Limol #3

Second day in Limol and my first 5k! I woke at 6 and got ready to run, connected my watch in front of the house and took off. I was a little worried about causing a scene (running for no reason) and as soon as I started running, dogs began to bark and chase me! So I walked the first half kilometer through the village, than ran 2.25 kilometers down the path towards the canoe place, then back to the village 'gate'. It felt good to run! So many different bird sounds: owls, friar birds, parrots, and more. I ran through so many little spider webs with my legs. The sunrise colored sky was beautiful. 

The rest of the day was eventful so I'm glad I got the run in early. Big community meeting was productive. We introduced Lauren, presented presents and discussed plans. Lauren and Grace did really good jobs. I explained how most of the solar lights and water rollers are lost and people were understanding but maybe disappointed? There was a big discussion about the gifts and whether some should be sent to Malam. Some men stood up, addressing the community saying people shouldn't talk badly or gossip about the gifts or the project. I cried when I told them that I wish I could have brought them so much more and that changed the tone of the conversation to gratitude. Some gifts were distributed, but most were put back in my house for special use, which I wish they wouldn't do. I wish they were all used up.

At the meeting, we also discussed a food program and work schedule. I told everyone that we didn't want to eat by ourselves in our house but that we wanted to eat with them. People really liked that idea and said we might eat interesting things like python. We said that was ok!

After the meeting, we waited for breakfast but it didn't come so we ate some bananas. This food thing is tricky. Then we walked to Yerem washing place to do the laundry. Yerem is the name of a beautiful washing place that people in Limol are really proud of. There's even an ode in the corpus written about this washing place. The water is clear and beautiful, the banks are wide and there used to be a big tree from which you could jump into the water. Grace did this our first year much to everyone's entertainment. Unfortunately it's a long walk back and we had to do some more chores before a lunch of yams, greens, and bananas. Then an afternoon of language work. 

I gave Lauren a lesson on the verb, and together we talked to Matthew to try to figure out some tricky suffixes. Some young girls were watching the whole time, so after work I brought them some whiteboards and we had our first writing lesson. It wasn't easy but I think we all learned something about literacy and they want to come back tomorrow.

Old man Gineya invited me over to his house for dinner. We had boiled yams and a pineapple! Good conversation with him and his daughter-in-law Erga, and the rest of the family. Wagiba came back from fishing with the women and the new net we brought. She caught 25 fish! The women were very happy. 

After that day I was exhausted. I wanted to write this blog, wanted to write on the sat phone, and wanted to write up my thoughts on the verbs but couldn't decide which to do first. So I just fell asleep.

Kate