This Old Thing?

Ben and I in our yukatas.

Ange in her wicked 70's dress.

Laurie in a bridesmaid dress, Jessie in her wedding dress
Devin in his Star Trek tie
The Abbotsfordians guessing at charades
The Langlyites guessing at charades
Ashley in her grad gown, and Chris in his Halloween costume

Jessie and Lars-in Jessie's dress

This Old Thing?

I had my birthday party Saturday (yesterday). My theme was "this old thing?" and people were invited to wear that thing that they would never wear again, or haven't worn in a long time. I was amazed at people's creativity. We had 2 wedding dresses, a bridesmaid dress, a couple grad gowns, Ben and I wore our Japanese yukatas, a tux, a jail shirt, a Star Trek tie, and two beautiful men in dresses (which they promised to never wear again)

(I'll have pictures as soon as Beth emails them to me.. this picture at the top was a cell phone pic..our camera is out getting fixed.. crappy cannon warranty that returns a un-fixed camera and makes me miss taking pictures at my birthday...grrr)

It was also a wine and cheese party, so people brought all sorts of wine and yummy cheeses. Ben and I got a bunch of beads and rings so that people could make their own wine charm/dangley thing. This was good, as I was continually losing my wine glass, and asking people if they had seen a wine glass with a J on it.

People wrote about their outfits, and later in the evening we created a fashion show. I read out what they had written: what they were wearing and when the last time they wore it. Everyone hammed it up real well, and it was sort of an introduction for everyone, as we had people from different aspects our lives all together. I was impressed our basement suit held 20 people!

And then what's a party without charades? Bekah, we played that game you taught us at Christmas, it was actually requested.

All in all, it was a great time. Thanks for those of you who came and helped me celebrate the road to thirty.

If I was a flower...

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

"When your friends think smile, they think of you. There is not a day that goes by that you can't find something good about the world and your fellow human."

It makes me wonder, what kind of flowers are nasty people? I wonder if that's an option in this quizz? Let's find out what the anti-Julia flower would be...

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."

Kinda spiky.. figured that

Julia's Birthday

Tuesday was my birthday. I turned 26. I thought that should affect me in some way, that I shouldn't like that, but I do. I've actually been 26 for half a year already.. in my mind. Whenever people ask me how old I was, I would think 26, and then remember that I was still 25. I guess 'cause so much has happened in the last year, I figured I must be older for it. Plus I feel like I've achieved a lot already, I've achieved my goals for the most part of what I wanted to do by this age. Our 5 year plan we set out 4 years ago has gone as planned, and I sent in my UBC application for my B. of Education yesterday. (On Tuesday I woke up to apple pancakes, and then in the evening, Ben came home, on his bicycle, with a huge bouquet of flowers! I'm such a lucky girl)

I'm really loving being at the high school on Mondays too. This past Monday I got to be in art classes in the morning. It was great to be able to walk around and talk with students, give them ideas for their projects, and get to know them a bit. The art teacher and I hit it off, and spent lunch drawing animal skulls for an example project for after spring break.
Ok, gotta go to work.

Dreams Come True

Have you ever had a dream come true? Not a day dream, or a "when you wish upon a star" -type dream, but a real, while asleep dream?

My sister's husband has applied, and is very much considered for a Youth Pastoring position on Vancouver Island. While they were still in the "we don't know if this is going to happen" stage, I had a dream that they were accepted, and they were looking for a house. The same night, I dreamed about people dressed up as crayons-like for Halloween. The next day we were at Ben's parent's house for a family dinner, and Ben's brother's girlfriend was saying how when they were little kids, they dressed up in crayons for Halloween. (and as they got older, they became the next colour up in size).

Flash back to YEARS ago-- I watched one of those mystic ghosts and dreams type shows, and this woman had dreamed about her daughter getting stung by a bee, and then she did. She also dreamed about something else that was way more important... and the dream about the bee was for her to pay attention to the second dream that was to come true. For some reason that always stuck with me, and now I was wondering.. did the crayon dream tell me that the dream about my sister's family moving was true?

