The DipNotes

Ok, the weather here is monotonous.  Everyday is the same:

- Morning:  Warm, and humid.  Bright sunshine.
- Afternoon:  Hot, with heavy rain showers, perhaps two or three.
- Evening:  Hot and very humid.

This is the weather here every single day, all year long.   It’s like ground-hog day.  No wonder it’s so green and lush.  A couple of days ago I was walking home from work after an intense rain shower.  I looked down at a culvert were rain water from the street was pouring out into a gutter.  It looked odd.. until I realized that what was sop strange was how clean the water was.  It was like drinking water!  I’ve seen water that clean in fast moving brooks in New Hampshire, but never from a street culvert!  The huge rainfall here (8 feet per year), combined with how well the Singaporeans take care not to trash their city, makes the streets very clean indeed.

Anyways, if you visit here be prepared for walking in an open sauna.  Eye glasses will fog up as soon as you exit a bus, or any building in the city.  The dense hot air will punch you in chest.

I need a break.

I just booked a flight to Sydney Australia for a week.   I depart on the 9th of April after work.  A few days on Bondi Beach should help!

One of the things that I most enjoy about the Foreign Service is being able to witness unique cultural events that most tourist would miss – simply because many only occur one day a year.  The Hindu festival of Thaipusam.  This festival was not advertised very well, and I had no idea what it was, or when it was.  A local Singaporean staff member at the Embassy suggested that I should go see it as it was quite unique.  I couldn’t agree more.  In fact – I would say that was an understatement!

Thaipusam Banner

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival that commemorates both the birthday of Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of god Shiva and his wife Parvati, and also the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman. One of the largest celebrations of Thaipusam occurs in Singapore so I took this opportunity to capture some of the incredible devotion witnessed during this festival.

The most potent propitiatory rite that a devotee of Shanmukha (one of the many names of Murugan) undertakes to perform is the Kavadi (a burden). The Kavadi-bearer observes strict celibacy and only pure, Sattwic food is eaten. He abstains from all intoxicating drinks and drugs and thinks only of God.

The simplest form of Kavadi is the Paal Kudum, which may entail just carrying a pot of milk, usually upon one’s head. However, the benefits that the devotee gains from offering a Kavadi to the Lord are a million-fold greater than the pain that he inflicts upon himself. Thus mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with Vel skewers is also common. The simplest Kavadi is a semi circular decorated canopy supported by a wooden rod that is carried on the shoulders. They are decoratedwith peacock feathers, as the peacock was a mode of transport for Lords Murugan/Skandan/Kumaran). In addition, many have a small spear through their tongue, or a spear through the cheeks. The piercing through the tongue or cheeks keeps one focused constantly of Lord Murugan/Velan. It also prevents the devotee from speaking and greatly enhances endurance.

Other types of Kavadi involve hooks stuck into the back and either pulled by another walking behind or being hung from a highly decorated cart, with the incisions of the hooks varying the level of pain. The belief is that the greater the pain, the more god-earned merit.

In most cases, the Kavadi has many brass bells adorning it which announces the Kavadi-bearer as he walks along. Since the Kavadi-bearer very often observes total silence, the bells are the only signs of a Kavadi procession. Devotees and Kavadi bearers walk barefoot, on hot pavement along the journey – which can take several hours! One of the largest celebrations of Thaipusam occurs in Singapore. This years’s festival was held at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple. Devotees had to walk from this temple to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, a distance of 4 kilometers with the hot equatorial sun bearing down on them. Along the journey, family and friends offer drinks to keep the bearer hydrated and sing devotional songs and praises of Lord Murugan/Saravabavan.

By the time they reach the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple many are in a high state of religious fervor. They dance in ecstasy at the temple door, jubilant that they have accomplished the prayers without any hindrance, while a large crowd gathers and chants Murugan name. Music blares loudly through outside speakers and the whole event is awe-inspiring; there is divine radiance on their faces. It is claimed that devotees often experience the state of feeling united with the Lord.

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Here’s a photo of the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple.  This is here the festival started.  The temple, located in Little India (a suburb of Singapore) is the cultural center for many ethnic Indians.  There are several Hindu temples, as well as ethnic Indian shopping stores and food markets.

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Close up of the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Inside the temple, amongst exotic incense and hindu music, the devout where praying and offering food to their Gods and preparing to take their Kavadi.  Throughout the temple offerings were also made to other Hindu Gods.

Offering within the temple

The Sacred Cow

Goddess

The following Kavadi carts are pulled by the Hindu devotees as a burden. They must pull these carts four kilometers from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple.  The carts are made of heavy wood or metal with lots of decorations and statues.  Pulling these in the high temperatures and humidity of Singapore must be brutal.

Kavadi carts

The following photo shows a devotee adorned with small milk pots on his chest and upper arms.  Each brass pot is filled with milk and then hung on the man using metal hooks pierced into his skin.

Man with milk pots

This man is looking away (above) probably as a distraction to what is going on behind him, where three men are attaching ropes to a Kavado cart for him to pull.  The ropes are attached attached to the devotee with large hooks deep into his back!

Men tie ropes to a kavadi cart

To stand there and watch this man get pierced like this… was the most intense thing I have seen in years – probably ever. This was not a magic trick like you see on the streets of Vegas! With a loud chant, and quick stabbing, members of his own family stuck the hooks into the lower back. Then they added some smaller hooks at the top, and weighted them down with coconuts just to increase the pain.

close-up of hooks into the back

The ropes are almost ready.  Once the slack is taken up he will be off on his 4 km journey. The outside air-temperature is 88F with about 80% humidity. The pavement is scorching hot, so of course he’s barefoot.

Devotee about to pull his cart

This man was all pierced, and was about to have his ropes attached to his back.  All the jewelry on his face is attached with hooks, and there is a large hook pierced through his cheek and tongue.  Of course he had to have some milk-pots adorning his chest, attached with fish hooks which jingled when he walked.

Another man showing his burden

Here is the same man pulling his cart, some three km already. Note the shadow of the ropes. The little lollypop looking things on his arms are small face sculptures. I saw another man getting those pierced earlier.. it took about 15 seconds to do each arm.

Second man pulling his cart

Here’s another form of Kavadi. Many men had these elaborate aluminum frames that they had fastened to their waist. Then spears are slid down and pierced into the chest and back. Some then had their tongues and cheeks pierced in such a way that talking would not be possible.

Man getting pierced with long skewers

Here’s a nice action shot… Too bad you can’t hear the chanting, music and smell the incense!

close-up of man being skewered

Here’s another look at him, almost ready to head out.   The whole frame set with skewers weights about 15 kg (33 lbs) and will be carried the whole 4 km to the temple.  But wait.. what’s that guy doing to his thigh?

