Twice to the market

Today I went to the market TWICE, a record for me, I think. Good thing it's only a few minute's walk away, but even at that, you really get rather grimy on the way! I had to go this morning to get some supplies for the cat - some tiny raw fishes (** EDIT: Grace says that saying the fishes are raw is misleading. They are actually dried, so they're not slimy or anything. If I wasn't so durned hot, I'd go to the kitchen and take a photo of them for you! Perhaps tomorrow...) and a big plastic tub to use as a litter box. The kitty is staying inside our room at night, since he likes to have company, according to his "ex-family". And it did work well to have him in our room with us. Of course, it was so hot last night again, I didn't sleep too well. At one point when I woke up drenched in sweat, I heard some gnawing, crunching sounds. It wasn't coming from Zane, who was sleeping on the opposite side of the room from where the gnawing was coming from. I grabbed my headlamp and tried to figure out where the rat was... but alas, to no avail. And Zane, obviously, was no help or deterent the little gnawing creature.
And yes, you did read correctly. I am feeding my cat fish. Little tiny dried fish. Whole fish. With heads and tails and eyeballs. And I actually touched them to put them in the cat bowl. This is committment, I tell you.

It actually dawned on me last night, as I was admiring Zane, that I LIVE here. I always wanted to get a cat once I settled in a place that I knew I would be for more than a year or so. And now, here I am. Settling in JUBA of all places! It's a bit scary and sobering, actually. I'm responsible for something more than just myself here. I mean, I know it's just a scrawny little cat, but even so... you've gotta start somewhere, right?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention why I'd been to the market twice today... I had to go again this evening to buy some MORE food. The troops who are coming in for the Executive Committee of our Branch have started to arrive. And like it or not, Jackie, Grace and I are basically hosting them in our house. Which we didn't really think through, so we had to buy some more food this evening! So off we went again to the market... I sure did need a shower by the time I got home.

I DID do some work today too. We had yet another meeting with someone at the Ministry this morning. I won't go into all the details, but it sure was interesting to see what the guy's expectations of us are...