howdy y'all

I've had a fun adventure over the past few days.
I left Northern Minnesota on Friday to ride down to the cities with a friend.  She is a big blessing to me and an example of how God provides for my needs in ways I couldn't have imagined.  I just met her at church last year, and this was now the second time that she has given me a ride to the cities.  This time I even got to stay overnight at her mom's house, and her mom sent me to the airport with a bag of goodies to eat that she had packed.  Yum. 
On Saturday I flew to Dallas where I got to reconnect with an old friend.  Actually she was one of my youth group leaders when I was in high school, a fantastic lady who gave of her time and effort and made an impact in my life.  I guess the last time I saw my friend and her husband was at their wedding almost 15 years ago.  They took me to see these longhorn cattle statues downtown, I've never been to Dallas before and I thought they were really cool. 

 
 Here's a picture of some pretty awesome kids that I got to hang out with this weekend. 

My final destination was a base a bit out of Dallas.  But I've been thinking about how in travel and in life its good to look at the journey as the destination sometimes.  You know, stop and smell the roses and all that.  Really, I have had a great past few days and I've felt so blessed by my new friend and my old friend. 

Rascal the WonderDog

I've been taking my dog Rascal (he is my dog in America, my dog in Mali is Teddy) out to play every day that I'm here in Minnesota.  I got Rascal from an animal shelter when I lived in California.  When I left for Africa he became my mom's dog, but I think he still knows deep down that he is my dog.  He is good amusement for my grandma who lives at my mom's house and is always at home.  Its good for her to have Rascal's company, she talks to him and throws toys for him, and they will even play a mild game of tug-of-war now and then.  Grandma gives Rascal a lot of dog treats and bits of food, and my reaction on seeing him when I first got here was "oh no, you've turned him into a sausage!"  He is still as energetic as ever, but I think he needs more exercise to work off all those treats.  So I've been getting out a lot with him.
Sometimes I walk him on a leash or I'll ride my bike and he runs beside me on his leash, sometimes I throw the ball for him off leash in the park, and there are a few nearby trails where he can go off leash and even jump in the river for a swim.  Last Saturday I went to this trail on the river, about 1/2 mile from mom's house with Rascal and my mom.  You can see in the picture that he likes fetching and running around with a big stick, and in the video he jumps and jumps for the stick my mom is holding.  Maybe you think he isn't that amazing, but Rascal's a WonderDog to me. 

cool things I've done

A morning at the zoo with a friend and her two little ones. 

How fun is that?

                                                          Looking at the polar bear.

 My favorite were the lemurs. (a kind of monkey from Madagascar)  There were three little baby lemurs that were only about a month old.  They would just grab on to thier momma and she would hop around and they'd go for a ride.  When the momma stopped they would climb off and play.  The babies were so tiny and cute.  
Above you can see the baby on the raised log thing, and below he is peeking out from under his momma. 

cool things I've done, part 2

I met a really nice veterinarian lady and I asked her, completely expecting her to say no, if I might be able to observe a dog neutering surgery.  Well, she said yes. 

Why would I even want to observe a dog neutering surgery?  Good question. 
Normally this isn't the sort of thing that would interest me at all. I am not good with blood.  I donated blood once in college, and after nearly throwing up and passing out, that dizzy, sweaty, hyperventalating experience left me never wanting to donate blood again.  And I haven't, although I think that at this point they wouldn't even want my blood because I've had malaria.  Even getting a shot in my arm makes me feel pretty woozy.  When I watch Jean-Patrick clean and bandage wounds I sometimes have to take a seat because things start to go fuzzy in my head.
I wanted to watch a dog neutering surgery to see what it should look like.  We have a pupy and a kitty in Mali that I would like to have neutered, but there just aren't any nice animal hospitals in town.  There are a few veterinarians who make house calls - we had one come and give shots to our chickens, and one came to give our puppy rabies shots.  But it is very hard to find a vet that will neuter a dog or cat.  I have a phone number for one guy who can do it, but I guess he will come to the house and expect a few people to help hold down the dog or cat, no anesthetic, and snip snip.   I have friends who work at the hospital who can get some kind of medicine to give them to make them at least drowsy if not asleep, and I'm sure we can work out a clean table to work on (might feel weird to eat lunch on the same table later).  But it will not be like what you see in the photo, a nice sterile animal operating room, with all the right medicines and tools and experienced vets. 
So I went to observe vet surgery.  It was really a very interesting morning.  I got to watch a neutering, a spaying, a teeth cleaning, and a cat declaw.  I did get pretty hot and dizzy at one point  (I think it was when a dogs insides were pulled outside of him) and I had to leave the room for a few minutes to sit down.  I thought about saying "well, thanks, I guess I've seen enough" but I stuck it out and stayed to the end.  Kind of a strange thing to be proud of, but I do feel some sense of accomplishment or conquering of fears for having watched all of those surgeries. 

