Oh, Africa's Internet..How I Loathe You.

Hello!  Well, as you can probably tell since I haven't updated my blog for a while, we have been without internet again for almost a week.  We are still without it on the plot, but today I finally had the opportunity to go into town to at least check emails for a bit.  I am sitting in a restaurant that has free wireless and am almost shaking with excitement.  It's tough to have no communication with people back home.  My housemates can attest that I have been a little bit irritable this week. I think that the most commonly used sentence out of my mouth this week has been "I just want to email my husband!"  Needless to say, I am very happy to be online right now. 

This past week has been so much fun, work and ministry wise.  Monday-Wednesday I was the substitute teacher for the Standard 4 class.  I was a little nervous about it, because I had been warned that this class kind of had a reputation for being difficult.  While they were a little bit on the noisy side, they were absolutely fanstastic kids.  Very respectful, very helpful, and really quite funny.  It's a small class, with only 9 kids.  The first day I was getting a bit frustrated because they were very loud and had trouble paying attention (and we had some issues with swearing that day).  The next day, though, they really stepped it up.  I enjoyed actually teaching instead of just playing and working on art projects all day.  I told their teacher that I would be glad to help out again if she ever needs it, and so we're already set for next month when she has to leave again.  The boys made me chuckle.  Every day when they were leaving, I would give them high-fives.  I think that the boys are going through puberty, though...the girls would give me the high-fives and leave, but all the boys wanted hugs.  That class really is quite sweet, though.  I am looking forward to working with them again.
I was so happy to get back to my class on Thursday.  The first thing that was said to me when I walked into the classroom was "Miss Ashley, I am so happy to see that you are back here with us today.  I missed you."  :)  Yep, that's an exact quote from a 5 year old.  Too sweet, right?  Ok, so many funny things have happened that I am just going to list a couple of them. 

• The other day, we were watching the last 30 minutes 101 Dalmations. All of the kids were really getting into it and were getting nervous when they thought that Cruella Deville was going to catch the puppies again.  Suhail (who is definitely one of my favorite kids in the universe) was sitting on my lap and suddenly screams out "RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIIIFE!!"
• I went to go read with the Standard 2 kids for a while, and when I came back we were watching the last bit of Lion King (I swear, we don't normally watch movies in class...this is the 2nd day since I've been here that we have done a movie).  I've been wanting to watch this movie since we've been out here, so of course I get completely pumped up and start singing along to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" then quoting all the lines of the movie.  Luckily the kids didn't get annoyed with me, and in fact, many of them loved that I was doing it.  At the end of the movie, (Suhail was sitting on my lap again) when Rafiki lifts up Simba's son, I lifted Suahil above my head and say "Liooooon Kiiiiing" (yes, I have been wanting to do something like that for a very long time).  I almost dropped him, though, because he was giggling so much that he almost squirmed out of my hands.
• We are teaching manners to the little kids, and when I asked Suhail what you say when you want something, he responds with "Tuesday." 
• Little Darren (another one of my favorites- let's face it, I have about 15 favorites) winked at me.  This boy is 3 years old and weighs roughly 5oz. (yep, Aaron, I am sticking with that number).  I almost fell over from laughing so hard.  Something that is just so adorable about young boys with crushes is that they don't even try to hide it.  I have caught so many of the kids (in both reception and Standard 4) just staring at me with a dreamy smile on their faces and I have even heard a few sigh.  It cracks me up.
• I was crouching on the floor in the classroom the other day to put something in someone's backpack, and two of the kids came up to me whisper in my ears (both at the same time.  I wanted to smack them away).  They left, and within half a second I heard someone else in my ear whispering "same same same same same."  I looked up over and it was Darren.  He's on this huge kick right now of loving things that come in pairs, and he starts singing a song he made up that is just the word "Same" over and over again.
• The other day, the little kids were using worksheets to practice telling time, and while I was talking with one of the girls (Mmapula), another one (Jua) came up to me and asked if I could help her with the worksheet.  Mmapula goes "Oh, that is so easy; even a four-year old could do it."  I told Jua that, yes, in a moment I would help her.  She walked away and Mmapula looks at me and says "No, but seriously, can you help me with it?"

Aaaaaaand We're Back!

