Safe and sound

We made it back and forth to the workshop OK. We noticed on our way up that the Toteng bridge had sandbags on it and that the water was all the way to the edge of the road but we went ahead anyway. On the way back, the water was creeping onto the bridge.

The workshop went well, all the remaining Shiyeyi hymns to be revised before the new printing were checked. Most of the changes were just to the new orthography. After the revisions were complete, on the second day, there was a Shiyeyi lesson.

The floods are here

Have been seeing pictures posted on facebook in the past week by friends who live here in Maun of the floodwaters covering the roads to their home.


[photo from Sitatunga Dispatches, the blog of Elena, for whom we house sat a couple of months back]

I don't think we have anything to worry about here at our house. The real heavy flooding is supposed to hit on Friday, the day that we're traveling up to Gumare for a writers' workshop. Flooding is predicted to possibly continue until the end of August. It's going to be a wet few years, they say (the local flood-pattern experts, that is… not your typical, generic "they"). Still, when we head northwest, we'll get all our electronics off the floor. The complex that we're living in has been around for a fair amount of time, long enough to even show up on Google satellite maps, so I doubt that we'll have an issue.

My main concern is actually the route to Gumare. I'll have to keep an ear to the ground for the next couple of days, make sure we're not driving into a problem. Gumare doesn't flood, I hear, but the roads around it occasionally do. North of it, really. I remember well the writers' workshop around this same time of the year, a few years back, where we had reservations at a river camp in Sepopa that was flooded and had to leave the car at the flood edge to take a mokoro to the camp.


I would say "those were the days" but, as I'm beginning to think, these may be the days again. At least accommodation is now available in Gumare so we don't have to drive back and forth through the worst of the flood plain during this time of year anymore. I'll actually be able to walk back and forth to the workshop from where we're staying; thanks be to God!

Getting ready

There are so many aspects of a translation project needing to be attended to that never occurred to me prior to being here, being an advisor to such a project. Like, it isn't enough to rent an office; the office building itself requires tending. Right now, the office has 2 broken window panes (came with it, were going to be fixed "ASAP"), a leaky toilet and (possibly) a rodent infestation. Yes, we've got droppings. I'm not sure if they are rodent or lizard but they don't have that telltale white dot on the end of any of the droppings so I'm leaning more towards rodent, unfortunately. I have no idea how they could be getting in, the only entry point is under the front door. Which I can't even imagine, the crack is so small. But I have heard tales of rodents getting into the tiniest of crevices, often dying where they crawl in, if they can't get out. So, now, I am having to fuss with some additional basic logistics that are surprisingly time consuming.

Also, I still have to outfit the office, finding and purchasing furniture and other fittings. Which I am holding off on, frankly, until I figure out the source of the droppings.

Ant weirdness

Let me start by saying that having ants in the home here in Maun is not considered to be a problem. It's just the way things are. The place we're in now is pretty good; we rarely see them, just a small string of them here and there if some food falls on the floor or gets left on the counter. Ziploc baggies are my friend, let me tell you. I baggie everything.

But we have a weird thing going on right now; piles of dead ants. Like, I came out to the living room this morning and was greeted with a small pile of dead ants. It's hard to tell from this picture but the dark brown bits are dead ants and the lighter bits look like pulverized concrete. The thing is, I didn't spray this area so I'm not responsible for the dead ants. Rob says that the landlord does have his guys sprinkle ant killer around the foundations so maybe that's what's killing them. They're just crawling inside and dying once they arrive. At any rate, I guess I'm just glad that they're dead when they arrive, rather than infesting the kitchen. I just have to sweep up the piles. There are worse things.

Looking forward to singing a new song

I went to the office today, for my usual shift. There was supposed to be someone coming to fix two windows but that didn't happen during the time that I said I'd be around for them to do so. I didn't wait any longer than I had promised; that's a recipe for frustration, let me tell you. And we had had enough of that for the day already. Rob spent hours today trying to get our local bank account set up for internet banking so we have a way to pay rent without standing in long lines at the bank to do so every month. Long story short is that we still don't have online banking set up; he hit a wall. I'm thinking there will have to be some phone calls made tomorrow, see what we can work out over the phone. At any rate, I'm recommending that he call the bank and make an appointment with whoever it is that know anything about the online banking set up process, rather than taking his chances with whoever he gets passed off to on a walk-in basis - in today's case, several whoevers. I say make an appointment. If that's even possible, mind you. Gotta try it; bank queues are nuts.

Tomorrow morning, will be laying down a vocal track for a couple of local budding rap artists from our church. They're doing some pretty fun stuff, good solid talent. Hopefully we'll have something to link to from here that you can preview soon.

New fun drink that I came up with last night:

1/2 cup ginger ale (I like the local brand, Stoney)
1/2 cup pineapple juice
fresh-squeezed juice of 1/2 of a tiny lime

Delish! What should I call it?