moving?

So much time has past since I last wrote that there is really no way I can fill in the blank.
The most important thing probably is the fact that I am seriously thinking of leaving Canada...but the decision is not made yet.

The photo is from the Clarens area in South Africa. It represents a Rain Lion.
The mountains around Lesotho are rich in rock paintings like this one. I was lucky enough to see quite a few. I am particularly found of this one.
...by the way this is not a photo from the internet or anything like this. I took it. I was quite happy about the way it came out. The rock paintings can be quite hard to photograh.

Treasures from the library discard

I'm going back to work in South Africa this Sunday. I went to the library today to return most of what I had borrowed (I'll return the rest on my way to the airport) and to buy something from the discard to take with me on the plane. I was thinking of something easy to read which would bring no regrets if left behind by mistake. I was planning on buying a murder mystery but somebody must have just donated some books to the library because I found a collection of twelve books, all published by Vintage International, which were in good state and looked really like a good read. Some of them I would not have picked on their own but I thought that in a way it was great way to try new authors. It is as if an unknown person chose for me a collection of twelve books to read.
My attention was originally drawn by a book by Camara Laye and one by Doris Lessing.
Here is what I bought for 50 cents each:

Camara Laye "The radiance of The King" (Guinea/Senegal)
Par Lagerkvist "Barabbas" (Sweden)
Caryl Phillips "Cambridge" (England)
Doris Lessing "The fifth Child" (South Africa)
Tatyana Tolstaya "Sleepwalker in a fog" (Russia)
Julian Barnes "Talking it Over" (England)
Mario Vargas Llosa "The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta" (Peru)
Leonardo Sciascia "Open Doors, and three novellas" (Italy)
Robert Stone "Children of Light" (USA)
Kobo Abe "The Woman in the Dunes" (Japan)
Yukio Mishima "The Temple of the Golden Pavilion" (Japan
Junichiro Tanizaki "Diary of a Mad Old Man" (Japan)


Also for 50 cents I bought the last book of the Harry Potter collection which was so far the only one I did not have.

I feel pretty lucky!

the never ending bank saga

Sometimes I surprise myself by being totally optimistic. I went to the bank and the document I had to sign had nothing to do with what I was told. It listed as what would be reimbursed to me only some of the transactions which we had been agreed on the phone. The difference between what I was told I would be reimbursed and what actually was listed amounted to just under a thousand dollar...a significant amount of money! So back to the phone and talking and explaining and asking.
Finally the list I had to sign on was complete and I did signed.

This time I will wait until I am actually reimbursed to say that the all story is over.

The end of the bank story...sort of

Well after several very frustrating phone calls with the bank during which I was treated with a mixture of fake politeness and suspicion the story came to an end last night.
The bank will reimburse me for the money stolen.
To be fair I have to say that in the end, regardless of how the process went, the result was fair.
I guess I will never know if the fact that in the phone call prior to that I ended up saying that I was starting to think that I should get a lawyer had any impact in the way they dealt with it. I can see their point that they have to make sure that I am not the one stealing the money, but I certainly felt that the process was very weird. Of course they record all phone conversation, everything that I say is taken as a legal statement and NONE of what they say can be use as such. I tell you it is not a pleasant process.

My final question to them was: "how can I protect myself from having my ATM card copied at a bank machine?" and the answer was: "There is nothing you can do. This is done by organized crime. It is their job and they are good at it. Bank card theft has been around for a long time but they have just become a lot more aggressive."

So here you are. Good luck to all of us with all this.

Tomorrow I have to go to the bank, sign an affidavit (which I will read very very carefully) and they will reimburse me the money they recognize as stolen.

Cleaned out

I guess after everything my first blog should really be about Ben's wedding (which went very well, I thought, and was gorgeous but for which I have absolutely no photos), my trip to Kruger Park (where I saw lions), why it is that I am not in Dubai where I am supposed to be (what's the point of cursing the travel agent once again); or I should talk about the Zimbabwe elections (going to the run off with the leader of the opposition not daring -so far- to re-enter Zimbabwe), or maybe I should talk about the violence in townships around Johannesburg against foreigners and particularly people from Zimbabwe...or I could even just describe my very short observations on the townships and shanty towns of South Africa because they are something quite particular to that part of the world (I've seen townships in Namibia too); but my head is not in it.
I just had trouble with my bank card and when I tried to figure out what was going on I found that somebody has cleaned my chequing account from "international withdrawal"...I would guess South Africa since I did not use my card anywhere in Asia. Now I have to wait till the end of the long week end and see what and if I can sort out with the bank.
On the plus side I am home so it should make dealing with all this a little easier...not to mention that if I was on the road this would be a much bigger problem....Things can always get worse.

