Happy Easter and Spring to you all.
April has started and with it the humidity has upped its game. The end of March brought a few rains with some cooler evenings, but no more. It is quite the experience to be sitting on the couch reading and sweating. It also makes sleeping a bit harder. It is really the getting to sleep that is difficult. Well it is life, and it won't last forever. It is like someone said yesterday, "March is hot and you think it can't get any worse, and then April comes." Probably the hardest part is watching the youngest sufferer with heat rash. Her poor skin is quite irritated, although she is quite brave and rarely complains about it.
This last week we had our Easter break. It has been very nice having a bit of extra free time, although we have been really good at occupying our time. I had so many projects planned out and have only done about half of them. We have done some organizing, but primarily our experiments have happened in the kitchen. We made some delicious pita and falafel. We have been experimenting with our brick oven and have baked bread and cereal. We have been making some pretty delicious desserts and I have done my first solo batch of mandazies (sort of like doughnuts). Cleaning of course has been a part of our break and reading. I have read the Little House on the Prairie series. I have also spent some time working on my summer plans. Thanks to the help of my dad, I have all my flights for this summer! Now to convince all the people I want to see to make some time for me!
Next week we start back to school. It will be a little difficult to get the kids back into the swing of things, I believe, but truly our school year is nearly finished. I do have some lesson planning to still do, interesting activities make for more attentive students.
As for our Easter celebration, let me tell you about our Sunday. We went to church, though the fact that it was Easter was only mentioned very briefly before we took communion. So it was a basic service like any other week. I also had the privilege of getting a bite/sting by some unknown creature. It stung the first day and then the rest of the week it has been itching. Despite the heat and the insect life, we had a very nice lunch with a friend. We had chicken gravy over mashed potatoes, which were so delicious. We also had biscuits and a lovely pudding dessert. It was a nice time together. Not quite like being at home, but fun anyway. We had a paper egg hunt and the prize was glow sticks that I had brought from the states. So Monday we made some s'mores and went out on the porch to play with the glow sticks. Unfortunately, the sticks did not glow…instead we sang as many silly songs as we could think of. It was fun, but I know the kids were disappointed. It has been a fun week however with many things out of the ordinary and it was nice to shake things up a bit.
I hope all you dear friends and family are enjoying the beauty of spring wherever you are, or are enjoying whatever season it is for you. If winter is still knocking on your door step I strongly suggest checking out a Little House on the Prairie book and reading a part where she describes the spring with all its flowers on the prairie. I know I enjoyed imagining all the flowers blooming across the open meadows.
Well folks, it has been a while since my last update. Life here in Chad has been rather routine. About the only new thing around these parts is the heat rash on my arm (pretty good that it just appeared after living in temperatures over 100 degree Fahrenheit for 2 months). Well - my rash, giant mangoes, and our kitchen experiments. Basically we are trying new recipes, particularly those that don't heat up the kitchen too much. We have tried soft pretzels (the kids liked them but I was unimpressed), sourdough (which got really sour quickly here in the heat), corn chips, puddings, and a variety of flavor of cereal. Many of these experiments have taken place in our outdoor oven that we are currently heating with charcoal. These have been creative outlet for us. It has been fun to discover things that work out well. If anyone has suggestions, let me know! Remember we have the basics in our kitchen and most things have to be made from scratch.
