Dance!

I wish I had had my video camera today! I would have loved to capture our fun at the center this afternoon. After church, the children moved their chairs into a giant circle and we had dancing, skits, and memory verses. I spent 2 hours laughing at the goofy dance moves and smiling at their pure enjoyment. These children have so much fun with 2 drums and a good beat. And we have some very good dancers.

Often on Sunday's in the past weeks the kids have watched football or a movie on TV, but this week, the TV broke! It was quite the crazy time at the center. I was in my office and heard a huge crash and then everything went insane. There were kids shouting and running upstairs. They were screaming at each other and the staff, as if a major catastrophe had happened. And in a way it did. No one was hurt, which was amazing because about 10 minutes after it happened one of the staff came to me and asked what to do…clean up the glass was my response…I didn't say duh but I wanted to. They hadn't thought of that yet. Of course the boy who was rocking the TV back and forth on the shelf (it was a big TV) just to see what might happen when it fell, said he had nothing to do with it. Everyone that was in the room was screaming his name so I'm sure he did have everything to do with it. I had to keep him in my office for a while for his own protection. No punishment though…it seems that having 80 children and 35 staff upset with you is enough of a consequence!

So, with no TV, we danced and sang! In my opinion that was a much better way to spend the afternoon anyway!

Photos?

So in all the excitement and chaos of life in Salone, I have been neglecting to get one very important thing done….get my picture taken for my work permit. I knew it was going to be an experience, like many experiences here…weird! So Osseh called ahead to his friend Mohammed who has a stand…well an umbrella, chair and white sheet…across from the immigration office. Do you feel akward getting your picture taken in the middle of Walgreens? I do! But imagine getting it taken on one of the busiest corners in town. I sat in the little plastic chair and half the people who walked by stopped to watch this glorious occasion. A white woman, whose face is bright red from sunburn, and greasy as all get out gets her picture taken. Chalk that up to another awkward moment! I didn't get any marriage proposals though; so I guess in all it wasn't so bad! I asked a friend last night why men here feel free to just walk on up to you and ask for your number and say things like…God told me I would marry you, what do you think? She said its just and understanding that if you don't ask you don't know…so why not give it a try! There is no fear of rejection, they just shrug it off and go on and ask the next white woman they see on the street!

On a completely separate note, Lucy came home today. She is smiling and happy. It was fun to watch Sam, Betty and Fallah greet her and play with her. She has a small plastic, red chair that she sits in like it's her very own throne. That and her hot pink cell phone, purse, and napkin use after every bite of food earned her a new middle name...Princess.

And as it turns out Moses has the same birthday as me…just a few years laterJ