You hear people say that things are "as bad as they get", then they should be happy for any change that bounds to happen soon because "if it can't get worse" it can only get better. But generally from my experience people who say this type of thing say it with gloom and little hope, in fact they usually expect things to get way worse.

May 4th

Once again I am in the Singapore airport after a work rotation in Johannesburg during which I did not blog.
The elections in Zimbabwe, as you must know, are far from over. They will have to go to a run off...and after all the violence against Mugabe's opposition it is hard to imagine that there are enough people left to vote against Mugabe....Anyway, presumably if it was of interest to you you followed the progress about it all....including the chinese ship full of weapons ..... *shrug*

I am just transfering in Singapore, on my way to Phuket to Ben's wedding.

Zimbabwe still peaceful even without final results

Thursday night in Zimbabwe and still no report of violence.

There are no new official results out of the ZEC, and seven seats still need to be announced.
Now deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga says: "If results from Saturday's election showed a second round was necessary, Mr Mugabe is ready to stand."
The tiny little "If" at the start is where all the hope of Zimbabwe stands. First teme I read it I read "results from Saturday's election showed a second round was necessary, Mr Mugabe is ready to stand."...HUGE difference.
It feels to me like a half admission that they realize that a stand off may not be needed....Now in fact numbers already show that there will not be a stand off UNLESS Mugabe challenges the numbers....

The BBC News World has a small summary of what some African newspapers are saying.

I'm going to back to work this Saturday and landing in Johannesburg Monday morning.....The first day is usually a complete write off with jet lag etc but I am looking forward to seeing for myself what newspaper in South Africa are saying. The other thing is, internet access when I work in Johannesburg is difficult, but I'll try to blog about some of what I read.

Zimbabwe results: still 7 seats to go but MDC has majority ZEC says

That's it the ZEC has given enough results now to show that Mugabe has lost the majority.

The weird thing is that there is little information. Below this I have copied the entire article about it. Who has ever seen such a short article?
You'll notice that there is nothing about how the news has been received. Once again we sit and we wait and hope that all goes well.

=====================

News from the BBC
President Robert Mugabe's party has lost its majority in parliament, the Zimbabwe Election Commission says.

It says Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has taken 94 of the 207 contested seats, while opposition parties have won 105. One seat has gone to an independent.
Although seven seats have yet to be declared, this means Zanu-PF cannot win an overall majority.
The opposition MDC says its leader won the presidential election but official results have not yet been released.

=============================

Later on Yahoo (Note this is again the entire article)
LONDON (Reuters) - The deputy information minister of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party said on Wednesday that claims by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change that it had won Saturday's presidential election were "wishful" statements. "President (Robert) Mugabe is going nowhere," minister Bright Matonga told Britain's Sky television in a telephone interview. "We are not going to be pressurized into anything."

================================

Note that IF the 105 seats are not contested than they not only give the majority to the MDC but also will be enough to ensure that there is no Runoff (second round).

Zimbabwe, Mugabe reported to be working a deal to step down

Apparently all this time taken to release the results is really about giving time for a deal to be made for Mugabe to step down. Here is what is in the news:
"The outline of a deal has almost been reached for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to step down, opposition sources have told the BBC."

Honestly I didn't believe that this was one of the possibilities .... that Mugabe would just step down.....
But read this carefully: "outline", "almost reached", "opposition sources".....

But at the same time news are coming that South Africa is denying having any role brokering the election deals in Zimbabwe..... Why is this coming up from South Africa less than 10 minutes after the news of deal came up?
================================
An hour or so later the same website(BBC World News) reports that opposition leader (Tsvangirai) is denying the existence of such a deal.

The interesting thing is that there have been no new results released today, and it is now 10:00pm in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe, nearly 6:00pm on Tuesday

It's nearly 6:00pm in Zimbabwe and so far no violence reported.

Results continue to trickle in and the results show little change...PART from the fact that if they tay this way Mugabe will be elected. If this happen I will feel like I have watch a great psychological success, not in elective campaign but in how to release the results so that there is no distinct point that people can point out and say "this is when I knew. This is when it went wrong".

