I haven’t written in a while about life here in Zim because not much has happened since I returned from India. I got pretty sick for over a week, so I was pretty much tied to my bed. I also haven’t had a chance to go horseback riding since I returned because my ankle is still causing me a fair amount of pain. It’s still inflamed with below-average flexibility, but I am hoping that if I continue icing it and doing some ankle strengthening exercises it will heal soon.
The rains have been in full force since my return. Apparently, it didn’t rain once while I was in India, but it has rained each day for the past two weeks. It makes for grey, chilly mornings and evenings, and a very unpredictable climate. Very hard to dress for it and plan any outings that involve the outdoors. Despite the weather and my illness, I have made it to the dam a few times, just to sit, read, play guitar, and enjoy the beauty.
The tobacco has almost all been picked, so the fields are looking very different. I have taken a few photos, which I will post soon. Now, as you look over the tobacco fields, the lush green color is gone, but is replaced with bright red flowers shooting up toward the sky. I’m told they are some kind of Japanese weed, but I can’t deny their beauty. In the fields that were once empty – I thought they were resting for the year – there is now soy. It has grown incredibly quickly, and I am told it will soon be ready to pick. I shall shortly be dining on soy beans up to my ying yang!
Speaking of dining on things up to one’s ying yang, it’s now avocado season. I LOVE AVOCADOS! In Canada, I often buy them at the grocery store and place them on my counter to ripen. It always seems to take ages for them to reach an edible state, and then they seem to go off within hours. When you get a good avocado, you sit there, slowly savoring its creamy texture and pale green hue. Here, the avocados are gigantic, always ripe, and in such abundance that I shall soon be sick of them. Or fat. An avocado a day makes a skinny figure go away…
Thank goodness for the avocados, however, because there isn’t much else in the garden at the moment. I’ve been so luck to have such wonderful produce available to me over the last few months – butternut squash, pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber, spinach, beets, lettuce, gem squash, corn, strawberries, watermelon, green pepper, cabbage… Now, there seems only to be eggplant and carrot. Thank goodness for those avocados!
Other than that, the most exciting news is that I was told today that we will be going to Cape Town for two weeks in February, then to London for 10 days! Yay!!!! I am so excited to see Cape Town – I’ve already started doing research, and there is SO much to see and do. Hiking up the mountain for a picturesque view of the city, beaches and beach activities (I really want to try kite surfing if my ankle is better, shark diving, whale watching, wine tours, safaris…. I can’t wait! I’m going to try to pack it in just as much as I did in London in November!
And of course, I’m actually really looking forward to returning to London and getting to eat well, walk the city, take public transport, and see a few more shows. I’m also especially looking forward to the fact that I have a one-week holiday at the tail end of that trip, and my boss has agreed to postpone my ticket so I can spend it in Europe. What’s most exciting is I have a few Ottawa friends who will be in Paris at that time, so I am hoping we can spend some time together. I’d also like to visit the two Swiss friends I made in India – Geneva and Paris, here I come!
January Update
