Hot shower.
Air conditioning.
Restaurant meal.
Ants.
I almost thought I wasn't in Guinea for a little bit there, until we came back from watching a movie in the other room to find ants taking over our room. Forgot about an empty can of pepsi still in my bag.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Cabbage Soup
I threw together some cabbage soup for dinner tonight. Last week when I went shopping with the Halsteads and Flermi, we found some cabbages in the marché -- some nice big, good-looking cabbages. I actually don't really know what to do with cabbage, but both Flermi and Muffy seemed excited about being able to find them at the marché that I figured they must be good for something and I bought one. Upon arriving at home, I thought maybe Jen would be full of ideas for it. She wasn't. She did suggest cole slaw at least, but although it's ok, I'm not sure I get too excited at the prospect. So, it's been sitting in the fridge. Actually, I think it's been rolling around a bit because I found it partially frozen from landing in the lower level of our fridge that pretty much acts like a freezer.
On the way home from the pool today, I decided that a nice light dinner was in order, maybe something like soup. "Cabbage soup!" thought I. A brilliant idea! Well, maybe. I just know that in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Charlie's mom says while making soup, "Well, nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage."
So, I got home, heated up some water, threw in a little chicken bullion, some onions & garlic (what doesn't take onions and garlic?!), some carrots, some random spices, and of course, cabbage. And voila! Cabbage soup. It actually turned out to be pretty tasty, much to my surprise. Actually, the twins showed up right about the time I was adding the final piece (the cabbage), and since I had been wondering what I was going to do with so much soup, I decided to share. I like being able to share when they don't demand it of me. "Give me some water!" "Give me some candy!"
That reminds me of a sharing story. Have I told you my Isa sharing story yet? After a quick keyword search for "share," it doesn't look like it, so I'll tell it to you now.
Isa's been coming to visit me on a pretty much daily basis lately. Usually she wants to play games on my computer, and this day was no different, but as she played away at Snood, she proceeded to ask me for some candy.
Isa: "Can I have some candy?"
Me: "What candy?"
Isa: "You know, the candy in your fridge!" (She had seen me throw some candy bars from the store in there the other day, to prevent meltage)
Me: "I don't think so."
Isa: "Well, you have to share!"
Me: "I'm not even eating any myself, so I don't have to share it with you."
Isa: "If you have something that you know someone else doesn't have, then you're supposed to share it with them. Or your mommy will swat you on the bottom!"
Me: "Oh really? Well, that's ok. My mom's across the ocean."
Isa: "Fine, then you better share your candy with me or *I'll* swat you on the bottom!"
Since I don't have a lot of fear of the swat from a 4-year old girl, I didn't end up sharing any candy. Not that she's stopped asking just about every time she's here.
Anyway, the twins are getting better about asking for things rather than demanding them, although that sometimes grates on my nerves, too. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or just *their* "culture." I know that if I go to the village, I never ask them for anything, but they often just give some food or a gift of some sort -- a few peanuts, a little rice and sauce, some oranges. So I've been trying to kind of follow suit; we always give out cold water, often an orange or some sugared peanuts. But they still often ask for more, and at times it seems as though they're just trying to push the limits to get as much as they can out of me. Some days I'm generous. Other days I just feel used. And often I wonder how I should be responding.
Basically, I have a hard time saying no to people. I've discovered this in the past with a penchant for volunteering for things that need to be done with no one else stepping up to do them. But now I'm discovering this with material possessions. A little kid asks to use my camera? Sure. It's still not destroyed, the kid gets to have fun, everyone goes home happy. Or do they? Maybe they go home now wanting to use their parents' camera. Except their parents have a really nice new camera that they don't want destroyed, and let's face it, a nice camera in the hands of a 4-year old could be a ticking time-bomb recipe for disaster. So the parents say no, the kid cries, the parents get annoyed because "Miss Kelsey let's me use hers!" Or the twins repeatedly ask to stay for dinner, and I let them. Aw, how nice! Except, then they start going around expecting other missionaries to let them stay for dinner, but maybe money's tight for those missionaries this month, and they're already finding it tough to find ways to stretch it to feed their own families, let alone a couple extra girls who just want to mooch off the "foté." Third example: I give Isa candy from my fridge. Result? She starts to expect it, not just from me but from everyone. She eats too much sugar and all her teeth fall out.
I think I'm going to start looking at what Jesus did when people kept asking him for things. One verse that comes to mind (well, actually I saw it when I was looking things up): Luke 6:30. "Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back." Interesting.
What do you guys think? I'm going to have to look into this some more...
On the way home from the pool today, I decided that a nice light dinner was in order, maybe something like soup. "Cabbage soup!" thought I. A brilliant idea! Well, maybe. I just know that in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Charlie's mom says while making soup, "Well, nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage."
So, I got home, heated up some water, threw in a little chicken bullion, some onions & garlic (what doesn't take onions and garlic?!), some carrots, some random spices, and of course, cabbage. And voila! Cabbage soup. It actually turned out to be pretty tasty, much to my surprise. Actually, the twins showed up right about the time I was adding the final piece (the cabbage), and since I had been wondering what I was going to do with so much soup, I decided to share. I like being able to share when they don't demand it of me. "Give me some water!" "Give me some candy!"
That reminds me of a sharing story. Have I told you my Isa sharing story yet? After a quick keyword search for "share," it doesn't look like it, so I'll tell it to you now.
Isa's been coming to visit me on a pretty much daily basis lately. Usually she wants to play games on my computer, and this day was no different, but as she played away at Snood, she proceeded to ask me for some candy.
Isa: "Can I have some candy?"
Me: "What candy?"
Isa: "You know, the candy in your fridge!" (She had seen me throw some candy bars from the store in there the other day, to prevent meltage)
Me: "I don't think so."
Isa: "Well, you have to share!"
Me: "I'm not even eating any myself, so I don't have to share it with you."
Isa: "If you have something that you know someone else doesn't have, then you're supposed to share it with them. Or your mommy will swat you on the bottom!"
Me: "Oh really? Well, that's ok. My mom's across the ocean."
Isa: "Fine, then you better share your candy with me or *I'll* swat you on the bottom!"
Since I don't have a lot of fear of the swat from a 4-year old girl, I didn't end up sharing any candy. Not that she's stopped asking just about every time she's here.
Anyway, the twins are getting better about asking for things rather than demanding them, although that sometimes grates on my nerves, too. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or just *their* "culture." I know that if I go to the village, I never ask them for anything, but they often just give some food or a gift of some sort -- a few peanuts, a little rice and sauce, some oranges. So I've been trying to kind of follow suit; we always give out cold water, often an orange or some sugared peanuts. But they still often ask for more, and at times it seems as though they're just trying to push the limits to get as much as they can out of me. Some days I'm generous. Other days I just feel used. And often I wonder how I should be responding.
Basically, I have a hard time saying no to people. I've discovered this in the past with a penchant for volunteering for things that need to be done with no one else stepping up to do them. But now I'm discovering this with material possessions. A little kid asks to use my camera? Sure. It's still not destroyed, the kid gets to have fun, everyone goes home happy. Or do they? Maybe they go home now wanting to use their parents' camera. Except their parents have a really nice new camera that they don't want destroyed, and let's face it, a nice camera in the hands of a 4-year old could be a ticking time-bomb recipe for disaster. So the parents say no, the kid cries, the parents get annoyed because "Miss Kelsey let's me use hers!" Or the twins repeatedly ask to stay for dinner, and I let them. Aw, how nice! Except, then they start going around expecting other missionaries to let them stay for dinner, but maybe money's tight for those missionaries this month, and they're already finding it tough to find ways to stretch it to feed their own families, let alone a couple extra girls who just want to mooch off the "foté." Third example: I give Isa candy from my fridge. Result? She starts to expect it, not just from me but from everyone. She eats too much sugar and all her teeth fall out.
