Today we had a "dedication service" at school. I don't remember if I already wrote about the church situation here, but if not, here it is. There are two main churches that DA people go to. One of them is ICF, where I went last week. This was the only Christian church in the area for a long time. Then, they started having church at the school because the other one got too big! So now there is ICF and DA church.. i think it has a more official name than that, maybe not.. i dont know. Anyway, today we went to the DA church for the dedication service. It was soooo hot in there.. no AC :( the other one did have AC.. major plus!!! :) and i forgot my water, so i felt like i was going to pass out a few times, but i didnt!
So, we basically just had a short talk about dedication, and then had a bunch of prayer sessions.. for the students, for the parents, the staff, and administration. and of course we had singing! It was really good! I was reminded once again how thankful I am to be teaching at a school whose mission is to glorify God!! Thank you Lord!
After church, we went to a family's house and had a yummy lunch. The plan was to go to the beach after lunch, but there was a HUGE storm last night so a lot of people didn't sleep very well and were tired, so we just played games instead! Although I was really looking forward to the beach, games were a good alternative! :)
So now I am home, and tomorrow marks the first week of school!!! I can't believe we start on Wednesday!! yikes! I am sooo excited and so nervous! Mostly excited :)
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Thursday, August 9, 2012
hero of the day... saved my life, saved my life!
(if you haven't seen that video, shame on you!)
but hero of my day award goes to (drum roll please)..................
the kindergarten teacher Patti!!! We had just gotten done with all our meetings for the day so it was classroom work time. Yesterday during that time, i'm pretty sure i went past the point of crazy being locked inside my classroom for 3 hours (It may not sound like that long but with no human contact it seemed like for-ev-er).
So, today.. i was kinda not really looking forward to it. I was thinking of a million things i could do to get around it.. still productive things of course like talking to the other teachers.. about necessary info.. but eventually i just decided it was time to be a big girl.
So i started walking to my classroom and on my way there was a cleaner lady. I got so stressed out because we had just had a cultural learning session about ALWAYS greeting people, no matter what. even if you have to interrupt their conversation. because if you don't greet people, they think you hate them. it will RUIN their day if you dont greet them. so obviously, there was a lot of pressure on me. oh and also.. if its a man, you can't extend your hand to them to shake their hand because that means your in love with him or something... not that i ever shake hands anyway, but YIKES! and you can't make too much eye contact with a man because that means you want to marry him. and you cant laugh around a man because that also means you love him. BUT if you just straight up ignore this man, he will be so sad. ugh. theres really no way to win!!!! rules rules rules.
so anyway.. usually im walking with someone and i just let them do the greeting because im afraid my french just probably sounds stupid! but this time i was alone, and luckily it was a woman.. so i said "bonjour, sevah!" (thats probably not how you spell sevah, but thats how you say it! i thought it meant 'how are you' but i learned today that it means 'are you well' but then it can also mean 'im fine' so you could just have a conversation by saying 'sevah' 'sevah') anyway she said it back and i think i was supposed to say something else, but i just half-laughed like a weirdo and kept walking. bahhhh.
once i was safely inside my purple classroom i realized i had to go to the bathroom. i looked out my window to see if there was anyone i would have to greet on my way.. and wouldn't you know it, the same girl i greeted was out there cleaning the steps... well you are probably saying "its okay! you already greeted her, you don't have to do it again!!!" well you are wrong! because apparently no matter how many times you have already greeted them, you greet them EVERY TIME YOU SEE THEM! every. time. so, i did what any normal person would do and walked around the whole building to go to the other bathroom. well this was the wrong choice. because not only did i cross the path of ONE man, but TWO men walking together. ahhh. OH! i guess it would help you to know that there are workers on campus called "National workers". So they are Senegalese people that are hired to do maintenance and janitorial stuff.
