Birthdays, 4th of July, etc

First of all I would like to say happy belated birthday to MG and Ron and happy birthday today to Andrew. Monday was Aaron's birthday and with the help of some current volunteers I was able to scrounge up some little gateaux and made some chocolate icing for a birthday cake. I also got some of the other trainees and training staff to sing happy birthday in a bizarre combination of French and English.

So one of the helpful/bizarre/embarrassing (pick your adjective) things about living with our host family is that they seem to have a 6th sense when it comes to the latrine. Everytime we use it, one of our host sisters is lurking nearby somewhere to get in there and clean as soon as we exit. Because of this, our host family stays pretty up to date on our digestive health.
Wednesday morning, Aaron wasn't feeling great so I went out to greet our host family and let them know (which of course they already knew). My host mother and one of my sisters kept telling me to go do something or prepare something for Aaron (I'm still not sure what they said) but I just figured they were reminding me of wife duties to go take care of Aaron so I just said ok and went to eat breakfast. A little while later Aaron joined me and our host sister told us that they had called the PC doctor for him. We were a little confused by this, but we just said "ok, thanks" and kept eating. No more than 5 minutes later a PC car rolls up and one of the staff hops out and says "ok Aaron, we take you to the doctor". It was a really bizarre/confusing morning for us.

The thing about host families is that they really take your safety and health into their hands. So when we get sick, they get really worried. It's really sweet but can be difficult as well. Our host dad keeps saying Aaron has malaria, which he doesn't, and I am not sure how to convince him of that.

Moving on, everything else has been good. Next Tuesday we find out where our site for the next two years will be. And the week after that we get to go visit our site. I am hoping to go spend the night with one of our GEE (girls education and empowerment) trainees who lives in a village outside of town this weekend to get a feel for village life. Joanna's boyfriend and parents if you are out there, I am talking about Joanna. She's doing great but she broke her bike this week. Also Lauren Nouis, if you are reading this you should see if you went to school with Joanna. She is from Colorado Springs, she is tall, and she is just like you in all other ways. So maybe you went to school together or are long lost twins separated at birth or something like that.

Ok, it's time for language class. Thanks to Aaron's parents and my parents for calling. It was great to hear from you. I didn't have time to talk about our 4th of July plans, so next time.