Rotherys Bible study

Posted by Ali

Thursday evenings are officially my favourite time of the week here! Sabbath's are nice too, of course, but they're a little bit lonely since the Cradle volunteers have to work on a rotating schedule while I'm free all afternoon and there's not many other people on the campus. But Thursdays are the opposite of lonely. They're filled with food, fellowship and fun (a very important alliteration, I'm learning). On Thursday nights the Churches go to Mike and Lindell Rothery's house for a potluck supper and worship with other expatriates living in the Arusha area. The Rotherys are Australian and it seems like they've been living here for awhile (judging by their amazing backyard landscaping) but I haven't got the chance to find out how long exactly or what work they do here. This week I found out that Mike's a Christian pastor, though, so maybe they're missionaries.

Last week when Max and Davona took me over there for supper it was a whirlwind of being introduced, trying to remember names and listening intently to try to piece together where everyone was from and what jobs they have. I did manage to figure out who the Canadians in the bunch were (a couple from Kitchener, ON and another from Winnipeg) and noted which group members spoke with a distinct Aussie accent.

This was different, though. This week I had passed the initiation. I was in and it felt great. I also wasn't the newest member anymore. Soon after we got there, Jan (the lady from Kitchener) led two people, a man and his daughter, around the dining/living room introducing them to everyone. When they got to me I introduced myself and then Davona asked where they were from. Imagine my shock when they answered, "British Columbia." My mouth jumped into action and raced away, quizzing them on where in BC they lived and other suddenly-important trivia.

Throughout the evening as I talked to Kirsten and her dad I found out that Kirsten is here until February working with one of the couples from the group (not quite sure at this point what her actual job is, but maybe she's still learning it too). I also received an invitation to stay at their house if I ever make it up to the Queen Charlotte Islands (something my mum and I plan to do each summer but hasn't actually happened yet). And I found out a whole lot about living on the island and now I kind of want to move straight up there as soon as I get back from Africa. Imagine being able to see the Alaskan panhandle on clear days and taking 7-hour ferry rides to the mainland. Sounds like a wonderful adventure! Needless to say, I think you can tell how excited I was to meet more Canadians from my home province, especially a girl around my age who is going to be in Tanzania for awhile.

After the initial introduction, Staci and Mariah wanted me to play outside with them so we went to the lawn behind the back porch and played hide-and-seek until supper was ready. I also managed to take a few pictures (see below), but sadly all by the tiniest top-est tip of Kilimanjaro was, yet again, hiding in a tower of cloud so still didn't get a picture of that. But maybe one of these weeks the mountain will stop playing shy and come out of hiding for me while I have a camera handy.

Supper was a delicious mix of corkscrew pasta noodles, cooked and well-seasoned potatoes and carrots, potato patties, salad and fresh cucumbers, and baguettes with butter. I admit that I ate two heaping platefuls and then went back for a banana bread muffin and a piece of poppyseed cake covered in lemon icing. Yum! After supper and talking for awhile, we gathered in the living room to sing praise songs accompanied by Mike on the mandolin. Then it was time for the fun. Apparently there's a different type of event scheduled for each week. Tonight was game night and we played Cranium. It was awesome, mostly because Max's group kept having to do the charades cards and they were all super hilarious. Max had to do one of Paul McCartney...the whole room was cracking up, especially his daughters. That team ended up winning and then we all got busy gathering up our things and left for home.

On the drive back to Usa River I had a startling realization; even though I'm a true introvert (I can have fun being with people but I get my energy from being alone), here I seem to be leaning a little bit more to the extrovert side of the scale (getting energy from being around people). Maybe it's just that so far I haven't had a lot of time to just hang out with people outside of work. Anyway, tonight's get-together greatly rejuvenated me for the next few days to come. And now, enjoy some pictures taken from the Rothery's back yard.

Mt. Meru from a different angle

Back porch

Top lawn

Bottom lawn and fish pond

Back yard and distant scenery

Staci trying to open an unripe 'mystery' fruit she picked off the tree