the kids have all been back at school this week, so life is back to normal at the orphanage.
well, it was back to normal. but then today, they decided the elementary kids wouldn't have school the next two days. so they're out the rest of the week now. which is fine by me. doing homework with 30 children each night is quite the task. last night, i was helping a few of the girls with their reading homework before we ate dinner. we were gathered around a table and they were reading their text to me. i always joke with ashley that i honestly have no idea if they're saying it correct or not! i mean, it's french for heaven's sake. there are letters all over the place you don't say. and all sorts of tricks to pronunciation that i obviously have no clue about. so they tell me to read their assignment to them after they have read it to me a few times. they were in tears by the time we got through the lesson! then i started laughing so hard at them laughing at me, i could barely speak. they were being so sweet and supportive through their giggles though. i love their hearts.
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monday morning ground was broken for the new dorm!!! such exciting times around the orphanage. there are workers everywhere. and there is always something going on at the centre from literally sun up to sun down. jon and ashley were talking about the ground breaking with me on sunday, and from the backseat of their car i asked the most ridiculous question..."so do they bring in lots of machines to get this all done, or how does that work?" to which they both laughed and jon answered, "ummmm, no. the men are the machines." and that is no joke. those men are INSANE. machine doesn't even do them justice...they are beasts!
(augustin and some of the bricks that were made last week for the new dorm!)
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jon draining and abscess that yemissi had on her arm.
the kids always have some sort of something going on.
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monday night it POURED. i mean, wake you up from your sleep pounding rain. it was thundering and lightening for hours. i woke up in the middle of the night right as the storm was starting. i truly am getting very used to this country because the first thing i thought was, "oh man, i need to get up and pee right now before the electricity goes out." so i ninja-ed my way out of my mosquito net and sure enough, i wasn't back in my bed for 10 minutes when the electricity went out. i'm becoming a true beninese girl friends.
with the rain, brought cooler weather. which was a welcomed relief! tuesday night as we were all getting ready for dinner, the bugs began gathering around the lights in the gazebos. there is not electricity at the orphanage, so a generator is used from about 7:30-9:30 each night to provide light for dinner and for homework. we turned the lights off while we ate because the bugs were so intense! it was then pitch black. but the kids were afraid of eating bugs that had flown into their food, so we were all passing around flashlights to check our food before we shoveled it in our mouths. i just kept laughing and laughing at the sight of all of us! at 9:30 we were all gathered in the gazebo for a little family meeting and the bugs were OUT OF CONTROL by this time. i am not exaggerating...there had to have been at least a thousand of these flying creatures surrounded the lightbulbs at the centre. since it was time for the generators to be powered off anyway, a big brother went ahead and turned off the generator, which meant the lights would be off. well, this was a terrible idea. because then the bugs that had been congregating around the light immediately started dispersing and attacking us all! havoc ensued and people were running all over the place! as i jumped on my moto and left the centre, i quickly realized that the bugs were all over the town. they were pelting me as i drove home. it was in that moment that i realized i was the windshield on my moto. bugs were plastered all over my shirt when i got home! oh africa.
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today saturnin, femi and hubert went to a garden our town to get some avocados for me. i gave them 1000cfa (approximately $2USD) and told them to get me 500cfa worth. they came back with this HUGE sack full of avocados. they were able to get 15 avocados for the equivalent of ONE US DOLLAR! cannot wait to eat those bad boys. hopefully they'll be ready to eat by this weekend.
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last week, i was flipping through a Real Simple magazine while the kids were all taking showers before dinner. a few of the boys were done with their showers and hanging over my shoulders, looking at the magazine with me. it was this section on meal planning and there were all these dinners pictured. they started pointing to one and saying, "this one, this one is for me." one of them pointed to a philly cheesesteak sandwich with waffle fries, and said, "this one, this one is for me." oh how i wish i could whip that up for them! seriously. it's amazing the things that we don't appreciate. like seeing a recipe in a magazine. deciding it sounds good. driving to the grocery store. buying the ingredients. going home to our air conditioned homes. firing up our stove. and making the food we want. food here is not about want. food here is about necessity. i don't know how i'll be able to walk through a grocery store ever again without thinking of these kids i love here. i would love to take them all with me to the store. oh man. they would DIE at a super target. literally, their eyes would be popping out of their head and they would not even know what to think. i'm not so sure i'll know what to think either...
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one last random, funny story and then i'm going to bed. when we were looking at that article, i flipped the page and there was this picture of this big lobster. doussou was standing on that side and he goes, "ehhhhhhhhhhh! SCORPION!!!" when he saw the lobster on the page. i started laughing so hard. and then, started laughing even harder when i began explaining to him what a lobster was. don't worry, i even had hand motions.
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this place is always an adventure friends. i have officially turned into the crazy aunt (cray cray tata) because i let 7 (SEVEN!) of the boys come over to my house tonight to spend the night since they don't have school tomorrow. it's not even midnight and they're all passed out cold. don't worry, i promise i didn't slip them all a benadryl. they're just the best! love these little rascals.
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