Anyways, to what most of you want to know... BEN'S INTERVIEWS
He can re-write this later if he wants (he's at work right now). He had his University of Alberta interview on Friday. I drove him to the Abbotsford airport super early on Friday. He got a shuttle from the airport on that side to the school, had his interview. He said it went really well. He didn't endorse euthanasia like some other bloke who interviewed before him. He felt comfortable with the conversation style interview. They had this little square table, three sides of interviewers knocking knees with Ben. They asked a lot about his Japanese and Angola experiences. His friend Bruce lives in Edmonton, so they hung out, and Ben got to crash there for night, and he came home in the morning.

Sunday was the UBC interview, and I got to go with him. I hung out in the Lobby waiting, watching all these interviewees walking in with their mom's or dad's, or both. Thought it was a little funny to go to an interview with your parent, but hey. The interview was pretty much the same, except a larger table. They asked more about Ben's work with Autistic kids. I think they should have jumped up, and offered him a spot in UBC right then and there, but, alas, they didn't, and we have to wait until the middle of May to know anything more.

Oh, I also started school on Monday. I pretty much sat at the back of the class, and watched. I also got to hand out, and photocopy papers. I'm at Brookswood high school every Monday now. I'm really excited for this opportunity to learn from Lynie, who I met at Ten Thousand Villages. She's an amazing teacher, and you can tell that the students really respect her. My favourite quote of the day

"You are all ignorant. Luckily that's curable"

In response to the grade 11's who were trying to figure out what the cold war was about. They figured it was between the Americans and British, and had something to do with the Boston Tea Party. I had a good laugh at the back of the room. Precious.

More interviews!

Well, after pretty much concluding that I didn't meet U of Alberta's out-of-province cut-off, I received an invitation to an interview in the mail today! I also received an invite from Queens a little while ago, so I have plenty of opportunity to both get in to medical school as well as to collect a bit more of that special high-altitude radiation. Hmm, I guess I didn't get enough of airplanes in coming back from Angola - and, even though I wouldn't have guessed it while I had been 1/2 way over the Atlantic, I'm actually really looking forward to it!

It's amazing how a little piece of paper in the mail, or an email in the inbox, can really brighten up one's day!

The Good News and the Bad News

Want the Good News first?

Ben has an interview at UBC in February!! We're super excited. We'd both love for him to get in to the medicine program at UBC. I've heard though that only 1 out of 3 interviewees get accepted, so, if you're in UBC Med, or if you WORK there, please comment and give Ben some advice for the interview. (If you're also an interviewee, apparently they love "alternative lifestyles" like goth or punk, and want you to really express your suppressed self during the interview. wink wink, nudge nudge)

The Bad News..

My Grandpa pass away on Monday, January 8. His last few days were at a hospice in Mission (which is such comfortable place, it was like a really, super nice hotel, and not hospitally at all) and he died in his sleep. He lived a solid, faith filled life. I've learned so much about him being around family these last two weeks. I wasn't as close to him as I'd have liked. I think because we spent our early childhood in Botswana, when we moved to Canada, we were used to not seeing them much, and didn't have that cuddly baby start with them. My other cousins were a lot closer with Grandpa and Grandma, and I'm jealous of their relationship. I know that Grandpa loves us, and when we miss a family event, always wonders where we are. Before we left for Japan, we went to IHOP with Grandma and Grandpa, and I asked them about their early times together, moving from Manitoba to BC. I think it was the first real adult conversation I had with them, just us and them. I think it was just before we left for Africa then we went for dinner with my parents, the grandparents, and Ben and I. Ben ordered a beer, and Grandma wanted one too, so we ordered one for her. She didn't really want it after that, so Grandpa drank it, and reveled in it a bit. It was so funny. My grandparents are very Mennonite in their ways, so to see them drink beer was just so, well, special is the word that comes to mind.

