5k Kate

Well my computer died today. As they say, it’s not a question of IF you’ll lose your data it’s a question of WHEN and HOW MUCH. Luckily, I’ve been well trained and I made regular backups and three back up drives of all my recordings, transcriptions, translations, photos, etc. I last backed up last night and I was able to grab a few transcripts that I typed before my computer really crashed. These data were irreplaceable and completely saved! However... I wasn’t regularly backing up my FLEx files which include all my text analysis and an enormous amount of work that I’ve done mostly at night the past seven weeks. I also potentially lost all the documents on my computer. So I feel like a back up queen and a total idiot at the same time. Luckily I have a back-up laptop (!) but doing my work for the evening felt like someone took my beautiful well-oiled machine and replaced it with a stick. I’ll be able to keep doing my work and an evening run persuaded me that in fact I will still do ever...

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 s...

Today was our first full day in Limol! Everyone was tired today from the journey. Although many people brought us food from their gardens, Wagiba was too tired to cook for us and so I didn't eat until dinner. We also ran out of water in the morning but had to wait until evening to go to the well. The well is quite far away but has good water.  Anyway this resulted in another "rest day" from running because I couldn't run without eating or drinking. Things will settle in soon :) My favorite part of today was in the afternoon. Manaleato and Kauga came back from Malam and I ran to them to give them hugs and kisses. Manaleato is wonderful - she has a beautiful spirit and nine sweet children. Her husband, Kauga, is the school teacher. We all gathered at the new language house, which is twice as big as last year. At one point, I brought up the photos from last year that I printed and everyone wanted to see them. I set them out along the tables and big groups of peop...

Wow, we just arrived in Limol and I can't believe it. What a long, difficult journey filled with surprises and gratitude.  Musato found us a boat and boatman to take us to Limol Saturday morning. Our original hire had been thwarted by the infamous Sam George who took us to Limol our first year. We went down to the wharf on a prayer, hoping that a boat and boatman would appear. Before ours did, a boat came in with a man who had fallen off the boat onto his motor. His arm was very badly cut, and a big crowd surrounded him as he was helped to the hospital. When our boat arrived, we had also amassed a crowd for much happier reasons. The boat was smaller than we would have liked - we had to leave some people behind - but we did fit all of the gifts and supplies that we bought for Limol under two large tarps. I was very pleased with the packing except two large pots with handles were placed behind my seat of honor to dig into my back for the next two days.  The ride through the Paci...