A Day in the Life

Although this was not necessarily a "typical" day, its a fine example since I have yet to settle into a rhythm here.Since I'm here for ministry exposure, my opinion of a successfully scheduled week is one with great variety. Keep in mind, though, that I treated today as soalfmewhat of a weekend. Typically, Saturdays are half days, we work in the morning. You'd see more of a typical schedule if you looked at my schedule overall for this trip.

This morning, I went with Dale and his 2 little boys to take the American team up to the waterfall. Its about a half hour hike from the road, I think, but thats a really rough estimate. It might be longer than that. I went swimming at the upper falls, with my housemate Robin.

When we returned, I made a tomato sauce to go with the meatballs I made yesterday, and Robin, Angela and I had meatball subs. Then I crashed for about an hour and a half. I love sieste. Americans should take a hint, sieste is a beautiful thing. At 4pm, all the girls (from both teams, plus Flo and myself) went to the pastor's house to learn how to make Toh. We had some great girly conversations, comparing French, American and Burkinabe traditions for weddings, etc. It was so fun. Around 6:30, the guys all arrived, and sat just apart from us. They do many things in segregation like that, including eating meals, sitting in church, etc. I helped serve the guys (basically, bring the food and water to their table). When I and the other girls placed the food on their table, though, we were not acknowledged. We just came, delivered, and left, without any verbal interaction at all. Just after, I had the opportunity to bring water to each of the guys, to wash their hands. Again, they continued their conversation (as is culturally appropriate) even while I poured water over their hands. What a remarkable experience! I can't even put it to words. I wonder if I have ever truly served, since gratitude is so openly and often expressed in the US.

We had more delightful conversation as we ate Toh and sauce (flavored with Potassium-who knew it had such a great flavor!). I have become pretty fond of Toh and sauce, I've enjoyed it every time I've had it. I don't have it that often though, just because I cook for myself and didn't know how to make it. Still not sure I could make it on my own, even after helping with it tonight.

Anyways, as we were finishing up dinner, a storm started to blow in, so we bid everyone farewell before the African sky opened up on us. Now we sit in our living room listening to the rain, while reading or blog posting :)