Watch the Walk

Not dressed for island life... As I bought some meat and veggies at a shop today I had a pretty normal conversation with the lady at the register-- Her-- "Whats your name?" Me-- "Abby, and you?" Her-- "Fatima. Have you given birth?" Me-- "No, not yet." Her-- "God will give you children." Me-- "God-willing." Her-- "So, you live here?" Me-- "Yes, I'm an English teacher. I live in M-town." Her-- "Oh, so-and-so wants to learn English." Me-- "Great! Here's the administrator's number." Yes, I'm back on Clove Island. And yes, this feels normal. I may need some help when I get back to America.

The weekend before I left "other Africa" I took a trip. You've already seen a few pictures from that trip, but now I want to share with you a thought that solidified as I was exploring. Fear is a powerful thing. It's powerful, not in the sense of being strong, but in the sense of making you weak. I saw the outworking of that during my weekend away. We went to a place that used to have a ton of tourists, but fear has pushed them away. Entire grandiose hotels sit empty because of fear. We prefer to think that we can guarantee our arrival at our vacation destination. Minimizing risks, maximizing profits, vacation-wise, at least. Now, I'm not saying that people should be stupid. It takes a special type of thinking to knowingly risk death on vacation. But when it's not vacation, it's for other reasons, can we trust the Father to make us brave? Bravery is choosing to be strong even when fear tries to make you weak. And just as the Christmas story repeats over an...

This last weekend I took a trip with a couple of friends to another part of my "other Africa" experience. We took a van, a ferry, a bus, a car, and walked a lot too. A lot. Makes up for all the delicious food we ate, I guess. It was a really neat weekend, although short hours of sleep and lots of untangling Arabic made for a very tired Abby by the end of it. Here are some picture with quick explanations: Taking the ferry across. The pickup below is piled high with sacks of olives. Henna in the henna market. There were tons of piles of henna just like this. It changes color when you get it wet, but dry it is this light green color. Other spices for sale in the henna market: tumeric, ginger, 4 spice, pepper, and more! Boat building. I found this process fascinating! Local food-- it's egg and parsley deep-fried in a paper-thin wrapper. Couscous, a local favorite (and absolutely delicious! They cook it by steam, with a rich broth below. Then serve by pouring the broth over th...