Veggie Tales

My family is almost all together again - Annamarie returned from her RnR (that would be "Rest and Relaxation") in Tanzania and Kenya today! Whoo hooo! My throat is sore from all the talking we did this afternoon to catch up on the last two weeks.

Then this evening, we went out for dinner with some friends, and both Annamarie and I ordered a little piece of steak (a bargain at only $12.50!) and, get this, it came with a side of BROCCOLI! I kid you not. Broccoli in Jb. What is this place coming to, really? We drove a quarter of the way to the restaurant on a paved road, and then ate broccoli for dinner. Life is really on the upswing in this part of the world. Really, broccoli! I was so excited, my friend Kristen took a photo of me :) Of course, she doesn't have internet at her house, so she can't email the photo tonight for posting here, but as soon as I get that photo, I'll post it, just to prove that I actually saw a couple of pieces of broccoli in this town. Amazing. I could hardly believe my eyes.

Just to whet your whistle for the broccoli photo, here's a picture of broccoli that I got from the Internet. Now just imagine a fork stuck in it with a grinning me next to it, and you've got the picture that Kristen took of me tonight :)

I haven't been hijacked...

... though I haven't blogged in three days!

The hijacking has come to a peaceful end, but the plane might not be flying this way for at least another 5 days!

So, no Richard, but (perhaps more importantly) no yogurt, no Arabic newspaper, no cargo of any sort coming from there to here. Funny how you don't really realize how much you depend on air transport between major cities until it's gone. I still find it hard to believe that it's been almost a week now since there was a plane from the capital city to our little sub-capital city.

But things have been going well around here. I've been doing lots of computer stuff - I'm still trying to make the Thunderbird email program work properly on one of the teams' computers. It's still defeating me, but it seems to be defeating one our computer techies who's working on it remotely, as well. But there have been some problems which have not defeated me and I have been able to successfully keep the computers here running happily! I have also done my weekly computer training workshop with the teams here, which is a lot of fun. I just like teaching - whether I'm teaching people how to write or how to plan a multilingual education system or how to use a computer. It's just fun to be able to help people grow in their capacity to do their jobs better. It's so rewarding to see people learn things that help them do what they want to do.

I've also been out a few evenings, which is why I haven't been sitting around on my couch blogging! I went out for dinner with a few people to celebrate the birthday of a medical student who is here for a 6 week internship. It was good fun, since we went to a restaurant which I've not spent much time at before. I was quite impressed with their menu, and it was a very comfortable, cozy sort of place to sit and enjoy an evening out. They even have board games there to play while you wait for your food :) So we played several rounds of "Speed Scrabble" while waiting for our burgers to come.

Last night was another night of board games! Some other friends hosted a potluck and games night - so I Boggled the night away after stuffing my tummy full of good food.

Problem with both evenings is that I had to leave a bit early - both parties were held on the opposite end of town from where I live. So even though it's only 5.5 km away, it takes a good 25 minutes to navigate the crazy roads between there and here. And I have to be home before everything goes dark at 10:30pm when I have to turn off the generator. Plus, I really don't like being out on my own, even in the truck, much later than that. It's much safer here than in, say, Nairobi in terms of actual crime (like car-jacking or robbery), but there are a few drunk drivers and drunk soldiers with big guns out on the streets at night, so it's not really too comfortable as a white woman being out alone in the midst of all that (though you rarely hear of any real problems). Once Jackie and Annamarie come back we can go out together, but when I'm on my own, I'd much rather come home a bit early and miss out on some fun at the parties and be safe! (Are you happy to hear that, Mom?!)

I've been taking it a bit easy this morning - for the first Saturday in a LOOONNNGGG time, I didn't go into the office! Instead, I sat on my verandah and answered all the necessary work emails.

But now I gotta go turn off the generator and see if I can help with lunch - the cook in the guesthouse didn't show up today, so I'm not sure what's happening...

By the way...

... the hijackers have surrendered themselves. So we'll see if that plane gets here tomorrow or not! The president was able to make it here. I think Richard should have called up the president and asked to ride along with him. Maybe he could have carried the guy's suitcase or something?!

Anyways, all was relatively quiet today. The roads were all closed, but that didn't bother me, as I didn't walk out the gate all day - didn't even venture to the corner for fresh bread, as it was raining cats and dogs this afternoon, and everything was a bit mucky.

I found some instant noodles in our milk powdered milk tin that we keep all of our dry packet food in (the rats will eat them if we just put them in the cupboard!). I had forgotten how delicious those instant noodles can be! Put with a side salad of tomato, cucumber, green pepper and avocado... yum yum!

