Sunny, Breezy, and 80 = Perfect

It’s perfectly mild and beautiful outside right now. How funny that I am such a fan of the heat during the day, but absolutely hate it at night. It’s just so hard to sleep when it’s STILL 80 degrees outside. I’m not sleeping well yet. It takes me forever to fall asleep and then I wake up restless. I know for sanity’s sake I should just lay down with Sunda when she sleeps in the afternoon. But, even in the middle of Africa I’m too American to nap in the middle of a work day. So, maybe I’ll get so exhausted my body will forget that it has trouble sleeping in the heat and I’ll just collapse at 7 o’clock one night.

Tonight Jake and I are leaving Sunda with Auntie for a couple of hours to go (literally) next door, to the neighboring lodge for dinner (our Valentine’s Day, a day early.) It’s about 5 miles away, and takes about 15 minutes with both of us on the motorbike. I can’t wait. The lodge is right on the gorge like we are and the sunset will be gorgeous. And the batteries on my camera are dead. Figures, right?

Tomorrow is a day off! Jake and I have decided that we are going to take Saturdays as a family day. It’s really easy here to run around without getting much done, but hard to really take a day off. I really feel like not having a day to do something fun as a family makes us all irritable. Sunday never works because if we’re not traveling into the bush, we’re often leading worship or Jake is preaching. And when we have church here on the base there is always massive cooking to be done ( In the kitchen. All day.) We’ll see how Saturdays work out. It’s just so nice to be able to work hard on Friday knowing that tomorrow is a free day!

On one of our Saturdays off, we might end up going to the movies, because…

LIVINGSTONE HAS OPENED A MOVIE THEATRE!

According to rumor, the Livingstone Cinemas have Saturday morning movies for kids (for REALLY cheap). They show fairly old flicks. Tomorrow is Shrek 2 and Happy Feet. Apparently, there is also a Wednesday night showing which you have to “dress up” to go to. A consideration for date night!
It doesn’t really take much to entertain us. In fact, if they have air conditioning and popcorn, I would pretty much sit through anything. I miss going to the movies, but how can anyone afford it in America anymore? Jake and I ran over one evening after we put Sunda in bed (Nene stayed with her), and they had raised the prices drastically since we’d been to the movies last. The Livingstone Cinemas might be my only chance to see it on the big screen.

It’s true that there’s not always a lot to do in the entertainment department here in L/Stone. But, somehow, we end up with plans almost every weekend. Why? People here actually entertain in their homes (like, informally, and without reason.) It’s not something we do all that much of in America anymore. But here, there is always a barbecue or a dinner party going on. I love that hanging out with people is just not always centered around an activity or a function. But rather, just because. You don’t have to do anything together. Isn’t the company enough? It is such a cool way to get to know people.

Happy Friday everyone!