Get Outta Town!

I really, really like this 4 day weekend thing.  Officially, Good Friday AND Easter Monday are holidays here, so, what can you do?  Enjoy them with the rest of the country, I suppose :)  And this morning was truly enjoyable - it was SO cold.  It was about 24C, with blowing wind and rain at 11am!  I went and put on a hoodie, because my nose was cold!  I just sat about, wrapped in my hoodie, reading a book for most of the morning..  It was lovely.  The my housemate made some lunch - baked macaroni and cheese.  How perfect for a cold day, eh?  We had our neighbors over for lunch, which was really nice, too.

After lunch, we got to go on an adventure!  I've been wanting to go out of town, down the road along the River for years now, and have just never had a chance to go.  There's quite a lot of police and some military action out there, and I don't know the way at all, so I wasn't keen to just go off on my own, without a local friend along, and it's just never quite worked out for all the stars to align to get there... until this afternoon!

While we were eating lunch, the sun came out, and started to dry up all the land.  "Look!  It's the sun!  It dried up the landy landy, everything was dry and dandy dandy!  So Jackie, R and I piled in the Hilux and roared off down a road we've never seen.  We went South from town, past the Catholic Cathedral (which I'd not yet seen), though some of the "suburbs", and out of town along the River.  I wished I could take more photos, but people are getting pretty anxious about photos these days - they either want a TON of money from you, or the officials confiscate your camera, or... even worse.  So, safer to just keep the camera tucked away most of the time :(

Anyway, it was SO nice to see a part of the town we've never seen before.  And with all the rain, it's becoming so green all around!  Weeds and grass grows up in any bare spot, so things are green all over.  There were still some pretty nice mud pits along the way!  I was sure we were going to get stuck in one section, but R locked the hubs, put it into 4WD and we powered slowly through.  It's really amazing how that truck can get through the mud, even when it's almost as deep as the tires!  I wouldn't have had the courage to splash through that mud, but R knows what the truck can handle, and we got through, no problem!

Once we got out of the residential area, we were on the "main" road going down South, on the West side of the River.  They've fixed up the road quite nicely, as there's a police training academy out that way, and they have high-profile visitors once in a while, so they need a passable road!

We were headed towards that little mountain, which has a little village at the foot of it.  It's so pretty out there, and even more so because it's so green at the moment!  In the dry season (which is all but about 5 months of the year, it's just brown.  Dusty and brown.  But during the rains - oh, so green!  And it's just so wonderful to see green and trees, without the bustle and dirt of the city!

One thing that I still can't figure out, though, is why there are not more people out there planting gardens!  There is so much open land, and obviously fertile, because there's lots of green stuff growing in most places.  It's even right on the big River, so why not do some small scale irrigation, for the dry season?  There's a good road to the market, they're so close to the big City... there's no reason why all that land shouldn't be used for feeding the city!

In fact, at one point, it was used for feeding people.  This section of land used to be a farm, with some irrigation systems all set up:

But the project came to a halt during the war, and has not started up again. It just seems like everyone is too busy chasing jobs in the city to even think about the fortune that's to be made with locally grown veggies!  Maybe I need to start putting my new-found gardening obsession to better use, to encourage some local agriculture!  It's such a shame to depend on produce from a neighboring country when we have all this empty land on the River bank, just a few kilometers outside the city!

Anyway, it was really nice to just see the place and to get out of town for a little while today.  Of course, no road trip would be complete without a pee break in the forest - which I almost didn't return from because the thorns had gotten hold of my shirt!  But I managed to escape their clutches with my dignity intact :)

Once home, I cooked up a big stir fry to put over rice - which turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself, once again :)  And it has turned into yet another lovely cool evening, so I'm sure I will be sleeping peacefully once again...  so I can get used to working again tomorrow!

Easter!

I've had a rather joyous Easter celebration, albeit different from a lot of Easters I've had in the past!  We actually had our main "Easter" meal last night - and what a meal it was!

It started out with this:

It's a bit hard to tell, but those are three little chickens, all rubbed with some lovely spices (all compliments of our South African neighbour!).

Next, he, um, well, traumatized the poor chickies (good thing they were already good and dead!) by shoving a tin cup full of either beer or Coke up their, um, well... you can see from the picture:

After the little guys are all, um, stuffed, then you set them on the BBQ (or, perhaps I should be more culturally appropriate and call it a "braai"?)