I'm so blue.

And now I'm stealing from my sister's high school best friend's blog, which I am a huge fan of!

You are most like: You are Blue
You are cool and soothing, with a hidden spontanious side. You are deeper than most people percieve, and you care a lot for those whom you surround yourself with.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?

Funny, blue is one of my favorite colours. Wonder if Mandy's is yellow?

Airport Closure... the least of our problems...

So last night, after I had blogged, I got a phone call from Richard. He said the travel agent and people from the airlines told him that he needed to go check in at the airport at 5am anyways.

Now, to understand the rest of this story, you must understand that the airlines he is flying with owns one plane.

So at 6am, I am awakened by my phone. It was Richard, so I was hoping he was calling to tell me that they were on their way. Alas. It was not to be. He was just calling to tell me that he was on his way back home from the airport because...

Sometime last evening, that plane got hijacked. It's now sitting in an oasis in a different country whilst the hijackers (whoever they are!) negotiate with authorities.

The only other airline that flies between where Richard is and where we are has two planes, and both of those planes are out of the country for maintenance (which is a good thing, since they have a really, really awful safety record!).

So, that means no one is travelling between our two cities until those hijackers release the plane.

Pray that it all comes to a peaceful end, and that the 100 civilians on board will treated kindly. So far, they have not been allowed to open the plane doors or provide any food or water to those on board. Not a good situation when the plane is sitting in a hot desert.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, we've been tracking the movements of three of our staff on this end - they were traveling to a village to do a workshop and some community checking of the translation of the gospel of John. They vehicle they were in got stuck in the middle of a river, and they couldn't move anywhere. Now, two other vehicles which attempted to pull them out are stuck, too.

But two of them hiked the rest of the 16 miles to the village (in the rain!) and have finally made it there to start their workshop! Pray that they can complete the workshop and still make it back here somehow! I also got an email from the UN which says that the security level on that road has gone up in the last few days, meaning you're not supposed to travel on it without an armed escort...

Honestly, there is never a dull moment around here!

Airport Closure

Richard is supposed to finally come tomorrow.

The President is supposed to finally come tomorrow.

President takes presidence over Richard. So the powers that be have closed the entire airport for the entire day, from 7am - 6:30pm. And since planes can't land ... oops, sorry, gotta go herd a frog out the door... OK, frog is out the door. Where was I?

Oh, right. Since planes can only land here during daylight hours (which, around here, is about 7am - 6:30pm), no one, except for the President and his entourage, are moving in or out of the International Airport here until Thursday.

At least they started putting the word out at bout 3pm today, so we had lots of notice! People who are meant to fly out of here for connecting flights on Thursday... well, they'll just have to change their connecting flights! People who have connecting flights into this place... well, they'll just have to stay an extra day in whatever country they're in! Not at all inconvenient to anyone.
Anyways, we'll see what tomorrow brings. They are also expecting that no one will go to work and that they will go line the streets between the airport and the parliament in order to wave at the President. Which also means all the shops and the market and everything else will be closed, as well.

On a completely different note, I miscalculated my money matters this week. Our cashbox is open on Fridays, so I have to take out any cash that I will need for the week on Fridays. Because of various things that have been going on this week, and an awful lot of people who needed money for good reason (ie, for medicine, for funerals etc.), I have exactly the equivalent of $8.50 in my purse, plus $5 in phone credit, to get me through until Friday.

Sounds like a lot, until you realize that my lunch alone each day costs $2.50! I only have two eggs left, which I will have to share with Zane for breakfast. I will have to spend at least $1.00 on bread. And if I don't have to make too many phone calls, and I make a very conscious decision to creatively cook myself supper at the house every night with whatever's in the house at the moment, and drink only water for three days, I just might make it :) Good thing all the shops will be closed tomorrow anyways!

Alone, but not so lonely

By the way, I'm getting the hang of this living alone thing. I've been alone in the house for 9 days now, and I haven't driven myself completely nuts. I have started talking out loud to Zane more often, and I've been spending a lot more money on text messages to my friends in various surrounding countries, but all in all, I'm doing quite well!

It helps that I can look right into my neighbor's kitchen and watch Pam as she washes the dishes or cooks supper. Likewise, she can see exactly what I'm doing in my little verandah/living room. I can also hear my other neighbors talking in their living room through my bedroom window. Privacy really doesn't exist on this compound, so I guess I'll never really truly live alone, as long as there are people on the compound!

