The day we finally won solitaire at lunch.

Wednesday

Rain on a tin roof.

Peaceful.

You have to think that, otherwise it’s just annoying.

All the thunder and lightning is making me miss daddy.  I remember when he would take me out on the porch and watch the lightning from across the field behind our house.

We haven’t had the internet for 3 days now, so we decided that rainy season has officially started.

Children’s Clinic was great this morning.  We got to see 4 one-week-old babies.  We got to see a 30 minute old baby.  I got to put lots of kids in the scale.  We gave lots of vaccines.

Frances got to write out “under-5 cards” for the new kids.  Mr. Musonda (Lamb) told her how to write all the names.  When one mom wanted to name her kid Joyceline, Mr. Musonda had no idea how to spell it.

Frances looked panicked.

But I knew how to spell it because a girl at Harvest Children’s Home was named Joyceline.  So I take credit for naming the girl. 

Or at least saving the girl from spelling her name the Frances way, which often includes a lot more vowels and letters than necessary, her whole life.

We played solitaire at lunch.  Again.  We can't seam to come up with anything better to play.  We opted to play one card at a time because that seems to be the way to play if you ever want to win.

We won twice.

[won]

We also watched the chickens line up on the board.

We’re not sure what the board is for except maybe to hold chickens.

[chickens]

Mr. Pule thanked us for doing such a great job since he won’t be there tomorrow for our first day.  He told us how hard working we were and how we made a big impact. The clinic was able to see a lot more people because we were there.  People heard that new, young masungu “doctors” were in town and came to the clinic.

[Alam Musonda, Elija Pule, and Me]

Just to see us.

We looked at malaria under the microscope (instead of just using a RDT).  You can do that to monitor how effective treatment is.  You still have to prick the kid and make them cry. …

When we got home we made more guacamole and put it on our spiced veggie burgers.  It almost tasted like Texas.  It was fabulous.  And quite filling.

After dinner we sorted clothes with Joseph again.  We filled the 80 bags with 4 more pairs of shoes. 

Now there are 6 pairs of kids shoes in each bag so no one has to fight over shoes.

We also made 20 more bags, full of 6 pairs of kids shoes and more clothes.  Now there are 100 bags ready to be given to people in the community.  Joseph thanked us profusely, saying there was no way the bags would have gotten done without our help. 

I think he really just liked our music.

We listened to Mae’s Everglow.

“I can not say that I was ready for this.

                                                              But, when worlds collide,

And all that I have is all that I want.

                                                            So when you say forever,

Can't you see you've already captured me.”

The Sun and the Moon by Mae

And like it was planned, we finished sorting just as the CD finished.

Good timing.

After sorting, we took a walk before it got dark.  We only had time to go down to the river and back.  The river was lower than it was 2 weeks ago, which is surprising with all the rain.  We watched as the clouds rolled in and the thunder got louder. 

Brother Bob started off on a run just before we got home.  We cheered him on since he cheers us on.

We started to feel the raindrops as we entered the mission compound.

Again, good timing.  

We decided to play in the rain until Brother Bob came home.  We didn't want to have to worry about him.  Then the thunder started getting closer so we went inside.

[post-rain: notice the zebras on our couch.]

At this point, Frances and I feed decently assimilated in the culture.

We made it home before the rains started.  Someone called us “sister” today.  We have started responding “fine” when people ask “how are you,” since that is the only acceptable response.  We foot places.  We use storm sticks and storm coats. 

And tonight, Frances used recycled aluminum foil to keep our guacamole fresh.

We’re probably going to return home waving to all children and calling the AC “air con” and using serviettes instead of napkins.

And we fully intend on carrying our children around in cloth instead of fancy baby-harnesses.  Not only does it save money, but it saves us from making another trip into babies-r-us, where we both practically hyperventilate.

……………………………………………………………………………

Frances just tried to turn on the water. 

It doesn’t work.

She turned to me and asked “what do you think that means.”

I laughed, “I guess you have a blog title for today.”

But seriously, we’re not sure.  We know when the power goes off the water gets choppy. (air in the tubes or something) It’s never gone OFF before.

I guess I’m not washing dishes after my computer dies.

And I guess we’re not showering before bed. 

Or flushing the toilet more than once.

Awesome.