Ayoba*!!

In June we returned to Cape Town for a month of soccer fever, Budweiser, vuvuzelas, makarapas and excited visitors from all over the world.

About vuvuzelas and makarapas

For our non-SA friends, watch any major soccer match in South Africa, and two pieces of unique paraphernalia usually stand out: the vuvuzela, or plastic trumpet, and the makarapa, a decorated miners’ helmet, customised for each soccer team involved.

The boisterous sound of the vuvuzela takes some time to get used to. Or not. If vuvuzelas are blown in a crowd, it sounds more or less like a gigantic beehive, which is manageable to the ear. However, if some uneducated individual insists on blowing it right behind you, facing it anywhere else but upward, earplugs come in very handy – to place in your ears that is, not to shove up the person’s nostrils as your first instinct might tell you to.

Experiences

South Africa was captivated by the event and productivity must have been at an all time low. It seemed that even the criminals, who often dominate the news headlines, took off some time to enjoy the football! Almost all the cars on the streets sported flags – one for South Africa, and more for the other team(s) the driver supported. Even hardcore rugby fans were spotted having the time of their lives at the stadiums. And the whole country celebrated our first goal against Mexico, mourned the loss to Uruguay and is still confused whether to cheer our victory over France, or mourn our early exit from the tournament.

It was a unique experience to sit in the brand new soccer stadium in Green Point, Cape Town and enjoy each soccer game with a crowd of between 62 000 and 65 000 people. Even matches that delivered no goals where exciting due to the colourful fans, incidences and people from all over the world who provided more than enough entertainment.

We were treated to the teams of France, Uruguay, Italy, Paraguay, England, Algeria, Portugal, Korea, Holland and Cameroon in the pool games, and watched Ronaldo vs David Villa in the knock-out match between Portugal and Spain.

Watching international soccer stars with excitement whilst at the same time wanting to strangle the bloke who just blew his vuvuzela into your ear was not uncommon. Drinking Budweiser from a plastic bottle (and later plastic cups, which felt a little less weird) and having your plastic coke / water bottle’s cap confiscated (as well as lists of other potentially dangerous things) before entering the stadium was also a first, but necessary, we suppose, to protect the players and probably some of those referees who stunned the crowds with a few controversial decisions.

The most stunning experience was watching soccer fans making every effort to show their love for their team with bright and weird attire, songs from the heart and dances and jumps as their teams scored a goal. And if those teams didn’t perform, some fans turned to Budweiser for comfort. This usually led to even more spectacular performances, which occasionally involved security staff too.

To show how small the world really has become, Theo managed to get into a Hindi conversation with one of the staff members at the stadium’s Fifa fan shop.

TV and radio presenters from every part of the world were also among the crowds. One evening, after Portugal’s defeat against Spain, a Portugese TV presenter stopped Theo for a short interview. Guess which team’s makarapa Theo had on his head!

We did not experience matches in the other cities of South Africa, but in Cape Town a well organised transport system brought the spectators to and from the stadium. And for those who preferred not to use the shuttle between the stadium and Cape Town’s railway station, there was the 20-minute Fan Walk – a lane packed with food and souvenir stalls, entertainers of all sorts, hotels and restaurants to provide enough entertainment for those 20 minutes to become a few hours.

Expectations exceeded

The Soccer World Cup was fantastically organised and we were very proud as South Africans to experience this world-class event. Many people had their doubts about South Africa’s ability to be a successful host, but it was done superbly. Almost everyone had very high expectations for our country and we are proud to say that it has exceeded these expectations.

We hope that all the visitors from overseas had the same exciting and unique experience we did and that they will return to enjoy the diverse beauty and culture the southern part of Africa has to offer.

*Ayoba is a slang term used by South Africans to express amazement, approval and appreciation.

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Dear friends and family

We apologise for the terribly long drought in this space! We are alive and still in India and the first half of this year has been quite eventful.

I will try not to bore you with long stories in this entry, but I’ll attempt to give you a brief update on our experiences during the first few months of 2010.

February – love and laughter

Three days before Valentine’s Day my ever romantic husband started to send me gifts with a romantic handwritten message. Not handwritten by Theo, but by the online local company from which he ordered my gifts and flowers. And with every gift the same handwritten message arrived in a beautiful card.