I've also been getting quite creative with my cooking. I made a little potato and vegetable casserole the other day. This evening I made some pasta with sauteed green beans and garlic. Mmmm... it was pretty good. And now I'm about to eat some of my precious stash of chocolate, and I don't even have to share it with anyone :)

AND, get this, I've gotten into the habit of heating up water and filling BOTH of our thermoses with hot water before I go to bed at night so I have lots of nice warm water for a bucket bath in the morning! It's just too cold in the morning (like, 24C!) to take a cold shower. Having to share my hot water thermoses with my house-mates when they come back is going to be tough, I tell you.

Beauty Queens

If the nuns can have a beauty contest, why can't the missionaries?

Greetings, Family!

What a blessing family is.

Last weekend, my dad's side of the family had a big reunion on the shores of a little lake near where I'm from. The day they all got home from the lake, a bunch of them had gathered at my parent's house, and I was able to have a nice little Skype chat with so many of my aunts, uncles and cousins - many of whom I haven't talked to in a few years - not because I don't love them, but because we just live too far away from each other. What a blessing it was to be able to feel like such a part of the family, even though I'm way out here in the middle of Africa.

And as I've been hearing stories this week from various parts of my family, and seeing everyone's photos on facebook and on the official "reunion raconteur" blog, I just have such an overwhelming sense of blessing. I mean, really, look at this amazing bunch of people I belong to:(Thanks to Rob, who thought our family wasn't SO bad and actually married into it, for posting this photo on the Reunion blog). As I looked at so many people, from a few different generations, gathered together (and no, this isn't all of them - there are more of us scattered in various parts of the world who couldn't make it back home for the reunion!), I almost started to feel a bit teary eyed.

I am so blessed and privileged to be a part of a big family of people who love each other, who make time to come together, to be a part of each other's lives, and, most importantly, who love the Lord. What a heritage it is, to be so surrounded by such a group of people who, in their own unique ways, give honour and glory to God.

I sure wouldn't be out here, doing what I do, if I didn't have the support and blessing of such a family. So thank you, to each one of you, who are part of this crazy family (crazy, because, as you all know, we do have a few quirks - just look at my dad and Uncle John's repeat accordian rendition of "On Top of Old Smokey"!) for being a family.

And thanks, also, for keeping me as part of your family, too, even though I'm not really there very often! I love all your notes on facebook, your prayers, your emails, and yes, even your money :D

There, how's that for an Oscar speech... too bad I haven't won mine yet...

(by the way, I'm wondering if my nephew Ethan can somehow photoshop me into the family photo?!)

No title

Sorry, not feeling creative enough to think of a title for this evening's post. I'm not feeling very creative for anything tonight, in fact! It's Saturday evening, and I just turned on the generator. I've got a few little bits and pieces of things to do tonight, then I'm planning to finish watching my Chinese dvd version of "Becoming Jane". I started it last night, but then the dvd stopped and refused to continue about an hour and a half into it. By then, I had already turned off the generator, and it was dark and late, so I left it to figure out today!

I have to admit I had quite a frustrating, defeating few hours this morning. One of the language teams' computers hasn't been receiving its emails properly all week. I keep trying different things, which don't work. Which means I send more sms emails to my computer geek buddies in a couple of different countries, and they reply, and I try something else. And I fail at something else. This morning, I thought, finally, I have good instructions for something to try... but alas. After a few hours of mucking around in it (and probably doing more harm than good by the end!), I gave up. Mostly because it was time to turn off the generator and I couldn't work anymore!

It quite amazed me how frustrated I got with this silly computer. It made me quite grumpy, in fact. And I must admit that I was a bit of a grump when the woman who was cooking lunch ran out of cooking gas and I had to go and "install" a new gas cylinder in the middle of it all. Of course, I couldn't find a spanner wrench, and Richard's toolbox was locked... so I had to go find the neighbors and beg to use a spanner... but in the end, I was successful, and I did get to eat the fruits of my labor, since Vicky was then able to finish cooking the lunch :)

But still, not being able to understand how the computer file structure was supposed to be working, nor being able to figure it out even after so many hours of messing around on it... rather frustrating!

So I went in the afternoon with Matt and Pam for some "retail therapy", as Annamarie calls it (who, by the way, I just got a text message from. She's sitting on a lovely verandah in Tanzania, sipping a nice cold beer and munching on pate in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro!). Retail therapy was great. I didn't buy much - just a pineapple, some tomatoes, potatoes, an avocado, green peppers, bananas, UHT milk (long life milk in a tetra box), and a splurge treat - halwa with pistachios for $5! Mmmm... I can hardly wait for my cup of tea with halwa this evening.

