Martha +Tim=Andrea and other domestics

When I left for the PC I had really short hair so it was easy to avoid the question asked by most girls and women in the villages. My hair was too short to braid. Since it has not been cut since last March the time had to come. I finally caved in a few weeks ago when my friend asked again. I want to assure you the photo I posted is not how I have been or will be walking around this great continent of Africa. Besides I could barely sleep for 2 days as the braids where pulled too tight into my scalp.

Last month at site a little bit of Martha Stewart influence hit. I decided it might be a little ghetto to keep using the previous volunteers folded over bed sheet as a living room curtain. You are probably wondering why I did not think of this in the last 8 months since I had put it up. Well, my new site-mate kindly pointed out my current decorating downfall. Wasting no time, I went to the unused material pile in my house containing all sorts of material I had purchased on a whim with no clear purpose in sight. After debating for almost a 1/2 hour if the dark blue material with gold butterflies was better than the royal blue material with white chickens, I determined the butterflies best accented the 2 racing stripes painted on my walls (they came with the house). I collected my travel sewing kit(not too extensive as I only know how to sew a button on), scissors and ruler and set off to work. A few long hours later I was done cutting and sewing but it was missing flare. The next day at the market the flare came to me in the form of big silver and gold buttons to be used to help tie back the curtains when they are not in use. So mom, I know I never exactly completed sewing that shorts and shirt outfit we had planned for the summer of 1990 but there is still hope that I may one day learn how to sew.

Continuing with the decorating theme, my dishes and cooking material were kept in a metal trunk of the floor. Again, 8 months was my breaking point. Since it's not possible to just go out and buy a shelf I talked to every carpenter in town about getting one made. Due to my intensive cheapness, I was unable to find a person who would meet my price. I also started to tell them I could make one for 100,000GF less than the quote they were giving me. Each time they told me women cannot make shelves and each time I was more infuriated to the point that I was determined to learn how. After much haggling over the price of wood, I set of with my pieces. Next challenge was shooing 1/2 the neighbor children off my porch so I could finally concentrate. I now have a shelf that only leans a little to the left but seems to work for now.

On a sporty note, my 2 girls soccer teams finally had their match at the big stadium in front of the village. Overall, it was quite a successful event. Most girls managed to round up a pair of shoes but both teams where given the same T-shirt so it was quite hard to determine with girl was on which team. Humorously enough, the teams were uneven 2 minutes before the match was to begin so I slipped of my skirt slid on some shorts and brought the skills I learned from my 5 year old soccer league to the field. Fortunately or unfortunately they were right on par for the competition. The match predictably ended with a score of 0-0.