We went to church today for the first time in Cameroon (or on Mars, whichever). Whew. It’s like my first week in Guatemala. Old falling apart building. Lots of people I don’t know or understand. The only difference this time, was that I had my kids to look after. Andrew had a hard time. Claire and Josh seemed to enjoy their time in the primary. Everyone was very friendly. Lots of warm welcomes. They had us bear our testimonies en francais…boy, that was a kicker! The accent here is very different than France French. Of course it is. This is Africa! What was I expecting?? Well, it’s certainly different. But, I am determined to learn it.
The kids are super tired. I almost want to make them all take naps. But I think that that option is out. Andrew was asleep, then all heck broke loose between Josh and Claire and they’re both screaming and yelling through the house. (Apparently, there is a new favorite chair in the den, and josh was sitting in it, and Claire wanted it, so she pushed him, and he shoved back and they ended up beating each other up. It was fun.) So, all the screaming woke up Andrew. Marvelous. Merveilleux.
I just can’t seem to kick this cough that I picked up in the hotel in VA. It’s horrible!! I cough off and on during the day, but then at night, I lay down to go to sleep and usually cough for between 2-3 hours. And it hurts. A lot. And I can’t sleep. I am extremely sleep deprived. I need chocolate!!!
December 24, 2007
It’s Christmas Eve. What does that mean? I suppose my idea of Christmas has to be redefined now that we live in a place completely devoid of cold and snow. I think it’s a good thing, as it helps me to remember that it doesn’t matter whether you have a few feet of snow on the ground—that’s not what Christmas is all about. It doesn’t matter if you have stacks and stacks of presents under the tree. Again, that’s not what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about that Babe born in a manger long ago, but who matters just as much today as He did on that morning!
Today we spent the day picking flowers with the guard (Claire’s favorite pastime),
playing outside enjoying the fabulously beautiful weather, and scrounging up ingredients to make cookies! It is super fun to make something from nothing! Of course, cookies just don’t turn out quite the same as they do in the States, but they are cookies nonetheless! :P Our guard works hard, so we want to do something for him, so we’re giving him cookies.
December 27, 2007
It is interesting to note that invasions of ants no longer bother me. I actually feel bad for them! If anything…and I mean ANYTHING is left on the counter for more than 13 seconds, swarms of ants attack. They can smell food from miles away (well, miles away in ant miles, at least…) and they come running in hordes! Are they really so starving that they can smell food so far away so quickly? People always talk about the starving children in Africa…well, what about the ants? They’re alive, too, and if the people are starving, how do you think the ants are faring???
I am loving having a housekeeper!! She is fantastic! I don’t have to sweep, mop, clean bathrooms, do laundry or wash dishes at all! Isn’t that weird???? I just play with the kids and cook food…I do some straightening, just because I feel retarded not doing anything at all…and I clean after dinner…but I find that there is this HUGE burden lifted from off my shoulders. I feel lighter and happier and way more able to cope with things. I know that I couldn’t keep up this house without a little extra help, and it’s so great! I don’t feel burdened down by the things that need to be done and aren’t. I can’t explain it. It’s wonderful! And, I still do the things that I like to do (cleaning wise), the kids still help (they LOVE Pascaline—Claire follows her around all day long, and cries when she leaves!!!), and it’s just all around a good thing for everyone. I’m very, very grateful! She’s a good ‘nanny’, too, as I can leave the kids here with her when I have to go somewhere, and I have no worries or concerns at all. Between her and our awesome guard, Napoleon, our kids are safe and happy here! It’s so funny to have a housekeeper and a guard, but they are such a blessing to our family! I can’t even begin to express my gratitude for them! And hopefully, they enjoy working here for us as much as we enjoy having them here! :P
I took the kids to a playgroup/birthday party today. It was fun, but a little too long, I think. Claire just wanted to go home and eat…Andrew would NOT leave my side…and Josh got really sunburned playing out in the pool for too long during prime daylight hours! :/ Luckily, we have a couple of nice aloe vera plants growing in our yard!! Yea!! Our yard rocks!!
We have a giant bunch of bananas that should be ripe soon, and some papayas and guavas…and a giant avocado tree!! J How fun is that? I started Claire and Josh on watering the yard. As we don’t have a gardener yet, and it’s dry season, our plants were droopy and needed water, so what better way to get the kiddies away from the tv and doing something constructive and wet?? :P They’ve really enjoyed it, and the guard joins in with them (he’s even been teaching them how to do it properly!!!) and even Pascaline joined in this afternoon….so Josh, Claire, our housekeeper and our guard were all outside with a big bucket of water using old yogurt containers to water all the plants!! Ha!!! I should have taken a picture!!! It was so fun!!I went to the commissary and bought a bunch of frozen stuff to stock our freezer with. I think the poor lady thought I was nuts as I brought basket after basket of stuff up to the counter! Ha! I got frozen fruit and veggies, English muffins, tortillas, chicken breast, sausage (Jimmy dean!!!), Ball Park hot dogs, Sherbet…I even found some Parkay! Yah, you’re not supposed to freeze it, but it’s still ok. I am SOOOOO spoiled here! It’s great! :P After I finished my shopping in the commissary, there was a choir performance going on in the lobby! It was an African community (?) choir, and it was so fun! All these Africans who probably don’t speak English, singing Handel’s Messiah, and other English Christmas carols! :P They also sang some Afrikaan folk songs and such. It was fun! The singing here is very different. They all sing probably a quarter step flat consistently…but they have fantastic voices otherwise! They can BELT!!! Whew!!! And the things they can do with their voices is just amazing! It was fun! I enjoyed it! I had Andrew with me, and we were up on a balcony watching them. He was standing by the fence watching and just dancing along, and clapped when everyone else clapped…it was so cute!! Some of the choir members saw him dancing and clapping and smiled. The Africans LOVE children! They are so sweet when they see little kids! It’s sweet. :P
Bed time.
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