More time flies

I am going to bed (too late again!) in my new room...thank you to the many who have been praying for me to find housing. I am going to sublet from a lovely couple with two kids who are going home to the US for two months. Soon, two new IJM fellows will join me in this spacious, perfect-for-entertaining home.

How can you not throw parties when you have a pink kitchen?

I think we may get spoiled living here...

I love my neighborhood...I'm on a "smile and wave" level of friendship with a few of the trusty watchmen (thought I'd subtly slip in the fact that there are, yes, plural "guards" on my street who watch the passerby's, I suppose looking for anomalies, and help out with errands, like getting your water refilled)

A new favorite haven, this is Amethyst. After church on Sunday I enjoyed a leisurely lunch with friends and stayed on to drink tea and write a bit in my journal on the garden patio of this British Colonial Era home turned restaurant/high-end store.

Valentine's Day was spent at "Ideal Beach," about an hour's drive outside of the city. And yes, that is a baby cow strolling down the shore.

Fishing boats sputter in and out. The thick black exhaust billowing from their tiny engines is an unwelcome contrast to the crystal blue waters of the Indian ocean and brightly colored wood boats.

And this is a bizarre blow-fish. Like I have said many times, you see something new here every day.

Work has been crazy-busy this week. I have much on my mind to process into words I can share. Until then, these few snapshots give a peek into the after-work part of my life here. I celebrate the one-month mark of my arrival here tomorrow and I am grateful for the hospitality and genuine welcome I've received from my co-workers, my friends. The time has flown, and I've experienced a vast range of emotions and the anticipated yet abrupt immersion into the struggle of a majority who is cheated and mistreated. I am grateful that I can simultaneously enjoy and process these beginnings with interns who have been in country for several months longer as well as the national staff who have families and insights derived from a rich heritage woven into the same culture.