I think I'm going to start looking at what Jesus did when people kept asking him for things. One verse that comes to mind (well, actually I saw it when I was looking things up): Luke 6:30. "Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back." Interesting.
What do you guys think? I'm going to have to look into this some more...
Thursday, December 25, 2008
"I had Christmas down in Africa"
I felt a little Scrooge-like today. Probably not in the way you're thinking. You know the part in A Christmas Carol, after Scrooge has been visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future? And he all of a sudden realizes what a Scrooge he's been, and just wants to spread Christmas cheer because he's so happy to be alive and have a second chance? And he runs out into the street to ask someone what day it is, and then he tells the boy to go buy the biggest turkey? Ok, *that's* the part I felt like. Running outside, wanting to spread Christmas cheer. Except for with me, it was a couple girls passing by selling bananas, and I only had a little bit of chocolate to share with them, and they don't even celebrate Christmas, and who knows if they understood my "Merry Christmas" in French.
I have to say, I don't ever remember celebrating a Christmas as warm as this one. Although I miss the cozy feeling of snuggling up under a blanket inside, reading a new book I got for Christmas, and listening to my siblings' and my new CDs on shuffle in the CD player, it's kind of nice to be able to walk around in flip-flops still, and run around outside without needing 27 layers of clothing.
I also miss monkey bread for breakfast, but I've decided I'm still going to try to make it here at some point. Who says that all good food must be eaten on Christmas? That's right, I can have monkey bread some other random day of the year that doesn't get to feel as special as December 25th.
It's cool to me to think that 2000 years after Jesus was born, we still get to celebrate his birthday. I didn't make him a cake today, but I did get to eat some carrot cake cupcakes in His honor. It's also cool to me to think of *why* He came to earth in the first place.
Anyway, hope you've all had merry Christmases and good birthday celebrations. Let's do it again next year.
I have to say, I don't ever remember celebrating a Christmas as warm as this one. Although I miss the cozy feeling of snuggling up under a blanket inside, reading a new book I got for Christmas, and listening to my siblings' and my new CDs on shuffle in the CD player, it's kind of nice to be able to walk around in flip-flops still, and run around outside without needing 27 layers of clothing.
I also miss monkey bread for breakfast, but I've decided I'm still going to try to make it here at some point. Who says that all good food must be eaten on Christmas? That's right, I can have monkey bread some other random day of the year that doesn't get to feel as special as December 25th.
It's cool to me to think that 2000 years after Jesus was born, we still get to celebrate his birthday. I didn't make him a cake today, but I did get to eat some carrot cake cupcakes in His honor. It's also cool to me to think of *why* He came to earth in the first place.
Anyway, hope you've all had merry Christmases and good birthday celebrations. Let's do it again next year.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Adoption
I have to say that I'm pretty blessed this Christmas. Why? Because I'm being adopted into a bunch of families.
Actually, that's pretty much been a theme since I stepped off the plane here in Guinea. Caleb Nicholson met me at the airport, and drove me to their apartment, where Sandi was waiting with a warm meal and a lot of hospitality. Right away, I felt like I could be part of the family and spent most of my days there playing with Sam and Sophia, talking to Sandi, and just hanging out with them all.
Bev and Christy came down and picked me up, and all of sudden, I was being welcomed into the Dentler family. They've since shared a lot of wisdom, a lot of good food, some good recipes (Christy's famous pizza dough!), and a lot of their time to help me feel at home.
One of the first people I remember meeting once I got to my new house was Lesley Doerksen. She was also the first one signed up to provide me a meal (after Jen's dinner waiting for me when I got here). That same family invited me along on their family trip to the beach, and I've had a chance to hang out with all of their kids a little bit -- Josh in my computer class, Jess when we've had the high school girls over, Kelsey when I'm chasing her around, and Micah outside Miss Flermi's classroom at recess time. We also bonded over pizza and Nacho Libre -- what could bring you closer than that? :)
Not long after my arrival here, I met the Hernandez clan. The first time I was over there for lunch, Isa and Abers took me on a tour of the house, showed me their toys, and basically treated me as though I wasn't just some stranger they were meeting for the first time. Since then, I've shared in a couple Friday night pizza/movie nights, gotten some homemade bread, learned a wee bit of Landuma with Lori, led worship with Dave, and been Miss Tickle Monster to the kids. And today, they invited me along on a family trip to the Kamsar pool. Which was a lot of fun, a lot of sun, and a lot of being a shark.
Let's not forget the Martins and the Sheffields. The Martins have invited me over for a Christmas brunch. They've also included me in on some Settlers, some microwave popcorn, and some talk of the good ol' days of going to the University of Michigan. Not to mention that their kids are super cute! And the Sheffields. I still remember my first meal down at the dorm, too, where Carol told me that the delicious soup she made was just a matter of throwing things together -- I wish my thrown together meals tasted as good! Daniel's the originator of the Miss Tickle Monster nickname, and I've bonded with Becca over a shared love of orange. Carol's taught me how to make bread (still working on that one), Jim's translated many a Landuma service for me, the whole family's been great.
Ev and Muffy. When Benjamin and Jody were saying their goodbyes, Benjamin mentioned that the Halsteads have been like adopted parents to him, and I'd have to say they're pretty good at making anyone feel like one of their family. I don't know how many times they've thanked me for coming here, but I'd have to say they've probably been more of an encouragement to me than I could ever be to them.
The single ladies are another "family" here at the center. Although they don't usually have little kids running around, they do know how to have a good time (and how to make some good food). Flermi's been especially great as our closest neighbor and the one Jen and I run to whenever we need something. Regina's so great at interacting with the villagers, and for hooking us up with people to clean our water tank or whatever else needs to be done around here. Martha and I have played many a game of boggle, and although I usually lose to her, it's usually a lot of fun (and I'm expanding my vocabulary.... maybe?).
And that's just the people here at the mission center! I could go on to include families in the tribes, but I think I'll stop there for now. Basically I'm very thankful for all the people who've been willing to adopt me into their families. It reminds me a lot of my own family back home. So... if you're reading this, and you're one of the families I've mentioned, thank you. If you're reading this, and you have a family to celebrate Christmas with and know someone who does not, adopt them in! And if you're reading this from Michigan and need a family to hang out with, go celebrate with mine. There's an empty place (or two or three or ten, since there's always room for one more) this year, so go fill it! :)
One last Christmas adoption story:
Did you catch that? God sent his son (i.e. Jesus was born, as in that's why we celebrate Christmas) that we might be adopted as his kids! And that, my friends, is what I call the ultimate adoption story. :)
Actually, that's pretty much been a theme since I stepped off the plane here in Guinea. Caleb Nicholson met me at the airport, and drove me to their apartment, where Sandi was waiting with a warm meal and a lot of hospitality. Right away, I felt like I could be part of the family and spent most of my days there playing with Sam and Sophia, talking to Sandi, and just hanging out with them all.
Bev and Christy came down and picked me up, and all of sudden, I was being welcomed into the Dentler family. They've since shared a lot of wisdom, a lot of good food, some good recipes (Christy's famous pizza dough!), and a lot of their time to help me feel at home.
