a week and a half in and we have begun to hit our stride. this time has reaffirmed to me that i would rather come to rwanda less often but for longer trips. imagine if we had only been planning to stay two weeks and the first one was entirely getting adjusted and getting over sickness! thank you to all of you who have prayed and reached out. we seem to all be healthy, eden has figured out that her allergy is to the grass and is doing her best not to roll around in it. ivy has not been sick again, and etta mae has been feeling great. i have had several nights of 6 or more hours of uninterrupted sleep which has been so restorative.
today is the last day of the week and school has been going so well. we have been able to get most of our work done between 9-11 while ivy naps, and then spent the other pre-lunch hours walking around on base, chasing chickens, identifying birds and trees, inviting people into our home (constantly) and walking around the shops just outside the base. we eat lunch communally in the dining hall with lots of the school children from the primary school where i used to teach. some of our cousins are among those children and it is a delight to watch the girls form bonds with their family from day to day. i leave eden and etta mae to finish lunch and wash their dishes with their cousins while i take ivy back home to nap. then the big girls stroll home later with their cousins. etta especially loves this since she is the youngest of that group and feels very big indeed to be left behind to come home with the bigger kids. this is one of the reasons that staying on the base was so important to me, so that i could give the girls this space to grow and roam and be autonomous. we have lessons with fanny, our language partner, in the afternoons and then spend time doing chores, playing on the school playground, reading, and preparing for dinner. i have been making simple but traditional dinners here, of which i am very proud. even though i lived here for years, i never lived alone and always ate communally. so i helped peel potatoes to feed thirty, but never cooked for just a few. i am learning slowly how best to go about cooking here, in such a different environment.
we have a woman who comes to help us with our laundry and some cleaning. she is a single mom and i am very happy to be able to offer her work for the duration of our stay. i remember when i first came here i thought it was ridiculous for white people to just show up and hire people to clean and cook and do laundry. but after being here for a few months i realized that so many people are desperate for work that it is almost considered selfish to do work yourself which you could pay others to do. the young woman helping us is very thankful to have the work and i am glad that i can provide a little bit of steady income.
we have fun plans coming up this weekend and robert comes in a week and a half! our trip is already flying by and i am jus trying to hold on.
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