A Christmas Music Candlelit Dinner For One

Is what I am enjoying right now! Thanks to a delightful package received on Monday.  And the candle smells like cinnamon frosting! Yummy!! Maybe I should burn it instead of eating desert.. but, since the power is out right now, I should eat my ice cream for dessert or else it will melt :) The only thing that would make this better is if I could plug my Christmas lights in.  I have been looking forward to it getting dark lately just so I can look at my lonely string of lights : )

            Also in the package was every unperishable (Word says it is imperishable??) pumpkin item possible and some reeses!! And a birthday card. A wonderful package if I do say so myself! 

            About the power.. it has been going out a lot more recently, which I am actually thankful for because I would rather have it be going out now rather than a month ago when it was too hot to bear without a fan.  It was actually super nice today, I didn’t even use the AC in my classroom.  At first because the power was out, but then because it felt just fine with only the ceiling fans and windows open!

            Today in Math we were doing bar graphs, and one of the problems had the year 2000 in it.  One of the girls said “I wasn’t even ALIVE in 2000.”  Wow.. that made me feel OLD.

            And also today, another girl gave me a very inspirational drawing with some kind words written on it. Something like “be yourself no matter what anybody tells you” and something else really cute too! I will have to look at it tomorrow and quote it exactly for you :)

            So, this was a very hodge-podgey sort of blog, but I guess a lot of them have been that way recently! 

The past few days!

             My first Thanksgiving away from home…Was pretty good! Lots of new experiences (always plenty of those in Africa), laughs and fun people!  For dinner we ate canned duck.. yes that’s right.  It was actually really yummy!  Also on the table were green beans, potatoes, rolls, and jello salad.  For desert (the most important part) we had pecan pie, pumpkin pie and chocolate mousse!! Yummmm!! I missed being with my family, but am thankful that I got to skype with them before they ate for a few minutes before my power went out! 

            Yesterday, I went shopping at a huge store and bought some Christmas decorations for my apartment : ) and then we had a Christmas movie marathon with Home Alone and all the Santa Clauses.. good day!

            Today, I got to go to the animal reserve today and it was SO FUN! We left bright and early at 6:30, and got there right when they opened. We saw lots of animals.. most importantly giraffes! And some cute little baby ones and baby zebras too! And I got half-charged by a rhino… we rode in this big truck that had benches in the back.  We were stopped in the rhinoceros area, and the guide was telling us all about the facts and how the male rhino had to have its horn cut off because it killed one of the females during mating season.. which seems weird to me because why wouldn’t he kill one of the other males instead? Anyway, we got all our pictures so the guide motioned very calmly for the driver to keep going.  When the truck started the rhino must have been startled because he stopped eating, looked up, and started running right where I was sitting.  The guide banged on the side of the truck and yelled “ADVANCE ADVANCE ADVANCE!”

            Pictures to come : )

Some updates...

            I made cookies for the first time here last weekend, I was very proud of myself because the oven has 5 temperatures: 1,2,3,4, or 5! I don’t know how that correlates to 350, but somehow the cookies came out and tasted yummy!  I just had to share my accomplishment with you all! : )

            Today I was able to eat a carrot stick, which I also think is a great accomplishment.. after I finished it I noticed I didn’t even remember that my esophagus was there.  It’s funny how much I can take for granted each day… I guess funny isn’t the right word.. more like sad.  Somebody was talking about how God can use seemingly insignificant events to grow us spiritually… I think it was staff devotions!  Okay so anyway, this whole thing with my esophagus has reminded me that I need to be thankful EVERY day for my health and all the other things I take for granted, because anything could be taken away in an instant!  Another example is the electricity and water.. the water has been out just about every night this week.. something about the tank on the bottom being smaller than the tank on the top?  I don’t really understand WHY, I just know that it would be nice to be able to take a shower when I want to!  I hear that the electric cuts are much better this year, and I believe it!  It really hasn’t gone out as much as I expected it to, and I have come to the conclusion that I would much rather be without electricity than running water.  Flashlights work wonders.  So, I’m working on being thankful for the small things and not taking anything for granted.  I know it’s a pretty elementary principle, buuuuuuut I guess that’s why I am an elementary teacher.. I don’t know enough to go any higher! : )

            I was also reminded this week of what a huge blessing my little class of 10 kids are.  I had to go to the “Stranger Police” (I think it is so funny that it is called that) to do some work on my recipisee.. basically my visa.  So, I had to get a sub and when I came back she said “They are such a good class!” and kept going on and on about them.. I take them for granted much too often.  They really are a super great class!

            My birthday was really great! On Sunday night I had a little game night for a pre-birthday celebration and then on Monday.. THEE day, I got lots of birthday wishes on facebook, cards in the mail, and came back to a decorated apartment and tacos and a yummy birthday cake!  We played games again and it was just a grand old time! 

            Lambchop has been relocated.. to my stomach.  Just kidding!  Truly though, what am I going to do with a sheep?  It would take 6 months to fatten him up.. just think of all the money and time that would take!! He was a PRIZE.. prizes should not take manual labor.  They should have just given me a sheep’s worth of meat.  Much more useful.  That’s what I think, anyway.  On top of all that, I found out he has worms.  Some prize.  I gave him to one of the guards at the school who already has a sheep, so Lambchop will have a friend!  The guard told me he would take pictures for me, which I very much appreciate. 