One of the first people I remember meeting once I got to my new house was Lesley Doerksen. She was also the first one signed up to provide me a meal (after Jen's dinner waiting for me when I got here). That same family invited me along on their family trip to the beach, and I've had a chance to hang out with all of their kids a little bit -- Josh in my computer class, Jess when we've had the high school girls over, Kelsey when I'm chasing her around, and Micah outside Miss Flermi's classroom at recess time. We also bonded over pizza and Nacho Libre -- what could bring you closer than that? :)
Not long after my arrival here, I met the Hernandez clan. The first time I was over there for lunch, Isa and Abers took me on a tour of the house, showed me their toys, and basically treated me as though I wasn't just some stranger they were meeting for the first time. Since then, I've shared in a couple Friday night pizza/movie nights, gotten some homemade bread, learned a wee bit of Landuma with Lori, led worship with Dave, and been Miss Tickle Monster to the kids. And today, they invited me along on a family trip to the Kamsar pool. Which was a lot of fun, a lot of sun, and a lot of being a shark.
Let's not forget the Martins and the Sheffields. The Martins have invited me over for a Christmas brunch. They've also included me in on some Settlers, some microwave popcorn, and some talk of the good ol' days of going to the University of Michigan. Not to mention that their kids are super cute! And the Sheffields. I still remember my first meal down at the dorm, too, where Carol told me that the delicious soup she made was just a matter of throwing things together -- I wish my thrown together meals tasted as good! Daniel's the originator of the Miss Tickle Monster nickname, and I've bonded with Becca over a shared love of orange. Carol's taught me how to make bread (still working on that one), Jim's translated many a Landuma service for me, the whole family's been great.
Ev and Muffy. When Benjamin and Jody were saying their goodbyes, Benjamin mentioned that the Halsteads have been like adopted parents to him, and I'd have to say they're pretty good at making anyone feel like one of their family. I don't know how many times they've thanked me for coming here, but I'd have to say they've probably been more of an encouragement to me than I could ever be to them.
The single ladies are another "family" here at the center. Although they don't usually have little kids running around, they do know how to have a good time (and how to make some good food). Flermi's been especially great as our closest neighbor and the one Jen and I run to whenever we need something. Regina's so great at interacting with the villagers, and for hooking us up with people to clean our water tank or whatever else needs to be done around here. Martha and I have played many a game of boggle, and although I usually lose to her, it's usually a lot of fun (and I'm expanding my vocabulary.... maybe?).
And that's just the people here at the mission center! I could go on to include families in the tribes, but I think I'll stop there for now. Basically I'm very thankful for all the people who've been willing to adopt me into their families. It reminds me a lot of my own family back home. So... if you're reading this, and you're one of the families I've mentioned, thank you. If you're reading this, and you have a family to celebrate Christmas with and know someone who does not, adopt them in! And if you're reading this from Michigan and need a family to hang out with, go celebrate with mine. There's an empty place (or two or three or ten, since there's always room for one more) this year, so go fill it! :)
One last Christmas adoption story:
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." Galatians 4:4-7 ESV
Did you catch that? God sent his son (i.e. Jesus was born, as in that's why we celebrate Christmas) that we might be adopted as his kids! And that, my friends, is what I call the ultimate adoption story. :)
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Quick, like a bandaid
First of all, I had a great time talking to people back in Midland for the Santa Lucia celebration. I even got my picture taken with a few people, but I'm not sure whose camera they were on. You'll have to wait for whoever it was to upload them. It was nice to have a chance to see some people "face to face" who I haven't seen in the 3 months since I left.
This week has been pretty relaxing, although I feel somewhat aimless. I had two computers to fix yesterday, but one fixed itself and the freezer fixed the other one. Yes, that's right.
The last two days, I had an almost constant shadow. Or two or three. Monday morning, I found out the Hofers needed someone to watch their kids while they prepared to head back up to Koundara, so I offered the "Miss Tickle Monster Day Care Service." Have I ever mentioned on here that my new name is Miss Tickle Monster? Got that one from my 2-5 year old fans. Sometimes when I'm just walking around, minding my own business, I'll hear a whisper, "Watch out! Here comes Miss Tickle Monster!" as though I'm always on the prowl for a small child to tickle. Other times, I'll be inside my house or the MP or wherever and hear, "Don't go in there! The Tickle Monster's in there!" Soon I'll be a legend around here, much like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot.
While waiting for the Hofers to bring over their kids, I heard a commotion in the out of doors. Hark, what sound could this be? Only the sad lonely cry of the elusive Isa. I peered out the window, around the lovely curtains left by the house's previous owner, and lo and behold, a mournful Isa shuffled slowly across the lawn, tears streaming down her face, crying, "Daddy! Daddy! I want my daddy!" Meanwhile, "daddy" (aka Dave was trying to get through his normal morning routine, but had turned back after hearing the cry of his daughter. I decided it was a good time for some Ticke Monster intervention, since my work was minimal and I could see Dave was actually trying to do something. Soon, Isa forgot why she was crying and carrying around a dead green marker, and she had settled herself into my house. First we tried to play some awari, or whatever the African seed game is called. Soon, it switched to Snood, about the time that Elise was dropped off. Daniel followed his nose to the scent of Isa and Snood and invited himself in. After a bit of artwork, we moved outside for a little bit of running around, and Abers found us.
Eventually, I had a stroke of brilliance and lured the kids to the library with a handful of suckers for story time. Surprisingly enough, they actually like to sit and listen to stories for a while, and I actually managed to distract them with it until lunch time, at which point they dispersed to their respective houses.
Isa showed back up after lunch. And then again the next day. And probably today, too, but I was off with the high schoolers, handing out some gifts from Jen's church back in Canada. Well, I was mostly taking pictures, as the residence in-house photographer.
Each day, I've tried to teach Isa something new. On Monday, it was photosynthesis. On the way to the store, she asked me why trees have leaves. I started out with an explanation, "So they can fall off." "Why?" "So someone can rake them up." "Why?" "So you have a job someday." But Miss Jen didn't think that was very scientific. So, I decided to go with the photosynthesis approach. Really, I pretty much just said the word and told Isa to go home and tell her mom that's what she learned about that day.
Yesterday, the word was guacamole, i.e. the delicious green stuff Jen made as a pre-lunch appetizer. Isa and Flermi joined us for a meal of what's-usually-called-bowtie-chicken-and-broccoli-stuff-but-we-don't-have-any-bowties-so-rotini-will-have-to-do, along with tortilla chips and guacamole and/or salsa.
Oh yeah, for those of you who don't know, we *do* have propane now, so no, I'm not cooking all this stuff over a fire. We've had propane for a while now, and I guess I didn't realize I hadn't mentioned that until people were asking about it the other day.
The end.
This week has been pretty relaxing, although I feel somewhat aimless. I had two computers to fix yesterday, but one fixed itself and the freezer fixed the other one. Yes, that's right.
The last two days, I had an almost constant shadow. Or two or three. Monday morning, I found out the Hofers needed someone to watch their kids while they prepared to head back up to Koundara, so I offered the "Miss Tickle Monster Day Care Service." Have I ever mentioned on here that my new name is Miss Tickle Monster? Got that one from my 2-5 year old fans. Sometimes when I'm just walking around, minding my own business, I'll hear a whisper, "Watch out! Here comes Miss Tickle Monster!" as though I'm always on the prowl for a small child to tickle. Other times, I'll be inside my house or the MP or wherever and hear, "Don't go in there! The Tickle Monster's in there!" Soon I'll be a legend around here, much like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot.
