Busy Friday Night

Miriam, our staff member who does magic cooking for our guests, is celebrating her 26th birthday today, so I gave her the evening off and cooked for the guests instead. I took dinner down to the river gazebo, and we had a wonderful time visiting till darkness surrounded us and the nightjars started calling. Not that it's that late. It's dark by 7 pm here. Year round. Like the sun rises at 6:25, year round.

Needing to desperately catch up on my class reading, I decided not to invite the guests for a game of cards or a movie at my place. But walking home, I remembered that Miriam had invited me to join her and her friends for chai and cake tonight... But when I just went over, they were still waiting for a bunch of friends, so I decided to come home first, get some reading done, dress down, and head over in a bit.

I should be at small group, actually. I forgot last week that we now have Friday night small group. And tonight, I was busy entertaining the guests, plus have Miriam's event. Which is funny, really. I never have anything to do on Friday nights, and tonight, I can choose between 3 events. Soon, the Salvation Army Band may start playing again, in which case I could go dance. I think not.

Tomorrow, we have the last of a series of AIDS campaigns to create awareness of a home-testing effort that has been rolled out in our region. I will be studying rather than be at the campaign to take photos. Like I said, I'm far behind on my reading. Walked into my house after 9 every night, which makes keeping up on reading a bit more challenging. But I'll catch up. I know I will. I'm looking forward to actually writing my paper... God's been showing me some neat insights, and I can't wait to see how it comes out on paper.

In the meantime, I have found a buyer for my Land Rover, and found a small, old beater vehicle for what I'll get for the wreck. It's 20 years old, but the engine seems to be going strong still. It won't get my anywhere on our mud roads when it's rained, but it's a fine vehicle for the regular Kenyan roads. I should be able to make the transfer on Monday, if all works out well.

Miriam's calling. Let me go have some cake.

Later: The party was fun, really. A very interesting cross-cultural experience of playing musical chairs, having donuts (made by the birthday girl) and chai, drawing questions and going round answering them (What is the most significant event in your life? Stuff like that), and dancing. I personally don't enjoy dancing (except ballroom-type dancing, which I've not done since living overseas), so it was fun to simply watch my Kenyan colleagues be themselves. I'm glad I went. Now, on to reading...