{"id":3622,"date":"2017-05-15T01:21:55","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T22:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=3622"},"modified":"2017-05-17T04:15:01","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T01:15:01","slug":"a-lot-of-odds-and-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dknolte.com\/?p=3622","title":{"rendered":"A lot of Odds and Ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

W<\/strong>hen I arrived at Post, I quickly noticed how polite the Brazilians are.\u00a0 Everyone I saw, would politely acknowledge me by nodding and saying, DVane.\u00a0 Now you have to realize, in many countries the inhabitants have difficulty with the “Dw” in English, so my name is Dvane, instead of Dwaine.\u00a0 When they nod at me and say, Dvane, it’s like us passing someone on the street in Texas, nodding to them and saying, Hey Fred.<\/p>\n

So, throughout the months I have been there, it seemed everyone knew who I was.\u00a0 Understandably so, because many knew of my situation when I arrived.\u00a0 But soon, I noticed even the maintenance people would nod and say, Dvane.\u00a0 Well, since I work with several of them, I guess it made sense.\u00a0 Then I noticed the gardeners even knew who I was.\u00a0 So, it kinda baffled me.<\/p>\n

I often eat lunch with a good man who works in the computer department.\u00a0 He is Brazilian and well known by everyone.\u00a0 One day while we were at a restaurant waiting for food, he looked at someone he knew and nodded and said, Dvane.<\/p>\n

I asked him, What did you say to him?<\/em><\/p>\n

I said, Tu de bem?.<\/em><\/p>\n

What does it mean?<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s like saying, All good?<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, if you say tu de bem <\/em>fast enough, and from a minor distance, it kinda sounds like Dvane.\u00a0 (bem<\/em> is pronounced ben<\/em>) So, all this time, when I thought people were nodding at me and saying Dvane, they were actually nodding and saying, All good?\u00a0 So, it kinda deflated me realizing not every knows who I am, but were just being polite.<\/p>\n

As I have mentioned before, the Brazilians take meat very seriously, but here is an interesting bit of info.\u00a0 Several guys from the Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay, came to Sao Paulo to help me install a new alarm system.\u00a0 While sitting at lunch one day, they told me in Brazil they flavor their meat with spices, while the Uruguayans flavor their meat only with salt, and the types of wood they use in cooking.\u00a0 Nothing else.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 … just a tid-bit of information.<\/p>\n

Remember me telling you about the ambulance stopping at a crosswalk, waiting for me to cross?\u00a0 Well, I believe that may be one reason why the waiting time for an ambulance is several hours.\u00a0 A while back, one of the visa applicants passed out and required an ambulance, so the Consulate called it in.\u00a0 45 minutes later, the Security Officer called to see why the ambulance hadn’t arrived, and was told they were 39th in line!\u00a0 So, the patient went to the hospital by private vehicle.<\/p>\n

At our last post in Turkey, are many stray animals.\u00a0 Mostly dogs.\u00a0 People will go out daily and set food out for them.\u00a0 The Government will capture the animals and have them fixed, marked and release back to where they were picked up.\u00a0 Here in Sao Paulo, I see many dogs, but the majority of them are on leashes.\u00a0 It is not uncommon to see two or three dogs together on a leash with someone hanging on tightly to them.\u00a0 Cats are different.\u00a0 I rarely see cats.\u00a0 From what I am told, the cats are house animals and so stay inside.\u00a0 I have only seen one stray cat on compound, and the guards went crazy trying to catch it, like it was poisonous.\u00a0 I don’t know what they do with them when they catch them, but they take them seriously.<\/p>\n

One more item before we part.\u00a0 Remember our friend Hiwot?\u00a0 She was a young nurse we met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and became good friends with her.\u00a0 She had a devil of a time graduating from nursing school, even though all she had left to do was deliver a baby.\u00a0 She used every trick in the book to postpone it, until an instructor tricked her one day at the hospital.\u00a0 With your permission, I will regal to you what I posted back then.<\/p>\n

I once asked her if she ever delivered a baby.\u00a0 She replied back incredulously, that she\u2019s never had a baby, and not even married.\u00a0 I said, \u201cNo, have you <\/em>delivered a baby?\u201d and I even used my hands to imitate delivering a baby, which I don\u2019t even remember how I did it.\u00a0 She replied with another laugh, NO, NO!!<\/em><\/p>\n

She told me how she helped a woman who was about to give birth, and she felt so sorry for her that she herself began to cry, and laughingly added, it made the patient start crying also.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then exactly four years ago tonight, May 14th, 2013, I posted this:<\/p>\n

Hiwot delivered her first baby!\u00a0 A little girl!<\/em><\/p>\n

As I have stated before, I am convinced the Creator is a bit ornery.\u00a0 Hiwot pulled some sort of shenanigan to postpone delivering a baby another week; but while she was at the hospital doing her clinical, a young woman came in from \u201coutside city\u201d in labor.\u00a0 Basically, an emergency delivery.\u00a0 The \u201cMidwifer\u201d made her do the delivery because, \u201cI am senior nurse now\u201d (Hiwot) .\u00a0 When she saw the first time mother scared and crying, Hiwot started crying also.\u00a0 The doctor said, “If you cry, you get out!”\u00a0 Hiwot said, \u201cI make myself strong.\u201d\u00a0 But the mother told the doctor, it made her feel good seeing Hiwot crying with her.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hiwot said the mother held her hand so hard, it felt like she broke it.\u00a0 \u201cWhen husband asks if mother is okay, I tell him, I think she broke my hand.\u201d\u00a0 The doctor actually gave Hiwot an ice pack to put on it.\u00a0 She says, “I can\u2019t eat well, now”.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is a great deal more she said, and I do my best to remember.\u00a0 Although her English is rough, Hiwot loves to talk and carries a conversation very well.\u00a0 I just follow every few words.<\/em><\/p>\n

But, this made Terese and me very happy and we are proud of her.\u00a0 We had a card made up for her and added some birr (Ethiopian money) to it.\u00a0 When we left the restaurant this evening, we left it in the check holder.\u00a0 When we got home, she sent us a text: \u00a0\u201cI am so happy I don\u2019t have any word to tell you jest thank you so mach.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I replied back to her, \u201cThank you for bringing a new beautiful life into the world!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What really touched me, she told us at the restaurant, “When I hand baby to family, I feel love!”<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing how people you come across, will enhance your view on Life and all its beauty!<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, the reason I bring up Hiwot, is because I got a message from her on Facebook as I started writing this.\u00a0 I had not heard from her for quite some time, but I knew she graduated from nursing school and for some reason ended up in Sweden.\u00a0 I don’t know if it was an exchange program or it was for further learning, but when I saw her message tonight, I noticed it came from Birmingham, United Kingdom.\u00a0 Right away she asked about Terese, and I had to tell her the sad news.\u00a0 It took her awhile to reply.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I had the chance to ask her what she was doing in the UK.\u00a0 Below is an excerpt of the conversation:<\/p>\n