As the democratic process in Congo seems to be winding down, it’s weird to think that we saw its beginnings. When we first arrived in Africa, we spend three months in the village house-sitting for a colleague, and learning language and culture. It was during those three months that the Read more…
What a rush the last several weeks have been! I was sicker than I’ve been in a long time, and it took me another week or so to get back to 100%. I’m not sure everyone in the family was completely well when we had a record drop in temperature Read more…
I presented a poster earlier this term at the Metroplex Linguistics Conference, a conference for linguists throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area. This year it was sponsored by the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (G.I.A.L.), where a lot of our colleagues either teach or get training before heading to the field. Read more…
It hasn’t always been easy describing what I do to a broad audience, but for some time now on immigration forms requiring a short answer, I indicate my profession as “Missionary Linguist”. I heard a chapel talk at the first SIL summer training I went to, in Eugene, OR, on Read more…
Hi all — Kim and I finally got away this weekend to get some rest and find ourselves again. As the dust has settled after this summer’s anxiety, it is clear that we’ve let our communication slip. So I’m writing a note to let you know we’re writing, and soon Read more…
I’ve been trying to grow a proper plant this summer, with minimal results. I have ten peppers, but only one ripening, and only this much. Anyway, I figured should eat it now, since it will be overdone when I back. The first fruit of this mission, as it were…
It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve written, so I thought I should post something about how things are going. Not because I have something new to say; things are still pretty much where we last left them, with our passports in Washington, D.C., and us unable to do anything Read more…
I just finished drafting the line “good progress on dictionaries for each of the languages” for the newsletter we’re hoping to put out in the next couple days, and I realized I’m not sure that it is clear to all why that is a good thing. So here’s a bit Read more…
For those interested, this map has places we’ll be going, both outbound and inbound.
I was walking in the door of our little university apartment after a long day teaching boisterous third graders. Kent was soon to graduate with his MA in Linguistics, but his university schedule varied. He was already home, sitting on our couch with a grin. He made me listen to Read more…