Blessed

I believe in recognizing one's good fortunes and being thankful for the tangibles as well as the intangibles in my life. J and I give thanks for these riches everyday, but sometimes I think you need to say it out loud to a larger public. Don't worry; I'm not going to give you a list of my blessings, but I do want to give thanks for one in particular today: Friends and their friendship.

For a couple of months now, I've had a situation weighing on my mind, a complication in the States that was fraught with a variety of dangers (envisage possible financial ruin and broken trust and you've about got it). I finally had a way out of the situation, but because of being overseas, the whole thing was going to take me at least a month more to resolve. And then I talked to rabiagale, and like the sweetheart she is, she offered to place a phone call for me (one I couldn't make from abroad) and passed along personal information that I wouldn't trust just anyone with. And ta-dum! The whole mess is on its way to being resolved, all because of the generosity of someone who might could be classified as a stranger, since we've never met, but whom I call a friend.

Thanks so much, Rabia!

 

What's in a name?

When we first arrived in Mayotte (almost a year ago!), there was not a street sign to be seen. However, the city council decided to rectify that and put up airplane-adorned plaques. As in mainland France, the signs are affixed to garden walls, houses, and buildings some 2m from the ground, rather than placed on poles. Not very handy if you are traveling north and the sign is fastened to the southern wall, but that's a gripe for another time.

When we first rented this house, we were told our address was 10 ruelle Tchora. However, the rental contract stated the house is located at 14 rue de la Mosquée. Yet, when I went around trying to get the utilities switched over to our name, the water company said I lived at 14 rue des Réfugiés. Ok.  Now that they have put up the street signs, I see that we are now residents of number 14 rue Sabili.  Heaven help me. I now have no idea what address to use on mail. Luckily, though, we got an easy to pronounce name, as you will see from the two signs here:

cokehouse This is a house, not a store (though sometimes it is hard to tell the difference).	Isn't that a mouthful?
How about this one?

It was only a kiss...

Look closely at this picture and then, please, answer the following questions:[Poll #1021882][Poll #1021882]