Here Butternut is in the middle with her sister and brother who went home with 2 other volunteers.



Here Butternut is all the way to the right.

I forgot to mention that the breaking down train sounded exactly like the monster from LOST. Additionally this problem was inexplicably associated with our particular “vagon lit,” so the crew kept running in and out and tightening this weird box above the door…. Why the box next to our light switch should affect the function of the entire train…? I pulled the sheets over my head…

I also delusioned myself into believing that upon return my puppy would be house-trained and my yard would have a door… but no dice. The neighborhood kids have been making the rounds wishing people “bonne fete bonne fete” for the new year and then you give them candy. Sort of like Halloween…

The “cold” season has definitely gotten underway though. I’m pretty cold when I wake up in the morning and usually put on sweatpants, jacket etc. before going outside with Butternut. Meanwhile, the Camerounians have fleece-lined hats, gloves, one neighbor had wrapped a scarf around his face one morning so that just his eyes were peeking out, sort of like a facemask. My favorite so far is a corduroy jacket that has “Anderson Ice Hockey” embroidered on the back. It only could have been better if it was from Beacon Hill.

The classrooms can be pretty chilly in the morning too. The students try to close up the door and windows, but then you can’t see the board because there’s no lights. So there’s always a lot of squabbling as they try to arrange the windows/doors at exactly the right angels to get the light but not the wind. In an effort to get the students to stop complaining about the cold, the principal told everybody about the snow where Mrs. Kelly comes from during the Monday morning meeting. He tried to convince them that this weather is not actually cold, and is not an excuse for coming in late. But it really is a problem that everybody thinks its so cold, I found out that there’s always several cases of children getting burned from sleeping too close to the fire on cold nights during this time of year.

On a lighter note though, my moto driver, Defache (as in not angry), got Butternut this white pleather collar that’s completely bejeweled/bedazzled/be-grommeted … she looks like quite the little diva. I’ve been attaching her to the tree in front of my house with a chain which she does NOT like at all. So I feel really bad. But sans porte she wanders around the neighborhood. I know she knows her way back home but she likes to hang out with my neighbors who kill chickens and I don’t want her to choke on a chicken bone…