Good Moron - ing.

Hello!

Life en Afrique continues on, one foot in front of the other. It's been really nice to be at post for three solid weeks, but I am getting a little bit stir crazy, so I think I'm going to go visit some other volunteers this week. Starting this next weekend we are on 'standfast' for the elections and are not allowed to go anywhere. It's good for my pocketbook, anyway, life in village is dirt cheap.

I'm working on my latrine project, school building project, the spelling bee, and I am also director of our girls camp in Bante this year. Exciting stuff going on! Also working at the health center of course. I really like my work there. Earlier this week I had a crappy day, really crappy, to the point of seriously wanting to give up and go home... then a small child who cried and screamed out of fear whenever she saw me 16 months ago came running up laughing for me to hold her and all was well again. I have such a love/hate relationship with Africa it's almost comical.

Facebook has refused to load for me, on my computer or on my phone, for three days now. So, if you have anything to say/send, please send me an email. It's wierd, as every other website works just fine. I miss the connection there, so please, send me an email. :)

I'm healthy (wah-hoo!). If anything, Africa has caused me to very much appreciate good health, as it is rather rare here. So I just thought I would share that with the world. I will never take my gastrointestinal health for granted again. haha.

It's getting hotter every day. The day before yesterday it was 96 in the afternoon. In my house. I'm getting used to it. Yesterday was cooler, only got up to 92. I still have been biking almost every evening, but pretty soon I think that is going to have to stop. It really affects my mood, though. I knew that in the US, when I was feeling blue a trip to the gym would always help, and I really am missing that Pro Sports Club! But anyway, my only option here is biking, so I started up last month, and have really noticed a difference. And it's not even so bad in the heat, as the wind keeps you from getting totally drenched in sweat. Anyway, I'm totally rambling.

What else is going on.... I cleaned my house, like major cleaned my house. Got rid of a whole lot of junk, have several piles of stuff ready to be given away when I leave. All of my souveniers and gifts for people are packed up ready to go and I have a whole crate of stuff to give back to Peace Corps. I guess you can say I started packing to COS, 7 months early. COS is an acronym you will need to become used to, as I will start to use it alot. It stands for Close of Service, and can be used as a noun or a verb. Like, "I'm COS'ing on September 17th" translates to September 17th is my last day of service. We have our COS conference at the end of May, which is when our whole group will get together for a few days of policy information and talk about readjusting to life after Peace Corps. We will talk about money issues, insurance stuff, jobs, etc, and also get our official COS dates. We will also schedule our COS physical with the med unit and such other things like that. So anyway, now you know. It's a bit surreal to think about COS'ing already, even though I will be totally ready when that day comes.

Anyway, back to cleaning my house... so it's not just because I was dreaming of my COS date earlier this week, but also with the elections going on there is always the possibility of us getting consolidated or evacuated, if there is any problems or safety concerns. At least now I feel like if that were to happen, most of what I want to come home with me will eventually make it there! (But please don't worry. The likelyhood of anything actually happening like that is very low!)

Along side cleaning my house I am also trying to eat out of my house. I have shelves piled with stuff I've bought or received in packages and need to eat! So I am not buying bread for the next few weeks - instead, I am forcing myself to actually use up some of what I have. I have so much stockpiled pasta, couscous, beans, lentils, etc that I must get rid of. It's kind of nice, as living in village is cheap anyway, this is even cheaper. I literally spent down to almost nothing on my vacation with Lydia in January, which was totally worth it, but I need to save money from here on out!

Wow, this is one really long rambling blog post. As you can see, nothing terribly exciting going on, but life in Africa is always an adventure. Today is market day in village, and I have some fabric I've been hanging on to that needs to be made into a dress, so I think I'll head in to town and go to the dressmaker and see if I can find some tomatoes at the market. Being in the middle of dry season, produce is really hard to find. I've not been able to find any type of fruits or vegetables in weeks... Another reason I may go visit some other volunteers this week. If I head south a bit I should be able to find some fresh produce. Yum.

Peace out. Love to all. Send me an email (facebook no worky!). Krissy