thoughts on the week as it ends

"Its Friday, Its Friday, its the end of the week and the last day..." This is how many of our week's end, with Selina's catchy little song.

I cant believe how fast the weeks are going by. Herein lies a summary of the past 6 or so days:

Selina's birthday party was great, so many people came out to celebrate with her! Unfortunately, the power went out (it NEVER goes out Saturday, of course it would this week!) so we ate by candlelight and without the music playlists we had so meticulously planned earlier. Some of our hip hop dancing friends managed to perform for us without any music though, which was so fun!

The after party moved to a reggae bar where a live reggae band was sharing some very soul filled tunes. We enjoyed ourselves until trouble among some drunk people started stirring up. Some big belligerent military commander was threatening a woman we work with. Thankfully no one was hurt, though tensions got pretty high for a moment. We took that as our cue to call it an evening.

The next morning we left for our surprise safari. Of course, the safari jeep broke down. But we were on a beautiful somewhat deserted stretch of highway content to take pictures of the dusty scenery. After a good 25 minutes of watching Alfred mess around under the hood, a semi truck pulled up behind us. Something was wrong with our fuel line so the diesel wasn't getting to the engine. So these kind men siphoned out some of their fuel for us so we could be on our way.

We arrived at a gorgeous little oasis in the desert filled with monkeys and monkey babies. We had a huge delicious lunch, and then hopped on mountain bikes for an 8 km ride through the bush. It has been so long since I rode a bike! And its not like we were riding on smooth pavement... we went from a rocky road to a dusty field filled with cow poop. Once we passed the poop piles we had to watch for the prickly acacias. I am hard pressed to describe the beauty we encountered out there on our bikes. Desolation. The dusty field at one point was the bottom of Lake Manara, but it hasn't been covered with water since the late '90s. This year's drought alone was quite visible in the bodies of the cattle that occasionally blocked our path. There is so little grass that their ribs protrude almost painfully. We had many kids run up and touch our skin as we rode by. And there was a lady who tried to race me on foot!

Driving back from Lake Manara, we hit a giant dust storm. It was like a pinkish whiteout as the sun was setting. We drove for miles through it, passing people walking, cycling and working in fields all the while. I wished we could have picked them all up in our car for at least a moment of relief.

We also passed something a little disturbing, police officers forcing some suspected thieves into the back of a truck. It was like see something out of a movie. SO much for innocent until proven guilty.

Plans for this weekend arent really set yet, there are so many things to do as it feels like our time here is running out. But main priority for me SHOULD be the paper and presentation and take home final that are all due next week. Its crazy how much reading we have been doing lately.

AND I BOUGHT A PLANE TICKET TO SPAIN! I will be going for 2 weeks with some friends from home in March- Im thinking of it as an incentive/reward for completing my thesis. :0)