Snowglobes and Candy

The day has come. I've reached a point where I have no motivation or material with which to write my blog. I know you probably want to hear more about Africa and my wonderfully exciting life here, but I'm no longer encountering as many new things to discuss and describe to you all. Life has been settling slowly, not unlike glitter in a snowglobe, and finally the chaos has subsided into a blanket of snow upon the ground (... all entirely metaphorical, of course, since Bamenda never gets snow - though I heard it hailed in town the other day! Cool beans.) The days pass in a blur - still much faster than I have ever experienced - but routine has sunk in, and I appreciate it. Work (consisting of helping Katelyn and Lum with school, doing my own online class, and working on the Luke lessons) is going well, and there is always time left in the day to ride the horses, read Lord of the Rings, cook something delectable, play guitar, chase Fiver about the house, color, etc. 

Karen and Katelyn returned today from Yaounde, and safely too! Of course there was the broken air conditioning, getting the car stuck in a hole, and running out of gas, but hey - TIA! What matters is that they had a marvelous time and brought us back lots of candy! :) I'm thankful for unhealthy, sugary deliciousness at times when nothing else will do... and books I can get lost in, and the chance to take Prince for a run on back roads, and music to soothe my soul. I don't know how God did it, but music really is magic - "A magic beyond all we do here." (Dumbledore)

P.S. If any of you lovely readers have questions or want to know about something specific, ask away! I promise to answer them to the best of my ability. And I do love comments!

Happy Hobbit Day!

Today is September 22, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthday! Also yesterday was the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit coming out, so today is officially christened Hobbit Day. In honor of this monumental occasion we are making lembas bread for dinner! ...also pizza, because we didn't last night. Instead we went to the missionary Bible study and got to hear the testimonies of several different people there. And tonight Brittany is coming over with a friend to join us in our honorary Pizza and Movie night. Yay us! Sadly Karen and Katelyn aren't here - they drove to Yaounde early Friday morning to visit some friends and spend the weekend there. Yet somehow there is never a lack of people in the house! :)

Tralala

Pictures from an early morning ride Sarah and I went on the other day! Katelyn and I also went for a ride today along some back roads and up a hill which looked over a large part of Bamenda. Surrounded by mountains and shrouded in fog, it was perfectly lovely. I love riding so very much. It's relaxing and exciting and refreshing and familiar and therapeutic all at the same time, and altogether wonderful. Going out with no saddles, no shoes, and no worries... :) 

This week we also went to the orphanage for round two of Bible Club - this time with 7 or 8 neighborhood kids tagging along. SEVENTEEN people in the car. Oy vey. Well, TIA. Haha. Also Wednesday we went on our weekly shopping adventure (and found a Star Wars tshirt!! Win!) with Anna Grove, who was visiting overnight, and today the Newburn kids came to ride! Never a dull moment, but life is good. It rains on and off most every day; we scrub our feet and take our pills and vitamins daily; hide our earphones so the cats don't eat them, and laugh at Autumn who sneaks inside the house when it storms because she's scared of thunder. 

To Mbingo and Beyond!

Another week has come and gone, making it two months in Cameroon! This week was actually a slow one; Sarah, Karen, and Katelyn were sick for most of the week, so we laid low, doing our school, riding the horses, doing everyday life-y things. Our Pizza and Movie Night was just the family, plus Simon and Yunu (Fadi and Maimu's brother), who stays here weekends. And today most everyone was feeling up to going hiking! Karen and Katelyn stayed behind, but the rest of us and the Newburn family drove up to Mbingo (where the hospital is - good to know), about an hour away. 

Whenever we go hiking, we usually just drive up into the hills on dirt roads until we can't go any further, then get out and explore, hoping we end up at the top! Today we aimed for this beautiful ridge that climbed higher and higher, then ended in a huge waterfall. We made it most of the way (getting some lovely pictures) before the rain, which before had been sprinkling down intermittently, began to pour. It felt like the heavens literally opened up and dumped down everything they had onto us. I enjoyed it immensely. But everyone was drenched in no time, and by the time it stopped it was decided that we should take the quickest route back to the car. Though it didn't turn out to be so quick, surprise surprise (haha). We made our way around and down the hills, sloshing through mud and creeks created by the downpour. By the time we got back to the car everyone was completely soaked through, but it was a grand adventure and I can't wait to do it again next week! I can't get over how amazing the views and mountains are here, and so many, and so close! Why do we live in Bamenda? We need to move out into the bush somewhere, and be in that grandeur every day. 

