So many bloggable moments... so little time.

Today was so full of bloggable moments, I can hardly remember them all!

The day started as our usual Saturdays - a little work in the office. Jackie, as usual, doing a lot more work than me! I took my time and actually ate my usual breakfast of jam and peanut butter on a bun in the house, rather than taking it to the office like I usually do! We did some work, had some lunch, then took off for an adventure!

We went in search of, get this, a swimming pool!! Yes, a new lodge has opened up, and for the low price of just $5, you can sit in the coolness of the pool and enjoy the chlorinated freshness! I took my camera, and meant to take a photo or two to post, but, well, I forgot to take my camera out of my bag! So, sorry, no photos. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back again :)

It's a nice place, though I think they're still getting a bit set up - no chairs around the pool yet. But there's a little bar area with some chairs and places to sit and drink your Coke before diving into the pool! It was amazing to see glittering blue water in this town - the first time I've seen a swimming pool here, though there have been a few very restricted access pools for some time here (one is in the US Consulate compound - very high security, and the other is in the Norweigan Ambassador's residence - very elite!).

The enjoyment of the pool was slightly marred by the large group of Russian or Bulgarian or Ukranian men doing a round of cannon balls and synchronized diving into the pool all afternoon, but I just stayed on the other end of the pool and enjoyed feeling almost cold after a while! I think I may have gotten a bit too much sun, as I'm just not used to being in the sun anymore (it's just a bit warm to be sitting out in the sun around here!), but it was so worth it!

I'm sure the place is going to get extremely busy as more and more people find out about it, so quiet weekends around the pool are probably not going to happen... but Jackie and I were musing about the possibility of taking an afternoon off work sometime and going to have the pool all to ourselves... afterall, we DO work most of the day on Saturdays every week!

Anyways, after our refreshment at the pool, it was time to get dusty and sweaty again, so we went off to the market to buy some material for curtains for our new office, as well as our fruits and veg for the week. The road that the Lodge is on is basically just a dirt track, like most roads in this town. It's just a bumpy, holey track that winds through the tukels and around the trees. From this side road, we had to connect to the road that would take us to the market. Now this road to the market is the main "highway" out of this town, leading towards International borders. But we had a hard time identifying the road - our dirt track sorta led to another dirt track, and we looked at each other and had a bit of a discussion about whether or not we were on the "highway"! Probably that's not as funny to you as it was to us, but we had a good chuckle over yet another typical Jb conversation - "Is this the main road?" "I don't know, just keep following the tire tracks..."

Anyways, we made it to the market, got what we needed, including a nice little helper who had us following him around the market as I looked for some new clothes hangers! One of my favorite shopkeepers who has a shop full of dishes, brooms, pots, mats etc. didn't have any clothes hangers. But the guy who sews clothes outside the door to his shop thought he knew where we could get some hangers. So we followed him around to a couple of shops, but no one had hangers. We eventually ended up at yet another shop where that guy took over and started bringing us to another few shops to find some hangers! Eventually that guy found us some, and for $0.50 I had myself a set of 10 new hangers! Amazing. They're really, well, quite rough, and who knows how long they'll last. But they sure are cheaper than the last set of hangers that I bought here, which I think I paid $0.50 for each one! I think, actually, these hangers must come with some of the clothes that come from China, and the shop keepers in the clothes shops don't need them all, or when they sell the clothes, the customers don't want to take the hanger with them. Anyways, I feel like I got quite a good deal! Probably the cheapest thing I've ever bought in this town!

For some reason, me and Jackie were the main event in the place where we parked the truck in the market today, too. Some of the more polite call-outs from the lounging men were "Sister, how are you?" "Madam, I am here!". Then there was the typical, "Hey!" and "khawaija!" and "mzungu!". We normally get some of the call-outs in the market, but for some reason, today it was pretty impressive how many guys were hollering at us. It must have been that refreshed, fresh from the pool look about us... or maybe they were all impressed that Jackie could back the truck into the parking spot that we chose :)

The next bloggable moment came at dinner tonight. We don't like to cook in our house, as you may have already noticed, so Jackie and I went to the nice Eritrean restaurant a few blocks away from our house (where, of course, Celine was playing, along with the Backstreet Boys and some Tigrinya pop). It's my new favorite place, and the people are so wonderful - they know me now, and always greet me in Tigrinya and give me a good price for the food! It's really a lovely place.

The set up is such, though, that you sit rather close to your nieghbors. Basically, there's a long bench along one wall, and then a couple of little tables with chairs opposite the bench. So you're basically sitting right next to the people at the next table. Which is fine, normally.

