I - like - big - butts and I cannot lie...

So...  What happens if you speak Kiriol at school?  You get beaten 10 times.  Yes that's right, you can only speak Portuguese or suffer the consequences.

FOUR HOURS AND COUNTING
That's how long we sat on log benches for church on Sunday!  They do a long service once a month, and fast, and pray, but the benches are upsidedown half-logs so it's curved, with no back, and VERY hard to sit on for more than a few minutes!  I never thought I'd say this, but big butts are starting to seem very desirable - either that, or we need a cushion!

CHUNKY HONEY, BLUE NUTS, AND ALCOHOLIC JAM
You can buy honey here in wine bottles, but you need to strain it first to remove the bee bits, and then boil it, and then if they left any wine in the bottle it tastes like vinegar so maybe not...

... but maybe it's worth trying cos my jam now tastes like blackcurrent liqueur... it doesn't like the weather so we'll go halvies from now on I think! ... but if I'm having a bad day I can drown my sorrows in jam... just kidding. Am missing vegemite a lot!

Had some visitors and in their honour, Titu made blue peanuts, which we all thought had gone mouldy and I nearly threw out... but no, just groundnuts covered in blue sugar.  Quite nice actually.

THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES AND FISHES REVISITED
The current short termers have been informed that we're in charge of lunch at the coming Prayer Day.  This is a big deal, cos all workers go.  So, we need to cook a flash lunch including dessert, for 30 people, eek!  The boys have almost got plain rice sorted....

I was hoping we could buy a couple of the local french sticks and a good-sized fish from the Ingore markets and ask Jesus to do his multiplying thing, but apparently this is not an option.  Where's the faith, huh??

I MADE A FRIEND!
Well... a good acquaintence... well... ok, a girl talked to me twice in one day.

But seriously, a teenage girl from church came to pick me up for the football game on Sunday (teen boys against young adult boys)…her name is Fabiana and she’s 16 and feisty. She can speak a bit of English which helps.

Apparently she decided to come and get me herself… unlike other girls who Titu orders to come and visit me(!).  She offered to take me to her work which I didn’t understand but sure enough, she collected me at the agreed time and we went for an hour’s walk, round trip to the nearest bridge where they catch fish.

It was very entertaining, everyone we saw mocked her for taking the white girl for a walk but she seemed to be able to handle it.  She taught me some Kiriol like ‘this chili is hot’ and ‘But Titu, I can’t cook for a large group of people’.

BRANKU, BRANKU
Several people called out to me, ‘branku, branku’ which means ‘white, white’ and is a bit offensive from adults.  Fabiana suggested I answer ‘pritu, pritu’ which as you can guess, means ‘ black, black’!!  The funny thing is that we have had that discussion before but sadly decided that it may not be the most missionary-like behavior.  Very tempting though.

SINHORA ABBY
So next Tuesday is our first day of school.  We spent a hot dusty morning sweeping out our classrooms, which apart from large termite infestations and other wildlife, contain very little.  Six tables, one blackboard, one desk for the teacher.  That’s it. No posters, no readers, no big books, no boardgames, no nothing.  A challenge!

We bought some supplies from Bissau today, but by supplies I mean a rubber, a few rulers, a big sheet of paper to write rules etc, and that’s about it…

We’re all a bit nervous cos our Kiriol’s not very good and this is a whole new ball game to teaching Western styles so all prayers are gratefully received!

The schedule is gonna be pretty full on for all of us…

Teaching 8am-10am, and then 2pm-4pm

This means leaving home at 7.15am and walking 20min or sometimes we may drive

I’m on cooking lunch next week which is about a 2hr job.

Kiriol lessons every evening for one hour, and then meetings that go late 3x wk.  Then, in the weekend, we will go to other villages to speak or visit and may need to stay the night depending how far away it is.

So we are trying to get lots of sleep in preparation but it isn't working so well… outside my house there is a donkey, five roosters, a lot of birds, and a man who seems to enjoy throwing pots against the wall.  Maybe this isn't what he does, but at 6am it sure sounds like it!

I'm also still adjusting to life by candlelight. I do have a gas stove so can boil stuff and cook in it but no fridge etc so can't keep anything cold re cooking.

I LIKE

• Fried fish
• Maize bamboo, very sweet and crunchy, a bit like sugarcane but you spit it out when you've chewed it
• Every sunset here
• Doing a group bible study with ten boys (at the church, cos we could all speak English)
• Hearing from friends!
• Getting to know the local kids. Hanging with them.
• Learning enough Kiriol to string a sentence or two together
• Walking from my house to Titu’s at 7am, very beautiful
• Watching teen girls do each other’s hair while the boys play football

I LIKE LESS

• Cultural issues that mean I can no longer hang with the boys unless it’s both of them together.  Even in public, sigh.
• Shrimps
• Large bugs jumping out of my washing bag when I put my hand in to get my washing.
• People blowing their nose directly onto the ground, especially when it’s in my front yard.
• The five roosters outside my house (esp at 5am)

Take care, bless you heaps
Abs