Snow Balls and Cotton Tails

From Kim

Yup. It snows here. A lot.

And through the experience the last few days of yet another snowstorm we have determined at least one concrete thing about the next 2 years: It will not involve the shoveling of frozen precipitation in any way, shape, or form!!
Buut really....a snow storm on the first day of spring!!!? And with this much snow, we won't see the bare ground let alone flowers until the end of JUNE!!! Yes, its beautiful........................but enough already!!!

I'm sitting here with my ever present copilot, Mr. Kitty Boucher, the handsome but unpredictably malicious badass orange tiger tomcat. I'm listening to NPR while Jonathan plays one of those confounding war strategy games that take 300 hours to play and out of which he somehow gets neverending enjoyment. He's currently conquering Tunisia or Maldovia or someplace and I haven't heard him speak or move for the past 3 hours.

Today was Easter and it was filled with the usual Easter things: Bunny Chocolates, Jelly beans, and far too much Ham eating. AND Yes. I ate ham...and a lot of it. I figure if I'm going to have to eat meat in Africa, I might as well start now and get used to the idea and try to learn how to cook the stuff. And by the way....umm ham is tastey!!!! After 10 years of vegetarianism I'm stepping off the wagon and carefully testing the meaty waters. From all the Peace Corps blogs I've been reading, I'll need to be a lot more flexible with my food preferences or I won't have much to eat.

Jon and I are trying to get used to the idea that in July, after a year and a half of paperwork, beuracracy, and waiting, we will finally be stepping into the adventure we have been longing for. Jon mentioned this in his last blog but I thought I would contribute. At the very begining of this whole process we were told that I would be working in a health extension and Jon would be doing Agroforestry. At first this shocked us as neither of us had any experience in either field. But we rallied and researched and got ourselves accustomed to our new identities over time. With a last minute switch a week ago we have had our placement changed and now it seems that we have lost something very dear to us...something that existed for us in only the most rudimentary and yet very distinct way before. This nacent vision passed out of our lives in an instant and I feel that we are mourning for it in a way. I think we just need some time for the formulation of new identities and we will take that first step tomorrow when we accept our placement in Guinea, West Africa September 28, 2008-September 27, 2010.

In the words of Garrison Kiellor
"Be Well, Do Good Work, and Keep in Touch"