January 16, 2012

January 16, 2012

Life is different in Cameroon, it’s hard to even guess how the day will go.  As Alyssa would say “You can’t make this stuff up”…. Oh wait, she is usually talking about something my family is doing when she says that.

 Kym has been working in the library, she has become friends with one of the office girls there and often will say “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”  She passed by her again today and threw out her cheery greeting as usual “If you need anything, just let me know.”  Later the office girl entered the room where Kym was working and shut the door.  “You keep telling me that if I need anything to ask you…well, I need a watch and a computer.”  Thankfully, Kym was quick on her feet and said she will check around for her.

Drew spent the day chipping the dirt off stones that will be used to rebuild the wall…no power washer here.  He sat on a rock with his hammer and wire brush for 7 hours – time consuming but necessary.  He learned to say “Sore Butt” in Limbum. 

Alyssa and I had to head up to the stores to find a voltage regulator for my new refrigerator.  We arrived at a hardware looking store and found out there are choices.  After buying a few odds and ends (sunglasses and a plastic bin), we had to walk back to the house and look at the frig to see what size regulator it needed.  Later we walked again to the store (lots of walking around here), and they didn’t have the size I needed so I had to get the next size up.  We then stopped at a little bar to see if they had any “Ginger pop” (which is good for upset tummys).  I have been looking for the Ginger Pop for days – one bar I stopped in had a young (maybe 10 year old) boy serving up glasses of Vodka.  Apparently there is no minimum age to work in a bar here.  The bar we stopped in did not have “Ginger” but the waitress ran up to another store to see if they had if for us… but no “It is finished.”  That seemed to be the reply from everywhere we checked.  We settled for bottles of Fanta (all of 50 cents each) and will return the glass bottles sometime tomorrow.  Once we were refreshed, we headed to my house to plug in the refrigerator – which did no good since the electricity was out again. 

Kaley, Ellie and Alyssa spent time in the Child Care Center again today.  I went down to visit after getting a lesson from Kym on how to log library books.  One child fell asleep and they grabbed her by one arm and threw her into the crib…not very gentle.  One of the missionaries had given us a bag of toys that her church had donated, I brought the toys down to the kids and they had so much fun.  The teachers didn’t even know what to do with the Duplo Legos that were given so I gave a lesson on building with legos.  I came back later and someone had built a cross out of them and put it in the window.  There really is very little structure in the nursery, the kids play until they get fed or fall over and get thrown in a crib.  I hope that we can give them some ideas of fun things to do with the kids, but in truth, I’m not sure they want any ideas.

We are having a beautiful night warming up together by the fire.  The Pastor just stopped by to pray for us and leave a gift of bread and soda.  He gave an enthusiastic and encouraging prayer.  As he was leaving, and would be driving his motorcycle in the dark, I said “Thank you for coming, Don’t hit a goat”….what is wrong with me?