Broken rooster, rapid streets and other thoughts.

Sorry about the delay! I was blessed with a long weekend this last weekend! Islam is one of the religions of Cameroon, so any holiday they have is declared a national holiday. Even though RFIS is a Christian school we take off any National holidays. Friday was declared the end of Ramadan for the Muslims and a national holiday; therefore I didn’t have to work! It was fabulous. We were waiting Thursday evening to hear on the news if it was going to be declared a holiday or not. I felt like I was waiting and hoping for a snow day! It was kind of fun and I definitely appreciated the day off.
I have joined the running club at school. This means that I train from September to January with a group of students and staff. Our goal is to get in shape to climb Mt. Cameroon in February. It is, I think, the tallest Mt. in West Africa. So far I am surviving the training. Right now we have to run 10k a week thru Oct. and Nov. I have never been a huge runner, but I want to enjoy running, so this will hopefully get me there. Yesterday (Tuesday) I went for my longest run yet, 6k! My knees and joints are very sore today. There are lots of hills to run around here. It was not only my first for running 6k, but also for running thru small rivers on the sides of the road. It was pouring rain during our run yesterday! The small ditches on the side of the roads were flowing with water and even had some strong ‘rapids’ in them. It was fun and made the long distance a lot cooler and seem easier. The air is so think here with water that when it is hot and you sweat it just pours off your body, so I preferred the rain to sweat! There was red water oozing out of my running shoes. Just another small adventure.
When you are little and learning animals and the sounds they make, you learn that a rooster crows. You also learn and see in movies, that is crows in the morning with the sunrise, like an alarm clock. I have come to determine that the roosters here are of a different breed. Last night as I was falling asleep around 10:15 a rooster in the yard next door decided to crow. I moaned and said out loud, to myself, “You have got to be kidding me!” Then it crowed a second time and I laughed at the ridiculousness of the very confused rooster. Then when it crowed the third time I was beginning to be annoyed. But thankfully it stopped. It started crowing again this morning to wake us all up. Which is what it is supposed to do right? But NOT at 3:30 in the morning!!! I have come to the conclusion that the roosters in Cameroon are either very confused, were taught wrong, or are simply broken.
I wrote a few weeks ago about my decision to continue subbing for geometry. I did say no. But my boss was unable to find a sub other than herself. She came to me apologizing and asking me to show her where I left off and how she should teach the class. Well, I still didn’t want to teach it, but knew I couldn’t let her take on more when her plate is already so full. So I am once again teaching Geometry. The teacher is now planning on returning on Oct. 27th. I am praying he doesn’t get delayed again. You can pray with me in that and also that I will be able to keep up with all my classes and teach them well, as well as keep a balance in the rest of my life. I have started my journey into learning to speak French. I am borrowing a computer program and have worked on it each day since I got it. You can pray for my understanding of the language as well.
I am in the stage of cultural transition where I am more homesick then I have been before. There are so many emotions I find myself going through and I am learning more and more about myself and about God and dependency on Him. I would love to hear from each of you. Your words bring such encouragement to me.
God bless you! AMY