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Aaaaand, back to the grind! Not that it's a grind, really. I actually quite enjoyed having breakfast with everyone once again yesterday morning, and getting back to our work! Though the break was needed and refreshing, settling back into our routine is just as nice. Breakfast, tea, devotions, feeding the horses, working out, and then our weekly meeting with Chris and Karen to map out our work for the week. And yesterday we went to the orphanage to have Bible Club! They all gather and Karen teaches the lesson, Katelyn and I lead a song and then they sing a song or two of their own (which are marvelous), and then while they all color the memory verse coloring page, one by one they come up and say the memory verse from last week. And we give them candy! (aka bonbons) The most amusing part is taking the neighborhood kids along, and bouncing down the back roads with 8 or 9 of them piled in with us.

Also I didn't mention it the other day, but pray would be greatly appreciated for Fadi, Maimu, and Yunu – Thursday night their grandma, Gogo Wuro, died after being the hospital for awhile. Muslim law requires they bury the body within 24 hours of the death, so Friday night all 3 of them headed up to Sabba Njowra and stayed the weekend for the funeral, or "cry-die." Death is a huge deal in Fulani culture, as well as everywhere else in Cameroon; often it has a lot to do with cultural traditions, jujus, and such, which is not so good. Also Moa, Fadi and Maimu's mother, is pregnant! And the baby could be born any day now, so we are praying for a easy birth and a healthy baby. 

This weekend Katelyn and Lum have PSATs down in Yaounde, and at RFIS (the international/missionary kid school) there's a dance which we are apparently going to, so we are spending the weekend in the capital of Cameroon! Woot woot. Until then, it's food and sleep and school! Aufweidersehen!

Food, My New Hobby

Well, here we are, about halfway through October - which makes it 3 months in Africa! I have survived thus far, hallelujah! Back when Sarah and I were preparing to leave in July, Chris and Karen told us that three or so months in, we'd be fed up with Africa and ready to leave. I must admit, t's been tough and frustrating and sometimes miserable. But it's also been delightful, exciting, and just plain fun! Even if I were given the chance to go back right this minute, I don't think I would - I know that there is so much more in store for me this year, just waiting for me to stick it out. 

This past week has been quite restful, as everyone took a break from school and work and we had the Naines come up and visit! They stayed at the nearby guest house, but spent the whole day hanging out at the Jackson Village, hiking, or going into town with us. On Thursday everyone went up to Sabba Njowra to hike, except Sarah and I (sigh), who stayed home to work and pick up Happy, Aunt Julie's daughter from school. We had no idea where her school was, but Sarah and I got the best directions we could from Delphine and succeeded in the end! Haha. The power was also out all day, so we mainly worked and read and relaxed, the house being so strangely quiet. :) Pizza and Movie Night was, as always, delicious and great fun, with the Naines, the Newburns, Brittany, Darcy, and their friend Tess. And Wendy Naine made fudge!! Om nom. I'm beginning to love food too much, I think. Oh well!

Speaking of food, tonight we had our weekly road food, Katelyn made monkey bread and cake, and I made homemade pretzels! For no other reason than we were in a baking mood... but who needs reasons to make delicious things? Not I, said the girl. 

All right, I'm off to talk with my family! Yay! Please pray that the internet will work, and ta ta for now!

Abuh

"Africa: where nothing works, but everything works out."

Greetings to one and all! Forgive me for abandoning you this week. I meant to post another update or two, I really did, but an unexpected adventure (the best kind) popped up and kidnapped Sarah and me for a few days. Saturday we went to Brittany's house to have tea and cake with a few of her Peace Corps friends; Darcy, Sam, and Chiloh. After a lovely afternoon of talking and relaxing, we went back to the Jackson's for a postponed Pizza and Movie night. But instead of bidding them farewell and falling into bed, Sam invited us to come with her, Darcy, and Brittany up to her village, Abuh, for a few days. It was a lovely chance to get out of the house and see new places and meet new people, so Sarah packed our backpacks and spent the night at Brittany's across town. In the morning after breakfast we packed up food and blankets and set off!

