Yesterday, Wednesday I went running at the Parc du Bois with Drew again. last night at dinner I also had a nice conversation with another student here. He talked to me in English and I talked to him in French. It was pretty fun. Very confidence building too as far as my French goes. He is Mauritania which is Northwest of Mali. Look it up on a map...
Funny story. I had decided to prepare something to say to the girl who takes my money at the cafeteria. Something along the lines of "What's for dinner tonight?" Easy enough right. So I looked it up in this sweet dictionary the Wolters gave me and memorized what to say. I got up to the window and almost chickened out, but didn't. I said "Qu'y a-t-il au diner ce soir?" and of course my pronounciation is not the greatest and before I know it the girl is sending out one of the workers to buy me a bottle of Lafi (barnd name water). And I am like no no and repeated my little phrase until she got it. aye-ka-rum-ba. Dinner was rice with red sauce again. I didn't even need to ask, but I wanted to be friendly. We'll see how things go in the future :)
Today I helped Konate with and english translation he had done of his french article he was submitting for publication. It was pretty easy, just some small changes to make the prose flow more smoothly. After lunch I went back to my room and decided to do something fun in my 3 hour break, so I drew a picture. Again searching for a subject to draw I picked my keys. Here is the drawing... I am getting better at drawing from life instead of just copying pictures which is really cool.
Rewind. On Tuesday. I rode my bike about 5km to the Neilsen's house for bible study. It was really nice. They are doing a series by Beth Moore. They have a DVD to watch and a workbook. The study is every other week which is perfect for me. BTW. I rode my bike there at 3:00 probably the hottest and sunniest part of the day. I got there and my back was soaking with sweat. Next time I will bring an extra shirt. It was pretty cool because it was first time I had gone anywhere by myself. Not that I plan on making it a habit it was nice to feel independent. And I had paid close enough attention to where I was going when people were driving me around that I knew I wouldn't get lost.
Verse to know: Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it the LORD's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21. This was one they used in the sermon on Sunday. The one where it seemed like they were yelling the whole time, yes, that one.
