February 27, 2008
an hour… or so i thought!
we traveled yesterday to a village 25 miles from kabala. i was planning an hour in my mind… i didn’t expect that the roads would make the michigan forest service roads look like a cake walk: 25 miles took 3.5 hours! and we sat with the villagers – all the opinion leaders of the village, there were about 20 or so of them, one from each 6-7 homes – for a while, seeing their work from the previous day and that morning. they were taking part in a community development training. there were muslims and christians, imams and pastors, and tho there may have been conflict or friction between them before, this training creates a space for them to come to agreement and respect each other in the process. at the beginning of their time together, they outlined the norms they would function by. i’d like to share those with you. these are not trainer-imposed, but participant decided:
1. respect each others view
2. we should respect time
3. talk one after the other
4. listen to one another
5. talk or leave after permission
6. no smoking
7. no sleeping
8. no side talks
9. don’t spit on the floor
10. no shouting on others
11. no fighting
12. don’t laugh at others
13. use no abusive language
14. no side attraction
they were to outline their 6-month community plan after we left. i’m excited to hear what they plan…
after sitting with them for a while and sharing their food (especially loved the fresh bananas!), we turned around and made our way back to kabala. most travel on this road is done on foot or on motorcycle, so going by truck is difficult. many places have deep ruts from being washed out in the rainy season. we had just enough time for a short walk in town to stretch our legs and get blood moving before nightfall.
this morning i think we’re staying at the office to discuss things and then tomorrow we’re off back to freetown and the airport… another 7 hours in the car!
your host for this episode : carrie; 04:06 AM | Comments (1)
February 26, 2008
Meanwhile…
I have been keeping busy while Carrie is away, slaving away cleaning the house, shoveling the mounds of snow… ok so that’s not entirely true. Ok so it’s not true at all. But I have been keeping busy.
First I finished the broom closet… ok so it still needs a little touch-up painting, but other than that it is done.
Last tuesday night I left for Da UP for a while. First was 3 days of seminars, not nearly so bad as it sounds, most of them were interesting, at least to me.
After the conference, and all the joys of staying at the casino (one of the most depressing places I can think of, but that is a different rant for a different post) I headed over to South Range to see our friends Matt and Vicky.
Matt and I went down to the Mine site to get some things, they had a little bit of snow about 3 feet on the roof of the mobile home.
This fall I heard that the ski resort at the porcupine mountains had added back-country style skiing, accessed by Snow Cat. I have wanted to ride in a Snow Cat for a long time, and while I did get a short ride in one on our honeymoon, it wasn’t really a good thing (seeing as it was being used for and ambulance, because Carrie was hurt. As a side note, any of you out there getting married a small piece of advice, don’t try new sports on your honeymoon). In any case, they have Snow Cat skiing, I want to go Snow Cat skiing, it was a perfect match.
Fortunately it was my friend Matt that I can blame for my taste in skiing, un-groomed runs through glades, and he also has wanted to ride in a Snow Cat, so it didn’t take much convincing to get him to go with me.
The snow conditions were perfect, the mountain was uncrowded, the sky was crystal clear, and the views were amazing. The pictures do not do it justice.
On Sunday we went tromping around the woods behind the house in snowshoes, clearing branches to make a path so that vicky could go XC Skiing back there.
In all it was a great weekend, but I did really miss sharing it.
The drive home was not too bad, I managed to get an e-audio book from the library downloaded to my phone to listen to on the drive home. A 10 hour drive alone is much better when your mind is being occupied, in fact I was a little disappointed that my drive was done before my book.
This week I am afraid it is just work, and cleaning the house so that It will be clean when Carrie gets home… but I may find time to sneak out and kill a wabbit…
your host for this episode : dan; 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
February 22, 2008
meetings are done!
and most of the team is leaving soon or has already left. i’ll be in a meeting with the regional director and the sierra leone intern in an hour and a half. i might try to get out a bit before that time and explore some but otherwise, i have tomorrow to “shop” and sightsee. kermit will have a photo shoot on gory island tomorrow and we’ll do some shopping.
melissa and i will then leave sunday midday for freetown and “upcountry”. i believe that we will be out of internet range for the duration of next week – so have no fear if you don’t hear from me. in fact i may not even post tomorrow night because of internet availability… so don’t plan on it!
i’ve been learning so much, and loving the interaction with the staff here. it’s been indeed very good to put faces with names with projects and programs.
i am fully recovered from my respiratory/bronchial problems i was having the last couple of weeks in GR, but i had a bout of food poisoning wednesday night into thursday. funny too, because i ate the same ham and cheese omelette wednesday as i did on tuesday… but it tasted a bit off and seemed a bit undercooked. so maybe that was it. after a couple of violent episodes of vomiting in the night that destroyed the toilet-room and some diareahha (hey, we’ve all been overseas, it’s ok to talk about bodily functions, right?) on thursday, and lots of sleep (like hardly moving before 3pm) thursday and last night, i’m back to normal. or at least as normal as i’ve ever been!
salaam one and all! see you lay-ta!
your host for this episode : carrie; 09:53 AM | Comments (1)
February 19, 2008
bumped to business class
Have you ever had the experience of getting bumped to first/business class? It happened to me, last night. Let me tell you about it.
After a lovely 36 hours of layover in Casablanca with my friends (ahem, in the rain), Cindy brought me to the airport to check in for my flight. We were just about right on time to check in with the appropriate amount of time, but as I kept getting the run around about where to re-claim my bags and how, it kept getting closer to the time i should be boarding, and I hadn’t even checked in yet! At 6pm, 1h20minutes before takeoff I was at the counter with my bags. And I was told that I was on the wait list because the flight was full.
