Well America, you got me. I've been rejoicing over the fact that I'm in Africa lately, because of the lack of winter colds and country-decimating influenza that's taking out nearly everyone I know on the other side of the ocean. The whole time I've been here (six months, 3 weeks, 2.5 days) I've been somehow magically immune to all the sicknesses that have swept through this house of many people. I figured I just crossed some invisible immunity border that was keeping me from harm... but alas, Thursday evening I finally succumbed to my one of my least favorite things in the entire planet: a cold. So there's not much to tell you when asked of what I've been doing so far this weekend, unless you want me to regale you with oh-so-thrilling tales of how I spent the day snorting snot into countless rolls of toilet paper or wandering aimlessly around the house with one such roll in my hand and a cup of tea in the other.
On the other hand, the other occupants of the Jackson house have had much more exciting lives in the past few days, and their adventures will be a grand substitute for my own while I live the insipid life of a blob. Maimu's twelfth birthday was on Thursday, and we decorated the house, Lum made cupcakes, and we all sang and danced and hid her presents, as is the Jackson Village tradition. I still don't think she fully understands why we were shouting "warmer" and "colder" to her as she searched the room, but she found her presents eventually, and that's what counts, right? Friday night we continued the celebration by making and breaking our very own pinata (paper mache over a balloon, decorated with paper, and which exploded upon Maimu's very first thwack), a game of Fruit Basket Upset (which they apparently call Upset the Fruit Basket here, and have mango, papaya, banana, and guava instead of all those western fruits) and consuming a marvelous-looking and tasting cake, crafted by the one and only Lum!
(Now that I mentioned all that fruit, I'm really craving a guava or two... bananas are a staple, papayas are pretty good... And we're still waiting on mango season to hurry up and start already!)
A bunch of people came for pizza and movie, but only Darcie, Georgia, Amanda, and Birte stayed the night (Africa has redefined 'crowds' for me), and left this morning while I was still horizontal and dead to the world, thanks to nyquil. Yunu is here for weekend, and played a bit of football today with me and Maimu. Fadi got her hair rebraided, and looks lovely. Chris has returned safely from his trip to Atamawa (he got to ride in a helicopter! Jealousssss). So far two of the puppies have gone to their new homes (so now only Merry, Sherlock, and Balu are left). I got to talk with Toby today, which was lovely and wonderful. <3 And OH YEAH, this week I got my passport back!
Oh you know, it's only been half a year. Pretty speedy for Cameroon, I'll say. Definitely didn't think I'd see it again until June came around and I was packing to leave! So thank you, Jesus, for bringing it safely into my hands from who knows where! Seriously. I'm pretty happy. Sickness aside, it's been a good day.
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