Okay.. so back to my sad story. two men coming my way. panic mode. they think i want to marry them if i look at them, but they cry if i ignore them. so i just look at the sidewalk and say "bonjour sevah" and keep walking. they probably thought i was some freak that they hired out of pity. oh man.
but, dont you worry... the story looks up from here. this is where the hero comes in. so im walking back from the bathroom and i see a lady i have never seen before. she says "hows it going?" and i tell her and she introduces herself and follows me in to my classroom and says "oh you have THESE curtains.." haha. yup. they are that bad. BUT then she says "I am doing my classroom in a safari theme so i have some extra zebra stuff im not using!" so i say.. "no thats okay, i would rather decorate my classroom with other boring things."
......
......
NOT! i say "I WOULD LOVEEEEEEEEE THAT!"
soo she takes me to her WAY cute classroom that i wish i could go back in time and be a kinder for and loads me up with all these goodies! not only that, but she comes back with me to help me decorate it!! what a pal!!
I had done my bulletin board already with a border that had all the fruit of the spirit.. but i wasn't really all too excited with the way it turned out. Not because i don't like the fruit of the spirit, but because it was just a white background cause that was the only paper that matched the border. anyway, now it is black and has a zebra border and i love it!
So, I had a totally productive day, all thanks to God for sending me my human hero of the day!
but hero of my day award goes to (drum roll please)..................
the kindergarten teacher Patti!!! We had just gotten done with all our meetings for the day so it was classroom work time. Yesterday during that time, i'm pretty sure i went past the point of crazy being locked inside my classroom for 3 hours (It may not sound like that long but with no human contact it seemed like for-ev-er).
So, today.. i was kinda not really looking forward to it. I was thinking of a million things i could do to get around it.. still productive things of course like talking to the other teachers.. about necessary info.. but eventually i just decided it was time to be a big girl.
So i started walking to my classroom and on my way there was a cleaner lady. I got so stressed out because we had just had a cultural learning session about ALWAYS greeting people, no matter what. even if you have to interrupt their conversation. because if you don't greet people, they think you hate them. it will RUIN their day if you dont greet them. so obviously, there was a lot of pressure on me. oh and also.. if its a man, you can't extend your hand to them to shake their hand because that means your in love with him or something... not that i ever shake hands anyway, but YIKES! and you can't make too much eye contact with a man because that means you want to marry him. and you cant laugh around a man because that also means you love him. BUT if you just straight up ignore this man, he will be so sad. ugh. theres really no way to win!!!! rules rules rules.
so anyway.. usually im walking with someone and i just let them do the greeting because im afraid my french just probably sounds stupid! but this time i was alone, and luckily it was a woman.. so i said "bonjour, sevah!" (thats probably not how you spell sevah, but thats how you say it! i thought it meant 'how are you' but i learned today that it means 'are you well' but then it can also mean 'im fine' so you could just have a conversation by saying 'sevah' 'sevah') anyway she said it back and i think i was supposed to say something else, but i just half-laughed like a weirdo and kept walking. bahhhh.
once i was safely inside my purple classroom i realized i had to go to the bathroom. i looked out my window to see if there was anyone i would have to greet on my way.. and wouldn't you know it, the same girl i greeted was out there cleaning the steps... well you are probably saying "its okay! you already greeted her, you don't have to do it again!!!" well you are wrong! because apparently no matter how many times you have already greeted them, you greet them EVERY TIME YOU SEE THEM! every. time. so, i did what any normal person would do and walked around the whole building to go to the other bathroom. well this was the wrong choice. because not only did i cross the path of ONE man, but TWO men walking together. ahhh. OH! i guess it would help you to know that there are workers on campus called "National workers". So they are Senegalese people that are hired to do maintenance and janitorial stuff.
Okay.. so back to my sad story. two men coming my way. panic mode. they think i want to marry them if i look at them, but they cry if i ignore them. so i just look at the sidewalk and say "bonjour sevah" and keep walking. they probably thought i was some freak that they hired out of pity. oh man.
but, dont you worry... the story looks up from here. this is where the hero comes in. so im walking back from the bathroom and i see a lady i have never seen before. she says "hows it going?" and i tell her and she introduces herself and follows me in to my classroom and says "oh you have THESE curtains.." haha. yup. they are that bad. BUT then she says "I am doing my classroom in a safari theme so i have some extra zebra stuff im not using!" so i say.. "no thats okay, i would rather decorate my classroom with other boring things."