But tonight, a neigbor came along who was quite chatty. A local guy who left his village at the age of 9, joined up with the army, then eventually ended up in the USA for several years. He's now back here doing something, though I never quite figured out what. Sounds like he has a very well connected family, with relatives in all the high places. He was dressed to the nines, too, in a suit and tie.

Of course, his English was really good, so we started chatting. He asked where we were from... and when I told him which country I'm from, he immediately said, "Oh, I like Cdn girls..." Sigh. It's so difficult being so young and beautiful in a place like this. He proceeded to chat me up, and I proceeded to not be rude, but to not seem too friendly or interested! Jackie tried to keep the conversation away from me and kept chatting, so I wouldn't have to! One of the funny parts came where he started talking about how he really wants to do something for his people and he wants to help everyone in his village... but he's not been back to his village since he was 9, nor does he have any plans to go and visit!

I sure do admire the directness of men around here sometimes. A guy came into the office last week, while we were moving, so I was tromping around cleaning and carrying stuff around. He looked at me and said, "You look strong. I like strong women!" Um, yeah, how does a girl respond to something like that?!

Anyways, this post sure is getting long enough, so if any of you are still with me... thanks for reading :) And don't worry, I haven't gotten married off to any of these direct men yet...

Out to Lunch

Annamarie and I decided to try a new place for lunch today. One of our Ethiopian friends here recommended the Lula restaurant, saying it's got the best Ethiopian food in town (and believe me, there are a LOT of Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurants in town!). So off we went.

The place was pretty full, so the only empty table in the garden sort of area was occupied by... a sleeping man and a turkey. Yes, that's right, a turkey. A real live turkey sat and watched over the guy having his lunch-hour snooze. Odd, and yet, ever so normal for a town like this.

After waving to some Eritreans that I know from the bakery, we made our way past the snoozer and his turkey and sat in the "bar" area. The food actually was quite amazing. We had our usual, shiro and tibs, as this is the measure by which we measure the standards of any new Ethiopian restaurant. And they passed muster for sure! It was delicious - the shiro especially was smooth and creamy, lovely consitency with a hint of garlic. Yum. Definitely worth going back to that placea for. And it was on the cheaper end of Ethiopian restaurants in town, too, which is a definite bonus!

I'm on a roll, too, this week with Ethiopian food - today was the third day this week that I had shiro for lunch! The first day, I made it myself, with some of the powder I brought from Ethiopia. I walked down the street to the local "Ethiopian bar and restorant" to see if they had any injera that I could buy to compliment the shiro... but turns out they only have beer and soda. So much for my local injera supplier :( The second time this week was on Wednesday when I went with some friends to the Basilico restaurant - a very modern tukel decor sort of place with great food! And then, of course, today, with Annamarie! I hope this trend continues!

(by the way, shiro is made from ground up chick pea flour and cooked into a sort of paste, like hummous, but served hot with cooked tomatoes, onions, garlic and hot berbere chili pepper. tibs are basically chunks of meat, either beef or goat (today we had goat), cooked in a frying pan with lots of garlic, tomatoes, green peppers and berbere spice).

Thanks for praying, Nico!

By the way, the Lord has heard my nephew's prayers! For the first time since coming back here, I slept peacefully all night and wasn't woken up by the scurrying of little critters in my room! Keep praying, Nico, that they will all completely leave my house!

Birthdays!

Since we didn't quite manage to get a Christmas party in before everyone left for their Christmas trips, and since we didn't quite manage to get a New Year's party when everyone came back, and since we didn't quite manage to have a "dedication" party for any of our new offices and renovations, we had a party today!

The main reason for having the party was to have a birthday party for all those who were born on January 1. Yes, several, if not most, of the folks we work with here have January 1 as their official birthdates. See, most of them don't actually know what day they were born - they just have an idea of which year they may have been born in. So when they went to get all their official documents and ID cards etc., they all just default to "January 1"!

So Pam and I ordered up a bunch of take-away food from the local restaurant (fried chicken, fried meat, rice and bread), Pam baked a cake, and we had a great time together over lunch today! Everyone feasted and enjoyed each other's company. We had a lovely time of prayer together, thanking God for all his blessings and dedicating the new year and the new offices and kitchen to His service.

And then, of course, we played games! I love living and working in a place where you can get a group of grown men together to play silly games! We had a great time together and played some games in a very interesting mix of English and Arabic. The main thing is that we didn't have any casualties, though one of the young women who works in the guesthouse did take quite a tumble over her plastic chair!

