June 26, 2011 – Hopping Off Horses

    So today I fell off a horse and I have a big cut on my stomach to prove it. It looks lovely. I went out for a ride with Norma to work the second 2 of her 4 horses (she had already worked them a bit in the ring) and I had the delight of riding atop Banner. Banner is an older horse who is quite a manipulative little boy and at the beginning of our ride he decided to give me a go to test my limits. Right after we got out of the gate, he took an immediate right (instead of straight forward on the path) into a dense section of dead brush and thorn trees and I managed to dodge the majority and turn him back on to the path. As soon as he was facing the right direction, he took the lead once more into the same patch of brush hoping for a more successful round of “stick the rider.” This time he won. He took me straight into a dead thorn prickly tree thing. I knew I was going down so I let go of the reigns, grabbed on to the big branches in front of me, squealed, and lowered myself to the ground once I lifted off of the saddle. You really have no idea how much I wish I had the fall on camera – it was absolutely hilarious. After that, I realized that boys must be boys and as long as they are, they will always mess with girls. But what Banner quickly realized was that even though boys can fight, girls can always fight back harder and longer. It was a joyous ride after I forcefully became a literal tree hugger. It’s only 11:00 a.m. here, so I still have a full day ahead of me (including making nametags for a group coming in on Wednesday), but that was a fantastic start.

    After the episode with the horse, Norma and I came back and tried to transfer my David Platt podcasts from my computer to hers via an external hard drive but it epically failed. We tried and tried for probably and hour and nothing worked.. Neither of our external HDs worked! But that’s alright because I just found out tonight that she has a flash drive and those don’t configure to specific programs like Mac or PC so we’ll try that tomorrow. Once that failed, Mason, Dennis and I tried to configure Norma’s internet modem to our computers but the same thing happened. Her modem is configured for a PC and not a Mac. Ugh. Mason and I climbed Polar Bear just to get the best service on the farm and it still failed. So if I can get the flash drive to work tomorrow and you see my blog actually updated, then you will know that it worked!!! I really hope so because I would love for ya’ll to see some pictures and have these updates. It’s actually really fun keeping up with the trip like I have. Let’s hope I feel the same way after day 20 instead of day 2.
    Last night Norma put me in charge of making icing for a cake she made and it turned out looking more like an ice skating rink on top of the cake instead of normal white, creamy cake icing, but it was definitely just as delicious. Tonight she put me in charge of the crepes and they turned out DEICIOUS! I also asked Mason to help me make my homemade whipped cream recipe and he did a really great job for not having an electric eggbeater! It was a wonderful dessert and everyone loved them. Go me! I’m learning how to cook! Simple and easy stuff, but cooking nonetheless. After dinner we laughed and talked all about different accents and road rage. Tomorrow we are making nametags and Mason is chillin’ with Chris and hopefully starting on the cement basketball court Chris and Norma are making as a community center for the primary school kids in Mtopo. The nametags are for a group of 28 local teachers coming from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon to go through some English comprehension workshops to better teach the children. I am excited to help Norma prepare for that, but even more excited to listen in and help the teachers out while they are here. The Lord really is doing some great and creative things here to equip people to more effectively help others. And it is really cool to see how involved and proactive Chris and Norma are to do the best they know how to do. I am really excited to see all I can get involved in and/or bring back to the states once this summer is over.
    P.S. Africans know how to creatively reuse leftovers better than I have ever experienced before . . . Mom, I am trying to watch and learn because we have been SERIOUSLY missing out by just sticking ours in the fridge.
    P.S.S. Mom, I really need your flank steak recipe please because we have already started planning our double day Fourth of July celebration. So far, the plan consists of a bar-be-que, a mock Peachtree Road Race, an American style breakfast (scrambled cheese eggs, biscuits, and I forgot what else), and red, white, and blue attire are required for both days (as well as your resources provide) – from the underwear out. Mom, please e-mail it to me because Chris REALLLLY wants me to make it. Thank you love you!!