This and That

Well, the Dark Daze continue here but the good news is that the Vice-Chancellor has set in motion an initiative that will allow the Bo-Kenema Power Company to take over our power situation.  I talked to him this morning and it looks like we may soon have 24-hours of electricity (er, that would be EVERY day) within the next few weeks.  We are keeping our fingers crossed for successful connections!  If that happens, I’d be able to keep a few beers in the fridge (cold) and have a modem installed at my bungalow with internet all the time!  Why, I’d be able to start living large in Njala! There is a pot of gold at the end of our African rainbow after all!

We have been having all sorts of “rolling” storms, as they call them here, as the rainy season ends.  They are incredible.  You begin to hear rumblings of thunder and see clouds build in the east.  It takes these behemoths hours to crawl across the countryside toward us with some missing and some hitting us.  This was one that went to the south but caused a lovely rainbow.  I took this shot just outside my porch door.

Out back I have a number of bushes that have these night-blooming flowers, one of which I caught just at sunrise.  There is a triple bud in there and sometimes in the middle of night, the scent wafts in my bedroom window reminding me of the night-blooming cerius plants I left back at home.  These are more predictable since there are almost always a few buds opening.  Oh, and see the “nuts” that are there?  I don’t know what they are, only that they are NOT kola nuts which is what I had initially hoped for!  Some of you more “senior” folks might recall an old 7-Up commercial where Jeffrey Colder used to say in his deep resonant voice, “These are kola nuts…these are UN-kola nuts…”  Well, whatever they are they are the Un-variety.  Okay by me.  I ate kola nuts in Freetown and they are terribly bitter.  Their lure is in the high concentration of caffeine.  Energy drinks, step aside.  A kola nut gives you quite a rush!  I’ll stick to coffee!

By the time you read this our president will have been re-elected…I hope, I hope.  I voted for Obama back in September while still in Freetown but we have an election coming up on the 17th that proves to be just as close a race.  What does it mean for us here in the bush?  Well, Njala University has cancelled classes from November 10 through December 3 so students can migrate back to their homes to vote (and we can avoid any disturbances though they are unlikely to occur.  I am glad they are playing it on the safe side in any event).  We do have to make up these days at the end of the term and with the fact that if neither candidate wins a clear 55% margin, they will have to hold a run-off election which would delay classes even more!  That potentially sets the entire calendar back by weeks.

So, as they work on the generators, we will go completely without power across campus for a week or two and, concomitant to that, there will be no internet, no students…just me and the neighbors…here is one munching in my front yard.

It’s likely you won’t hear from me until the first week in December when I will report on how the classes are going…or IF they are going!  Yes, we struggle to get things started here! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!