Turning 23 in Africa!!

Well, yesterday (June 15th) was my 23rd birthday. My first birthday here in Africa. My teammates made the day very special for me. They made a cake and we played Taboo for a while. The cake actually had 23 candles on it!! I felt very old seeing the top of the cake covered with candles! You know you're in Africa when you have to blow out the candles quickly because they melt so much faster here and so wax begins dripping on the cake!! You can see the picture of the cake and me blowing out my candles (all in one blow, too!!)!
















The day was fun, despite the fact I still had to go to language class. Our teacher told me that I was the boss of class that day since it was birthday. Unfortunately, "Class hanti" (class over) wasn't an option, even for the boss!

Over all, it was great day!! What a great way to spend a birthday - celebrating in Africa!!

The view from my moto...

Well, it's been a while since I've written. Sorry about that. Much has been going on in life since we got back from our trip out East to see our new homes. We've heard that work is getting done on our house and we are anxious to move in!

One of the major new developments lately is that we have now received our motos. For those of you who do not know what a "moto" is, let me try to give you a picture. It's basically a small motorcycle with not quite as much power behind it. At first, I'm sure they look a little silly for anyone used to seeing the larger motorcycles in the states. My first moto lesson went very well. I was quite afraid at first but after the first time I rode it, it became much easier and I became much more comfortable. At one point, as I was driving down the road, I heard a loud horn behind me and before I knew it, I was being passed by another (much faster) moto. It was a little intimidating being passed on my moto but I made it safely home just the same. We do have helmets that we wear although they seem a little ridiculous looking. They are quite huge but I suppose that's good...they'll protect us.

We even took an afternoon to go practice riding around in sand - that's how we will be getting to our villages and around here, sand is a unavoidable thing. It's quite an experience, I must say, riding in sand. The best thing to do is to keep going so you don't get stuck. But, of course, I was quite afraid the first time I hit sand and really began to wobble so I stopped....and, well I got stuck. But getting out isn't as bad as it may seem. Although the little boys riding by on the donkey cart laughing didn't really help matters much....

We've been doing lots of shopping and making various trips to market getting everything we will need for our house when we move. It's been quite fun and quite exhausting as well. Picking out curtains and dishes doesn't seem like it would be exhausting but when you have to do it in a store that is probably hotter than outside and in a language you aren't really familiar with, it begins to get tiring a lot faster. I got a package the other day and one of the things was wrapped in a Wal-Mart sack. Ahhh....Wal-Mart. How I miss one-stop shopping some days!!!

Hopefully I'll soon have some pictures of my moto experiences to show you. I'm sure you'll find them interesting!!