Sunday 6-1-14

Sunday 6-1-14

                I got up and the first thing I did was made pancakes and scrambled eggs for the kids and I. Well that and my coffee of course. I can’t start my morning without my coffee. I know I am addicted, but it is one of the only pleasures I have here in Africa, so I will enjoy it. The kids and I had a very nice relaxing morning.

                I played around on the computer trying to find pictures of the types of stones I got yesterday. Believe they are amethyst, green tourmaline, and garnet, but it is still questionable. I will bring them to my dad and brother to see and tell me for sure. The green may be emerald or sapphires. I just don’t have the eye for stones the same way they do.

                When Ayla and Joan were out back playing they found the two caterpillars they brought home with them yesterday. Cathius made Ayla a small open box out of a piece of paper to be the caterpillar bed. She tried to get a paper bag from Jove but he would share and Kati had overheard. He is such a sweet boy the vast majority of the time. I know it isn’t good to have favorites, but he is one of mine here at the school.

                Ayla had Pili and two other village girls come in to color with her. Then Samweli and Mbuli came in to color also. I finally had them all go outside so I could take a shower and get out of my jammies since we were going to David and Anne’s around one. Samweli now calls me Mom or Mommy all the time. It is very sweet. He wrote me a few little notes saying that he prayed to God that I would feel better since I was a little sick the last few days. Mbuli even wrote me a note asking what I was doing and asking when Teacher Liz was coming back. They can all be so very cute.

                It was about 1:30 when I almost started to cook something for the kids to eat when David came over to say that they were home and ready for us to come over for lunch. So we head over there. They kids were so excited. We had beans and hotdogs with steamed potatoes. The kids loved it, they even made sure to have soda in case the kids could have some. After we ate, David brought out homemade yogurt and even custard he made up. The kids went nuts. They ate each like four bowls of yogurt. It was very tasty. Anne had a few games planned to play with the kids. Memory, cootie, and bowling, although cootie was called bag of bugs, and bowling was called skittles. It was very sweet and we all had a good time. The kids gave them both a big hug and David and Anne both gave them a hug and a little kiss. Very grandma and grandpa like today.

                After lunch we went back home to get ready to go for our walk to the river. We ended up with a lot of other kids joining us. I took many pictures and even a few small videos. The kids jumped right in and just had a blast. I caught Samweli bathing in a part of the river farther away. It was really funny. He just stripped down with all kinds of people around. It is just such a different culture. The kids ‘swam’ in the four inches of water. They found small cliffs and jumped the about five feet down into the water. We tried our best to not get sucked into the quicksand too far. There are some areas that were a little scary, but all was just fine. We walked back a different way through some fields of corn. The kids got scared; they thought we would get lost. On the walk back I almost stepped on this spider in front of the school. For a second I thought it was a rubber spider. I took my shoe and poked it and sure enough it was a real, very big scary spider. I wanted a picture of it so everyone could see how large it was, so I very carefully put my finger at about the same level as the spider to take a picture. Ayla chose that point to blow a big breath of air on his butt. I almost died, or may have if this guy actually is poisonous. He reared up and swung around to bite me. Scared me so much my heart jumped into my throat. I tried to explain to her that it could have made me dead and she needs to think about things like that and her only response was “so we would have to do things for ourselves?” Really, that was the response I get to the thought of me being dead. What a little stinker.  Poor Jove was so cold on the walk back his lips were blueish and he was shaking. The poor boy gets cold so easily. He was okay though and warmed up quickly as soon as we got back home.

                We made it back home and I got the kids into a warm tote tub. While they were scrubbing up, I got some leftover chili and rice warming up on the stove and called Asa. The kids talked to him a little when they got out and dried off. He thought the part about the spider was just so funny. I still don’t find the humor in it yet. We were both very tired, so the conversation didn’t last too long. I called my mom right after so I could check on her. It is my grandma’s birthday today and she passed a few years ago, so I wanted to make sure my mom was holding up okay. She seemed like she was doing pretty good and we chatted for a few moments. Happy Birthday Granny, love you! Then it was time to eat. The kids gave me issues with it, Jove because he didn’t want the rice mixed into the chili, and Ayla because she didn’t want to eat any goat. I ate mine right up just so I could be done with eating dinner. I am so tired I just want the day to be over. I feel like ground beef. The walking in the quick sand up stream was a real workout on my legs and my neck and back are just acting up really bad today.

                I had such a good time, but I am paying for the fun in body pain. Still very much worth it.