Man with his own kavadi of skewers

Oh yah.. he needs his milk pots too.    So we’ll just hook them to a tender spot!

Milk pots hooked to the upper thighs

Here’s a photo of another devotee, all set to start his journey.

Man with spears ready to begin his journey

The following devotee was a man I came across some 3 km away from the starting temple.  He has only 1 more km to go, but he’s hurting! It’s not such much the spear through his cheeks… but see those tiny brass milk pots hooked to his back?

Agony with just one kilometer to go

Oh yah.., that’s got to smart!

milk pots en-mass on this devotees back

And if that’s not bad enough…

Bed of nail shoes

Ok, so he’s now within earshot of the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, and the Hindu music is giving him a boost of much needed energy. In about 20 minutes he reaches the temple and his suffering will end. Hopefully he has endured enough of a burden to protect his family for the next year when he and thousands of others will do this again.

This year they claim just over 10,000 Hindus took part. Most did not endure this type of agony, but hundreds did. If you are ever in Singapore in April, 2011 be sure to stop by the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple and witness this incredible show of religious faith.

I’ll be there!

Almost there!

I took a stroll down along the Sinapore river at night and came across the Cavenagh Bridge, all lit up.  This bridge and one of the oldest bridges in Singapore and is the only suspension bridge here.   It spans the lower reaches of the Singapore River in the downtown/marina area.  The bridge opened in 1870 to commemorate Singapore’s new Crown colony of the Straits Settlements status in 1867, and it is now the oldest bridge in Singapore that exists in its original form.   By 1910 the bridge was found to be unable to cope with increasing traffic, and it was restricted to just pedestrians, as it is today.  By the 1990′s colored lights were added, and now the bridge is a main tourist focal point within the riverside area.  This photo was captured with 7 second exposure to capture the colorful night lights.

(for a larger version click here)

Over the last two weeks I have been having an increasing backache, that was steadily getting worse. By wednesday the 30th of October the pain was getting aggravating and I had occasional spasms that shot down into my right leg. I still went to work, but in the afternoon I called an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in in the spine – Dr. Tan Chong Tien.  He  agreed to see me that afternoon and I took a taxi to his clinic, which was located in a large hospital not far from the Embassy.

He examined me thoroughly and diagnosed a herniated lumbar disk. At the time I could still move well enough to walk, and so the decision was made to place me on muscle relaxers, an anti-inflammatory drug, and a medication that helps with nerve irritation. I was also scheduled for physical therapy to start the following week. I did some research online and discovered this was the normal routine. On the 30th (Friday), I was at work, and not feeling any better. I had to stay seated to hand out candy to our staff’s children who came door to door within the Embassy for a mini Trick or Treat event. I felt like crap! When I went home that night I was in much more pain, so I took my meds and crawled off into bed.

Friday night was not fun. I couldn’t find a comfortable way to stop the pain, and by Saturday morning I was in severe pain and virtually unable to move without shooting pain down my right leg. I called Dr Tang and he wanted me to get to his clinic immediately. I called a taxi and when we got there the taxi driver went to get a wheel chair and help. A hospital orderly wheeled me up to Dr. Tan’s office were he quickly examined me. A shot of demerol for pain and I was rushed up to the ward to await an MRI.

Herniated Disk

About an hour later I was wheeled to radiology and an MRi was done. By then the demerol had reduced much of pain, but my right leg knee was numb. When I got back to the ward an IV was started and Dr. Tan came up with the news. My ruptured disk was now much worse, and a lot of disk material has squeezed up between two vertebrae and was pressing on the nerve that controls my right leg. He said I needed surgery, and with my permission he would schedule it for the next day. We talked for a bit and he described what he would do. He needed to cut a small window through the bone in my spine, and use micro instruments to remove the disk material that was causing the pain.

That evening I was started on an IV drip of morphine and I sleep quite well! The next day I the usual lab work and chest x-rays as I was going to go under general anesthesia. I have asthma, so the anesthesiologist ordered me a nebulizer treatment to reduce the risk of me having an bronchial-spasm (asthma attack) during the surgery. I was wheeled down to the operating room and when I saw my surgeon I begged him to please not screw up the nerves to my right leg as I wanted to ski again! With that, I saw the anesthesiologist push some drugs into my IV.

Suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I felt like my lungs had no air, and I I was very disoriented. I heard my anesthetist tell me to breath slowly and that I was going to be OK. I tried to sit up but but he held me down and told be that everything was ok, and that my oxygen saturation was 100%. I didn’t understand why I was having this reaction or feeling and then slowly I realized that the operation was over and I was feeling the effects of waking up, and having the endotracheal tube removed. That was a terrifying feeling, but I do remember that as soon as I heard that my O2 sats were normal I calmed down and even though I had a hard time breathing I trusted completely in the crew that were taking care of me. I worked for over 20 years in the medical field (sort of a cross between a nurse practitioner and a paramedic) when I was in the Air Force and learned to trust my colleagues completely. This helped me remain calm while they continued to work on my recovery. I was also amazed that I had no memory of going to sleep, and was surprised to learn the surgery lated 3 hours.

Dr Tan told me that the rupture was worse than he had thought, and the disk material had worked its way around the nerve root and quite a ways away from the original damage site. My back was stitched up and I was left with a 2″ scar. Within a few hours I was more awake and had absolutely no pain or notable soreness. I could move me legs easily, and wanted to get up, but was asked to remain in bed all day and night.

The nurses were first rate, and checked on me all night. All I wanted to do was go home, but Dr. tan insisted I stay in the hospital for two days so he could watch for bleeding and any other complications. I refused all my pain meds, as I didn’t need any. I felt zero pain, over the next two days became quite restless and wanted to go home so bad. I am not a good patient, probably the result of being on the other side of the bed for so many years.

When I checked out I got the bill. In Singapore, everyone has health insurance – and foreigners are also expected to pay. I signed the bill which came to about $15,000 in U.S. dollars. That covered the inpatient care on the ward for 2 days, ICU care for 1 day, the operating room suit, the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, the lab work, and the MRI. I have the Foreign Service benefits Plan health insurance, which is a U.S. Government sponsored health care system much like what our members of congress get but with additional features for Foreign Service members serving overseas.  The Embassy picks up any costs that the insurance doesn’t which in this case was my deductible and co-pay. I paid absolutely nothing out of pocket, plus the Embassy agreed to pay for any care that I receive relating to this incident for the next 12 months. This is one of the benefits we get when we are admitted to a hospital overseas.

