.
Then we went to school for a short day followed by lunch at the fish restaurant in the mall and ice cream from the new candy store there. After that we came home for a nap and then went to visit an abandoned kitten for whom our friends were trying to find a home. We decided to adopt her. More about that in a minute. We finished the day with dinner at the fancy Lesotho Sun Hotel’s Chinese restaurant. It is the nicest restaurant in Maseru – hands down! Here are some pictures of the view and the restaurant. The Masotho waiter really wanted me to wear a bib, and even came over and tied it on. *lol*
So, as I mentioned, we decided to adopt the tiny kitten from our friends (they have two cats and a dog already and their animals were feeling a bit put out by the little one). We’ve named her Seaduma (say-ah-doo-mah), which is Sesotho for thunder. She was found abandoned in our friends’ yard during a thunderstorm, so they had already brainstormed names that included rain and storm and thunder. She’s probably 3 months old and is quite healthy despite her difficult beginning. Unfortunately, people here are sometimes so desperate for food that they resort to eating domestic animals like cats and dogs. It was very fortuitous that Seaduma wandered into the right yard! We’re delighted to have her with us – it’s nice to have a snuggler again. Here is a picture:
Saturday, then, was the official start to the Christmas season for this branch of the Harrington clan. I put on Christmas music and made cookies for the entire morning. We were able to procure most of the ingredients for our favorite recipes, but chocolate chips come like this:
And since most of our recipes call for ½ a cup or more, that wasn’t going to cut it, so I made my own:
The first batch came out well (with Smarties substituted for red and green M&Ms).
We also went to school to finish up final details for costumes for the little kids’ play that is coming up on Thursday. It turns out that having an art degree at a small school in Africa means you automatically get volunteered for things like making costumes for the play. *sigh* At least they’re kinda cute.
Today we were meant to go hiking, but it’s pouring, so we’re in for the day. I’ll complete the rest of the cookies and wrap them up in festive packages to distribute at school, we’ll play with the kitten, we have a chat planned with Jay’s parents, and there may even be time for reading (I’m reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett and it’s hard to take myself away from it).
We hope you are well and enjoying the holiday season. We’ve heard that there’s lots of snow in many places in the U.S. It’s weird trying to have Christmas during the summer, and we’re missing the snow a bit, but it’s really nice to not have to shovel! Good luck with all that!
Love,
S&J
