There is a HAPPENIN' Party going on next door.

I guess one of the neighbor kids is having a birthday. They have been cranking out the dance tunes since about 7:00 and they are still going at it. I just hope they put the kiddies to bed and wind down before midnight!

A couple of months ago some of our African colleagues showed us how to do a proper Jola dance. The more energetic parts remind me a lot of exercises I used to do with track team at 5:30 in the morning, and they require at least as much coordination! So far that is the only time I have gotten to do any African dancing but I have gotten in on a couple of Scottish dances since I got here which are at least as much fun.

Video

I have now added a video to my dropbox as well:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31075295/Beersheba%20trip%20web.mov

Holidays

I'm still trying to get used to holidays here. We don't have a memorial day, or a 4th of July (the very idea mortifies my British colleagues!) or a Thanksgiving. Instead we have religious festivals that I never heard of before I got here. I sometimes haven't even taken them off from work, but I might start doing so to replace the holidays I'm missing.

But I have gotten in some fun times anyway! A week ago some guys and I took Friday off and we went camping again at Beersheba. This time we made it a bit more of a retreat. I took lots of wildlife photos, including a really strange bird- the Nightjar, which has a black feather attached to each of its wings with a cord kind of thing. It was a wonderful time! As before, I have posted the photos to dropbox.

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/31075295/1/Beersheba%202?h=c91fa6

Here is a video of the trip:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31075295/Beersheba%20trip%20web.mov