It's these kind of thoughts that allow us to celebrate his life, and not mourn his death. His funeral was really such a celebration of an amazing man-who loved his wife, his kids, and all the other people that came in their life-those who married in, and those who came around for a while and left. With 6 kids, 17 grandchildren and I don't know how many great grandchildren, It was a testimony to his legacy as 70 of us or so walked down the church aisle together, all of us a branch from his tree.

This got way longer than I expected.

new picture

Hey, what do you think of the new header picture?
Too much? Not enough?
It' s from one of the Angkor Wat temples in Siem Riep, Cambodia.

January Fun

We've come through the new year well. It's been two weeks and the following have changed/happened:

• Ben has started supervising at the local community pool/centre. He's working Tuesday/Thursday evenings right now, and hopefully will get more shifts yet.
• I've been working out regularly at said local community pool/centre and feel really good. Can't say I've lost any weight yet, but I'm liking the routine, although it means I get up at 5:40 every morning.
• I've been driving my mom's car since she's stuck at home with a slipped disk in her back, and last Wednesday on my way to the pool after a night of snow, managed to slide into a fence while turning into the parking lot, denting the side and breaking the bumper.
  
• We've found a local bar that does karaoke, and had fun there last night with Jessie and Lars, who always manage to get called up to sing before me, and are always amazing. I always feel bad for the other people to have to listen to me sing after Jessie and Lars kick ass. Ben sang the Eagles "Desperado" which he does VERY well.
  
• We've had family over to see our new place. We've had people over a couple times a week, which means our place has been relatively clean on an ongoing basis. We're still trying to settle in the few last boxes. I feel like when we're finally going to be really in, it'll be time to move again.
  
• No news yet from prospective schools, medical or otherwise. But Ben is working on his final (cross the fingers) undergrad course, which only UBC requires, so hopefully it will pay off and we'll get to stay in Beautiful British Columbia.
• this picture is from when my sister and her family came for coffee, and the boys had a blast playing in the left over moving boxes:
• And this was our "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. We didn't want to bother getting a tree, but mom had a bunch of branches brought to her by a well-meaning friend. I took a bunch and we put them in a big vase. The ornaments didn't stay on the long needles, so light-less and ornament-less, besides some beads, we had a little greenery to celebrate with.

The Name's Bond, Ben Bond

New Years was so much fun. Our friends planned a James Bond themed party, so all the guys dressed up as Bond, and all the girls were bond girls. I, of course, didn’t have such an outfit so on Saturday I went looking in Value Village and didn’t find anything, but across the street was a thrift dress store that had lots of beautiful dresses and jewelry. When I walked in the lady asked if she could help me find anything. I told her I needed a Bond Girl dress. She immediately went to one of the mannequins and started taking off the dress it was wearing. I was a gold, spaghetti strapped dress, so sexy, and it fit me perfectly! I also found a little black dress, a pair of shoes, and a matching gold purse, and WALA, a Bond girl outfit!

We did a Bond photo scavenger hunt that Steve made up (who is a major Bond fan). There was an item from each Bond movie that we needed to find, like 2 grave stones with the same name- from You Only Live Twice, a picture with everyone playing poker-from Casino Royal, and that type of thing. We had to get a picture of a police officer, so we went to the Police Station and asked the receptionist if there was an officer with a good sense of humour that would take their picture with us.. and a young guy came out. We figure he was the rookie and got seniority pulled on him to go out. It was great fun. We also went to Newlands Golf and Country Club to get an ice sculpture picture, and the two other girls in our car and I walked in like we owned the place, looked around, and eventually asked where the ice sculpture was, and took our picture and left. We were dressed up so fancy, we felt like we belonged with all the other people there for their New Years parties (we didn’t really BLEND though, as we were 20 years younger than most of them). The rest of the evening was spent drinking Bond martinis and talking and playing charades.

