Maryann's Musings

We learned that this tree's actual name is 'a Flamboyant Tree.'   When we all woke up Tuesday morning it was slightly cool and we were all hungry. Oatmeal and bread was in order! However, when Mom got out the whole-grain bread (what Daddy calls "Two-by-four's") it had mold all over it. I was immediately repulsed and refused to eat the bread. Unfazed, Mom sliced off all the crusts and served it that way (Daddy liked it better without than with the crust; he said you could actually choke it down that way). Aidan playing 'taps' for Daddy Daddy woke up with a splitting headache, due to the fact that he had slept in his tent without a pillow. Ouch! THE BREAD! Our breakfast party Breakfast was fun; Christianna didn't want her orange juice so I got to drink two cups of it! (wonder of wonders). Daddy was still recovering and didn't join us.  During breakfast Mme. Louise and I both expressed the sentiment that i...

  Sunday night, I saw two shooting stars and stayed awake from 2:30 to 4:30 because I couldn't breathe out of my nose.  Then, low and behold, at 5:30am, Aidan dragged his feet noisily up the sidewalk and banged on the door of the mobile home. I sat up and said, "Aidan, what in the world are you doing?!" and if you've seen Frozen, I looked like Anna when she woke up on her sister's coronation day; halitosis and all.  Once he had apologized for waking me and explained that we were locked out, I made him go back to bed. At six, the rest of the world woke up and Aidan barged into the bathroom.   Yesterday's blog may have seemed like a monotone, and I do have a good excuse; I was NOT feeling well then (Aidan actually made up a song about it) and that is how I remember that day. Monday I was feeling better, though my nose was my worst enemy.  Breakfast! Christianna being strange and eating Ramen noodles for breakfast... even I  think that's weir...

    "If I can just make it to the pastor training school, I can puke in the toilet, lie down, and everyone can let me die quietly." This may sound highly cynical and rather harsh, but riding down a dirt strip that hardly deserves to be called 'a road' with a fever and intense nausea is no picnic. I mean, really. We must have hit every bump and pothole imaginable; and the ones we didn't hit, we swerved sharply away from, making my stomach churn and the pressure in my head explode with fresh violence. My back was not only in an uncomfortable position, but with every pothole, it was jared achily.  MISERABLE!   But enough complaining (there will be more, anyway....). Remember my blog about our ' True Bush Livin' ? This is the story of our return trip. Only this time, we stayed a whole week. And the drainage system backed up completely so we couldn't flush toilets or do dishes, til we finally pulled out what was clogging it (aha! got you interested)....

   In the American culture, having a business or a salon come to your home is expensive; here in West Africa, people will come to your door selling things, give you manicures and pedicures, or stop by wondering if you need some baguettes or fruit. The reason is: infrastructure.  Instead of having to pay for utilities and maintenance on a building, they can just show up at their next client's house. Word of mouth is the best form of advertisement.  Today, someone came to pierce Christianna's ears!    A few weeks ago Christianna fell and hit her head. In the Emergency Room (SHE'S FINE by the way) the nurse who worked with trauma cases took one look at Christianna and thought she was an American boy; not only was her hair cropped short, her ears weren't pierced.    When a baby girl is born into an African family, her ears are pierced immediately. It's a big deal. For years Christianna has been mistaken for a young boy because her ears we...

  This blog is from a girl MK's point of view. Today's post is straight from the mouths of a bunch of guys. Their views of their camping trip up in the mountains with their bikes. I have * ahem*   highly edited  some of their stories and added notes, but this, as I said, is straight from them (and they agreed to the edits).  Some of you may find this boring, but I don't. It shows how their perspective is so much different from mine. And they are really funny.  (But getting them to sit still for the entire time was HARD. It took a lot of breaks...) AIDAN : "After going straight to Club Hippique, we drove up to Arnaud (he was reading a book) and Tristan opened the window and shouted at him. ( Editor's Note: M. Arnaud, our equestrian instructor, had invited the boys to go to a hotel up in the mountains where they could bike).  After two hours, we saw the first mountain come into view; then in another hour we saw our mountain and after driving up ...

  With water swishing in the buckets on our heads and dripping down our arms, Tristan and I walked unsteadily down the rocky, dirt road leading to our backyard. Kicking the gate open, we trudged up to our 'reservoir' (a burnt-mustard, fifty-gallon plastic container).  Then we slowly poured our prize inside. Why? Because right now we don't have running water! Our routine has looked really funny the past few days: the water kicks on for literally five minutes and everyone runs around like maniacs filling empty buckets and washing their hair. So trust me, we all stink . This is how we take baths right now....  Doing the dishes and washing our hands is hard enough, but doing laundry is especially difficult. We have to manually pour water into the machine until it works. Drinking water is pretty much taken care of. We have a big bucket next to our sink filled with clean water. If needed, we just buy bottled-water or boil tap water for 6 minutes, although this is our l...