⎨Roos⎬Day Three

Today I went with Melanie and Tiana to the market in town. We went to pick out some fabric so that I can have a traditional outfit made. Fabrics come in 6 yard bundles - enough to take to a tailor to make a wrap skirt, a shirt, and a veil. I picked out a pretty white and pink fabric that I'm excited to show you once  it's finished. While in the market it came time for the men to do their prayers. Some shops closed down and the men left to go to the street, while others brought out their prayer mats right in their shops.

Here's me in a veil on our way out for the day:

(Stephen speaking now) I went with Treven and Micah to return something at a different place in the market. The market is like a whole other world. It all outdoor, but it's completely covered. There are just twists and turns with rows upon rows of stalls filled with different merchandise for sale. It's like a huge maze of shops - you could really get lost in there (Treven figures he could get lost easily - but Melanie knows it better and probably wouldn't get lost). Something that I thought would be really cool to bring back as a souvenir is a national soccer jersey. So we decided to see if we could find one in the market. We went down one aisle that seemed to have clothes and asked the guy at the first booth if he had a jersey. He showed us one without sleeves and when we said we wanted one with sleeves he had us sit on a bench and then proceeded to go through the market to different stalls and bring back different jerseys. I don't know how this works, since the one we finally bought wasn't from his stall, but it was interesting to see all the different "authentic" jerseys that we were shown. I'm pretty sure the one I bought is a knock-off, but it looks pretty cool.

(Carlin again) We went for lunch at a local restaurant. Stephen had beef and I had a pizza. The man who owns this restaurant makes his own mozzarella (cheese is hard to come by here). 

They also gave us a plate of couscous and a plate of breaded fish as a gift. The restaurant is outdoors with a thatched roof over the dining area. Lots of lizards run around outside.

I mentioned in our first post from here about the dried up riverbed. We are in dry season right now and there hasn't been rain for 7 months. We got to stop at the riverbed today...

The bridge overtop of the riverbed

Tiana standing in the riverbed

Treven, Melanie, and Stephen

Many people still come here to wash their clothes. They dig down in the sand deep enough to find a bit of water. As I was walking around taking pictures I saw some little eyes peeking around the corner. There were 4 boys playing under the bridge. I asked if I could take their picture and the immediately they became very stoic. I showed them their photo and they laughed and giggled but as soon as the camera was pointed at them they became so serious. 

And I got a few shots of Tiana and Micah...

...before heading over to the pool to cool off a bit!

Sporting Calvin Kleins!

We had an amazing dinner of mangoes and then hung out for the rest of the night. It's been great to talk with Treven and Melanie about so many aspects of life and ministry here. They shared with us the "philosophy" of ministry that they and the team they work with are using to reach the people here. It was great to hear their heart and the passion they have for the people. We are taking each day as it comes, which is both an adjustment (there are times when we feel like we should by "doing" more, but that just isn't the culture here) and also a much welcomed rest from our busy lives and our "doing" culture back in Canada. 

We are getting used to the heat and Stephen has been feeling much better. He still has a heat rash but we are both feeling healthy and are very much enjoying spending time with this family.

Until next time,

Carlin (and Stephen)