Jonathan and Jenny Roundy Reaching the Unreached Filled the bath tub
So, the other night I filled the bath tub in order to give James a bath. Jenny had made up some special stuff to put in the bath to help with the prickly heat, I think that is what it is called. Anyhow, it is strategic that I did this just after I had decided that I would used filtered water for drinking and things like that, but that I would be OK to use the tap water to brush my teeth with. I must say, I don’t think the water is always this dirty and since then I have resumed brushing with tap water.
Pretty cool that we even have a bath tub, but the water kinda got to me when I saw it.
Yup, that is the bath tub BEFORE the bath
Is that an EasyBake Oven?
Jenny using our stove, small isn't it?
It is amazing how small our stove is; it seems somewhat like a toy? Could it be that we cook in easybake ovens here? It works well and we are able to do all of the same functions as a bigger stove, so that is good. Did you notice the legs on the pot on the stove?
I also found the connection to the gas bottle…”interesting”. We are sharing with you these new experiences so that you, our partners in prayer and support, can go on this journey of adjusting with us and know better how to pray. No one adjustment is the end of the world, but the combination of them is quite overwhelming. Thanks for your prayers!
Connection to Gas bottle for our stove
Kitchen - notice the blue containers, thats for filtering water for drinking
The way the water filter works is that you fill the top bucket and it drips through filters into the bottom bucket where you can get the water out through a spigot.
Our Fridge, next to the water barrel
New Tennis racket? Not so much
Mosquito Zapper
So, how do you like our new tennis racket? I especially like the lightning bolt in the middle. 
It is actually a brand new mosquito zapper. It’s like a bug zapper, except better, because you can chase after those pesky things and swipe at them while holding the “zap button”. It works pretty well and it is quite useful. In some regards, it doesn’t do much against the hoards of mosquitoes, but we can clear out any invaders in our mosquito nets.
So this has been a quite handy little tool. When the mosquitoes get inside your mosquito net, or the kitchen is loaded with them, you can take them right out of the air with this bad boy! If you use it to much, is that mosquito elbow or tennis elbow?
Ready to go to Market for groceries
Ready to go to Market
During our first days here Jenny went to Market with Eliane to get things like vegetables, meat, fish, eggs and some of the necessary items for cooking here in Senegal.
After returning from “Market”, Jenny told me that it was a good thing I did not go with. She said that if I went along, I may chosen to go on an eating strike.
Why the Barrel in the pantry?
Water Barrel in case the water goes off
One of the things that our family has been adjusting to is the sporadic availability of things we were used to having all of the time. The electricity and or the water can go off at any time, for any length of time. With this handy barrel full of water, we can keep the house going with bucket baths to stay cool, flushing the toilet, rinsing and washing dishes, water to filter etc. We do have a tank on the roof that fills up and supplies us through most outages, but if it is off for too long, or the pressure is not good enough to get water into the tank, the barrel it is.
When we first arrived there was a plumbing problem that allowed our tank to fill at night, but then in the morning when the water went off, our tank water would run right back out into the water system for the neighborhood to use. It didn’t really last very long, but PTL the plumber came and that is all working now as long as we have water often enough and with enough pressure.
Somebody’s been paying attention
I guess they have been watching life around them here in Senegal
Since we have been here, apparently certain little eyes have been watching what is going on with life and how things work here in Senegal. I thought you would enjoy this picture of our girls integrating in the culture!
Arriving in Senegal
We arrived in Senegal just about on schedule. We had the immigration paperwork mailed to us ahead of time in order to have it all filled out, but alas, amid all the other things we had going on, we neglected to fill out the paperwork before landing. So…there we were in the airport, tired and ready for sleep trying to fill out immigration paperwork. I, Jonathan, ended up having to leave the rest of he family behind and walk out through the security and customs to get a physical address for our paperwork. I got the info and gave it to the immigration officer who put in the official stamps in our passports that we had ARRIVED!
When we arrived at the luggage carrousel there were really no other travelers there anymore. We figured out that a bag that we had gate checked was missing….oops! I had to go back into a back part of the airport and report our lost bag, which took quite a bit of time. One of the airport workers sat down with Emmanuel and was drawing a picture for him in his notebook when I arrived back from the bagage loss claim department. After that we walked through customs and then out to meet the folks that had arisen early, we loaded up our bags and headed to our new apartment here in Senegal.