I took the rest of the week off, and had time to think about this whole situation.  The medical care in Singapore is so good that the U.S. State Department sends its members here for care from posts all around the Pacific.  I had called a leading orthopedic surgeon, a specialist in spinal care, without a referral and got in to see him that same day.  When I needed an operation, I was admitted to a first rate hospital within hours of calling and had high-tech micro surgery done within 24 hours.  Singapore healthcare is first rate – and is definitely Government sponsored.   Yet I never saw or heard from a single bureaucrat during this whole incident.  All my care was worked out between my doctor and I.   There was no government and no insurance company people involved at any time.

I also felt pretty good that I worked for an organization that helped me when I was down, and gave me the time to recover. And not having to pay a medical bill is the best part of all! I hope someday all Americans can enjoy the same access to quality health care every other industrial democracy in the world has – with the sole exception of the United States. I think its hypercritical for our members of Government to deny our citizens the same access to healthcare they enjoy themselves.

I went for a short stroll behind my house, which just happens to be the Singapore Botanic Garden.   It’s A wonderfully beautiful place, just a few minutes walk from my door.  This free park is about 1.5 miles long and is only botanic garden in the world that is open from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight every single day of the year.  The gardens, now over 150 years old have over 10,000 types of plants and trees, including over 1000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids.  The Singapore Botanic Garden also includes access to the National Orchid Garden, a visual spectacle of over 60,000 dazzling orchid-plants set against contrasting textures and shapes of tropical foliage, creating a feast for the senses.  Additionally, this is one of only two city parks in the world with tropical lowland rainforest within the city boundaries (Rio De Janeiro has the other).  The Garden also offers lots of courses from bonsai tree growing to a Nature Photography course which I signed up for in June/July.

While I was visiting the Garden, the weather suddenly turned and dumped a few inches of rain within a very short time , and then it cleared up just as fast.  It’s no wonder Singapore has an average precipitation of 7.5 feet of rain per year!

I got in to Singapore last evening, and was greeted by my boss and my co-worker.  The three of us make up the office, and it was a nice gesture to see them at the airport!  My sponsor (a Foreign Service Officer in Public Affairs) was also there, and he took me to my new apartment.  I was told I may have to spend a few days in a hotel upon arrival, but the Embassy was able to have my condo ready for my arrival so I got to go straight home.

The weather was quite warm, probably low ’80s at midnight, with the humidity around 80%.  I spent about a 1/2 hour chatting with my sponsor, and he showed me around the apartment.  I have a lot to read, with a large packet of material on both the condo, appliances, Embassy guidelines for Singapore, and lots of brochures from the Singapore tourism office.   My sponsor is picking me up at 10 AM to take me to the Embassy so I can start in-processing, so I crawled off into bed and left everything in the suitcases.  The next morning I awoke to the sounds of unique bird calls, as my apartment is right next to the Singapore National Botanical Gardens.  I had a look around the condo grounds, and then got ready for my first day at the office.

U.S. Embassy, Singapore

The Embassy looks brand new, but that’s just because it was very well built, and well taken care of.  I have never been in a building with so much marble, except in DC.  It’s quite a beautiful place to work.

My office is (as it was in Pakistan) the Regional Security Office (RSO) and seems like a nice work environment.  We have a computer dedicated to playing music and a good sound system – something that is quite rare in the more secure areas of an Embassy – and I think the only such system in the whole building.  My boss told me to bring in as much music as I wanted and we’ll blast the place with tunes!  I like this place already!

I had shipped a bunch of boxes ahead of me, and they are all stacked up in a corner here.  Some have office junk from Pakistan, and then there’s a few boxes of dry goods from the USA that I shipped while in New England.  I also packed 2 large boxes of clothes so my suitcases would be lighter – but clothes that I wanted to be here before my normal airfreight from Pakistan arrives.  In theory, airfreight should get to our next destination long before e do, but the reality is that they often hold on to it until we actually show up at post, and then arrange to send it out.  It can take a few weeks to arrive, so I mail a bunch of items too, which always seems to work well.

Korean Chicken Noodle Soup

At lunch, I was taken to the nearest mall (3 minute walk) and introduced to the #1 method that Singaporeans eat out – the Hawker center.  These are an assortment of food stands inside “food courts” where a single family cooks specialty dishes, all from scratch.  Unlike the USA where mall food is pretty much the same from mall to mall all across the country, in Singapore there are thousands of hawker stands and each one if different.  The individual shop owners cook family recipes handed down from generation to generation, all cooked to order.  Prices are quite inexpensive  and my first taste of Singapore was Korean chicken noodle soup, which also had crab, beef, tofu, and an egg in it.  The cost, with rice and some kimchi was $4.50.  I’ll try more adventurous dishes later.

To drink, I enjoyed a fresh juice made from fresh mango’s, bananas, and pineapple.  The Singaporeans love fresh fruit, and fruit stands seem to be everywhere.  While they certainly serve cut up fruit (with many varieties I have never seen), they also all will be happy to turn them into juices or even smoothies.  I think for every person I saw drinking a soft drink, there was probably 30 to 40 who where drinking fresh juices.

I stayed at work all day, and only left when my boss left.  First impressions are important, and jet-lag was not too bad – I think a new office, new co-workers, and a new building were exciting enough to keep me awake.  Tomorrow may a bit tougher!

I decided to walk home, as it was a straight shot from home to the Embassy, and didn’t seem too far, plus, I had not yet bought a bus pass, nor do I have any idea yet how to use them.  In the Foreign Service, when we first arrive at a new post and have no clue where we are, what to eat, how to get around, etc… these first days are the most exciting for me!  Within a few days I will settle in to the rhythm here, and quickly get used to my surroundings.  The mystery will be gone.  I can’t peak for all Foreign Service members, but I LIVE for this feeling!  I feel so alive, and full of wonder, like a child on his first day to a zoo or amusement park.

My walk home

The walk home was an easy 20 minutes.  It took me past the Botanical gardens, and along a straight road to my apartment.  One nice thing here is that you don’t see any trash on the streets and sidewalks, not a cigarette butt, bottle cap, or anything except a few leaves.  The air is clean, and the amount of green has certainly surprised me!  I will admit though, the humidity here is nasty!  I walked just 20 minutes and was covered in sweat.  I hope I can acclimatize to this!

The next morning (Saturday), one of the first things I did was dig out my bathing suit from my suitcase and jump in the pool.  The outside temperature was about 88F an so this felt so good!  In the afternoon I’ll head downtown to learn how to use the bus and metro system and start to explore my new city.

The pool

Poster for 80's Night

There is virtually no entertainment in Islamabad, and certainly no dance clubs.  So I decided to organize and host a “Back to the ’80s” costume and dance party.  The Embassy had a club, and offered to let me use their patio, speakers, amplifier and offered to run an outdoor bar and buffet.

