The whole month of Feb

By the time you read this we will have spent our first whole month out in the village. Currently I am writing this from our house (we have been out here for 3 weeks now). It rained last night, a cold south wind blew in and dropped the temp down to 68F this morning and its only been a high of 80F today. This might not seem such a big deal to most but after the last 2 weeks with the temps over 100F and for a week over 110F, its a welcomed break. I looked back on my journal and the highest temp was 112F and that night it had only cooled down to 110F in the house at 8:30pm. I had heard it said (and now I totally agree), "the heat is better as long as there is a breeze." There were days when the air was so still and not a sound could be heard and the sweat would just drip off of you, I have never experience that kind of sweating, all I was doing was sitting still.

That being said, we have done very well in the heat, we have fans in the house and having a no complaining attitude goes a long way. I will say though the heat it does have its positives, its been too hot and dry for bugs, I never have to dry my dishes and by the time I get all the laundry hung most of it is dry and I can take it back down again, I don't have to heat water for washing dishes or baths, we hardly eat  it's a perfect weight loss plan. Also it's been sunny so we are getting lots of vit D and finally after 5 months of being sick, we are healthy! The heat in a lot of ways makes life easier.

In other news, we have been working on some projects for the house, like getting it better sealed up so the opossum rat, large centipedes, lizards and huge spiders can't come inside. Jon built some storage shelves, I rearranged the furniture to make more space and thanks to pintrest converted an old dresser into a shelf. We brought out the deep freezer, which has been the most awesome thing of all. Being able to double a batch of muffins and freeze it, cook a big pot of strew and divide it into 3 meals to freeze, has freed me up in so many ways. Not to mention, the unlimited ice we can make which makes drinking so much better when the tap water comes out at 100F.

I started our new school year with the kids beginning of Feb. Jamen is in second grade this year and Jade is in kindergarten. I am using all new material this year and I was the most nervous the first day of school. But the kids are liking everything so far and so am I. Jon has dived head first into learning the language and he is loving it! He's been sharing all he's learning with me and our coworkers have also been a weather of information.

Among other things I am still learning how life works out here, between the power going out (it can be anywhere from 9 hours to 15 min) and dealing with limited water on cloudy days or knowing when is the best day to do laundry. Its been so dry and hot here, there hasn't been enough rain for the peoples crops to grow and the village cisterns have been dry for a while. People come asking for food, water and ice, I am learning that life can be very hard out here. But I am also learning that God has provided food that grows among the thorns (which seem to cover every inch of the land out here) and we have been able to help gather wild beans for our friends and they are able to hunt the wild animals.

I think too we have had our first bout of culture shock even though we are in the same country, life and the people are different here.

Also for fun I have planted an "herb garden", currently I have sunflowers, anise, moringa, yellow flowers, dill and aloe growing. It's something I enjoy and it's nice to have a hobbie.



So that's been our first month, looking forward to the adventure of this month!