Slices of Life in December

Here are just a few highlights from the last weeks of December:

Dancing:  Our friends hosted a Christmas recital, of various adults and children singing, playing piano, and reciting Scripture.  The highlight for us: two, adorable five-year-old girls gave a (very short) ballet recital in beautiful pink tutus.  They had been taking lessons with me for several weeks, learning some of the basics and playing games like "Doll Shop" and "Mermaids".  Such fun!

Shopping: My friend Suzanne who works with MAF (and has a vehicle) took me to the big market across town.  I bought an electric burner (electricity, while irregular, is much cheaper than the gas we normally use for cooking) and a piece of cloth for a new dress.  Suzanne handed out Christmas gifts to the merchants she knows best: bottles of highly-prized palm oil. (I thought that was a wonderful idea.)  We also saw an evangelist, standing in the middle of the rows of shops, shouting at the top of his lungs (in Swahili, so I didn't understand much.)  I tried to keep a low profile as I walked by him.  But I did notice he had very clean, white, pointy-toed shoes.

We also bought a pair of carved elephant candle holders from Papa Joseph, an artist who visits us regularly to show us what he has to offer.

Exercise: Another friend took me to sign up for the gym on the U.N. compound.  (Yes, a gym in Bunia!)  The cost is only $10/month.  It's not a fabulous gym by American standards, but it has an elliptical trainer, some stationary bicycles and lots of weights.  It has been hard to come up with good exercise ideas here.  I do Pilates and Zumba DVDs in the guest room, but going for a walk is not a good option.  It's very dusty, the roads are uneven and hard to walk on, and I don't like being the focus of so much attention.  So this gym is a wonderful option!

Cooking: Between Christmas and New Year, we had a break from office work for a few days.  We also had no one to help us in the house, as they were on leave.  So it was my chance to try some new dishes!  Fortunately for us, quite a lot is available here in Bunia.  I made honey whole wheat bread (with locally-milled wheat and honey from the northern part of the country), Christmas cookies (of course), sweet potato pie, lemon chess pie, English muffins, marmalade, and pumpkin soup. And... our garden has been giving us lots of beautiful carrots, lettuce, corn and beans!

Lunch of pumpkin soup, corn from garden, homemade bread with butter... yum!

Fermenting carrot sticks with garlic and ginger (these actually did not turn out... I'll try again)

Now we're back in the swing of work, preparing training, trips, etc.  A time for everything.  We were glad to have time to enjoy the pleasures of home.