On My Own

Arusha, March 5, 2018, Monday

We had to get up early this morning since John was catching a bus at 7:30 a.m. for his trip to Nairobi. It seemed better to me to have John turn on all the lights as he dressed, ate breakfast, and did his last minute packing than to let him stumble and bang about in darkness. He wanted to be considerate and let me sleep for another hour, but I was fully awake by the second time he crashed into something. Anyway, I didn’t want to sleep through his leaving and not say good-bye. Ray came at 7:15, and just like that I was here alone.

Prior to this morning, I had bravely planned to set up a schedule full of activity and adventure. However, once John was off, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do except read, do some research on line, and think about napping.  Ray returned later in the morning to tell me that Priskilla’s glasses had broken and needed to be replaced. Obviously, he needed some assistance in order to do that, so I helped him out, and then decided to stay here for lunch instead of treating myself to something in town. It’s great that I have never lost my love of chicken ramen.

Mama was sitting outside before noon, dressed all in white. She seemed to have people with her most of the time, so I didn’t go out to greet her until nearly 2:00 p.m. It was then that I learned that she was going to pay her respects for a neighbor who had died. When I asked if white was the color for mourning, she said no, that one could wear any color, but she thought white was nice and bright. Maybe I missed something there. Anyway, we didn’t have time to sort it all out, so don’t take this as a new insight into Masai culture.

Because of all the rain lately, our TV service has been very sporadic, and the electricity is very unreliable. This afternoon sometime the electricity went out, and six hours later it hasn’t come on again. I hope it does before morning. Yet, when I stop and think about it, I would never have expected to have TV or even necessarily electricity at other places and times in Africa.

All day the sky looked as if it would pour rain at any minute. However, except for an occasional rogue drop, it remained dry until about 9:00 p.m. Then, it began to pour nonstop. John called from Nairobi and reported that there had been a lot of rain there as well. Maybe this is what they call the little rainy season. Whatever it is, the mosquito population seems to be increasing exponentially, and I am now using my last can of OFF! I should ask you to pray for the prey—me.