While waiting for the Hofers to bring over their kids, I heard a commotion in the out of doors. Hark, what sound could this be? Only the sad lonely cry of the elusive Isa. I peered out the window, around the lovely curtains left by the house's previous owner, and lo and behold, a mournful Isa shuffled slowly across the lawn, tears streaming down her face, crying, "Daddy! Daddy! I want my daddy!" Meanwhile, "daddy" (aka Dave was trying to get through his normal morning routine, but had turned back after hearing the cry of his daughter. I decided it was a good time for some Ticke Monster intervention, since my work was minimal and I could see Dave was actually trying to do something. Soon, Isa forgot why she was crying and carrying around a dead green marker, and she had settled herself into my house. First we tried to play some awari, or whatever the African seed game is called. Soon, it switched to Snood, about the time that Elise was dropped off. Daniel followed his nose to the scent of Isa and Snood and invited himself in. After a bit of artwork, we moved outside for a little bit of running around, and Abers found us.
Eventually, I had a stroke of brilliance and lured the kids to the library with a handful of suckers for story time. Surprisingly enough, they actually like to sit and listen to stories for a while, and I actually managed to distract them with it until lunch time, at which point they dispersed to their respective houses.
Isa showed back up after lunch. And then again the next day. And probably today, too, but I was off with the high schoolers, handing out some gifts from Jen's church back in Canada. Well, I was mostly taking pictures, as the residence in-house photographer.
Each day, I've tried to teach Isa something new. On Monday, it was photosynthesis. On the way to the store, she asked me why trees have leaves. I started out with an explanation, "So they can fall off." "Why?" "So someone can rake them up." "Why?" "So you have a job someday." But Miss Jen didn't think that was very scientific. So, I decided to go with the photosynthesis approach. Really, I pretty much just said the word and told Isa to go home and tell her mom that's what she learned about that day.
Yesterday, the word was guacamole, i.e. the delicious green stuff Jen made as a pre-lunch appetizer. Isa and Flermi joined us for a meal of what's-usually-called-bowtie-chicken-and-broccoli-stuff-but-we-don't-have-any-bowties-so-rotini-will-have-to-do, along with tortilla chips and guacamole and/or salsa.
Oh yeah, for those of you who don't know, we *do* have propane now, so no, I'm not cooking all this stuff over a fire. We've had propane for a while now, and I guess I didn't realize I hadn't mentioned that until people were asking about it the other day.
The end.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The hot and cold of it
Although I'm sitting at the kitchen table in my house and everything looks familiar, I have this strange feeling that I couldn't possibly be in Africa at the moment because I'm feeling a very strange and foreign sensation -- cold! Actually, I've already put on a hoodie, have a fleece blanket over my lap, have a cup of hot chocolate by my side, and am eating a hot bowl of ramen noodles. It's crazy. I mean, I often eat hot things here, but usually it means I just sweat a lot while eating, so to eat something hot in order to warm myself up seems ludicrous.
So how am I managing these cold feelings? Well, first of all, it's actually cooling down some in Guinea these days. Or maybe I should say these nights. The days still seem to manage to be blazing hot a lot of the time, but during the night, the temperature drops to the high 60s. Pretty nice, eh? It often stays that way into the morning hours, and I've worn a hoodie multiple times this week in the mornings to stay warm. It's excellent. It also starts cooling down in the evening, although until tonight, I haven't actually felt cold in the evening. But today, I went to the beach!
What does that have to do with anything? Good question. This is my theory. At the beach, I was out under the hot hot sun for a large part of the day, with some stops in the shade in between. So I was soaking in a lot of heat rays. Some of those heat rays turned into sunburn/tan, which hopefully doesn't turn into skin cancer. The rest just soaked in. Then I rode in an air-conditioned car all the way home (approx 2 hours). And then I took a cold shower. In a word, the result is best described as "major shock to the system." Ok, that was more than a word; let's not get technical. Essentially, I think all the heat stored up in my body in the form of sunburn/tan and just random floating sun rays had an epic battle with the cold coming at it from both the AC and the cold shower. This battle took place around the approximate location of my skin, which just happens to be the same place my body senses temperature.
After a battle royale with probably not just a few casualties on both sides, the army of sun rays surrendered to the army of cold and hunkered down for a long cold winter. I use the term "surrendered" loosely, as in reality, the sun rays (at least the ones stored in sunburn/tan form) are actually still sitting there cranking out heat, so in essence my body is radiating heat like a poorly designed solar oven. This is probably also contributing to my feeling of cold because really, what is cold but the loss of heat?
Do you ever think about that? I mean, when you touch something "cold," really the only reason you feel its coldness is because it's sucking heat from your hand (or your foot or your nose or your tongue or your eyebrow or whatever you're using to touch the object). Sometimes I think it'd be fun to be able to flip a switch on reality to see unseen things in "cartoon mode" so you'd see all these little "heat" creatures jumping up from your hand (foot, nose, extremity...), picking up their meager belongings (you don't need a lot of bulky winter clothing when you're hot all the time), and marching over to whatever object you're touching to set up camp there. Except heat's highly energetic, right? So they'd be like ADHD little creatures. It'd be like those bad cartoon illustrations of things in educational movies, except this time it'd be a cool 3D animated version, where the creatures would look like something you might see in Monsters, Inc. Actually, I'm pretty sure Pixar would be the animation behind the design of this "cartoon mode" I speak of, if in fact it ever came into existence.
Well, I think that's probably a good place to end this post, but I may be back as I need to stay up late tonight to do some skypage with Midlanders. And what better thing to keep me awake than random blog posting? Woohoo!
So how am I managing these cold feelings? Well, first of all, it's actually cooling down some in Guinea these days. Or maybe I should say these nights. The days still seem to manage to be blazing hot a lot of the time, but during the night, the temperature drops to the high 60s. Pretty nice, eh? It often stays that way into the morning hours, and I've worn a hoodie multiple times this week in the mornings to stay warm. It's excellent. It also starts cooling down in the evening, although until tonight, I haven't actually felt cold in the evening. But today, I went to the beach!
What does that have to do with anything? Good question. This is my theory. At the beach, I was out under the hot hot sun for a large part of the day, with some stops in the shade in between. So I was soaking in a lot of heat rays. Some of those heat rays turned into sunburn/tan, which hopefully doesn't turn into skin cancer. The rest just soaked in. Then I rode in an air-conditioned car all the way home (approx 2 hours). And then I took a cold shower. In a word, the result is best described as "major shock to the system." Ok, that was more than a word; let's not get technical. Essentially, I think all the heat stored up in my body in the form of sunburn/tan and just random floating sun rays had an epic battle with the cold coming at it from both the AC and the cold shower. This battle took place around the approximate location of my skin, which just happens to be the same place my body senses temperature.
After a battle royale with probably not just a few casualties on both sides, the army of sun rays surrendered to the army of cold and hunkered down for a long cold winter. I use the term "surrendered" loosely, as in reality, the sun rays (at least the ones stored in sunburn/tan form) are actually still sitting there cranking out heat, so in essence my body is radiating heat like a poorly designed solar oven. This is probably also contributing to my feeling of cold because really, what is cold but the loss of heat?
Do you ever think about that? I mean, when you touch something "cold," really the only reason you feel its coldness is because it's sucking heat from your hand (or your foot or your nose or your tongue or your eyebrow or whatever you're using to touch the object). Sometimes I think it'd be fun to be able to flip a switch on reality to see unseen things in "cartoon mode" so you'd see all these little "heat" creatures jumping up from your hand (foot, nose, extremity...), picking up their meager belongings (you don't need a lot of bulky winter clothing when you're hot all the time), and marching over to whatever object you're touching to set up camp there. Except heat's highly energetic, right? So they'd be like ADHD little creatures. It'd be like those bad cartoon illustrations of things in educational movies, except this time it'd be a cool 3D animated version, where the creatures would look like something you might see in Monsters, Inc. Actually, I'm pretty sure Pixar would be the animation behind the design of this "cartoon mode" I speak of, if in fact it ever came into existence.
