Muli Bwanji!

Muli Bwanji! (Hi, How are you)

Today, although home a lot, still seemed busy.  This morning we met with a man from the church in town who is in charge of a "company" (they aren't really companies here, but loosely that is what it is) that makes wood carvings of things.  INCREDIBLY talented. They organization has a lot to do with the orphanage and homeless shelters around and much of the profit goes there and they help in some way/shape/form.  We were with him at our house for about two hours.  Such beautiful pieces he made and it was really neat to be able to talk to him about his experience.  We are able to go see the shop where they work sometime this week.  It was be amazing to see how they are able to make the things they do.

After he left we relaxed and enjoyed the weather.  It seems like we are relaxing a lot.  I know.  We are doing prep work a lot too.  Our VBS (Vacation Bible School) starts on Monday and that will be every day for the next two weeks.  Right now is prep and getting situated.  We played a lot with the neighbor Naomi who is just so cute and LOVES repeating everything you do and say.  

Our Field Managers came early afternoon after we had made our lunch and we went through a lot for VBS.  Many phrases we would use in the villages with the people, practiced some conversation; Hi, how are you, very well thank you, and you, I am well thank you.  God bless you.  Good job.  Things like that.  It was really neat to get to learn but it is a hard language to catch onto.  I however am one of those people that struggle with languages anyway.  I memorize, I don't remember long after that.  Not so good here unless I practice so I tried it out at our restaurant tonight and around the town exchanging money and things.  Many of the people in town here do speak English so they laugh when we try to use their language.  Politely of course and they do appreciate it. 

We spent a lot of time talking to our neighbors.  They asked questions about America, helped us with translations and learning how to use a translator, and just had normal conversation.  One question they asked about America is if we can see the sun.  From what they know is just what is on TV, Los Angeles, New York, etc.  Therefore, they thought the buildings were too high to see the sun unless it was directly above you in the heat of the day.  As amazing as it was to hear that question and reassure them it was very similar to Malawi it was really sad that that is how we are stereotyped and almost like we are robots who just have all this "stuff".  We also ventured into making banana bread muffins.  They turned out so good!

We then went into town and went to the grocery store to pick up more food.  It is amazing how fascinating the grocery stores here are compared to home.  We were so excited when we found American things called different names.  I have pictures of so many I won't show them all, but it was a hilarious experience.  Then, we went to a cute little cafe for coffee and cake.  It was such a beautiful place.  The places we are at now are very Americanized.  We are in town and it definitely is geared towards travelers.  In the village where we will be doing all our mission work, that is very "African" and a different culture. Those stories will be very different than "we walked to get coffee and cake today."  To be honest sounds like i'm in Europe...

Outside the Cafe

Group out to Cafe

Iced Coffee, I don't remember the other drink, and Spice Cake

I think they need more "Sobo" - Essentially Orange Juice

Afterwards we came home.  We experienced our first power outage.  That is a typical thing here.  Normally they pick sections of the city that the power gets turned out for a couple hours at a time and then everything goes back on.  We were much prepared with candles and emergency lights in that event.  Nothing scary and we did just fine.  However it did happen as we were cooking on the stove.  Good thing it is gas!  Finished dinner, relaxed a little, and finished the night with some "Bananagrams" and "Phase 10" with the team. 

Off to sleep and to see giraffe's in the morning! :)

Tiwonana! (See you soon)