Eight Days A Week

Well, in spite of the dreaded Monday, the day passed with the usual speed and unusual good weather - the morning wasn't too hot, and it didn't even rain all afternoon or evening. Karen took Delphine, Lum, Sarah, Maimu and I to the orphanage right after school, where we met the Bournes to sing songs, teach a Bible lesson, and color. (Karen actually brought along the first lesson from the Luke Sunday school curriculum and taught that - and it went great! It's so exciting to see the lessons we've been working on be put into practice.) By the time we got back it was too late to go for a ride, but we spent some time grooming them before doing our chores, and they look so lovely. Dinner was just the family. It was very nice to have a quiet evening at home with just the eight of us, talking and laughing and having a grand ole time. Then Sarah and I fell asleep to the special features of the extended version of Lord of the Rings! We've been watching it every night before bed. It is fabulous. 

Then came today, which is Tuesday, and therefore market day! Our routine is to visit the supermarkets, then meet Joy Newburn at PresCafe, then while Mama Karissa visits, finishes shopping, and picks up Delphine from the Food Market, we girls walk down to Ocrika and sort through bundles of secondhand clothes. Always a good day! Haha. We bought some jeans and a few shirts for Maimu to add to her small collection of American clothes. She and Fadi are very tired from school every day; it begins at 8 and they don't return until 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon, and then they must finish all their homework. The days are always busy for all of us, even if we don't go out; either people come over, or there is a project to finish, or we are catching up on our work, or all three. Something happens every day. It's amazing sometimes, how crazy this house can be. But as we like to say, "This is Africa" (or just TIA). You never know what is going to happen, so you might as well go with it! 

The Deep Breath Before the Plunge

Sunday... the day of singing, coffee cake, visitors, sequestering somewhere with a book, pouring rain, and road food for dinner. I love road food - well, soya (beef), that is. No fish for me! Derick (dance teacher) and Brittany (Peace Corps) came this morning to join us as we held church in our living room and then had lunch together. The rain has been coming down all day! It's glorious, and so very loud. Yesterday it caught us by surprise when we were down riding the horses with the Newburn family. They came for lunch and the afternoon; their daughter Jessica is absolutely crazy about horses, even more than I was when I was her age! Leading her, Emily, and Josh around made me feel like a wrangler again. I have missed horses so much and am beyond happy we have them back! 

And tomorrow is Monday... yay... it always seems to come around, every week. Lately I have been missing home, and all I want to do is sleep, unless the other option includes boarding a plane for California. (Well, really Brussels. Then the East Coast somewhere. Then California.) Africa hasn't lost its allure, but Grass Valley's appeal has grown. Added to the prospect of work tomorrow, I feel that today is my last chance to squeeze in all the rest and relaxation I can before plunging back in. Yet I know tomorrow is just a day like any other... only it has the misfortune of being stamped "Monday." In a parallel universe, Monday is simply the misunderstood villain. Monday probably wishes it was Friday or Saturday, at the very least just a different day of the week. I would if I were Monday. Perhaps a ride tomorrow after school and work (if it's not raining... or maybe even if it is) will brighten it all up and wash away the tiredness everyone seems to be feeling. Despite my melancholic musings, I'm sure it will be a grand and glorious week, so thank you all for your prayers! Have a wonderful week yourselves, and cheerio. 

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Happy Friday, everyone! Several marvelous things have happened this week, and it's not even the weekend yet. :) First of all, yesterday, we got our horses back! They have been staying up in Sabba Njowra, healing from a few different things - boils, cuts, etc. - before making the long trip down to Bamenda. The ride usually takes about 4 hours, I think. I made it last year, but this time two Fulani boys brought them down to us and met us at the Cattle Market. Papa Karissa drove Katelyn and I up there, despite the pouring rain, and once the skies cleared up, we mounted Prince and Macchiato and took them home! Most Cameroonians view horses as scary, dangerous, big dogs, and so does Sasha (one of our real dogs). She has been running around the compound barking her head off, trying to figure out what these strange creatures are and what they are doing at her house. Haha. I, for one, am quite happy about the whole thing. 

