My brother's wedding is this week. I'm flying to Hawaii this afternoon to be there. I am also breaking a few MCC rules to do it, so I hope no one is seriously ticked about this.
Additionally, don't forget I'll be in San Francisco on June 22nd, trying to make my way back to Moz. I have twelve hours there and I'd like to hang out with you.
Your brother,
Stephen
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
One of the great mysteries of living in Mozambique for me this year was why people love to listen to country music and in particular Don Williams. It is always a surreal combination for me to be driving through Sub-Saharan Africa with Don Williams blasting in the car speakers. I just figured that there is no accounting for taste and planned to forget about it completely, until I heard a show on NPR.
One of my guilty pleasures is downloading NPR shows like Car Talk and This American Life and listening to them on my computer. One of the shows I download is Radiolab, which is a show about science. A few years ago Radiolab interviewed Professor Aaron A. Fox from Columbia University who actually explained this.
According to Professor Fox, country music got its big start in the US back in the 1920s, which was the period in America where suddenly more people lived in cities than in the rural country. And if you listen to country music at all, you'll know many of the songs are about this longing for a simpler time and a life that is no longer available now that we all live in cities. Country music is migration music at its heart. It is the music of the lonely, the regretful, and the reticent.
The rest of the world went through a similar population switch, but much more recently - in about 2008. Suddenly in 2008 and for the first time ever, the majority of the world's population found themselves living in cities, including people from countries like Mozambique. In fact, Don Williams has gone to neighboring Zimbabwe and filled a soccer stadium with 40,000 people - twice. This phenomenon isn't limited to Southern Africa either, Aborigines in Western Australia, Russians, Chinese, Thai, Norwegians, and Native Americans all love country music. For some reason, singing about missing the Tennessee mountains translates to missing the simple life that we left behind in all these places.
The language gap seems to defy this explanation because how can Mozambican Don Williams fans connect the migration story when it's told in English? Professor Fox claims that this feeling is built into the music. The steel guitar is sometimes called the crying guitar, because it sounds like a human crying. And the signature vocal technique of country is this yodel sound, called the cry break. Even though the words don't convey, the feeling does.
In this globalizing world this idea is sort of a universal story that applies to us all. We are all on this path to modernization and it's difficult because we have to leave something behind to do so. And we experience this loss in Hawaii, in LA, or in Tete pretty much same way.
Neat, huh?
Your brother,
Stephen
One of my guilty pleasures is downloading NPR shows like Car Talk and This American Life and listening to them on my computer. One of the shows I download is Radiolab, which is a show about science. A few years ago Radiolab interviewed Professor Aaron A. Fox from Columbia University who actually explained this.
According to Professor Fox, country music got its big start in the US back in the 1920s, which was the period in America where suddenly more people lived in cities than in the rural country. And if you listen to country music at all, you'll know many of the songs are about this longing for a simpler time and a life that is no longer available now that we all live in cities. Country music is migration music at its heart. It is the music of the lonely, the regretful, and the reticent.
The rest of the world went through a similar population switch, but much more recently - in about 2008. Suddenly in 2008 and for the first time ever, the majority of the world's population found themselves living in cities, including people from countries like Mozambique. In fact, Don Williams has gone to neighboring Zimbabwe and filled a soccer stadium with 40,000 people - twice. This phenomenon isn't limited to Southern Africa either, Aborigines in Western Australia, Russians, Chinese, Thai, Norwegians, and Native Americans all love country music. For some reason, singing about missing the Tennessee mountains translates to missing the simple life that we left behind in all these places.
The language gap seems to defy this explanation because how can Mozambican Don Williams fans connect the migration story when it's told in English? Professor Fox claims that this feeling is built into the music. The steel guitar is sometimes called the crying guitar, because it sounds like a human crying. And the signature vocal technique of country is this yodel sound, called the cry break. Even though the words don't convey, the feeling does.
In this globalizing world this idea is sort of a universal story that applies to us all. We are all on this path to modernization and it's difficult because we have to leave something behind to do so. And we experience this loss in Hawaii, in LA, or in Tete pretty much same way.
Neat, huh?
Your brother,
Stephen
Thursday, June 2, 2011
My Trip to Gorongosa
Gorongosa National Park is beautiful. On our trip there this weekend we saw some elephants, lots of plains animals and some sweet birds I've never seen before. I'm a big fan of conservation in Mozambique.