......
......
NOT! i say "I WOULD LOVEEEEEEEEE THAT!"
soo she takes me to her WAY cute classroom that i wish i could go back in time and be a kinder for and loads me up with all these goodies! not only that, but she comes back with me to help me decorate it!! what a pal!!
I had done my bulletin board already with a border that had all the fruit of the spirit.. but i wasn't really all too excited with the way it turned out. Not because i don't like the fruit of the spirit, but because it was just a white background cause that was the only paper that matched the border. anyway, now it is black and has a zebra border and i love it!
So, I had a totally productive day, all thanks to God for sending me my human hero of the day!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
my brain is growing
so one of today's meetings was about staying healthy in senegal.. drink lots of water.. check. don't wash vegetables with unfiltered water... check. don't get bitten by mosquitoes... uhhh woops! i have been bitten every night so far.. i think im just going to start wearing insect repellent to bed.
P.S. i just learned pandora isn't available in my country :( sad.
anyway, back to mosquitoes.. its amazing to me how tiny little things can affect our bodies so much. I got to skype with Christa tonight and she was talking about her bee sting and how it made her feel yucky the rest of the day.. craziness.
So, apparently there are different kinds of Malaria in different areas.. the one in our area has some horrible scary scientific name.. i don't remember it but apparently it is the deadliest one out there. but the good thing about our kind (if there can be a good thing) is that once i leave africa, i am no longer at risk of getting malaria.. until i come back to africa. some of the malarias work like this: if you get bitten by a carrier mosquito but don't get malaria at that time cause you are on medicine for it, you can still get it 10 years after you leave africa.. it stays in your system. craaazy.
another thing i have learned is about mango worms. apparently, these little guys crawl into your body through your clothes and make little homes inside of you.. DISGUSTING! they get in your laundry when you hang it out to dry, and you have to either iron everything to get the worms out or let it sit inside for 4 days before you wear them to let them die. sick.
so anyway.. those are my fun facts for today. I got to work in my classroom for a bit today. :) the principal stopped by and talked to me about all my curriculum.. and then proceeded to tell me that she wasn't my boss, she was just part of the team. and to never look at her as a superior but as somebody i could come to whenever i needed to. let me just put some of her words into quotes for you.. "You will have bad days. when those come, just step right into my office, and lay on my couch and i will read your kids a book. its okay. we will make it through. At the end of the day, you can come talk to me about how you miss your family." So anyway, she is very approachable and very supportive, which i am very thankful for.
Also, I am SO thankful for my neighbor the third grade teacher. She's the one whose internet I used. She stopped by before going home to ask if I needed anything.. and i just like her a lot! :)
we had dinner tonight at a family's house who lives on the first floor (yup, the cockroach floor). Luckily, we didnt have any visitors, that i know of. They were soooo nice and i like them a lot too! The lady used to be a nurse, so she was debriefing the health session for us.. she wanted to make sure we really understood the staying hydrated part. So, she explained to us that if our pee was really yellow, we were dehydrated. if it was more clear, we were fine. I thought it was funny that she talked about this at the dinner table.. it didnt bother me at all. if anything it actually made me like her more. :) i guess it was just kind of funny because she was so proper about everything else.. not really proper.,.. i dont know the right word for it. but shes a keeper for sure.
Anyway... probably more details than you all need, but its time for me to go look over my one curriculum book that i brought home for tonight. My boss.. i mean.. notboss told me to take one home each night and look at it so i dont get overwhelmed.. so thats what im doing. if i can keep my eyes open!!
P.S. i just learned pandora isn't available in my country :( sad.
anyway, back to mosquitoes.. its amazing to me how tiny little things can affect our bodies so much. I got to skype with Christa tonight and she was talking about her bee sting and how it made her feel yucky the rest of the day.. craziness.
