Good Friends

Finally eating chinese food!

Me, Hannah, and Joselyn, who met last year at CARE and have remained good friends

Me and Dylan swimming in the dam

A night out to eat sushi!

Me and Elin

Me and Dylan

Dylan and Elin

Me and Mary, who baked me a cake for my birthday since we weren't going to be together for it

Christmas dinner

Me, Hannah, and Alex

Me and Adam

Mary, Matt, and I on New Year's Eve

Me and Matt

Joselyn and Mary at Lajuma

Matt, Hannah, and Rachael working hard

Mary, me, and Joselyn looking crazy

Mary, me, and Joselyn with elephants across the river

me and Mary

Thanksgiving dinner

How They've Grown

Orion

Awesome

Lions! Oh My!

Firstly, sorry it’s taken me a while to write another post.

Awesome--look at his yellow shoulders and back and brow!

I’ll start with a baby update. My boys are doing really well. They are staying in the hok all day now, playing with the other little kids. I’ve (unofficially) named it Awesome Hok because, well, that sounds awesome. Orion is getting super heavy, drinking lots of bottles all day long. Awesome is a little slower in his physical development. Orion has 8 teeth with about 4 more coming in already, while Awesome only has the 8 with no more showing. Awesome, however, is a cool baboon. He is so switched on and playing all day. He hunts for bugs and looks around when he sees big birds or elephants or anything predatory. He still clings to me whenever I take one step, he likes to pinch my neck, he likes to sleep holding my arm. Orion is pretty cheeky now; he runs away from me, he steals whole donuts and runs away from me on two legs (which was actually hilarious), and pulls hair now. But they’re both sweet and cute and I love them wholeheartedly.

Two days ago, Paul, our driver called back to us saying lions were close to the road. A bunch of us IMMEDIATELY jumped in the back of a truck, work be damned!, and took off down the road. About 15 minutes down the road, we found then, sooooo close to the road. They were sleeping in the bush, but we watched them for almost an hour anyways. A few us then went back at dust, after work this time, just as they were getting up and moving. We moved along with about 3 big females for about another hour. It wasn’t exactly safe sitting in the open air in the back of a truck with a lioness two bounds away.

Halloween

 

Nothing much other than that is new here. My friend Joselyn from my last trip is coming to visit for a week tomorrow.  Halloween was pretty fun around here. Most of us dressed up. I reinvigorated my pencil costume from a few years ago. I brought my fun yellow pants so I thought it’d be good and easy. We had a monkey in a kilt, Archer (from the animated FX series), Papa Lazaroo (not sure, from some british tv show), a leopard, and Courtney wore my amazing matching monkey pajamas. We played a number of drinking games and ate candy and caramel apples. Hope everyone else had a fun Halloween! Now we’ve got to start thinking ahead to Thanksgiving, which I’m hoping to cook!

Ellie

 

Orion - seriously, how cute is this kid!

 

Ellies!

This afternoon, my friend Mary and I took our kids, Orion, Awesome, and her baby girl Ellie down to the river so they could play on the beach. Awesome stops playing all of sudden and I realize he is looking up at some birds. A few minutes later, he stops again and I wonder "what are you looking at this time, Awesome, more birds?" Nope! ELEPHANTS! A herd of 15 elephants were just across the river. Mary and I were overjoyed. The herd moved along the river, then stopped to drink, then crossed it! Mary and I followed their progress on our side of the beach, but then quickly retreated once we saw them crossing. There was no danger though because they turned to walk away from us, sadly. Just one of those afternoons when I love being in Africa.

October already?!

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Things have been pretty standard around here for the past couple of weeks. Orion and Awesome are doing really really well. Orion is gaining loads of wait, and looks huge and feels so much heavier than he used to. He’s got quite the tummy on him now. Awesome is slowly catching up. Both boys are changing colors rapidly. Their brows are turning yellow, (well Awesome’s was always neon yellow), their faces are getting darker, and their forearms are now a silvery, yellow color. They’re acting more like brothers now, playing together all day.

In fact, yesterday Orion didn’t’ even want to leave the hok in the morning, so I left him there without me! When I went back to deliver some food, Awesome stayed as well. So now both boys play in the hok without me all morning with no problem! I didn’t think that would happen for another few weeks, but these baboons really tell you when they’re ready to move forward. I was feeling a bit unloved and empty without them on me all morning until I realized I could finally go back in with the Tiny Dancer Troop and see my old friend Toughie. They were the kids I raised last year when I was here for three months. Toughie and I grew close then, were close when I visited in February, and were getting close again this trip, until I got a baby. Babies are highly valued to baboons so only the higher ranking ones, and usually just the females, crowd around me every time I’m near, so Toughie isn’t allowed to come near me. But without my bows in tow, Toughie came right to me, snuggled under my shirt, and fell asleep within seconds. Just like old times. It was SO GREAT! I also used an hour in the afternoon to go running, which felt nice. Soon, or in a few weeks’ time maybe, Awesome and Orion will be able to stay and play all day in the hok and I’ll be able to resume a somewhat normal schedule around here.

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This morning we moved Weirdos Troop, baboons are about three years old, to a new hok. Since they are getting older they were a bit hard to catch and carry, but it was pretty fun to watch.  A few days ago a large rock tortoise wandered its way into CARE. Their shells are so pretty! We picked it up and moved it farther away so that it wouldn’t get run over by any trucks. It’s always nice to see some other wildlife.

Not much else is new here, just trying to keep my boys happy!

Awesome (asleep) and Orion

Orion playface

Orion

Orion playing with Awesome

Orion getting a groom through the fence

Orion (left) and Awesome (right) drinking bottles

Awesome LOVES to chew on my nose

Me and Awesome

Me with Awesome (left) and a sleeping Orion (right)

Orion playface

Rory (left) playing with Awesome (right)

Awesome

Awesome Update

So it turns out that Awesome is one weird kid. He is like that smelly kid in class who always has a runny nose, is sticky, wears the same clothes everyday, and has lice. That’s right, has lice. Two days ago a friend of mine was grooming him and noticed lice. Lots of it. So I probably have lice as well. Never did as a kid, so this is a first. So yesterday we gave him a shot of something that is supposed to kill the lice, I bought lice shampoo, and we’re crossing our fingers. Today was spent, and most of my tomorrow will be spent, doing laundry, washing everything I own. Besides the lice, Awesome is still a pretty weird kid. In our new baby hok he plays quite well and is very brave, often running far away from me without hesitation. In the house, however, he never leaves me. I carry him everywhere, or he sits on my head, or in my sling. During the day and often during the night he likes to spend time on or near my head, scratching my face to hell in the process. I hardly ever know what he wants and I’m pretty convince that he doesn’t either. Don’t get me wrong, Awesome is, well, awesome. He’s a goofy kid but he means well and just needs some more time to adjust. Awesome and Orion are still getting to know each other. Since Orion doesn’t feel quite right because of his thrush, Awesome often tries to play with Orion, but Orion just tends to walk away. Awesome is okay in the shower. He clings to my left arm, which he often likes to do, and just closes his eyes as the water runs. Orion clings to my stomach, but he often scratches me, so I’ve adopted the technique of burrito-ing him in a blanket or pouch and placing him in the sink. Even awake, he seems pretty content.  Right now each kid is asleep on either side of me in the crook of my arms. Soon I am sure that Awesome will find his way to my head and Orion to sprawl himself on my stomach.