Well, I think that's probably a good place to end this post, but I may be back as I need to stay up late tonight to do some skypage with Midlanders. And what better thing to keep me awake than random blog posting? Woohoo!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Synopsis...
I've recently rediscovered my complete inability to pass on things that I've been learning. I think maybe if what I was learning was something like "2 + 2 = 4," I could probably recite that to you no problem (c'est pas de problem). The trouble is that the things I'm learning aren't as concrete, or maybe they're just as concrete, but not quite as concise. It's the same reason I preferred a math test over a literature exam -- there's only one right answer in math, at least for most of it. I can't just say, "Well, I think that today 2 + 2 actually equals 72" or "I think God's convicting me about the multiplication of 8 and 9." What is there to convict? What room is there for error?
I digress.
What have I been learning?
Too much to write about here is the short answer, but here's my attempt at the long answer.
One of the things that Pastor Ron has been teaching about during the morning sessions for conference is unity. His premise is that because most of the people around us don't have the Bible in their own language, we (the body of Christ) are the only representation of the gospel, God's love, or the Bible that they'll see. But that we can't be a very accurate representation of that unless we are united. If someone in a village only sees one of the tribal missionaries who works mostly on translation, they might just see that one side of who a Christian is or what a Christian does and think that's all that's out there. They might think that all Christians have to be the analytical type, who like to focus on word meanings and parsing verbs.
It's funny, but I just finished reading "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn, which brings up a similiar idea. The book is set mostly in China and tells the story of two guys who were once roommates at Harvard and now are reunited after over 20 years apart. One guy, Li Quan, is from China -- he was in the US for school but returned to China once graduated, and his friend, Ben, is from the US and has been living there working as a successful businessman on his way up the corporate ladder. Meanwhile, Li Quan, who became a Christian at college, has faced all kinds of persecution for his faith and continues to face it as the plot marches on. Anyway, at one point, someone is explaining to Ben the importance of trying to get more Bibles in the hands of the people in China. He explains that there are some villages who are hungry for God's word but only have small bits of the Bible available to them -- maybe a chapter here, a book there if they're lucky. And because of it, they're getting a skewed picture of who God is and what it looks like to follow him. For example, they mention a group of people who only had the section of the bible that talks about God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, so these people reading it think that they have to sacrifice their kids.
Another group, not having access to the Bible to know any differently, started following a guy who fell into a well upsidedown, prayed, and was rescued. Because his "upsidedown prayer" was answered, the group thinks that they have to stand on their heads in order for their prayers to be effective.
Anyway, you get the picture (hopefully). Essentially most of us are spoiled with multiple copies of the Bible available in our own language, and if we don't have one handy for some reason, there's always biblegateway.com. But there are some that will only see Christ through us.
So... how do we develop this unity that will allow others to see the true picture of God?
Through humility. Pastor Ron argued that at the core of disunity is pride, so the core of unity is humility. (Ephesians 4:2) Then he went on to talk about how humility is lived out -- through meekness and patience. Jesus was the ultimate demonstration of meekness. And a few ideas of what meekness looks like -- it's an ability to react to people/situations with calmness; a humble estimation of your own self; the opposite of "metheism" or worshipping ourselves; it's faith in action in daily living.
And then patience -- procrastination for a purpose; forebearance or longsuffering; endurance, the long-term committment. We don't have to bring wrath or judgement into a situation because we can trust and wait on God to take care of it. That's patience. For once, it's good to procrastinate!
My notes really just don't sum up the talks all that well.
The cool thing to me is that I've been learning some of these same things in my own reading, my quiet times, etc. God has convicted me about unity and not letting petty things create disunity. I started reading "The Peacemaker" which I was suppose to have read before, but really only skimmed. It's got a lot of good stuff, too, about unity and overlooking offenses and looking to ourselves before we look at others' problems.
It's as though God really wants me to learn this stuff. Maybe I'm so slow/dense that he knows he has to hit me with it in at least two forms around the same time in order for it to stick.
I digress.
What have I been learning?
Too much to write about here is the short answer, but here's my attempt at the long answer.
One of the things that Pastor Ron has been teaching about during the morning sessions for conference is unity. His premise is that because most of the people around us don't have the Bible in their own language, we (the body of Christ) are the only representation of the gospel, God's love, or the Bible that they'll see. But that we can't be a very accurate representation of that unless we are united. If someone in a village only sees one of the tribal missionaries who works mostly on translation, they might just see that one side of who a Christian is or what a Christian does and think that's all that's out there. They might think that all Christians have to be the analytical type, who like to focus on word meanings and parsing verbs.
It's funny, but I just finished reading "Safely Home" by Randy Alcorn, which brings up a similiar idea. The book is set mostly in China and tells the story of two guys who were once roommates at Harvard and now are reunited after over 20 years apart. One guy, Li Quan, is from China -- he was in the US for school but returned to China once graduated, and his friend, Ben, is from the US and has been living there working as a successful businessman on his way up the corporate ladder. Meanwhile, Li Quan, who became a Christian at college, has faced all kinds of persecution for his faith and continues to face it as the plot marches on. Anyway, at one point, someone is explaining to Ben the importance of trying to get more Bibles in the hands of the people in China. He explains that there are some villages who are hungry for God's word but only have small bits of the Bible available to them -- maybe a chapter here, a book there if they're lucky. And because of it, they're getting a skewed picture of who God is and what it looks like to follow him. For example, they mention a group of people who only had the section of the bible that talks about God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, so these people reading it think that they have to sacrifice their kids.
Another group, not having access to the Bible to know any differently, started following a guy who fell into a well upsidedown, prayed, and was rescued. Because his "upsidedown prayer" was answered, the group thinks that they have to stand on their heads in order for their prayers to be effective.
Anyway, you get the picture (hopefully). Essentially most of us are spoiled with multiple copies of the Bible available in our own language, and if we don't have one handy for some reason, there's always biblegateway.com. But there are some that will only see Christ through us.
So... how do we develop this unity that will allow others to see the true picture of God?
Through humility. Pastor Ron argued that at the core of disunity is pride, so the core of unity is humility. (Ephesians 4:2) Then he went on to talk about how humility is lived out -- through meekness and patience. Jesus was the ultimate demonstration of meekness. And a few ideas of what meekness looks like -- it's an ability to react to people/situations with calmness; a humble estimation of your own self; the opposite of "metheism" or worshipping ourselves; it's faith in action in daily living.
And then patience -- procrastination for a purpose; forebearance or longsuffering; endurance, the long-term committment. We don't have to bring wrath or judgement into a situation because we can trust and wait on God to take care of it. That's patience. For once, it's good to procrastinate!
My notes really just don't sum up the talks all that well.
The cool thing to me is that I've been learning some of these same things in my own reading, my quiet times, etc. God has convicted me about unity and not letting petty things create disunity. I started reading "The Peacemaker" which I was suppose to have read before, but really only skimmed. It's got a lot of good stuff, too, about unity and overlooking offenses and looking to ourselves before we look at others' problems.
It's as though God really wants me to learn this stuff. Maybe I'm so slow/dense that he knows he has to hit me with it in at least two forms around the same time in order for it to stick.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Two days behind (is like one in the bush)
I thought today was the 8th of December. Then I realized it was the 9th. Except it turns out that today's actually the 10th. What's going on here? The date's just jumping ahead or something?
