it during break time. It really cooled things off too; even now the temperature is quite pleasant in the low 70s.

However, I don't think the rain caused what is now an unprecedented loss of power. The power went out at 1:00 pm yesterday throughout the city and most of the country. It still is out for most of the city (the school's electricity came on at 6:00 this morning as did a couple of other areas). But the electricity at the housing complex is still out (it temporarily came on for two hours last night, thankfully for the refrigerator's sake). No one can remember when it has been out for this long. I expected to see more generators. I was in the grocery store yesterday and they seemed to be functioning just fine without power. However, there were people still in queue for the ATM after the power went on like somehow the money would still come out. Nothing like camping when you least expect it but we probably got an extra hour of sleep out of it.

I was in the middle of an ESL lesson yesterday when Russ came knocking on the door, completely out of breath, telling me we must go now nowto Immigration. This is something quite fascinating about Africa time which I learned a long time ago. Time can move very slowly, but when something actually really needs to happen, it must be now now as opposed to just now (which can mean it will happen anytime from ten minutes to four hours). So I hurriedly made a plan with the other teacher and off we went with Diesel, the school's driver. We were lucky to have him with us. Russ had already been down to Immigration earlier in the morning, filled out four pages of the residency application (again, as we had previously sent this in August), then found out we both had to do it simultaneously. The glitch was that we did not have the right size photos. We had sent "passport size" 2x2 photos which were too big. So our first stop was to the center of town where Diesel knew of someone who could take the photos quickly. We pulled into the parking lot where there were two guys with a chair, a sheet for the background, and a camera. We are the ones who should have had a camera to capture all of this. For 70 pula ($10), we each got four smaller photos, and then all the way to the other side of the city where the Immigration office was located. The officer was friendly enough, but Diesel really turned up the charm. The fee was paid from the school, our fingerprints were taken, and now it will take another four to eight weeks. But Lydia who is organizing everything from the school will try for an exemption, seeing as Russ' visa expires in three and half weeks. Russ missed a whole morning of classes, but that is common. Many people here have immigration issues, and when the call comes down from Lydia that it is time to go now now, they find coverage. It was the big excitement of the day. On the way home, Diesel paid our water bill, which was also nice because he cut to the front of the line (knowing people as he does).

I met a wonderful woman from Vermont who has been a psychologist here for the past six years. Apparently there is quite a community of mental health workers working as freelance contractors in Gab, which gave me some ideas of what I might do. It is very difficult to register with the government (let alone get a work visa) so these people mostly work under the radar and primarily with the ex-pat population.

An update on Zane's car still out in the middle of nowhere. It seems as though it is the crank shaft and it will take some time to fix, but it is safe at the chief's house.

A slight change in plans

After a week of teaching Grade 6b, having been told that I was needed for "consistency" until the end of the term, I am now no longer in the class. I am more needed for ESL and Learning Support for the primary and middle school. So, being the flexible person I am, I have switched gears and am working one-on-one with students for whom English is difficult or have other learning issues. I am also learning much about the school; there is a real fly-by-the-seat attitude where sometimes big decisions are made quite spontaneously, for better or worse.

I was sad to leave the grade 6 students. They were really a lot of fun. We were able to talk about it on Friday afternoon and I will continue to work with them to process the loss of their permanent teacher.

Zane made it back last night by taking three buses, having left his car at the chief's house back in the village. He will make the long trek this weekend to recover it and will travel half the way earlier this week to buy the parts with the mechanic. He really had a wonderful attitude about the whole thing and that is one of the things I like about him.

Living here is wonderful. Russ still continues to find school very challenging with certain difficult individuals and teaching within the antiquated, rigid Cambridge system that monopolizes the education systems within the former British empire. So we are taking things one day at a time. But work is only one aspect of our life here, and the rest of it is delightful. We really enjoy our group of friends and have settled in to the routine of getting around here.

We did decide to hire a housekeeper once a week and I do not feel guilty at all. It is just too much to keep up with the dust. Imelda has worked for Zane for years and is from Zimbabwe. I like her a great deal and we are both learning Setswana together.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Just in from out in the bush

Friday was a day off from school, so Russ and I left Thursday afternoon via caravan with Raphael and Rosemary, Zane and Helen towards Kutse near the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Basically heading more into the desert than we already were. We had two hours on paved road, followed by 1.5 hours on a bumpy dirt road passing countless donkey carts, goats, and cattle, followed by an hour in sometimes really deep sand to get to our campsite. Needless to say, we put our tiny Rav4 4wd into a tough test not to mention ourselves. The car handled fine, but this was some serious technical off-roading better suited for a larger car with higher clearance and larger wheels. More about that in a minute.

We were the last to arrive and hurridly set up camp with everything borrowed before it was dark. And then the magic began. Much like our trip to the dam a few weeks ago, the African night sky did not disappoint. Absolutely brilliant with distant planets changing colors, stars shooting across the sky, galaxies from a far far away covering large swaths of nightsky.

The temperature also dropped so that we were quite comfortable under a blanket in the tent Zane loaned to us. Normally we don't sleep under covers so it felt particularly nice. Right around 5 am on Friday morning we heard lions in the distance. Kutse is known for its lions. We waited and waited on Friday during the late afternoon for them to arrive at the watering hole without any luck. But we did see a number of quite shy and rarely seen animals during our drive arounds. Most notably, a den of bat-earred fox including seven babies which we visited every day, and a brown hyena. We also saw a black-back jackal, several springbok and steenbok, a few giraffe, and mongooses. On the birding side (and we are lucky to have Helen as an avid bird-watcher) we saw secretariat and korribusters (both really large flying birds), ostrich, a marshall eagle at our campsite as well as a few hornbills.