I created a large poster, and pushed the advertising all over the Embassy grounds.

During the weeks leading up to the event, I downloaded ’80s music videos and played them at the club during happy hour.  And then on the day of the party, I was granting Embassy Access requests and saw that 78 foreign diplomats (many Brits) had requested permission to come. Word of anything SAFE and fun spreads like fire here, so my diplomat access list also contained names of Turks, Australians, French, and Kazakhs! I have no idea how a person from Kazakhstan would dress for an ‘80s costume party!   I even got a request from Nick Schifrin who is a reporter for ABC News.

After setting up my DJ station, I went into the club’s bathroom and dressed up for the night.  As I walked back to the dance area, no one recognized me, not even the staff who had been working closely with me for the past hour.  I found a vintage Apple t-shirt on eBay, some rainbow suspenders, a great head of hair, blinding white paints, and some shades.  Perfect ’80s Apple tech geek mixed with that ’80s dance floor hair.

The party was a lot a fun, and we blasted ’80s music until 1:am.  Due to a curfew we had to end the party at that time, but we were able to dance for 6 hours.  What a blast!

my '80s DJ outfit

In addition to Singapore being much closer to Megan, they told me that they want me there as soon as possible, and the State Department has agreed to let me leave here 1 month early and still get my two R&Rs (free vacation trips). I now leave Pakistan in September, 2009.

Singapore – great food, low crime, travel opportunities - should be a fun assignment!  Singapore is one of four remaining true city-states in the world. A city-state is a sovereign nation onto itself, that fits entirely into a city. The other three are Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. The city is located at the tip of Malaysia, about half way between India and Australia. It’s larger neighbors include Thailand and Indonesia. Vietnam is a two hour flight.

English is the main spoken language, so I will not be getting language training.

Singapore’s economy is close to what the United States had in the early 20th century. Huge exports, while heavy taxes on imports. The bulk on the government’s budget is paid by import and export taxes, so individual income tax is low. It’s ports are one of the busiest in the world, and unemployment stands at 1.7%. Cars are expensive, and driving during business hours is heavily taxed, so it’s internal transportation system is fantastic.

Criminal punishment is quick, and severe, making Singapore one of the world’s safest cities to live in. But they have also criminalized a lot of small things in the interest of keeping the city clean and healthy. Fines are given for spitting in public, all pornography, public drunkenness, sleeping on public property, riding a bike across the street, and many many more. Drug laws are extreme – with death being a popular way to deal with drug dealing and smuggling. First offense. But the city is also ranks at the #1 spot by the UN for not having any slums, and you walk in any area of the city at 3AM with no worry.  Everyone has health care, and unemployment is less than 2%.

The government is a parliamentary democracy, and is a multi-religious country, with a slight majority (51%) practicing Buddhism and Taoism. About 15% practice Christianity, and Muslims constitute 14%. About 15% of the population has declared no religious affiliation. While multi-religious, they have complete freedom of religion, as proselytizing is illegal, including unsolicited distribution of religious materials. The effects of this religious tolerance means that cross-cultural violence is rare, and national holidays include  popular festivals from many religions.

Singaporean cuisine is an example of diversity and cultural mix, with a fusion of Chinese, Indian, Malay and Tamil foods. Chinese food stalls introduce indigenous Malay ingredients or cooking techniques, and Singapore cuisine has been a major tourist attraction. The country has a tropical rain forest climate, and sits just 80 miles north of the equator, so there are no distinct seasons.

I think I could enjoy this place… but as always, I don’t want to get too excited until the wheels are up. Like the military, nothing is absolute until I’m there. But as of today, this is my most likely next assignment.

Last night, I awoke at about 4:10 am, when I heard a click sound.    It was that sound an old alarm clock makes when it attempts to go off, but you didn’t turn the alarm on.  Click.  That’s was it, but it was enough to wake me up.

I immediately look at the clock, which is how I knew it was 4:10 am.   Seeing that the alarm was on, and that I still had almost two hours to go before it would go off, I laid back down and tried to fall asleep.  I did, however, wonder what the click was…  As I started to think more clear, I realized that my electronic alarm clock doesn’t “click” – so something else must have made it.. but what?

It was dead quiet, and totally dark.  4:12 am .. and I’m laying in bed, sprawled out on my back. getting cozy.

Then, it seemed someone had grabbed the foot of my bed and began to rock it forward and back.  It was quite violent; enough to make me think someone was in the room with me – which scared me briefly.   It wasn’t long, maybe 3 seconds later, that I began to realize that “This must be what an earthquake feels like”!  I had never experienced one before, but I had heard on the local news of a minor tremor the night before – which I had slept through.

Now the rocking was quite consistent, back and forth, not side to side.  I held on to the mattresses and enjoyed the ride – waiting to see if it would get worse and if so, I would have to run to the door frame. It didn’t increase.    Back and forth.  Rocking.  I did hear, very slightly, a low base rumble.  It was like someone was driving a train down the road – but the sound was extremely deep and faint.  I live near a steep mountainside so I thought for a moment that a landslide was coming down, but that never happened either.   At that same time all the crows in the trees outside my house took off and began to squawk – if that’s what you call it..  It sounded like Hitchcock’s “The Birds” outside.  Very creepy indeed.

So this short event lasted about 10 to 12 seconds and after a few minutes the event was reported by the USGS as being located in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan and there where no reported damage or injuries in Pakistan.

Here’s a link:  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009bkcf.php#details

I wonder how many of these I will get while here?

I met my new housekeeper tonight, and his wife and son. He will come by twice a week to do some light housework, which I can use since I am now working about 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. He had worked for the previous American at this house, and works for our Management consular as a housekeeper and cook. I hear he’s a very good cook, both American and Pakistani, and since I love to cook I asked him and his wife to teach me how to cook Pakistani cuisine (similar to Indian) while I am here. Mmmm How much does a housekeeper cost? $6 a day. So I hired him for 2 days a week, but since I had two extra servants apartments” on my property that were empty, I am letting him stay there for free, along with free electricity, and hot water. Plus his family is now much safer than before.

He has a young boy that is learning English and is quite bright. His school has no computers so they are teaching kids about computers by only reading about them. I’d like to find an old cheap iMac on-line – something in the $50-$75 range and give it to him. Anything is better than nothing at all – and there is no way his family will ever be able to buy any sort of computer. I figure if he can learn to type and use a computer, his chances for job will be a lot better than his dad.

