5 Things Unique to Africa

1. A butterfly flitting beside me as I walk to the burn pile in which I discover several lizards scattering as I toss in the trash. Also, I never remember chasing butterflies as a child in the middle of December…

2. We didn’t have to pay extra for the twinkling lights on our Christmas tree because the electricity surges make the regular lights twinkle.

3. A tail-less lizard named Fred who walks into spelling class on almost a weekly basis. I suppose he wants to learn how to spell :)

4. Having a unique class pet. Our class pet Bob the wall spider (who is roughly the size of a half dollar), which along with his relatives mostly shows up in the evenings when I’m in my room lesson planning. Occasionally in the early mornings, I see him running from behind the whiteboard as I begin to write on it. Every other spider I have met has been given the name Cousin Bob and once I met Uncle Robert who is much larger than Bob and I am glad I have only seen him once.. I think he might be glad too ;)

5. Walking onto my roof and hearing children below yelling up at me various French and Kabiye phrases. Including “Hansi, Hansi!” and if it is one of the neighborhood children I have met they occasionally call out “Sarah! Sarah!” until I look over and acknowledge them.

Actually, something I have never had before moving here was a roof I could walk onto. I love to go up there especially at night to look at the stars and soak up the peaceful solitude the roof offers. I have seen several shooting stars while watching the night sky here… I have also seen many bats fly overhead.

I actually just found out that we will have a large meteor shower tomorrow night! So I will definitely be visiting our roof again to witness the beautiful spectacle of shooting stars :)