And we're back!!!

That's right, the computers are here... and virus free to the best of our knowledge!! So let the blogging resume. So what's been going on the last month-ish? Well, quite a bit. I've actually started working now... and I have a few projects going. First I'm doing a community English class with Tessa... there are actually quite a few people who speak very good English here, so it's quite nice. Then we also do an English class for the CREN (where Tessa works) and CAPEC (where I work). As of yet, there have been no CAPEC peeps to show up, although they hound insessantly for the class??? Then we're also going to be doing a Math/Health club at the local elementary school... I'm the math part of the combo. That hasn't started yet because we're waiting on the Ed. Department to translate the permision slips into Arabic... maybe after Thanksgiving? Then my main project is of course the micro finance with CAPEC. I've gotten a breif overview of the business and different forms they use for the functions, and now I've started shadowing different positions. This last week I shadowed and help do the teller's position (in hassaniya... yikes!!!) Let me tell you... my head was pounding like crazy after the first day!! It's basicially just like a teller's position in the States (at least from what I gathered from my brief experience in the States). Deposits, Withdrawls... the one big difference is that everything is done on paper and pencil! That's right... the teller has a calculator at her window... not a computer. All of the withdrawls and deposits are recorded on slips of paper and then also recorded on the account page that's kept at CAPEC and on the little notebook that the client has. Oh and something that you're able to do with CAPEC and not other banking systems is that you can transfer money to another person with a CAPEC account in another city!!!! It's very interesting to say the least. Another interesting point... all the documents are in French... but very few people read French there. There was one lady who was explaining a form to me, and she went through each of almost 40-50 boxes telling me what they were... I could see what they were... it was written there... but she didn't read French, so she memorized the location of each bit of info so that she could still correctly fill out the form. I was amazed just with the memory skills! So we'll see what I'm doing this next week. And in other news... Tessa has a dog now. It's cute for sure... but is bitting EVERYTHING!! Heading north for Thanksgiving on Wednesday probably... then even further north on Friday for a camel trek in the desert. That's the current battle plan anywhoo. So I guess that's the scoop from here... hope that you all are doing well and enjoy your Thanksgiving feasts with friends and family!