Since the last time we talked, a lot has happened here in Guinea, at least in the life of a Kelsey, which I suppose is the title of this blog, at least for the moment. The running thing went well last week. I couldn't exactly decide how to balance running weather and a good shower temperature, so I actually ended up running (and showering) twice a couple of days. My goal was to run at least 2 miles every day, so for two of the 4 days (or maybe just 3) that I ran, I only did about a mile or mile.5 in the morning, so I had to make up the difference in the afternoon. Needless to say, my laundry pile was rather large today. And my room was starting to get rather smelly from the fermenting sweat-coated clothes laying in a heap under my desk. Good thing I don't actually use my desk! This week, running's been put off for a bit, but it's been supplemented by sports every afternoon -- hockey and volleyball Monday and today, soccer yesterday (and again tomorrow).
And why do we have sports organized like this? Because it's conference time! For the last month or so, or actually more likely since I got here, people have talked about Conference time. Conference this, conference that, everyone was excited about it. All I really knew was that it was a time when everyone who's a part of NTM Guinea comes to the mission center for some sort of get-together. Since we've had a lot of people here (not quite all at the same time, but close) before, I was really pretty puzzled on how it could be *that* exciting. But, to my surprise, I'm really enjoying myself and thinking that I'm going to turn into one of those "conference this" "conference that" people.
Rewind.
Jen, Martha, and I went down to Conakry this weekend. Martha was actually on her way to Colombia to visit her family for the next couple of weeks, so Jen and I agreed to go down to escort her to the airport, since the normal Conakry folk were already up here for Conference. We deplaced a taxi (paid for the whole thing) on the way down, so it was a pretty comfortable ride. I got to do some reading, some sleeping, some talking, and some scenery-viewing. And I got a nice bit of sun on my left arm, since the sun happened to be on that side of the car all the way down.
After a brief stop at a store with American & European products and another brief stop in the marché (for salad veggies!!), we made it safely to the CMA guest house. It's a pretty nice place... has a big open area with couches and chairs and tables, next to a double-kitchen with all kinds of dishes and some food items, like spices that you probably didn't think to bring. Then there's a hallway back to the rooms, which each have a double bed and a set of bunk beds, with a ceiling fan and windows with glass slats so that you can actually kind of close them. Each room shares a bathroom with the room next door, but guess what! The showers are tiled AND... they have HOT water! Not that I wanted a hot shower, but a warm one was sure nice. I considered showering twice as much just to enjoy the hot water but decided against it because I didn't want to scrub away all the necessary bacteria. Or I was just too lazy.
I didn't take my computer because I didn't want the hassle of having to carry it and try to bring it back safely in a crowded taxi. I felt a little lost, especially since a lot of the other guests (and Jen and Martha) all had their laptops, but sometimes I think it's good to feel a little lost. Then you can do things you wouldn't normally do -- like finish that book you started about a month ago and thought would be a quick read. Or spend some extra time just hanging out with God. Or praying for those things that you've been telling people you'd pray about but haven't been doing a very good job at. Or looking up some verses on a topic that you've been wanting to learn more about but just haven't set aside the time to do yet. It was pretty refreshing, really, and I'd recommend going computerless for a couple of days to anyone out there like me who likes to have their computer often by their side on a regular basis.
We didn't have a lot of set plans for things to do in Conakry other than to get Martha to the airport, so I'd like to go back again sometime with someone who's lived there before (maybe Flermi or something) and who would be willing to show me around a bit. We did have a chance to visit the Hotel Riviera -- i.e. CHEESEBURGER! And french fries. Delicious. I don't think I use "i.e." very well sometimes.
Anyway, we got Martha safely to the airport and also made it safely back to the CMA guesthouse. According to an email from Martha, she also made it back to Colombia ok.
On Monday morning, we got up nice and early and began the journey back to our village. Four taxis, a few leg cramps, and a short walk while carrying too much luggage later, we made it back home. Just in time for the tail end of conference lunch. Woohoo! Guess we're pretty good at timing when it comes to food. :)
Ok, I have lots more to say about conference, but it's late, and I have to be awake enough to play guitar in the morning. Which means I better be pretty darn awake. See ya.
Since the last time we talked, a lot has happened here in Guinea, at least in the life of a Kelsey, which I suppose is the title of this blog, at least for the moment. The running thing went well last week. I couldn't exactly decide how to balance running weather and a good shower temperature, so I actually ended up running (and showering) twice a couple of days. My goal was to run at least 2 miles every day, so for two of the 4 days (or maybe just 3) that I ran, I only did about a mile or mile.5 in the morning, so I had to make up the difference in the afternoon. Needless to say, my laundry pile was rather large today. And my room was starting to get rather smelly from the fermenting sweat-coated clothes laying in a heap under my desk. Good thing I don't actually use my desk! This week, running's been put off for a bit, but it's been supplemented by sports every afternoon -- hockey and volleyball Monday and today, soccer yesterday (and again tomorrow).
And why do we have sports organized like this? Because it's conference time! For the last month or so, or actually more likely since I got here, people have talked about Conference time. Conference this, conference that, everyone was excited about it. All I really knew was that it was a time when everyone who's a part of NTM Guinea comes to the mission center for some sort of get-together. Since we've had a lot of people here (not quite all at the same time, but close) before, I was really pretty puzzled on how it could be *that* exciting. But, to my surprise, I'm really enjoying myself and thinking that I'm going to turn into one of those "conference this" "conference that" people.
Rewind.
Jen, Martha, and I went down to Conakry this weekend. Martha was actually on her way to Colombia to visit her family for the next couple of weeks, so Jen and I agreed to go down to escort her to the airport, since the normal Conakry folk were already up here for Conference. We deplaced a taxi (paid for the whole thing) on the way down, so it was a pretty comfortable ride. I got to do some reading, some sleeping, some talking, and some scenery-viewing. And I got a nice bit of sun on my left arm, since the sun happened to be on that side of the car all the way down.
After a brief stop at a store with American & European products and another brief stop in the marché (for salad veggies!!), we made it safely to the CMA guest house. It's a pretty nice place... has a big open area with couches and chairs and tables, next to a double-kitchen with all kinds of dishes and some food items, like spices that you probably didn't think to bring. Then there's a hallway back to the rooms, which each have a double bed and a set of bunk beds, with a ceiling fan and windows with glass slats so that you can actually kind of close them. Each room shares a bathroom with the room next door, but guess what! The showers are tiled AND... they have HOT water! Not that I wanted a hot shower, but a warm one was sure nice. I considered showering twice as much just to enjoy the hot water but decided against it because I didn't want to scrub away all the necessary bacteria. Or I was just too lazy.
I didn't take my computer because I didn't want the hassle of having to carry it and try to bring it back safely in a crowded taxi. I felt a little lost, especially since a lot of the other guests (and Jen and Martha) all had their laptops, but sometimes I think it's good to feel a little lost. Then you can do things you wouldn't normally do -- like finish that book you started about a month ago and thought would be a quick read. Or spend some extra time just hanging out with God. Or praying for those things that you've been telling people you'd pray about but haven't been doing a very good job at. Or looking up some verses on a topic that you've been wanting to learn more about but just haven't set aside the time to do yet. It was pretty refreshing, really, and I'd recommend going computerless for a couple of days to anyone out there like me who likes to have their computer often by their side on a regular basis.