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day at Ben’s parent’s house. It’s so great to have two families that we love and enjoy being around. I know we are really lucky that both of us get along with the other’s family so well, not every has that. We had brunch, then opened gifts and relaxed. Ben’s Grandpa came for dinner, and we had a traditional turkey with all the trimmings. Our gift from Ben’s parents was helping us buy our digital camera that we took with us to Africa, so we’ve been enjoying our gift for a while already, which has been so great.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so nice to be home, doing traditional things. Last year Christmas Day we were travelling from Thailand to Cambodia, spending 2 hours in a taxi driving through country on pot holed roads in the heat. This Christmas Eve we spent with my family (Julia's). Since my mom is out-of-commissionish us girls had to take over the meal prep, but we still managed to have quite the spread! We opened gifts and chatted. Even the family pets were there, Bekah's cat and Beth's dog. Everyone has different things that makes Christmas feel like Christmas to them. For me, it's the fluffy apple pancake we have for breaksfast, and opening stockings and eating the little Babybell cheeses they put in. I guess eventually my parents will stop doing stockings for the grown up kids, but we still enjoy it. They still do Easter Egg hunts for us too... The oldest of us are in their 30's, and we still all hunt!

Isn't life nifty?

Darn it all to heck, I was almost finished writing this witty update, and I was going to copy it so I wouldn't lose it and somehow it took that as erase and waste Julia's time. Grr.

Ok, now for a wittiless update, as I furrow my brow at the computer.

We've been back for 11 days and have since both gotten jobs-I'm working at an-xray clinic in Abbotsford, which was arranged for me while I was away-God has always provided me with a job when ever I've needed one.. it's quite amazing actually!
Ben has also been hired for the Township of Langley lifeguarding, and hopefully supervising, which will start sometime, soonish we hope.

Ben's free time means he's been able to paint and move us into a basement suite in Walnut Grove, right next to his brother and sister-in-law! We love our new 2 bedroom place, and along with all our other pictres, hope to have some up soon.

Working in Abbotsford has worked out really well for me, as my mom has injurded her back-a herniated disk-and is pretty much couch-ridden. I've been able to come over for lunch, and right now I've over for the next two nights, as my dad is working out near Squamish and I'm able to "look after" mom-it also saves me a half an hour commute!

That's all for now. If you haven't left a comment in a while (and even if you have) why not let us know what's new with you! Or let us know that some one is still reading this now that we're back and leaving "normal" lives :)

I'm not going to copy, just take my chance and publish...

We're Back

Just a note to say we're back. We had a lovely flight back, even getting bumped up to business class for our flight from Winhoek, Namibia to Johannesburg, South Africa. From house to home, it was about 48 hours, but 12 of those were in London where we got out to stretch our legs and eat fish and chips. Lovely.



I have my usual jet lag, as it is 5:15am and I am up. Seems the earlier I go to bed, the earlier I get up, and there is no actual "catching up" of sleep for me. Ben seems to have no trouble with this.







We've been looking for a place to stay, and have the opportunity to move in next door to Ben's brother and sister-in-law in Walnut Grove. The owners have just put in insulation into the ceiling downstairs (essential for a house with 4 little boys under the age of 5), so the ceiling still needs to be painted, along with a few other touch-ups here and there, but the space is great, and we hope it works out. Ben is willing to do the grunt work, and as he is not working just now, it'll keep him busy.

I start work tomorrow (Tuesday) working in the Medical Tower next to the hospital in Abbotsford in the x-ray clinic, full time! God has provided everything we need, and we are so grateful to all of you who have passed on his blessings to us.

Blessings in this busy season,
Julia

P.S. most of my not feeling good on the trip can be attributed the anti-malarial pills I was on-and not acutall 'bugs'. I went off them 2 weeks ago, and have felt way better. So, just a warning for you tropical adventurers, Mefloquin is the cheaper option, but it seems, especially for women, there are nasty side effects that make it not worth it. (although the vivid dreams side effect can be quite fun!)

Last post before we´re Canada-bound!