Once the partying was over, it was back to work! I forgot to take any photos of the festivities, nor do I have a photo of our new offices yet, so you'll just have to use your imagination for another day or two. All day, Jackie and I were working on these Implementation Guidelines for the language and education policy here. Phew, it's a bit of a mouthful... and a bit of a huge document, too! So, my brain is a little on the tired side, which is why I'm off to bed!

A bit of disorder never hurt anyone!

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."
-A. A. Milne

Couldn't have planned it better if we had tried ...

After a lovely lunch with friends today (though don't get me started on what it actually took to get off the compound today!!), we popped by the government education offices to see what was happening there, drop off some letters and see if we could find a copy of a particular document.

We started off with one of our favorite guys - someone who is fairly organized and is quite a breath of fresh air, as he just says things like they are. He doesn't beat around the bush with some of the, um, well, challenges, of working in the gov't. He's also the supervisor to the folks that we mostly work with in the gov't, so he is also in the "know" of a lot more than gets communicated to us from the other folks that we work with! So it's always quite an eye-opening time when we go and visit with him. Plus, he's one of the few people that we generally find sitting in the same office all the time! We actually know where to find him, and he's not out drinking tea all the time!

Anways, we were actually successful in getting an electronic copy of the policy document that we were searching for, which was great... not so great in terms of the fact that once we got home and read through it, it's not very strong on the gov't's position on mother tongue education... but that's a different post altogether. The point is, it was a success in that we got this document - really, no small feat around here! We celebrate these sorts of successes!

Next, we went to deliver a letter to the Minister himself, who happens to know us quite well. We were just going to deliver the letter and run away, as we didn't imagine we'd be able to just drop by unannounced to see the Minister. Normally you have make an appointment, then get through two sets of outer offices to make it in to sit on the Minister's giant furniture!

But today, his office manager picked up on the name of the organization we work for, and he said, "I can give you three minutes with the Minister now"! Jackie hesitated, but I jumped on that one. You don't just give up three minutes with the Minister, even if you've got nothing better to say than, "Good afternoon, your excellency. How was your Christmas?!" Turns out we had a very infomative chat with him, and then found out that he was actually waiting for someone else who had a previous appointment with him - and this someone else was someone that we've been anxious to be introduced to for a very long time!

We've heard this man's name over and over again from so many different places. He's a local guy and is a candidate for a PhD in linguistics. He works at one of the universities in a different part of the country, and we even tried looking for him when we visited that other town, but alas, he wasn't to be found. He's a very difficult man to track down, and yet everyone wants a pick his brain about something (which is probably why he makes himself hard to track down!). Anyways, he used to work with our organization long, long ago, so he was happy to meet us, as well.

So really, there's no way we could have set up those 10 minutes in the Minister's office with these two men, at exactly this critical time. It was only God who put us all together in that office - even the fact that Matt drove the truck through the gate right at the last minute so we'd have a car to drive to the gov't offices, instead of having to hitch a ride with friends... really, it all just worked out so amazingly well!

So we celebrated these little victories today! Seems like small potatoes here - getting a document, meeting a few people... but in the long run, it's these little things that allow us to move forward in our work here. And yet with the situation being what it is, these really are huge successes today!

Zane Rocks!

My cat is awesome! While I was writing the last post, he came tearing out of the kitchen with a tasty morsel in his mouth... I only had to open the front door for him so he could go and enjoy his midnight snack outside :) He's certainly earning his keep, that one. But you've heard enough about the wilds of Jb today, so I won't regale you with more tales of my furry friends tonight!

Time for bed...

Oh man, am I ever tired tonight! It was our big moving day today. For the first time since I moved here over two years ago, I no longer have a "presence" in Room #6 in the guesthouse :( It is truly the end of an era. (This is where you have a moment of silence to reflect upon the wonderful memories of all that took place in Room #6)...

Room #6 was the one that I shared with Grace, where she snuggled her hedgehogs while we sweated and watched endless episodes of "Smallville". It's where stayed up late into the night laughing and talking about anything and everything... until we realized how NOT soundproof anything is in that guesthouse! It's where I saw my first rat, and named him Templeton. It's where I learned to do my laundry by hand. It's where I spent countless hours splayed on my bed sweating away the afternoons before we had a decent enough generator to have any electricity in the afternoons. It was my first ever "hoffice" - home+office in the same room. Then, once we moved to our house (a long 45 second commute away), it's where I moved everything to make room for Jackie and Wes and Henry and Peter to squash in their desks so we could all have space to work! It's where Templeton's offspring have taken up residence in my desk drawers. It's where I've fought (and won a few, and lost a few) with numerous computers and printer cartridges. It's where we've met with Ministers and pastors and regular sorts of people to discuss everything and everything, from mother tongue based multilingual education to where to find more robust toilet seats. Ah, the memories...