Here’s a fun story.. I have been in this house now for 5 days, and every night I made extra food for my night guard. I have two guards who live in in two of the remaining servants quarters. They cook outside on a nasty grill and have virtually no concept of food sanitation.

So this week I made New Mexican Green Chile Stew (vegan), Spaghetti with home made chunky tomato and mushroom sauce (Vegan), and last night was Southwest Chile made with ground turkey served over green chile corn bread. I gave him a plate and he was so thankful and happy.

Tonight, I told my housekeeper (name withheld for his security) that I was making Southwest Chicken Chowder and would give my guard a bowl.   My housekeeper (who speaks fluent English) told me I should not feed them, because they will not eat anything I make. I told him that have been feeding them all week, and they enjoyed it.  The housekeeper, who knows the guards well from working here before, told me that “no, they throw the food away” but will not refuse my offer because that is rude. I asked him why, and was told that the guards are “old school” and feel that Americans do not eat proper and eat dirty things, so they could never eat our cooking.

Then my housekeeper laughed and said that the guards have no brain, since we buy all our food from the local (Muslim) markets and stores. There is no pork in this country. And then he smiles and says “have you seen how THEY cook? And they call YOU dirty?”

So tonight, just to be sure, I asked my housekeeper to go out and ask the guards if they would eat some Chicken soup, with no pork. I specifically wanted to know if he would throw away my food, and if so, I would not bother feeding him again.  He came back and said that the guard claimed that he would indeed throw my food away, and will never eat anything I cook.  So no New Mexican Southwest Chicken Corn Chowder for them!  Oh – the guards did, however, ask if they could have an extra 500 Rupees ($6.50) a month for tea!

OK, on a better note: Back in August when I got this assignment, I wrote the Embassy and told them that I wanted any sized home as long as it had a big yard for a vegetable garden. So I get here and I am offered this home, which is really quite nice, but it has a huge back yard, in addition to the lush flower gardens in front. There’s also banana, pear and mango trees. So I also hired the Embassies gardener (again, name withheld), and two others to take care of this property. I then told him that I wanted to dig up a portion of my back yard for a large vegetable garden, so that he and I, and our housekeeper’s family can share in the bounty of fresh food. He was shocked at first, but then elated. It seems that I am the first and only American here who has offered to grow food. Everyone else just wants grass and flowers. I had had some seeds with me from the USA, and gave them to him. There is no translation for Acorn Squash or Zucchini in Urdu, as these things are not native, and have never been imported. I will help with those items, I told him. But the Roma tomatoes, Romaine lettuce, sweet corn, carrots, peppers, onions etc.. they all know those!

So I come home two days ago and I see that our large plot has been tilled, and fertilized. But as I get home tonight, I see someone out back working in the dark. It’s the gardener working in the vegi plot. As I walk out I see what they are doing, I see dozens of young plants already in the ground! Winter crops he explains. My seeds are summer crops, so he went out and bought cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, and who knows what else. I have to get the list translated. But he was smiling, and was so happy working in a garden other than flowers.

That’s when I dragged a large box that came in the mail today. I had gone on Ace Hardware’s on-line store and ordered a shiny new set of garden tools, work gloves, and a pruning set. I gave them to him and it was like watching a kid open presents at Christmas. He was so happy and gleaming. As I turned away to head back into the house, he runs up and tells me that he is going to now plant many more flowers around the house and he wanted to show me exactly what he would plant. He opens up a folded booklet of flowers from a local florist and starts to point at dozens of assorted flowers, from pansies to petunias. I told him that I couldn’t afford that many flowers, and he stops me and says that he will get all these from cuttings and extras at the Embassy (read – that any way you wish). “No money” he says. So now I have a very happy gardener who is going out of his way to decorate my yard (like it needs it!), while I’m just happy to have some fresh broccoli. I just hope he can keep the monkeys away! My house is right next to some steep mountain hills, part of the Himalayas just an hour or so from Kashmir.  I have monkeys in my yard and they keep steeling my bananas!

If this country was not in the sad state of affairs it’s in now, this would have been a great assignment for a family.  I wish I could post a Google map of my home, but the threat to my life here is too great to pinpoint exactly where I live.  Crazy place here.

Suicide Hotline -Al-Qaeda style

This was displayed in my office when I arrived.

The Regional Security office (where I work) is filled with Diplomatic Security Agents who constantly research and analyze the security threats around the Embassy and our host country.  They also provide protection to visiting Government personnel.  With all the terrorism here, it is no wonder they have a warped sense of humor, as the following cartoon demonstrates.

After the FACT Training, I headed home to visit my family in Vermont and New Hampshire.  After a week, I flew back to Washington to catch my flight to London, where I’ll spend two days resting.  My office partner in Islamabad warned me that the pace was very high in Islamabad, and I had better get rested up before arrival.  I’m took her advice!

I had a good time in in London, and took in two plays; Chicago and Lion King. I also downed a ton of street food in the West End, and drank a bit too much cider and mulled wine. It was quite cool here – with that damp air that bites through your clothes. After I landed at Heathrow I took a train downtown to Paddington Station. As soon as I left the train and walked the streets, I was struck by the air that has that characteristic London smell – a base of diesel, mixed with ginger, soy and frying oil. Then add some fresh fruit from the open fruit stands and a splash of tandori, doner kebap, fried fish and chocolate. Mix it with a lot of humidity and a light misty rain and add some floating cigarette smoke and you have the perfume of London. Mmmm. After 3 days I boarded Pakistani Air and flew off to Islamabad.

What a trip. There were 3 white dudes on a packed 777 full of people who look like the guys you see on TV blowing themselves up. It’s hard not to stereotype, so when when three guys got up at the same time and stood next my seat for no apparent reason I took my headphones off and unbuckled my seat belt. They then waited… and waited…. until someone came out of the bathroom and then the three guys became two. I didn’t sleep on that trip.

Dinner was either a “Pakistani” dinner or “Chicken or Beef”. I asked, and was told the Paki meal was chicken curry. I looked up and saw an old lady, maybe 70, enjoying it, so in the spirit of adventure I ordered the Pakistani meal. The tray had chicken curry, white rice, and some sort of custard pudding. Oh yeah.. a regular bread roll too. Before I braved the curry I decided to play it safe and eat some rice. My God! The plain white rice was hotter than New Mexican jalapeños! My mouth was burning and I downed a full can of coke to little effect. I rubbed my tongue on the bread and forgo the rest of the meal. How can any human eat stuff that hot? The “hot” Indian / Pakistani food you find in the U.S.A. must leave a lot of Pakistanis disappointed.

