Monday, November 24, 2008

South African Wildlife Report

The past couple of weeks have been like Wild Kingdom around here; namely, the insect episodes. Because of the nonstop rain over the past couple of weeks, our house has become infested with ants (small ants, huge ants that move like spiders, flying ants), crickets, roaches, and today I used a clothespin to grab a praying mantis from my curtains and drop it out the window. Outside (and occasionally inside) it is like the plague of frogs, accompanied with foot and a half long earthworms. The flying ants came out in swarms one morning, and the kids went nuts because they love to fry them and eat them. I actually tried one and it wasn't bad. It kind of tasted like a peanut, if peanuts had wings that get stuck in your teeth.

On the Lily road the other day, Lani and I saw a dung beetle rolling dung and then a mongoose within 30 seconds of each other. And the kicker: the staff at the community center killed a black mamba behind the vegetable tunnels. Ugh.

Speaking of wildlife, to close this fascinating update I would like to leave you with a couple of quotes that were spoken in my house over the past few weeks. The speakers will remain anonymous, to protect our last shreds of dignity.
"Does this mean I have to take three baths this week?"
"Is it cold outside, or should I shave my other leg?"
"I always get him confused with Tiger Woods." (in reference to the future president of America).
Yep.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

what a bad blogger i am.

Wow. Spent a lot of time the past few days sitting in the hospital, about to do a lot more of that coming up. Thank goodness for the other volunteers who chauffer me and keep me sane!

I leave a month from tomorrow, which I can't believe. Now that I'm coming to the close of my time here I have to wonder, has God been glorified in what I've been doing here? Am I learning the things I was sent to learn, am I making the most of all my opportunities? Prayer for this last month will be appreciated, for sure.

Let me close this very brief update by saying firstly, the weather in this country is insane. It's still been cold, even though we're approaching summer, but all of a sudden it's been super hot in the mornings but then around 2 or 3 in the afternoon the clouds come rolling in and it rains and gets really cold again. Secondly, the kids made their Christmas lists and by far my two favorite requests were by Menzi, who requested the ability to fly, and from Musa, who asked for a sheep. Yes, a sheep. Although neither of those are going to be filled (hopefully, the last thing we need is another animal around here) they did provide a lot of entertainment for all of us.

33 days till Chickfila!!!

Monday, November 3, 2008

an other people's picture post

I always talk about how busy I am here, so I thought I'd post some pictures to show some of the more entertaining times at Lily (borrowing photos belonging to Katie, Aislinn, Rosa, and my parents). Hope this works!

THE THINGS WE DO AT LILY

We slide:



We save the world:



We are stylish:


We are bad news bears:



We look awkward:





We compete in athletic events:

We bust a move:



We watch rugby:




We are ladylike:

We work it: