The Joys of Easter in Africa

Thelma Here.

Thursday started off with laziness again.  I looked at Louise.  Louise looked at me.  We said – nah – let’s not go in today!  So study day no. 2 in the week.  Fantastic.  We spent the morning lounging around, reading, checking things on the internet etc.  Then Sam walks into our room around 12 and tells us that we have Friday and Monday off as holidays from the hospital!  Lovely, a 6 day hiatus from working…yet again.   Now this is where things really start to get interesting – In the evening I introduced the boys to a little thing called Downton Abbey.  At first I thought they might not like it, but hey – got to give it a try!  Oh – one episode down and they are begging for more!  Hooray for Downton!  The evening ended with the power being shut off and we couldn’t make dinner.  I love Africa.

Friday came.  No power...  still.  Lovely.  Afternoon arrived, still no power.  Amazing.  At this point I was freaking out because it is was a holiday, and I was deathly afraid that we wouldn’t have power all weekend!  So, we went to Union Café to charge my laptop so we could watch more Downton (and to get some lunch.)  Finally we came back home and found that we had power!  Yay!  The 20 hr stretch of being powerless was over!  Downton Abbey here we come!  After 2 episodes, some dinner and conversation, we went to bed.

Saturday was eventless.  Besides another episode of Downton that is!  Oh – and the fact that Louise and I decided to leave Africa a week early and go to Thailand so we could make it for Songkran (the water festival).  :D  Changing the tickets was free if you can believe that!

Sunday.  What can I say about Easter Sunday.  Oh yeah!  We were invited over to Alfred’s house.  He’s a local taxi driver who loves to have “friends” over for meals.  We thought – not doing anything else right?!?  Before that though, Louise needed an Easter haircut.  We were originally going to do the clippers for the whole thing, but I ended up cutting the majority with scissors!  It looks wonderful if I do say so myself!  First time I’ve ever cut hair.  That’s a lie – when I was younger I tried to cut my bangs and it went horribly, horribly wrong…  Anyways, we had planned on being picked up at 3.  Nope.  Alfred came at 1.  I had not showered, so I sprinted into the shower for the fastest washing in history!  Alfred’s house was an interesting experience.  He drops us off at the door, his wife shuttles us into the living room where we sit on the couch.  I was thinking, why is it hot when I look up?  Oh – that would be the metal roof heating up in the midday sun.  Lovely.  Then one of his kid’s named Romana came in and talked to us for a few minutes.  Then his other kids came and introduced themselves.  All this time – where is Alfred?  He’s off doing a taxi run.  So for the majority of the day we were just sitting in a living room watching African music videos (Sam was watching a raunchy Swahili cartoon…) whilst the man who invited us was absent.  Lovely.  But then lunch came!  Alfred’s wife made us some Pilau and it was delicious!  Yum!  Eventually Alfred came back, but told us he had to leave again at 4:30 to take someone to the airport.  We caught a ride with him back to the compound and gave him our sincerest thanks for the day.  Downton Abbey strikes again!  This time we finished the series and I keep wishing I had brought season 2 with me.  L

On Monday we had had enough of the nothingness – so we tried to hit up the hospital for something to do.  Denied.  Nothing going on yet again.  So then we headed up to the KCMC college to steal some wifi to do some facebook chatting (that’s for you Ingrid #1 J).  We went to salzburger café for dinner.  Delicious!

Now Tuesday is where the magic of Africa really happens again.  I woke up with tons of mosquito bites because there was a rogue one in my net I think.  Not the best part.  I noticed that my right eye felt kind of weird.  Hmm.  What could that be?!?!  Oh – it was a freaking mosquito bite just below my lower eyelid causing enough swelling to impair my vision!  I looked like I had gotten in a bar fight!  Lovely.  So here we are, in the middle of Tuesday, I’m blogging and I still can’t see very well below horizontal.  Fantastic.  Have I mentioned that I love Africa?