What was supposed to bring a tear to my eyes, indeed had me crying, but with laughter. Every day, for the following three days. The gift company’s technology seemingly twisted the “ê” in “wêreld”, and the poor bloke who had to write Theo’s message every day, ended up having to recreate the following:

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Shortly after our return to India in January we discovered that an army of mosquitoes invaded our house. They were particularly brutal at night and we were dinner! We try to protect Kara with a mosquito net over her cot, but sometimes one or two slip in and poor Kara would wake up with welts all over her face.

In India, people have made peace with the mosquitoes. We suspect that they are bitten so often while they are young that they actually build up a resistance and that the bites don’t itch. I’ve often seen people taking a nap with a handkerchief over their face (i.e. the rest of their body is fair game). Marga however is not fond of mosquitoes.

About 2 or 3 days back in India, with Kara still sleeping in our room (to help her adjust being yet again in a different house) I woke up with a light shining in my eyes. This is a nightmare for most South Africans as it normally means an armed person is behind the light. To my relief I discovered that it was Marga who was on the hunt. She had her cellphone in one hand, while swatting mosquitoes with the other hand. I laid still and enjoyed the show for about 15 minutes. Marga was quite athletic as she hunted them up and down the walls, catching them on the outside of Kara’s mosquito net and even jumping on the bed to get the ones high up on the wall and the roof. It was both a comic and scary sight!

Marga didn’t want to turn on the light because Kara was sleeping in our room – so she hunted with the help of a cellphone! She was quite effective also – around 40 or 50 mosquitoes died in our room that night. The next morning it looked a bit like a murder scene with blood splatters on the wall where Marga swatted the mosquitoes. The only part of the story which I didn’t find funny was when I realised that most of the blood on the walls were mine!

Take a look if you dare:

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It’s been too long since we’ve updated this blog! Since the last blog entry we’ve had an interesting time reorganising our lives here in India with Kara and making the new house our home.

Our staff and Alexandra

Theo already wrote about Alexandra, our first au pair, in the previous entry. Well, our staff liked this blonde, attractive girl who moved into the house. Especially Raju. He constantly tried to feed her, telling her that she was too skinny and that picking up weight would mean that she had lived the good life in India. He thought nothing of entering her room unannounced for chats and once even thought it appropriate to stand outside and knock on her bedroom window (which was on the top floor of the double-storied house) with a broomstick. Suffice to say she became very quickly very annoyed with him.

Then Alexandra got a bad flu, and Nurse Raju stepped in. Every hour he would take her “Afrika tea” (Rooibos tea, which I brought from SA) and try and force her to eat something. On the third day, he decided it was time for the steam treatment. He took a pot of steaming water, a strong menthol balm and a towel up to her room and forced her head over the pot with the towel over her head. Not used to this flu treatment, Alexandra was convinced he was trying to finish her off. “Raju, I can’t breathe!” she would say to him. And Raju would just keep her head down, shouting, “Breathe, Madam!! Madam, I don’t hear you! Breathe!” And then Alexandra would try again to escape, shouting back, “But I AM breathing!”

It was probably a combination of shock and steam, but Alexandra recovered rather quickly after that night.

Family visit & trip to Bangalore

Theo’s parents and his brother, Hein, visited us in India.

Kara & her grandfather

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Namaste hamare dosteyaan,

We’ve been quiet on the blog front, but things have not been so quiet on the home front.

Almost two months ago we had a very smooth trip to India with Kara, but it took quite a while for us to find our feet again here in India.
It was especially hard for Marga who has been in South Africa for almost 6 months and was surrounded by family and friends during her pregnancy and the weeks following Kara’s birth. Suddenly we were alone in a somewhat familiar and still somewhat foreign and somewhat unhygenic country, with a vulnerable newborn.

And to top it off we arrived at the start of the swine flu pandemic in the East and it has since just gotten worse. (Swine flu and babies don’t mix well).

New House

To make things even more interesting we also moved to a new house in Hyderabad. It is in an area called Whisper Valley. Here are a few pics.


