We've made it to Keren!

A quick note to let everyone know that we've made it safely to Keren and are doing well. I can't get into my hotmail account, but will try again another day.

Keren is a beautiful city. We've been here almost a week and are beginning to feel settled in. We've experienced lots, some good, some bad, but we'll start with the positive!

Positives: the view from our "porch" in the morning, over the city of Keren, mountains surrounding the city. We often watch goats, camels and the lone hungry calf foraging in the sandy lane for bits of grass while we sip our morning tea. The rains did come this summer, after a four year drought so things are green, water is available and there's lots of produce (guavas, bananas, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, oranges...no mangoes until June though).
- work; our boss is easy going, the students are enthusiastic, the teachers are friendly, and we only work mornings. (on the bad side, the classes are huge, we have to work on Sat. and Sunday, and there are no textbooks).
- people: are very friendly. They're always smiling and laughing (some times the laughing at you does get on your nerves but I guess it's good for us).
- friends: we've made a really good one, Saba and her daughter Jasmin are helping us out daily with struggles like finding bread (huge line ups of kids are formed every day, banging on the bakery gates, we still haven't figured this out), helping us to learn to cook with what is available, showing us around, and just being a friend
- our home: it's big (compared to other Vso volunteers) We have two bedrooms, an indoor bathroom and kitchen, a front porch with a view, and a courtyard for the kids to play. So far no real pests, except a few cockroaches which came with the fridge.

So all in all we're doing well. I'll try to update this once a week. We'll post our mailing address in the next entry, so you might want to get going on that letter you were meaning to write us (hint, hint).

We are missing people lots.

Take care,

Barb