RELIEF at LAST!!!

Well, after a few weeks of intense heat, the type that makes even sitting around inside and doing nothing thoroughly exhausting, we have finally had a few good rains and things have cooled down. This morning, after a night of rain, it was a brisk 19 degrees outside and I wore my fleece jacket to school! This was a nice change after going through a few days of heat stroke! Kim and I, foolish as we are, decided to go ahead with our bicycle trip last weekend despite the 35+ degree temperatures. It was a beautiful ride through the valley, with a gradual climb towards the highlands. We were only cycling a few hours and I felt pretty good. We arrived at a VSO friend's place in Elabored in the late afternoon and headed to the juice bar for a "tsmok", a slushy juice made of guava and milk and sugar...very nice. Then we went off to a tea shack for tea and dry cakes. The chocolate icing on the cakes turned out to be a sugar coating that covered the burnt tops. The tea was a bad idea too. Not long after, I was sweating up a storm and had a very bad headache. While Kim and our friend made supper, chatted and played her guitar, I lay on my thermorest and moaned! The next day, we cancelled our plans to climb the steep hill to the highlands and headed back to Keren before it got too hot. It was a beautiful trip and a potentially great visit with our friend, but we'll have to do it again sometime when it's cooler out. Kim, of course, felt no effects of the heat and wondered if I was feeling a bit tired, as I wasn't keeping up my usual pace on the bike!

The kids had a great weekend in Asmara, where they visited "the other VSO Canadian family" and met a few other expats. They were treated to great food (Chinese take out, pizza and ice cream), got to play street hockey and soccer, and watched many DVDs.

It's getting late and we still have to go pick up bread. More news tomorrow if the rumoured power cut doesn't happen and the internet lets me send messages.

Take Care,

Barb