Sorry, a new blog after 2 months

Hello everyone, I'm sorry, I know that it has been a while. I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I promise. However, I have been busy and there has been a serious lack of internet. I hope that everything is going well at home, with the bizarre October snowstorms and all that.

The month of September passed by very quickly as I jumped back into the life here. My work load has increased, so that everyday I'm power walking all over my village getting from place to place. Friends of mine have been scolding me saying that I've disappeared, when in reality, I've just been working. A very bizarre thing for many people in my village. To be busy with work? really?  One thing is for sure though, I've gotten past the adjustment phase and am fully involved in the life of my village. Though, I still have the random times when I think, wow, my life is weird.

Mondays, I still try to head to the Health Center to assist with the culinary demonstrations and talking to the mothers about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding. Mondays were once my hard days; the longest days of the week by far. However, now its practically my day off. I now teach English at the High School. Yup, I caved. The English professor assigned to the high school in Djohong never came back. It is always interesting to me the effect that Djohong has on people who aren't from here. Yet for Caleb and I, the people who are really not from here, we complain the least. Its kind of ironic. They complain about the lack of cell phone service, communication in general, the difficulties of travel, scarcity of water and food, etc. I listen to these complaints, and then just smile. Sometimes, depending on my mood that day,  I say that it isn't that bad and if they stopped complaining they'd probably adjust to the village life faster. In other words, suck it up. I don't think they appreciate that response, but oh well.

So anyway, I do teach an hour a day, 4 days a week. I also have a reproductive health group with teenage girls, the health club at the high school, and the womens and mens groups. The library project is still going on as well. In fact, it has become regional. We are now trying to find books for around 6 other villages. It is surprising how difficult it is to find books written in French haha.

October went by quickly as well. Though I wasn't able to get as much work done due to being a little sick. In general, October was a little different. For one, I was heading back to Djohong quickly before the elections (We were required to be in our village for a certain number of days before and after the elections for safety reasons), and was sitting in the back of the bus. I was fairly comfortable, but then the bus stopped and took on a new passenger. A nice, fat goat was now my neighbor, or more precisely, the goat was put underneath my seat. This hindered my comfort a bit since I didn't really like using it as a foot rest. Then the bus broke down and the driver moved me to the front near him, which normally I'd decline, but this time I happily accepted. Then the bus broke down again, so I wandered around the bus making friends. It is very easy talking to people when everybody has the same thing to complain about- how terrible the bus ride is, how terrible the roads are, weather, etc. Then the bus was up and running again, and we were so close to Djohong, 7 kilometers outside, when our bus got into a minor accident. The axle broke as a result, which meant that we were stuck where we were. After sitting around for 45 minutes, a moto driver passed by. One man pounced on this opportunity and left. I was hesitant because I had another bag on top of the car which i couldnt retrieve due to the broken axle and general instability of the car. However, after waiting some more and another moto driver arriving, the driver of my car assured me that he would get to Djohong by the end of today and that I should get on the moto with another woman. So I took the moto to Djohong, and upon arrival told my friends that my bag was still with my car. When I entered Bah-Iya's house, I saw the man who took the first moto. We acknowledged each other with huge smiles and nods. Bah-Iya assured me that we'rd get my bag back. After 3 days, due to elections, I did get my bag back with everything in it, which was very lucky and nice of the driver.

By the way, elections passed smoothly. The man who has been president for over 30 years was elected again with very little reaction from the people. All of the businesses were closed that day, soldiers lounged around, and overall, it was probably the most quiet day I've seen. Granted, I'm in a tiny village in the bush so there may have been activity elsewhere, but from what I saw it was very calm.

The following week, I got sick. I didn't think I was that sick, or at least I was telling myself that I wasn't, so I continued walking to the high school and teaching. After teaching, I'd usually go back to my house and sleep for the rest of the day. After a few days of this and lack of eating, I decided to get the malaria test taken at the hospital. And voila, malaria again. But it does show you that it can't be THAT bad if I was still able to walk 20 minutes there and back to the high school, including teaching 45 students for an hour. Though, after it was confirmed that I did have malaria, I took it easy and hibernated in my house for 2 days or so. After the medicine and hermit-like life for a few days, I was as good as new.
The following week I was able to work again, even made a health jeopardy review game for my womens and mens groups that went over well.

Anyway, I miss everyone and I hope that everyone celebrated Halloween in style. Due to my unusual October, I missed Halloween celebrations, so I will live vicariously when I hear your stories. Things are good here, and I hope things are well at home!