This domestic streak hasn't quite rubbed off yet, and even though I was a bit grumpy about not being able to fix that silly computer, I happily put together a real casserole! I just ate some of it and yum yum, quite good. But then again, how can you go wrong with potatoes, garlic, onions and green peppers?

I have also learned a small lesson about manicures this afternoon. Cutex nail polish remover from the UK works SO much better than the much smellier East African nail polish remover. And if you use blue toilet paper with which to remove your pink nail polish, your nails and fingertips will also turn blue. Lesson learned. Good thing I've got some light blue-ish silver nail polish to cover up the blue toilet paper stains on my fingers...

Demolition Derby

My sister posted a few photos of the Demolition Derby that my brother-in-law and all the boys went to a few weeks ago. Seeing the pictures of the cars strewn everywhere in the mud and dirt was frighteningly familiar to the roads here in Jb. And it seemed even more so today as I was out and about!

I wish I had a camera, but it's a bit difficult to keep a hand on the steering wheel, one on the gear shift and keep an eye out for all the hazards and take a photo at the same time!

Since we turn off the generator from 12:30 until 2pm for the lunch break, I thought I had ample time to drive 5.5 km across town to visit my friend for lunch (he's a friend from E-land where I used to live and has recently arrived here to work with some of his relatives).

However, the main road that goes between here and there has been blocked, since they're grading the dirt and trying to improve it a bit (why they're doing this in the middle of rainy season, I don't know, but that's another post!). So I had to go around on the back roads. The back roads means an awful lot of bumping up and down, through puddles, over boulders, around broken down trucks and shells of overturned busses, all whilst dodging the goats, motorbikes and other crazy drivers.

I was SO close to getting to my destination when the real fun began. It had rained last night, so there is one particular spot where the soil is a bit different or something, and it becomes seriously muddy. Since I don't usually take these roads, I didn't realize how bad it could be. I'm sure I could have gotten through in our truck, though I was considering jumping out and locking the wheels into 4WD as I approached the mud holes. However, I didn't even get that far, since there was a mini-bus (like a van) stuck in one section of the mud, a small car sitting in the middle of the track, seeming to weigh his options of whether or not he was actually going to make it through, a small pick up truck with low clearance, plus a transport semi-truck coming in from the opposite direction.

The road was narrow, with hardly enough space for two cars to pass each other on a dry day! On either side of the road were tin shacks housing carpentry workshops, hardware stores and tea shops.

I weighed my options for getting through, and decided that I did NOT want to wait until all the other guys sorted themselves out. Nor did I want to risk trying to get past them all and get stuck. Just what all those men in the tea shops would have liked - having to go out and rescue a cute white girl in her big Hilux truck from the mud puddle!

So I made a quick U-turn before anyone else came behind me and got me stuck in that mess! I almost got stuck turning around, because a motorbike came screaming along right behind me just as I was revving up to get the back wheels out of a smaller mud hole! But I was able to make a sharp 3 point turn in the pick up truck, and was out of there just as a big truck was coming in behind me.

Then the next challenge was to find another way out of there. You have to understand the road system around here - there are very few "main" roads, but lots and lots of tracks that are suitable for people or motorbikes that wind through the residential areas. And a track that looks suitable for a vehicle at the beginning might soon peter out into a very unsuitable track, causing you to have to back up out of it. Not fun, as again, it means backing up over boulders, gullies and potholes. And since I was already on a road which I didn't know so well, I really wasn't sure how far I'd have to go back to find a road that would bring me the direction I wanted to go.

Eventually, I did see another Landcruiser cruising off the road I was on, and he looked like he was heading more or less the direction I wanted to go. So I followed him, and sure enough, we popped out in the middle of the market, about 500 meters before the big mud hole that I was almost stuck in. I'm so thankful that I seem to have been blessed with a fairly good sense of direction, and I have never found myself actually lost on any of these back roads, and I ended up exactly where I thought I would, given how the track went!

From there, I found my way down a different road, avoiding the mud hole, and then got stuck in a jam of other people who were avoiding the mud hole from the opposite direction. Big trucks carrying their goods in from Uganda, crazy motorbike drivers, men with wheelbarrows selling pineapples, goats, dogs, women carrying 100 lb bundles of grass on their heads were all going down the same narrow road, trying to avoid the mud. Phew. Man, I was tired by the time I finally got to my destination. 5.5 km and 30 minutes from door to door.