This is an easy group to travel with and we spent a lot of time lolling under the shady camel thorn trees at camp, telling stories, reading or talking. We were thankful for the shade as it was incredibly hot. We seemed to drink quite a bit of water and snack throughout the day. Even with all the water though, it seemed we were always thirsty. We kept the beer cold through Saturday and that tasted pretty good too. It was a dusty and sandy campsite and yet also incredibly lovely.

For as awestruck we were with the night sky, the horizon during the day was equally beautiful. Typical of southern Africa at this time of year, the sky was a vivid light blue with several puffy clouds giving the impression that they were carefully painted.

We ended up leaving earlier than expected on Saturday because while out in Zane's Pajaro (like a Landcruiser or Landrover), his oil light came on and some kind of oil was dripping pretty steadily. We drove back to camp to find the vehicle not running smoothly. So, here we are, thirty kilometers from the main gate which will take us an hour to reach. We packed up everything into the other two cars, left his at the campsite with hopes that someone could pull it out. In the meantime, we drove a further hour and half to find a mechanic who could come back to the game park's main gate to fix it. Zane stayed with the mechanic who then drove him back to the car and the rest of us headed back. Now, twenty-four hours later, we found out that Zane lost several bearings, that he had to leave the car there for the week, and is hitching a ride back. It does seem as though it is fixable. Zane is a pretty laid back guy, but the clear lesson of the story for the rest of us is that it is always better to take more than one car out when going on a drive about.

I was glad for the getaway. It is a beautiful part of the country and the camping was enjoyable. It is raining now, and that is another blessing of the day. Lightning and thunder however prevent me from typing anymore!

We learn as we go

The end-of-the-month craziness does not end just because the month does. Just until people run out of spending money.

Traffic in Gab often involves stopping for cattle which are crossing the road. Yet, people also seem more adapt at maneuvering rotaries (roundabouts)than in the US.

Prestik (the alternative to tape here, a sticky substance used to hang most anything) can really do a number on the walls. I recall this from Namibia when it is just about impossible to get it fully off. Goo gone would be a smart product here. People LOVE prestik. I think it is fun to fidget with when I get a ball of it in my fingers.

I am reminded that kids and school politics are the same no matter where you are, both the positive and negative.

I highly doubt I will remember all the differences between African English (AE) and British English (BE) spellings and pronunciation. Sometimes the words are the same in AE and BE like maths instead of the American English math. But is learnt really a word? I was corrected by a teacher for saying been like bin, instead of with a long e and a syllable and half. Sigh.

It is worth walking a bit further in a parking lot in the heat of day just to get a shady spot to keep the car cooler. I do not feel guilty about driving around two or three times waiting for one to open up.

Dirt is not always dirty, and rain is not always clean.

While email provides somewhat instant gratification, I realize that I miss letters. I am finding it hard to sit down to write and journal, although I seem to be doing quite a bit of typing. Technological evolution? Not having internet 24/7 though takes some of the immediacy out of the equation though.

Real maple syrup is worth every pula. I found some yesterday at Spar, about $12 for 10 ounces from Canada. But in the same trip, I could not find any decent bananas, avocados, or bread rolls. Go figure.

The formality of people's dress here is really amazing, especially considering the heat. Long sleeve shirts, sweaters, and pants are a common sight and I start sweating immediately when I see people outfitted this way. But people really look exceptionally nice.

Air conditioning is not overrated.

This experience so far has been incredible for our relationship. We would both say we greatly appreciate and support each other more than we ever did before. So, if nothing else goes right, this reason alone was worth coming over here.

Life in Grade 6b

I am absolutely exhausted after teaching the grade 6 class today. Last week, I accepted the position of full-time sub for this class, and now wonder what I have gotten myself into. They are a nice group of kids, about 15 of them, but they have suffered from a complete lack of structure over the past six months. The room was so cluttered that we spent a good amount of time just throwing papers away and cleaning up. Their teacher abruptly left late last week and will not return this year. The school asked me to step in, not so much for the teaching (I will follow the other grade 6 teacher's plans for all major subjects and they go to other rooms for "specials") but to guide the students through their last six weeks of school. There will inevitably be some counseling issues too as the teacher is terminally ill with what is the country's biggest problem - HIV. That is most likely the real reason I am there as the students have already been very concerned about it. We need to get through their big exhibition this week (they have been working on extensive social issue projects for the past eight weeks which culminates on Wednesday) before we start processing the loss issues. It's a bit heady but I am glad to help (when I am not completely tired out).

Russ just received his "permission to teach" today, which means we are one step closer to a work permit and residency papers. I am very thankful that we do not have to negotiate with the Ministries of Education and Home Affairs on our own. Already empathetic to the plight of immigrants in the US, going through this experience here has heightened our awareness to the total complexity of government bureaucracy. We also know a few people who are technically here illegally but only because of all the red tape. The issue of immigration, legal or otherwise, so contentious back home, is not so different than what other countries and foreign nationals deal with, but is far more complex than people think or through spouting political party lines.