Officially African American

Patches made it to the other side!  He's just getting settled and used to his new family and new, well, everything.  God really answered our prayers with making this whole process safe and straightforward (even though my Mom gave us some scares, but that's another story..!).

My brother was sending us a play-by-play of their journey picking up Patches with his iPhone, including photos and videos.  While they were still in the car on their way, he said he could hardly sleep last night because he was so anxious to get Patches, the same feeling you get as a child on Christmas Eve.  (Awww.)

Patches with Uncle Stevie

Steve said Patches gave him a ton of kisses and basically just wanted to cuddle on him the whole car ride home.  Which is exactly what we explained to my family that we knew he would do!

It seems Patches is in-love with his new family already, and they with him.  It will be difficult for us to be away from him for a while, but it makes it a whole lot easier knowing he's safe, happy, and giving and receiving lots of love!

Can't wait for the rest of you to meet our African American pup too!

"Goodby Patches"

One letter written by Monica and Sunete, Grade 6, to bid Patches farewell:

We warned our learners that they would not see Patches when we return to school next term after this holiday because he is going to America!  Many, many boys and girls expressed that they would miss him.  But perhaps a stronger emotion they felt was a bit of jealousy… Patches is living the dream of every Namibian!  If we are bringing our dog to America… why not a learner?!  (Understandable point.)  Kevin’s principal (warmly) said what everyone is thinking: “Patches is one lucky dog.” 

We did the best we could explaining it all to them, and I truly think our learners understand as much as they possibly can.  After all, they already know he is no ordinary dog!  And they see how much we love Patches and how much he loves us, and many have even said they believe Patches would die if we didn’t bring him home.  So… that’s what we’re doing!  “But if it doesn’t work,” many said, “I’ll take him!!!”

Patches will be staying with my parents and brother until we come home, starting on May 1^st when they pick him up from JFK at 6:20 in the morning!  (Thank you, thank you again!!!!)  We appreciate your thoughts and prayers for his safe travels and for our peace of mind and aching hearts (longing to reunite with our boy).

Live Flight Tracker! 

Cows

Patches and cows will just never get along.

Despite how much more enormous they are, he still insists on trying to make them stay away from his territory (perhaps not realizing that the fence already does a pretty good job of that).

Hula hoop

Patches discovered the joys of a hula hoop, along with my learners during PE.  They love saying the word, always giddily asking me to repeat its pronunciation.

The learners also found watching Patches to be quite amusing!  But it was when Patches retrieved the hula hoop like this that one learner and friend of Patches said, "That is not a dog, Teacher... That is a person."  It was easy to see that Patches had cleverly learned a way to skillfully pick up and carry the hula hoop in a balanced, graceful, and confident way, with the back of the hoop resting on the root of his tail!

Our camera just can't handle Patches' lightning speed, but here are some action shots for fun anyway:

Another family photo

Since our camera was already visible (as I’ve said in the past, we very much limit how much we are seen with it), it seemed like a good opportunity for us to get another family photo.

You can see how much Patches cooperated initially… if he’s feeling energetic, Patches will interpret any gesture to mean it’s playtime!  (Our camera was set up to delay and then go into burst mode which is why this photo was even taken, haha.)

Cooking worms with boys

We unexpectedly spent a recent evening with some boys cooking worms "meat" (aka: worms or something?) in cans on the fire where we were burning our trash.  Guess you could say they are opportunists!  And it was really their lucky day because we even 'donated' some spices to the cause.

We didn't partake in the delicacy this time... if for no other reason, because it was the most unsanitary culinary process ever...  Fetching worms from dung-invested areas.  Not washing them.  Using the lids of cans to cut the worms open and squeezing the guts and poop out with one's hands.  Not washing any of that.  And lastly, well, putting worms into our bodies.

They really got those cans boiling!  Also you can see the green leafy stuff the boys found and put in there for some extra flavor.

Patches also wanted to get in on the fun and continues to love licking the faces off of anyone who will let him...  Which wasn't exactly this particular boy, per say!

They were having a ball and making jokes and teasing each other the whole time, so a fun and funny time was had by all!

Taking a dog-nap

I guess school really takes its toll on us some days!

Bitty puppies

Patches has been so sweet with the adorable new bitty puppies in the village.  The first round of pups from “Momma Dog” (as we call her) he didn’t know what to do with, as if he didn’t know what they even were or what to make of them.  But maybe he had figured it out because now with these guys, they’re all quite cute together.  Anyway, it's fun.

 

Patches goes to the vet

Patches is a pretty energetic guy, sometimes recklessly so.  He had come back from exploring one day about 2 weeks ago with a pretty good gash a couple inches long on the underside of the bottom of his front leg (close to where that 5th toe is).  We think he must have gotten snagged going through one of the wire fences around.  The photo was taken a couple days later after the filler tissue started forming.

We have a good relationship with the State Vet in town, Immanuel, who told us to bring Patches in so he could stitch him up.  (And I wish we had a picture of him because he awesomely sported bold cowboy-style boots with his Vet uniform.)  He offered to do this free of charge just because he appreciates that we are volunteering to help his country!  (We love any time when locals insist on these acts of kindness since many days volunteers go without feeling appreciated at all.)  Also, Immanuel, like most State Vets, see far more cattle and other livestock than dogs, but he still felt comfortable enough to work on Patches.

Patches was a fighter with the anesthetic (Immanuel also said this area is very tender for dogs), but after he had enough in him the Vet was able to get the job done.  Unfortunately that night, even despite wrapping him up pretty good, Patches managed to take out 4 of the 5 stitches.  We ended up letting it be, and he's alright.