I had a great lunch with my friend. We ate some shiro and injera at the restuarant that his cousin owns. By then, it was already after 2, so I had to hurry back, since someone had told me he needed the truck to do some shopping at 2pm. I tried going a different way home, but while the road was in much better shape that direction, everyone else had figured out that the other main road was closed, so they were all on that road. It was SO busy, and traffic was backed up in that direction, too. another 5.5 km and this time only 25 minutes. For a city that, up until about 3 years ago had less than 50 cars in the entire city, that's incredible.

Anyways, I'm really thankful that there was no demolition element to my little driving derby in Jb today! Please continue to pray that we have safety on the roads here!

Skype is amazing!

And I just wanted to say hi and thanks for the chat to all my relatives that I got to Skype with this morning (ok, your last night!). My family had a reunion last weekend, and the party was continuing with some of them at my parent's house last night, so I woke up early to join the party via Skype! It was great to be able to hear so many of their voices and chat for a few minutes with a lot of them. Imagine, I spent almost an entire hour talking to a room full of my relatives, and it didn't cost a cent :) I love it when technology actually works!

Turning Domestic?

Possibly a wee bit. Yesterday, after coming home from my office, I sat looking at my fingernails, and had an unquenchable urge to paint them pink. So I did. Of course, I had to scrub them, pick all the dirt from underneath them, push back my cuticles and do some serious moisturizing... and finally got to the point where I could paint them pink. And they look so pretty! All day I've been admiring my pink fingernails. I'm sure no one else noticed, but somehow, they made me happy today. Goodness, they still look so pretty and are still making me happy :)

And today, I cooked two hot meals for myself! Before, one of the women who works in the guesthouse cooked lunch for us, and it was so nice to have a hot cooked meal at lunch time. Meant I didn't have to do too much shopping, and didn't have to spend any time in the middle of the day cooking and clearing up. So nice. But somehow, the system has broken down, and for a week and a half now I've had to fend for myself at lunchtime. Yesterday was Wes' birthday, so I rallied the troops and we took him out. And last week, Jackie was here, so we worked together to get lunch ready. But this week has been tough, since I'm on my own, and it's hard cooking for one at the best of times, especially around here!

But I actually managed to make myself a really nice pasta for lunch - all from scratch. I didn't even have a tin of tomato paste in the cupboard, so I cooked up fresh tomatoes, green peppers, garlic and onions and made a little veggie sauce to pour over my noodles. It was all washed down with a glass of limeade, made from freshly squeezed limes (2 of them).

Then, this evening, whilst admiring my lovely pink fingernails, I cooked up a little pot of garlic mashed potatoes. I also had a few bits of beef jerky that my parents sent along with Steve, who I met up with in Ethiopia! Mmmm... nothing like a meal of garlicky mashed tatoes and dried meat!

I'm also being a wee bit domestic in the fact that I cleared some space on my kitchen counter, filled the water filter (and even thought about cleaning it one of these days...), and filled my thermoses with hot water in preparation for my bucket bath tomorrow morning (I just know it's going to be freezing cold tomorrow morning, and much too cold for a cold shower!).

I think that's about all the domesticity this girl can deal with for one day.

History Making

I believe history was made today.

I put my hoodie (um, that would be a "bunny hug" to some of you) on at noon today. And I haven't taken it off since! Brrr... it's downright cold again here! 11pm and it's 21.5C in my bedroom. I don't even want to go to sleep because I have this fear that I'm going to freeze to death in my bed. It's a good night to get out my trusty sleeping bag, I think.

I am certainly not complaining about the cold wet weather - the rain has been great for my pumpkins, and it's so nice to be able to move around without working up a sweat! Now if only we had more than one or two days a year like this...

What I did today

I have to write reports each month about what I do with my work days. Month after month, I know I'm crazy busy (even working every Saturday!), but come month end, I can never quite recall all the bits and pieces of things that made me so busy.

So I decided to keep a little log of what I do on a daily basis. I'm looking forward to the end of the month when I get to look back at all the stuff I did - and see really what I'm spending all my time on!