Just in case you haven't seen the numbers:
Zuni-PF (Mugabe): 64
MDC (Tsvangirai): 62
MDC breakaway: 5
Remaining: 79

Let me add a few more numbers:
210 seats are available
109 seats represent just under 52% to be elected without a second run

Zimbabwe, the Monday after the elections ... no official results

I was not even going to give you the numbers. The numbers right now mean nothing and can still go either way but in retrospect I think I should.
------------------
Zuni-PF (Mugabe): 31
MDC (Tsvangirai): 30
Breakaway faction of MDC: 5
Left to be declared: 144
--------------------
Let's just say that not much has changed:
Mugabe says he is sure to win and he has not rigged the elections
The MDC (the opposition) has claimed victory,
both sides are celebrating,
the riot police has moved into 2 areas of Harare which are known opposition strongholds


It is the end of the Monday which was supposed to give us the official results and things are a mess.
I can imagine how Mugabe might be willing to let go of his power.
I can't imagine how the MDC is going to step down if the official results say that they have lost the elections.

People from the so called "western world" find it easy to put down Africa in times like this. But some countries, whose political leaders are commenting of the elections in Zimbabwe, can hardly even have soccer/football matches without violence. So far no reported violence in Zimbabwe. More than 48 hours after the end of the polls and still no violence...how long does a soccer match lasts?
Other countries where scandals over counting of votes have tarnished the last couple of elections have their political leaders urging the Zimbabwe officials to count the vote carefully.

Here is the thing from my point of view: Zimbabwe does not need pressure right now. It needs support. And I tell you if they make it past these elections without violence then they actually have obtain the right to go and comment on other countries elections unlike a lot of those talking now. You know the all theory of the butterfly wings etc etc...Right now I can assure you the wind that started in Kenya will have consequences, but there is no knowing what they will be. I am hoping that people will think of the events in Kenya and see in them a warning of what could be in Zimbabwe if they are not careful.

I wish Zimbabwe peace!
I wish them a peaceful day tomorrow. One day at a time. One day at a time.

And I am not forgetting about Tibet, but I feel that I have nothing to add to that issue.

Zimbabwe some election results and African Election Database .. a site I just found

It's nearly 6:00pm in Zimbabwe, soon it will be dark, and the results are not out. My guess would be that we will not get the results today... but maybe I am wrong, the results do seem to be trickling in.... In a sense I will admit that the results are not my major preoccupation.
The vote was Saturday, it is Monday late afternoon in Zimbabwe. People are becoming restless. The police is in the street of Harare, people have been asked to stay indoors... I am just passing on what I read I am not in South Africa right now.

---------
I just checked again: we area at 19 and 19 (for Zuni-PF and MDC) ....still exactly even between the two sides. Ok, now this does not look good.
Why, why would it be that the results are even like this?? Who can seriously expect anybody to believe such results, always equal?
It is starting to seriously look like an election which is going to end up badly.

A few minutes later:
26 Zuni-PF
25 MDC
158 to go

I guess psychologically it is best to have the results equal for along time, then have Zuni-PF take the lead, loose it to equality a few times and let Zuni-PF win. This is probably the best way to manipulate the election results and try to minimize the resulting violence.
------------------

Obviously my mind is on elections and I was thinking of Mozambique.
Mozambique was due to vote on January 16th (and even this was a postponed date) but these elections did not take place. The last time I was in Mozambique was about 3 weeks ago and the young guy who was helping me at work mentioned how he "should register to vote". I don't want people who read this to start associating the tension of the Zimbabwe elections to the delayed elections in Mozambique. There is no tension in Mozambique about the forthcoming elections, or the postponed elections...however you want to call them.
Anyway, trying to find when those elections were scheduled to take place I found an interesting website. So here it is for you a schedule of elections in Africa for 2008.
You can go to the original site African Election Database, a great site though it should be called "Sub Saharan Africa Elections Database" ......but when you look at it remember I have not checked, and will not check, whether or not the information is true though I would guess that it is a reliable source of information.