Cover the wee ones with a few tin buckets...

And wait for about 45 minutes.

And voila:

Add some friends:

A starlit night, a glass of wine... and you have the makings of a very successful dinner party!

One of the things I LOVE about living in this town is the fact that we get to rub shoulders with folks from so many different places.  Last night, we shared our meal with 2 South Africans, 2 Americans, 1 Sri Lankan, 1 local chap, and me.  We had good food, even better conversation, and just an all around stellar evening.

This Easter morning found me at church, dressed in my Easter fancy dress :)  The service was quite nice, and we sang some good old Easter favourites, which always makes it "feel" more like Easter.  What a celebration this day is!  There are so many things to celebrate - not the least of which is the fact that we will be raised with Christ in Glory.  Don't quite know what Rob Bell fans are saying today, but anyway, I'm rather happy for the grace of God which allows me to know Him and have the assurance that I will also be with him in Glory (which is what the focus of the very good sermon was this morning).

Following church, a few of us got invited over to some friends' place for coffee.  I wished I had time to make some hot cross buns, or had a local bakery that I could run to on the way to coffee... but, alas, I had to go empty handed.  But we had lovely coffee, and once again, great conversation!

But by the time I came from the church and coffee, my belly was growling, so I whipped up what is now becoming my favourite Sunday brunch - mini-quichies!

So delicious, especially when made with bits from the garden!

After a bit of a watering round for the garden, as well as a few naps, I started preparing for the next round of good eatin'!  Our International Fellowship group planned a little BBQ for this evening!  I made up some burgers (and thankfully, they stayed together - it's SO embarrassing when you go to a BBQ and your burgers fall apart on the shared grill!), and some salad, and loaded up the truck.  Jackie and I had also put together a few readings and songs, so we had a short Easter sort of service while the charcoal was heating up on the BBQ.    Once again, it was a great time of good food and good conversation with friends.

I am so thankful for all the good folks who are around me here.  It's hard to see most friends on a regular basis, so I really love and appreciate these special weekends that are full of friends and celebrations - especially when we can all get together and celebrate something as amazing as Easter!

Oh, and, I almost forgot to mention that while I was in Nairobi last month, I bought myself a Cadbury Cream Egg!  It was about 3 times the price as what they are at home, but it certainly wouldn't be Easter without tucking into a cream egg!  So I had a little chocolate Easter egg to enjoy with myself today, too :)

When it rains...

... it pours!  At least, tonight, it's absolutely pouring cats and dogs - right on top of our compound this time :)  But now I'm worrying about my poor little babies out in the garden.  My little bell peppers were just poking their wee heads out of the ground.  Three or four little cucumbers were newly greeting the sun this afternoon, and my little patch of rocket is just half an inch high, delicate little two leaved plants.  So many of these little plants just seem like they're clinging to life, springing forth from the dark earth... and now they're getting pounded by the rain :(  I know - you're probably thinking, she's never happy!  Last night, I complained because there was not enough rain here, tonight, I'm complaining because there's too much rain.

I don't know how subsistence farmers, or even "career" farmers do it.  I just have a tiny little patch of ground, which I don't depend on for my livelihood or daily meals, but I find myself getting alll stressed about the weather these days!  I really don't think I could I could handle the uncertainty of truly farming.

It would probably be very good for my faith, though!  I mean, the Lord is the one in control of when and where the rain falls! It's something that is completely out of my control.  And yet, in general, the rain comes when it's needed, and most people, in general (though I certainly know it's not guaranteed and doesn't happen all the time) have what they need.

I pray that this rainy season will be a good one for the folks in this country.  And that when it is a good rainy season, people really will give glory and praise to God's graciousness in sending the rain at just the right time, in just the right amounts.

