I said that I was going to try put in a nice little update mid month this month. So here I am, blogging away. I will begin by describing a bit about how my new year started off.
January first I was just sitting around the house when Mora came in and said something to the effect of “Go to Titus’ house,” at least that was all I could understand (the actual conversation lasted a couple minutes). When I got to Titus’ house Titus asked me if I was packed. I, having no clue to what he was talking about, responded with a truthful no. I soon discovered that I was supposed to be going with the youth/young adults of the church to a nice little village near by that has one of the Church plants inside. (In all fairness, I had heard of the trip before, but I was unsure of its exact time/if it was actually going to happen.)
Luckily, the trip was only for 3 days so I did not need to pack much. I was soon off to the village in a van, very tightly packed with singing young people. One girl was able to sing much louder than I thought was humanly possible. When I looked back to see who it was, I was shocked to find out that she was a few rows back. I was happy the ride there was much shorter than the ride to the village for the wedding.
Once there we had a funtastic time. They killed a pig and it tasted delightful. The meat lasted the whole time too. I was fed quite nicely. The portions they gave me put the 2 liter portions Titus gave me when I first arrived to Ingore to shame. I should have taken a picture of one of the meals they expected me to eat. The first time they sent me the ‘Salad bowl’ of rice I attempted to finish it. I nearly did too, even after being approached by several courteous people who expressed that they did not actually anticipate that finish it and it was quite alright if I was not able to empty the bowl.
I was given my own room, some sort of storage room, for sleeping. I did not sleep much as my body is not used to cement. From what I gathered, other people did not sleep too well either. The second night, we stayed up as long as possible in attempt to outfox the floor from its malicious plans to cause more sleeplessness. I was able to last with the others until 5 when we decided it was time to pack it in and get some sleep before the 6 O’clock meeting. The floors malevolence was escaped but on the downside I missed the 6 O’clock meeting. (Nobody woke me up).
Throughout the three days there was a bunch of drum playing and dancing. I liked this. I tried to play the drum for a while but gave up when I realized my sense of rhythm was a little ‘off’ according to the locals.
The Sunday I got back we discovered that a woman in the church had died. Instead of a morning church service, we all went to her house. There were many people already there sitting on any and everything that they deemed suitable for sitting on. They stayed there for most of the day. The actual funeral service was at 4 because the family had to arrive still. Each time a different family member arrived they would make a sound that was a bit of a mixture between a cry and a song. Perhaps they were ‘wailing’. Whatever it was, it was a horrible, beautifulish sound. It seemed to fit the occasion well. The funeral itself did not take long. A few words were said, a prayer and a single song “Because he lives” in Portuguese (from what I could understand it was pretty much word for word the same).
The woman who died was a bit of a younger woman. Her death was due to the poor medical situation out here.
School is still going well. I just went through a rousing edition of “Sleeping Beauty” with my classes. The English was a little advanced for most of the students but I figured I would give some of the smart kids a challenge. Plus, it was nice for all of us to get a change in pace from the work book.
Now I am in
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