The Car

Some of you have been praying for a car for me. A few months ago, a single girl living here returned to the U.S. to pursue a graduate degree and she left her car. I had agreed at that time to buy it and had asked some friends here to take care of it for me, but I didn't know if I would have the money to purchase it right when I got here. Right before I left, I found that I did have enough, and even more, to purchase the car! Praise the Lord! This week, I started the process of actually purchasing the car and getting the documents to change the registration into my name. I have never actually owned my own car before, so this is rather exciting! Praise the Lord for providing this nice little Honda Civic that takes me to and from language class each day, and will hopefully get me around for many years to come.

Awake! Stop sleeping!

It was probably a little after 5 a.m. this morning that I woke up to the sound of a large engine revving right outside my compound. As I lay there listening to it, I realized that a truck had probably broken down in front of the compound and the driver was trying to fix it by revving the engine hard (that's what to do when your vehicle is having problems, right?). I wondered if the driver ever considered how loud the engine sounded and if he ever thought that maybe there were people sleeping nearby and there might be a better option than causing a huge ruckus. Finally, the truck started to move, but I could hear it still having trouble way down the road for quite a while. Even though I was fully awake, I tried to fall back to sleep.

Just as I thought that sleep might be coming, I heard a voice in the distance. It was very clear, but too distant to make out the words. As it moved closer, the voice started singing and I could make out the word "Hallelujah!" in the song. Finally the voice of this man was right outside my window on the other side of the wall, where he decided to stop and loudly proclaim, "Awake! Why are you sleeping! Stop sleeping! Awake! Now is the time to awake!" I peeked out my bedroom window, and there he was in the dark, hands raised to the sky, telling the world to awake. By this time, I was very much awake and I sat up in bed and began to laugh. No need for my alarm clock this morning! Praise the Lord for humor! Even though this man was quite serious about what he was doing, the Lord used it to wake me up with humor and optimism... well, optimism that maybe tomorrow I can sleep till my alarm goes off!

The Versatile Leather

When we go to the market here, one of the things we can count on is that our groceries will be put inside a thin, black plastic bag or leather as it is called here. Actually, if you want to say it right, you call it a "leda". These leathers are everywhere, in every market, and usually on the sides of the road, since they aren't known for their durability. It has happened more than once that when I am walking home carefree with my groceries in my leather, that my leather splits in half causing my groceries to spill out and causing the people who are already looking at me because of my white skin to look even harder and begin to laugh, too.

Well, I just found out that there is more uses for a leather than carrying groceries and causing embarrassment. My toilet was leaking from the pipe that comes out of the tank. So I drew a nice little X on the pipe so that the plumber who was coming to my house when I was out would know where the leak was. This is what I discovered when I came home.



He had to replace the ring, but he also need to create a gasket to keep water from leaking out. What better way than to use a piece of a leather? It's easy to get, easy to replace, and it's free! Hey, only here in Africa will you find the one and only versatile leather and it's many, many uses!

Akwai Sanyi! (It's Cold!)

Believe it or not, it's really cold! People don't usually associate cold with Africa, but it's only in the 60's and 70's during the day right now. That might sound really good to some of you in really cold places, but you also have heat inside your houses. You probably keep your house in the low 70's, right? We don't have heat inside our houses here, and what's worse, we have slatted windows that don't close. A cold wind picks up at night, sending a chilly wind through the house. It's probably in the 40's or 50's in my house when I wake up in the morning. Brrrrr! I get dressed in a skirt and sandals in the morning, and wish I had the luxury of heavy pants and warm shoes. Right now, one of the greetings in the Hausa language that is common is "Yaya sanyi?" which means "How is the cold?" The usual answer, amidst the shivering, is "Akwai sanyi!" It's cold!!

Christ the Lord Frozen Fish and Other Culture Notes

One of the funny things you see here in urban cities in Africa is small shops with names that are completely hilarious to us Americans. For instance, when we were driving from the airport to the city where I am living, we passed a shop called "Christ the Lord Frozen Fish". Now I'm sure this made complete sense to the owner. He's probably a Christian man who wants to let others know that fact, and he sells frozen fish. Why not? Another example is a dry cleaners called "Decent Cleaners". In the U.S., we'd never go to a cleaners that advertised themselves as just decent! That's barely acceptable! But here, it makes sense to the owners. We sure get a good laugh as we drive through the city!

I am attending a language course for the next 6 weeks, and decided that even though I've only been here a few days, I need to drive instead of trying to get a taxi there. The road to this class is very crowded and you have to watch very carefully when you drive. There's a left hand turn at a major intersection that I have to take and it turns into a one lane street. The only problem is that most drivers here think that the turn is a double turn lane! You will be turning left and suddenly realize that there is a car on your right turning with you! Either you have to yield, get ahead of him, or get in an accident! I have learned that if I just honk, look over at the drive, and hit the gas, he usually knows I mean business and lets me go ahead!

I have really been enjoying this time of learning the language and seeing old friends again. Thank you so much for praying for me!

Arrived!

Well, I arrived. One of my boxes (unfortunately the one with my favorite sandals and clothes) has yet to arrive. But I have all my other boxes settled into a storage closet, and after digging through a few of them, found a few things to wear!

36 hours after I landed I started language class. I don't recommend doing this at all. It's a little overwhelming, especially when you are trying to get over a 9 hour time difference between Africa and home. But I think I learned a few new things- I guess we'll see tomorrow in class how much I actually learned.

Hopefully this week, I'll get to go see the street boys I used to work with. And I hope to put some pictures up here, too! Until then, have a wonderful day!

Almost Time

It's hard to believe that this time next week, I will be in Africa. We've had alot of snow at my house this week, but on Friday morning, I'll leave the cold behind and move to a much warmer climate!

People have asked me if I'm excited. I guess I am to an extent, but there's so many emotions in moving and completely changing the way you live that it's sometimes hard to find excitement in there. I'm sure, come Sunday when we're driving into the city where I used to live, that I'll find that excitement again.

I will try to post as soon as I can when I get there and maybe try to put up some pictures. Thanks for praying for me!