Odd-isms

I had a bit of a funny day.  I woke up in a puddle of sweat, because the power went off last night and it was super humid for the whole day.  Not such a great start to the day.  I was also sort of half awake relatively early because I thought I was going to have to go to the airport to fetch R and some visitors.  They had gotten up at 3am, because they were told to check in at the airport at 3:30am!  Plane was supposed to take off at 6:30am, meaning they'd be here by 8-ish.  But, of course, the way things go around here... they finally arrived here at 4:45pm!  Imagine.  They sat in the airport up in that city for 11 hours, waiting to get on a plane, after having very little sleep. And all day, no one told them anything about when the plane would leave, or when the boarding would be.  They finally checked everyone in for the flight at around 9:30am, but still didn't tell them when the flight would leave.  I would have been so grumpy, but they arrived with smiles on their faces, and were all perky enough to go out for dinner!  So I admire their fortitude, that's for sure.

A very odd thing about my trip to the airport this afternoon was that while we were waiting for the plane to arrive, it started pouring down rain.  I mean, it rained and rained and drenched absolutely everything in sight.  It was a ton of rain.  When the time came for us to get our visitors and all their luggage into the car, we bundled the visitors into the Landcruiser, but I got completely soaked through while trying to help load up the luggage.  Absolutely soaked, through to my undies! 

And when we got back to our compound (a whole 3.5 kilometers away!), there wasn't a drop of rain that had fallen!  Not a single drop.  So I went from being soaked through to the skin to having to water my garden!

Today starts the beginning of the Easter Weekend.  May you have a wonderful time celebrating the resurrection of our Saviour!

Stuff

It's been a very full few weeks, and I've not been turning on my computer much in the evenings... except to watch the occasional episode of "Glee".  I admit it, I'm becoming a Gleek :(  But really, I'm still very much behind, so don't tell me anything - I'm only mid-way through Season 1!  Allow me to indulge myself a bit longer.  I had been watching (via YouTube) the second to last series of the Amazing Race... and then my mom went and ruined who won for me... and I haven't bothered to watch another episode since then :(  Or maybe it's just that the internet has been pretty slow, so it hasn't been worth the effort?  As nice as it is living a basically "tv-free" existence, I have to admit that there are times when a girl just wants to sit for 30 minutes and watch something completely brainless.  And most of the online TV things don't work here - either because it's "not available in your region", or our internet "guard" blocks it, or the internet is just too slow.  So.  Not a whole lot of TV going on here... but I have procured a season of Glee, to see what all the fuss is about!

Anyway, things are moving along well.  My garden is growing amazingly well (both the eat-ables and the weeds!), work is moving on, and life just continues!

Today I went to a "Conversation" on Community Driven Development.  It was with a bunch of NGOs (mostly program managers and country directors!), and there was a consultant brought in who lead us in a "conversation" about this new development thing that the World Bank seems to be pushing.  I wasn't sure if it would be very applicable to our situation, but I was really quite curious about it.  And I quite like trying to be a bit "in the know" about what's going on in the "development" world, so I went along.  Plus, I knew there would be a free bottle of water thrown in, so what was there to lose?  And not only did I get the water, but I got a couple of cookies, a cold Coke (and a real Coke, not the generic brand), and some new knowledge that I might be able to do something with!  All in all, not a wasted 3 hours.

We've also been eating some beautiful food lately!  My friend from South Africa came over last weekend to spend the weekend, and we had some lovely food!  I love it when AM comes over, because she appreciates food as much as I do!  I know some people who "gush" about mountains and lakes... well, AM and I gush about food.  It's somehow so much more enjoyable when you have someone to vocalize your appreciation for your food with!

My most beautiful achievement of the week, so far, has been "mini-quiches".  Oh, so brunch-fully delicious.
I had to adapt a bit, since I don't have all the ingredients, but they turned out pretty delicious.  The best part is that I now have basil growing in the garden!  So now I can make a 3-leave salad, all with leaves from the garden!  How much fun is that?!

Gotta love communal living...

... I came home tonight from having dinner with some old friends (the only people I know in this city who have been here longer than I have) to find an odd assortment of things hanging from the laundry lines (which permanently hang across our living room... it's out of necessity!).

Both lines were covered in branches of neem trees, carefully hung up to dry with clothes pins.  Interspersed with the neem branches were one of my housemate's underwear.  Honestly, I leave those two alone for an evening and I come home to trees and undies strung up in the living room!

Is this ME?!

I had one of those odd moments tonight where I wondered, "Huh, is this really ME?  And if so, how on earth did I get here?".  The moment happened this evening, around 8:30pm, when I suddenly realized that I was standing outside my house, wearing a tie-dyed dress (admittedly, though, it is nicely tailored to flatter all my curves, instead of the typical "missionary mumu" sort of look), a beaded necklace with matching earrings, bright blue rubber boots (which, by the way, match the bright blue boots and the bright blue trim on my dress), and a headlamp.  I was digging in the dirt with some scraps of wood, trying to make a little protective fence around my fledgling baby pumpkin plants, which someone had stomped on earlier in the day.

I really never quite expected to find myself in this sort of situation. And yet, I was completely satisfied and happy with spending a few minutes playing in the dirt, looking like some weird hippy mining granny! 

I was probably quite happy because I've had quite a good few days at work.  Yesterday, I had a meeting with some folks from our different domains (translation, linguistics and me (literacy) with one of the language teams that we work with.  This team has been doing a lot of investigation into how the tones in their language work, and they've realized that they probably don't need to write as many tones as they have been.  So this is the beauty of where linguistics and literacy dovetail into each other.  And we had a good meeting about what to do and how to go about testing a new sort of writing system!  So much fun!

After that meeting, I went to my office, where there was a chap from a different language community wanting to see what resources are available in his language.  There were a few people, several years ago, who came up with a writing system for his language, and they prepared a few bits and pieces, like an ABC Chart and a little brochure that talks about the alphabet in his language.  So I happily mined through some old computer files and was able to print off a copy of these things for him.  And he was as happy as a clam!

And then today, I had a meeting with a new guy on one of the teams who is going to be our "homeland literacy worker".  So I got to orient him to some books and teachers guides and training materials.  Such fun!

And now, since I know you're not all as excited about this sort of thing as I seem to be tonight, I will let you get back to your regularly scheduled programming...

I love my job (usually!)

I had another of those moments the other day.  For quite a few months, we've been having some email conversations with a local chap who's been busily beavering away at making books in his language.  From his emails, you could tell that this man is right on the money - he's organized, he's got great communication skills, and he knows what's what when it comes to literacy and education.  And of course, he's one of the experts in his language.  We've also been having lots of requests from people in various churches, organizations and bits of government who want books in this language because it's one of the bigger language groups in this country.

But of course, he's been living in a different part of the country, and so we've never been able to sit down with him and actually talk face to face to get the scoop on what's going on with his literacy books.  But last week, it actually happened.  We had an appointment booked with him for about 3 weeks, and finally, he came.  And he did not disappoint!  For one thing, he was splendidly dressed in a whole outfit of this gorgeous green, blue and brown African print - the long tunic with embroidery and matching trousers underneath.  His face also bears the traditional scarification of his tribe.  His are some of the nicest I've seen though - nice and even, and unobtrusive!

And he was a joy to chat with, as well.  Really, just knows what he's talking about.  He's done some linguistic work with a European University, as well, so can relate to us at a very high academic level.  He's currently working with a sort of "sister" organization that's also involved in Christian translation and language development work, so he knows what we're all about.

Anyway, we sorted out some of the book issues (though I'm still trying to track down the electronic copies of things which are stored on some computers elsewhere in the country!).  We also took him to meet the Director of the department in the Ministry of education that we work most closely with - a man who also used to work in literacy and Bible translation before he was appointed to his current position in the government.

Jackie and I both wished that we had a video camera to record these two older men discussing language and translation issues and some of the funny things they've encountered!  They're from different language groups, and have never met each other before, but they still had lots to talk about and so many stories to share.

Once again, I was reminded that no matter how much experience I have here, or how many journal articles I read, or how many letters I have after my name, I will never really know as much as these mother tongue speakers know, and I will never have the same kind of insight that they do into the challenges (and joys!) of language development work.  But what fun it was to sit and listen to these guys talk and laugh and share their experiences together!  The best part about it is that it's just all in a days' work :)

Just in case you were wondering...

... the movies that I get to hear most nights do NOT come from the direction of our IT guy!  He's one of the most pleasant, respectful, considerate and quietest people that I know in this country :)

(** this, by the way, is for the benefit of his girlfriend, who I recently found out pops into this blog once in a while.  And no, I can not hear your skype conversations - my room is on the other side of the house, so your secrets are safe :)  )