We live on the second floor, so we worked together to carry all of the bags upstairs and put them in our place. We found out that in trying to fill the waterbed to prepare for us, it had overflowed and flooded the house. (not like feet of water or anything, but definitely flooded from what we understand.) The folks greeting us had already had it all cleaned up so we wouldn’t have known except for the absence of the waterbed.
We got a little tour of our new digs, and there was food in the fridge, which was nice. We tried to go to the boutique (small corner store) for some bread for breakfast, but due to Ramadan hours they were not open. Daniel drove us down to the Brioche Doree to get some bread and we stopped at a “superette” not a grocery store, but bigger than the corner store. We got corn flakes and some jelly to go with the bread we had purchased (baguettes).
That same morning Eliane came to our house to meet us and prepare our first lunch here in Senegal. We had cheb yep (not sure on the spelling, but rice and meat) for lunch.
We were kind of spinning that first day to be sure, trying to figure out whether to sleep, or try and stay up. Thanks for your prayers, the jet lag was not too bad, although we do not have a lot to compare it with.
Traveling to Senegal
Getting ready for departure
We wanted to be at the airport at around 6 :30 AM in order to get all of our luggage into the airport and checked in with plenty of time. My parents (in from South America), my Brother (in from Maine), my Sister (in from the Philippines), and Misty and Andy (in from Hartland, WI) were able to spend the night in a hotel in Chicago. Casey, Jenny, Levi and Tigue (read Ty) joined us for the evening and we ordered in Pizza from Giordannos to enjoy one last time before leaving.
In the morning we all went to the airport together and spent our last hours together before our departure. We shed our share of tears as we headed through security and waved good-bye to our families who were there to send us off. God allowed us to go through the security rather quickly, so that was a real blessing. Our first flight was delayed by about an hour. It was nice that we had 4 hours scheduled for our layover in Dulles, so the delay did not affect our connecting flight to Senegal. We had planned on going out through security to see Jenny’s Uncle who came to the airport at our layover, but after arriving late, we got nervous about going out and getting back in through security with enough time.
The flight was rather uneventful, which is generally a good thing! We did not all sleep, but some of us were able to sleep, so that was good. Thank you so much for praying for us, we are so blessed to have a team of people praying for us.
Time with Family before Departing for Senegal
We were so blessed to be able to have time with our families before departing for Africa. We spend some precious time with the our family, Jenny’s side, in North Carolina after leaving Quebec. We enjoyed so much being together and it was incredibly difficult to leave.
Picking Blackberries on...then off to cool down in the lake in North Carolina
Enjoying the lake with family in the smokies
Celebrating the 4th in North Carolina with Jenny's Family
God allowed us to coordinate a reunion with the Roundy side of our family in northern Wisconsin from 3 different continents (including the us in the US of course). It was so great to be together as family and catch up before our departure for Africa. We all enjoyed driving the ATV’s, swimming in the lake and just plain being together as family. The Jones were kind enough to let us stay in their place in Northern Wisconsin.
Grilling out is serious business!
A pic of us all together up north, my brother came later
Last trip to Ching Hwa was a must. This is the whole crew after my brother arrived
Jenny and Misty
Jonathan, Cynthia and Curtis first time together in a long time! So much fun!
Taken to the cleaners…
So, the other day we purchased our TV for our home here in Senegal. I was given the advice that it should be plugged into an AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator). Apparently when the power comes back on, it comes back in with “force”, i.e. the voltage can go quite high, and if you want to protect your electronic equipment you use an AVR. So, being as patient as I am, I wanted to get one right away so I could test run the new TV. I paid a taxi to get to the store where they were supposed to have them…they were all out except for an expensive one with not very many features. I asked someone in the store where else I could find one, they said go to “Sandagua” (sp?), which I understood to be store, some sort of electronics store probably. The man said you could find anything there. I understood it was “downtown”, which I thought was far way. So, I stopped a taxi to go home, negotiated the rate to go home, or so I thought. I am visiting with the cab driver and ask him about “Sandagua”, he says, oh, that is not that far, just so much more. So…I asked if we could stop by quickly for me to buy this device.
