Random Happening from Our Week

There are moments when I take a step back from things that happen during our days here when I realize, “wow, this totally would not be normal in other contexts”. Below is a list of some things that happened this week. Some are not “random” per say, but they add to the week as a whole.

1. I had a language lesson on Monday. After the lesson, I asked Mary if we could change our lesson time to 10:00 am due to the extremely hot temperatures in the afternoon (I bike to town and am trying to avoid biking during the middle of the day). She agreed and we decided to meet at 10:00 on Wednesday morning. When I got to the market at 10 on Wednesday, Mary was not there. I asked her friends where she was and they told me that she went to Juba! Juba is South Sudan’s capital and it is about 7 hours away this time of year. It looks like language lessons with Mary will be cancelled for the rest of the week…

They wouldn't pose for the picture, but
here is the momma and baby goat

2. On my way to the Internet last night, I walked by our neighbor’s house. They were all yelling for someone to bring something to show me. I waited a minute and they showed me a baby goat! The goat was born that very day. I didn’t realize that baby goats can walk the day they are born! It was really cute!

3. On that same walk to the Internet, I passed a boy who was shooting birds in trees with his slingshot. He told me that he had shot two birds already. I asked where he put the birds and he proceeded to pull the birds OUT OF HIS POCKET… ! One of them was dead and the other was a tiny yellow bird that was still alive. It was super random to me, but it was fun to see the kid’s excitement about his accomplishments.

4. While a few of use were at the Internet that same night, there was a tiny puppy outside squealing. We often have people trying to sell us animals. Yesterday, a few boys came with this tiny, super adorable puppy to sell. We told them that we did not want the puppy. Well, I guess they also did not want the puppy because they LEFT HIM all alone at the office. He was squealing and terrified because he had nowhere to go. He finally calmed down and we think someone ending up taking him, but we felt really bad for him in the meantime. 

The shower area that is being built onto our tukul

5. Our tukul has been under construction this week as we are having an extra “pod” added to our house with a shower in it. We are very excited to be able to have our own shower in our house soon. The workers have worked extremely efficiently and should be finished with the shower on Monday. They build the “pod” this week and then will bust out part of the wall in our bedroom to connect the shower room to our house.

6. I made tortilla this week so that we could have quesadillas. As I was rolling out the dough to make the tortillas, I noticed that there were WORMS in the dough from the flour that I used.  The flour here has been fine, so I have not had to sift it before using it, however, apparently that was not the case this week. To make a long story short, my wonderful husband whipped out his tiny tweezers from his pocketknife and picked out each worm from the batter. He must have picked out dozens of worms. Regardless, I had a hard time enjoying the delicious quesadillas that night…

7. Today in the market, I almost accidentally agreed to allow someone to be Will’s second wife today. Apparently I need to keep studying Moru a bit more… ;). She asked in Moru how my husband was. I responded that he was very good. I asked her how her husband was and she said she didn’t have one. Then she asked if he had only one wife. I said yes (all still in Moru, are you impressed??). But then it went downhill when she asked something about my husband and the number two. I said yes. She laughed. I realized what happened and started waving my hands emphatically saying, “MALE KO! MALE KO!” Meaning, “I don’t want, I don’t want!”. Now everyone was laughing. I joined them in laughing and then said goodbye and she responded with, “Please, greet our husband”…. Haha! Oh Lord, please help me learn this language soon!

8. It has been between 108-110 everyday this week. So in the midst of all of the above stories has been us trying to cope with the heat. As I said in my last post, we are still trying to find a good rhythm and figure out how to manage in the high temperatures when all we can think about is how much we miss air-conditioning, ice cream and swimming pools.  Please join us in praying that God will give us strength to endure this hot season.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the small glimpse into our week. Happy weekend :)!