Another Average Day

From what I know of most other folk serving in a foreign culture far from home, from time to time they get asked something along the lines of  "What does a typical day look like?" That's a tricky one to answer but here's a great post by Hazel on the subject: Two Days, One Life. What I also know from reading the various blogs and websites of other folk serving in a foreign culture far from home is that this is a bit of a dreaded question. In part because trying to explain running around in ever decreasing circles isn't really very edifying and telling folk that you drink tea or coffee all day whilst talking to locals isn't really deemed to be work by the good folk back at base. Added in to the mix is the need to justify to supporters why they should carry on supporting and it all becomes a bit sensitive.

I would like to pretend that I am above such things but in reality I sometimes feel the need to justify my existence just like anyone else...

Today was probably a good example of an average day in so far as I had a few things planned, none of which came to fruition due to various circumstances. However, through the course of the day other possibilities opened up which made for an interesting day.

I set off for Macassar this morning to see a church member in a bit of strife but sadly he wasn't at home (again!). Initially I was a bit fed up but as I took a different route back through Macassar I was inspired to do a bit of research in preparation for our UK trip in November, so maybe not a wasted trip after all.

Later in the morning I ended up taking Rosie (our dog) into Eli's class for Show and Tell. Eli was thrilled and afterwards Rosie and I called in on Joel's class which also went down well. On returning home with Rosie I received a call from a friend which resulted in me being at Pick N Pay (local version of Tesco) after lunch picking up a big donation of goodies for the church in Macassar and the creche in Chris Nissen Park.

Before that however, I had to go back to school to pick up the boys and got to watch them in their Monkeynastix class. This was great, but the trip to school has become a bit of a pain due to some major roadworks resulting in a lengthy detour. Great!

The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting the donation into various piles for various people and places. Then into the chaos of teatime, bathtime and bedtime for the boys and cooking dinner for us prior to an excellent home group this evening in Firgrove.

Now it's time to settle down with a cup of hot chocolate and the concluding part of The Children in BBC Entertainment's Crime and Justice Season. Praise the Lord for the PVR decoder!