Truckin' along!

So.. I haven't written a blog in a VERY long time!  The reason for that is two-fold:  a) until recently, we've been extremely busy with teams/meetings/etc and b) [the real reason] We're just truckin' along!  As crazy as it sounds, living here has become normal so that the oddities of life that I used to post about no longer seem crazy to me and therefore I don't think about writing about them.  I don't know whether to be happy with or mortified by that thought... :)

Soooo... for starters, I'll try to catch up a little bit about what is going on recently.. then later on down, post some fun pics from the summer!

It's our first rainy season here.  To me, the rain is a welcome temporary relief from the heat.  But for most of the people here, it's dreaded.  Two days during registration last week for class, we were without power at the center because the concrete tunnels they built for electricity lines were flooded (or so we were told that was the reason).  Several people in the area we work in died to due houses collapsing.  In GY, the houses are like a mini-compound... so you walk in to an open space and there are different rooms all around that center opening for bedrooms, etc.  As we drove by, we could see people standing in that open space with huge buckets just scooping buckets full of water from out of their flooded compounds.  It was really sad.  It also prompted a riot one day because apparently, every year this happens, people get flooded/mad, and they want the government to do something (what? I don't know).  So there was some tire burning action but memory here is SUPER short-term so as soon as the rain goes away, everyone forgets and gets back on with life.

Flooding...

All the stuff that people throw out cause of damage...

So, as you can tell...  the combination of water, sand, sewage and trash are definitely NOT helping the aesthetic view of the city... :)

In other news, we just finished the month of fasting here - Ramadan.  It was a new experience for us and one that we didn't really care too much for.  People don't do anything!  Which I can't blame them - if I was not drinking water during these temperatures - I would be as useless as mud too!  But it was just a stretch for us to continue visiting people.  So we "broke the fast" at nighttime with some of friends.  One night, we were served fish balls.  Yes.  Fish. Balls.  As in meatballs, but with fish.  Can I please tell you...  I've come A LONG way to liking fish as much as I do - but fish balls are not good.  

Some people praying at the end of Ramadan holiday!

Classes have started back up this week at one of the centers!  I really do love teaching!  It's so fun to see the students get it and sharing stories at the end of class is a great way for them to practice and hear the great story!  

Alright... here are some pictures from the summer...  :)

Mel and I being goofballs....  or maybe just me?

This is one of my favorite things about the ropes course- a zip line in a boat.. :)

Zipline!!  

One day, Mel and I went to Goree Island...  We get on the ferry to come back and decide to sit in the front, outside.  So then about 5 schoolgirls sit down next to us.  The next thing we know, we are literally packed in like sardines with a school class...  It was hilarious!

These girls were cracking me up.. each of them had a plastic bottle that they had collected sand and sea water with little crabs, etc.. and they each had to show me theirs!

Mel playing the rock game with some kids outside our friends house!

Tons of children dancing and hearing stories!

Okay...  I think that is enough for now..  I'm going *to try* to be better about updating more often!  After seeing all that fun, who wants to come visit?? :)

Life is precious...

I just want to encourage everyone I know to thank God for the precious time that has been given to you.  In the span of six days, two people I've known have departed this life.  Last week, the pastor of our church here - his 22 year old son went to heaven unexpectedly.  Since then, my father's best friend and huge supporter of mine left us suddenly.  Our longest friend here - her little sister at age 13/14 passed away this morning of diabetes.  

I'm thankful that we do not grieve as those without hope.

Please remember that tomorrow is not guaranteed.  Tell those you love them today and don't waste the time given to you!

So many whitiessss!

So these past two weeks have been literally insane but amazing!  A couple Thursdays ago, we picked up a team of 21 high schoolers, college students and their chaperones for 10 days of work here at the center!  As always, we had a beautiful plan laid out for them including a Kids Club in the morning and English clubs and pr walking in the afternoons..  Well, that didn't work out as planned because the kids are still in school.  Monday morning rolls around and we have 15 kids trickle in one-by-one.  However, the word spread and by the last day we had 350 kids come through the doors to hear the story of hope probably for the first time in their lives!  I was personally challenged by and I'm so thankful for this crew that took the time out of their lives to come here!  They were a blessing in so many ways... including the 144 pieces of bacon they left me ;)

Loved this gal!!!  

In this middle of this, Mel came to visit!  It was a fun time showing her around!

Our guide hopped up on here like it was no problem - I get the brilliant idea to do the same..  with a lot less gracefulness than he had!

We went to the Bandia Reserve - aka West Africa's fake safari place..  My favorite quote of all time:

Mel (to tour guide):  How many of the animals in here are native to here?

Guide:  Four.  The rest are from South Africa.

So.. I wasn't expecting anything fabulous but it was fun to ride around and see the different animals not native to here.  I am positive that my new favorite animal is a giraffe...  They are absolutely stunning.

Eating at the restaurant there was quite the experience!  I had heard that the monkeys would literally come steal food off your plate and being the animal lover that I am the idea of this thrilled me.  Well, for some reason which is beyond my explanation, these monkeys terrified me at first.  They just came in swarms.

So Mel feeds the monkeys while I throw peanuts at them..  Mel says that they needed to have boundaries so she would shoo them back if they got too aggressive to which they would hiss at her and I would freak out that she needed to give the monkeys what they wanted... LOL!

Eventually I came around.. :)

But my guard was right there with the water gun waiting to save me from the insane monkeys!

