catching up

I'm sorry for falling behind in my blogging and correspondance already! it's hard to believe it was just a month ago that i left Canada! so much has happened in that time, and yet i am finding it hard to think of something to write about. as i've now settled into the schedule things here seem routine and 'normal' now.
one thing that i am very grateful for is that my allergies seem to have settled down a little. i was able to get a new pillow, mattress and mosquito net and the combination of these seems to have improved the situation, at least it's more manageable. many of the staff and students here seems to be battling chest colds but as
of yet i haven't caught that which is nice as the allergies were all i could handle! thankfully our little school seems to have been able to avoid the H1N1 flu which seems to have made it's way over here to other mission schools. For those who know of Rift Valley Academy in Kenya, please pray for the staff and students there as
many seem to have caught the H1N1.

The last few days the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! We've had a few dark clouds threaten and some loud rumbling thunder, but it has blown over before dumping the rain on us. This was nice for the children who were able to enjoy a lot of time down at the pool and the river this weekend. I myself also enjoyed relaxing and
cooling off down at the pool. I've decided it's a great way to get excercise and aim to get in as many laps as possible while the rain holds off! For those of you who don't know the Sakeji pool is a nice (nearly) olympic sized pool. it is fed from the river and not chylorinated (sp?) so it's sort of a cross between swimming in a pool
and swimming in a lake. :) they have fixed it up nicely since the last time i was here. one of the improvements was to put some mesh screens in the channel making it nearly impossible for snakes and other critters to 'accidently' appear in the pool. this makes me feel a lot better as last time i swam here i ended up sharing the pool
with a poisonous snake (for about 30 seconds!) now i don't have to worry about that.

so what else is new,let me think... oh yes! i'm taking Lunda lessons! As i'm not as good at picking up languages as my brother chris, this is taking me a little longer than i would like it to, but i think part of my problem is that i'm too shy to try the new words that i have learned. Yesterday at church Lina and I decided to put some
of our new words to use and were rewarded with many smiles and exclamations of joy. the people were tickled pink that we were at least trying to learn their language. they laugh at you when you make mistakes, but are quick to point out what you have said wrong and help you with correct pronounciation etc.

well, i was going to write a few more things but a big storm just blew in and i need to unplug my computer. more to come!