a post by your friend Lauren (or Laurel, or Gloria, or Laura... depending on who you are)

            I am so proud of my kids! And all the elementary kids!  They performed their Christmas Program for the Middle School/High School chapel today and they did so well!!  It was so fun to see them in their costumes!! They are way too cute!  Okay, enough of that!

            The fifth graders threw a surprise going-away party for their teacher today.  She was their 4^th grade teacher last year and agreed to stay another half year as the fifth grade teacher this year because the regular 5^th grade teacher was on furlough.  So he is coming back for next semester and she is going to Maine.  She is the most spunky 77 year old you will ever meet, and she has blessed me SO MUCH in my short time here.  Always telling me how thankful she is that I am here and how I am an answer to her prayers.. seriously she is so sweet!  Sometimes, she thinks my name is Laurel, but that’s okay.  For some reason, most people think I say something else when I first introduce myself.  Just last weekend at church, the lady sitting in front of me thought my name was Gloria.  One of the guards calls me Laura.

            Back to the topic at hand.. last week I found a note in my box that said she was ripping her prayer journals up in preparation to leave and she found a prayer that she wrote for a new 4^th grade teacher.  And then she said “so, you see, Lauren, you are an answer to prayer!”  It came at the perfect time too!

            One of the parents was welcoming everybody and Pat (the 5^th grade teacher) stands up and gives this whole speech about how she is so thankful I am here and how she knows I will be a teacher forever “with maybe a break in there to get married and have kids!”  She went on and on and I felt so guilty because it was HER party… but after a speech like that, how can I leave this school after a year?  If only it wasn’t so far from home!  That would make the decision a whole lot easier!

            I have all the presents for my kids wrapped which I am so excited about because when I give them the presents, it will be the last day of school which means I will get to board a plane soon! : )

eleven!

            I have had a rude awakening BOTH mornings this weekend… probably by the same mosquito team.  They like to wake me up by playing a very high pitched song in my ear.  Actually, they do it all throughout the night.  Even when I hide under my covers and seal myself in, they still find me! Is there a nest INSIDE my bed or what?  And if I turn the fan on to blow them away, I get too cold!  Ugh. But this morning, I had sweet revenge on one of them.  Then this afternoon I swatted one mid-air while I was doing dishes and it fell into a bowl that was soaking getting ready to be washed.   And the little bugger drowned… serves him (or her) right!

            I went to the other church (meaning not the one at DA) today, and they had their children’s program.  It was super cute and I am happy I got to see it since I will miss Oak Grove’s. : (  It was an okay substitute, but I must say Oak Grove has some pretty spectacular children programs!

            We went to an International Fair after church.  A lot of people from a lot of countries come to sell their stuff, and it was fun!  But I really just like shopping when there are set prices and I don’t have to bargain for a decent price.  Especially since I am white.. it never works out very well for me.  They want me to spend $40 on a shirt? No thank you.

            Anyway, I just got back from a student’s piano recital.  She was so cute!  On my way there, I saw my favorite guard right before the school and we had the usual conversation.  He says some French that I understand one or two words out of.  I either say yes or no, depending on what I THINK he said.  He laughs (I guess my interpretation is usually wrong). I laugh, and keep walking.  But this time, a taxi man stopped and said “taxi, madam?” and I said “no, merci”.  And the guard said “they loooooooooooove you!” 

            I’m not quite sure who “they” is… but sometimes “they” love me just a little too much.  Remember when I wrote about how if I talk to the people, they just end up bugging me more and talking more?  Well this story proves it…

            After the piano recital, I went to the fruit stand and on my way there a boy.. probably about 16ish said “bonjour” and I said “bonjour” and kept walking.  Then, he starts following me and saying “mama!” “mama!” ugh.  about 20 feet later, two other boys (a little bit younger than the other one) say bonjour, so I say it back, and then they start laughing at their friend.  At this point the older one says “Pomme! Pomme!” I think he wanted me to buy him an apple.  So I just said “I’m not your mama, go away.”  Because let’s face it, kid:
            1) I’m not old enough to be your mama.
            2) If I was your mama

                        a. you wouldn’t be harassing strangers.

