Our Christmas

Well, it certainly has been very different and has had its highs and lows. I hit my only real low spot so far on Christmas Eve after a difficult time when we failed to get vodacom air time or bundles on our dongle that allows us to connect to the internet. I expect what seems to be automatic is in fact done by staff and there were few working and /or too many other people trying to connect at that time. Our link via email and blog and skype phone is just so important to us that to be running out of time, not really understanding what we should do, and having our mentor in such things away on holiday was all rather depressing. Then I realised just how desperately I was minding the prospect of not seeing the family – desperately. I sat next to two gorgeous littel girls and a toddler at the township service at 6pm Christmas Eve and couldn't help weeping silently most of the time. What they made of this strange white lady I cannot think.

I had tried to cook us a nice meal, a small duck but the old electric cooker is dire and the thermostat on the rings almost non-existent. That didn't help my emotions but during our late supper, before our 1030pm service at St Thomas', Sophie rang and it was wonderful to offload onto her and hear news from home. So I survived the next service better, and Christmas day too. Thank you Nicola and Joseph for your lovely calls.

Tom got up quietly at 4.45am for his 6am service 60km away, returning by 8.30 just as the children's crib service was finishing. I had tried to help, sowing the idea of a very under -rehearsed nativity with the leader reading the story. As we have done in our parishes often. But since it had to be in afrikaans I could do little more than intervene, probably unhelpfully, and it was all pretty chaotic. There had been a previous rehearsal but at 8am on Cmas day, some of the key parts didn't arrive and substitutes had to be hauled out of the tiny congregation or dragged from their homes! But in the end it was, as always, very moving to see small children caught up in the story; and it surely had to be better than Morning Prayer.

After a precious time of opening the parcels of small gifts from Joe and Laura, relishing in familiar Christmas treats, we were off for another service 50km away followed by a braai at the home of the lay leader, a lovely woman living in a 4 generation house of women. Cousins from Cape Town were visiting and English was spoken in our presence and it turned into a wonderfully different, special Christmas lunch. The lunch planned with Father Joseph and his wife Cathy, who were with us at Philipstown, was abandoned and we agreed to go round to them for pudding and a drink in the early evening after some rest, phone calls and more present opening for us.

Sadly on Boxing Day Tom woke feeling sick and feverish. The Peace entails hugging and hand-shaking everyone, and there were plenty of those, even without full churches. So lots of opportunity for catching a virus. We wait to see if he is up to driving off on holiday tomorrow.

It is so strange

 Yesterday was the solstice. The sun was directly above and don't we know it. By midday the temperatures here are well above 30 and the only thing to do is to retreat indoors and try to sleep for an hour or two making up for the early rises.It is uncomfortably hot in many ways and for those rich enough and who can get away, this is the time to run southwards to the coast for less intense weather. That means that De Aar is less busy and populated if not entirely abandoned. The shops seem to be busy but there is nothing like the christmas mania that is part of our British way of celebrating Christ's birth. So we look forward to a very different Christmas with small congregations and times of quiet. We expect that will make us feel very sad to be away from all our friends and family but it will be a valuable experience. We are looking forward to escaping the heat for a few days immediately after Christmas when we go to Groenfontein in the Swartberg Mountains for a few days of pure leisure and decadence! So we are far from grumbling because we know from Sky news on our TV that you are all suffering terribly from the weather. We cannot believe that Pershore of all places should have tempertaures of -19 and that the very cold weather seems to go on and on. Each day we look to see if you have any respite only to find that if anything things are getting worse. So we hope that you will all find a way of enjoying this Christmas even if it was not as you planned.