cool things I've done, part 3

I met a nice man who is a Professor of French at the University that I went to.  I was allowed to sit in on 2 of his classes.  It was cool to have a reason to visit my Alma Mater, but walking into those halls made me feel pretty old.  Is it really 9 years since I graduated from college?  Some of the students, kids, didn't look old enough to be in college.  And then I have another birthday coming up in a few weeks.  How did I get this old already?
First there was a first year French class.  It was review on food vocabulary.  The teacher would ask a question and it was like I could almost see wheels turning in their heads, tongues wanting to spit out a response but the words not quite forming or coming out.  I can remember being at that level.  In fact I am still at a painfully frustrating level with my Bambara study.  But thankfully my French has come a long way, and although I don't necessarily sound intelligent speaking French, I can understand most everything and I can express myself without much effort.  
I also got to see the advanced French class.  And I even got to talk a bit about Mali with the students (in French).  I gave a little warning that my French is goofy.  In school one studies regular old France French, real proper.  Well, I studied in school some, then did a few months in Quebec listening to the Canadian French accent, and now I live in West Africa with its own distinct accent.  Sometimes there are even words that aren't understood across the different Frenches.  Like in English when an American is trying to have a conversation with a British person.  I remember my British roommate once asking me to pass her a "biro" and I said "sure, just tell me what it is." (its a pen)  And if they want to give you biscuits but you don't want a salty snack, don't worry because you are getting some cookies!  So I got to talk in French a bit here in Minnesota - who would've thought?  And I think they even understood my goofy French.  It was really a fun day for me. 
Another time after that I got to go along with the French Professor to a local elementary school to see the after school French Club that he runs for the kids there. 

Visiting Mom at Work (Happy Mother's Day!)

I'm proud of my mom, and I think she has been a good example and an inspiration to many, myself included.  She didn't graduate from high school, but got a GED and then started nursing school when I was about 10.  She became an RN but didn't stop there.  A few years ago she decided to go back to school to become a Nurse Practitioner (and she did NP schooling while working full time, wow!)  Now she is working as a Nurse Practitioner at Essentia Health of Duluth.  She does psychiatric nursing for kids with behavioral and neurological problems. 
A couple of weeks ago I was able to visit my mom at this job that she's been working in for about 6 months now.  I rode into town with her in the morning and then was going to drop her off and use the car for the day and pick her back up at 5, so I walked with her to see her office and know where I needed to find her again at 5. She has to park in a ramp a bit far from her office. The medical center takes up at least 3 city blocks, and its all connected by skywalks. It was a maze, and I was concerned that I wouldn't find my way back to the right parking ramp again.  Somehow I did, but then at 5 when I went to pick her up I got pretty lost (and I didn't have a cell phone).  I knew that I needed to go up to the 5th floor, but when I did I found myself in the maternity section.  I asked someone how to get to neurology, and they said it was on the 8th floor.  Hmm, I really thought I was supposed to go to the 5th floor, but maybe I was wrong.  So I went up to 8 and it was neurological surgery or something.  I figured out that I wasn't in the right building, so I went through another skywalk and up to the 5th floor in that building and found my mom. :)

Mom's office has nice big windows with a view of Lake Superior.

"home" in Minnesota

 I've been "home" in Minnesota for almost 4 weeks now.  Wow, how did that much time go by already?!  I write "home" in quotes like that because I really feel that Mali is my home now.  I haven't actually lived in MN for about 7 years. (I've been in Mali about 3 years, but I lived in California before Africa)

So the questions I am asked a lot now are: 1) what have I been doing, 2) when will I go back to Mali,  3) how is JP, and 4) how are things going in Mali. 
Here are the answers: 1) stuff, 2) I'm not sure, 3) fine, and 4) not so good. 

Ok, I guess I could give a little more information in my answers.  For now I'll work on answering #1: What have I been doing?

The very first thing I did when I arrived was to enjoy a sunny warm mid-April walk with my dog Rascal.  It was over 70 degrees and I was happy to see green grass and throw the ball for him in the park.  Two days later I woke up to see that it was snowing.  Thanks Minnesota.  Its been pretty crazy like that ever since - one day I can go out in a tshirt, the next I wear a hat and 4 layers. 
I have been trying to get outside (even when its cold) with my dog everyday.  And I've seen lots of friends - old and new.  People have been so encouraging to me; I can't even count how many people have come up to me and said that they have been praying for me and JP and Mali. 

I've had time to go to the library, sort through my things that remain in my mom's basement, chat with my grandma, bake some bread, go to special prayer and praise services, and shop at thrift stores.  I've been keeping busy with this and that, nothing monumental, but its been enough to give me some good things to think about besides my husband an ocean away and the upheaval in Mali. 

The photos were taken from a window of the hotel I stayed at in Minneapolis a few weeks back.   My mom had a conference to attend for her work and I went along to enjoy the hotel pool and some quiet time to myself.  (yes, that white thing is the Metrodome)