Internet!  Water!  Power!  We have it all!!!!  These past two weeks seem to have been times of trial and testing for everyone here on the plot.  Consider yourself blessed beyond all measures that you can walk over to the faucet and turn on water; you can keep your house/office at a comfortable setting; you can easily communicate with pretty much anyone you want to.  We are constantly being reminded to not take the little things for granted.  As soon as our water came back, the internet went down.  Power is pretty hit or miss here these days, which isn't a huge deal, but it gets so hot!  We need our fans!  Fortunately, that doesn't ever last too long (except one circumstance when it was out an entire day).

Things are going well out here.  I am still just adoring my placement (working with the little kids every morning).  We have swimming class every Wednesday, and two of the little boys were terrified this week.  They were actually in tears and saying they wanted to go home, so I worked individually with them while Mr. Tsepo worked with the rest of the class.  After a while, little Darren (while swimming on my back) suddenly yells out "I'm number one!"  He LOVED it.  He also let out a bunch of "woo hoo!"s and "Miss Ashley, I LIKE THIS!!"  Afiwa ended up enjoying it too, and the next day they were both asking if they could go swimming again. So cute :)

Today is the presidential election day, so it's a national holiday.  I was so excited to finally sleep in for once (maybe, just maybe until 8am), but of course I was awake before 6am.  I made our housemate Keturah work out with me, since that poor girl woke up at 5:30am.  She's leaving to head back to the states on Sunday...we're going to miss her! 

I've been blessed with the opportunity to use a nice pool to relax in during the hot, hot afternoons this week.  What a treat that is!  It feels like an oasis back there.  Amazing.

Oh, good news.  Dietra and I now have new beds with mosquito nets.  No more restless nights, no more worrying about what kinds of bugs are going to get you...fantastic :)

please don't mind the mess...we just took the room apart to get the beds in there.  Theresa says that our new beds are princess-like..I say that you have to do covert operations to get out of bed. 

Ok, off to eat dinner and then head out to Fire By Night!  It's a good day, people.  A good day.

The kids!

I brought my camera to work with me this morning, and took it out during break time.  The kids came flying; they LOVE getting their picture taken.  It was a fun way to spend almost an hour today :)

Here is the link to my pictures. Enjoy!

Today I also found out that I am going to be the sub teacher for the Standard 4 class on Wednesday and Thursday this week.  I'm looking forward to that!  I haven't really spent any time with those kids, so I am looking forward to getting to know them a bit better.

Yesterday we worked in children's church and then participated in discipleship training; I sure do enjoy that.  Last night we went over to Kevin and Sarah's for dinner, then played Friends Scene It :)  I was smack talking prior to the game quite a bit, and I am proud to say that I delivered.  Well, I am off to Audi Camp with Andrea and Theresa to get some coffee!  First real coffee treat in Bots!  So excited!!

Kids' quote of the day (Brittnie Homstad, this is for you): "Are you silly?"

Quite the interesting past 24 hours

Hey there! Well, we sure have had quite a few "intersting" experiences these past 24 hours! Like I've said before, we've basically been without water (minus a couple of hours here and there) for the past 4 days. We found out last night that the entire village is without water as well- so when and how is it going to get here?? Well, we do have a large reserve tank, but that was half-empty from when we had to let the boarders fill up their water jugs. In case you weren't aware, the school that is on campus that I am working with has close to 300 students. There are about 60 students that live on campus, plus another 20 missionaries and their families. Then during the day, they have all of the staff from all of their different ministries on site...so you can imagine (especially since it's been about 105 degrees every day) that there really is a very high demand for water. We got the heads up last night that they would be turning on the rest of the water around 10pm, so be ready to shower and fill your jugs. Once it's out, it's out. So, when the water came on, we sprang into action. In about 20 minutes, 4 of us had showered, filled about 10 5-liter jugs of water, and did dishes from the overflowing sink. That, sadly, was such an adrenaline rush that we were up until well past midnight. Good times, though.

The other exciting thing that happened last night? We saw 2 spitting beetles in our house. Back story. A few months ago, there was a visitor staying at LBOM, and in the middle of the night, something fell on her head. She attempted, in her sleep, to wipe the thing away and was sprayed several times across her forehead. When she woke up, she had developed severe, painful blisters on her face that lasted for way too long. On to the story:

The first one we saw was around 7pm, running near our bedroom . We killed it quickly, but D and I were a little, shall we say...concerned. We spent the next few minutes (or hours, as Keturah might like to say) looking at pictures of them and discussing them. We tried to move on, but lets be honest...that's just nerve wracking. Well, when we were crawling into bed we both very carefully checked our beds and the areas around it to be sure there weren't any more creepy crawlies there. Good to go!