But thank Namibia for Immanuel.  He is a super great guy and veterinarian!

I admit that Patches does help teach us about "letting go" since there's not much we can do at our site to monitor him without massively taking away his freedom.  We don't mind learning these lessons now, since perhaps they will perhaps come in handy further some future day...

Happy Birthday to Patches!

We are pretty bad parents to not be there for our Patches' first birthday!  Sorry buddy!  But we are sure that a good friend of ours is celebrating with and spoiling him.  We miss you Patches!

 

Pup in the tub

Happy as a clam...

Of course, I was talking about me, not him..!

We felt like it was a good time to wash him down since we will be turning Patches over to a sitter for the time we are away on school holiday.  Gonna miss this guy!

Another new "toy" for Patches

Is a donkey tail better or worse than the doll/ action figure?

Trash isn't the only thing disposed of in the bush!  Less palatable anatomy is too.

"It's not a doll... it's an action figure!"

No... no, it's definitely a doll.

Unless this type of activity constitutes as action then it might be an action figure, but we're thinking this looks more like abuse!  But surely Patches has good intentions!

We find some pretty interesting things around here!  But hey as they say, one small child's trash is another dog's treasure.

Burn stuff

Just like everyone else in our community, what choice do we have but to burn our trash?  It's not like there is garbage disposal or recycling at our site.  Perhaps you could haul it to town if you have a vehicle, but generally speaking, we don't think people mind simply burning or dumping their trash where ever seems a bit out of the way.

At least Smokey the dog is standing by.  (One hole is our trash pit, and the other is Patches'!  Maybe he was trying to help.)

It is also common to burn the tall wild grass in areas where people live or walk through as a precaution against snakes.  Sometimes it seems like it can get a little out of control, but we guess it's acceptable since no one else seems to be as concerned as we are at times.  This is what's left behind.

What can we say?  Such is life.

Stay Classy, Peace Corps...

While we were away and missing Patches, this was the photo of our beloved pup with which we consoled ourselves.  We just love his tongue, and it was a good recent photo of Patches to show curious volunteers.  (And no, he was not eating my sandal!  He wouldn't do that..!)  (Also, Patches recently weighed in at 35-lbs.)

We like to think that Patches was missed by many that week, as he has been part of the PC Nam fam just about as long as any of us.  But further consolation was his appearance in the new-and-improved Peace Corps volunteer-run publication, IZIT, in the column "Dispatches from Patches" (written by me and Patches).  This is the illustration that a very talented Peace Corps volunteer did for the column!

You tell me who has more class... Ron Burgendy or Patches O'Houlihan Metz?!

"Little Patches"

At less than a year old, Patches already has someone named after him.  "Little Patches" was named by the children who live near us in honor of the admirable big Patches...

But we swear, he's not the father!

It's fun to have little puppies running around our site.  Precious little things.

Best friends

Patches and this young boy next door are incredibly adorable together.  They are just best friends.  Always so happy to see each other.

Patches will joyfully run after him down the "street," jumping up as high as he can with his mega tongue sticking out to get a taste of that face!  (Patches is a jumper.)  And the boy just runs along and giggles so sweetly.

Patches' relationship with all the kids here has improved greatly as he's built rapport with them.  Before when they saw Patches charging at them they feared he was coming to attack them.  People just generally fear dogs here.  But now they are one-by-one resisting the temptation to run (which is only asking him to chase them.. just what they didn't want to happen!) and realizing his intentions are only to say hello and play.

Similarly, Patches will also notice our colleagues walking to and from school and run alongside them to greet them playfully.  Patches' approach to adults is not all that different from that to the kids.  So they also know better than to fear them.  Several have recently told us how sweet they think Patches is, especially with the kids around the neighborhood.  And with Lady (featured in the post: Lady and the tramp).

They also think he must be incredibly intelligent (which, of course, he is ;-)  ) because he somehow understands what we are saying (which is really just the commands we've taught him).  Example: Patches, get it! (*throws stick*)  

He's quite the anomaly compared to most Namibian dogs (and in general ;-) ).

Winter

So it's winter now.  And one fall/winter day, our neighbors started hacking off the tops to their trees.  Literally, just hacking them off.

And later that week we learned why.  (Their timing was impeccable!)

Not that it bothers us very much.  But that sort of makes us the bad neighbors that don't keep their yard nicely maintained.  And as we know from previous posts, Namibians value a nicely raked yard.  But we decided we can justify our lack of yard care since we don't have small children to do the work for us (unlike most).

Being the opportunist that he is, Patches decided he would enjoy the new sticks.  The bigger the better.

An extra challenging throwing stick for Kevin.

And retrieving stick for Patches.

(Note: We don't actually have a thermometer or the Weather Channel so the following are approximations.) Winter days here have been beautiful, probably in the 70's. But nights get down to the 30-40's so it's pretty chilly when we first wake up and walk to school. So another benefit enjoyed by Patches is the chance to be our energy-efficient bed heater many a night!

It's funny how after maybe 9:00 in the morning when the sun is starting to really shine, it's nicer to be outside in the sun than inside the house (or classroom). Sort of the opposite of winters in the northeast where we aim to hide indoors and as close to the heat source as possible. At home typically we are making a break for it and running from the heated house to the heated car to the heated office, etc, etc. But of course, we don't use heaters here.

Other things winter brings us and our homes are what appear to be shield ("stink") bugs about a quarter of the size of the buggers in PA. You just can't keep the things away. And they still stink (when crushed). My learners were telling me about them and the best way they could explain their unique trait was by saying "they are puffing." And "puffing" is another way of saying having gas.