As soon as the wheels hit the pavement, and the plane was careening at over 150 miles an hour down the runway, everyone jumped up, grabbed their stuff from the overhead compartments and ran to the door. The mob in the isles was unreal. The plane was still speed along and at every bump, the crowd would sway over and crush people in their seats. You could just make out the faint voice of a steward politely asking passengers to “remain in their seats until the captain turns the seat-belt light off”. Not a chance in Hell.

When we got to the terminal, the luggage belt was way too short, so after about 1 minute it was full of suitcases, bags, boxes, loose clothing and the occasional kitchen appliance – which must have escaped from the various grocery bags torn to shreds on the belt. Then the belt would jam, and we waited for several minutes for it to start moving again, only to repeat the whole thing over and over again. It took an hour to get my first suitcase, and another 20 minutes for the second. Meanwhile everyone (over 300) was crowded around the small belt three rows deep, trying to get a view of their belongings. My case made two trips around before I could get it off the belt. To make this more exciting, smoking was allowed in the terminal so the room, with no ventilation, was a wretched collection of body odor and cigarettes. How I longed for the pleasure of that London smell again.

I finally made it to Islamabad. Due to the recent increase in terrorism here, no one is allowed to stay in hotels. Therefore I have been put into a large 5 bedroom house with two other diplomats until my permanent house is vacated by the outgoing FSO. That should be around the middle of November.

The Embassy is situated in a large diplomatic compound, well set back from the main roads, and houses many Embassies from the Indians to the Brits.

I talked to the current occupant of my permanent home today.   He said it will be about a 20 minute ride to work. It is situated in some beautiful hills north of the city, and is quite a large place with a good sized back yard. The servants quarters are attached to the back of the house, and have 5 separate rooms. I gave two rooms to my armed security guards so they can live in the safety and comfort of my home compound. Otherwise they would have to live out in a rural village, with no electricity or heat. Having them stay here when off duty also gives me the added firepower should I need it – and gives them additional incentive to protect the property. I have no fear that a criminal would dare try to break into my house. The guards are each armed with shotguns which they carry all the time. However, I keep a watchful eye out for terrorism, and make sure I am an unattractive and difficult target. I want them to give up on me and search for easier pray – some other fool, less concerned for their own safety than I am.

I also will have a nice chef and his wife as a housekeeper, whom I will I hire for 2 days a week. They were working at the residence for several years and I will also let them stay in two other servant rooms for free, which they really appreciated. They have a small baby and needed a place to stay as their other home is being demolished.

The Embassy transports me around in an up-armored vehicle for safety.  Getting to/from work should be fine.

My boss has a with a thick Boston accent and is an avid Red Sox fan. My coworkers are quite nice too, and none are workaholics. I think I’ll get along great with these folks.

I think I’ll stay home this weekend, and if nothing dramatic happens by next week, I want to head to a local market and price some Persian carpets. I’ll post some pics, as soon as I get a camera! Megan took ours to Fiji with her.

About 3 hours northeast of our home lies the Marakele National Park, a wonderful little campground that is not very-popular, so you can enjoy the park without seeing too many tourists. The park is situated in the middle of the Waterburg Mountain range, near the boarder with Botswana. The 4×4 trails are virtually empty and it makes an ideal place for astronomy (I am an avid astrophotographer). The park costs about $12 a night to camp with your own equipment (Bontle Bush Camp) and $80 a night for a Luxury Safari Tent (Tlopi Site) with fully equipped kitchen and private shower. Megan and I stayed one night at each camp and enjoyed two very different experiences all in the same park.

The Bontle Bush camp is situated near a watering hole, and you get to camp out in the open, with nothing between you and the wildlife. The park is fenced however, and predators are kept away from this part of the park. It is, however quite a shock to wake up and find rhinos grazing about 20 feet from your tent!   The next day, I drove around and found the Rhinos that had kept me awake at night, and found them about 1/4 mile away – still gazing.

Rhinos at the Marakele National Park, South Africa.

Through the weekend, we drove around and kept a sharp eye out for wildlife. This part of the park is very fun to drive around as you can spot wildlife in the most unexpected place. Like these Giraffe that decided to use the road for a few minutes rather than the thick brush.

Driving behind Giraffes

The park makes great hiding for the beautiful Kudu, one of my favorite animals in South Africa. This lovely animal is called the “Grey Ghost” as it seems to disappear without a sound, even though it’s quite large.

The Kudo

Perched atop a rocky hill, I found 3 Mountain Zebra staring me down. I quickly took this shot before they bolted off.

Mountain Zebra standing his ground

We drove around for several hours and then headed to our next campsite, the luxury tented site called Tlopi Site.  This site is located within the fenced predator area with lions and other carnivorous animals.  As you approach the Predator area, there is a push-button that opens an electric gate, that then closes just after you enter. This part of the park is the most scenic, but also a big more rough in places. There are 4×4 trails and a narrow one-lane road that climbs up atop one of the mountains, where the largest number of Cape Vultures in the word live.

As we drove towards the Tlopi tented site, we came across a large group of Baboons. At first, I only saw one run across the road, causing the guy in front of me to stop suddenly.

The road to the Vulture overlook

Then, I found them in the trees just a few feet in front of me.

Baboons in the Marakele park

We finally got to the campsite, and found the facilities very cozy! The tent is situated on a small pond at the base of a rocky hill.

Tented site at the Tlopi camp site

As the sun started go down, Megan wanted to drive up to the top of the hill and watch it. We headed up, and got there just as the sun started to set. In the distance you can see the flat plains heading West towards Botswana, and in the middle the tiny pond we were camping at. The sounds of the night life had just begun, which I can not begin to describe!

Sunset at the Marekele National Park

I set my telescope up on the deck overlook the pond and enjoyed the incredible dark South African skies.  As an astrophotographer South Africa is one of the best places on Earth to capture stunning photos of the Cosmos.  Here’s a photo of my equipment, with a friendly monkey who was looking for food.  Perhaps the bright yellow end-caps on my scope made him think I had bananas!

A monkey is interested in my telescope

Here’s two photos I took while in South Africa.  The Omega Centauri globular cluster on the left and the Eta Carinae nebula on the right. The globular was a single 10 minute exposure and the nebula was 15 minutes on 35mm Fuji 400F Provia slide film.  You can find more of my astrophotography at www.CosmicColor.com.

Astrophotos take at the Marakele national Park

On May 11^th,  I drove 14 hours deep into the South African Karoo, a region similar to western New Mexico to visit the largest astronomical observatory in the Southern hemisphere.  The whole area is very remote, and there are only a few places to stay.  The Karoo is semi-desert, with low rainfall, and the darkest skies in the country, easily ranking in at number one on the Bortle sky brightness scale (with #1 is the darkest skies on earth).  In the photo below, I drove our Land Rover high up on a hill to overlook the Karoo landscape.

