update!

June 1st, 2010

Another day spent in the Mess Hall. We painting most of the day and Fr. Banga is very pleased with our progress. There is a base board at the bottom of the walls which we painted a dark gray. The doors are also being painted as well as some cupboards. In an area as large as it is, such tasks take hours of time. But I don't mind. I am beginning to enjoy painting. :-) Even the more frustrating delicate stuff that takes half of forever to get perfect. But it was worth it because our employer was pleased with the finished product.

Nothing incredible happened today, I suppose... well, other than calling home to get a phone # and getting to talk to Mom, Sara, Ruth and Uriah. :-) That was a lot of fun. Uriah told me that it had stopped raining so they were playing outside. Ruth told me that they were playing 'in the horse pen' (which, for those concerned about safety issues, does not have horses in it). ;-) Sara told me that she had been a good girl, had eaten lots for dinner and had an upset stomach. She thinks she might be teething again. Don't roll your eyes at me. I've become quite adept in Baglabber, which is the official title for Baby Talk. Yes, official. I just made it up off the top of my very sleepy head. It's 10:30.

This evening, Fr. Banga came over with the songs he'd copied out of my list and we put 100 copies in their music folders. It's so nice to get that job finished with. :-) Hannah and Fr. Banga went to the laundromat and washed our laundry... but the dryers aren't working here so she ended up hanging the clothes on the line.

So, today was a good day. We had a wonderful snack mid-afternoon... I love it when Fr. Banga calls for a break! Strawberry ice-cream with fresh strawberries. It was heavenly. Andre R. was playing with his orchestra of 100 and between our sugar high and the music and the delightful company (?), we had a wonderful time. :-)

I must apologize for this very immature blog post and take myself to bed. I finished reading “My Cousin Rachel”. Strange story. Very well written, however...

June 2nd, 2010

Today, Fr. Banga scared ten years off my life. I was in the Mother Teresa Centre, dusting, straightening sheets, mattresses, etc. very intent on my work, and stepped out of a room into the hall to go into another room. At that moment, he chose to say, “How's it going?!” I jumped about four inches off the floor and hollered good and loud. Lol! We both couldn't stop chuckling for the next 10 minutes. But he made it all ok by saying it was time for a break... so we went and ate the rest of the strawberry ice-cream, strawberries and chocolate cake. :-) :-) :-)

Today I was instructed to wash windows up at Fr. Banga's Shack. Even though I'm really beginning to enjoy painting, it was so nice to work away from the Mess Hall. :-) Lydia and I spent all morning washing windows and I took up half of my afternoon. I don't know if they have ever been really cleaned before... he said that they haven't been so clean even when they were installed, six years ago. Some of the stuff on them looked that old. Lol! I spent an hour on one window because there was some substance splattered all over it. Finally, I gave up. I got most of it, so I guess that's what counts in this case. ;-)

This evening, Al and Loretta H. came over for supper and jamming. They are a really fun couple. I hadn't known them well before (I had seen them both in the years we've come to music camp)... they are even more jolly than they look. :-) My favorite part of the evening was the music... second to that would be dinner. Fr. Banga served ribs. They were soooo good. And I don't even like spicy. I had seconds. Hehe. That's how good they were. Third in line of favorites was the joke Al told. He told it so well that I actually thought it had happened to them as he said it did. But afterwards he admitted that he had only heard it and used it. But that was fine with me because he told it very well.

“Back when I was about seven,” says Al, “Canada Revenue came to our farm to document all of our produce, land, animals, etc. They wanted to charge us income tax on the vegetables we were raising. My Dad was real good about it, though. He said that they could look around the farm all they wanted to, except for one field. The Canadian Revenue guy flipped open his coat and displayed his badge. 'This says I can go wherever I want to!' he said. Dad shrugged and let him have at it. Not too long afterwards, the man came running past us with the bull chasing him, hollering, 'What should I do?!' Dad yelled back, 'Show him your badge!'”

After supper, we played music. It's so nice having a fiddler around. I sure miss having Ellie to play with us. I have realized anew why the fiddle is my favorite instrument! And I am really looking forward to music camp. :-) :-)

It's nice working alone sometimes. There is a lot of time for reflection. And just talking to Jesus. I find that sometimes I get distracted with my interaction with others and forget... not always, but sometimes.

Well, this evening, Fr. Banga is taking us to the wake of a Native who passed away a couple days ago. He's preaching the funeral tomorrow so we'll be on our own. But tonight, we will get to experience a traditional Native wake. I've never been to anything like it before so I'm curious and a little excited. :-) Until tomorrow.

P.S. I got my dresses today. Yay!! Mom sent them via bus. I am pretty happy. ;-)