January 2008
January - Djibouti: National Assembly Election
16 January - Mozambique: Provincial Assembly Elections (DID NOT TAKE PLACE ...I add)
20 January - Congo-Brazzaville: Local Elections
24 January - The Gambia: Local Elections

February 2008
17 February - Benin: Local (Communal/Municipal) Elections

March 2008
March - Cape Verde: Local Elections
March - Comoros: Autonomous Island Legislative Assembly Elections
March - Zimbabwe: Presidential & National Assembly Elections

April 2008
April - Somaliland: Local Elections

May 2008
Mauritius: Presidential Election (Indirect)

June 2008
June - Sierra Leone: Local Elections

July 2008
July - Congo-Brazzaville: Senatorial Election (Indirect)

August 2008
31 August - Somaliland: Presidential Election

September 2008
September - Rwanda: Chamber of Deputies Election
05-06 September - Angola: National Assembly Election

October 2008
October - Swaziland: House of Assembly Election

November 2008
No Scheduled Elections

December 2008
December - Ghana: Presidential & Parliamentary Elections

Other Elections scheduled to take place in 2008 (no month or date announced)
Côte d'Ivoire: Presidential & National Assembly Elections
Guinea: National Assembly Election
Guinea-Bissau: National Assembly Election
Madagascar: Senatorial Election
Nigeria: Local Government Elections

South Africa is due for elections in 2009 and right now the most likely candidate to win those elections (Jacob Zuma, who was recently voted in as leader of the governing ANC party) is facing corruption charges related to the $4.8bn purchase.

nearly 01:30pm in Zimbabwe and no official results yet

Nothing, or very little.
Of the 210 parliamentary seats available the results have been given for 24.
12 going to Znu-PF (Mugabe's party) and 12 to the MDC.

Let's be honest the fact that the results are coming exactly half and half makes it look like the results are being rigged. I am not saying they are, though there is nothing that anybody can say or do that would make me believe that they aren't. And I am not saying this because it is Africa, or because it is Zimbabwe or even because it is Mugabe. I am saying it because it is a humans involved in power issues, and I have very little faith in human's ability to remain fair when issues like this are concerned.
But what I think is irrelevant, what matters here is how the people of Zimbabwe are reacting. So far there is no reported violence. BBC News World writes; "Zimbabwe stands on a precipice", but this is just their take on it.

Here are my thought on this title: When you read the news always remember that, contrary to what we would like to believe, the job of the press is not to give news, it is to sale newspapers. In fact I never understand why people think that the press owes us the news and all the news. They choose what they think their readers will be interested in and only what they think their readers will like (and it is an obvious fact that we choose newspapers that we like) and they word it in a way to make it interesting (Really another obvious point). Put two and two together.

Nearly 6:00am in Zimbabwe...still no official results

Late at night here and nearly 6:00am in Zimbabwe: The news are saying that they will release the results soon. So far no sign of violence but apparently people in Harare (the capital city) have been told to stay indoors.
6:00am....In southern Africa. 6:00am is day light and one of the many things that always sort of amazed me about sub Saharan Africa in general is how people get up with the first day light or earlier. I know they are up.
I wonder how much longer we have to wait.

And while I wait here is a thought: in the last election in my city there was a 41% participation. In Zimbabwe this Saturday some people got up in the middle of the night so they could stand in line to vote. Most waited for hours to get to vote.This photo is from BBC News World.

Zimbabwe early and non official election results

The opposition won..or at least the unofficial returns give them 67% of the vote but they have been "warned" against declaring and early victory.

Here is part of what BBC World reports: "The MDC, which has repeatedly expressed fears of rigging, has started to quote unofficial returns, saying it has 67% of the vote so far and "has won". (For those who are not following the elections, the MDC is the opposition)

The electoral commission said it was "concerned" at the "purported" results.The information minister accused the MDC of "speculation and lies" and "causing unnecessary havoc".

So now starts the really scary part. I cannot start to imagine what the people of Zimbabwe are feeling. I wish them the very best. I mostly wish them peace and safety but reading this pretty good blog it is hard to be too optimistic, still I am hoping. And here is somebody, who sounds like she is in Zimbabwe right now, talking the day before the elections ending their blog with "Then, we will wait the painful wait for election results in Zimbabwe" but generally stating a state of "tolerance". So, see, there is hope.

And for the record it is very unfair and uncalled for to keep on saying that "South Africa is the next Zimbabwe".

continuation of the grey day

So the pot of "dirty rice" is ready, and delicious!
And I am eating my late lunch while reading blogs.

Lately I find that I often find something in the blogs I read (I have a list of "regulars") but then cannot find it again.

Today I am going to create a link to some of the stuff I want to be able to find later, or something who ever reads this may want to have a look at.

