Ah… the dry season. This is when I conveniently forget the mud and slippery hills, and long for rain to cool down the days and [somewhat] remove the dust. Fickle creatures, we humans. We were cleaning the chapel this morning, and Henry asked me if Americans clean their shoes once a year. I said no, we do it a bit more often than that, but not every day (looking at my dusty shoes, because in two semesters I’ve not learned to clean them every day). Henry pointed out that they clean their shoes three times a day to keep the dust away. There you go.
Cleaning the chapel is much, MUCH better with the new tile laid and the carpet gone. Someone asked if we have dust in the US. Yes. Do you sweep it? Ummm… yes… I pointed out that I knew how to sweep when I got here. 🙂 But it is indeed different.
Emmanuel noticed yesterday that I’m getting a tan, and commented that I look like I’m dirty. I disagree; only my feet look dirty, because my toes are tanned, then there’s a large white stripe where my shoes are, then the rest of my foot and ankle are tan. My toes look dirty because of that (and often are, actually).
I have to be careful when I go to to town or walk around with my hair up, because otherwise, Africa will turn me into a redneck. Why is it that when I go anywhere, the sun is always at my back? And if anyone has a good, polite definition of a redneck, please let me know. I tried to explain it to someone, but saying that someone who spends time outside and has a Southern accent really doesn’t translate into something negative.
This is a busy semester. I enjoy being busy (though not this busy). I enjoy having friends who like me and enjoy spending time with me. I’m struggling with being sufficiently social so as to not be rude, but still find time to do my work and to sleep. This is the downside to sharing a dorm with girls in their very early twenties; I’m old, and need to sleep. I did my senior year of college on four hours of sleep a night, and now even the THOUGHT of that exhausts me.
Please pray for sleep, health (allergies are bad, and there’s a cold/pink eye floating around), and stamina. Henry told me the other day that I’m strong – he admitted that their schedule is grueling, and he’s surprised that a muzungu is keeping up. I told him it was 1. God’s grace, and 2. sleeping during lunch that enables me to cope, not strength.
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