Because nothing seems too blog-worthy today, here's the list of what I did today:

• Fixed the Internet – took me two hours to figure out that the problem was with one of the routers, and all it took then was to reset the router!
• Weekly prayer meeting with all of the staff and translation and literacy teams.
• Read a series of emails and thought about a project that a church wants to fund for a specific language group. Convinced them that a literacy project is just as worthy of funding as a translation project :)
• Worked on a book template with my new colleague, Peter, for the stories that were written in the workshop last week. Ran around to each of 5 offices to bring them a hard copy of the template and explain how to use it for the stories that they've written.
• Tried to make the Satellite phone work in preparation for Wes' trip next week.
• Wrote some more emails asking for help on getting one of the language groups' email working again.
• Checked with one language group about the progress of their ABC books . Discussed options for printing - is there a printing press here? Do we have to send it to a different city? To a different country?!
  
• Organized Sunday (the woman who helps in our house) to help clean another house on the compound in preparation for a visitor's arrival. Turned off the water in the house after she left to prevent it from being flooded.
• Helped Wes do some photocopying.
• Swept out the computer/photocopier room.
• Made a list of all the bits and pieces that need to get done this week.
• Met with the Minister of Education who somehow thought that something bad had happened to Jackie and came by to bring his condolences. Set him straight on the fact that Jackie is alive and well in the UK. But it was nice that he cared so much about us to come and give condolences... even though he had some wrong information!
  

All in all, it was a fairly productive, typical day!

Home Alone

I've had a surprisingly nice day today, hardly talking to anyone! At the moment, I'm sitting on my little verandah, munching on some cucumbers and tomatoes, alongside a Nutella and peanut butter sandwich (I was too lazy to actually cook something for just myself). I actually had quite a nice day today, being nice and quiet and not talking to anyone. I stayed in my pajamas until after 1pm, at which time the sun had warmed the water in the water tank, so I had a lukewarm shower, rather than a freezing cold shower as I normally do.

I also read a good book, spent some time journaling, listened to a John Piper sermon, did some crafty bits (no, I did NOT make a dust house!), tidied up a bit, ate some eggs, drank some coffee, listened to some music... it was all just so nice and relaxing. I didn't see a single living soul (besides Zane, of course) until about 3:00 in the afternoon! Seems it was a long week for everyone on the compound, as everyone was hibernating in their houses this morning and not coming out to talk to each other!

Of course, this evening, we had our fellowship group. We had a few newcomers this evening, which was nice. Seems the emails that I send out to everyone every week are actually being read by the larger Christian community in this town!

But really, the big news of the day is the fact that I can now move BOTH arms up above my head! I hardly noticed how much more movement I had in my frozen arm today, but I stopped taking my anti-inflammatories yesterday, just to see what would happen. And this evening, when I went to get a mug off the top shelf of my cupboard, I realized I could reach it with my bad arm, which, as it would seem, isn't so bad anymore :) Yahoo!

There's still some limited mobility, and there's a certain spot when I flap my arm (it's still quite a slow flap, mind you!) that's a bit painful. But I think I just might be able to wash my hair with both hands tomorrow! Thank you all for praying, it seems this is quite the miracle. Too bad my housemates aren't here to celebrate with, since they've suffered through my whining about my arm for the past several days; it would be nice to have some good news to tell them.

Why I like being a linguist

Isn't this a fascinating article? A split in linguistic personalities.

If I felt like being reflective, I might reflect on something about how this affects the work that we do using people's mother tongues, or their "heart language", as it's sometimes called. If people's true selves, as God made them to be, are "triggered" by their mother tongue, then isn't it just another good reason why people should use it as they related to their Creator God?

Yeah, I could almost get reflective about this.

But considering I just spent the whole of the morning arguing with a computer, trying to make its email work again so that one of the language teams could get their email again, I'm really in need of some lunch or a cup of tea or something!

When my housemates go away...

... I will play. Or, I'll go nuts, one or the other. Both of my dear housemates are leaving me! Jackie's going to Europe for the next month, and Annamarie is heading to Tanzania for two weeks. Leaving me and Zane alone in the house.

I think I will spend the next two weeks doing crafts. Like this one:Who knew you could make such fetching designs from dust? At least you could set them on your shelf and not have to dust them :) For more crafty ideas and to see what else I might be getting up to next week, you can go to Makezine.

The sun has come out...

... and has started to thaw my shoulder a bit. Still not 100% (in fact, quite far from it!), but it's amazing how much better I feel today. Somehow, feeling so rotten yesterday makes me appreciate how good I feel today!

I was even able, through some rather odd gymnastics, to get my contacts in this morning, and I could manage to put a t-shirt on. I'm still not sure if I'll be able to do it all in reverse when I go to get ready for bed in a few hours, but it seems that things have continued to loosen up throughout the course of the day. I won't write much tonight, but I just wanted to say thanks for praying for me, and please do keep praying that this will completely heal in an amazingly short amount of time! I've heard some horror stories of how long this can take to heal up, but I just can't afford to be immobilized around here - life is tough enough in this town!

