17 kg of goodies!

5/8/2002:
spent a less than comfortable night at the slum [bamenda volunteer house] last night. got there late. past 8 or 9pm. was raining. dark. wet. people talking about another burglary in the neighborhood. that had me on edge all alone in the house.

sam [the dog] didn't help... banging on the front gate soteh [until, in pidgin] it opened and leaving. all the other dogs in the cartier [quarter or neighborhood, in french] were making noise. not he. guess he's suffereing though... no love from anyone in the house.

anywho... moms is in DC. she decided to show up there and surprise everyone. all is well. people seem relatively happy and healthy. i got moms package from syria. 17 kg of goodies! great package. gotta love moms. she put some thought and love in there:

• music CD's... fairouz, abdelhalim, um kalthum, etc.
• gallabiya [middle eastern robe], table cloth and napkins, and a mortar and pestle
• cheese, halawa, magdoos, labneh, qamr al-din, mulukhiya and smeed

the Cheif of Bu sat next to me on the ride down last night. interesting guy. laywer. son of the old pa who teaches up at school with us. there's this ongoing dispute b/w the two of them. about who's cheif of that little farming village on teh other side of the menchum division.

oh... i went up to bamenda for some mon-ee! got it from the bank this morning.