And now it's on to a new chapter! Jackie and I spent the day clearing out the filing cabinets and cupboards, sweeping away two years worth of collected dust and rat poo, and trying to put it all back in some sort of order in the office across the way (which has, up to now, been used as accommodation by people from other organizations). Once we get it more set up (like, say, tomorrow!), I'll post a photo of my new office. It feels like a good new beginning - a good chance to have cleared away the dust and some of the cobwebs, to look back on how far we've come so far, and to look ahead to new and exciting things!

I now have my very own three-drawer filing cabinet to fill up with all the work that's coming, and a whole window all to myself. Personally, I think I have the best seat in the entire office, but that's just me. I have my desk in front of the biggest window, right next to the door, and, more importantly, right under the fan :) I no longer have to share my desk with everyone and anyone who wanted to scan anything, and I'm far enough away from the communal printer now that perhaps people will stop stealing the pens off my desk! And yet, I can still look out the window and see what's going on "out there" beyond my desk.

But man, I'm tired. It was a lot of work to cart all that stuff over to the new place, and to scrub it all down. I must have inhaled a few inches of dust today, and did I mention the rat poo? Do you want to hear something really disgusting (if you don't just skip the rest of this line...)... I found a tiny little bat carcass in my desk drawer today, too! I knew that the rats were still making it their home, so before I left for Christmas, I had taken everything out, and just left the drawer empty... I couldn't face it before now, so I had just left it closed... and today, when I opened it up... a tiny little bat carcass awaited me. But you'll be happy to know that I didn't take any photos :)

And on that note, it's time for bed... tomorrow I have some filing cabinets to organize :)

Tonight's Typical Conversation

Jackie, "This one's definitely going to catch something tonight! It's a sensitive one tonight!"
Tanya, "Lovely! I can't wait. We're almost out of glue, as well. I used the last of it for the trap in the bathroom drawer."
A little later...
Jackie, "Did you hear that?"
Tanya, "Yeah, I did, do you think we got one already?"
Jackie, "Well, usually there's more of a snap when the trap goes, followed by a lot more thumping around."
Tanya, "Hmmm... yeah, I don't hear anything anymore. Oh well, I guess one of us will check when we get up..."

Yup, we're going to catch something tonight. It's a bit of a contest to see whether it's going to be the glue in the bathroom drawer or the set trap in the kitchen cupboard ... any hopefully it will be both!

Cool!

Yes, it's cool. We watched a dvd last night in our verandah (remember, no windows, just screens!), and it was a bone chillling 27C! I almost needed a blanket. And this morning when I woke up, it was so pleasant at 26C! Of course, in the afternoon, it was still pretty warm (like mid-30s), but a little rain shower came blowing in and completely cooled things off again. Amazing. And so unexpected. I really did expect that it would be more like 40C, with a low of 30C at night. But so far, I've been pleasantly surprised. The first night I was here, it was a bit humid and quite warm - I woke up at 7:30am to a temperature of 30C in my room on Friday morning. But tonight, I believe I will have to fall asleep with a sheet over top of me to keep my toes warm... or maybe I'll just bring my dark and handsome young Zane into my bed... but for the sole purpose of keeping the other four legged creatures out of my bed :)

Anyways, I'm slowly getting used to life back here. We had our "fellowship" group tonight, which was good. The community around here is really quite the revolving door, so one never really knows who's going to show up, or who's left the country or what. But there's always some familiar faces along with the new ones who come along, and it's always good to learn from each other and pray for each other. So I very much appreciate our Sunday evenings, even though there is quite a gap left by friends who have recently left :(

I'd best go and find my lights and take down my mosquito net and get set for the night before the generator goes off in 10 minutes! Ah, back to the routine.

Right on time...

Celine just came on, exactly on time. But she's starting out with a different song tonight (Because You Loved Me), and it's so loud that it actually IS drowning out the sound of the chewing rats! Thank you, Lord!

Beverage, anyone?

