Roughly one out of ten residents of Qatar is a citizen. The rest of the population are temporary workers from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. For five years, I was one of them. This post is one in a series of short posts including the number 10 in the first sentence, a requirement ofContinue reading “Q is for Ten in Qatar”
Tag Archives: Africa
A is for Ten in Africa
Top of the list of the ten most impressive sites in Africa is Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe. If you choose to go there, watch out for Devil’s Pool, a natural pool atop Victoria Falls that far too many visitors choose to swim in to dare the devil. They say no one has everContinue reading “A is for Ten in Africa”
A Twist on Valentine’s Day
Every year February 14 is Valentine’s Day, a Hallmark holiday that traditionally includes cards, chocolates, flowers, and often dinner out and perhaps a new bauble or other token of affection. This year February 14 is also Ash Wednesday, a Christian holiday that marks the beginning of 40 days of fasting in preparation for Easter, theContinue reading “A Twist on Valentine’s Day”
An Early Christmas Present
This week I received an early Christmas present, the kind that no amount of money can buy. I found a comment on one of my earlier posts, E is for Eritrea, from one of the boys on Team USA while I was in Eritrea in 2004. And that means I also have a way toContinue reading “An Early Christmas Present”
Book Review: Leaving Before the Rains Come
“‘The problem with most people,’ Dad said once, not necessarily implying that I counted as most people, but not discounting the possibility either, ‘is that they want to be alive for as long as possible without having any idea whatsoever how to live.’” Alexandra Fuller learned from her parents how to live. She has lived enoughContinue reading “Book Review: Leaving Before the Rains Come”
Book Review: Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is Alexandra Fuller’s second book covering her family’s experience in east Africa. The first, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, which her mother describes as an Awful Book, tells the story from her perspective. In Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, she expands the story to includeContinue reading “Book Review: Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness”
Book Review: The Man-eaters of Tsavo
The Man-eaters of Tsavo by Lt. Colonel J.H. Patterson, first published in 1907, steps the reader back in history to the 19th-to-20th turn of the century to an area at a time when place names reflected the non-Africans who arrived and set out to tame the continent. The initial chapters of the book tell ofContinue reading “Book Review: The Man-eaters of Tsavo”
Book Review: Scribbling the Cat
“The windows of the pickup were rolled down because we, in common with everyone else in this part of the world, were jealous of every drop of fuel we spent. And, under these circumstances, air-conditioning (like the exorcism of war memories and the act of writing about it) was an unpardonable self-indulgence. K had goneContinue reading “Book Review: Scribbling the Cat”
Book Review: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
Alexandra Fuller’s first memoir covers her childhood in Africa, including stints at boarding schools far from her parents, ending with her marriage to an American who brought her out of Africa and into another land. Her parents were grounded in Africa, her mother by birth and her father by experience. Yet after the death of theirContinue reading “Book Review: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight”
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