Spent the morning rewiring a power strip that had been brought here -- maybe from Europe. It had no ground pin on the plug and was wired opposite from the East African standard. It meant that the wire that was supposed to be ground on all equipment was really at 240 volts. Yikes! They also have 13 amp fuses on bedside lights. The wire will melt long before the fuse blows. I am in search of some 1 and 2 amp fuses for the lights so the fuses do what they are supposed to do.
Went to the market today and restocked on soda (pop, soft drinks, tasty sugar water, the Dentists' full employment liquid, ...) Also got a box of wine. What is a kitchen without a box of wine on the counter. Suave! Carrie, Sharon and Annica took the farmer's market by storm and we brought back pineapple, beans, carrots, peppers, and all sorts of stuff. It is great fun and the shopkeepers are very helpful now that we sort of know what to buy. Tom Nielsen took us up the hill to a house that sells eggs. I think we are mostly restocked for a while. Our housekeeper, Grace, hasn't been here since Tuesday as Wednesday was her daughter's graduation from 7th grade. We sort of blew that one because we gave Grace a card thinking it was her graduation. I think she got the point. We are running low on bread, cooked beans and completely out of banana bread. Grace will come Friday and we will scurry out to the market to get whatever she needs to restock our shelves.
The houses just outside our window are very nice but don't have indoor cooking or plumbing facilities. They cook on charcoal fires in the back yard and have little outhouses in the back yard as well. Our latest find was a beautiful Easter Lilly in the yard behind us. The flowers continue to amaze us. Without them, this would be a very dull scene.
I don't know if I mentioned the milk shakes. I had promised Toby and Annica that I would buy milkshakes for them at the Amsterdam airport on the way home. I even set aside some Euros for the purchase. But what to my wondering eyes should appear but a Maasai dressed fellow at a little bookshop/travel agent/cafe with milkshakes only a block away. Who knew that milkshakes are a traditional Maasai drink? I just smiled and ordered a vanilla (to be changed to a strawberry by consensus of the crowd because vanilla was too boring) shake. If you can't find it in Iringa, you don't need it.
Sorry, but I now realize that I had not turned on snide remarks -- I mean comments, on the blog. You are now free to add comments and questions. I would love to try to answer some of them. Praise or accolades are just fine too. If you don't ask questions, I will be forced to write run on sentences about the amazing organization of things here at the University.
Say good night, Gracie. Good night, Gracie!
Enjoying the blog. It is nice that you and Dale can be each others students. How is Dale enjoying Discreet Structures? I suppose pastors often must be discreet so it is nothing new for him. Students should start showing up next week.
ReplyDeleteDale is learning a lot about discrete structures. He unfortunately has little or no interest and is far more motivated to talk about preaching and the Old Testament. I told him that the Bible includes "Numbers" but he doesn't think that applies.
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