Sunday, September 29, 2013

Rain, Shingles, and French

Hello one and all from Chad.  Well life here is continuing with school, cleaning, cooking, and of course rain.  Though rainy season is drawing to a close, it is still raining nearly every day and the mosquitos are still wreaking havoc on the people.  Sickness is a major part of lives these days.  There was a baby born to one of our neighbors and a few days later it died from malaria.  Sickness and death is a very common occurrence.  Our compound has not been exempt from sickness, although we are fortunate to be able to afford medication and mosquito preventative things (nets, bug repellant, coils).  I fortunately have been spared from the common sicknesses plaguing others, for who would want to be common.  Instead my body decided that now would be a good time to have shingles.  Fortunately the pain is minimal and sporadic but still uncomfortable.  For those of you who know me, I seem to come down with random sicknesses and often ignore them until they are no longer ignorable.  I am assured that medication would quicken the pace of my recovery but it is not necessary, and since I probably couldn't get it here anyway, I await until my blistery rash is gone.

On a positive note, we have been blessed to have a friend come and teach French to the kids and me.  It has been fun testing my knowledge and helping the kids add to theirs.  Unfortunately our tutor has gone back to university and we are left on our own to try and teach one another.  It was excellent while it lasted and has inspired me to continue introducing words to the kids (even if I don't pronounce them correctly) because it has been a great review for me.

 Happy October to one and all!  I hope that fall brings you lots of delicious apple and pumpkin foods along with great company!

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