Africa Journal October 24

10/24/2013

Yesterday was a great day! Well...a mostly great day. I left early for my music class so that I would have time to get online before class started. That didn’t work out the way I planned, but it was a good thing I left early. We (Bintu came with me) almost made it to Parker Corner market before the motorcycle tire went flat, and I mean really flat. A couple motorcycle drivers stopped and helped us take it off. Then, I left Bintu to watch the bike and I got a ride to the junction to get the tire fixed. I was really worried about Bintu the whole time, but I just didn’t feel good about leaving the bike there unsupervised. Anyway, the guy at the repair shop found the leak and patched it up for only 50 LD. On the way back, it started to rain really hard, so we had to stop at the market to wait it out. I was worried about Bintu some more and I hoped that she found somewhere to hide from the rain.

While I waited, I took some pictures of the market. I got some really cool shots. Still, I am not a very patient person, so the wait seemed to take forever, even though it was probably only about ten minutes in reality.

When we got back to Bintu and the bike, I was relieved to see that she had hidden from the rain just fine and that the bike was still where we left it. The man who drove me to and from the repair shop helped me put the tire back on. I offered him some money for his trouble, but he refused it. That was kind of him. He didn’t even ask for my phone number in exchange so that he could pester me with calls and texts for months. He did recommend that we stop at the repair shop really quickly to make sure the bolt was on tight, which we did.

I stopped for gas about half way to the district center. I didn’t realize I was so low on money. After the lady who was selling gas had put the gas in my tank, I discovered I was 45 LD short. I felt really badly about it, and I promised her that I would bring her the rest within the next week. I want to show her that LDS women always repay kindness. I plan to bring her at least twice what I owe her. Unfortunately, there is not money currently in my bank account, so I have to call Mom or Dad to get more...but I’m out of minutes on my phone. Luckily, I discovered that Skype works, sometimes, when I use the wireless internet at the district center, so I can Skype them on Saturday.

Since Bintu and I left so early, we still got to the church an hour before music class was supposed to start. Mostly, it was a review day. I gave Robert his first song to work on, “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” which he picked up really quickly. Sister Godnore passed off “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and came really close to passing off “Twinkle Little Star”. I was really pleased to see that she has started to figure out songs on her own from her Hymns Made Easy book. My other students didn’t come until after five, when class is supposed to be over. Normally I would have taught them anyway, but yesterday I had more important things to do.

I used the internet to download House of Hades. Now, I’ve probably ranted about Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books before in this journal, but I’m going to do it again. I love those books! They are easily my favorite series to read, even above the Chronicles of Narnia. The last book Mark of Athena came in October last year. It has the worst cliff-hanger ending! I’ve been anxiously waiting for House of Hades for a whole year, but it also came out in October. Since I’m in Africa still, I didn’t think I’d get to read it until I get home in December, but my amazing boss, Eliza Jex, loaned it to me on Amazon, so I could download it onto my kindle and read it now. I seriously couldn’t put it down last night. I read until my kindle died...which happened around 12:30. Now, I’m frustrated because the van is gone, so I can’t charge my kindle. Normally, I would be able to charge it on the solar charger in Andy’s room, but since he’s visiting this week, he has the key, so no dice there. I’m using my laptop to charge it now, but I don’t think that’ll work very well. Still, it’s better than nothing. I mean, I can at least finish the chapter I’m in the middle of.

Another great thing happened when I was online yesterday. I got to talk to Stacie and Stephanie on Skype. It was amazing! I miss them so much, but actually seeing them helped. I also got to see Jax. Oh my goodness, he’s getting so big! The first thing Stacie said was “Wow! You’ve lost a lot of weight!” That made me happy because people here don’t really notice things like that. I mean, they’re all ridiculously skinny, so, even though I’ve lost weight, I’m still fat compared to them. I wished that I had more time to talk to them, but it was getting dark, so Bintu and I needed to get home.

It got dark before we got home. That made me nervous because the lights weren’t working on the motorcycle. I didn’t expect that because they worked fine last week. I had to drive really slowly and rely on my memory of the road to keep us safe. I still slid a bit, but we got home without crashing. I was exhausted by the time we got home, though. I mean, driving a motorcycle takes a lot of energy normally, but driving about 45 minutes in the sand is really taxing.

When Andy got home, he gave me some pretty bad news. We’ve been waiting to hear from Delta about his second suitcase, which had my blackberry in it. Well, they called and said that it’s lost. That really sucks, especially after getting all my other stuff stolen. It makes me want to guard my tablet with my life because it’s the only technology of mine that hasn’t been stolen. There’s no way I’m letting it out of my sight the rest of this trip. With luck, Andy’s insurance will pay to replace my phone, but I’m not feeling particularly optimistic about it. I guess I’ve lost faith in the whole replacing stolen items concept.

Speaking of stolen items, Andy and Rufus went to talk to the police again yesterday. Apparently, the incompetent officers haven’t even issued a warrant for Blamacee’s (The man who stole my laptop and other stuff) arrest yet. Seriously!? It’s been two months! Grrr! Well, they promised to have it done by the end of this week. Honestly, I have no faith in their promises anymore, and I’m sick of going to talk to them.

Andy is a really kind person. I think he should teach lessons to young men about how to treat people, particularly women. For my birthday he sent me this message: “Heather! Happy birthday. I’m happy you were born, and that you have chosen service as a way of life. God bless you today and always. You are loved because you are loving and loveable!” Then yesterday, at devotional, he talked to the kids about choices and choosing to have a good attitude when bad things happen that we can’t control. He used me as an example, which was a little embarrassing and a lot flattering. He talked about my reaction to hearing that my phone was lost. I didn’t think much about my reaction at the time. If he’d asked me, I probably couldn’t even tell him how I had reacted, but the kids who were around remembered. They said that I laughed at the news and said “It’s all right.” Andy said that my reaction says a lot about my character. I think it’s nice to know what other people think of me sometimes. I mean, getting a compliment like that from a man that I barely know makes me feel pretty good. He was also really sincere. If all guys knew how to be so observant and honest, well, that would be a miracle. No girl would ever have to feel unloved whether or not she has a boyfriend or husband. So boys, if you’re reading this, don’t be afraid to treat your female friends, and even your male friends, with sincere kindness. It’s not weird and it might just change that person’s life. Andy truly has changed mine.

Today has been pretty uneventful. Andy invited me to go with him to visit five villages where he’s doing water projects. I wanted to go. It would have been cool to see some new places. Still, I didn’t think it would be very responsible of me to cancel classes today just to satisfy my curiosity. I’m here to be a teacher, not a tourist. Besides, the kids have been doing better at attending classes this week. I shouldn’t discourage them by not attending classes myself. So instead of going with Andy, I did some painting. I’ll admit I wasn’t really motivated to work really hard on it. It’s super hot today, so I really just wanted to hide in my room where it’s cooler.

The kids should be arriving for their classes soon. I should probably get ready for them. There’s not much power left in my laptop anyway.