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After almost 4 weeks I finally made it back to my gorgeous wife and beautiful daughter. It is the last time I’ll be away from them for more than a week. I did not realise how traumatic the seperation would be.

After spending the first month with Kara I was filled with self-confidence (gathered by reading many books) and it was easy for me to handle her, calm her and soothe her to sleep. After the long break I found my daughter almost 30% bigger than when I left her (and my wife back in her pre-pregnancy shape!) and she didn’t want to be held in the same way anymore and I had to re-connect with her.

I arrived on Saturday (13th) afternoon and was fumbling my way through trying to get back into things with my duo of girls. On Sunday I was treated to an early Father’s Day lunch and Kara accompanied us of course. During lunch Kara became hungry, but Marga had prepared a bottle for the occassion. With fond memories of our previous bottle encounter, I scooped up Kara and the bottle and within a few seconds she started to blissfully empty the bottle. Thereafter I rocked her to sleep and we both knew that father and daughter had rekindled their bond. (I think the picture says it all)

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It’s been three weeks since Theo left for Hyderabad again, and Kara and I miss him terribly! The day before he went, he left one of his worn T-shirts for Kara (so that she can remember his smell), and somehow (although she also thinks nothing of throwing up on it!) she seems to be calmer when I put it in her bed.

He missed most of the pregnancy because of us being worlds apart. To contribute in his absence, he bought and studied a number of books on babies, raising girls and even sleep training.

It was great to have Theo a little to ourselves the month right after Kara’s birth. The little missy and her daddy bonded very well as she loved falling asleep on his broad chest, and it was beautiful to see the relationship between them unfold. He even looked after her wardrobe. Being a rather tiny baby, Kara drowned in her new-born clothes. Theo decided his baby needs something that fits properly and came home with a couple of vests and very cute babygrows for tiny babies, which she wore almost every other day until recently, when she finally fitted into her new-born and 0-3 months outfits. Read the rest of this entry »

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Its now 3 weeks – for this family of 3!

Kara has become even cuter, but her taste for the “night life” has also evolved. She loves entertaining her parents between 1am and 7am.

When she is not sleeping – she is in motion. She communicates, waves, kicks and crawls/slithers (mostly in search of a food source …)
She has a very healthy appetite. In Marga’s words : “She drinks like twins!”

Either her yellow tint has diminished, or we have become more used to it because it is not bothering us as much. We are still keeping our fingers crossed that it will disappear soon.

But you don’t really want to read stories – everyone has been asking us to be more forthcoming with the pictures. So here are a few of Kara in motion:
(If you click on any picture a bigger version will appear)

Striking a pose & the distant look:
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It was the best of times, it was the …. – no actually it has simply been the best of times.

We have fallen in love with our daughter and our first week with her has been magical.
And a big wave from us and Kara (see below) for all the well wishes, emails, phone calls, flowers, gifts and support:

Our status check after 1 week:
Sleep-deprived – yes
Worried – yes
Feeling incompetent – yes
Having the time of our lives – absolutely

Our biggest worry is that Kara left the hospital with a nice yellow tint – jaundice (“geelsug”). This is quite common in newborns and fortunately her condition was not severe enough to require time under the lights in hospital, but it does mean that Marga and I (with our years of parenting experience – or not) must “monitor her condition”.
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Today, just after 3 pm, Kara Neha Scheffler arrived into our lives and hearts.

She made a grand, but unexpected entrance today because we did not expect her so soon, but already we cannot imagine life without her.

20 minutes before we left for the hospital:

Fist things first – so where did we come up with the names?
Kara has many roots and meanings – just Google it to see how many!
It means “beloved”, “friend”, “sweet melody”, “pure maiden”, “love”, “the beloved one”, “pure”. All of these apply to our beautiful angel.
It is also a strong name.

Neha is a beautiful Indian name that we chose because of the undeniable connection that our daughter will have to India.
Neha means “cherished”, “beauty”, “love” and “affection”. (It also means “rain” in Sanskrit). It describes how we feel about our little girl.

Also not only does her names have deep and impressive meanings – they are lovely cool names.
(We will be calling her Kara.)

Here is our family: (Have you ever seen a mother look so beautiful an hour after giving birth!?)
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