We didn't have a lot of set plans for things to do in Conakry other than to get Martha to the airport, so I'd like to go back again sometime with someone who's lived there before (maybe Flermi or something) and who would be willing to show me around a bit. We did have a chance to visit the Hotel Riviera -- i.e. CHEESEBURGER! And french fries. Delicious. I don't think I use "i.e." very well sometimes.
Anyway, we got Martha safely to the airport and also made it safely back to the CMA guesthouse. According to an email from Martha, she also made it back to Colombia ok.
On Monday morning, we got up nice and early and began the journey back to our village. Four taxis, a few leg cramps, and a short walk while carrying too much luggage later, we made it back home. Just in time for the tail end of conference lunch. Woohoo! Guess we're pretty good at timing when it comes to food. :)
Ok, I have lots more to say about conference, but it's late, and I have to be awake enough to play guitar in the morning. Which means I better be pretty darn awake. See ya.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Ant Offensive
The ants were congregating on our porch yesterday, preparing for what I can only imagine was intended to be a large-scale attack on our house. Fortunately, Jen saw them in time and wiped them out with a bucket of bleach water.
The funny thing is that the ants put all this work into their attacks, and yet they're up against someone who's 87642 times their size and can wipe them out in a matter of seconds.
The other funny thing is that when we wipe out say 1000 of them, we think we've made a dent in their population... You know how sometimes when you're walking along, the ground shifts a bit under your feet? And you just attribute it to a bit of loose gravel or topsoil? In reality, it's the movement of a bazillion trillion quadrillion ants, whose swarming bodies form a layer mere inches below the surface.
And those ants are just waiting, coming out in small numbers to make you think they're weak and small, but someday...
The funny thing is that the ants put all this work into their attacks, and yet they're up against someone who's 87642 times their size and can wipe them out in a matter of seconds.
The other funny thing is that when we wipe out say 1000 of them, we think we've made a dent in their population... You know how sometimes when you're walking along, the ground shifts a bit under your feet? And you just attribute it to a bit of loose gravel or topsoil? In reality, it's the movement of a bazillion trillion quadrillion ants, whose swarming bodies form a layer mere inches below the surface.
And those ants are just waiting, coming out in small numbers to make you think they're weak and small, but someday...
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Catch-22
I decided the other day that it was a good idea to go running in the morning. Lately, the mornings have actually been cool here, to the point where I'm pretty content all bundled up in my bed. But yesterday we had a knock at the door, so I had to force myself out of bed, and since I was up I figured I should take advantage of the coolness to run a bit. It felt pretty nice. I actually was running around the carriere with a long-sleeve shirt on, and I probably still was sweating less than I do running in a tank top in the afternoon.
I came back to the house fully awake (the same wasn't to be said later in the day when my tiredness caught up to me) and pretty excited about this new-found way to wake up and get ready for the day. Until... (dun dun dun)
... I faced the shower. Now, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the fact that we have cold showers here already, but let me reiterate. Lately, I've been showering at say 5pm or later... when the water's been sitting out in the sun all day getting a tan. Even with the help from the sun, I wouldn't say it's a hot shower exactly -- just lukewarm. Well, when you shower instead at 9am, when the sun's first rays have barely hit the water tank and the temperatures dropped overnight to the point where I wanted to stay bundled in my bed in the morning... let's just say I won't complain about lukewarm anymore. It's FRIGID. As in when I step under the stream of water, I involuntarily gasp from the coldness of it hitting my bare skin.
I did the same thing again today, thinking that maybe I'd be ready for the coldness, but no, I was gasping again.
So, now I have a dilemma... do I continue to run in the morning when it's nice and cool but then have to survive an arctic shower? Or do I go back to running in the intense heat of the afternoon and get a lukewarm shower?
The obvious answer of "just don't go running" isn't an option. Well, it is, but I don't need anyone else encouraging me in that direction more than I already encourage myself.
I came back to the house fully awake (the same wasn't to be said later in the day when my tiredness caught up to me) and pretty excited about this new-found way to wake up and get ready for the day. Until... (dun dun dun)
... I faced the shower. Now, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the fact that we have cold showers here already, but let me reiterate. Lately, I've been showering at say 5pm or later... when the water's been sitting out in the sun all day getting a tan. Even with the help from the sun, I wouldn't say it's a hot shower exactly -- just lukewarm. Well, when you shower instead at 9am, when the sun's first rays have barely hit the water tank and the temperatures dropped overnight to the point where I wanted to stay bundled in my bed in the morning... let's just say I won't complain about lukewarm anymore. It's FRIGID. As in when I step under the stream of water, I involuntarily gasp from the coldness of it hitting my bare skin.
I did the same thing again today, thinking that maybe I'd be ready for the coldness, but no, I was gasping again.
So, now I have a dilemma... do I continue to run in the morning when it's nice and cool but then have to survive an arctic shower? Or do I go back to running in the intense heat of the afternoon and get a lukewarm shower?
The obvious answer of "just don't go running" isn't an option. Well, it is, but I don't need anyone else encouraging me in that direction more than I already encourage myself.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Spicy Chocolate
I just made some homemade salsa, followed up by eating a piece of chocolate, but unfortunately I had some hot pepper juice still ingrained in my fingers, so my chocolate tasted a bit spicy, and now I have an area of pepper burn around my lips (and on my left ring finger).
I got to go back to Missira with Carol over the weekend. This time we went in the daylight, so we rode a couple of bikes there, and I brought along a camera and some candy for the kids. Nothing like those 2 things to draw a crowd of little ones. Derisa, Isatu's son, was there again, and he kind of became the center of attention among all the kids. I have a ton of pictures of him making funny faces because he thought it was hilarious to make a face, have me take a picture, and then look at it and laugh. I'll try to post some here as long as the internet cooperates.
Jen and I had the high school girls over for breakfast on Saturday. Jen did most of the cooking (crepes and scrambled eggs), and I did the easy job of cutting up orange slices. I think the girls had a good time and enjoyed the crepes, and we got to experience a variety of conversation topics ranging from mud at the beach to which Disney villain we'd want to be to quoting just about every line from "The Emperor's New Groove."
Oh yeah, we have neighbors now. Fortunately, we returned their chairs and plates before they arrived (although we did scavenge a few coffee mugs -- they had 10! and a large frying pan). Their names are Pete and Sue Fry, and they're from the UK. Pete's going to be doing maintenance stuff, which will be a big blessing around here for sure. We had them over for dinner Sunday night... again, Jen did most of the cooking (hmm, I'm sensing a theme), so we had some delicious chicken and rice and veggies. It was neat to be able to talk to the Frys a bit. They've got pretty cool accents and say things like, "Do you mind if I pinch a bit more water?" And they like milk in their tea, of course. Anyway, they should be good neighbors as long as they don't think we're too rowdy -- Danny & Marilyn Germann warned us to get all of our rowdiness out of our systems that last night before they came.
We had a French field trip to the marché on Monday. Guess that was yesterday. The first unit we did in French was all about Marie marche-ing (walking) to the marché (market), so Jen thought it would be a good idea to take the class to teh market to do a bit of French practice. So, at 2:30 Monday afternoon, we gathered at our house and set off on our adventure. First stop -- taxi stand. There's a small spot where taxis can often be found out in the village, although when Jen did some reconnaissance earlier, there were none there, so she called upon our good friend Mamadou. He's picked us up from town a few times in the past and seems pretty reliable, but his taxi is nothing to write home about. Actually, it is something to write home about because it's so dilapidated and looks like it's about 80% rust.