Your brother,
Stephen
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
My First Design
Here's a picture of the first dam I designed. It is located in the community of Nhamunhu and it's almost complete! Too bad I won't be around to see it fill with water and sand, but I'm pretty happy about it. We've got a lot more to do before I head home at the end of July, so wish us luck!
Your brother,
Stephen
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
My Sister
...has informed me that I suck at updating my blog. :(
I've been busy with work mostly and swimming in the mornings before work. I haven't gotten behind the camera so much so I don't have photos to share. One thing that happened to me today that I was kind of proud of was that I gave my first presentation in Portuguese. It was on how to use the Manning's Equation to estimate flow in a river.
Oh, that reminds me. I rode with my boss Tiago down to Beira a couple of days ago. As we were leaving town, he thought it was a good idea to fill the tires before heading out. The only air pump in the city has a broken pressure gauge on it, so the attendant kicked the tires to judge their pressure. Two hours into the trip, Tiago's back right tire exploded and shreds of it were flailing around because they were still stuck to the rotating hub. They scuffed the heck out of the right side of the car with rubber marks. Anyway we changed the tire and put on the spare. Tiago starts complaining to me that now he has to keep it below 100 kmh, which is odd because I was of the belief that you drive 30 mph on a spare tire (about 55 kmh). Now the posted speed is 100. He then proceeds to blast down the highway at 120 on the tiny spare for the remaining six-hour trip. I was not convinced we were going to make it, but I've always been a worry-wart.
I head to one of Mozambique's national parks tomorrow. The country's wildlife is still recovering from its civil war from the 80s, where soldiers used big game animals as target practice. So I guess I'm not really expecting to see the animals you would expect of game parks in Zim or South Africa, but who knows right? If anything, I'll be happy to see some birds that I've never seen before. Apparently, they have these African Fish Eagles there and they look a lot like Bald Eagles. Sweet. Hopefully pics to come.
Your brother,
Stephen
I've been busy with work mostly and swimming in the mornings before work. I haven't gotten behind the camera so much so I don't have photos to share. One thing that happened to me today that I was kind of proud of was that I gave my first presentation in Portuguese. It was on how to use the Manning's Equation to estimate flow in a river.
Oh, that reminds me. I rode with my boss Tiago down to Beira a couple of days ago. As we were leaving town, he thought it was a good idea to fill the tires before heading out. The only air pump in the city has a broken pressure gauge on it, so the attendant kicked the tires to judge their pressure. Two hours into the trip, Tiago's back right tire exploded and shreds of it were flailing around because they were still stuck to the rotating hub. They scuffed the heck out of the right side of the car with rubber marks. Anyway we changed the tire and put on the spare. Tiago starts complaining to me that now he has to keep it below 100 kmh, which is odd because I was of the belief that you drive 30 mph on a spare tire (about 55 kmh). Now the posted speed is 100. He then proceeds to blast down the highway at 120 on the tiny spare for the remaining six-hour trip. I was not convinced we were going to make it, but I've always been a worry-wart.
I head to one of Mozambique's national parks tomorrow. The country's wildlife is still recovering from its civil war from the 80s, where soldiers used big game animals as target practice. So I guess I'm not really expecting to see the animals you would expect of game parks in Zim or South Africa, but who knows right? If anything, I'll be happy to see some birds that I've never seen before. Apparently, they have these African Fish Eagles there and they look a lot like Bald Eagles. Sweet. Hopefully pics to come.
Your brother,
Stephen
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
My Picture from the Field
I'm not sure I know what these are. There sure was a lot of em this year though.
I'm heading back to Beira this week. Our water and food security team has a meeting to plan the future work of CCM and MCC in Mozambique. After that, I head to Gorongosa National Park! I'm pretty stoked because I really haven't seen any of the crazy wildlife you think of when you think of Africa. Kinda sad, huh?
Your brother,
Stephen
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Mozambique Email Update #6
Dear family and friends,
Thank you for taking the time to read these letters. I hope that this finds you all healthy and happy. I was reminded this month of a famous story from modern physics. The story goes Einstein was riding a bus to work one morning in Bern, Switzerland. The bus had driven by a clock tower when he began to think of time and speed and light. Specifically, he wondered how the clock would appear to him as the bus approached the speed of light. Einstein had later said “a storm broke in my mind” as the clock tower passed and in that moment he had the first inklings of the relativity of time. He theorized the next day that time changes depending on the speed at which you are moving. Time, it seems, is elastic.