So, apparently there are different kinds of Malaria in different areas.. the one in our area has some horrible scary scientific name.. i don't remember it but apparently it is the deadliest one out there. but the good thing about our kind (if there can be a good thing) is that once i leave africa, i am no longer at risk of getting malaria.. until i come back to africa. some of the malarias work like this: if you get bitten by a carrier mosquito but don't get malaria at that time cause you are on medicine for it, you can still get it 10 years after you leave africa.. it stays in your system. craaazy.
another thing i have learned is about mango worms. apparently, these little guys crawl into your body through your clothes and make little homes inside of you.. DISGUSTING! they get in your laundry when you hang it out to dry, and you have to either iron everything to get the worms out or let it sit inside for 4 days before you wear them to let them die. sick.
so anyway.. those are my fun facts for today. I got to work in my classroom for a bit today. :) the principal stopped by and talked to me about all my curriculum.. and then proceeded to tell me that she wasn't my boss, she was just part of the team. and to never look at her as a superior but as somebody i could come to whenever i needed to. let me just put some of her words into quotes for you.. "You will have bad days. when those come, just step right into my office, and lay on my couch and i will read your kids a book. its okay. we will make it through. At the end of the day, you can come talk to me about how you miss your family." So anyway, she is very approachable and very supportive, which i am very thankful for.
Also, I am SO thankful for my neighbor the third grade teacher. She's the one whose internet I used. She stopped by before going home to ask if I needed anything.. and i just like her a lot! :)
we had dinner tonight at a family's house who lives on the first floor (yup, the cockroach floor). Luckily, we didnt have any visitors, that i know of. They were soooo nice and i like them a lot too! The lady used to be a nurse, so she was debriefing the health session for us.. she wanted to make sure we really understood the staying hydrated part. So, she explained to us that if our pee was really yellow, we were dehydrated. if it was more clear, we were fine. I thought it was funny that she talked about this at the dinner table.. it didnt bother me at all. if anything it actually made me like her more. :) i guess it was just kind of funny because she was so proper about everything else.. not really proper.,.. i dont know the right word for it. but shes a keeper for sure.
Anyway... probably more details than you all need, but its time for me to go look over my one curriculum book that i brought home for tonight. My boss.. i mean.. notboss told me to take one home each night and look at it so i dont get overwhelmed.. so thats what im doing. if i can keep my eyes open!!
Monday, August 6, 2012
I hold the keys!
Today, I got the keys to my first ever classroom!!! how crazy is that???
I am super excited! All the elementary doors are a different color.. mine is purple.. for Justin Bieber!!! :) AND, my classroom has air conditioning!! sooo wonderful!!! I am thinking that when the power goes out, I will just walk to my classroom and sleep in the blessed air conditioning. Although, i guess the power has to be on for the air conditioning to work. so before i leave for the day i will turn it waaayyyy down to about 5 degrees... (we speak celsius here) (I dont even know what 5 degrees celsius equals in fahrenheit it just sounds cold enough) and then when i come back it will be juuuuuust right!
so anyway.. all the cabinets and stuff inside (even the water buckets) are purple! The room is pretty small, but I think it will be perfect, especially cause I have no idea how I'm going to decorate it (ideas, suggestions, anyone???) The curtains are kind of hideous, but in a very lovely way. They are orangeish brownish greenish with framed zebras scattered all over... very african :)
So, I have a lot of work to do in my classroom, but I can't wait to get it all set up and meet all my students!! I talked with the third grade teacher last night (she is my neighbor) and she was telling me some of the info on all the kids. She said one of the challenging kids left last year, YAHOO!! but, there is still one in the class.. but thats okay! I can handle one.. I think! I am just praying that maybe she has changed big time over the summer!!
We had new staff orientation today.. so lots of meetings. One of the ladies did a really good devotion. The staff takes turns doing devotions, and I am toward the top of the list!! WHY would they do that to me? TEN MINUTES!! i know how to talk to kids, but not really to adults... eeks! okay so anyway... meetings meetings meetings today. Nothing really too exciting to report I don't think!