We could not go through the Advent/Christmas period without at least one carol service ( at home by now I would be feeling that I do not want to sing another "Away in a Manger" ever again) so we had a kind of Lessons and Carols service last Sunday at 6pm. We still do not have anyone to play a keyboard or organ but we made a good sound led by the wife of the churchwarden who has a strong voice. We even persuaded her to sing the first verse of "Once in Royal David's City" as a solo. Traditions die hard! We lit candles at the end of the service and sang Silent Night which the congregation (some 30 adult and 15 children) sang delightfully quietly, which is quite an achievement for people who love to blast out everything.

Monday, on our day off, we decided to travel to Cradock which we had been told was well worth visiting. It was quite a journey considering it was only the third town we encountered on our trip; Hanover, Middelburg and then Cradock. The total length of the outward leg was 250 kilometeres and it took us about 2.5hours. Cradock is a very attractive old Karoo town with a huge Dutch Reform church bizarrely modelled on St Martin's in the Fields, as well as beautiful old Anglican and Methodist churches.

Cradock has a museum dedicated to Olive Schreiner and her family. For those of you who do not know, Olive Schreiner was born on the Karoo in 1855 and is considered the first of the great South African writers. Despite her rigid Protestant upbringing she considered herself a freethinker and rejected a lot of the conservative religious views of the time. She had a remarkable life which included periods living in England and being part of the radical feminist scene there. What we did not know was the extraordinary lives of other members of the family and their huge contribution to public life in South Africa. One brother was the Premier of the Cape Colony and her sister was so well loved that 10,000 people came to her funeral! They were all very concerned for the rights of the native peoples and opposed a lot of the legislation to exclude them from voting etc. We had a fascinating time in the museum and it gave us a further insight into the complexity of South African history.

After a short visit to the town museum and to a small exhibition dedicated to the Cradock Four (young men who were killed by the police during the apartheid era) we took our almost obligatory dip in the local swimming pool (cost? all of 3 rands ie. 30p) where we shared a lovely pool with some black youngsters. We have yet to encounter any white people at these municipal swimming baths – perhaps they all have pools in their gardens.

Then it was back to De Aar. We expected the journey to be mostly flat but that was not the case. The road went through some small mountain ranges and in the near distance we had superb views of bigger and grander mountains. So the 250 kilometeres back did not seem at all long especially for two geographers!

So we are gearing ourselves up for a very hot but peaceful Christmas while thinking a great deal of you all back home coping with the snow. Emma is just off to rehearse children for the Christmas morning nativity service so we are not feeling too useless.

photos promised

This is a view of the massive dam built across the river Orange to our north. On the far side is the hydro-electric station  creating power. Grid lines go south from here on our route to De Aar. Water for irrigation and domestic use is controlled. When heavy rains raise the level of the lake, the sluices are opened and people travel from the surrounding area to watch the release of water down the massive shoots. Public warning has to be given as those living or working on the river banks downstream are in danger.

This is the lake upstream of the dam at Vanderkloof. Sailing and water sports are allowed but barely developed. Some smart resort aprtments are just being completed. Bloemfontein and Kimberley are both within reach for weekend breaks.

English summer weather

 For the last two days we have had much cooler temperatures and grey skies with lots of heavy rain which has turned the area between our house and the church into squelchy mud. Now we see why the PCC is keen to pave the area! And the temperatures fell from about 36 in the late afternoon on Monday to 17 degrees two days later! Having a better car enables us to read the temperature in it now.

Fortunately we enjoyed a hot sunny day with my sister Alice and her husband John when we drove to the Vanderkloof dam on the river Orange. It is a vast construction which gives hydro-electric power as well as supplying water for irrigating huge circular fields.

The contrast with the dry Karoo is striking. Behind the dam is a vast lake and we enjoyed the views walking near the edge, only seeing a tiny part of it.

We had thought we would get down to a beach area but instead took advantage of the local municipal pool, which like the ones in De Aar have a faded splendour about them. We suppose that the wealthy have their own pools, the poor cannot afford the small entrance fee or are not in the habit of swimming. Three small boys joined us as we cooled off.

