Tuesday, November 2, 2010
How things are now
I can’t believe its been so many months since I’ve posted. That is mostly because I have hardly had any chances to use the internet, but also because I have been super busy since we’ve been back. There have been so many things that have needed to get done that to think of just sitting around and writing has been an impossible luxury. Finally I feel a bit caught up so I am finally trying to write some things concerning the past few months as well as whats happening now.
To sum things up: In July we left for Chad and spent 2 months there: I got to know Jean-Patrick’s family and friends there, and we had our wedding! Then we made the trip back, we got back the last day of September. October was exhausting with too much to do and so I am glad that its November now and we have that behind us. I was so happy to come “home”, but it has been a bit overwhelming since then.
We moved straight away into the house that we are able to rent. I am so thankful for this blessing. I have almost always lived at my place of work, and last year I lived on the base – like living in dorms. So now to have our own house to live in is amazing!
When we moved in it was almost totally empty. The base had loaned us a mattress to sleep on, so it was great that we didn’t have to sleep on the floor the night we got back. And a friend loaned us a couple of plastic chairs and a little low table, so we didn’t have to sit on the the floor and eat off the ground. They even left us a meal for that night. The house, as most houses here, doesn’t have any built in shelves or closets or cupboards. None. It also doesn’t come with a fridge or stove in the kitchen. Up until now we still have all of our stuff on the floor. Its hard to keep stuff organized when there isn’t anywhere to put it but the floor. And the one kitchen counter is overwhelmed with dishes and food. We have ordered a few things from a woodworker (an armoire for clothes, a kitchen table, and a frame for our bed that is now on the floor) but we have to wait a few weeks for these things to be made. Hopefully we will be able to order some wooden chairs and some kind of shelves soon, too.
We had to retrieve all of our things out of storage and bring them to the house. Then there was lots of cleaning to do. Then trying to organize as best as possible. And trying to keep the house clean and rake all the leaves in the yard from time to time. All of this on top of the work it is just to live here. It is a lot of effort to have to get food at the open market, cooking with no modern conveniences, doing laundry by hand, and trying to deal with what has been some terribly sweltering weather lately.
So things are feeling a bit more settled now. There aren’t any more boxes to unpack (though I wish I had places to put all the things I unpacked) and I have a lady that is going to be coming every Friday morning to wash clothes for us. Meanwhile we are back into our “work” with me helping at the school and Jean-Patrick has been back at the baby malnutrition center and working with the kids' club group. I am looking forward to starting Bambara lessons soon. Thanks to wedding presents we have enough money to get a fridge and a stove, and even a couch. We will be going to to capital soon to find these things. And once I can find someone to drill holes in the cement walls to put some nails in I will be able to hang a few things and it will really feel more like home.
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