After some exclaimations from the students such as, "That's our taxi?!" and "Are we all going to fit?!?" we climbed aboard, with RoHn in the front, and 5 girls in the back. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but it's pretty much Guinean style, although they usually do 2 up front in the passenger seat and 4 in the back. We had to do a bit of convincing of the students that it really wasn't so bad being squished and that really it was giving us a better story to tell, so eventually the complaining stopped, we arrived in town, and the feeling was restored to my right leg with lots of little needle pricks of feeling.
We moved en masse toward the stalls of merchandise, a large very noticeable group of foté among the Guineans. The girls mostly wanted to look at clothes and jewelry, so we spent a lot of time there. Suprisingly enough (ok, probably not so much), I think I was about the only one to get excited about spotting some late-in-the-season cucumbers and some fresh, good-looking tomatoes! Jen may have been excited, too, but as far as the students, I guess when you're still in high school and someone else does all the meal planning/preparation for you, you don't get as thrilled about rare finds like fresh veggies.
Everyone at least attempted to bargain, although some were definitely better/more persistent than others. To me, some of the bargaining just seems funny because it always ends up at a certain price anyway. For example, some fabric that I bought. The guy started at something like 50,000 francs, which is a pretty low starting price for 3 pagnes of fabric. I threw out something like 30,000 francs, the guy laughed, said some things like "Yeah right, this is the good material, you know, made with wax. See, feel it?" and dropped down to 47,000 francs. I tried 35,000 just because I figured I might as well, but I knew the price was probably going to settle at about 45,000 or 15,000 per pagne, because, well, that's pretty much what fabric seems to cost. Sure, it varies a bit depending on the vendor and the type of fabric you want, but usually you'll end up pretty close to that figure. Still fun to bargain, though, even if my French bargaining skills are limited to things like, "C'est trop!" (It's too expensive!) and "Il faut diminuer" (It must go down), and "Prix finale!" (Final price, kiddo... well, minus the kiddo). Usually in between saying things like this, they rattle off a bunch of French that I don't understand. Sometimes they say things like "C'est pas trop!" -- it's not too expensive... I like how you can just throw "pa" into a sentence to negate things. Like "Je ne comprende pas" -- I don't understand or "C'est pas bon" -- it's not good.
The time passed quickly, and the students talked about wanting to do it again sometime soon. I think they got a little bit too excited about spending time in front of the clothes racks, full of clothes that were probably leftover from Salvation Army type stores in the US or Canada. Actually, the students refer to one spot as "Value Village" because a bunch of stuff there comes from Value Village in Canada. Eventually we loaded into a slightly nicer and slightly more spacious (but not much) taxi for the ride back, and everyone seemed to do better with the riding conditions. I think they were on a bit of a high from their good bargaining experiences.
C'est fini.
I got to go back to Missira with Carol over the weekend. This time we went in the daylight, so we rode a couple of bikes there, and I brought along a camera and some candy for the kids. Nothing like those 2 things to draw a crowd of little ones. Derisa, Isatu's son, was there again, and he kind of became the center of attention among all the kids. I have a ton of pictures of him making funny faces because he thought it was hilarious to make a face, have me take a picture, and then look at it and laugh. I'll try to post some here as long as the internet cooperates.
Jen and I had the high school girls over for breakfast on Saturday. Jen did most of the cooking (crepes and scrambled eggs), and I did the easy job of cutting up orange slices. I think the girls had a good time and enjoyed the crepes, and we got to experience a variety of conversation topics ranging from mud at the beach to which Disney villain we'd want to be to quoting just about every line from "The Emperor's New Groove."
Oh yeah, we have neighbors now. Fortunately, we returned their chairs and plates before they arrived (although we did scavenge a few coffee mugs -- they had 10! and a large frying pan). Their names are Pete and Sue Fry, and they're from the UK. Pete's going to be doing maintenance stuff, which will be a big blessing around here for sure. We had them over for dinner Sunday night... again, Jen did most of the cooking (hmm, I'm sensing a theme), so we had some delicious chicken and rice and veggies. It was neat to be able to talk to the Frys a bit. They've got pretty cool accents and say things like, "Do you mind if I pinch a bit more water?" And they like milk in their tea, of course. Anyway, they should be good neighbors as long as they don't think we're too rowdy -- Danny & Marilyn Germann warned us to get all of our rowdiness out of our systems that last night before they came.
We had a French field trip to the marché on Monday. Guess that was yesterday. The first unit we did in French was all about Marie marche-ing (walking) to the marché (market), so Jen thought it would be a good idea to take the class to teh market to do a bit of French practice. So, at 2:30 Monday afternoon, we gathered at our house and set off on our adventure. First stop -- taxi stand. There's a small spot where taxis can often be found out in the village, although when Jen did some reconnaissance earlier, there were none there, so she called upon our good friend Mamadou. He's picked us up from town a few times in the past and seems pretty reliable, but his taxi is nothing to write home about. Actually, it is something to write home about because it's so dilapidated and looks like it's about 80% rust.
After some exclaimations from the students such as, "That's our taxi?!" and "Are we all going to fit?!?" we climbed aboard, with RoHn in the front, and 5 girls in the back. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but it's pretty much Guinean style, although they usually do 2 up front in the passenger seat and 4 in the back. We had to do a bit of convincing of the students that it really wasn't so bad being squished and that really it was giving us a better story to tell, so eventually the complaining stopped, we arrived in town, and the feeling was restored to my right leg with lots of little needle pricks of feeling.
We moved en masse toward the stalls of merchandise, a large very noticeable group of foté among the Guineans. The girls mostly wanted to look at clothes and jewelry, so we spent a lot of time there. Suprisingly enough (ok, probably not so much), I think I was about the only one to get excited about spotting some late-in-the-season cucumbers and some fresh, good-looking tomatoes! Jen may have been excited, too, but as far as the students, I guess when you're still in high school and someone else does all the meal planning/preparation for you, you don't get as thrilled about rare finds like fresh veggies.
Everyone at least attempted to bargain, although some were definitely better/more persistent than others. To me, some of the bargaining just seems funny because it always ends up at a certain price anyway. For example, some fabric that I bought. The guy started at something like 50,000 francs, which is a pretty low starting price for 3 pagnes of fabric. I threw out something like 30,000 francs, the guy laughed, said some things like "Yeah right, this is the good material, you know, made with wax. See, feel it?" and dropped down to 47,000 francs. I tried 35,000 just because I figured I might as well, but I knew the price was probably going to settle at about 45,000 or 15,000 per pagne, because, well, that's pretty much what fabric seems to cost. Sure, it varies a bit depending on the vendor and the type of fabric you want, but usually you'll end up pretty close to that figure. Still fun to bargain, though, even if my French bargaining skills are limited to things like, "C'est trop!" (It's too expensive!) and "Il faut diminuer" (It must go down), and "Prix finale!" (Final price, kiddo... well, minus the kiddo). Usually in between saying things like this, they rattle off a bunch of French that I don't understand. Sometimes they say things like "C'est pas trop!" -- it's not too expensive... I like how you can just throw "pa" into a sentence to negate things. Like "Je ne comprende pas" -- I don't understand or "C'est pas bon" -- it's not good.
The time passed quickly, and the students talked about wanting to do it again sometime soon. I think they got a little bit too excited about spending time in front of the clothes racks, full of clothes that were probably leftover from Salvation Army type stores in the US or Canada. Actually, the students refer to one spot as "Value Village" because a bunch of stuff there comes from Value Village in Canada. Eventually we loaded into a slightly nicer and slightly more spacious (but not much) taxi for the ride back, and everyone seemed to do better with the riding conditions. I think they were on a bit of a high from their good bargaining experiences.
C'est fini.
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