We spent Sat. afternoon visiting with several other missionaries and their families. The kids had a wonderful time, making many new friends. There were about 30 kids there. It was a great place to make some connections. We had also been able to make a connection through this group’s email chain for the purchase of 2 new dogs-boxers to be exact. Why 2? Because it was the only way they would sell them. They came from the states 7 yrs ago as pups and have been together ever since. A male and a female, they have been trained. The female name is Eve, she is kind of like a big teddy bear. Kelly thinks she looks a little like a pig. She likes to lay by the veranda door. Elijah is the other one. He is all muscle. People do stop in there tracks when they see him. The guy we got him from said we would have to let him know who is boss-today he tried to nip me and grabbed my arm. I got a stick and let him know I was in charge. And ever since then, he hasn’t left my side. He is the typical dominant male trying to assert his authority (the dog, not me!). Both dogs have been great with the kids. They are mainly outdoor dogs, but we let them come in. We awoke to the dogs patrolling inside the house to be sure everyone was okay. Boy, do they snore. Oh yeah-and slobber too. The Africans said they didn’t know we were going to get lions!
The guy with the dogs also volunteered to help show Brian around and help get some things done. Its amazing-here “on the ground” everyone is friendly and answers questions and likes to help. Not the experience we have had with the people on the stateside. It was almost like they didn’t want you to know any of their “secrets” so they wouldn’t answer questions. We still need to change registration on the truck, get my Zambian driver’s license (Kelly doesn’t plan to drive ANYTIME soon), get alien registration cards, go to the embassy and register, go to the firearms register, and still get some more supplies for the house. So any help he can give is great. As he said, someone did it for him; he wants to help others too.
Gloria loaded us up with a bunch of dry food/mixes. One of the things was whipped topping (cool whip). Must not be able to get it around here! Kel didn’t know what to make, so she made some vanilla pudding she found in the container and made up cool whip to put on it (She also made ultimate fudge brownies, which ended up being cooked on charcoal because it was too late in the day for the solar oven, and they got burnt. But they were all gone too!). She only made a half batch of the topping, but she could have made up the whole thing-they really ate it up!!
Pulled off the gator, motorcycle, and four-wheeler from the school’s container today. Put the key in-no start-on any of it. Batteries are dead on everything-how I wished I had brought my battery charger. BUT, after jumping them, none of them held a charge anyway. Sure wish I had someone here who knew more about engines than I do. I really get nervous when the Africans start working on the engine.
The other day we had a little trouble with the truck. After letting it idle for a while in the parking lot, I turned it off to go find Kel, and then I saw here coming. I went to restart it and…nothing. We figured it went into vapor lock from being hot, then off, then starting right away again. There is a time –relay delay thing when you start it-have to turn the key, and then wait 15 seconds or so, and then start. Well, I didn’t do that. But the Africans always think it is the battery, “Do you need jumper cables boss?” And once your hood is up, you get lots of help. There was actually a group of guys who knew what to do. They jumped the battery and threw diesel on the air manifold and we got it going. THANK GOD! We were 2 hours from the school, sitting in the shopping mall parking lot at 3:30 in the afternoon. I need to find a book for the vehicle so I can try to have a little idea about it. The kids were whining of course, it was hot. We just told them the only talking we wanted to hear was them praying!
Africans also love to rev motors for some reason. No idea why. Once they got the truck going, the guy reved and reved and reved. Finally Curtiss (the missionary with the dogs who came to help, yelled at them to stop).
I got some of the glass in the windows-but found out they cut them all wrong. Yeah. I was also told I need to use more putty on the glass. I think the Africans use about four times too much. We will eventually have screens, but like I said, they design is so bad. Most Africans have nice screens until the bottom where the up/close lever is. You can’t have a screen if you want to use the lever. I will have to make screens that slide up and down.
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