Overlooking South Africa's Karoo

After driving over 20 km from the small town of Sutherland, we were in the middle of no-where, and had another 8 km to go.  This is where we stayed for 3 days, at a the Blesfontein Guest Farm, a delightful cozy, yet isolated place which contained over 1,000 sheep on a 28,000 acre farm.  Talk about isolation.. and dark!  This is an astronomer’s paradise.

Driving across the Karoo

We stayed in a guest cottage near the main farmhouse, which included an indoor braai (grill), and a sunken tub!  The cottage, called the “Cow Shed”, also had a full kitchen and the beds were lined with electric blankets as the temperature approached freezing this weekend.  In winter (June-August) they get snow, one of the few places in South Africa to do so.  Being an isolated sheep farm, you can probably guess what our meals consisted of – lots of mutton and good ol’ South African wine.  The price was about $22 a night.

The Cowshed guest house

The town of Sutherland was built in the mid 1800’s and has one stop-sign on it’s main street, and about 10 Bed & Breakfasts with names like ‘Galileo”, “Galaxy”, “Andromeda”, “Kosmos”, “Jupiter” and others so you can tell who they cater to!  Most places even have telescopes for guests to use.  Our farmhouse had two, mounted in a roll-off roof observatory.

Southerland is home to the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), situated high atop a hill about 15 kilometers from town.  The SAAO is now home to the largest single telescope in the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern African Large Telescope (S.A.L.T.).  The telescope was completed in 2005 and first light obtained in November of that year.  Although completed, the scope is now being used mainly for on-going testing, calibration, and fixing numerous mechanical and optical problems that are not unusual for a telescope of this size and complexity.

While daytime public tours are available, I was granted special permission to spend a night working with the SALT astronomers and engineers and have access to the whole telescope and control rooms.  This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was the main reason I drove the 16 hour distance to get here.  Upon arrival I was met by Russian astronomer Alexei Kniazev who gave me a brief tour of the living quarters and then invited me to dine with him and all the other staff astronomers and engineers before heading up to the observatory. 

S.A.L.T. Observatory

During dinner Mr. Kniazev gave me an briefing on the overall history and function of the S.A.L.T. obsevatory, followed by an indepth tour of the complete facilities.

The S.A.L.T. primary mirror measures in at 11 meters across, and is composed of 91 individual hexagonal mirrors.  Each mirror weighs 500 kilograms and were made in Russia from a material called Astrosital, a glass-ceramic material with very low thermal coefficient, which means it does not expand or contract within normal operating temperatures.   The glass was then shipped to Eastman Kodak for cutting and polishing, and finally shipped to the observatory for mirroring with a 100 nm layer of aluminum.

S.A.L.T. Primary Mirror

The primary mirror’s 91 mirrors are arranged and collimated into a sphere, and use a Center of Curvature Alignment Sensor (CCAS) laser system to measure and align the individual mirrors into a perfect sphere.  The laser is situated within a high tower outside the observatory and is prominent in the photo above.  Every few days this laser is used to align the mirrors and 8 sensors on each mirror segment constantly measure each position and track that information back in the control room.  A computer makes tiny adjustments as needed through 3 small servos attached to the back of each mirror to keep the mirrors aligned.

Primary mirror supports, sensors and servos

The telescope’s most unusual property is that it is fixed in altitude at 37 degrees.  This altitude was chosen as it is centered on the Magellanic clouds, a key target to study in the Southern skies.  To track the sky, the telescope’s optical system payload, which sits 13 meters above the primary at focus, tracks across the mirror.  Being able to use any part of the mirror is possible as the mirror is a sphere, so there is no real center.  The payload tracking gimbal is able to move 3 meters in any direction, which allows the telescope to track an object for 6 degrees at a time.  This gives astronomers from 1 to 3 hours of track-time depending on the location of the target in the sky.  The gimbal uses a laser to measure the distance to the primary mirror as it tracks, and moves the payload inward or outward as needed to keep the optics in focus.  To prevent field-rotation, the platform also can rotate as the sky revolves overhead.  The payload, and tracking platform combined weigh just over 5 tons but can track to accuracy of 5 microns!

The camera and gimbal for the S.A.L.T.

This photo on the right shows the payload system, containing a 50-filter cartridge, and a $600,000 CCD camera called the SALTICAM.

The payload can also carry the Robert Stobie Spectograph (RSS) which is the star of the S.A.L.T.  This instrument, designed by a joint effort of the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University is designed mainly to study objects in the ultra violet wavelength down to 320 nm.  Some of the SALT project scientists, including my guide for the night, will use the RSS to make detailed studies of planetary nebulas in very distant galaxies to help understand the composition of very early stars.  Planetary nebulas are useful in this regard as they show the physical composition of stars at the last phase of a stars life.  You get to see what stars are made of, at the moment of their deaths, when they have virtually stopped creating new elements.

Since the telescope can rotate 360 degrees in azimuth, it can cover 71% of the sky at some point during a year.  Astronomers queue up targets for observation well in advance, and computers are used to schedule observations based on when a target will be observable, taking into consideration the moon and obstruction by the tall CCAS tower.

The observatory itself contains the telescope, control room, mirror coating room, and a payload workshop.  They also have room located under the primary mirror to house a future spectroscopic instrument currently under development.   The main observatory bay, with the telescope, has many temperature and humidity sensors.  The entire environment is controlled by computers to regulate the interior observatory temperature and humidity one full day in advance.  Meteorological instruments and computer modeling predict the nights observing conditions and use air conditioning and dozens of louvers to match the observatory dome’s environment.  As a side-note, the louvers are computer controlled in such a way as to prevent moonlight from shining on the primary.  As the moon moves across the sky (or as the dome rotates) louvers that open towards the moon close and those on the opposite side on the dome open.  Very clever!  You can see all the louvers in my photo of the outside of the observatory above.

The telescope’s massive mechanical tracking system, primary mirrors, complex environmental controls, and optical imaging systems are all controlled from one control room.  The optical-fiber feeds from these components are kept at the same temperature by keeping them, and their computers at the same temperature with an ethylene glycol cooling system.  The final results of these computers are then fed into the warm control room.

Me (far left) in the control room

Only two people, an equipment operator and a project astronomer, can operate the S.A.L.T..   This gives you some idea of the computing power of the whole system.

Computer workstation

The SALT team is based out of Cape Town, South Africa, which is a 4-hour drive.  An astronomer and engineer take turns spending a week at the observatory, lodging in a small hostel located below the telescope hill.  The hostel includes a decent astronomical library, computers, pool table and a staffed kitchen.  I had dinner with the night’s astronomers and the kitchen staff made me a midnight lunch-box to take up to the SALT.  There was plenty of coffee, tea, and caffeinated cold drinks.