What?! Did I understand incorrectly? I had done everything in french up to this point, so I asked her in English. And she said Wait List. How could that be? I’d been checked in since GRR on Saturday Morning! I was politely told to stand aside for 15 minutes and then they would know. 15 minutes go by, I check with her again, and still nothing. A crowd was gathering – 15 of us in all. They told me that I could wait until “tomorrow” or go on the 11pm flight. But I have a meeting in the morning, I said. “We’ll see what we can do.”
I went and sat down with Cindy – praise God she was still with me! – and had a coca in the cafe across the lobby. I came back, another 15 minutes later and waited at the counter. A man came by and took my name, and another 10 minutes went by. Then he walks by me, not looking at me, with a ticket in hand, and walks to another ticketing agent. On his way back by, he says “go see the monsieur” (we think, b/c it was not at all loudly). So I walked up to the counter and stood next to the guys already waiting there. For some reason my name was on the ticket. He processed me, processed my bags, gave me the boarding pass, and motioned me over toward the security gates.
Walking over to the checkpoint, I was looking to see what seat I was in, expecting to see 47-J or something… and I saw 3C. 03-C. Huh?? I was the last person on the plane, at 3 minutes to posted departure, and 3C was occupied, as were all the overhead bins for my carry on suitcase and the laptop i was carrying. the guy in my seat was from 2-A, and would prefer to sit next to his fiancee than the guy in 2-C, thank you very much, so I sat in 2-A. 20 minutes and a glass of apple juice later we’re still at the gate, not yet pulled away and they announce that we’re having some technical difficulties and they’re having someone come down and inspect… another 20 minutes and another glass of apple juice later they announce that we’ll be de-planing until they can figure out what to do.
And so we deplane. I exit into the terminal and stand there, looking around for where to sit and wait. they guy from 2-C stops and asks if i have a “right to the VIP lounge”. No, of course, but he has the right to invite one other so I could join him if I wanted. Y’all ever been in the VIP lounge? There was an espresso bar, juice bar, and a buffet of beautiful little french pastries. For crying out loud.
Two and a half hours later we were invited to reboard a new plane.
Dinner made me weep. Real silverware, real glasses, real plates, and three courses, unless you count dessert. Foie gras (which I hate but the fig chutney was great), delicious chicken, A CHEESE COURSE, then they cleared away the linens and dishes and ten minutes later came around with coffee and dessert.
i slept like a baby after dinner, in my lazyboy. arrived at 1:45AM in dakar, took me an hour to get through passport control and baggage claim and finally out through customs and the mob waiting outside. in the process of getting to my room (shared with melissa) i woke up people in three rooms b/c the guy at the desk told me room 575 and not 579 and my knocking woke up bulus and david t and the sywulkas and who knows who else! whoopsy…
meetings started at 8:30, with a lovely french breakfast of croissant, chocolat chaud, beurre et confiture. 
i’m a bit tired now, but going to push on through… it’s nearly 6 and meetings have just concluded for the day. back on again at 8:30.
your host for this episode : carrie; 10:02 AM | Comments (2)
February 17, 2008
friends in casablanca
greetings from casa
i arrived this morning, an hour ahead of schedule, and hit the ground running with friends! dave picked me up, we went back to their house, had a cup o jo with danielle and the kiddos, then paul and cindy and fam came over and we all went for lunch at this really schmancy place down by the corniche. i took some pretty cool pics but now the card doesn’t want to read in the computer. 
we think it’s because it was initialized on a mac and i tried to open it on a pc. anybody got advice on this?
here’s a couple from dave’s camera. kermit the frog makes a cameo appearance at rick’s cafe (modeled after the movie, not the other way around, i’m told), and if i get the card from my camera to read anywhere else, you can see his face too.
this is in the backyard at dave and danielle’s with me and all the kiddos… well, most of them anyway!
have i mentioned lately that i love my job?
your host for this episode : carrie; 04:31 PM | Comments (3)
February 06, 2008
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday today. From ashes did I come, to ashes will I return.
It’s not about me. It’s not about my life. Though I know – in my head if not always in my heart – that God loves me and that he has a plan, I also know that his plan for my life might not be all roses. Heck, it might not even be dandelions that have a bright spot but are otherwise thistly or pesky.
I know that even though the circumstances of my life may suck He knows what he’s doing and he’s working it to his glory. Even – or maybe especially – when it doesn’t feel like it.
Just like the story in the first book of Kings when the prophet Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume a (drenched) offering, when the prophets of Baal were trying all day to do the same of their god. When Yahweh sent fire in response to Elijah’s simple prayer and it licked up every scrap of the offering And all the water it had been drenched with, Elijah was on a high. He realized, he knew in his soul, that God was with him, that God was protecting him. And then he slaughtered all the 450 prophets of Baal.
But then Elijah heard that Jezebel – the queen who worshipped Baal and employed all those 450 prophets of Baal – was out to get him. The queen was out to get him and he turned tail and ran. He was afraid. Depressed and afraid, he asked God to just let him die rather than face the queen. God didn’t let him die, and he didn’t get rid of the queen either. But he strengthened Elijah and he ran for his life.
How is it that in one afternoon, in the matter of a few hours, Elijah could go from such a high to such a low? From feeling so close to God to feeling the lowest, most worthless being on earth, wanting just to curl up and die?
That is a question I do not have the answer to my friends, but it gives me comfort. Why? Because sometimes I feel the same way.
your host for this episode : carrie; 09:49 AM | Comments (0)