Catch Up

Sorry for the silence. I would like to say that it's because I have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to sit down and write. But actually it's a bit of the opposite. Things have been very quiet over the holidays. Not only did we have days off for Christmas and New Years but we also had four days off for the Muslim holiday Eid. I am currently on another four day weekend to celebrate Peace Day (ya a little ironic) and Muslim New Year's. That means that not only is the office slow but helicopter flights are cancelled which limits field trips and most of my friends have taken advantage of all the holidays and went home to see their families. So my lack of writing has not been for a shortage of time but rather a shortage of exciting things to write about.

Christmas was a nice day. We invited a couple of friends over and made a nice meal. I brought in some ham from Kenya so that was a real treat. It was fun to be creative and try and make things look as festive as possible. A frend brought over a
small Christmas tree we played Christmas music and we dressed up my colegue to look like Santa. But a Christmas in Darfur is not complete until you have an electrical fire and some runaway hot coals. So we inlcuded those as well to make the day the best it could be. Even though we enjoyed each other's company our hearts and minds were elsewhere. Once and a while one or two of us would disappear to make phone calls home. For me Christmas is one time of the year that really reminds me how far away I am from my loved ones. It doesn't get easier the longer I am away. But I guess that's a good thing.

I think I offically received the strangest gift ever. All of us have recieved gifts that you kind of wonder what the giver was thinking while trying to be thankful anyway. Maybe it was a useless gadget or a tacky ornament that ends up sitting in a box
somewhere. My strange gift unfortunatly can't be put in a box somewhere until it gan be given away again. A teacher in one of my communities decided that my life would not be complete without my own personal gazelle. I guess this gazelle has brought him so much joy that he wanted to pass it on to me. So he put it on a truck for a three hour ride to Nyala and dropped it off at the office. I'm not really too sure what to do with my new pet. Can I take a gazelle for a walk? Does it play fetch? Is it a lap gazelle and wants to curl up on my lap? I'm not really too sure what to do with it. So right now it's tied up
outside of my room. I go and talk to my new pet and ask it what I'm supposed to do with it but it is rather silent other than little nose snorts. It seems to like me though. It will eat out of my hand and will come up and nudge me when I am giving it water or food. So I think we are friends. But usually I don't tie my friends to a pole so I feel a little bad. Some people have told me that it should be the special guest at a BBQ but that seems a little wrong somehow. I also haven't given it a name yet. So please if anyone has any good ideas for a name for my gazelle please pass them along.