I need a good thaw

Yesterday, I had a bit of a sore arm/shoulder. This morning I woke up and couldn't move my arm! A little alarming. And oh, the pain! So I called my friend the Doctor. And got myself an appointment with him between his meetings this afternoon. He asked me a few questions, asked me to move my arm, and voila. He said, yup, you have a frozen shoulder.

So, what does that mean? Well, it means I'll probably have a bit of pain in my shoulder for the next weeks... or months! Yikes! Considering that at the moment I'm having a hard time bathing myself, dressing myself, and there's no way I can get my contact lenses in... well, I really hope the pain can be at least a bit alleviated with some of the anti-inflammatories the doctor gave me, as well as some exercizes he promised to email me!

Worse part is, my "family" is all leaving me this week! Jackie and Annamarie are both going on their holidays on the weekend, so that would leave me alone with no one in the house to be my left arm :(

So please pray that this clears up as soon as possible! Of course, there are no physiotherapists or anything of that sort in this city, so me and Dr. Chris are basically on our own to get my shoulder working as it should again.

Me in Action

So last week I posted a photo of me as a chicken.

Now, I get to post a photo of me as a facilitator.Yup, that's me in action, doing what I love to do! I even look rather cute in my African outfit, if I do say so myself :) I think I was teaching here about how to write descriptively. But maybe I'd best not publicize that I've been teaching how to write descriptively, 'cause ya'll might start to actually expect me to practice what I preach!

Sunday

I actually went to the Anglican Cathedral for the English service this morning. I must admit that I normally do "church" at our Sunday evening Fellowship group, rather than going to the Cathedral. I usually find that the services at the cathedral are just, well, slightly painful rather than uplifting and encouraging. The benches are SO uncomfortable, you're squashed in with an over-capacity crowd, it's hot, the synthesizer music doesn't match the singing of the congregation, the liturgy is poorly read, the sermon is more of a political speech than a word from the Lord... must I go on?

And yet there's definitely something to be said for participating in "church" and meeting together with the body of Christ. It's quite something in the English service, as well, because you have such a variety of people from all sorts of countries - people from all over Africa, as well as a smattering of white folks like me. And even though the priest usually races through the liturgy, even skipping lines and pages, and doesn't give any time for anyone to actually think about the words on the page, I do feel somewhat refreshed and encouraged after going through the pages of the prayer book.

Plus, the women who come to church wear some of the most amazing outfits I've ever seen!

This morning, actually, the Arch Bishop of this country was in attendance and delivered the "sermon". Apparently he was quoted quite extensively on BBC last month as he was at the conference which was discussing the blessing of same-sex marriages within the Anglican communion. Anyways, in place of a sermon, we heard a report of that conference, as well as report of a car-jacking which happened to one of the bishops up in the capital city North of here.

I also got quite a kick out of the fact that he was up in front of the church sitting in his little "throne" (I'm sure there is some kind of spiritual name for that big chair that only the Arch Bishop can sit in!) and taking photos of the congregation with his digital camera :)

Anyways, one of the other priests sort of wrapped up the Arch Bishop's reports with a good message and tied it all into the reading from Romans 7, which was good. That chapter of Romans where it talks about the good I want to do, this I don't do ... man, that chapter always kind of hits me. I can so relate to Paul in his struggle, and I give thanks to the Lord for his grace and mercy when my sin nature takes over and I just can't help myself from doing those things that I know I shouldn't do!

Following the service, my house-mate and I went over to one of the hotels and sat on the verandah there, drinking Coke, eating french fries and watching the Olympics for a little while. It was a most pleasant way to while away a Sunday afternoon, while digesting the message of Romans!

Hi Ho the Rat is Dead, the Wicked Rat is Dead!

Yes, that's right. The drawer dwelling antibiotic drug ingesting plastic munching rat is dead :)

I got some rat glue from my favorite little supermarket yesterday and last night carefully lined some cardboard in the drawer with half a tube of glue. Since I didn't get a photo of the actual little rat who met his demise, here's a photo of the glue, now one of my favorite things here. And a steal of a deal, too! A tube, which will probably catch two rats, only costs $2.50! So for the price of one Coke, you can get yourself two whole rats!Now that's what I call a good deal!

