Further adventures

We did watch a bit of “Jesus of Nazareth” again today, the scene with Jesus being brought before the priests for judging (Mark 14). Also the scene where he is arrested in Gethsemane. Sarah got to see the high priest tearing his clothing (ceeri in Shiyeyi) and the disciples waking up groggily with drowsy eyes (ragyigyi in Shiyeyi). For each scene, she looked for the equivalent in the Shiyeyi text. Kind of a cool change of pace from our usual schedule. In fact, I've been thinking lately how we might shake things up a bit. I've been feeling like we do a lot of sitting and staring at the same screens for 5 hours each day because... well... that is what we do for 5 hours each day. At least watching “Jesus of Nazareth” is a different way of engaging the text. Also interesting was what wasn't shown in the movie, we noted those things as well. For example, in the Judas-kiss scene, they didn't show the slave getting his ear lopped off (or subsequently healed) or the young man running away naked when they grab his linen wrap. That was actually why we whipped out the old J.O.N. in the first place today, actually. She thought the young man running away naked was a funny idea and wondered if they showed that part in the movie. I couldn't honestly remember and then couldn't concentrate on anything else until I knew for sure. So, just before lunch, we checked. Nope - no nude sprinters in the J.O.N.

Tomorrow, she's taking a “professional development” day, trying to arrange a college program for August. Her first plans fell through so she's on to her backup plans. I figured she'd concentrate better on Monday if she had Friday to get things in order, eh?

Meanwhile, Rob and I are trying to nail down our plans for the next month. The rough schedule goes something like this:

August 1 - leave to drive to Sangwali, Namibia
August 2 - arrive in Sangwali
August 3 - Namibian Wayeyi Cultural Festival, plus meetings with various Wayeyi leaders
August 4-12 - PLANS UNKNOWN (probably stay somewhere in Maun or Sepopa)
August 13 - arrive in Gumare
August 14-15 - Shiyeyi Writers' Workshop
August 16 - leave to drive back to Gabane
August 17 - arrive back in Gabane
August 18-28 - PLANS UNKNOWN (do things in Gabane area)
August 29 - leave to drive to Shakawe
August 30 - arrive in Shakawe
August 31-September 6 - LBT Southern Africa Retreat
September 7 - leave to drive back to Gabane
September 8 - arrive back in Gabane

The 10 days that we're back in Gabane aren't an issue. Rob has recording work to do with Pastor William and I have Shiyeyi analysis to work on, probably making a final editorial pass at the Shiyeyi Bible Stories as well. It's the 8 days that we're staying in the Delta that need work. I'm trying to figure out which is the best town to camp out in, where I could set up the most meetings with local Wayeyi. Maun would be a more functional base of operations, especially for Rob, who really needs consistent electricity while he's working on music and preparing his presentation for the LBT retreat. However, Sepopa would put us closer to the area where we would live, if fully assigned to work with the Wayeyi long-term. We could get a better feel for the area, scope out living situations, meet potential co-workers, etc. Dunno yet.

Actually, we don't have accommodation for Sangwali yet either. There is a lodge nearby, 30 km from the festival site (Lianshulu Lodge). There is also a campsite adjacent to the festival grounds. However, we don't actually own camping gear in this country and are hesitant to buy any at this stage in our assignment determination process. Be a bit of a bummer to invest in a few hundred bucks worth of gear for a 2 night trip and then have to leave it all here because we're assigned somewhere that we don't have enough luggage allotment to carry it all to.


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