Saturday 6-28-14

Saturday 6-6-28-14

                Ayla was the first to wake and the power seemed to be off, but when I ended up waking up because Bibi Hasani came to the door I realized that it is just the lights that don’t work again. I got Bibi Hasani the laundry then sent Isaac a message to let him know that the lights are doing that strange thing again and that we are also out of ground water. I was glad that we had the outlets working since tonight was our little dance party. Anne and David had their Holiday party today it ended at 5pm, it worked out nicely because then I knew I would only have the kids at the house for about two hours until dark. When it seemed like the water had gotten back on, I decided to take my shower. I had maybe 30 seconds of water before the pipes emptied out. I later realized it was a large airpocket in the pipes, but still, my shower wasn’t nearly long enough to get me clean or perk me up.

                The kids found their washawasha again. Ruth and the guard were nervous because the caterpillars could leave the hairs as spines, but I let them know that the kids are very gentle and have been taught how to properly hold a caterpillar so that they would not put their spines out. Ruth was amazed that this could be done. I love informing people about the little things like that. While Ruth was still here, I also had her translate for me to tell Bibi Hasani thank you so much for everything since today will be the last day we have her come do laundry. She thanked me back for giving her something to do and money for her family. Every day I realize how much more I am going to miss this place. If only Asa could have stayed, I would have never wanted to leave this place.

                I took the kids to the holiday party. Even though Ruth told us it started at 9:30 it wasn’t until about 10:30 until kids started showing up. So we sat for a while and then they started singing Swahili church music since the party was put on through Anne and David’s church. Ayla and Jove were pretty uncomfortable because they didn’t understand any of what was going on, but Jove was a good boy and stood up and clapped with everyone else. Ayla got so scared I had to bring her home. I went back to check on Jove and he was saying he couldn’t do any of the games, so I brought him with me to go see if I could get some andazi for our dance party. I was disappointed when we got to Bismillah and she told me that they only had chipati. I tried asking if they would get some later, but she didn’t understand me.

                It is not the end of the day right now, but when I am able, I try to journal throughout the day so I don’t forget anything. I am having a low moment right now so I thought maybe I would feel better if I just got on and wrote. Nothing seems to be going the way it should today. Ayla and Jove couldn’t handle the holiday party, there was no andazi made up, the kids are antsy for their dance party and so they are not listening or behaving well for me, and I when I went to call Asa Skype wouldn’t let him hear me. It is bad enough that of my three devices that I have here, only one will sometimes accept the wifi signal and actually work, but now that even when it works, it doesn’t really work. I am just having a moment of feeling defeated I guess. Hopefully it passes quickly.

                I texted Logan to see if he could help me get hooked up with some andazi for tonight. He had Burton come see me and he was able to find a lady to make up the 100 andazi for me all in the next three hours. I am feeling much better about things, hopefully it turns out that they show up on time. I can’t make more powdered sugar because the power isn’t strong enough to use that much electricity that the blender would use. But I have some made up so all should be good.

                I have been trying to pull myself out of this funk mood I have been in most of the day. I got up to stir my red beans and rice I am making for dinner and I hear Jove counting in Swahili for the guard outside in the front yard. It is quite adorable. Even if much of the stress I feel derives from those two, they can also pull me out of a bad mood just as easily.

                I made red beans and rice for dinner. The kids and I ate with some despicable me. Before I knew it 5:00 had come and I set up the computer out front to have music. Samweli, Farida, and Joan were there right on time. We had a few of the little ones show up a bit later and so did Mbuli, but other than that, no one else showed up. I was a little disappointed because I had 100 andazi made up fresh and delivered to the house. Once I started to think about it, I was no longer upset. I can use those as sandwich bread and snacks for the next few days and I can now make up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the plane ride and I don’t have to bake the bread. The few kids that came each got two andazi covered in powdered sugar (I wanted to give more but I was afraid that they would get upset stomachs). 

                The kids that were here played and danced for the two hours until it was dark. We had tickle fights and chase each other. Charlene and Scott got here in the middle and so they joined in the fun also. There were a few injuries and Ayla broke her sandals, but all went well. It wasn’t what I planned on, but it was a lot of fun. When it got dark I had the kids all go home so I could get Ayla and Jove set for bed. Today was the first day in a while that they actually asked to do their journals. I am glad that even though they didn’t have too many friends come, they still had a good enough time to where they wanted to write about it. Ayla even told me she was going to go onto a third page.

                Kids went to bed pretty easily and I watched one of my favorite chick flicks “how to lose a guy in 10 days” I don’t care how bad it is, I love that movie so much. Nothing like relaxing eating a second helping of dinner then a few fresh hot andazi covered in sugar. Yum yum! I am very happy to say that my second half of the day was leaps and bounds better than the first half.