2021: A year of adventures during a global pandemic

Well, all it took was finally getting the dreaded virus and a mandatory 10-day quarantine locked in a room all to myself to update this blog.  (Don't worry, it's day 4 and I'm starting to come back to life.  New studies show, I may even be practically invincible after this infection.  But I digress. . . )  Even 10 days won't be enough to do a proper update after such blatant disregard for years, but a start is better than nothing (and fair warning, even a start is going to be long).

Since 2021 is drawing to a close, it's probably a good time to look back and relive the highs and lows of an exciting and tumultuous year.  We moved to Tanzania at the end of 2020 and lost no time exploring the wonderful adventures this country has to offer.  From the cloudy mountains of Lushoto to the safari savannas at Mikumi to the breathtaking beaches of Zanzibar, every long weekend we did our best to get out and see everything.  

And the best part was that most of the adventures we took involved just us (and whenever possible a buddy car with friends) and were outside, so we felt safe getting out and exploring despite the uncertainty of the pandemic in a developing country.  We spotted lions and elephants and giraffes and crocodiles.  We climbed through rainforests, spied chameleons and stick bugs, slapped mosquitos, and passed through traditional farms and villages on the way to dramatic waterfalls.  We ate fat juicy sweet mangos, sour passionfruit, and tangy pineapples.  We enjoyed avocados almost as big as our heads and ate fish caught fresh from the ocean that day.  We learned Kiswahili greetings and niceties (Mambo! Poa. Habari! Nzuri, salama), heard the echoes of "mzungu, mzungu" (white man, white man) everywhere we went, and sweat constantly under the relentless hot sun, never quite acclimating.

Even daily life around home was an adventure in itself.  Every evening, walking our dog along the cliff trail as the sun set and the waves crashed below, I felt grateful to be near the ocean again after so long away.  Every commute to work, as we wound around pedestrians with fruit or sticks or fabrics piled high on their heads and vibrant kitenge clothes, chaotic market stalls, Masai in traditional garb, dirt roads, beggars, children in school uniforms, packed city buses and noisy bujajis, I wondered when it would all start to feel normal.  The answer?  Probably never.  Instead, we embraced it.  We brought home chickens and goats.  Ate bananas, mangos, and coconuts from the trees in our yard.  Got used to living with ants and geckos and spiders in the house.  It seemed that for every inconvenience, there was a balancing reward.  On one side of the scale sat the bugs, the malaria, the heat, the inconsistent power and water, the frustratingly slow bureaucracy, the neverending dirt and garbage everywhere.  On the other, the warm Indian ocean, rich cultural experiences, fresh fruits and vegetables, rich new experiences.  It was no contest really.  We love Tanzania.  

We joined the yacht club so just minutes away we could access a beautiful beach and opportunities to kayak, dive, snorkel, and sail.  Funny Guy got scuba certified and is a great diver, joining us a few times a month.  He and I took sailing lessons on little Laser optimists while My Man continued his theoretical yacht skipper certification.  We bought a Hobie16 catamaran, which My Man confidently sailed from the dock armed only with his earlier laser sailing experience from boy scouts 25 years earlier.  It was enough.  After a few months of racing around the bay (and only one near-death experience with Funny Guy), he was ready for the next challenge so we traded the cat for a 27' racing monohull called Smackwater Jack.  It was the beginning of sun-soaked weekends racing the winds, laughing with friends, fishing and chasing tuna boils, picnicking on deserted islands, snorkeling at Sinda, and dreaming of retirement on a boat (a much bigger boat).

There was less diving and safariing after that, but we still snuck away for a couples-only safari at Tarangire, a trip to Zanzibar, and a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with friends at Mafia island, where we swam with whale sharks and stingless jellies and enjoyed some of the best diving of our lives.  

