Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Man in the Moon and other fun things.

Have you looked at moon the last few nights? It is beautiful. Seeing a sky filled with stars is a wonderful feature of being in Kigali. The moon is so bright that haven’t had to use the flash light or head lamp when we walk from the 2nd/3rd home to the 1st at night. (Of they never do, just me, but they sure like dancing and playing with my flashlight as we walk up the dirt road.) I asked if the kids could see the ‘man in the moon”. They all stopped …studied it hard and began to debate if indeed it twas’ a man or not. Had I been to the moon? Etc etc. The joys of youth.

Today was a day of fun. For those of you who have traveling to Rwanda with me you know I take seriously the kids education and routines while I am here. You then will find great humor in the fact that I have been a complete slacker. Today was the 1st day of me teaching school, and that lasted only about 1 hour. Like I said Slacker. The kids can’t quite figure it out, but instead I just let them play with their new basket ball net and volleyball game. I figure exercise and laughter is an excellent education!

When we finished school I began to study something that they do each time we teach but never noticed how they do it. They raise their hands like kids do all around the world and “me me” is whisper too. But I always thought they were snapping their fingers when they do it. Turns out the sound is from finger slapping together effortless in a technique that I can not master. They spent the next 30 mins laughing at their “teacher” because I couldn’t do it.

From there the laughter never stopped. More basketball. Then skyping. When the rain came while skyping we quickly picked things up and ran for shelter which they thought was too funny. As the rain danced on the tin roof Lionel began to shoot baskets from the carport like shelter and then ran to rain to fetch the ball. You got it, they all joined in with every ball they could find until all the boys were shooting hooping the in the rain. The girls then began to dance and play in the rain with their giggles echoing through the hills. I told them if they got cold when the rain stopped they had to figure it out on their own. “ Ok Missy Donna, OK” was the gleeful reply as they knew I teasing them. When the rain stopped, they all got cold. But then they figure it out all on their own. The girls when to the class room and came our wrapped in fabric that someone had sent me a year or so ago. Adorable head dresses and newly wrapped bodies. Sweet

The girls found a bar of soap we use for the dishes. Esther made a sudsy head and washed her face. When I took a photo the rest of the girls joined in the comedy routine.

Earlier in day the girls helped me hand wash all my clothes that I intentionally left behind last time so my bags can just be supplies as excess bags are $200/each on Delta $300/each on KLM. Unfortunately my bags got wet while I was gone and mildew was abundant on many things. We tossed a few, laughed at the tie dyed effect on others but made great progress. The job is incredibly tedious and I thank God for the Aunties who do this job every day for hours and hours and hours and ensure each child looks beautifully clean.

When we finished with the wash we poured the water on the concert and the girls decided it they would ‘skate’ on it. They have heard of skating and skiing but can’t quite grasp the concept. Today however, they looked like perfect skaters to me!

The laughter continued when we went do the 2nd/3rd house before dinner and brought a new game. It was traditional bean bag toss. I insisted that only the Adults could play first. They are usually so busy working that they rarely get time for rest. So playing is big fun. The kids got into it big time. They lined both sides of the tossing area and cheered them on. Each time someone got a point they jumped up and down and danced like it was the end of the super bowl. Toooo funny.

attention from me as I have been with the big kids (7-11). They are too funny. I remember when our big kids were this age so it is a full circle experience. The only downside of having this many kids hanging on you at one time is that many have colds and haven’t yet mastered the concept of covering your mouth. So at any given time you may get a full blow sneeze of who knows what right in your face. I kid you not. I can’t believe I didn’t bring my Zicam on this trip. Silly girl.

All in all a beautiful, fill-your-heart-to-brim kind of a day.

Oh wait. There was still more. Two trips to the soko (the market) with Miss Donna with two different groups to look for pineapple and then for material for a dress. We have to be very careful about rotating who goes where as they all keep precise track of the adventures! We also stopped by to say hi to the kids in the neighborhood who I visit each time.

There…I think that is it. Phew.

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