We just got back from dinner at the apartment directly under us. I am so thankful that the other staff members are providing dinners for us this whole next week! They are taking such good care of us!! The people we ate with tonight used to live on the first floor and were telling us stories about their old apartment... I AM SO GLAD WE ARE NOT ON THE FIRST FLOOR!! They had HUGE cockroaches!! yuck!! and lots of mosquitoes.. Thank the Lord that we are on the 3rd floor! Lots of exercise! Although.. the other day I bought a huge 19 liter water bottle because I just can't stand the way the "filtered water" tastes! So, luckily when i bought it we were in a car and one of the men who lives in our building carried it up the stairs for me. BUT when i have to get it refilled, I will probably have to walk from the store to the apartment.. so I better start working my muscles out now!
anyway.. as a summary: i. love. air. conditioning.
I am super excited! All the elementary doors are a different color.. mine is purple.. for Justin Bieber!!! :) AND, my classroom has air conditioning!! sooo wonderful!!! I am thinking that when the power goes out, I will just walk to my classroom and sleep in the blessed air conditioning. Although, i guess the power has to be on for the air conditioning to work. so before i leave for the day i will turn it waaayyyy down to about 5 degrees... (we speak celsius here) (I dont even know what 5 degrees celsius equals in fahrenheit it just sounds cold enough) and then when i come back it will be juuuuuust right!
so anyway.. all the cabinets and stuff inside (even the water buckets) are purple! The room is pretty small, but I think it will be perfect, especially cause I have no idea how I'm going to decorate it (ideas, suggestions, anyone???) The curtains are kind of hideous, but in a very lovely way. They are orangeish brownish greenish with framed zebras scattered all over... very african :)
So, I have a lot of work to do in my classroom, but I can't wait to get it all set up and meet all my students!! I talked with the third grade teacher last night (she is my neighbor) and she was telling me some of the info on all the kids. She said one of the challenging kids left last year, YAHOO!! but, there is still one in the class.. but thats okay! I can handle one.. I think! I am just praying that maybe she has changed big time over the summer!!
We had new staff orientation today.. so lots of meetings. One of the ladies did a really good devotion. The staff takes turns doing devotions, and I am toward the top of the list!! WHY would they do that to me? TEN MINUTES!! i know how to talk to kids, but not really to adults... eeks! okay so anyway... meetings meetings meetings today. Nothing really too exciting to report I don't think!
We just got back from dinner at the apartment directly under us. I am so thankful that the other staff members are providing dinners for us this whole next week! They are taking such good care of us!! The people we ate with tonight used to live on the first floor and were telling us stories about their old apartment... I AM SO GLAD WE ARE NOT ON THE FIRST FLOOR!! They had HUGE cockroaches!! yuck!! and lots of mosquitoes.. Thank the Lord that we are on the 3rd floor! Lots of exercise! Although.. the other day I bought a huge 19 liter water bottle because I just can't stand the way the "filtered water" tastes! So, luckily when i bought it we were in a car and one of the men who lives in our building carried it up the stairs for me. BUT when i have to get it refilled, I will probably have to walk from the store to the apartment.. so I better start working my muscles out now!
anyway.. as a summary: i. love. air. conditioning.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Sunday!
We went to a church called International Christian Fellowship. A lot of people from DA go there, and also some other people too! I met a lot of nice people, and I now know who two of my students are! The people we ate with last night have a son who will be in my class and a boy at church (who was actually on the same plane as me) will be in my class as well!
We went to the mall after church and ate in the food court. I ordered a greek salad.. it was pretty yucky. I guess thats what you get for ordering greek in africa. I also ordered a bottle of water and it came out as a glass of green stuff with a lime on top... i guess my french is really that bad.
I am now sitting in my neighbors' apartment using their internet. They are really nice, I think we are friends! :)
This is going to be a short one since I don't want to steal ALL their internet.
BUT i did have my first power outage experience today while we were grocery shopping. Next time, I am going to bring a flashlight, just in case! :)
i think thats all the important info I have for you all!
xoxoxoxooooooooooooooo
We went to the mall after church and ate in the food court. I ordered a greek salad.. it was pretty yucky. I guess thats what you get for ordering greek in africa. I also ordered a bottle of water and it came out as a glass of green stuff with a lime on top... i guess my french is really that bad.
I am now sitting in my neighbors' apartment using their internet. They are really nice, I think we are friends! :)
This is going to be a short one since I don't want to steal ALL their internet.
