January 28, 2010-- Playdough, Clinic & Soccer Cup

January 28, 2010

January is almost over!!! That is crazy!! For the rest of yesterday, the kids played with the playdough that I brought. It was fun to see the kids use their creativity and play with their hands. Like any child, they recreate what they see. So a lot of them did snakes and fruit and people with big bellybuttons and the cooking things. Everyone for their cooking, cooks outside and has three handmade mud stacks to lay a pot on top to cook food. So the kids would make this and pretend to fan the fire and cook the food. They are so wonderful. AnnLouise and I will sleep at the orphanage again. I woke up at 6:20 and took a shower and left for the House at 6:30. We got there, got them dressed and ready for school, and made sure they made their beds to not get beaten. Then I helped with dishes and laundry. Some of the old wounds opened up again. So I only did about half or less of the laundry until I needed to leave for the clinic. The clinic was slow, but I took vitals and did one malaria test. I am trying to be patient with how they work, but it is just done so differently. So I am working on understanding their system. We then left to go to the school that Pastor set up. There, AnnLouise and I actually taught the class for an hour and a half. It was pretty crazy. We knew nothing that they were learning-- just English-- and not being able to know how they best learn. So we taught them the alphabet, numbers from 1-20, colors, shapes, and the colors of the rainbow. I talked more with Pastor and Fred about what they want for the music class. I will bring my laptop, and I will teach the younger children one day and the older ones another day. We will have English lyrics and do some choreography so I pray that I will do okay. I hope so. We got back, and I had fried yam or potato. When I was last in Cape Coast, I bought a bag of candy, and I have become to addicted to them. The candy tastes so good. It is like a strawberry cream chewy thing. We then went to the orphanage, and I sewed up some clothrs, fetched water, and played a little bit. AnnLouise and I will sleep at the House tonight and tomorrow. Tonight, the football game is against Nigeria for the African Cup. Nigeria is their biggest opponent; like a glorified Skyline vs. Idaho Falls High School. So I hope we win tonight. It is so funny to be on top of the hill and hear the whole town chant and yell when Ghana gets a goal.