Maybe this is the rainy season

We watch all of you shovel the snow and don't really want to come back to that. We do want to get out in the snow and make some snowmen and ski and just try something different. Just a couple of short notes for today and then I will go back to reading "The Lunatic Express" -- a book about building the first railroad here in eastern Africa.

I finally asked for a class list at school. I know it is a bit late, but I wanted to verify student names and numbers before I turn in grades on Friday. Since each year of a particular major is a cohort all they have to do is keep track of the 2nd year and 3rd year students who have been admitted for that year. For my Discrete Structures class, 35 took the mid-term exam, 19 of those are admitted. For my Thesis class, there are 49 students who have submitted at least an abstract for their final Thesis, 21 have been admitted. The ones not "admitted" will not get credit for the course but they are desperately trying to get through the degree in spite of the financial challenge to be enrolled. I think this is becoming just as big a challenge here as it is everywhere in the U.S.. The cost of this sort of luxury education is beyond the means of most students. Personally, I believe that something has to change in the model of sending folks to a country club school and taking 4 or 5 years of classes to get through a major. I don't know what to do with the Thesis class. I am afraid I will just have to submit grades and pass the group on to the instructor for the next semester. Interestingly, the next term's instructor is a reference librarian and will focus on literature review -- something they all need.

After school we gathered up for a final trip for ice-cream. As Stiles were about to leave, poof, off goes the electricity. They had to buy some more Kilowatt hours at one of the local stores because the electric company was closed for the evening. Caleb got the code entered and the lights are back on in A-5 for good (we hope). I thought they would have plenty of power to make it through the next week but I was wrong. We sat down for dinner, lit two Advent candles and the power went out for the whole neighborhood. It came back on after about 40 minutes as we sat down for our final milk shakes.

It rained this evening and the forecast is for 50 to 90 % rain for the next few days. We are entering the rainly season but it comes in bunches and then (like the last week or so) is beautiful again. I know none of you are feeling sorry for us. We keep pinching ourselves and cannot believe we are really here. Tomorrow is a Christmas sing-along at the English speaking church and the rest of the evenings are filled by invitations from various faculty and staff. The Deputy Provost invited us to a little "thank you" party on Thursday so we will be busy and the remaining week will fly by.