BUT i did have my first power outage experience today while we were grocery shopping. Next time, I am going to bring a flashlight, just in case! :)
i think thats all the important info I have for you all!
xoxoxoxooooooooooooooo
updates!
August 3
Here I am
sitting in my apartment in AFRICA!! Sweating
my face off, but I’m a happy girl! We
don’t have internet yet though, so I am doing this the old fashioned way and
typing it in a word document!
Today may
have been the longest day of my life!
BUT, God has been reminding me of his faithfulness and provision
already! I got to the San Francisco
airport at about 5:30 in the morning.
Checked in with the airline and the lady was telling me that I was going
to have to claim my bags in Washington D.C. and re-check them before I got on
my flight to Senegal. She checked again,
though, and found out that my bags would be taken care of all the way to
Senegal. She was surprised by this, and
also surprised that a boarding pass was printed out for my flight from DC to
Senegal. Praise the Lord!
I didn’t
really sleep during either of the flights, on the first flight because I
offered to share my cookies with a middle aged lonely man.. biggest mistake
ever. He only took a crumb of a cookie
and proceeded to tell me his life story.
If you’re going to tell me your life story, make it more worthwhile than
a stinkin crumb of a cookie! I mean,
yes, I ended up with more cookies in the end but I could never have offered him
the cookie and he never would have talked to me. On the second flight, I think I was maybe too
excited. Because even after taking a
Benadryl, I didn’t sleep.. but I did have the pleasure of watching Men In
Black. I forgot how good that movie
is! Seriously underrated! I also watched We Bought a Zoo.. that’s a
winner as well.
ANYWAY.. I
landed in Dakar and still felt like I was just away from home, but not in a
different country. I got off the plane
(most people stayed on the plane, their final stop was Johannesburg) and
stepped onto a hot sweaty bus. Luckily,
we only drove about 10 feet..okay maybe 100.. but I feel like I could have
walked as far as it drove us in the amount of time we waited to actually
go. Then I filled a form out, gave it to
the passport checker and he mumbled something I didn’t understand, and he got
frustrated when I didn’t know what he was saying! Too bad for him, speak up man! Then, I went to get my bags. Some of the workers kept asking me if I
needed help. Do I look like a weakling?
Okay, maybe I do… Once I got my bags, I walked out of the airport and saw Ken
and Julie waiting for me on the other side of the gate. They were within reach, but in order to get
to them I had to go in a maze. Ken told
me where to go and said “just don’t let anybody take your bags” Very reassuring! So I walk through the maze, trying to look
like I know what I’m doing. I don’t
think it worked (probably because I’m WHITE) and these men kept trying to take
my bags, get me in their taxi, and sell me phone cards. It was the most terrifying airport experience
ever. One man grabbed my bag from me and
I was so scared he was going to run off with it.. but I punched him and knocked
him down.
I finally
got through the maze and got in the AIR CONDITIONED car!! What a treat. (yes it was already hot and sticky at 5:30 in
the morning). They took me to the
apartment and I got to have first pick of which bedroom I wanted since I was
here before Ruthanne. I feel a little
bit guilty for taking the room with the bathroom.. but just a little bit.
The first
thing I did was blow a fuse on my electric toothbrush charger. : ( I am so
sad.. but praying that maybe it will come back to life!! I believe it could
happen!!!!!
I tried to
lay down and take a nap because I was exhausted, but I kept thinking I was
hearing Ruthanne come in. Right when I
actually fell asleep, the door opened and she was here!
We hung out
and talked for a while.. and our front door opened and somebody said
“bonjour” The next thing we know there
is a lady in our house walking in to the kitchen. She looked at it and said something in French
to Ruthanne and then left. She was super
nice, but I don’t understand why she was there.
Ruthanne seemed to think the whole thing was pretty normal. Needless to say, I’m going to start locking
the door always.
I took a nap while she unpacked her room, so
now she has a cute unpacked room and I have a cluttered, messy room with half
of a bed. But that’s all I need!!
