Monday, August 4, 2008

So, this week is pretty busy putting "finishing" touches on things at work before we go away a little while. We are also trying to run around and gather supplies for our trip from the city before we leave. I've been packing and repacking in my head at night and probably will until we leave and it's too late to do anything about it anyways. We are trying to be really conservative on the packing, but it's hard when you have to take practically a whole medical kit. It's not like we can be like... ah, well, I will buy it there,.. or I will just go to the atm when I get there.... nope. We will probably want some things to bring back from Mali, so we need to leave space and don't to lug around a huge pack for three weeks.
I am nervous about leaving our house for so long, several things can happen, floods, rodents, termite trails will be everywhere, bugs and dust, mold and mildew etc. I also don't know what to do about the library while I'm gone. I think it is probably best that I don't let them come and get new books every week, but I also hate to shut it down for three weeks. I thought about loaning more than one so they could keep them for the time we are gone, but I think that is too much for them to handle... but one thing we have going here, is the general lack of keeping track of time. Time here, well, it just passes with little to no notation. I'm sure they won't even notice that we're gone. Well, I just wanted to make sure to drop a line in before we go.. though I may get another chance at the end of the week. Have a great week!

Friday, August 1, 2008

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Have been really busy running back and forth between home and the nursery school. We are finished doing the preliminary stuff on the new curriculum, I'm typing it up, and then we will go back over it for proof reading, etc. It is a lot of work. Next weekend is when we leave to go to Mali! We are very excited. Birthday for me in Mali!
Tonight we are supposed to meet up with some friends at a "pork bar" in a neighborhing village.. supposidly they serve pork there, but I'm not sure if it is pork like Porky the Pig, or like Pumba from Lion King... if you know what I mean. We shall see. We have seen/eaten those before here, they are large, smelly, hairy creatures! Anyhow...I'm thinking about bringing my own makeshift bar-b-que sauce.
We have been having good storms pretty much every day, it is nice, except for the part where our street turns into a river and we have to wade through it to get home everyday. Last night we had a good thunder and lightning show and shower, the thunder would just roll on and on. Random question. Does anyone know why cats aren't scared of the thunder like dogs? Just wondering. I thought this was a cool picture of the clothesline during a good rain.


Perks of working at the nursery school is that they have big mango trees and unloaded about 12 or so mangoes on me yesterday, that were literally as big as my face! They were so heavy, I put all I could in my backpack and had to strap it to my waist, then was sweatily carrying a huge plastic bag full of them with both arms all the way home. I went straight to my family's porch and unloaded the one's in my arms... My arms were dripping with sweat from the contact with the plastic bag, dropped them on the mat, and said to my host mom... "Ndea,.. dutoo a fele" (Ndea, mango is here) and they all laughed at me (of course! hehe). I am going to attempt at making mango "sorbee" icees again with them maybe next week.