Watch the Walk

I woke up in the early morning* to an awful stench. It was a little bit chilly, so I covered myself better with my blanket and started to roll over. But that smell was horrendous. What was it? B.O? Something else too? I needed to lay eyes on the source. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight, shining it around my room... and laid eyes on the round shape of a head at the foot of my bed. "SCRAM!" I yelled, with barely a voice, as the man exploded up from his crouch and dashed out of the room. I followed quickly, yelling "SCRAM!" while holding my blanket, only to find him stuck in my back hallway trying desperately to unlatch all the latches and escape out the back door.  "SCRAM!" I insisted as I stood at the doorway of my bedroom and he stood at the door to the outside. I was worried he'd change course and come at me, but thankfully he didn't. He finally got out the door and I followed, yelling again "SCRAM THIEF!"  My housemate ca...

Have you ever had an experience where you thought that someone was listening to you, but then it became apparent that somewhere along the line your attempts at communication were failing? I dealt with this in relation to my wedding dress for the event in Kenya. There aren't any wedding dress shops on Clove Island, and I wasn't sure that it would work to get a wedding dress in Nairobi in our two weeks there immediately before the wedding, so getting a dress sewn on Clove was the best option I could come up with. How many tailors on Clove Island have seen a western-style wedding dress up close? How many would be brave enough to sew one from scratch? Well, I talked with a tailor friend in my neighborhood, showed him a sample picture, and he confidently agreed that he could sew it, and it would be beautiful ! The picture: The first catch? I needed to find the material. I took a couple of tours of town looking for material, not finding something that really fit with my vision. Next ...

 I've been living on Volcano Island for just under three months now. The people who know me occasionally ask the same sort of question in a few different ways: - "Are you settling in well?" - "Does it feel like home yet?" - "Are you comfortable yet?" - "How does it feel to be living on Volcano Island?" Well, it's not so easy of a question to answer. I certainly have my routines, my shops, my people. The language is similar to where I used to live, the foods available are the same, a lot of the cultural expectations are the same. But after being on Clove Island for 9.5 years, my level of ease here certainly doesn't rival my ease there. Things here can rock along pretty easily, then a moment of friction or surprise happens.  "Wait, what did you call a baguette?" - (baguette cake/bread?) "Oh, we say that phrase in reverse." - (us all/all us) "HOW much does that cost?" - food's much more expensive here On...