Friday, January 9, 2015

rain continues, bunny debacle, wrapping up the winter/summer break

Joseph called Michelle from outside our home at about 6 am this morning to tell us some bad news.. Foxy (our dog) got a hold of one  of our bunnies, killed it and cleanly buried it.. Then, around 11 am this morning, our second bunny was MIA... After searching the yard, we found the 2nd bunny, buried in the garden.. Needless to say, the kids are a little upset..  The rabbits were a really great thing to keep the kids occupied... Not sure if we should get another set.. We have obviously proven that we are horrible at tending to bunnies.. Actually, that's not true.. we just have a dog who enjoys eating them... Kam has informed me that he would like to get 2 more bunnies for the children.. so we may have reinforcements coming this weekend.

Yesterday evening Joseph told me that i was an example to him on how to teach his children respect.. He said that charity comes from the home, and even though "he doesn't remember my name, he appreciates my children always saying hello to him ".. I said I was glad that he thought that way and that he was an excellent example of kindness to my children.. We went back and forth for about 10 minutes telling each other how much we respected each other.. That is how we deal with the language barrier, instead of keeping it short and sweet, we extend the conversation, saying the same thing over and over and over..
Yesterday it rained all day. On top of that, the power went out about 4 and was off until about 9 or so.. We played cards most of the afternoon and the kids played a monster game on Monopoly with two of Cincy's resident visitors Matt and Essi..  I made my first apple pie before the power went out and it was  a hit.. The month long vacation has been a nice plus of living in Africa, but I think my kids are so bored , they might actually be excited to go back to work..

Michelle's frustrations at work continue, but she is doing well.  Cultural differences seem to be a challenge and this is something I don't really think Michelle knows what to do to solve some issues at .. It's a strange dynamic and I'm not really sure it can be solved.  But, it's friday, and Michelle has the weekend off.... which is always nice.

Not sure what we'll be up to this weekend, but I do know it will be warmer here than back in Cincinnati. We have plans to have dinner with friends this evening, then nothing.. We prepare to get back to school and finish out our second half of our time here in Malawi.  The photos below..  aspirin that obviously stops pain fast! the kids drawing on our driveway, large snails that litter our lawn, walls, trees, etc.. Franny taking in a sunset and Maura and Kate on a game drive.. Happy Friday everyone, hope all is well.