After one of the scariest calls of our lives, I made an unplanned trip back to the States in May to help our Darling Daughter.  Despite the logistical challenges and emotional turmoil, it was a great excuse to spend time with family, hiking with my mom and dad, hanging out with my wonderful nieces, catching lunch with Young Man before he flew to Tanzania, and sharing hugs with my sisters.  I even marked the passing of another decade.  A few months later I traveled again to help her transition to a new boarding school (which we love).  Darling Daughter got her driver's license and celebrated another birthday.  It was a treasure to have that time with her.  It's so hard to be away from our child--the time difference is terrible and my heart is always torn between my family here and there.  But she is where she wants to be and we are so grateful to all who help support her when we cannot be there.

During the summer, we had friends visit (yahoo!!) and My Man took them to Zanzibar and Lushoto and explored around Dar while I was in the States; Young Man flew out to join them.  After I got back, we fulfilled a promise to Funny Guy to take him snowboarding by heading to the Austrian Alps, where he carved up a glacier in July.  We stopped for a few days in Munich on the way, practically living on bikes as we explored the beautiful city.  In Austria, besides skiing and snowboarding, we hiked, paraglided, mountain biked, played Phase10, and rode cable cars to incredible vistas.  It was one of the most wonderfully restful and beautiful vacations we have ever taken.

Of course, we don't play all the time.  We work hard too.  My Man is ridiculously busy sorting out all the intricacies of human resources at the embassy, managing hiring, firing, performance reviews, bilateral agreements, award ceremonies, policies, and more.  Funny Guy's classes have vacillated between virtual and in-person but either way he is doing well, especially in math (and not especially in art).  In his spare time, he joined a Virtual Reality Gorilla Tag team, created a haptic force-feedback glove, and built his own computer.  He got a 3d printer and uses it to make parts for his engineering creations.  He performs in the school band on the trumpet and was invited to the senior band.  He loves scuba diving, tolerates sailing, took surfing lessons, and cooked dinner for us all summer (my hero!).  Young Man returned to school in person after a virtual freshman year and continues to amaze us all by expertly balancing academics with a dynamic social life, working for the school paper and yearbook, ROTC, and his photography hobby.  I keep busy in Public Affairs trying to navigate what that looks like during COVID-19 in a country with limited Internet penetration.  When COVID-related travel restrictions were lifted this fall, I squeezed in trips to Mwanza, Kigoma, Dodoma, Unguja, Pemba, Mafia, and Kilimanjaro all into the last three months of the year!  It was exhausting but rewarding work, with the added bonus of getting to see even more of this unique and fascinating country.  

Over the past year, we've oscillated between telework and the office, trying to balance safety and commonsense, effectiveness and uncertainty.  We've had the bonus and bain of living in a country with little available information.  We knew COVID was making the rounds, and anecdotally it was raging at times, but without official statistics, it was hard to know exactly how careful to be.  We wore masks indoors or in crowded outdoor areas (which we tried to avoid altogether) but generally left the masks home when we were sailing or dining outdoors with friends.  We got our COVID vaccinations and then the booster and felt even safer.

And then, I got a headache, a sore throat, a fever, and a positive COVID-19 test.  Just after my incredible parents made the crazy trek to come visit (and just days before Young Man was scheduled to land for winter break).  Fiddlesticks.  And so I sit, alone in this room, unable to see my parents or hug my husband or sons.  But I am grateful.  Grateful that I was able to receive vaccinations and a booster shot (because if it's this bad even with those, I can't imagine facing this bug without them!).  Grateful that my parents are angels and planned a long trip so after this is all over we will still have lots of time to hang out.  Grateful that it looks like I may not have infected the rest of my family (negative tests for them today).  Grateful that my quarantine ends in time to celebrate Christmas with my family!  Grateful that even though the past few days have been miserable, I am healthy and recovering.  Grateful for a crazy year, where we have experienced and done so much, despite the rollercoaster of COVID-19.  Grateful for amazing friends and family to share it all with.  It has been hard.  It has been wonderful.  It has been 2021.

And that's a wrap.  Over to you 2022.