The more we talked, I found out we had not understood each other about where home was. There are apparently two places with similar names that are quite far apart. Next he pulls up on a street with lots of vendors and calls a guy over and asks for a regulator, apparently “Sandagua” is this huge open market with tons of little booths where they sell stuff. The man was very nice and came running back with two options of AVRs. He was very sweet with James and Jada who were with me. He started buy asking for 45,000 for the big one and 35,000 for the small. Around here you have to negotiate all pricing. So we around and around and around. He spoke of being hungry and tired due to fasting and not wanting to go around too much. I finally got the smaller unit for 17,000, which I thought was a little bit high, maybe 2000 to high, but I went with it. I get another cab to come home and hooked everything up.
A friend came over to help with some problems around the house and I told him of my adventures. He then shared that he had purchased two, with more features for 11,500 each. Oh well, we live and learn.
Today, I was at the hardware store just a block and a half from home. I asked out of curiosity if he had AVRs. He does, and one similar to mine, but with more features is 9,500 and one with 3 times the watt capacity of mine is 16,000. I knew I had been taken to the cleaners, but I guess I didn’t realize how bad.
When you enter a completely new way of life (culture) you just do your best and try to learn from your mistakes.
Kids club our first Saturday here
We had the privilege of going to a kids club with our family at one of the churches here in the area. Thought you might enjoy some pictures of the kids enjoying kids club here in Senegal! The kids broke up into three groups. Two of the groups were taught in Wolof, a language of wider communication that kids know before going to school and learning French.
Some of our kids enjoying the game wit the parachute
A game where a kid goes under the parachute and crawls and touches someone's feet. That person in turn does the same thing.
Yup! They all went underneath and stretched the parachute behind them.
Praise time singing songs together. They broke up into groups
Candy at the end for all those willing to dance a jig
Yellow Fever Vaccine
James, Jada and Mom at the Hospital
As we get closer and closer to our departure date, we are making our most valiant attempt at crossing all of our T’s and dotting all of our I’s. One of the items on the list is to get properly vaccinated against whatever diseases may await our family upon arrival in Senegal. One of the “biggies” in Africa to be concerned about is Yellow Fever. In fact, depending on what country it is in Africa, if you arrive at the port of entry and do not have your Yellow Fever Vaccination Certification card showing you have been vaccinated, you may be ushered into a vaccination area and receive the vaccine on the spot.
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Bible Reading en français
Our French language study program includes many different parts that all work together to improve our ability to communicate in French. One example is reading the Bible with a French speaking student from the Word of Life Bible School who we were paired with at the beginning of our first semester. We meet three times per week to read and discuss the Bible for 20 minutes. They are both a great help to us and so very patient. I wonder if the most difficult part for them is to not burst out laughing listening to a full grown adult struggle to decipher the simplest of words. The other weekend we were also able to invite Louis-Philippe and Stephanie over to eat and play games together. They are so gracious and helpful to us.
Jonathan and Louis-Philippe
Jenny and Stephanie
Caban à Sucre – Maple Sugar Shack
Jonathan and Jenny Caban a sucre outing
Pouring cups of maple sugar water pretty tasty
Boiling Maple Water to make syrup
Wood Fired Boiling
Checking to see if he has real maple syrup yet
Final product - pure maple syrup
Making Maple Taffy on snow
Jada enjoying some taffy
We found this sign at the Caban à Sucre. Thought it was funny. Another fun language learning experience.
So does this mean do not smoke, OR we are totally for smoking and we defend it???
James and Jada turn the big 5
James and Jada in some of their birthday gear
It seems like just yesterday that we brought James and Jada home, and now they are 5 years old. Where did the time go? James and Jada are such a blessing to our family. We had such a wonderful time celebrating their birthday with them. I will post a few pictures here and some more facebook. Hope you enjoy the pictures!
James opening up one of his birthday gifts
Jada opening one of her gifts
James and Jada "all dressed up"
Jada showing off a new dress from Grandma
