Tad's Life

I took a couple days off.

Well, more like a day and a half. Monday was a holiday, the feast day following the month of Ramadan. In fact, the calendar said it would be Tuesday and that's what DA scheduled. But knowing the way these things go in Senegal, with sightings of the moon and inter-community differences of opinion, DA scheduled Monday as a parent-teacher conference ½ day. That meant Jonathan stayed home and Jane went in for the morning.

In any case, Monday afternoon we got the house ready for guests. In the evening we had a group of DA staff over for pizza and video mystery. They came in a carload: the Dixons (Jonathan’s French teacher) with little Joshua, Jane’s friend Ginny (a fellow English teacher and kindred spirit), Lois (a math teacher and another friend of many years) and Becky (elementary). Gretchen happened to come by just before they got here so she joined in for a while, too. Jane had dough and sauce ready and the others brought the toppings. We each took responsibility for building half of a pizza. I don’t know why, but that was extraordinarily good pizza.

Then we pulled out this game we got recently. It is a video-based game from the 80s. The VCR tape has a series of Sherlock Holmes mysteries on it. You watch a bit and then take turns checking out secret clues from a clue book and then watch a bit more. It’s a race to solve the mystery. It’s a bit like Clue or like a two-minute mystery. Anyway, we had fun doing it and laughing at the movie’s tongue-in-cheek attitude and all. Very nice.

I'd photo the box, but Ginny liked the game so much she took it home with her to try the solataire rules!

No NCAA or NFL or “Law and Order”, Dad, but still, a nice day off!

// posted by Tad @ 11:31 AM 0 comments

I left early Monday morning with Jane and Jonathan to meet with the Executive Committee of the Dakar Academy Board. This has been my Monday morning for several years now. With Jane teaching, it works out nicely for me. We leave early to get her to school for staff devotions. I hide myself in the staff lounge while the staff is up in the library and I have a half-hour by myself. It is quite nice to have some peaceful time with God before beginning the week. And it’s air-conditioned in there, too!

Anyway, our EC meeting went for a bit. Long enough for the power to be cut at school and the Director’s office to become quite warm! But we had a number of important things to discuss and we just kept at it.

I took the car, then, and speeded back home just long enough to check in at the UWM office and to pick up the package notice and some money. The Phare had power. That was good. But Rodney asked me a strange question. “Why won’t your computer turn on? Is there some secret?” There isn’t. I kept moving because I had an errand to run right away, but I’m sure you can imagine that sinking feeling I had when I, too, tried pushing “ON” and nothing happened!

Normally, Jane has done the running into town to get packages in recent years. But with teaching and all, this one fell to me. It was a bit dated, so I had to get to it right away. The notice was odd, too. It was paperwork from the downtown, small packet Post Office, but with a note that the package was at the large package Post Office part way into town. I figured they ran out of forms and were sharing and that I was off to get a big box of Christmas presents or something.

Well, traffic right now, most of the day and on most major roads is crazy. Yesterday was no exception. I fought my way through several traffic jams and in the end to avoid another, I parked the car and walked the last few hundred yards! I got to the package window and immediately walked back to the car when I realized I left my passport under the driver’s seat! In the end, the process of getting the package was fairly quick. Well, by historic standards, I mean. I wasn’t in there more than 30 minutes, I don’t think. And I only paid $4 to get the package. But it wasn’t Christmas presents, as you have already guessed. It was a simple 8½ by 11envelope with Sudoku puzzle inserts from the newspaper and comic books and other fun stuff that Dad collected for us. Road construction is so bad that I suppose they shifted the small packet postal work out to the large box Post Office. Ah, well. I do enjoy Sudoku!

By the time I got back, I was way too tired and hungry to go near that computer. I had lunch. I did a Sudoku puzzle. I even had a 15 minute nap. Very mature, don’t you think? Or I was trying to avoid a nightmare!

Anyway, I did finally get to the computer. It wouldn’t even flash little lights at me more than once. And even then, only if I unplugged the whole unit and plugged it back in. I’m sure that would confuse most folks. But I knew that the night before the power had cut and come back on at least 3 times. I figured I may have slept through other times. I guessed that one of those cuts and restorations had sent some kind of surge through the line. I pulled this power supply out and put in the one from my previous computer (deceased last January and finally declared hopeless a couple weeks ago). To my great shock and joy, that was all it took. I was up and running! No, I’m not a wizard, but I guessed right on that one.