We said goodbye to Alice and John just beyond a single track iron bridge across the Orange, on which monkeys (Vervet I think) scramble and run along the road! We also saw a group of springbok grazing near a rare pool. The rain we are having must be helping to bring some fresh grass but it has been badly needed we gather.

The next day felt very flat as I am conscious that we will miss the family hugely over the next couple of weeks of festivities. But as has happened before, the day took a sudden turn when heavy rain forced the PCC end of year party to be held in our house. We knew Tom had a 5pm meeting, the last of the year, but the notice about partners attending for a braai party had been given in Afrikaans so had gone over our heads. The first I knew was when some wood and a BBQ was delivered and the men asked if the wood could go under the shelter outside our back door. And a couple of the wives were hanging around while their partners started the meeting. Our main room was not really tidied, I was in very casual old clothes but we ended up having lots of people inside and offering wine and beer to go with the barbequed lamb and sausage and we really had a relaxed sort of evening. Some of the men took over the cooking outside, sheltered a little (see the photo which shows a different gathering in the 'porch' area.)

The rest filled the kitchen, opening cans for some salad (in this case creamed sweet corn mixed with either banana and cream, or crushed pineapple and cream. Not a tomato, cucumber or lettuce in sight! I shall put on weight so easily. ) Perhaps because it was held in our house, perhaps because a little alcohol reduced people's inhibitions about using english, but we felt much more included socially than before. They are getting used to us and we to them.

The cool weather has given us so much more energy and we realise why so little is done here at the height of summer. Today has been a holiday – Reconciliation Day – so in the absence of the caretaker Danny, a lovely guy who works at one speed only (very slow!), we did one of Tom's favourite things, turning through vestry cupboards and church storage spaces. Everything is covered with a sandy dust and it was obvious that no-one had attempted this for a good while. Boxes of paper await decisions by others but we were intrigued to find a receipt from the 1880s.

The following day was bright with a cool breeze and hot enough for a swim in the local pool which we had found closed a few times lately. We chose before lunch and lay in the sun briefly to warm up as the water was really quite cold but I realised later this was at the sun's strongest and I had already done a little weeding in our garden followed by a walk in the town. I suffered with a touch too much sun and felt wretched. We find it hard to think of you freezing back home.

Christmas shopping hasn't featured in our lives until this morning, when two stores provided gifts for those we need here- each other, churchwardens etc. The staff are so helpful and in the second shop everything was beautifully wrapped.

We have been thrilled to receive a few cards generously sent out in spite of horrendous postal charges. And many lovely greetings by email. So thank you for all of those.

We send our warmest greetings for Christmas and the new year and lots of love.

Emma and Tom

ps couldnt'download -or is it upload any more photos. May try tomorrow if signal is stronger.

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=104398

Potjie competition

Last Saturday the parish held its first Potjie Competition – I think I have spelt it correctly- it sounds more like poykie! It means a cooking pot and the idea was for teams to compete in cooking the best stew in a traditional 3 legged iron pot over a wood fire. Some teams were a family or a couple, others were the lay ministers, Mothers' Union and so on. There were 13 in all; I know because I, with Tom's help, had to taste the finished product and judge the best! Two others helped so we compared notes and rather luckily the one we agreed best was by chance a group of young lads, so a very popular choice.

The lads had an ingenious device for lifting the potjie lid.

It was the first time they had tried such an event but it was deemed very successful in bringing people together socially. No coffee is served after services, people rush away, so I think it was quite important.

At about 4pm people arrived and the organiser had got a big fire going so it was easy for competitors to start a fire quickly. The wood was so dry it could never have been difficult. The church grounds are not paved or concreted (something they do want to do, anyway at the front.) And there is masses of space and piles of stones or bricks from previous buildings here. We learnt that there used to be a school on this site. The tiny old Anglican church in the town centre still exists but is unused.