A world away

I was just sitting here looking at some of my parent's European holiday photos online. Man, what a world away. I drove across town four times today in the space of 2 hours. And a couple of those times were with a good friend from the country where I used to live! He just moved here a few weeks ago, and so I finally managed to connect with him today to show him where I live, so he can come and visit once in a while. Anyways, seeing him reminded me of all the good days I spent back in that other place! And man, what a world away from here, too.

Normally, when I'm out and about on the streets or in the market, everything here just sort of becomes 'normal'. I don't really realize how different it is to other places in the world - the dust, the heat, the crazy driving, the lack of infrastructure, the garbage... but once in a while, something will prompt me to look at this place through new eyes again. And it amazes me how long I've been here and how at home I feel here, even though it's so different from anywhere else I've ever lived. It's amazing to me how adaptable I am sometimes.

Our workshop is continuing to go well! Actually, I'm really having a lot of fun with it. I just love teaching! It's a great feeling to help people "get" stuff and learn stuff and develop their skills - especially when those skills involve something that I really love, as well! The participants are giving us a lot of good feedback and really feeling like they're getting a lot of benefit from this workshop, so that's encouraging! I can't wait until we get to do the intermediate writer's workshop in November!

But until then, I'll get to help one of the language teams write a newsletter in their language, as well as work on a couple of story books with a different language team. So there is still some writing and desktop publishing in my future :) As you can tell, today is one of those days where I just love my job!

The Story of the Bull and the Book

As I mentioned before, Jackie and I are in the midst of facilitating a "Writer's Workshop" for folks from 5 different language groups here. Yesterday, by way of introduction, we were discussing how powerful and influential the written word can be, and we discussed some of the books which had been most influential in our lives.

One of the team leaders, a dear guy who really is quite a character, stood up to tell the group about his own personal library. He talked about how precious his books are to him. He shocked the group by telling us about how much money he had spent on a certain book once. For the price that he paid for the book, he could have bought a bull! You have to understand this guy's ethnic group - to them, their cattle are everything! Their life's ambition is to gather as many cattle as possible, and in fact, they believe that they are the actual owners of all the cattle throughout the world. So for this man to stand up in public and buy a book, rather than a bull... wow. Now if there were more people like that in this country, we might have a literacy rate that's higher than the current 30%!

All in all, this workshop so far has been great! I love seeing these guys get together in their groups to really get into things - telling stories, learning about breathy vowels and heavy consonants and how to write them correctly! And then having some good laughs together, as well.

One of the guys that I work with here, who is also a team leader in the workshop, told me today, "You are such a good teacher! I have not laughed like I did today since I moved to this city!". Slightly sad in some ways, because I would like for this guy to be able to laugh more often, but I'm really glad that at least I can be a part of helping him to enjoy his work and life here!

And the other side of life...

I didn't ever get around to blogging this last set of photos from when I returned. This is what I found when I opened my bathroom drawer:
So somewhere, lurking in the house, was a rat that was completely buffed up on my doxycycline and multivitamins.

It must have all given him a head-ache, though, because he then got into Jackie's drawer, and ate every single one of her Panadol (like Tylenol)! He went through about 25 Panadol tablets! We all thought that surely it would have killed him... but alas. This evening, Jackie found that the poor little rat must have a sore throat now, because he's started eating through all her Strepsils! Oh wait, it must be a girl rat, because she has also managed to make her way through the tampons...

Writer's Block?

We were chock-a-block full in our workshop room today for the first day of our Writer's Workshop! It was amazingly exciting to see the room packed full of people from 5 different language groups who have gathered to learn more about writing in their own languages! Mostly teachers and pastors, these guys are working in their language communities to help develop reading material and teaching both adults and children to read. So they need to know how to write, so the people they're teaching actually have something to read!

So far, things are going really well. We got almost all the people that we expected to come, we started on time and they're extremely punctual for everything, the logistics of the guesthouse and teas and lunches for 30 of us is going amazingly well... it was a great start to the day! I got to teach all about "Descriptive Writing", which, to me, is quite exciting. Imagine, here I am, in the middle of Africa, working with people to help them learn to write! How is it that I'm so blessed to have such an amazing job?!

Me as a chicken...

... I hope we've already established the fact that I'm NOT a chicken, but I got this photo in an email from a friend this morning. He said, "If you were a chicken, this would be you". So here is Me, as a chicken. (I especially like the touch of the spoon in my hand... always ready for a snack!)
(While Jackie sits in the office having a serious discussion with some of our "homeland based" literacy workers about assessment and ABC books, I'm falling off my chair laughing over this photo. Very typical of the two of us in the office on a Saturday morning!)