Well, this is our last weekend before we leave. Maybe. Well, I
suppose it all really depends on whether the weekly TAAG flight
actually arrives and goes out this Thursday. (There are many amusing
acronyms for that airline, one being Think Again About Going).
Apparently we were rather lucky in having our plane on time in coming
here (on time = same day). It´s crazy to see how fast the time has
flown by. When I think back on all We´ve gotten to experience here, I
can´t help but feel so blessed. Not only have I gotten to see and
help out with countless different surgeries, sit in on medical
consults (including one in English!), experience (& help a bit in)
what it takes to get a hospital going, and learn about a lot of
different medical equipment by both inventorying it and trying to get
it working, but we´ve gotten to know how great people are here in
Lubango (who would have ever guessed that we´d come here!), learn some
Portuguese and Spanish, be presented with many (fun) challenges in
finding out how to make do & make things work with what we have and
meet lots of other missionaries that we´d love to meet up with again
in the future.

I think Julia was quite success full in getting Africa under my skin
(although not so much Botswanna - it was a bit too hot for me).
Already, we can´t wait for the opportunity to return when I´m finished
medical school (& residency) to see where things are at then, & help
out with whatever my specialty turns out to be (likely some kind of
surgery, I think), possibly letting one of the hard-working doctors
here take some much-needed time off. One thing I do know is we have a
LOT of Portuguese to learn before then.

Here´s something that will surprise a lot of you who know Julia - last
Wednesday she asked to and did come to the OR to watch a surgery! Not
only did she come and watch, but she stayed right through the more
gruesome bits, leaving to sit down only after we started wrapping
things up. I´m particularly impressed, as this was for a toe
amputation that had the patient jumping under the electro-cauter (he
was only under a partially-effective local anesthetic) and making
enough noise to make Robert (operating in the next room) curious as to
what was happening. After this, she STILL hung around a bit to see
some bits and pieces of other surgeries that were going on, before she
left to prepare for her English class. Way-to-go Julia! Maybe there
is some hope for her in our future dinner conversations! (for some
reason, though, she still doesn´t want to go into surgery herself).

Thanks a lot to all our generous supporters and intercessors who
helped make this part of our lives possible and successful, and we
look forward to seeing many of you soon!

Going to the market

I do the grocery shopping, as Ben said, and have had to learn my
numbers, at least, so I know how much I'm paying.. let me elaborate.

What we call the "fish market" is two blocks away. To get there I have
to cross a busy road, of which there is no crosswalk/traffic lights,
and vehicles have the right of way, so I often wait until there is a
group of people waiting to cross before I dart between the blue
mini-bus taxis that dart around the other cars and pot holes that make
up the roads here. (if it's a really big pot hole, can you call it a
cauldron?)

The "fish" market itself is a store, that sells, well, fish, as well
as cheese and a variety of other things. I don't really know any more
than "how much is this" in Portuguese, so my shopping conversations
are limited to pointing and my one question. Outside of the store
spills streams of ladies, surrounded by brightly coloured plastic bins
of veggies, baskets of tomatoes, and stacks of oranges and apples.
Walking through brings on a gauntlet of "Amiga, Amiga" (friend,
friend), as women, clutching their babies and half naked toddlers show
off their produce.

I usually walk through and look, go into the store, buy my cheese, and
then purchase my veggies on the way out. (I haven't actually bought
fish there yet, but you can buy HUGE lobsters there, along with other
shell fish brought in from the coast, 3 hours away) The women have
gotten used to me, and I have learned more numbers, so our
question-answer sessions for prices is going smoother than it used to.
At first, I would ask how much it is, then they would tell me. Then I
would give them a blank, puzzled look, and try to guess, showing with
my hands what I thought they said. They would look at my hands with a
blank, puzzled look and tell me again. Finally, they would untie the
ever-present multi-coloured cloth wrap, and pull from within the knot
their money and show me which bills to give them.

Among the veggie women are boys selling eggs, in clear plastic bags,
as well as anything else you can imagine. People walk around carrying
shoes, suits, car mats, toilet paper, toys, and just about anything
else, to sell on the street. The nice thing is they're not really
pushy, so after saying "I don't want it, thank-you" (my other
Portuguese phrase) they usually leave you alone.

