Aug
26
Filed Under (General) by Rob on 26-08-2007

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After three car-less weeks, the Land Rover is finally up and running once again. HOORAY!

I picked it up last Thursday, just three days before our visitors leave (so at least they’ve had a few rides in it!) The main reason for the delay was the availablity of Land Rover parts. It needed a new gearbox shaft and a cog thingy which looks like this:

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In the end, I phoned Amazon 4×4, an excellent supplier of second hand and new LR parts with a very efficient service – to be recommended (take note, Caroline H – they could come in handy one day!) So, blokey there DHL-ed two brand new parts out to Benin, which actually worked out cheaper than what we could find here, even after postage. Here I am, happy to be holding the parts others could not reach:

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Other news…

*The Wood family leave this evening (Sunday 26th). It will be sad to see them go.

*After a few days of fever, Micah and Mads are cool again!

*Rob’s planning to work with two different groups of Bago people in October, to encourage the usage of traditional song genres.

*Internet is only partially working and we don’t know why! We can send and receive e-mail and the BBC site (our default home page) works. However, the blog and most other sites do not – unless we dial up! Any suggestions from computer bods out there??

*Last school year, Rob took his GCSE Dutch at the school, just for fun. He got his result last week – an ‘A’!!!

*School starts back in just over a week’s time. Lois is probably teaching Years 1 & 2, but it’s not certain yet.

*Still no change on the mobile phone situation. We will have to buy a SIM card for a different network if this persists, but the other networks seem overloaded already.

*Rob’s planning to start his masters research in September, on ‘The reclamation of Voodoo song genres for Christian worship’, a current phenomenon in Southern Benin, and one which needs studying. Still looking for a university to supervise, but a possible lead in Germany!

And finally…Ruth and Annie had their hair done African style the other day. Here they are enduring the pain:

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…and here’s the end result:

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It took about an hour per child and cost £2.50 each! Rachel had hers done in a different style, but didn’t like it so pulled out all the plaits the same night! Melissa had hers done the next day in a similar style. Still trying to persuade Lois to take the plunge…

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. Hopefully we’ll get the internet sorted soon!

Bye for now!

PS Have you looked at our YouTube videos yet? (filed under ‘robenin’). More coming soon too!



Comments:
5 Comments posted on "Back on the road!"
Eddie on August 26th, 2007 at 1:30 pm #

Enjoy your week with my boss and translating for his boss. I’ve told them to say hi to you!


Caroline Hewlett on August 26th, 2007 at 7:41 pm #

Amazon 4×4 – noted! I do nearly all my shopping by internet now, as we are a way from civilisation…

The off road course came in useful last week. I took a wedding and the reception was in a marquee on a day which turned the field to wet mud – only got home because of my diff lock ability to get off the mud!


Rachel Lewis on August 28th, 2007 at 9:31 am #

You did your GCSE Dutch for ‘Fun’… man you have waaay too much time on your hands!!

Well done on getting an A though!

Looking forward to hearing about the Wood family’s exploits.

We are moving next Friday (31st), however all you need to do is change 16 Ailesbury Road to 10 Ailesbury Road and voila! Our new address. Everything else remains the same.

Rachel


Rachel :) on August 28th, 2007 at 4:01 pm #

We finally got home!
Thanks for an awesome time i really enjoyed myself and am planning to be there again with your next guest!
Lol on the floor 😛
xx


Rob on August 31st, 2007 at 3:10 pm #

Thanks for all the comments! Firstly, Caroline – praise God for diff locks! Second, Rachel L – I really don’t have that much time, but I’m such a ‘saddo’ that I study Dutch in my spare time to relax! Rachel W – see you back here soon! (High Five!)