We are back in Diapaga today after spending a pleasant, if hot, week in Mahadaga. I've complained a few times these last few months that our weekly visits to Mahadaga have been incredibly exhausting and intense, and I was surprised to find I did not enjoy the time in Mahadaga as much as I'd thought. I now realize that was partly due to the shortness of our "visits" home. We were trying to cram 7 days worth of catching up into 2 days. It was insane.
This past week we were not in Mahadaga for any real particular reason other than because Betty needed to use our car. What a difference that made! We still managed to find a few things to do, but overall it was a much more relaxed time. And upon returning to Diapaga this afternoon after a week away, I realized how much I've been missing my own home these last few months. Coming back here after being able to relax in the comfort of my house with my things doing the things I'm used to with the people I know was a bit...disconcerting!
Instead, as we came up the drive to the house in Diapaga, we found an unknown van parked in our yard as there is apparently a pastor's conference going on at the church next door. And when I walked in the house and started opening up all the windows, I was surprised to look out on the verandah and find a "squatter!" Turned out to be one of the conference attendees who had decided that our verandah looked like a nice place to take sieste and had set up his own cot there. I guess he didn't know there were people actually living here...
And as I put the groceries away in the cupboards, I found that the mice here are really rather desperate and determined! They've been getting into anything wrapped in plastic or paper (like macaronis or kool-aid envelopes) for weeks now, and once I removed all those sorts of items from their reach, they had started on cardboard (like boxed foods), which I also removed before leaving (though I apparently forgot to remove the bullion cubes). Now, it seems, they've started chewing holes in the plastic lids covering tin cans of food, and even chewing through thicker, harder plastic to get to my maple flavoring extract! We had brought our Kitty to live with us when we first came, but we had trouble with her "potty-training", and we also suspect that someone tried to "catnap" her at one point, so we took her back to Mahadaga to stay.
Well, needless to say, the "camping adventure" we were excited about when this language study time started is starting to get old. But we are hanging in there. This time around we intend to stay in Diapaga a little longer than usual as a final "push" as we wind down our time. Dale has medical committee meetings in Fada coming up May 23rd and 24th, so we anticipate those meetings will signal the end of our language study time. That should give us enough time to settle back in our home in Mahadaga before the adventures of the summer months begin!
Hali li daali!
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