Little frogs go 'hop hop hop'

I know this week isnt quite thru yet, but im looking forward to my day off on saturday - Im praying for good weather so that I can relax on the beach again - it would be miserable if it rained!!! Tomorrow night Heidi is taking us all out to the resaturant across the road for a meal - yay!! I have been craving bacon today- i’ll have to see if they have a dish with bacon in it...other than that my special treat this week has been avocado and cheese sandwiches....mmmmmm! but just think - an avocado, cheese and bacon sandwich...

I didnt go on the outreach this week - didnt feel to good last night so I am just taking it easy, having a few early nights, just being sensible! But i am OK - its not malaria - just getting up way too early and getting to bed late, not enough sleep and its so hot here that it also saps your energy quite a bit.

The outreach truck’s wheel burst before they had even left the centre - there were about 60 people on the back (just a tad overloaded) when the wheel went ‘BOOOM!!!shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh’ and all the Mozambicans got such a fright that they jumped off the truck so fast that the missionaries around didnt know wether to laugh or cry! One girl literally dove off the truck and was covered in mud - so much that Ana had to give her a new set of clothes! But the wheel was changed and off they went - only to get bogged down just before they get to the road! All the Mozambicans hopped off, lifted the truck up and onto the solid ground and off they went - just another day in Africa.

Its been raining the past 2 days - so we have collected loads of rainwater! I think i mentioned the little frogs? Well they are everywhere now - in my room, in the bathroom, in the kitchen - but by default they are cute, cos they are little!

Also with all the rain - the mud is so slippery!! I nearly lost my dinner tonight - I was on the way back from collecting the rice and eggs when I stepped in a huge puddle and my feet just kinda started to slide! Fortunatly I didnt slip and made it home safely!

My house mate Ania bought a pumpkin and i attempted to make pumpkin fritters yesterday morning- kinda flopped, but still tasted great! That was for breakfast and then for supper we had pumkin - then this morning I had the last of the pumkin fritters and then tonight we had fried pumkin with garlic to complement the rice and egg... well I only had egg and pumkin, but it was good. Now we only have 1/4 of the pumkin left.

And while Im on the topic of food (I’m sorry - this blog has been pretty much just about food) I am getting sick of peanut butter - who’d have thought??? I mean I’ve only gone thru about 2 bottles in the past 3 weeks... the staple food for mozambique: rice, the staple food for missionaries: peanut butter. I wish it were steak instead!

A gecko fell off the wall into one of the pots we have out on the kitchen floor to collect the rainwater - We were still starting into the pot thinking of tipping it over so that it could get out when it launched itself up the side of the pot, did a little twirl in the air and scurried up the wall - i got such a fright! I never knew they could do that!!! There are loads of little itty-bitty ones around at the moment - they are adorable!!!!

I have been busy these last few days going thru all the old cables and sound equipment that has been chucked into a room and basically left for dead - surprisingly most of if is repairable - except the projector that looks like someone tried to open it and fix it and all the cables are ripped out of the circuit boards and I dont think its gonna make it... Still have loads more to go thru, and I realised that I only really have 2 weeks here in Pemba before the mission school starts in June, seeing that I am going to be away at the other Iris Centres giving sound training and will be away for 6 weeks... I gotta move in getting all the systems prepared and sorted out and I have so little time!!!!!

oooh and before I forget -another exciting thing happend this week - My friend was given a bag of real starbucks coffee and I got my coffee filter machine and coffee grinder (and some more coffee) from South Africa sent up and its been SOOOO good having lovely coffee in the mornings with my bread!

I wonder whats been happening in the world - i get no news from outside these bamboo walls...