I took a break from my rat war today to go with Annamarie and Jackie to visit the workplace of some of Annamarie's friends. They're building a brewery!! What an amazing place it was! It's not up and running quite yet (though it was supposed to have been by now - things here always take a bit longer than expected!), but it was really interesting to see the brewery and learn about how it's all coming together. All the parts are in place, basically, and they expect to start producing within a month or two. What an undertaking - it's quite amazing what they have got done in the 10 months that they've been here. We had the big head cheese (who's Annamarie's friend) give us a tour of the technical aspects of the brewery, which was great. Between Dad's basement brewery and new friends like these ones here, I'm learning a lot about what it takes to make a good beer :) One of the interesting bits of the tour was the fact that the "waste" water from the brewery will actually end up being cleaner than the water of the River, from which they will take the water and put it through the filtration and purification system that they've built, to use as raw material for the beer.

The wife of this brewing team gave us a tour of their staff accommodation, canteen, and the house that's being built for them to live in as they manage the brewery. What an incredible house! I never imagined something like that would ever be built in this town! It's not huge, but is very well-appointed, will have a private swimming pool, and has the most beautiful view out over the countryside. I'm hoping Annamarie gets invited over lots :)

The whole thing is quite an amazing operation, and it's so impressive that they've come so far in the short time they've been here! It sure makes the running of our guesthouse and site seem like small peanuts!

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a rat war...

The rats are driving me bonkers. In the two weeks that we left the house uninhabited, the rats multiplied. And they got smarter, too. It's ridiculous. They're absolutely out of control! A few years ago, I couldn't tell a rat footprint from a bird claw print. Today, I found the prints of the pitter patter of little rats in places that I still haven't a clue how they got there! For instance, this afternoon, I went to get a clean pair of capri pants in my little "closet" (which is actually just a section of my room which is curtained off and has a little bar between the bookshelf and the wall to hold my clotheshangers!), and I found a little line of rat prints all the way up the side of the pants. How the heck did a rat climb up my pants, especially when they were hanging folded in half about 3 feet off the ground?! And WHY did the rat want to climb up my pants in the first place? I also found rat footprints on my computer case, which sits on top of my desk, a mere two feet from my pillow, as well as prints on a sheet which is draped over the back of my desk chair.

Not only are they leaving prints, but they are leaving other evidences of themselves. I spent about an hour this morning cleaning out my bathroom drawers again. Somehow, the rats have decided that my two bathroom drawers are a safe haven from... well, from something! I had taken most of my stuff out of the drawers before I left for Christmas, knowing that they might try to make an appearance in there, but I did leave a few bits and pieces in there, which I ended up throwing some away (I just don't want to be using chapstick that a rat has sampled!), but some of the bottles were intact, just, um, well, a little sticky with, um, well, rat pee. So those things I just soaked in bleach (remember, I don't exactly live close to any Wal-Marts or cornerstores where I can pick up a new bottle of contact lense solution!

The rats have also been keeping me awake at night. The first night I was here, one of them actually got the lid off the plastic bucket that I use to store my extra "treats" in, and pulled out a granola bar! Then last night, they chewed through a carton of UHT milk that we had stored int he cupboard, causing the rest of the milk to leak everywhere in the cupboard, which Zane happily lapped up this morning! Mmmm.... rat flavoured milk, what more could a cat want?!

They are also chewing the styrofoam insulation in our ceiling. Just imagine waking up to the sound of a rat chewing styrofoam at 2 am. Every night. I'd give anything to have Celine back over that!

So last night, I decided to keep Zane in my room, hoping that he would be able to catch a little morsel in my room last night. Seems they all stayed away... until about 1:30am, when Zane decided he wanted to go out to go pee! So I had to let the cat out... and then the other four legged fuzzy creatures came to play :( Tonight, Zane was playing outside just before I went to bed, but I saw him trot by the door, so I went to grab him to try the whole "cat catching rat" thing again tonight. However, I discovered that he already had a little ratty morsel in his mouth! He had caught a rat just outside our house and was looking for a safe place to sit and gobble the thing down. Needless to say, I left him to it. He'd be so full of rat tonight already that he wouldn't be too interested in another midnight snack if I kept him inside.

We have, however, set some glue traps. I've also put some heavy objects on top of my treat bucket, and haven't left anything else desireable (though there's no telling for taste when we're talking about these rats!) anywhere in my room. I'm just hoping they leave me in peace tonight! And Nico, I need you to keep praying that the rats will leave Auntie's house!

My Trip

Thanks so much to all ya'll who were praying for my trip here! It was so smooth. I kept thinking that something was going to happen to interrupt the smoothness of it all, but nothing happened! The worst thing that happened was that the little restaurant in the airport in Addis, where I stopped to have a meal (technically, it was breakfast time, but my stomach was telling me it was supper time!) had run out of injera! So I ate my tibs (little meat cubes with garlic, peppers, tomatoes... mmmm....) with a fork. It was a little sad, because I had been looking forward to that meal since getting on the plane in Frankfurt... but at the same time, I was quite relieved because the plane to Jb was actually flying that way, and I had a boarding pass for it!