The first leg of the trip was a taxi back across town to Bambui, where we got a car to take us up to Fundong, about an hour or two away. We stopped at Claire's house (another PC volunteer) to say hi, then from her house the five of us, with our stuff, jumped on bikes to take us up the last part to Abuh. The road was not wonderful, to say the least - in fact, it was definitely worse than the road to Sabba Njowra. But an adventure nonetheless! Brittany and Darcy's bike only fell once, which is credit to all our drivers, if you had seen the road. I refrained from taking pictures, so as not to make you all fear for my life.... just kidding! .....

The view from Sam's kitchen window <3

And finally we came to Sam's house! She had running water, but no electricity, so we made use of her candles and kerosene lantern as we made dinner and talked. (And after sitting all evening around the lamp, the kerosene or smoke or whatever turned everything inside our noses black! Again, no pictures, haha. Sorry.)

We also met her neighbor Teziah, who is the friendliest person I have ever met! He greeted us all with hugs, and was just so happy to have guests in Abuh. He works in the clinic, where Sam helps out, and would greet us every morning before leaving for work. We visited the clinic on Monday morning, and took a tour. By American standards, it's horrendous, but for a little village out in the African bush, it was much bigger and cleaner than I expected. There were two wards (one for mothers and newborns and one for everyone else) an office, a delivery room, the pharmacy where they kept all the drugs, and the lab, where Teziah works. And there was a microscope! That was what shocked me the most. Of course they have no electricity, so he has it right under a window where the light will come in, and in the pharmacy the refrigerator was gas-powered, but still. I was amazed by the microscope. In the lab Teziah can test blood and give vaccinations and everything.

The baby who didn't cry :)

After the tour they had clinic, where dozens of mothers and their children lined up outside and listened as Sam and Maxilin, a woman who also works there, sang some songs and gave a lecture for several minutes, then answered whatever questions they had. Then came time to weigh the babies! Every month they weigh them all one by one in a basket and record the children's growth. Of course, every single baby cried but one! But it's all good. The whole adventure, from Bamenda to Abuh and back again, was great. It was freezing cold up there in the mountains, but we fended it off with lots of tea, hot food, and socks and blankets galore. We spent most of our time just talking and laughing and eating cake and getting to know each other better. All of them are wonderful people.

And now we are back! Brittany, Sarah, and I spent the morning making our way back down to Bamenda, via bike, bus, and taxi. Apparently Grass Valley is not the only place that has "Grass Valley Week" ...or an October break, anyway, haha. So this week the girls are taking a break from school and we have a family from Yaounde visiting us, the Naines. Sarah and I will probably still work on the Luke lessons a bit, and I have school, but it's nice to have a change of pace.

Picture Time!

Corn drying at the orphanage

Maimu's hair out of her braids! :)

Reasons to buy alcohol

Macchiato's so happy to see me! ...as long as I bring food, anyway...

When September Ends

Oh look, another week has come and gone! Happy October, everyone! On Sunday Chris drove to Yaounde for a week of meetings, so pray for his safety traveling about while in Yaounde and ours alone without a man in the house... but we have Pa here during the days, and of course me with a self defense class under my belt, so no worries! Haha. Today we took another trip to the market and met at PresCafe with some translators from Bambui, and gave to them two of our lessons to translate into the mother tongue there. Exciting stuff! We also got schwarma sandwiches outside the bakery; my first time eating schwarma, and it was wonderful! Also made me feel more superhero-esque... Avengers, you know. ;) Then today was our first French lesson! I had completely forgot about it, but our teacher, a Cameroonian lady, came today and got us down to business! (To defeat the Huns.) We learned how to carry on a simple conversation, saying our name, how old we are, where we're from, what we do, etc, and asking the questions back. I love languages! But they are indeed hard to learn. It's tricky to separate French from English, German, and Pidgin, having such an "interesting" system of pronunciation...haha! Oh well. I shall learn! So until next time, or a la prochaine!

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! :)