            This weekend is the Ladies’ Retreat, which I am very much looking forward to!  We will be staying at a hotel right next to the ocean in the same place that the staff retreat was! I looked at the reviews for this hotel and one of them said “bad hotel with fantastic staff”… but the pictures look fine! I am just hoping for a flushing toilet.  At the staff retreat, our toilet wouldn’t flush the toilet paper! So annoying. : )

            I think those are all the updates I have for now... Can't believe i will be home in just a little over a month!!!

The day “little blue peep” found her sheep… and later that night chemically burned her esophagus

Last Saturday, I was trying to decide whether or not I should go back to the store to cry to claim my sheep.  Jill said that she and her husband Darl (like Carl but with a D) were going already, so I gave the ticket to her.  On Monday, there was a baby poop green mug in my box.. the other prize that I won!  So I asked her what they said about the sheep and she said they were so excited and wanted to know which cashier gave her the winning ticket.  The manager told them she would call them once the sheep came home.  I don’t know if they all ran away because of Tabaski (like the turkeys do at home around Thanksgiving) or if the shepherds took them for a vacation or what, but the point is.. they didn’t have it.

            So, Jill and Darl went back every single day to see if the sheep was there yet.  Finally, on Friday, they called Darl.  He found me in the staff room after I had finished my lunch and asked how much longer I had because he was going to go on a “special errand”.  I told him I only had 5 more minutes and tried to think of ways I could pawn my kids off on someone else, but to no avail.  I went back to my classroom and had read aloud time with the kids (one of my favorite parts of the day).  Right when I finished, Darl came in with a bowl and said “here is your food bowl, the sheep is tied up next to the guard gate.”  Darl likes nicknames and mine is “blue”, but now he changed it to “little blue peep”, pretty clever, huh?

            So, of course I had to take my kids to meet my grand prize.  We walked over and met the little guy.  He needs a bath and he is so scrawny and sad looking.  The kids have been wanting me to get a class pet for so long now and have suggested everything from a dog to a baby gecko.  I don’t know where they think we would keep a dog (or a sheep, for that matter) in our tiny classroom, but I guess they just don’t think about the little details like that. : ) after we got a good look at the sheep, we came back and talked about what we should name the sheep.  One boy suggested Lambchop, which I like a lot and I think we are going to stick with that unless something better comes up!

            Luckily it was the end of the day because I don’t think I could have accomplished anything else with them if I would have tried, they were so excited about this sheep.  When we got outside to wait for their parents, they were bragging about our new class pet to all the other classes.  I think they are going to be very disappointed when they find out his fate.  Although, I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed too.  After all the kids got picked up, I went back over to see him and he was diarrhea-ing everywhere, poor little guy! : (  And then I took a picture with him (When I was imagining taking pictures with him, I thought I would be hugging him, but I didn’t want to touch him because he was yucky dirty and I didn’t want to get his diarrhea) and he just looked at me with this big eyes, as if he was saying “please don’t eat me!”  I think I am in love!

            And then I thought “it might be interesting to have sheep for thanksgiving dinner, and we could probably get him nice and fat in time” and I was so angry at myself for thinking that!   I hope that either way, Lambchop will grow up to be nice and strong and have a fun childhood while it lasts.

            Moving on.. remember when I said I was thankful for malaria medicine? well, I guess I still am, but I am just a little upset too.  I usually take my malaria pill when I eat dinner, but last night I forgot until right before I went to bed.  So I took it and then went to bed.  Then, two hours later I woke up with the worst chest pain ever, and it felt like something was stuck in my throat.  I got up and drank about a liter of water, but it was still there!  So I ate some applesauce (they have the yummiest applesauce here, you can get all different kind of flavors mixed in with the applesauce.. my favorite so far is pear applesauce!)  to see if that would dislodge the pill, but it didn’t. 

            So, I went on the internet and found out that I have “drug induced esophagitis”. Self-diagnosed, maybe.. but I’m pretty sure that I have all the symptoms for it!  I was reading about it and all the websites said that doxycycline is responsible for 50% of all reported cases!  Why was I not informed about this?  It said you have to drink a full glass of water when you take the pill and stay sitting or standing for at least 30 minutes after you take the pill.  I went straight to bed after I took the pill.  Woops.  So,  if I understand correctly, the pill just sat in my throat and made a chemical burn in my esophagus! Rude!

            As I was reading more and more, it got scarier and scarier, so I shut my laptop and prayed and prayed and prayed!  It finally stopped hurting enough so that I could fall asleep and when I woke up I thought it was all better, but then I ate a piece of toast and it started hurting again once I swallowed.   

            Apparently, there’s nothing I can really do about it except wait for my esophagus lining to heal.  Also, it said to stop taking the medicine while it is healing, but then I will probably just get malaria, which would be ten times worse than this I’m sure, so I’m not going to do that!  

             I am just hoping and praying that it will be better in time for my birthday!! Because I have to eat cake on my birthday!   I learned my lesson and I vow to always drink a full glass of water with my doxycycline and never lay down within an hour of taking it.