Two months ago ...

Average temp: 89F

Two months ago, I left for this adventure here in the country of Chad.  Life here has been good to me and I am enjoying myself. I am learning so much each day. The weather now has brought some coolness at night (around 75°F).   The daytime is still warm, but we have become accustomed to staying in after lunch until about 3:30 in the afternoon. The rains however have stopped and we have begun to enter into dry season.   This means that the dust shall fly and the little children will cough.   It is quite the catch 22, to open the windows and allow the dust in or to close the windows and allow heat and stuffiness.   Unfortunately, the buildings are built of non-insulated brick, which soaks up the heat so even closing windows doesn’t keep the heat out. I figure dust is inevitable and thus prefer the air from outside.　
　

Silly before dinner ...

So Thanksgiving was last week. We truly had a feast. There were 13 of us who dined together Saturday afternoon.   The preparations took about 3 days (though not continuous).   On our menu was chicken (no turkeys available here in Sarh so 3 chickens were the replacement), mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and mushrooms, corn pudding, oatmeal bread with papaya jam, cranberry fruit salad, stuffing, and of course it was followed up by pumpkin pie. It is funny because the menu seemed very similar to that which we have in the U.S. but the preparation was so much greater.   The chickens had to be killed, plucked, cleaned, chopped in pieces, marinated, pressure cooked, and then baked in the oven. Chickens here are roaming free, thus their meat is a bit more chewy requiring methods to help tenderize. The potatoes were peeled, the gravy mixed from scratch, green beans snapped and cleaned, bread made from scratch, jam made from scratch, all fruit soaked in bleach water, rinsed with filtered water, peeled and cut, and of course the pumpkin was cooked and cleaned to even start the pie process.   It truly was a well deserved feast.
　
　

I was also lucky enough to talk with members of my family at a relatively fast speed of internet.   Thanks Ben, Aaron, Raina, Mom, Dad, and Grandma and Grandpa.  It is always wonderful to connect with you, my friends and family.   I got to go to the post office with Josh only and practice my terrible French.   But Kara’s letter got stamps on it and I was able to get the letter my grandma sent.   I have a feeling the post man will start to recognize me as long as you keep sending me mail. Internet once a week and mail trip once a week seems to be the goal.   It is funny though that I have not gotten any letters from my dad (I know he has sent them) but have gotten 4 from my mom who is sending them from the exact same place.   Ah the mysteries of the postal service.
　

I got to learn how to can whole tomatoes yesterday and got to confuse the guard’s family as we sat outback with our stove top burners, boiling pots, and giant tray of tomatoes.   Hey you have to do it while they are in season! It is just too bad that canning jars are not more readily available, because I think there is plenty to fill the jars with, if we had them.   The whole process was much faster than I ever imagined.
　
　
We have one more week of our normal routine, including school.   The week after that we shall be packing and preparing for our trip to Kenya on December 15.   Our departure is rapidly approaching.   It is still hard to believe it is December already.   I can only imagine the Christmas decorations that are appearing all over the place, particularly in stores.  To my bike commuter friends, I hope the weather hasn’t become too dreary for riding.

Book update: The Last Disciple, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Frindle

The papayas keep coming ...