Birthday weekend

For my birthday this year, we decided to head out of town to the big city...Gaborone, that is (5 hours south). So we started off Friday morning with the Venture, affectionately called Mamaw. Mamaw was taking her last trip wth us, headed to Gabs to be sold to another lucky person. Well, Mamaw didn't quite make it to Gabs. About 25 km outside of Gabs, it started making this aweful high pitched sound and then smoke started pouring from the hood! Immediately we panicked, pulled off the road, shut the car off, jumped out of the car, and got as far away as we could in case of an explosion. Long story short, after calling our LC (logistics coordinator) to rescue us, we manged to get the venture into town and away from us. And that was just the beginning of my very eventful brithday. After that we went to a craft mall, had a fantastic italian dinner, went to a concert at the Baptist Student Center, and went to see Pirates of the Carribbean 2, which was almost the whole reason for going to Gabs. After the movie we met up with some friends for a while and tried to make our way home, but Carmel's house keys had mysteriously disappeared so we had to make plans for other accomodation. Our friend Jillian offered her parents house so after Carmel dropped off KG, we headed over to Jillian's. When we got there, Carmel looked over on the seat next to her and much to her surprise and disdain found the missing keys...KG had been sitting on them! So after visiting for a little longer we finally headed home.

Saturday was relaxing and surprising. We took it easy most of the day, went to see another movie, Take the Lead, which was great and made me want to learn how to ballroom dance even more than I already did, and went to dinner. But dinner was the surprise...I was under the impression that it was just going to be me, Carmel, Stacie, and Jillian at dinner, but I was very wrong. My cousin Grace had called on our way to the restaurant so I stood outside talking to her while everyone else was inside. After some time Stacie poked her head outside the door to see where I was and I just figured they were ready to order so I walked towards the door and saw several people I was not expecting to see. Carmel had organized a "surprise" dinner with my mission family. We had a great time with great food and great people. All in all it was a fantastic weekend.

Technical difficulties

Ok, so I've run into a slight problem...my computer is busted - one of the reasons nobody has heard from me in a while. I can't even turn it on and I don't have access to anyone's information including email addresses, so if you're reading this, please shoot me an email at reemanasrallah@gmail.com so I can save your email to that account.

Saying farewell

Paul and Sally Cline, my supervisors and friends, retired and left Botswana after 26 years of service. They will be missed greatly.

Getting back to my roots

Before the Clines left Africa, I had promised them a genuine falafil dinner. Here's the finished product. Clockwise from top right for those not of middle-eastern origin: hummus, pita bread, falafil, and tabbouli. Thanks to my mom's recipe and several phone calls back and forth, my first attempt at making a lebanese meal was a success, but definately not anywhere as good as mom's!