1. Stores don't deliver AND
2. You better become family if you plan on surviving in this sandbox
This week was full of Shenanigans
-Sunday: what started out as our weekly walk around the neighborhood ended up being a real cultural experience. A man yelled at us in clear English, "Happy Valentine's Day." Strange not only because his English was great but also because although they acknowledge holidays in stores and stuff here, they don't celebrate them. After yelling at us, we saw his car drive into a compound, so we decided to ask if we could go inside the gates just to look. From the street, we just see big houses. Little did we know, just like that we made new friends. He sent us inside the compound to sit outside on a carpet with the women of the compound. The housemaids served us tea, a traditional bread (I have to start remembering names of things), and sheep stew. I don't drink tea but I forced it down, the bread is super sweet but I forced it down, I accepted the sheep stew and ate the potato off the plate while I swirled the rest around. I am a picky eater with a bad stomach in America so I try not to take too many risks here (although there are no preservatives here so the food is much healthier). Anyway, we sat and talked with the women for a few hours while the small children played outside. They said they sit outside every night. The compound consists of a "high house" and many other houses. The women are all either sisters or cousins. The compound is a family compound. It turns out the man that invited us is a family member from Qatar that is just visiting and staying in the guest house (the guest house is bigger than my old house in Atlanta). The actual man of the house is out serving in the military. The man from Qatar speaks fluent Arabic, English, and Portuguese. He has a house in Brazil and talked about his travels around the United States. If I am not mistaking I think I heard him say he purchased the buses for the schools here while in the United States. Let's just say he has some flues (money). The women and children spoke English as well. This is rare in the western region. There are more English speakers in the city, but out here the locals rarely speak English. We had a great time with the women. They asked us about Kim Kardashian, wanted to know more about my friend's dreadlocks, and told us to come back any day since they are out there everyday. As we walked out one of the girls was telling me how the compound was set up and how they were all related. It is not uncommon here that cousins marry each other. However, this family was not related in that manner. The little girl also showed me a smaller building on the compound and explained to me that one day her older brother wanted a gym, and that is exactly what he got. LOL. I love it!
-Monday: This day was pretty much uneventful other than kickball practice and bootcamp. Our trainer had us climbing the nets on the playground. I was one of the only ones that attended bootcamp the week before so I knew what to expect. He claims climbing the net uses ever muscle in your body, but I just like it because it makes me feel like a big kid!
-Tuesday: Not a good day. I checked Facebook right before leaving work today to find that a friend of a friend had lost her six-year-old son. I have been following his cancer journey for a while. He fought an incredible fight, and he has the most amazing parents. I am blessed to have been able to follow this journey and witness true strength and faith. #AJSoars is in heaven now and his parents say that is right where he belongs. His mom says she is happy. God doesn't make any mistakes. Rest well young man.
-Wednesday: This was our play in makeup day. Now, the teacher of the mini makeup class owns way too much makeup not to be a professional makeup artist. However, she was an amazing and patient teacher. Will I wear a lot of makeup after this? Probably not. But, I may try to put on a little more when going out.
-Thursday: Happy birthday Ayoluwa! We decided to have a Pinterest Party for Ayoluwa's birthday. Every person had to find a recipe (preferably one they never tried) and bring it to the party. We had so much fun and some interesting dishes, mostly sides, appetizers, and desserts).
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| My Dish - Taco Dip (It actually turned out good) |
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| Happy Birthday Ayo! |
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| If I could just look older than 12 one day |
-At the school: My kids had an amazing week as well. We worked on graphing and the sense of taste more this week. After graphing which apple we thought tasted the best, the next day we graphed which vegetable we liked better out of the cucumber and the carrot (we were working on the letter C). We also read the story "The Cat in the Hat" and made our own hats. On Thursday, as a treat before the weekend, we watched Cookie Monster's "C is for Cookie" song and made Cookie Monsters out of paper plates. I took no pictures this day SMH. Before going to the bate (home), children were allowed to eat one cookie. It is amazing how a teacher can use something like a cookie to keep kids focused all day. I think they call it bribery, not sure.
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| That peace sign is so common here. Children and adults throw it up in pics all the time. |
Awwwww@@@
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