Net Ball

                Today we woke up early so we could go for a run. Nicolle and I decided to just walk because people that run are crazy so the Whitney and Camille who were running just ran ahead of us. While we were walking we talked and watched the sun come up. We ran into a few women who were getting water and they told us about the funny people running. Apparently men will run and train but not women.

                When we got back we had breakfast and usual. After breakfast we went over our lesson plan today but it was postponed until tomorrow at 9 in the morning. Since our afternoon had just opened up, we decided that we would start our laundry. It’s a long process. We had to fill up some buckets with water and then I had to wait for my little detergent packet to dissolve and then I had to wash as many clothes as I could fit in that bucket by hand. Then we left our clothes in the bucket to soak a little. After lunch we went back and rung out our clothes and emptied the buckets only to fill them up with new water and ring them out again. It’s a good thing Donna didn’t come because her hands would be killer her. After we rung out our clothes a second time we hung them up to dry.

                While our clothes were soaking we worked on the nutrition packets that the international nutrition class made to give to the families. We chose one packet the had the best section about nutrients and why they were important so we could translate it once and give that part to all of the families. Dr. Johnston also wanted us to collect some information from the families so started the survey sheets for them and tried to match up the anthropometric data we collected yesterday to the right families but we didn’t get very far. We couldn’t figure out which children belonged to which family because sometimes we didn’t know the name of the children or the names were spelled wrong or were wrong but we did get a few matched up.

                The rest of the day has been pretty open about what we do. I spent lots of time reading. I got a little nap in in the conference room which felt good. I’ve been tired today so I’ve been resting my head on everything when I’m not doing anything and people have asked if I was feeling ok. I’m ok, just tired from stupid Jillian, yoga and walking. I even called home on Dr. Steele’s phone but nobody answered, sad. But I did get an email that said to call back so it wasn’t because I’m just unloved. When the phone did get back around to me, I did finally get a hold of my crazy mother. She just wasn’t expecting to get a call from me. Maybe next time I’ll try to catch her at 6 in the morning because she likes to do that to me. So while we were talking we discovered something funny. You remember that Malawian I texted? Guess what? That was my mother! I thought she knew that I would be texting from a different number and I have texted her from that number before but it didn’t register to her. Crazy Mom, and here I thought I wouldn’t be able to call or text her all summer. I SMH. It was good to talk to her anyway. I love her so much.

                After I got off the phone I went and watched the much anticipated (as is all day) net ball match. It’s basically basketball without a backboard and you can’t walk with the ball like in ultimate Frisbee. It was fun to watch but it was more fun to play with the kids. Just like usual, it was mostly the boys we played with but Ernest who is an intern here from Bunda College has a daughter who is visiting she is very cute and I got a picture of her just for my mom so she can see a cute girl instead of just the boys. The problem with taking your camera out with the kids around is they all want to be in the picture and do strange poses and then they want to take pictures. They will take no for an answer though unlike the people at the market. Some older kids, such as Yohon, decided we were cool enough to hang out with so we were a little better at communicating. We even got them to sing us a song! They sang a song about white fish but I didn’t really understand what they were saying so I can’t replicate it yet. They got really into it though.

Net Ball

Got a picture of a little girl!

Dancing with the boys

This is what happens when you pull out your camer

                Here are some funny stories that happened today. While we were in the conference room working on our various tasks, a bat flew in! At first I thought it was a bird and then when I saw it was a bat I freaked out a little inside. It just flew around a couple of times and flew back out. We also found a frog in my room today while Whitney was watching me organize all my stuff because I’m so great at keeping everything organized in my suitcase. We watched him climb all the way up the wall that was the first of I think five frogs I saw today, they are everywhere. There was even one in my shower! Apparently I’m very biased towards reptiles. At Mabuya, there was a lizard on the wall above my bed and it freaked me out but when they’re outside I think they’re cool. However, the frog in my room was just cool and I wasn’t afraid it would attack me. I’m just weird that way.

Froggy