// posted by Tad @ 11:38 AM 0 comments

Now, I did keep going and I didn’t give in to this sentiment. But it kept coming back.

Then yesterday I heard something that made me analyze this feeling more closely. I was with our UWM team. (Or at least those who were available. The Dutts and Alex. Paul is in France for a French language intensive. Kate was with Emma at the doctor. Jane was teaching. The Oliveiras gave up on getting in to Dakar because of the heavy rain out in Thiès. ) As we shared prayer requests, Rodney reminded us that there is more going on in our discouragements than just power cuts and heat and traffic problems. It is Ramadan. We have seen through the years that this month brings more than its share of emotional and spiritual stresses. Because I grew up in a solidly materialistic culture where spirits were imaginary superstitions, I am often blind to the real universe in which I live.

And that reminder about the nature of my experience was surprisingly helpful and encouraging. “Oh, yeah. Just my enemy trying to get me down. Just Psy-Ops stuff.”

Still, we’d appreciate your prayers.

// posted by Tad @ 5:14 PM 0 comments

This is just a quick note to say that I've not forgotten you all. We have had terrible power problems. Many evenings we are eating by candle light. Many days, I only work on the computer if I've turned on the Phare generator. (Boy, is that thing noisy!) And last night, Jane forgot to bring home the lap top since she hadn't used it since the power went off at school mid-morning.

I'm here at school this early today. Rodney asked that our normal Wednesday team meeting be held at their house. Everyone else lives on this side of town, so that is logical. More importantly, with the highway construction getting worse and the Mariste school back in session, morning traffic crossing Front de Terre has become impossible. Yesterday, Kathy had to give up and go home instead of coming to the Phare for a 9 AM meeting. Monday night, Jane and I and Hervé spent 2 hours in the car in a trip that should have taken 30 minutes.

In fact, Monday we were at the viewing for Antoinette's sister Denisia. It was, as often here, an unusual experience. I had brought several folks from the Phare with me, dropping them off close to the hospital, on my way to get Jane from Dakar Academy. We got back there shortly after 4 and found the others waiting under an outdoor shelter. And then we waited. For Jane and I, we waited in ignorance, wondering what would happen. I asked Herve questions from time to time, but still...

We watched a coffin arrive and be unloaded across the way. Soon it came back out, obviously heavier, and the men loaded it on top of a large van. Soon luggage and pots and pans and various things surrounded it. Eventually, people got in the van. Hervé was appalled at the Muslims' lack of respect for the body. We were confused. We thought we'd come for a viewing. Only when we were signaled to come over to that building did we realized that the coffin on the van was someone else's relative!

The viewing for Antoinette's sister was quite simple. She and her niece and other sister stood outside the door to the morgue. Another relative was inside waving a fan to keep the flies off the deceased. We greeted the relatives and went in and processed past the body lying on a simple hospital table. After that we waited some more outside, greeting various folks that we knew who were also waiting. Eventually we realized that nothing more would happen until later that night when those traveling with the body down to the village would leave. So we said our good-byes and left to go get Jonathan.

Hervé was with us and we expected to slip over to school and get home in the normal 30 minutes with traffic. That was not to be. An hour and a half later we finally got the mile to school. As we sat in traffic and were passed by little scooters, we even joked about ordering pizza and having it delivered. It was so slow I had the engine off half of that time and the door open to let in air! Meanwhile, Jonathan was with the Mulays, so we were worried about how that was going. We'd have called, but the credit had run out on our phone! When we finally did get to their house, the Mulays invited us in to eat. And we didn't refuse. By the time we got back on the road, everything was clear.

You see, it is Ramadan. And it is also the opening of classes for all the schools this week. During Ramadan, all the Mulsims fast during daylight hours. They also do not drink. So the breaking of the fast at a little after 7PM is physically very important. Everyone is in a big hurry to get home by then. Schools also get out at 5-5:30. About the time we left the hospital Monday, everyone and his brother was desperately trying to get home. Crazy. At 7:45, the streets were empty.

// posted by Tad @ 8:28 AM 0 comments