Always Kill the Man Chicken

Ok, so in order for us to eat a chicken dinner, we have to have our guard kill the chicken (only men kill chickens here), and our house help to pluck it and take the insides out. We get one chicken a week delivered to our house. Our delivery lady sometimes forgets that she's already brought us one during the week and we end up with a couple chickens running around the yard. This is usually not a problem unless we get a man chicken. There is a specific Arabic word for male chicken but we always forget it so how we say it in Arabic is literally translated as man chicken. Now a man chicken doesn't pose much of a problem unless you don't like getting woken up at 5am....which I don't!
Sometimes we haven't planned to eat the chicken for a couple days so we have a few early morning wake ups by cockadoodle dooing. Our guards have come to learn an important rule of the house. If we have a couple chickens, always choose to kill the man chicken first....we need all the sleep we can get.

Elephant Rock

Ok right after I finished that rather depressing blog, I thought of something fun that happened recently. On New Year’s Day (happy 2010 by the way), a group of us made the 2-hour drive to elephant rock. I had heard about this rock shaped like an elephant ever since I arrived here. I figured you could just walk up to the rock, take a few pictures, and head back. Like a lot of time…my expectations were completely wrong.
To get up to the elephant part of the rock…you have to climb. So I’m looking up at this rather steep rock face, and my first thought is how am I gonna do this in an ankle length skirt and flip flops. Right after that thought, I made myself rally like when you have a full count and runners on base, or when it’s game point, your serve, and you know everyone in the gym is thinking don’t put the ball in the middle of the net and choke on us now. So I begin the climb in my flip-flops and carrying a bag with my camera in it. A local boy starts the climb with me and about every 30secs asks me for money or a gift…not exactly what you need when you’re trying to rock climb. It didn’t take me long to see that my slippery flip-flops were not gonna help me out at all, so they had to come off and go in my bag. After all, I live in the desert of Africa...who needs shoes?? After some tense moments and heavy breathing I made it to the top, which is actually at the base of the elephant’s trunk. It was like reaching the end of any other summit…beautiful, rewarding, and totally worth it. I hung out at the top for a little while, still ignoring the kid asking for money. Unfortunately, there always comes the time when you have to go back down. The only way down safely is to sit down and scoot yourself along the steep parts, and remember…I’m in a skirt and it’s windy on top of a big rock. I’m sure the local kids ran home and told how much of the white girl’s legs they saw, but it was a fun day nonetheless.

I've Become a Blogging Slacker

So I looked at my blog today, like any other person would look at it. I went straight to the website. I realized that I hadn’t put anything up here since November…awful. I heard that happens….you get really excited about a blog and then before you know it, it becomes a chore that you ignore. Guess that happens with a lot of things in life. Well I guess apologies are in order to maybe the 5 people including my mom who read this. Those few people have probably given up even checking this, but I will try to do better…promise.
So life in the desert is becoming like life anywhere. It’s becoming normal, routine, and even mundane at times. It’s weird to think about living in the desert, running a generator, getting your guard to kill a chicken for dinner, fighting your way through the market to buy veggies, and speaking Arabic is becoming mundane. I don’t know if that means I’m really acclimating to the world around me, or if I’m just not paying enough attention.

At Last !!

So this is about the time of year here where it should be cooling down a little. When I say this I mean it's 80 degrees in the heat of the day instead of 120. I've been asking people almost everyday when the cold weather is coming. They just kinda laugh and pick a day out of their head to make me feel better. Well about 4am this morning I woke up and I was actually cold!! I had to put covers on!! Granted it was only one sheet, but it still counts after months of sweating myself to sleep. At work this morning everyone was asking if I was happy because the weather was so much cooler. Bring on the cool season!!

Things I've learned after a year in Africa

Ok, so I did a blog like this at 6 months...and all those lessons still really apply..but I have some more, so here we go:

1. I can actually make it a year in Africa...sometimes that still really surprises me.
2. I can make an entire cake from scratch....with close supervision from roommates.
3. Take it one day at a time...more than that is too much to think about.
4. Sometimes people have to call you out on your crap.
5. Living with people....even really amazing people takes a lot of grace
6. I read a lot more now.
7. I'm trying to become more considerate...I live with REALLY considerate people so I'm trying to let them rub off on me.
8. I can become genuine friends with someone who is completely different from me...I mean opposite ends of the spectrum different.
9. Things are gonna change...even if you don't want them to.
10. Goodbyes are hard and I am not good at them.
11. People back home are unforgettable
12. Learning lessons are hard and sometimes I go through them kicking and screaming.
13. I'm thankful I know people who are doing this same thing in different places.
14. Things have a way of working out....even if it's not a way we thought of or wanted.
15. Vacations are awesome!!
16. I'm ready to see my family, eat a burrito, and visit the beach!!
17. I think I'm still gonna be processing lessons learned from this experience years after I get back.
18.I really miss concerts-- Matt and Dave....in 9 months here I come!!
19. There is only One who can sustain me...Him and no one else.
20. Traveling is amazing and I want to do more of it.
21. So many more lessons to go...

everything's a process

Here's a step by step guide on how to fill a generator with gas:
Step 1: Get the fuel pump out of storge
Step 2: Put the fuel pump into the barrel of gas


Step 3: Place the tube from the fuel pump into the gas tank of the generator
Step 4: Start pumping


Step 5: Keep pumping
Step 6: Check the level of gas in the tank to see how close you are to being done.

Step 7: Continue pumpingStep 8: Take the pump out of the barrel and put it back in the storage room

Step 9: Do a little dance because you're finally done
Step 10: Wash your hands because they've gotten really gross by this point

Becoming Normal

Well I've lived in Africa for almost a year, which is crazy to think about. There are a few things that have become a part of my daily routine here that would be ridiculous to think about doing or seeing in the states:
- Untangling goats: throughout the day they get twisted around their posts and each other until they can't move and you have to go help them out.
- Being stared at: there comes a point when you don't really notice anymore
- Staring at white people: I know it sounds insane, but I'm not used to seeing a lot of them, so when I do, I tend to stare too
- Animal Parts: whether it be a skull, some hooves, random bones, or a hide, you usually can see it daily on the street
- Sweating: waking up sweating, falling asleep sweating, sweating in the shower...sweating all the time
- Smelling: refer to above...deodorant just doesn't cut it most days
- Being hit up for gifts: every kid on the street asks repeatedly for a gift...I'm pretty awesome at drowning them out.
- Dodging cows: about 5 in the evening....watch out because the cows are literally coming home and take up most of the street.
- Bugs: they're everywhere...you just deal with it
- Eating with my hands: utensils are over rated and I apologize to anyone who eats with me right after I return...old habits die hard
- Cucumbers, Peanut Butter, and hot pepper: don't knock the combo until you try it