hut

last night was my first session of africa training at HUT(harding university training).
HUT is made up of what is called the 'global village.' is it about 10 square miles of land, with roads/trails cut through to make up the huge village. there is a market on the main road, which has side roads that branch off to go to simulation places such as africa, rural china, latin america, among others. in 'africa', there is a well, a "bathroom facility" (i used trees instead), the beginnings of a church building, and 2 huts, both made out of wooden poles and mud (for lack of a better descriptor) with tin roofs. one hut is the cooking hut- which is round, and contains 2 small stoves, a pile of cooking wear, and a place for the cook to sit. the other hut (about 10 feet away) is a small rectangle, only large enough to squeeze in 20 people uncomfortably... yes. 20 people. in one room. mr. barryman did such an excellent job helping us learn what it would/will be like if we have to go to a village where we don't speak the native language, they speak no english, and there is no translator. mr. barryman lived in kenya for 10 years, so he spoke only kowengen last night, giving us hints with the tones in his voice when we guessed something correctly. after feeding us a traditional african meal (which was pretty good) we were sent to sleep- 10 girls in the tiny hut and the 7 boys in a huge tent. go figure. some where around 3am it began to rain... and i laid awake listening to the rain on the tin roof. it was pretty amazing.
this morning, mr. barryman came back up to 'africa' and woke us up with the horn of his truck, and drove us back down to the main building to have breakfast and church. both were amazing. so was brushing my teeth. : )
what a wonderful experience i've had.

i am eternally grateful to mom and dad for buying me these vasque boots and smartwool socks for africa. i'm pretty sure if i had not had them last night i would have been miserable and my feet would probably have fallen off. the smartwool retains heat up to a certain degree and then begins releasing the heat so my feet never get too warm. and my boots kept my feet dry and comfortable through the rain and the mud. good investments. need more smartwool socks.