But I did have a great time, especially in Mainz. I arrived early in Frankfurt, just after 6am! So I took my time wandering around the airport a bit, and had a latte from the McCafe while studying the map of Mainz that I had printed off the Internet so that I would know where to go once I got there! I also figured out where the airport luggage storage was, so I could leave my giant carry-on bag there.

At about 8am, once it got light outside, I mosied over to the train station and found the nice people who sell you a ticket for the trains, rather than relying on my own sleep deprived brain to use all the maps and charts and machines to tell me which train to take to the Mainz Haupbanhof! I don't know if rush hour is usually a problem on those trains or not, but it must have been over by the time I got there, since there was only a smattering of people on the train. I enjoyed a nice ride through the German countryside as the rising sun glittered off the early morning frost. It was very lovely. And oh so much better than sitting in the Frankfurt airport!

I arrived in Mainz just after 9am. By this time, though, I was starting to suffer from a dehydration headache, so I stocked up on liquids at the little convenience store at the train station before going any further. (That whole rule about not taking your water bottles on the planes anymore has done terrible things for my ability to drink enough water whilst on these long trips!). Anyways, I didn't want to look like a dorky tourist (especially since I was wandering around alone!), but from the map, I had a pretty good idea of which direction to start wandering in. It was so nice to be out and enjoying a new city. I just love cities, anyways, and this one was full of little bakeries with amazing treats, lovely old buildings, and old churches on almost every corner! It was a bit cooler than I had hoped it would be, but it wasn't unbearable, and with so many cute little shops and beautiful old churches to duck into, I managed to stay pretty warm.

My main goal for the morning was to get to the Gutenberg Museum, which I managed to find without too much trouble (I'm so thankful I have a pretty good nose for directions!). It was a great museum, though it would have been even better if more of it was in English! I mean, I know, I was in Germany, so things would be in German. But there were just enough signs and information in English to taunt me and make me hunger for the rest of the information on all the signs!
But I did see the two original Gutenberg Bibles that were printed back in the 15th century, as well as a collection of other really old books! There were some Martin Luther translations into German from the Latin, as well as a ton of beautifully illuminated midevil (is that how you spell that word?) Bibles, prayer books and song books.
The exhibit sorta traced the history of printing, from the very beginning in Asia, up to the present time, including the development of paper-making and book binding. It was so fascinating, but slightly frustrating because I wanted to read everything and soak it all in... but my German is pretty much limited to "guten tag" and "danke shoen" :( Of course, on the way out, I saw in the gift shop that they had a guide book in English for 5 Euros. Had I seen that earlier, I just might have sprung for it... but on my way out, it would have just ended up as something else to collect dust in Jb.

It was definitely a great way to spend a morning, surrounded by books and literature and trying to soak up some of the history of it all! It's such a part of my heritage, you know? I mean, the invention of the printing press basically made mass literacy a possibility, because it put books into the hands of the every day people. And that completely changed our culture... which, in turn, has it's effects on previously oral cultures, like the ones I work in here. Mmmm... it was just so delicious to be so surrounded by beautiful books!
I did wish I could spend more time in there, but after a few hours of wandering around, I was starting to feel the fact that I hadn't had much to eat and no sleep since leaving home in Calgary the day before! So I tore myself away from the museum and went in search of something to eat.

It was a bit difficult - there were only fancy restuarants or else little "stalls" where you just stood around a high counter or table to eat. I definitely needed to sit and rest and recharge for a little while, so needed a place that wasn't too expensive, but would give me a warm place to sit for a while! After a little while of wandering around, I found a kabab house, with a dizzying array of kababs and donairs! Mmmmm, so delicious! And I got to sit and rest for a while, look again at my map, and plan the rest of my afternoon.

After lunch, I went to the main Cathedral in town, which was quite impressive. I think it's a protestant cathedral (though I never did figure out which denomination!) because it wasn't nearly as ornate as the Catholic churches I had been in before. But it was big, and had this lovely courtyard which dates from the time of Gutenberg. It was nice and quiet and peaceful in there... though not very warm!