As I was in bed all week with the latest bug, I even was able to buy
fruit as women came to the door, with the generic plastic tub balanced
on their head, filled with cabbages, carrots, and our current
favourite, plums. (Mom(s), can you email me a pluma plauts (sp?)
recipe? thanks!)

That's what I do at least once a week. Thanks for reading! enjoy your
"veggie section" in your local supermarket on your next trip!
Julia

Portuguese and buying carrots

Well, time has been zipping by, and itºs strange to think that we only have just over 2 weeks left here. While we did always go into this not really expecting to speak much in Portuguese, Julia and I have sort-of branched out into different areas. Because she has the mornings free, she often is the one to go shopping, and thus she is very good at buying carrots (yes, she does buy other things - weºve just had a lot of carrots lately!). I, on the other hand, have gotten very good at saying excuse me (as I squeeze past people to get through a crowd at a doorway) and Sorry (as Iºm causing someone a lot of pain - we donºt have much in the way of pain medication here - no narcotics yet, meaning just ibuprophin and Tylenol (not Tylenol 3!). We do apparently have a recent connection with a guy that has a narcotics liscence to import to some hospitals up in Luanda, and is interested in supplying CEML in Lubango, so we may soon have something better to offer.

Iºm not sure how much of our schedule Iºve communicated here already (sending these posts in via email makes looking back a bit more complicated), so Iºll outline it a bit here.

I usually leave at 6:45 for the hospital, getting back anywhere between 6 and 8 PM, depending on how things go. Mondays and Thursdays, there arenºt any general surgeries, so those days are usually more predictable. I also usually take a good chunk of those days as ´project´ days, where I try and help out with an area that needs it. Today I was in a container all day, so I think Iºll wait another week before I tackle that particular elephant again (I almost got a whole one inventoried . It was useful too, as some of the stuff I found will be used in some surgeries tomorrow.

Julia has her first English Class at 11 every day, then one at the hospital at 4:30. In between, she manages to keep herself busy with a myriad of things that Iºve only been vaguely aware of. When at the hospital, sheºs been a great help in getting a number of my ºprojectsº done that were a bit too big for the time I had.
Weekends have been quite erratic, with no ºregularº yet. Last weekend, we went to Namib (a costal town, not Namibia) with the local missionaries for a relaxing time getting battered around by huge waves. As you can probably imagine, I, at least, was loving it.

All of our Nihon no Tomodachi would love to hear that there are scads of snack bars here. In fact, we even have a picture of a place with the name "Snack Bar Central". I will leave it up to you to figure out what that means here.

Unfortunately, we had all been getting our hopes up for the new sattelite modem arriving and being successfully installed only to have them dashed. As it turns out, 2 people got to use the internet while it briefly was up, and weºre blaming the last one for using it all up. Coincidentally, there was a really close strike of lightning around the same time that Peggy used up the last of the internet, but that probably had nothing to do with it.

If there are any lightning experts out there, with some experience in protecting sensitive electronics, I know youºd be more than welcome here. This was the second modem that has been fried (the first was possibly not from lightning, but this second one makes it seem if that was what happened to the first). There are surge protectors on pretty much everything, and the local ºexpertsº have set up a lightning-rod network that was supposed to keep us safe. The funny thing is that nothing else was damaged in a hospital full of sensitive electronic equiptment (aside from this time, the switch that was hooked up to the satelite modem fried on the port the modem was connected to). Does anyone know if you can set up surge protection along a coaxial cable (the send and recieve to the sattelite itself are the only ones that arenºt surge protected. All the network cables between buildings are protected, and all modems and switches are on surge-protected UPSs.

Anyway, it looks as if Iºm out of time here, so more later.

Até logo!

I think it's a fit!

well, I finally got to a computer. I'll update what Ben wrote last.
We've now had a whole week here, and we feel very welcomed by the
missionary community. We are, right now, eating popcorn (with our
choice of flavour) and about to watch a movie, for Friday night movie
night. We're really not suffering.

