The steep learning curve

Ploughing through linguistic jargon is not my idea of easy - I looked up at least 10 terms today to try to understand the orthography drafts I have been reading for Kiikizu and Kizanaki. It's sad that it took me a whole day to read 22 pages, but it is slow going, trying to understand at the same time! Still, it is fun to be at the office, pretending to be a grown-up - I even have my very own desk in the linguistics office!

Otherwise, life is flying by quite fast, day follows day and I find I have never accomplished all that I want to do; sowing sheets into nice looking curtains, baking, decorating the house... the list is endless. I have finally managed to get a decent bicycle though, which makes me happy, I can now cycle to the office and Rachel can be independent of me (or is it me of her? Not sure about that). Basically this is my way of being cheap and not paying huge amounts for petrol/gas. hehe.

So, the living situation is going well for the most part. There have been moments of complete miscommunication, mostly due to my accent (having lived in America, I can understand Canadian reasonably well) and the differences in vocab, such as aubergine or courgette (ok, stolen from French). We have got our house pretty nice so far, and have just to paint it on the inside and hang new curtains for it to really feel more homey.

So, Musoma is a warm place. Seriously nice at times, but not so much when you have got home from 8 hours at the office and have to have the second shower of the day (we have yet to get the shower heating fixed, so the shower is in permanent cold state). Still, can't complain, as it beats the freezing mornings and nights in Iringa! I am very happy to be in control of my diet again, and Rachel and I are loving having smoothies and fruit salads galore. Not that it is all healthy though, we both like to bake...

So far we have met quite a few of the other missionaries in Musoma at missionary fellowship (once a month) which was held last Saturday, but have still to get them all sorted in my mind. I am almost there with the children of all my co-workers though. Well, one more month and a lot of my co-workers will be on furlough anyway (argh, the thought of being responsible for 2 languages is not a happy one!), and we will have been to Kenya and back for conference. Happy travelling times again. Until then we have 3 Canadian visitors to look after, having arrived after a loooong time travelling. I hope they aren't too culture-shocked!