Acclimating my friend Fatuma to American culture here in Portland before hitting the East Coast is touching, hilarious and...well, ridiculous!
Explaining things (such as trash compactors, hotel doormen dressed absurdly, robotic dogs, massager chairs, fog machines, etc.) makes one realize how much life in the United States is grounded in unreality, excess and waste.
My daughter's Renee's "appliance tour" - dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, compactor, microwave, garbage disposal - had Fatuma agape yet appreciative, but things got crazier when son-in-law Tom introduced the fog machine (well, it IS Halloween!) and disco lazer light tosser (dancing dots all over the room!). Then the kids got the robotic dog, to the delight of the two real dogs dressed in Halloween costumes.
Renee and Tom treated us to a kids concert, where pirates were the theme. The massager chair at Brookstone was a highlight at Washington Square Mall, where it can be hard to discover to just how to turn on the bathroom taps and toilets flush magically...
Just like when the house held teen-agers, my phone rings constantly - for Fatuma. Seems the whole village of Mbagala has checked in to make sure she's OK - with little regard for the 9-hour time difference (or is it 10?). The computer stays busy too, with emails home to chronicle each day's wonders, along with a report of two new pairs of shoes!
And then there are the small gaffes - like serving one's Muslim guest a Hawaiian pizza - pineapple and you-know (think about it). And Americans not knowing that the proper way to greet is with book-end embraces on BOTH cheeks. But everyone's heart is in the right place, and I'm proud of the friendliness of fellow Americans as I explain she's a visitor and they welcome her so heartily and allow more than three garments in the fitting room.
Back in Mbagala village, where Fatuma is a respected leader, her home is filled with people and demands for food, money, solutions to assorted problems.
Here in Multnomah Village, she's got her feet up in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea, trying to stay warm. We watch the video "Bambi" one evening, and the next she falls asleep over "your book about the magic wind" - (THE WIZARD OF OZ).
Life is sweet.
(enjoy photos below)
BIBI JANN's GRANDMA-2-GRANDMA Support For Tanzanian AIDS Orphans and the Grandmothers Raising Them
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GETTING THE GOATS HOME
Leading the goats to the pickup truck wasn't easy!
The goats are now at home on the bibi farm, with wide open spaces to graze on.
This where the bibis will raise animals and crow cassava to feed their grandchildren and to sell. Fatuma, Dickson and Jann are in front, with pen to left, unfinished farmhouse in middle and neighbor's nyd watle house in rear right.
SMART GIRLS FIELD TRIP
Smart Girls Club on a field trip to art center to explore career opportunities.
We picnicked...
...And then we went for ice cream.
Emil of Unique Batiks told the girls about his designs.
The girls learned how the primitive Tinga Tinga painting style began.
Can you believe we got 23 people into this van?
ISGR 4th Graders Donate
These students in Goteborg, Sweden raised over $500 for the new Bibi Jann Farm!
DISCOVERING NEW YORK...
St. Patrick's Cathedral
An NYC cop in Times Square
Hors d' voueres at the mayor's Gracie Mansion
Rooftop garden - imagine! with social workers Lysa and Katharine at the4 Grandparent Apts. in the Bronx.
HALLOWEEN
Jann applies makeup
A well-decorated yard
Fatuma and son-in-law Tom in air-filled clown suit
Candy break
Sorting the loot
Fatuma, Jann's son Keith Hess at Eugene Waldorf School
Snow Fun
Tom captures the first sled ride
Ready to go...
Oops!
Warming up inside the lodge
Cuddled up to a carved critter
A cup of cocoa helps
Renee gifts Fatuma with a souvenir snow globe so she can have snow in Tanzania
Fatuma's first visit to American grocery, shopping for Tanzanian fare
...But we can't find the Tanzanian aisle!
Kitchen is more elaborate than what Fatuma is used to
Girls watch Fatuma make chipati
Son-in-law Tom has his hands washed
Chloe, Eva like eating with their fingers
...And so do Japanese visitors Miho, Ruli
Fatuma finds the Oregon Coast more rugged than Tanzania's
A new way to dry hands!
Fatuma, Jeanne, Suzanne enjoy Horn of Africa restaurant
Meeting a sturgeon
Watching barge navigate the dam through the lock
Salmon migrating upstream will die after spawining
Multnomah Falls from afar
FANCY FOOTWASH
Fatuma, Jann and Renee soak their tootsies in warm water while rollers kneads their backs.
...While catching it on camera
...Sparkle on the toes
...Plus a manicure
...Resulting in fancy footwork
...After a day in school
...Including cafeteria lunch
GETTING A GRIP ON AMERICA
Nine-year-old Chloe, Jann's granddaughter, teaches the teaches about local currency.
...And it inhabitants
Pirate-themed kids' concert
..Some of whom dress better
Fatuma with the Heathman Hotel doorman and Miho, the Japanese girl visiting my daughter's home.
And its gadgets
Testing the $3,500 Brookstone massage chair
Even moving stairs!
Mall escalator
But kids are the same everywhere
Chloe, Eva, Alexa and Miho have fun at Gramma's tumbling dominoes
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