I think I am experiencing such an elasticity of time. I don’t think it’s because my life is so fast here though, because I spend a lot of time in quiet reading. Life is really flying by though and a lot has changed since I last wrote you. In Tete the temperature now drops into the 70s at night and I may even start sleeping under my sheets, which is something I would have never guessed in back in September. On the motorcycle ride to work in the mornings the wind is actually cold. I have running showers in my house, but I went back to bucket showers because I can warm the water in the kettle that way.
Because we only have three construction managers, one flatbed truck, and enough form work for one dam CCM has been working on improving the efficiency of the process between dams. This is important because we want to honor the community’s time as well as stay on schedule. We’ve often discovered that there is a temptation to continue with work though earlier parts of the construction process haven’t been completed. This inevitably takes more time to go back and do right. Our project year ends with August and we are currently pouring our third of ten dams scheduled for completion. There is a lot of work to be done in the four months left.
On the community side, a leader from the village of Chigamanda waited for days at one of our dam sites to meet with CCM staff to request assistance with building a dam. That moment represents an important shift for us, because it means they will be our first community to initiate the project on their own. This act indicates that Chigamanda will likely have more motivation to construct the dam and maintain the dam into the future. We hope to have more communities such as this as news of our work spreads through the district.
In the book of Genesis, the universe that God created in the first six days was good, but on the seventh, the day itself was made holy. Time, not thing nor space, is first in the Bible to be consecrated holy by God. I think that the holiness of time demands that it be shared with others. Einstein’s description of time was maybe incomplete - it is elastic but it is also sacred. What makes my year in Mozambique special, more than the sights and the location, is that I get to share it with the people here. And the time you spend reading my letters and connecting to this country, too, is holy for me. It would be very lonely without you. Thank you again for sharing this experience with me.
Your brother,
Stephen Esaki
Thank you for taking the time to read these letters. I hope that this finds you all healthy and happy. I was reminded this month of a famous story from modern physics. The story goes Einstein was riding a bus to work one morning in Bern, Switzerland. The bus had driven by a clock tower when he began to think of time and speed and light. Specifically, he wondered how the clock would appear to him as the bus approached the speed of light. Einstein had later said “a storm broke in my mind” as the clock tower passed and in that moment he had the first inklings of the relativity of time. He theorized the next day that time changes depending on the speed at which you are moving. Time, it seems, is elastic.
I think I am experiencing such an elasticity of time. I don’t think it’s because my life is so fast here though, because I spend a lot of time in quiet reading. Life is really flying by though and a lot has changed since I last wrote you. In Tete the temperature now drops into the 70s at night and I may even start sleeping under my sheets, which is something I would have never guessed in back in September. On the motorcycle ride to work in the mornings the wind is actually cold. I have running showers in my house, but I went back to bucket showers because I can warm the water in the kettle that way.
Because we only have three construction managers, one flatbed truck, and enough form work for one dam CCM has been working on improving the efficiency of the process between dams. This is important because we want to honor the community’s time as well as stay on schedule. We’ve often discovered that there is a temptation to continue with work though earlier parts of the construction process haven’t been completed. This inevitably takes more time to go back and do right. Our project year ends with August and we are currently pouring our third of ten dams scheduled for completion. There is a lot of work to be done in the four months left.
On the community side, a leader from the village of Chigamanda waited for days at one of our dam sites to meet with CCM staff to request assistance with building a dam. That moment represents an important shift for us, because it means they will be our first community to initiate the project on their own. This act indicates that Chigamanda will likely have more motivation to construct the dam and maintain the dam into the future. We hope to have more communities such as this as news of our work spreads through the district.
In the book of Genesis, the universe that God created in the first six days was good, but on the seventh, the day itself was made holy. Time, not thing nor space, is first in the Bible to be consecrated holy by God. I think that the holiness of time demands that it be shared with others. Einstein’s description of time was maybe incomplete - it is elastic but it is also sacred. What makes my year in Mozambique special, more than the sights and the location, is that I get to share it with the people here. And the time you spend reading my letters and connecting to this country, too, is holy for me. It would be very lonely without you. Thank you again for sharing this experience with me.
Your brother,
Stephen Esaki
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