So stones were used as surrounds to the fires and to support the iron pots. Gradually oil began sizzling and lamb, beef or chicken pieces were browning, along with spices and vegetables of all types added at various stages depending on the cook's idea of what constituted the very best method. Some groups had brought a folding table and were chopping large quantities of veg, others had come prepared; one even used frozen mixed veg.

This is the Mothers' Union group

Then came the wait, as the sun went down and everyone got hungrier. Judging was put off as some needed longer. The temperature changed from very hot, anyway if you were near a fire, to really quite cool by the time it was dark.

Eventually the 13 pots were lined up in the vestry for some light, with a number but no other distinguishing marks and the judges were given plates and a spoon and got the first tastes. They were so good, some rather too hot or spicey for my liking, some had meat still a little less than tender, some the vegetables had turned to a complete mush. But all were very good.

Meanwhile some pots of rice had been cooked at home and warmed up on my cooker. One stew had dumplings added (extra point that!) and one cook had even baked her own yeasty rolls over her fire.

Interestingly no alcohol was consumed or if it was it was a discreet beer. They do love their sweet squash or fruit juice. Once everyone had eaten up the contents of their own potjies and maybe tasted others everyone cleard up very quickly and disappeared into the night.

After the service next morning winners were announced and a cup given to the winning team with medals over the necks of someone from every team. All very serious stuff!

The great heat is coming!

While we watch amazing pictures of a snow-bound Britain and rejoice at the cricket news from Australia, we realise that it is gradually getting hotter in the Karoo as we come towards the height of a South African summer.

So my first observation is that we probably have arrived here at the worst possible time of the year.

Not only because it will be very hot for the next couple of months but also that this is the time for holidays (it is like August in Britain) which means that very little happens. So we will have to be a little patient over the next few weeks and remember that the lack of activity in the churches and in the life of the town generally is because many people have disappeared to places in the south to enjoy a more congenial climate. This means that Christmas is a rather tame festival and we are struggling to get very excited about the fact that we are in Advent. There is very little planned for our churches over this period; for example there are no carol or crib service. Some who know me well may legitimately ask whether this was the real reason for escaping England when we did and I must say that a quieter Christmas may have its attractions. It has seemed so strange that I have even volunteered to hold a Christingle (of all things!) this Sunday evening. Last Wednesday we helped produce a World Aids Day service which was very successful and at times moving. We now have a large red cardboard Aids ribbon attached to the altar; something apprently the Bsihop has asked each church to have. A box of small candles was bought for the occasion and as there were quite a number left we thought we could use them for a Christingle! So we persuaded others that this might be a good thing and it will happen at 6pm on Sunday – probably not dark enough but we will make the best of it.

Last evening Emma and I decided to go to a Carols by Candlelight service held on the lawn of a large Dutch Reformed Church on the other side of town. We sat ouside the church on our garden chairs and sang some familiar and some not so familiar carols all in Afrikaans. It was certainly a different experience and nothing like our Lessons and Carols; not a Rutter tune in sight. We sang to a recorded accompaniment which sounded like a Bavarian brassband – all very Dutch/German. However the people were very welcoming once they found out who we were and we enjoyed the evening. But this was entirely a white congregation and very Afrikaans and we wondered whether any black or coloured people ever went to such a church. We shall gradually find out.

Today was our day off so we travelled 60 kms to Hanover which is a small Karoo town (actually all Karoo towns are small!) on the N1 midway between J'burg and Cape Town. It is a delightful place full of characterful Karoo houses with some lovely gardens. We went to the local hotel for coffee and the proprietress whose name was Beryl was extremely friendly and told us the history of the town and all about the farming community in the area around. She was delightful and we returned for lunch so that she could continue to tell us more. What was interesting was that she and her husband had moved from Hermanus (famous for its whales and very sought after) to be in Hanover because they enjoyed the wide open spaces of the Karoo and that certainly is its attraction. We had a good day there but stupidly did too much walking in the midday sun – a schoolboy error in this climate – and so suffered a little on our return to De Aar. We shall have to learn not to venture out too much in the midday sun at least for the next couple of months. Those of you who are freezing at home will not have too much sympathy with this predicament – and we would certainly not want to grumble!