OH! Did I mention this part of God’s
provision? There was a HUGE basket of
food waiting for us and another HUGE basket of cleaning supplies. Also, the fridge was stocked with eggs,
cheese, ham, bread, and bottled water. What’s missing from the fridge I ask you? That’s right.. milk. Well the funny thing about that is they drink
mostly powdered milk. Which was in our
care basket!!! Yum! Then later, some
pretty flowers came for us!! Thank you Lord!
I have been
so thirsty and drinking a LOT of water.. the bottled water is delicious. Once we run out of the bottled water, we will
start using our filter.. which is two buckets stacked on top of each other. They are connected to each other so the top
bucket drips down to the bottom bucket.
There are 3 ceramic things that somehow filter the water.. I don’t
understand how it works but I had some of that kind of water at dinner and
haven’t gotten sick yet! It tastes kinda funky.. but welcome to Africa I
suppose?
After I
woke up from my nap, I still felt tired but we decided to take a little walk..
first ever roommate adventure!! We went to the school, met some people, and
then went to a little supermarket called Casino. Turns out they do have razors here.. but I’m
still glad we stopped for those anyway : )
We came
back to the apartment, Ruthanne taught me a little French (oui oui!) and then there was a knock at our door. It was the director of the school coming to
welcome us and give us an advance on our paycheck so we could have some money
for our tour of town tomorrow (thanks once again God!)
Then, Ken
came to pick us up for dinner and we went to the Vaughans and had rice with
this yummy shredded meat (maybe chicken) with peanut sauce topped with tomatoes
and pineapple, bread and green beans!
The bread and green beans were separate.. not with the tomatoes and
pineapple. I mean I guess we could have put them on top of our meat, but yuck!
Desert was
ice cream and some yummy apple crisp! I
almost fell asleep a few different times at the table, but I kept my eyes
open. Barely.
Speaking of
keeping eyes open, its time for this sleepy girl to get some shut eye! We have a tour of the town tomorrow, can’t
wait!
Okay.. this
was long and I don’t know if there are too many details or what!! But you
better enjoy the details while you can get them, because I have a feeling once
school starts, I will have much less time for all the details!
August 4, 2012
I thought I
would have a hard time sleeping last night, but it wasn’t too bad with the fan
pointing right at my face. People keep
telling me that I just have to get through the next 3 months because they are
the hottest, and then it will cool down.
Also, it is supposed to get hotter than it is now which I don’t really
want to think about, but apparently the hotter it gets the more the power goes
out. Ruthanne said this was because
people use more power so the power plant runs out, but I just hope it doesn’t
go out in the middle of the night. If it
happens, I have a plan to go sleep in my shower with the cold water running
over me the whole night.. take that power plant!
I tried the
powdered milk with my cereal this morning… I don’t want to complain, so that’s
all I’ll say about that…
We had a
tour of Dakar today, so I now know my way around the city.. NOT! It is so confusing.. no street names (not
that that would probably help direction-senseless me) and people just kinda
drive wherever they want to, whether there is a road there or not. But I do know I don’t have any desire to
drive in this city! In the course of 3 hours, we saw two accidents.. both
involving motorcycles. I mentioned
something about not wanting to drive here and the man who was driving the van
said “it’s not too bad.. you just have to realize two things: people are going
to cut you off, and you have to cut people off.” Sounds like a bunch of rudies
driving around to me!! But anyway.. we stopped at this yummy bakery and had
some treats.. my first purchase in Senegal was a chocolate croissant. It will
also probably be my best purchase ever. Delicioso!
We ate
lunch at a little restaurant right by the ocean. There was also a hotel right next door with a
swimming pool. The pool looked sooo nice
and I just wanted to jump out the window right into the pool but I resisted the
urge. I’m trying to make friends so I
don’t want to bring out the crazy too soon.
I have the timing down to a science from my many years of experience.
It was
raining a lot during the tour, which I was a little bit sad that we were in the
van and couldn’t get out and play in it.. but just a little bit because we had
air conditioning in the van!
When we got
back, I learned the lesson to not leave anything by an open window.. because
sometimes when things get wet, they get ruined.
