What’s been happening recently

A lot of time has passed since my trip to North Africa. Really, it feels like more than it was. Instead of trying to fill you in on all of the juicy details, here is a bullet list that might bring you sufficiently up to date:

• Meeting a friend at the market to browse the various market stalls together and then walk back to her house for a relaxed visit. Recently, she told me I am a friend, not a guest.
• Spending birthday/Christmas Kindle credit on books I had been drooling over for months.
• Being stalked… and then protected by friends.
• Post-Christmas candy-making and caroling.
• New Year’s celebration complete with candles and fireworks.
• Starting a hard copy recipe book that doesn’t include dusting my computer with flour every time I bake something.
• A friend moving in about two blocks from our apartment which meant lots of pop-in visits at both my place and hers.
• The same friend suddenly leaving town without any plans to return.
• My Spanish teacher relocating to Madrid… resulting in my class being transferred to a teacher who uses “ustedes” instead of “vosotros.”
• Crochet class morphing into knitting class against my will. (More on this later.)
• Friends’ birthdays: small scale parties, a princess cake, and a photo shoot.
• My friends’ children lighting up when they see me coming—it melts my auntie heart!
• Blue Hat, Green Hat over and over again as dark, serious eyes soak it all in, even the title page.
• A friend giving me two flowers she had planted at work. “No!” I cried, since I am a terrible plant keeper. “I’ll kill them!” “Look, you keep two and I’ll keep two and we’ll see whose dies on them first,” she said. The race is on. But, contrary to all reason, mine are BLOOMING!
• Lots of book reading with children.
• Helping a friend withdraw money from the ATM… an endeavor that had us laughing ourselves to tears.
• Walking 45 minutes with a friend to the ER.
• Anticipating visitors in March!!!
• Lunch with a friend who started food preparations at 6:30 a.m. What an honor to be her guest!
• Spending time with American teammates who belong to my culture and speak my language.
• Trying out a few North African recipes, with moderate success.
• Making copies at the African store down the street and being asked to run the copier myself since they were understaffed. I enjoyed watching customers’ eyes bulge when a pale face greeted them from behind the counter. The owner even gave me a discount because I had done the work myself.
• Branching out a little with crochet patterns.
• Attempting to grasp that God’s promises are for me and that my identity is, above all, a child of God.
• Finishing up my visa paperwork! Lord willing, all that’s left is to pick up my residency card in March.