Sometimes I think I should have been an architect, because I just can't get enough pictures of beautiful buildings, especially if they involve a dome somewhere! Inside the cathedral, they had one nice little chapel roped off for "prayer only". So I went in, and spent a really nice little while, just sitting still, being quiet, and discussing with the Lord some things about the coming year in Jb. It was so nice to have that opportunity to be alone, to be quiet, and to be in a beautiful building which was built for the sole purpose of bringing glory to God just by its beautiful design. The whole trip to Mainz was worth it for that time in the chapel!

But it was cold in there, and, well, the longer I sat still, the sleepier I got, so instead of napping in the cathedral, I decided it was probably time to move along!

I just wandered around the old town a bit, poking around into the shops and seeing where the little lanes took me.
I ended up at one of the main tourist attractions - St. Stephen's church, which houses these beautiful stained glass windows designed by Chagall, who is, apparently, a very famous artist!
I must admit that the stained glass was very beautiful, and it was really lovely to see. There was a priest there, giving a very animated and I'm sure a very interesting talk about the art in the stained glass... but again, since it was in German, it wasn't too enlightening. Anyways, it was lovely to see such beautiful things before coming back to Jb, where, um, well, there just aren't that many beautiful sights to behold!

I also wandered into a lovely little cafe and had a rooibos vanilla latte before grabbing a pretzle off the street vendor and making my way back to train station! It all went so smoothly! I was back at the airport around 5:30, and then wandered around a bit whilst waiting for the Ethiopian Airlines check in counter to open. But from there on, it was smooth sailing!

A packing we will go...

My mom is the most amazing packer! That huge pile of stuff has been stuffed into bags. I'm allowed two bags of 23 kg each. One of my bags is 24kg, and the other is 19 kg. So... hopefully they won't complain about that extra 1 kg in the one bag! The smaller bag just can't take anything more, it's stuffed to the very tip top.

But don't get me started on how much stuff is in the carry-on. I think I have too many books with me. Plus a scanner and a bunch of computer bits! So I'm just hoping they don't weigh my carry-on, 'cause if they do that, I'm toast.

Anwyays, it might be a few days till you hear from me again! I'm praying for a very uneventful few days... and hopefully the next time you hear from me, it will be from my African home!

Two more sleeps...

.... and I'm outta here! Yikes. Since it's after midnight now, I officially leave tomorrow! Wowzers, that time sure flew. Sorry to all you folks who I didn't get to spend enough time with :( I really feel bad that I didn't see more of you, but man, I have to admit, with the snow and cold the way it was, I was really enjoying doing some hibernating with my family!

I'm slowly getting ready to go (well, ok, so I've sorta kicked things into high gear since this afternoon!), and this is the crazy mountain of garbage I've made from all the packages from the stuff that I've bought:
And this is just a small part of the pile of the stuff that's going to squeezed into my bags tomorrow:
Amazing how it all reduces once you take the packaging off. Don't worry, I'm planning on recycling all the cardboard, at least!

Also, I fear the rats in my house will soon be homeless, as my nephew was praying all week that the rats would leave my house... and even that they would leave Africa! So I trust there will be no more rats in the house to chew on all my nice new plastic containers once I get there :)

It's past my bedtime, so I won't wax and wane about the bittersweet feelings I have about leaving. I love being at home. I love spending time with my family, hanging out with my nephews and my sister and bro-in-law, turning lights on and off, having warm showers, eating ice cream and raspberries and steak, drinking water straight from the tap, driving on pavement, singing nice and loud in my church ... ah, the list goes on. But I'm also looking forward to getting back to work in J, and to seeing all my people in that home. Zane is waiting for me. My housemates are looking forward to seeing me (I hope!), and I'm really getting excited to see my colleagues again - most of whom I haven't seen since the beginning of December! And I must admit that I'm feeling refreshed enough to actually be looking forward to the craziness and unpredictability of life there again!

So can you pray that all goes well on this long journey ahead of me to get there - please pray that I will be able to get some sleep on the various planes, that my luggage will all work out and not be too heavy and will get to the right place at the right time, and that I will enjoy the trip, not just be exhausted by it! I will be travelling (if all goes well!) for about 37 hours straight! Yikes, I'm going to be one stinky girl once I arrive in J... sorry, Wes! Better plan on opening the windows in the truck when you come fetch me from the airport :)

Suddenly Excited

Yes, I'm suddenly excited about my trip "home" to Africa. I have a 16 hour layover in Frankfurt next week on the way back. I was not looking forward to it, and have spent a bit of time on the Internet looking for a cheap "day" hotel or an airport "spa" or anything to do other than sit on one of those horrible airport chairs. I've already, on previous trips, decided that Frankfurt is one of the most boring European airports ever! Anyways, after a little more research, I've found that there are some very interesting sights not too far afeild from the airport. So my latest idea now is to take a train to Mainz - which just happens to be 15 minutes away from the airport and, get this, the home of Gutenberg! So there's a whole museum which houses the first ever printed Gutenberg Bible! Now how cool is that? Yeah, for a Bible translator cum literacy worker... um, yeah, it doesn't get much cooler!