So it is so far, so good! Our main concern is with the language differences. We think church people are not communicating with us because they are not confident speaking English and so we feel slightly isolated. And we have no connection so far with anything other than the church community. But we hope that gradually we can break down these barriers. I am finding it diffcult to see what contribution I can make in the time we are here... but it is early days and we are now in a holiday period so we must wait and see.

We realise we could give out our home phone number – 053 631 3704. It is expensive for us to phone the UK (though for the family we are using skype succesfully at least by the very cheap phone method and sometimes by the video link which is free and wonderful for us to get a glimpse of the growing grandchildren).

From the UK you can use telediscount by phoning 0844 428 6464.

It gives the price per minute – 4p I think – and instructions. 0027 is the S African code

so after listening to that if you phone 0027 53 631 3704 hache you should get through!

We'd be thrilled to get the occasional call. Remember though we are two hours ahead of you and bedtime here is about 9.30pm.

We should say too how thrilled we are to get lovely emails from readers. It really does encourage us.

A climb with Gerry

Gerry is a teacher at the prison here and a lovely guy who took us up the hill overlooking the town early one evening. Some evenings clouds have gathered but this one was very clear and gave us a bird's-eye view over the town and the Karoo beyond.

In this view you see the Olympic-sized swimming pool in the foreground, as well as the tree-lined grid of streets in the somewhat smarter side of town. We live beyond the railway lines and station which run across the photo.

In the first photo are new army houses for those who work at the ammunition dump behind the hill, the largest in the southern hemisphere.

It was a steep climb up rough stony ground but we loved the views and the excercise felt good. Gerry can run up it several times an evening to keep fit; he is big in the football world. He also brings his youngsters here regularly and shortly they will renew the white painted stones that spell out De Aar, seen from across the town.

We intend to walk up it quite often too, maybe even in the early morning. I am determined we should stay fit, something that is not so easy in this heat.

Early evenings is also the time for church meetings for Tom and on Nov 30 we drove to Philipstown to be at the evening celebrations for St Andrews Day. The chancel was decorated with letters strung across, with Xmas lights and ornaments.

After a joyful service a fire was lit outside, pieces of lamb cooked and a table set up in the nave for the chief guests. Everyone ate a large meal of lamb and various cold salads – potato, pasta, beetroot, carrot etc followed by iced cake – two huge slabs had been decorated lavishly by the lovely Charlotte, a teacher and the lay leader in this small community. Her colourful hat worn throughout matched the colours of the braid on the red robe she and the other lay assistant wore for the service. Fathers Joseph and Tom wore brand new chasubles recently ordered by St Thomas De Aar. Patronal Festivals are important occasions.

The drive home in the dark gave us our first real view of the clear bright night sky as well as the occasional springbok at the side of the road which can cause accidents if they shoot out in front of the car.

In reply to a query about food – we can buy anything we want pretty much, from Checkers the upmarket supermarket. ShopRite is owned by the same firm we are told but is more compact and African feeling, though nothing like the real African supermarkets away from the smartest street. We haven't ventured into those yet. They would have much less stock and sell in larger bulk quantities I think. The quality of fresh goods is not as high as back home. Fruit and vegetables are SA grown but not locally I think. Perhaps the best quality fruit etc is sent for export. Traditionally vegetables are be cooked, often in rather sweet spicey sauces, not eaten raw as salads. At one home BBQ – or Braai- no salad was served, only a pasta in sauce. Meat, especially lamb, reigns here!

We have had a frustrating time being entirely unable to connect to the net, perhaps due to a huge storm on Thursday evening. So we are a bit out of date and I will try to write again soon. Photos have been tricky to upload today so no more of those yet!