Our last night together..  with the lack of sunset..   Miss her already but so grateful that she came to visit!! 

Amanda's Post Dinner Entertainment

This song had been stuck in my head for about a week..  I started singing a portion of it after dinner and Patty was so surprised that I "knew" it...  So we decided to record it for laughing purposes.. We will be putting out a CD next month :)

Hangin with the kiddos!

During the month of May, we have a Kids Club on Saturday mornings.  During my summer in SE Asia, we taught a Kids Club 6 days a week so this is one of my favorite activities!

We went out into the neighborhood and passed out tickets to different children that we ran across.  The idea was that you needed a ticket to get in.  We had to do this for population control.  Also on the ticket was a place for a parent signature.  We passed out 40 tickets because that is the maximum number of children we felt we could accommodate and keep our sanity.  We really didn't have high hopes for the children actually coming with the tickets signed but miraculously about 9 came with signed tickets.  In total, we had about 30-35 children every Saturday morning.

We taught them a little bit of English, sang songs, did a craft, stories (the last day with puppets!) and played silly games.  It was ALOT of fun!  It was also very stressful - kids will be kids in every country but in this culture, there is no concept of a line or much discipline.  Kids do what they please.  So it was definitely a challenge to incorporate order while still being fun.  Each week we seemed to get a little bit better.

Some highlights:
1.  Listening to the children recite stories.  So incredible to see how focused they were and that they were actually paying attention!
2.  Driving up to the center on the last day 30 minutes before KC started to see about children already there and waiting.  They ran up to the car, shouting our names and ready to go!  Loving these guys is what this is about!
3.   Playing Duck-Duck-Goose.  I was it and I chose this little girl to be the goose but little did I know that she was a sprinter and I was genuinely surprised when she caught me!  Into the mush-pot I went.
4.  One week, I couldn't be at KC because I had an eye infection..  The others informed me that the kids were asking where I was..  Super sweet!
5.  Watching Amanda and my supervisor tell a story with puppets - I almost wet myself laughing so hard.
6.  Each week, I would act out different animals and let them guess which one I was.  I scared a little boy because I came up to him quickly and started barking..  The look on his face was hilarious as pure fright!

I hope to add more pictures and videos later but I may not be able to..

Insert Fun Title Here

Amanda and I are no longer creepers!  The little girl absolutely loves us! :)  We can say about three things to each other - one of those is candy - but it's not the quantity that matters..

BTW, you can tell the heat is here..  we (at least I) look a hawt mess!  But isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen???

One night, we went up with some of our students to the lighthouse here to overlook the city, hang out, eat cookies, dance, etc..  These girls are an absolute mess.   

There is a term here - "jaay fonde" -  Not exactly sure but if you have a larger rear end (which is considered desirable) one of the girls will say tell you "jaay fonde" which is like sell your large rear end.....  all this to say that we took a "jaay fonde" picture..  :)

And this...  what can I say?  This girl is CRAZY..  her dance moves definitely aren't family friendly!  Look at how uncomfortable Amanda looks and the girl holding the cell phone is providing the music for the entertainment..  

Lookie who I ran into:

Love these guys!  I went through a bag of Funyons and an 80 count pack of pepperoni in about a week!  Also, bringing my new Kindle and taking my broken one home to mail...  These guys ROCK!  I miss TRBCers sooo much!  

Easter and Camp!

Spent the Easter holiday with our new "family" here and loved it!!  Seriously, love the people we work with.  Couldn't have asked for a better clan :)  Fun silly games, worshiping together and of course, delicious grub! 

The Easter bunnies hiding eggs... aren't they cute!?

Tug-of-war madness!!

Egg-toss...

We had an English camp with our University students this week..  It was a blast but also extremely tiring!  Here's just a few of the hundreds of pictures taken over the week :)

Eating around the bowl..
Amanda and I want to get shirts made that say, "I survived ceeb five days in a row!" :)

I really do love my job.  During this lunch meal, we were having a conversation that stemmed from the issue of slavery since we had just visited Goree Island.  It's amazing to me how the people here hold no grudges.  Our conversation focused on the idea of forgiveness - is it truly possible?  what does it mean to forgive?  is it a one-time deal or is it a process?  

Teaching the small group Grammar Session.

Some fun gals!

Please can we notice that this fish has TEETH!?

We had a scavenger hunt around Goree Island - this is the "recycled cowboy"  ...can't you tell?

Our group was a little "communication challenged" so we weren't able to do a lot of the items on the list so we decided to make the pictures that we did take fun :)

Our group shot!

In other news, I started driving this week.  I've been practicing shifting gears on the side roads but I had never gone past third gear.  I called our team leader last night to see if he would ride along for moral support this morning on the big roads - he says, "Why don't you come pick me up?"  UMM.. you mean drive on the big, scary road to get you?  Well, alright then.  I was glad though because if I'm scared, I need to be gently forced to do something.  And driving went REALLY well..  A huge blessing.

Classes start back up again this week.  Cannot believe we're already halfway through April.  Time is flying by.  This session will be finished before we know it and then summer will be here!

Lots of things happening now and around the corner!  We're hoping to start a study with some girls that we've met, English classes in full gear, getting a children's club up and running, prayer walking our neighborhood, tons of teams are filing through, continuing visiting the friends we've already made, attempting to improve our Wolof language abilities...  Loving Him and loving lifeeeeeeee!