Luckily, it was a journal that I hadn’t written in yet and its drying by
the fan now, so I don’t think too much damage was done. Ruthanne and I went up to the roof to check it
out and there’s a beautiful view up there! (Pictures to come!) You can even see a little
bit of the ocean from up there. We have
a pretty good view from our apartment as well, just no ocean! We are going to eat dinner up on the roof
tonight with the other newbies and some oldbies too. I’m nervous for when the time comes that
people stop cooking (and basically doing everything else) for us. We have been so spoiled!! The food here is a lot harder to make because
its literally all from scratch. For
example, if you want spaghetti, you have to hand make the noodles. Ok. That’s a lie, but its pretty
scratchy! I guess some people hire
cooks, which sounds crazy because I would just feel like a richy mc richerson
if I had a personal cook. And, I think
we are already going to hire a lady to clean for us. A lot of the missionaries here do it not only
to save them time but also as an outreach to the community.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Maybe I DO have the gift of prophecy...
I fell asleep in the car on the way to San Francisco today and had a dream that i got to Africa with the yuckiest hairy legs ever. I woke up and thought "phew, just a dream" then i realized I had forgotten to pack razors! woops! but don't worry! we stopped to get some so I can now show up without hairy jungle woman legs! yahoo!
We got into town around 8 and went to dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant! the bread was the most delicious ever. Soo I planned to stash some in my bag for a snack on the plane, but then dad asked the waiter where the bread was from and he said "across zee street!" that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. The waiter told my dad to go get some before the bakery closed and that he wished he could give us more, but they had just run out. So dad went "across zee street" to the bakery. Then, the waiter came back and said he had phoned the manager downstairs and he was going to send up some bread for us. A few minutes after dad got back with the bread, the waiter came over with another whole loaf for us! what a sweetie pie!
So we started talking to Mr. Waiter and somehow got on the topic of Africa and we found out that he was from Ethiopia!!! I thought that was so neat. He gave me the same tips that everyone else has given me. "Be safe.. don't get too close to anyone at first.."
We ate our delicious food and our waiter came back with a business card and had written his email address on it and the name of a hotel that his friend owns. He said if I ever am in Ethiopia to go to the hotel and say that Solomon (oh yeah, his name is Solomon.. like the KING!) sent me and I would get the room for free.. or half price! So.. who wants to go to Ethiopia with me? :)
Anyway.. how cool is it that he was from Africa?? thats right! super cool! I think it's safe to say I had a good last night in America.. complete with some sea salted carmel hot chocolate straight from Ghiradelli square.. or not so hot chocolate :( but I won't complain, because I made a new friend tonight and I'm officially leaving for the airport in approximately 5 and a half hours! YIKES! I don't know if I'm ready.. but either way, here I come Dakar! :)
We got into town around 8 and went to dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant! the bread was the most delicious ever. Soo I planned to stash some in my bag for a snack on the plane, but then dad asked the waiter where the bread was from and he said "across zee street!" that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. The waiter told my dad to go get some before the bakery closed and that he wished he could give us more, but they had just run out. So dad went "across zee street" to the bakery. Then, the waiter came back and said he had phoned the manager downstairs and he was going to send up some bread for us. A few minutes after dad got back with the bread, the waiter came over with another whole loaf for us! what a sweetie pie!
So we started talking to Mr. Waiter and somehow got on the topic of Africa and we found out that he was from Ethiopia!!! I thought that was so neat. He gave me the same tips that everyone else has given me. "Be safe.. don't get too close to anyone at first.."
We ate our delicious food and our waiter came back with a business card and had written his email address on it and the name of a hotel that his friend owns. He said if I ever am in Ethiopia to go to the hotel and say that Solomon (oh yeah, his name is Solomon.. like the KING!) sent me and I would get the room for free.. or half price! So.. who wants to go to Ethiopia with me? :)
Anyway.. how cool is it that he was from Africa?? thats right! super cool! I think it's safe to say I had a good last night in America.. complete with some sea salted carmel hot chocolate straight from Ghiradelli square.. or not so hot chocolate :( but I won't complain, because I made a new friend tonight and I'm officially leaving for the airport in approximately 5 and a half hours! YIKES! I don't know if I'm ready.. but either way, here I come Dakar! :)
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