We've had three days of English lessons so far, and after today's
lesson I have that wonderful good class "high". I teach at the
hospital, in what is the lobby area in the OR building. There are 12
beginning students, mostly nurses and hospital admin, who are just a
blast. Today we learned the alphabet, and they actually sang the
alphabet song with me. It was great.

I also have a one on one lesson everyday with a advanced students,
named Benjamin. It's great to talk with a local who can explain local
things to me.

I also have the great, "I did laundry" feeling, as I figured out how
to use our very manual washing machine, and we know hove clean clothes
after wearing dirty ones for quite a few days.

The hopital staff has figured out how technical savvy Ben is, and
they're putting him to work, trying to figure out some of the
hospital's machines. (he manages to find an 'on' switch that others
couldn't seem to find)

I'm sure Ben has said it, but the weather here is fantastic, never too
hot, and a lightning show almost every day.

Lubango

Well, we`ve gotten a chance to see a bit of the city here, and have
really enjoyed how nice everyone is here. What little portuguese we
thought we had learned now seems quite insignificant, and we´re
realizing what a battle we have ahead of us in learning enough to get
by without someone to translate for us.

I´ve seen the hospital, which just actually opened last week, and has
its OR opening this coming week~... pending successful instalation of
the backup autostart system for the generator. The power frequently
goes out (sometimes due to lightning strikes, but usually because it`s
been cut). This dry season was quite dry, and there isn`t enough
water in the hydroelectric system to provide more power. It`s pretty
much impossible to predict, though, as to when you`ll get your 4 or so
hours of power for the day. Fortunately, we do have a generator,
though, and have even managed to puzzle out a system in how to use it
occasionally, when we need to get our refridgerator below room
temperature for a while.

On friday, I sat in on a whole ream of consultations with patients,
and consistantly had my little anatomical and physiological knowledge
tested by an ever educational Dr. Foster. I´ve been finding myself
longing for the textbooks carefully hidden away in boxes back in
Canada - even though their weight would have been quite prohibitive.
Oh, well, I´ll see what medical books I can borrow from downstairs to
satisfy my curiosity\poor recall. Even though it`s only been the one
day in the hospital so far, I´m fairly certain that I definately want
to go into medicine (if there had been any doubt). I can´t wait until
the OR is functional, and I can hopefully see\help with some
surgeries.

Julia will be teaching English at either one of or both the hospital
and the seminary with Peggy, a friend of the Fosters, visiting from
Toronto. At this point, we don´t know exactly who at the hospital she
will be teaching (nurses, guards, maintenance...), so she may have to
brush up on a little medical vocab herself.

It`s been a good thing that she`s had the past 4 years to get
desensitized to gory\detailed discussions about injuries and
operations, because there are pretty much no holds barred over the
tables here, when doctors get together. I love it, and she seems to
be surviving remarkably well.

The guesthouse we have is quite spacious, by our Japanese standards,
though we will be likely sharing with another STA (from TWU,
apparently) in November. There`s still plenty of room for that, with
another bedroom still spare.

Below us live 2 American doctors (one who has finished his residency
already in surgery, and the other who still needs to finish hers.
It`s been great getting to know them, and their help has been
invaluable.

We´re a short 10 minute walk away from Dr. Foster´s house, and about 5
minutes from the church (in Portuguese, of course). We´ve also met
Dr. Collins (an opthomological surgeon), whom I believe we read about
in a book that a friend of Julia`s lent us in Botswanna, - God,
Medicine & Miracles, by Dr. Daniel Fountain. It was quite an
interesting read, written by a doctor who lived in the Congo for
years, and worked with Dr. Collins there too.

Oh, well. More later - I`m running out of time here!

-Ben

We've made it!

After much time, in transit and waiting for transiting, we've finally
made it to Lubango, Angola. It'll be nice to get doing what we came
here for, and we're both eager to get at it tomorrow. It's quite
amazing seeing the huge difference between the countries that we've
seen - Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola are all quite different
in terms of people, development, sanitation, and weather. The weather
here is much cooler, which is quite nice. We'll do a more thorough
update when we can get some time in a internet cafe in town.

Later!