Of Kittens and Markets

I can't believe I have another kitten! I do miss Milton, but I certainly was not looking to replace him out here. However the Cuthbertson's (Becky's sister & family) just had a litter of kittens that they were looking to find homes for. Becky thought it would be fun for the kids to have one- if I would take care of it. :) So, here he is. He is very sweet, quite chatty, and incredibly patient with all the little kids. In the evenings he likes to curl up on my desk and fall asleep as I work here on the computer. There is a bit of a name game going on right now... I'll let you know how it ends. Any suggestions are welcome! :) His only flaw- and a rather big one- is his tendency to pee... on my bed! I don't have much patience at all with that, so if he doesn't cure his ways really soon, he'll be passed off to an African family who will keep him outside!

We went to the big market this week, and though I have been before, I realized this time that I had only seen a small part of it. I was quite overwhelmed by all the stinky food and the many vendors selling their cloth, beads, and slippers (or flip-flops as we call them). The women come to sell their stuff and they bring their babies and place them in tiny cardboard boxes on the floor. I nearly tripped over one before I realized who he was! I couldn't believe he was actually staying put in this playpen the size of a shoebox. He looked like he should have been old enough to crawl, but the babies aren't stimulated or lavished with attention so they are usually content just to stay put. On the way to the market, we went through a part of town I had not seen before- it was row upon row upon row of shacks and hovels where the people live (kind of reminding me of the African version of American trailer parks.) It just brought a new reality to where I am. I know I am in Africa, but sometimes it doesn't seem like I see that extreme poverty you imagine to be here. But it is, I'm just out of touch here in my nice house and decent part of town.

Tonight we met with the consulate from the embassy who came to San Pedro to met us Americans. I think it's funny how if there are any other American's in the city we don't know about them. It was just the three missionary families. It was a time to meet her and have her answer any questions we might have about passports or visas, but really it just ended up being a nice evening to chat with someone new and find some peace away from the kids.

Well, it must be far past my bedtime, I can smell the neighbors cooking. Lately I've been waking up around 3:00am to this really horrible, nasty burning smell. Who knew a smell could wake a person up from a dead sleep? I assumed it was people burning heaps of trash, but I found out it's some kind of food, which I hear tastes as bad as it smells. No wonder they cook it in the dead of night- I cannot begin to describe how strong it is, but I will tell you that tonight I would rather suffer in the heat than leave the windows open and let it waft in here!

(picture of goats running throught the market :)