Home Sweet Home (for the next three months)

Take an image tour of our home till January. We enjoy many comforts that we are accustomed to in our condo in Chicago --with a few improvisations.


Please do come in!


Every morning when we wake up, we find red sand accumulate around the carpet and porch thanks to the winds during the night. The sand is red (rich in iron) and also finds its way into the house. There is endless sweeping, daily.


Make yourself comfortable. As you enter, you will find an "Asian Tiger" theme powered by the couches. Queer Eye would cringe. Note the grills outside the screened window. It is to keep unwanted visitors out.


Speaking of visitors, we have a friendly house guest Kwame the spider. He's on our side because he eats mosquitos.


Speaking of those Malaria carrying bastards, we sleep in a mosquito netted bed. So far, so good. No bites at night (which is when most of the malaria ones come out).


Breakfast is served! Our kitchen provides all the amenities we are used to: microwave, toaster, fridge, sink for washing (I miss our dishwasher) and Cyclops.


This is Cyclops. Our one-coil stove. It takes time to cook a full 12-course Chinese dinner on one burner, but that's why I have a full Weber gas powered grill out back by the pool. Yeah right. Anyways, what was it that Rumsfeld said? "We go to war against our appetite with the burner we have, not the burners we want."


This is our solar powered dryer (we handwash every piece of clothing). Come the rainy season we have to watch out for the punte fly. They lay eggs on damp clothes and when you put them on once dry, the eggs hatch on your skin, get into your body and then you get real sick. The embassy recommends that you either use your electric dryer (???!!!) or (hire someone to) iron EVERY piece of clothing to kill the eggs. Well, the last Fulbrighters never did this and they did not have baby flies hatching out of their skin so this info may be embassy jive to ensure that their staff get houses with electic dryers (and swimming pools and billiard tables and large 4x4s... all also known to cure the punte flies)....


Thank you for visiting. If you really want to come to Africa, check out the "visiting us" link on our blog and email us.