Miss Mary Mack

I woke up today exhausted. I don’t know why…I just felt like I hadn’t slept in days. I had breakfast and then went to church with the girls. Pretty soon I am going to know these Swahili church songs better than English church songs. It was so nice though. The children asked me to come up and speak and they also were so excited to show me how they danced and sang. I never thought I would say this…but I really enjoyed sitting through the three hour service!

After lunch, I took a much-needed nap. I woke up to children knocking on my door and screaming, “Michelle, you’re gonna miss the game!” The boys were playing soccer against another school that afternoon and I had promised to go. I walked to the field and cheered for the boys! It was very fun to watch them especially because I have a harder time bonding with them. They appreciated me just sitting there and trying to remember their names! I spent a lot of time with Mary at the game and was able to talk to her even more about life in general. I can’t explain to you how amazing it is that they speak English…it feels so good to be able to communicate with her.

I also spent time with four younger kids today named Simon, Naserian, Jocelyn, and Sunday. I taught them how to play Miss Mary Mack and they absolutely loved it! Now I can’t step outside my room without Sunday coming running ready to play again. There was no electricity today, so we all just sat outside under the stars and played game after game of Miss Mary Mack. It was a great way to spend some time with the younger kids who I can’t talk with as much. When the lights came back on, I helped Mary with her homework and then went off to bed!

My funny moment of the day was when I was sitting at the soccer game with six or seven of the girls. We were all squeezed on one bench and I stood up to get some water. When I went to sit back down, I misjudged the distance from the bench and went flying over the back. My legs went straight up in the air and I had nothing to grab on to. Finally, I reached for Milka and Sharon on either side of me…but then they started falling down with me. The end result was a pile of me, Sharon, and Milka on the muddy ground. All the other girls were screaming and laughing and trying to help. Once they realized we were okay, we all just laid on the ground laughing hysterically. It was great…I’m glad my klutziness is good for something :)