Onto marvelous item number 2... Chris told us a week or two ago that Slater, one of the men who had come awhile back with Steve Santos to look over the water projects and other stuff in Ndop, wanted to donate to both Sarah and me! And this week we found out he gave $500 to each of us! Hallelujah, God's already answering prayers about Sarah's finances and and more! It's always so very encouraging to have someone you barely know give so much - just so we can be here to help Chris and Karen and have this life-changing experience!

Tonight we are foregoing our Pizza and Movie Night in favor of a missionary Bible study. It seems all the missionaries in Bamenda go there, so we will be meeting plenty of white people tonight. Then comes the weekend, which holds the promise of lots of horseback riding, perhaps hiking, and food and sleep galore! 

Week 8 in the Lands of Africa

Our weekend adventures included going out hiking with the Newburns on Sunday! We picked them up, squeezed 14 people into the car, and set off down the road. Woohoo! Adventure's out there! Just after Santa, we turned off onto a dirt road, upon which Katelyn, Sarah and I climbed out and hung off the back to bump and slosh and bounce our way to Lake Awing. According to Cameroonians, there is an underwater castle where evil spirits live, and they come up on top of the water ("Big Mommy Water") at night. And I have to say it did seem quite mystical, with the fog drifting over the lake. When no ghostly apparitions appeared, we drove up the hill and walked around "in da bush" to find a nice view from above.

The 14 of us ended up climbing this massive hill/mountain/cliff that looked down on the lake, the Fulani village of Awing on the other side, and the mountains all around. The hike was intense (like camping!) but we managed to bring up our picnic baskets and blankets to rest and eat at the very top. It was absolutely lovely. Even when it started to rain, I was reluctant to leave that quiet hilltop. Something about struggling upward and finally reaching the top is so wonderful that I hate to go back down and render the triumph obsolete.

The day ended with a dinner of puff puffs, soya (beef), fish, and our daily dose of vitamins and pills - everything from calcium to vitamin C to doxycycline (for malaria). With all the activity over the weekend, this week has taken awhile to get going - yesterday we were all tired and moved slowly through our work, and this morning was our weekly grocery shopping trip. While Delphine, our house help, goes to the Food Market, we stop by all the different supermarkets. Today we also went to the American store, where good shampoo and Milky Way bars (hallelujah!) and Christmas lights can be found; more expensive than usual, but great finds nonetheless. At PresCafe we met Joy Newburn and Sarah Bourne, a lady who helps out at the Helping Hands orphanage every week. We are going to start going with her and using our Lessons from Luke to simultaneously teach the kids and practice using the curriculum.

Staying with us for a few days is Emmanuel, a guy from Switzerland who has worked at the SIL office. He came with us today to the market, then with Sarah, Katelyn and I when we went to Ocrika, which was nice. The amount of shouts and catcalls went considerably down once they saw we had a guy with us.

So now we are all back at work; this week Sarah, Chris, Karen, and I are all finally finishing the layout and template for lessons 1-5 of the Sunday School curriculum. Once these are done, we can move on to the rest of the 52 lessons in Luke, and move much quicker because the template is already put in place. Yayyy! Fadi and Maimu also had their first day of school yesterday, and it seemed to go well - Maimu came home smiling as usual! Apparently, during the first few days of school, it's not unusual for the teachers to be absent. I was shocked by this, but it's accepted as the norm here, and school really gets going the second week in.

We have now been living in the Jackson Village for 7 weeks! I'm amazed it's already September, and time is still flying by as rapidly as it did the first few weeks we were here. Before we know it, half the school year will have past, and I will still be marveling as to where the time has gone.

Aaaaand Another Market Day

We went into town again today! Despite it being the absolute worst time to go - being the last day to go shopping before school starts for everyone in Monday, and also being a Saturday. But we braved the crowds and the chaos and spent the entire afternoon fighting our way through the throngs in the pursuit of clothes and notebooks. We met the Newburns for lunch at New Century restaurant, which has good food, low prices, and not one incident of food poisoning or the like. Then we all split up and went our separate ways to Ocrika, where we sift through bundles of secondhand clothes, then the Food Market (where we actually ended up buying jeans, funny enough), and back to PresCafe as always, stopping at one of the billions of booths on the street for Cameroonian football (soccer) jerseys.

It was Miamu's very first time going to the market, and in spite of it being an especially crazy day, she had a great time. She bought her very first trousers (pants, but they call underwear pants and pants trousers) and upon getting home and putting them on, she just went around the house giggling. Miamu finds everything funny and already brightens up each day! We are so happy to have her here in the house with us.