Friday, February 16, 2007

faithful readers

Hello all my faithful readers! I never thought I'd be saying that, as language is way to subjective for my tastes.

There seems to be much interest in the anthill. These anthills dot the landscape and are of various shapes and sizes. One of these days I'll post a picture of the one by the pool. It's quite large: approximately 20 feet tall and has a substantial base. Steps have been carved into the sides for the viewing pleasure of kids on the sick list and adults who wish to remain far away from the splashing kids. The anthill is made by termites and is inactive at this point (this information is from Leah and she followed up with a, "I think so but I'm not sure"). The soil here is sandy clay and somehow the soil within the anthill has been changed to dense clay. The Africans make bricks out of this clay by either sun drying it or baking it in a kiln.

The structural components of the buildings here are all either this brick or concrete, the brick being cheaper and therefore seen more frequently. There are two types of roofs that I've seen: dried hay supported by wood strapping and wood trusses with steel sheeting (In most cases anchored on with not enough screws so that every gust of wind causes the steel to bang against the trusses. For some unknown reason they also have a leakage problem.)

Congratulations to any of you who made it through the last paragraph. I also plan on taking a picture of the different types of roofs, as I know you are all just itching to see them!

Back to the anthill: They have cut big tractor tires up and they lay the rubber down the anthill and into the pool. They then pump water to the top of the anthill and VOILA! a waterslide! The flying fox is a wire strung between two poles with a handled gizmo that allows you to launch yourself into water from an extreme height. The extreme height being the top of this much talked about anthill. The kids quite enjoyed this exhilaration of the afternoon. Yes you heard right- I had no desire to launch myself off a hill or ride down a hill on my stomach while an audience, including a video camera, watched me. Next half term I may attempt it if I can either sneak down there by my lonesome or there are no recording devices present.

Shawna- Raquel can use my dresser as long as I get it back, I need all the furniture I can get. I love beautiful you too and would return said hug with immense pleasure! On that note, does anyone own kitchen table, chairs, sofas etc that they need to get rid of? Think about it.

I have this weekend off so maybe I'll post some pictures. No promises though.

Dad (and anyone else who happens to be a settlers addict)- you need to buy the 'Cities and Knights' addition pack for 'Settlers'. I haven't attempted it yet but it looks seriously fun and super complicated! Anything with lots of directions must be fun right?!

Today I baked this oatmeal fudge layered cookie thing. It was exceptionally yummy. So I ate exceptionally too much. I felt sick. To combat this unexplainable illness I joined the Senior Girls Rally (like Girl Guides) where we played hard core field hockey in the blazing hot humid weather. There were 11 girls on each team. The hard core participation that I referenced was limited to about 6 of us. The rest whined and plodded. (I elbowed one of them in the eye by accident. I tend to get into stick and ball-on-the-ground games.) My level of participation was mostly bellowing at the girls to move, stay on their man, in their position, use the flat side of their stick and randomly calling out anything I deemed missed by the referee. So in summary: I spent the first half of my afternoon eating and reading and the second getting in the way and having a blast.

It was a good day. I can now sleep. Sleep blissful sleep. Goodnight one and all, sleep well. God bless!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

ANGELINA<3<3
hey uhh. angelina this is umm janine. just kinda wondering when your comming home. im missing you havent seen you in soo LONG. yeah and it sorta feels different knowing your not around anymore for some reason. have a great time. bethy poo said "hello" to you shes here looking at everything im writting right now. sorta well not sorta REALLY ANNOYING. well i hope you haved a great time in africa. did you get to see a lion, or a pretty giraffe or hippopotamus. or however you spell it. i have to eat now bye .love you<3.....ohh yeah this is janine if i haddent told you chicky

Anonymous said...

hey als!!! thanks for the LOOONG post!! it was a nice one. though i'll admit you kind of lost me with the roof explanation. eagerly awaiting pictures. mom says she wants to see a picture of the waterslide WITH kids going down it, and of the wire thingamajiggy. she says she's going to email you later. so far i've had three interviews and one phone call that i need to return tomorrow. pray for me!!! me and mom (who is very ill) went grocery shopping this evening and i bought a bamboo stick!!! it's amazing! i put it in the vase cas got me for christmas. i'll sleep with it and it will remind me of you. have a wonderful weekend off!
krista
(bamboo, bamboo, bamboo)
(quote from veggie tales)

Anonymous said...

great that your doing great..are you still sick? Along with those pictures your gonna post for mom of the kids going down the slide, make sure you post a couple of YOU going down the slide!!!

Jody and I are wishing for warm weather right now. We just spent like, half an hour outside in somebodies back lane with mom and dads big honking noisy truck trying to get ourselves unstuck while just digging ourselves deeper and deeper. Finally jody had a brillient idea. 4 long 2 by 4's sticking at all angles into the rutts and out of the tires. Both of us were outside the truck leaning on the doors and holding the 2by 4's down with our feet while trying to push the truck forward. while we were doing this, jody had another piece of wood angled into the truck pushing on the gas. and BOOM!!! we got out. but we messed up that lane pretty bad. anyways i thought you would like that story you know, physics and all that.
love you lots and miss you!!
carla

Anonymous said...

great that your doing great..are you still sick? Along with those pictures your gonna post for mom of the kids going down the slide, make sure you post a couple of YOU going down the slide!!!

Jody and I are wishing for warm weather right now. We just spent like, half an hour outside in somebodies back lane with mom and dads big honking noisy truck trying to get ourselves unstuck while just digging ourselves deeper and deeper. Finally jody had a brillient idea. 4 long 2 by 4's sticking at all angles into the rutts and out of the tires. Both of us were outside the truck leaning on the doors and holding the 2by 4's down with our feet while trying to push the truck forward. while we were doing this, jody had another piece of wood angled into the truck pushing on the gas. and BOOM!!! we got out. but we messed up that lane pretty bad. anyways i thought you would like that story you know, physics and all that.
love you lots and miss you!!
carla

Anonymous said...

wwooops did i leave two of the same comment?!
sorry

Anonymous said...

ALS,
I might we able to provide you with a table and chairs. Seems I keep accumulating them.We really enjoy your comments. You're good at giving word pictures. Hope you're keeping a journal. Look forward to your blogs. BJ

Anonymous said...

Hi
Great to hear you're having a good time. Makes me wish I could be back for a visit at Sakeji especially when I had an e-mail from Alice in Kalene today too.
I know you're having a blast and I also know this trip will be very rewarding. Those kids can be real sweethearts!
Thinking of you!
Mike and Helen

Anonymous said...

bidjie bidjie bidjie bidgie rah rah rah

Anonymous said...

that was just a test because i haven't been able to post comments for about a week - it hasn't worked for serena either!!!

unfortunately, it worked this time.

love you

Unknown said...

Hey Angelina!!
this is Carolyn Doner... just wanted to say Hi... that I randomly read your blog at school on my lunch breaks... and everyone wonders what on earth I'm laughing about. You definitely haven't lost your story-telling abilities :) I'm so glad you're enjoying yourself. God Bless and take care!!! love, ME :)