December weekend in Casa ~

Lovely, relaxing weekend in Casa! The sun is shinning, the air is crisp and it feels like a spring day in Steamboat. Yesterday I went for a long walk on the beach in the morning. The beach is quiet these days. I guess people here don't come to the beach in the winter months. Personally, I thought it was lovely. It was high tide so I had fun walking along the edge of the water and having it splash up to my knees at times. It was a good workout physically and mentally!

In the afternoon Marcia and I picked up our buddies (Judy and Lynn) and headed into Casa to do some Christmas shopping. We had a lot of fun shopping, laughing and exploring new areas of Casa. As we were leaving the city we saw this amazing sunset. Marcia caught the photo as we all praised God for the beautiful sunsets here in Casa.

Then we were off to take Judy out for dinner to celebrate here birthday. We dropped off bags at the campus (where Judy and Lynn live) and picked up another co-teacher (Gail) and headed out to a new restaurant that Marcia and I had discovered. Here is one of the frustrating parts of Casa.....we LOVED this restaurant when we went two weeks ago. The waiter was kind and attentive, the ambiance was awesome (the place looks out over the ocean, had white table cloths and candles and very quaint), the food we had (pasta and salmon) was mouth watering.....all of it was perfect. But last night..... There were FOUR whole tables of customers (verses us being the only customers) for the waiter to handle and he was obviously overwhelmed.....we hardly saw him! When we ordered from the little chalk board that said (Pasta and salmon ~ in French, of course) he said, "Oh, what kind of fish would you like.....white fish, calamari and shrimp?" We asked again for the salmon and he said they were out... :( Anyway, long story-short.....the food wasn't great and the service wasn't great and we left feeling sorry we had taken Judy there for her birthday.

The thing is, in Casa, this happens quite often. Just the other night we had gone out to TGI Fridays (yes...one of the only American restaurant chains here in Africa). Everyone kept saying how delicious the Jack Daniels burger is, so that is what I ordered. Well two of our sandwiches come and don't have the bacon on that is suppose to be on it.... We ask if they forgot it and the waiter says, " No. We are out!)  :( !!!!! (In America....they would tell you that AHEAD of time, right?)

Anyway........back to the sun and weekend update. I am off to take another walk and then to school to work on plans for this week. I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend! I'm counting down the days till my kids arrive....Jim and Jenny on the 18th and Eric on the 21st!!