Like any new complicated system, there are bound to be bugs.  Many of the environmental defects and system bugs have been worked out, but two main problems are preventing the SALT from being completely active at this time.  The RSS (spectroscopic imager) which was designed to record ultra violet had a major flaw; it’s main lens  absorbed ultraviolet light instead of passing it!  This was due to a manufacturing error in which a plastic mixing container was used to hold the glue that held the lens layers together.  This glue (which was designed to pass ultraviolet light) absorbed traces of the plastic mixing cup.  After a few months, the plastic molecules changed (probably due to ultraviolet exposure) and began to absorb ultraviolet light, thus blocking the very light the astronomers needed to record!  The SALT team sent the camera back to Wisconsin where a new lens was built.  It took almost a year to solve the problem, but they finally created a perfect lens that had no contamination.  Then they broke it!  A technician indivertibly used the wrong kind of lens cleaning spray, a Freon based solvent, which froze the lens and cracked it.  It’s taken more than 6 months to build a new one, which should be shipped to South Africa any day now.

A mirror fragment from the S.A.L.T

A few weeks ago, while changing out one of the mirror segments they dropped it at the only part of the operation that had no safety controls to prevent a mirror from falling.  It smashed to the floor and shattered.  They now have 3 spare mirror segments left.  I was given a piece of the broken one as a souvenir!

The other problem is that the SALT design team hired a non-astronomer to design the collimation laser, the CCAS.  Remember the laser shines continuously at the primary during tracking, to keep the optical payload at precise focus.  This engineer installed a laser that worked at 673 nm, the same spectrum as ionized sulfur, a key element when analyzing star composition!  Now, when they look at a star, that entire region of light is awash in laser light. It’s back to drawing board on that one.

So while much of the work at SALT is still faultfinding and correcting design flaws, here’s one of the first photos taken by SALT of 47 Tucanae, before the scope’s adaptive optics are operational.

http://www.salt.ac.za/fileadmin/files/telescope/first_light/PR47tuc.jpg

The hill that the S.A.L.T. sits on a barren rocky hill.  In the following photo you can see the small buildings that house the astronomer’s living quarters and the large S.A.L.T. observatory to the left.  The hill is also home to several other telescopes.

SAAO Site

The oldest telescope is the 1.9 meter (almost 6 feet) diameter built in the 1930′s.

1.9 meter SAAO telescope

SAAO-1-9 meter scope counterweights and drive system

This beautiful scope, now retrofitted with the most advanced digital cameras and spectroscopic imagers still get a lot of use, but astronomy students from all over South Africa and beyond.

Sunset at the S.A.L.T.

So I drove 16 hours in pristine clear skies to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the Southern African Large telescope and spend a few days under the most incredible skies in the world with my own telescope.  I arrived at 7PM and by 8PM the entire sky clouded over and winds picked up to 30 kph.  This stayed the same until the night I went up to the SALT, where the winds rose to 48 kph with gusts to 60.  The whole sky was clouded over the whole night, and all the next day and night too.

Finally at 0430AM when I was packing up, the sky cleared and the winds stopped completely.  As I drove across the Karoo on the way home, the whole sky was filled with stars and its inky black background.  I was in awe at the incredible beauty of the night sky, but also terribly disappointed at not being able to do any observing with my scope and especially the S.A.L.T.

One note… if you ever go to a location with a darkness rating of Bortel 1, on a moonless night and the sky completely overcast, you will find yourself in total darkness like being in a deep cave.  It’s an incredible experience as I felt my way across the parking lot to find my car and could not see anything.  Not even my hand 2 inches from my face.  I literally walked into my car, bumping my shin on its bumper.  I had to search with my hands to locate the door and finally get some light from the interior.  Wow.

(coming soon)

Our Ambassador’s driver, a black South African, retired today after 37 years of service to the US Government. He worked at the US Embassy here since 1970 and saw his country completely transformed into a republic, and the end of apartheid.  All the time, he rushed ambassadors and other senior diplomats back and forth between Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town, at all hours of the night, usually working 12+ hour days. It was wonderful to hear all the letters from previous Ambassadors who described how this “driver”, who spoke 10 African languages and knew every short cut and dirt road in the country, was the best teacher of South African culture and was instrumental in the successful mission of the American Embassy.

Then the whole auditorium broke out in African singing and high-pitched traditional calls that I can’t begin to describe, and a long procession with everyone dancing and swaying, and singing as we made our way out of the auditorium. It was a very unique way to end a ceremony, unlike anything I have seen before. A lot of fun – and much happier than the traditional retirement ceremonies I have been to, that were more like a funeral!

I completed some job applications when I first arrived in Pretoria, and they paid off quite quickly.  I just got hired as an Office Manager.  For those who are new to this – as a dependent spouse of a U.S. Diplomat, we are entitled to work at the U.S. Embassy in Federal positions.  Indeed, there are several jobs within an Embassy reserved just for spouses.

At my last post (Warsaw, Poland) I was in a highly visible management office, in which I dealt with almost every other department in the Embassy. This meant I was smartly dressed, and the office was the model for office decorum and protocol.

This week I started my new job in the Security Engineering Office, down in the basement of the Embassy. The office is basically 8 guys who repair every aspect of embassy electronic security systems – from cameras and sensors, to electronic doors and safes. Two are US Navy SeaBees. They cover every US embassy and consulate in Southern Africa as far North as Kenya – so they basically use this post as a base station between TDY assignments to these other posts. Most of the time, 3/4 of them are gone out of the country two to three weeks every month.

Anyway – it is good that we work down in the basement, behind a large steel door with scramble key pads and a large spin-dial to keep everyone else out. Like most military maintenance units I have been exposed to, they have a language that would make most Sexual-Harassment officers run screaming. I half expect to see nude Playmate posters on the wall and empty beer cans on a peanut-shell covered floor – but fortunately it isn’t that bad yet.  Fortunately – no one smokes or worse, chews tobacco, in the office.  Nice!

Jeans, T-Shirt and sneakers are the office attire.

This place is night and day difference from every other US Embassy office I have ever been in.  But I like it!

The starting pay is $36,000 a year, with 8 hours of annual leave per month and retirement benefits.  Not much, but at least I am working full time!

Pretoria is famous for her thousands of Jacaranda trees, imported to South Africa in the late 1800s.   Pretoria is often called the Jacaranda city because of these wonderful purple trees that blossom in spring (October – November) and fill the air with a wonderful perfume.

Jacarandas in full bloom