A downloadable excel list of "1001 books you should read before you die"

A review of a book I would like to read "In defense of food"

more to be added later because right now I am taking off to the library.

grey day

I'm at home and it is a miserable grey day when the sky is white and if you look carefully you can see a few crystals of ice falling slowly. It isn't very cold, but it is far from warm. It is just windy enough to be chilly without being dramatic....it is one of those days.
Zimbabwe is voting today but we won't get the preliminary results until Monday so there is no point following the news and waiting....The Zimbabwe elections may seem to be totally unrelated to the weather here but somehow to me the two make for a grim day. And, yes, I know elections in Zimbabwe theoretically are good, elections anywhere are good, but let's face it I am not optimistic on the results...and here I say "results" not only meaning "results of the vote" but also "resulting effect of the elections". (If you are curious about it here is a link to read about it)

So what do you do on a day like this?
I started cooking another pot of "dirty rice" with different pulse and different spices. This time I used lentils and put in fenugreg, caraway, garlic, cardamon, chilies and a little cumin. I just started it, tempered the spices and the rice, soaked the lentils and remembering that last night P. A. told me again how she really thought I should read "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver and I used this as an excuse to go to the second hand bookstore.
They didn't have "Prodigal Summer". They didn't have any of the Graham Greene I wanted to read ("journey without a map" and ........ "The heart of the Matter" - I couldn't even remember the title here for a second). They didn't have any Kafka - I had a moment where I thought I should read something by Kafka...don't ask why, I couldn't possibly come up with an answer.


....and I check the African news each time I walk by the computer.......

two "new" authors - new to me at least

I've recently discovered two authors:

Graham Greene is one of those super famous author which for what ever reason I had always avoided. I just read "travels with my aunt" and enjoyed it. but then I went and looked at the front of the book to read the small introduction explaining very briefly who Graham Greene was and I was actually sold. I want to try to find some other books he wrote. I'm thinking of "Journeys without maps" next. Of course "the heart of the matter" seems like a must. It is one of those books whose title it ems I have heard of too many times to remember when or here I first herd of it, but I would like to read it.

In a totally different style, I keep on hearing / reading about Michael Pollan who wrote "in defense of food" and "the omnivore's dilemma". Both sound very interesting though I suspect that just as I finally adapting to eating meat this will probably throw me back into being a veg....which is fair enough.

Here is a small exert from an article he wrote for The New York Time Magazine:
"Piglets in confinement operations are weaned from their mothers ten days after birth (compare to 13 weeks in nature) because they gain weight faster on their hormones - and antibiotic - fortified feed. The premature weaning leaves te pigs with a lifelong craving to suck and chew, a desire they gratify in confinement by biting the tail of the animal in front of them. A normal pig would fight off his molester, but a demoralized pig has stopped caring. "Learned helplessness" is the psychological term, and it is not uncommon in confinement operations, where tens of thousands of hogs spend their lives ignorant of sunshine or earth or straw, crowded together beneath a metal roof upon metal slats suspended over a manure pit. So it is not surprising that an animal as sensitive and intelligent as a pig would get depressed, and a depressed pig will allow its tail to be chewed on to the point of infection. The U.S. D.A.'s recommended solution to the problem is called "tail docking". Using a pair of pliers (and no anesthetic), most, but not all, of the tail is snipped off. Why the little stump? Because the all point of the exercise is not to remove the object of the tail biting so much as to render it more sensitive. Now, a bite on the tail is so painful that even the most demoralized pig will mount to struggle to avoid it"

Hard to eat bacon after this....for me anyway.
Already for me the only way I can eat meat is if I make sure not to think of where it comes form, this is why I can't eat whole fish, I always joke that I can't eat food that looks at me but really I can't eat meat if I remember what it is...but maybe it is wrong maybe I need to think of where it comes from.

I'm just happy that I am not at work right now and I don't have to eat meat. In fact I have a delicious smelling pot of "dirty rice" on the stove with fenugreg, thym and cumin....mmmmmmm!

Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City

Once you've bravely crossed the very busy street you can get to the Saigon River. Obviously in the city it is a very busy spot. I was a bit surprised to see how "industrial" the river was. A lot of large (or large-ish) boats were there and a lot of barges low in the water, loaded with all kind of stuff.



They also have a all bunch of restaurant boats where you can go and have dinner cruises on hte river.