came and went

Pete and Jenn came to visit us...and already went back home.  Sorry for being so lame at posts.  The first couple of days they were here they were jet lagging and we were working around the shop, but the third day they were here we did the famous Goree Island tour.  So, here are Pete and Jenn on the boat to the island.

Here is the crew (Fiona and Alison had just gotten off a plane a few hours before this so they were SUPER troopers for doing the island thing even though they were jet lagging).

We stopped for lunch at this super cute/off the beaten path restraunt that was anything but fast, despite their sign saying they were "fast food".

Steak and "freets", AKA fries.

Many local artists live and do business on the island, this is one of their houses/show rooms.

One side of the island has steep cliffs into the ocean, it's beautiful.

Another artist working on mixed media art (for reals Jake).  They take garbage, arrange it and add some paint and voila, they have art.  The machine gun looking thing behind this guy is part of the old castle, used to defend the island.

Now, the empty bunkers have become homes/shops as well as camping grounds for the "off-the-beaten-path" tourist.  Here the crew is walking across a "bridge" over a stair well leading to a bunker.

We had to stop by the old church and Pete, being the pastor he is, had to check out the old pulpit.  I think we need one of these at Dox, eh?

This is just day 3 of their trip, more to come!!!

Seriously?

We were all enjoying a relaxing Friday, trying to get some last minute products finished before the weekend when all of a sudden we heard a big crash come from the front of the property.

So, naturally, we all went to see what happened and this is what we found.

Nice, eh?  Apparently, a sand truck (dump truck full of sand that is illegally taken from the beach) was turning the corner and as is customary for vehicles that are super heavy and can easily kill someone, the breaks were...not broken--full on missing.

Needless to say, they didn't make the corner and they took out our wall instead.

Welcome to Senegal!!!

P.S. Don't worry about robbers, we tied up this beauty by the wall to protect us, don't let her fool you, she CAN be furocious!!!

calling ALL artists

Do you want to make a difference in Africa, but you are starving artist so you don't know how?

I have a job for you...

We need easy to understand drawn instructions of how to thread a ring sling... THIS video.

I am thinking 3-4 little pictures that show how to thread the ring on the sling and how the sling is properly oriented on the body.  

We will then take the drawings and use them to make a little instruction card to attach to the baby ring slings that one of the Senegalese we are working with in Malika is making

This is a request for pro-bono for this guy...

...isn't he cute?

Let me know by email...or whatev.

crystalandscotty@gmail.com

.just sweet.

Chaco has continued to get used to us humans, here she is trying to figure out Scotty's pants.  They are so different from the hair she is used to.And then we have our bedtime routine, super sweet.

saying goodbye

It's interesting how in such a short time you can make friends.  We had to say goodbye to Nathan last week.  He was working with a French missionary couple in Dakar, but was able to come spend some time with us monkeys.  He was a great guy to have around and he will be missed.  

His host family threw a little going away party which we were honored to be able to attend. Here he is with Djibi in his fancy Senegalese outfit.

Herma and Djibi, matching monkeys.

The delicious dinner we enjoyed: Brazillian food, prepared by Senegalese IN Senegal, nice!

arts and crafts time

Something Crystal has been working on here in Malika is:

1) developing new products for the Monkeys and 

2) developing a catelog (both online and printed) to advertize the products. 

After many failed attempts here is a little taste of a little sucess in both these areas.  

This is a close up of a cosmetic bag that Crystal made.

This is a possible catelog page promoting the item.

P.S. If you find spelling errors in the posts, please be kind, for some reason the spell checker thinks I am writing in French.

?where is the love?

Chaco and Crystal were bonding the other day, it's pretty sweet, check it out!

the Swiss are gone

Our Swiss friends, Samba and Andrea left last week.  

Samba bought a sheep to throw a big BBQ Senegalese style.

This is not your mom's grocery store where you can buy meat pre-packaged.

After cleaning and gutting the sheep the boys showed us how to cook the meat by burrying it in the sand and lighting a fire on top of it.

8 hours later they dug it up.

And then they got all the sand off it, and the paper that it roasted in.  We were all curious, so we watched them do the hard work.

And then we ate it with our hands and it was GOOD.

Bye Sambali and Andrea, you will be missed.

American/Swiss Fondu

Scotty's mom was wonderful enough to send us a little homemade fondu kit.

Foolishly, we left the Swiss in charge of making the fondu.  We were told that they had made fondu before, but what they forgot to mention is that they never made it from scratch...only from a pre-made block o-cheese that they just melted.  Needless to say the kitchen was in an uproar.

Micah didn't know what to make of all the commotion.

Things got especially heated when Scotty added an egg to the end of the fondu pot (this is normal, but the Swiss were offended).

But, all in all, the evening was a sucess...the Americans and the Dutch/Senegalese, and one of the Swiss liked the fondu, and we went to bed with full tummies, so we can't complain. 

Thanks Nancy, we LOVED it!!!

Little something, something!

We wanted to share with you guys a little more of what our world is like here.

The parents meet the Island

We took the parents and the Swiss to the famous Goree Island while they were visiting.

We went to all the normal sites, the slave house.  Here is Crystal's mom with our Swiss friend Andrea checking out the holding areas in the house.

Some kids playing on our walk to the top of the Island, the Castle.

Crystal got suckered into buying some jewlery by Marie Anne.

Artists lined up their work on the walkway to the top of the island.

This is one of Crystal's favorite ways artist display their work.

At the Castle, there are some old military guns.  Here Sandro (the other Swiss) and Crystal's dad, Vern are playing.

The gears that make the guns move, pretty amazing.

Some of the bunkers for the guns were empty and being used as hotel/camping sites for locals and tourists.

One of the views from the top of the island.

.something to hold you over.

We have been enjoying our pet monkey, Chaco and we thought you guys would enjoy some of her antics.  We'll post more about Crystal's parent's trip soon. 

Love you guys!!!

Safari

Now that Crystal's parents are safe and settled, we stopped by the safari today, the Bandia Wildlife Reserve.

We saw giraffes, which were really cool and really tall.

We saw osteriches, which looked like they were doing some sort of crazy dance.

We drove around in the back of Herma's truck, this is us looking for rhinos...

...which we found, and they were really huge and cool.

AND Scotty found his climbing!!

More soon!!!

One day in the shop

We have been having a good time working on some new products.  One thing that Fiona brought when she was here was a welding helmet for the boys, they have been using $1 sunglasses.  

Djukes is the main welder, he is a great guy with a great smile, look at them pearly whites.

He and Scotty have been working on some welding projects to boost sales, we'll see if they take off.

Normally you don't want to look at the light, but since this is a picture the camera protected you from the damaging effects of the weld spot.

Guess who?

Crystal's parents are coming in 3 days, we are SO excited!!!!

i made this...

just some randome stuff...

our vonage is broken, so look for us on skype until we get it fixed: cckelley

I made grilled cheese and tomato soup the other night.

and Chaco says Hi!