...until 2:30am, WHEN ONE LANDED ON ME. I flicked it off, because at that moment I could only tell that it was a huge bug. When it landed on my leg again, I jumped out of bed squealing (it would have been a scream, had I been healthy and not hoarse). That woke D up, who was out of the room in about 1 second. Keturah heard the commotion from her room, so within about 10 seconds she was standing in my doorway with her shoe. Turns out, it was a blister beetle. We spent the next half hour trying to kill it (we, being Keturah and me. D was sitting on the counter in the kitchen). We finally gave up, because it was in a position we couldn't reach, and I woke Brad up. Poor guy. Came out with his cowboy boots, ready to stomp. The beetle was finally killed, and we tried to go back to sleep. Keturah had to come and pray for us, because D and I were way too freaked out to sleep. We slept peacefully, once we bundled up enough to where almost no part of our body was exposed. Woke up without any blisters!! Jai ho! Needless to say, we are getting nets for our beds this weekend.

This morning we participated in prison ministry for the first time. We LOVED it! About 15 men joined us in a shaded courtyard at the prison. Here's something you need to know. Most of the men at the prison are not there for dangerous or violent crimes- you can get nine years in prison for stealing a goat. Imagine- you're a father, or son and the man of the house, there's no food, your family is starving...you go to your last resort (stealing) and end up in prison for 9 years. Justice? Nope. If you know me, you can understand that my heart is just breaking for these men. Since this was our first time doing prison ministry, we thought we were just observing. Mma Adjei (the gal who is in charge of prison ministry) thought we were going to lead it :) Oh fun. The ministry started with prayer and some praise and worship (in Setswana of course), then we introduced ourselves, and Ma Adjie gave the floor to us to preach. Brad went first and shared his testimony; while he was doing that, I leaned over to Mma Adjie to let her know we hadn't prepared anything. She just smiled and said no problem. So we all shared our testimonies, and then she preached a short message. After she was done, she asked if there was anyone there who had never received Christ in their heart. Two men gave their lives to the Lord today :) We can't wait to go back next week.

We had the afternoon off, and came back to find that "water" has sort of been restored...but as Kelly (one of the missionaries) put it- what percentage of water does it have to contain in order to still be called water? Note to future self: don't even bother washing clothes when the water is like this. Completely pointless and actually makes it worse. Live and learn! [ed note: I am starting to think that this river water is possibly worse than no water at all. Jury is still out.]

I am feeling so much better today! That's so huge. Thanks for the prayers! Love to all.

I Have the Best Parents EVER!!!

Well, since I have come down with strep, I pretty much have had a rough week. We have been without water (minus about a 2 hour break from 5-7am today) for about 36 hours, power has been going on and off for the past 24 hours, and it has been well over 100 degrees every day. I missed work on Monady, was sent home early on Wednesday, and sent home early again today. I just want to be healthy again! I started the antibiotics today, so hopefully they'll kick in very soon.

When I got home from work today, I was feeling pretty blue and just wanted to go and lay at Sarah's house and be mothered...then in walks Brad, with a care package from home!! It's amazing how quickly that changed my mood. I was jumping up and down, squealing, and was cheering for everything that I pulled out of the package. Brad said that it was as fun to watch me go through the package as it is to watch a kid open presents on Christmas morning.

Now Dietra is making me chicken noodle soup :) I love my roommate. She takes such great care of me. Two of the students stopped by the house a couple of minutes ago the "Get Well Soon" balloons :) How sweet is that??

Ok, funny kids story of the day...I wish I could take my video camera to class and just follow one of the boys, Suhail, around. This kid cracks me up. He's rarely uses walking to get from A to B. He dances. For real- he makes up raps and dances around every where he goes, usually trying to throw some ninja moves in while he's at it. He hugs me multiple times a day, but they're always followed by him head-butting my hips. He is one of the funniest kids I have ever come across. I don't have any great quote today, but I hope the image of Suhail is enough to make you smile.

I hope you are all doing well, and I just ask for continued prayer for health. It is taking its toll.