20/03/13

            This morning on my run I was a million miles away in my mind when suddenly I felt something snap against me. It was like I had run through the banner at the end of marathon. Dread and panic hit me as I realized that it was a spider’s thread, and I spun around to find the beast. Only an impossibly huge monstrosity could have spun a thread that strong. Not seeing the spider around the path, I thoroughly checked myself to be sure. Things I won’t miss about running in Africa. If I don’t get out early enough, the flies on the path are unbearable. The flies are attracted to the huge, fresh piles of cow poop along the path that I hop over and around while I’m running. And every time I go through areas where the grass is high I wonder if this is going to be the day I startle a deadly poisonous snake.

            I had to go down to the office to make some copies today, so I brought the baby—my baby, as everyone refers to her—down with me. I let her walk back by herself, transforming the 5-minute walk into a 25-minute one, but a wonderful one. Now that it seems she may actually be leaving any day, I’m cherishing these moments I have left with her. At one point she tripped and fell over a huge pile of dried cow poop. Only in Africa.

            There is a “library” here that is a huge closet full of great resources that have been largely forgotten. The past week I have been excavating puzzles, finding them to be a great educational activity to do with my grade 1s and 2s. Anytime I lift something in this room where things have been sitting for months, maybe years, I do it slowly and cautiously, ready to jump away, depending on what I might find underneath. The good news is that in all my cautious rummaging I haven’t yet come across any moulted snake skins.