Past Week or So

Well, it is Tuesday and the sun is shining, the generator is humming, and the kids are cleaning their room. If they get done soon we will take a trip to the beach. Last week was a busy one. We were hosting three Mercy Ship Reps who were here for meetings with the government in preparation of their return to the country in 2007. It was a fun week, but its amazing at how many more dishes get used with only three extra people. I was behind the scenes during the week, at home with the kids, helping with cooking and cleaning while everyone else was busy attending meetings and writing up reports. Every night it seemed there was a new draft or report to put together. I enjoyed visiting with our guests, who are originally from Texas. The Mercy Ships does amazing work with facial sugeries and eye surgeries amongst many other things. This weekend we celebrated the boys Noah (8th) and Josh’s(13th) birthdays. We drove, along with another family to Tubmansburg, where there is a lake that used to be a mine for Iron ore I believe. It was rainy, but that didn’t dampen the fun. I brought my passport this time, just incase we got stopped by any immigration. We segregated into the girls vehical and the boys vehical. I am sure ours was much much quieter. We led the way, and when arrived James complained that Kathleen drove too fast. I, in fact was surprised at the speeds we reached. Kathleen says “I don’t break the law often...” -only when she really needs to. Apparently taxi drivers make her mad. I told her, when you get angry, that’s when accidents happen. I am often the voice of reason:) At the lake, we couldn’t go to the beachy area as the Pakistan Battalion is stationed right there, and they were having a special program as it was their independance day. Apparently we should have phoned ahead. We went down to another area with a couple palava huts, and broke out the cake and chicken wings and inner tubes. There was a rocky cliff where we were, and the children and Mr. Wains were all jumping off the cliff. I didn’t jump. My excuse....I can’t see to make my way up or down the cliff without my glasses, and I can’t jump off a cliff whilst wearing glasses....just not willing to take that risk. I did have a nice little swim though. It is really clean water and deep. I swam out and of course scenes from Lake Placid jump into my mind, and I wonder, is there any crocadiles living in this lake. I remind myself it is man made and not likely. Plus, I figure they would go for the smaller children anyhow :) It’s like when I swim in the ocean, I always imagine sharks swimming beneath me. So it was a good day had by all. On the way home we were in a market area, very congested, and muddy sholders. Kathleen was getting frustrated and decided to pass a taxi....I momentarily thought we may have a head on collision. Thankfully she gunned it. While passing, Joy screaches....that man just blew a kiss at you. Apparently he liked Kathleens driving.
This week I am increasing the amount of time I spend studying Anatomy and Physiology, and have been working on the resettlement project paper work. Grandma showed up yesterday from the village, so will be staying with us for some unknown amount of time. She has a room out in the cottage. Kathleen is trying to get the Dell computer to work as it has some error message and won’t boot. Also she is working on getting the Duty Free status for the container. As far as we know, the boat is in port, but that is all we know. James bought cement today, so David the mason can start building a cement pad for the container to live on once it is emptied. Cement prices have rocketed I guess becuase of the demand, for all the construction going on, then there is not enough on the market, so they jack the prices. I am not sure what price we got. So....I hear fighting in the other room, wonder how the “cleaning” is going. That’s it for now. Until next time. BEC