To Blog or Not to Blog...

I somehow feel compelled to blog tonight, but I'm not quite sure what to blog. So maybe this is going to end up just being a list of random thoughts.

• I like living in a place where you can show up for a birthday dinner bearing a can of tuna and be the person who brought the nicest, most appreciated gift.
• I'm learning to drive like a local (though minus the hit-and-run propensity).
  
• I had to come to a complete stop in the truck today because someone coming out of the traffic police hospital simply stuck his hand out in front of him and then proceeded to walk out into the middle of traffic... right in front of me.
• I've almost enjoyed washing my dishes myself this week... but that's mostly because I know the end of that is in sight :) We had to, well, ask our house-help substitute to not come back to work. She BROKE the drawer in the bathroom that holds all of my goodies (i.e. extra shampoo, sunscreen, lip balm), after, of course, she had been told not to touch or use any of our goodies. She also got red nail polish all over the beautiful little pouch that I got from my sister for Christmas :( That really made me sad. It's one thing to use my nail polish, but it's completely another thing to purposefully wipe it all over my stuff. I'm SO thankful that Sunday is coming back next week to keep our house in order. It saves SO much time every day to have some help. Plus, it's good fun to work with her and practice my Arabic when she's around.
• We had a really good Arabic lesson today - we were telling each other stories! Poor Justin (our teacher) had a pained look on his face when Jackie and I started telling our little stories... but he's really quite patient, and it's fun to see his face light up when we really "get" something.
  
• I'm getting ready to go to Nairobi for some meetings where I'll be seeing some good friends again. I'm looking forward to that - plus, it means a whole three weeks without having to touch a generator!
  
• I'm also really looking forward to the whole hot shower thing in Nairobi. I seem to be suffering from a really bad case of dirty elbow crease syndrome. I just can't keep the dirt out from my elbow creases. Even after only being here for a month, I have a thick layer of dust covering my body. If you don't look too closely, it looks like a pretty nice tan. But then, if you start sweating... it starts to wash away.

Maybe I should post a random picture tonight, too, just to complete the randomness of this blog.
This is the neighborhood duck pond. I have to swerve to avoid the ducks on one side and the puddle of raw sewage on the other every time I drive down our street.

On that note, time to go turn off the generator!