So, now I gotta figure out the whole "left luggage" thing (don't need to schlep my computer etc. around the museum - I'm going to be tired enough from not sleeping the previous night!), and print off a little city map etc. so I know where to go. It's nice to have a little something to look forward to, as I know these next few days are kinda going to stink as I pack and say farewell...

And if you don't feel like reading...

You can watch this little video about Ethiopian children learning to read. Sadly, this sort of rote "learning" is how so many children in Africa "learn" to read. Sigh. We're hoping to make some headway with this sort of thing! Anyways, they're making great strides with their Donkey Library project in Awassa. Notice how their most popular book is the only one that's published using the mother tongue of the people (Sidamo, in this case), rather than Amharic or English?!

Reading Transforming Lives

I love the internet. Have I mentioned that before? I just love it. There's so much good stuff posted. Sure, there's a lot of junk, and stuff that just wastes time... but there's really some good stuff there, including this article about a Samaritan's Purse project and how the Bible is transforming lives. Notice how the Bibles that are being distributed are in the mother tongue of the people?! Way to go, SP!

Your Daily Reading Assignment

"Building a Peace Beyond Understanding: Amid ongoing violence, southern Sudan's Christians model a different kind of hope." It's not a bad article, though the author verges on simplifying the whole conflict to a "Christian versus Muslim" thing, which is a very simplistic view of the whole thing. But it's sure intersting to read his impressions of the place, especially his description of the international airport :)

And Celine will go on and on...

And lest you believe that my life has been blissfully Celine-free... as I was enjoying an amazing steak lunch (thank you so much for that gift certificate, CL, if you're reading this!) with a friend who normally works in Turkey... Celine was keeping us company. Sigh. I just can't get away. Is God trying to tell me something through the whole "You're here, there's nothing I fear..." and "I'll never let go, Jack, I'll never let go!"? Please, Celine, let me go!

Just to Continue the Habit...

... of not having any thoughts of my own for a few days, here's a link to a truly interesting article called "As an Athiest, I truly believe Africa needs God".

This is not something you read in "The Times" every day, folks! An atheist who actually thinks missionaries, and not just aid money 'are the solution to Africa's biggest problem'. I'd like to hear what you think of this article, too.

Still not feeling verbose...

... so here's another blog to check out. This one is written by a journalist in Khartoum, who's been following events in Sudan for a lot of years. If you thought you had problems...

Can Texting Preserve Languages?

According to this article, it just might! I love stuff like this... I know, I'm starting to let my inner geek shine through... sigh.

Is Christmas over yet?

Well... not quite! Um, I know my Orthodox friends can correct me, but I believe that tonight is Christmas Eve for lots of Christians around the world... especially those in Eritrea and Ethiopia! So for all of you who are celebrating tonight - Merry Christmas! May you have a very peaceful celebration.

And for me, well, I feel like the holidays aren't quite over yet, either. On the weekend, my mom and my sister and me went to Banff to hang out together. What a great weekend we had! It was rather chilly, so we didn't really do any outdoor activities. But we did some shopping, we ate some amazing food, and enjoyed the scenery.My mom enjoying the dessert.
The view from where we ate brunch at the Banff Springs Hotel.
Part of my brunch. Yummy berries. Somehow, the pineapple just doesn't taste the same here, though.
The view from our hotel room! It was so nice!Me and my sister enjoying our brunch. Sorry, sister, you have a bit of an odd look on your face, but it's the only picture I have!
And here we are, me and my mom enjoying the fire place in our hotel room.

So yes, I had a lovely time, and maybe, just maybe, by Thursday I'll be ready to call it quits with the whole holiday thing!

Happy New Year!

I know, I've been neglecting my blog. Not because of any lack of fun or interesting things to write about - just that most of you live in the cold white North and know all about winter things like pond hockey, snow-shoeing, eating of BBQ ribs and steak, enjoying hot showers and paved roads...

My mom, my sister and I are off to Banff for the weekend! So I just thought I'd post a quick note to say hi and wish you a very peaceful New Year.

I'll post some photos at some point, but for now, you can find a sampling on facebook, if you're my friend, that is :)

Have a great weekend!