                        b. You would be saying please, instead of just using one-word demands.

                        c. I would hope that you wouldn’t be as annoying.

            3) I would never buy an apple for somebody who is rude.

Is that outline clear enough for you, little buckaroo?

            Apparently not, because after I tried to tell him that I was indeed not his mother, he kept yelling at me.  I had just reached the fruit stand, but nobody was there, so I went across the street to the other one.  The old one followed me across the street, while his little friends stayed on the other side just laughing.  So I said hello to the fruit men, who ended up being angels in disguise.  Two of them chased those 3 bullies away, while the other one kindly got me some fruit.  And before I left, I think the one helping me asked which way I was going because he pointed one way then the other, so I told him which way I was going and he said good, because the bad guys were the other way.  Then he said something else in French.. and I went home. And now here I am.  I’m pretty sure, those boys would have followed me home if the fruit men hadn’t chased them off!  So, I am very thankful for God’s protection, and those gentlemanly fruit men.  

            Just eleven more days until home! Almost to the single digits!

TWELVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            I have been writing little sticky notes of things I want to make sure I blog about.. let’s see how much my 90-year old memory can remember.

            People are always putting things in the office that they want to sell.  On Monday, I went in during recess time and there was a little Christmas tree for five bucks!  I couldn’t pass that opportunity up, especially since I was so sad that all the trees at the store I went to were way expensive.. like $100.  I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that much on a FAKE tree.  If it was a really pretty real tree, maybe I would do it.. seeing as how they don’t even exist here, I think $100 would be a reasonable price. Especially cause then you get the smell.. I just love real trees. Okay, so I bought it and took it home to decorate it!  Tried to make the lights look all pretty on it, but ended up just throwing them on there because I got too frustrated.  Later in the week I borrowed some more decorations, so my tree is very eclectic, and some might even say clashy.. but I like it still!  Even if it would never make it onto pinterest, it makes me so happy!!

            Then, we had our Christmas staff dinner.  It was at a really nice restaurant and when we got there we had little goodie bags full of yummy Christmas cookies sitting on our table.  The tables all had really cute centerpieces with some fake snow sprinkled around.  It was also one of the first days of the true COLD season, so it was really starting to feel like Christmas!  Seriously, I never thought I would say this while living in AFRICA.. but brr!!  I truly regret my decision not to pack warm clothes because I was thinking “the low is 70.. that will feel good!” but I have been freezing at night!!! I don’t know what is wrong with me.. it’s so weird! 

            Okay, so back to the dinner.. I had a really yummy salad with goat cheese and some lamb… hopefully it wasn’t lambchop! : )  I still haven’t decided if I liked it or not.  It was very interesting.  I think the highlight of the dinner, though was the fishies in the aquarium.  They had poop hanging out of them that was seriously twice as long as their bodies.. I wish I had my camera with me!! : (  It was seriously so funny and so amazing!! One of them got stuck on a rock with all his poop, and finally the poop broke off.  I wonder what they are feeding those poor fish!

            Also this week, I got to try some authentic food that they eat in the bush!  I forget what it is called, because I couldn’t say it anyway.. it was beef and the root that they make tapioca out of (a big hunk of it) covered in green slimy spicy sauce (kind of what I would imagine gruel to be), I think they said it was made out of okra leaves.  I kind of liked it in a very weird way.. but definitely would not choose to eat it every night!

            Friday morning I was packing everything up to get ready to go to school, and as I was putting my laptop away, I noticed there was a knot in my charger cord.  So, I undid the knot, thinking that would be helpful and a good thing to do.  But then I heard a sizzly noise and the light on my computer that tells me it is charging went off.. and it smelled like electric fire or whatever.  But, thankfully we have a super awesome technology man here that had a universal laptop charger that I can borrow until I go home and get a new charger (or a new laptop, Mom and Dad???? ;) )  I am thankful for people who know about technology.. because I sure do not!

            I just got back from downtown.. I pretended like I was in New York for a little while.  Sometimes I pretend like im in France too, since everybody speaks French.  It works for a little while, but then reality sets in that I’m actually in Africa.. which I have to admit, is still pretty cool! : )

            We went shopping and I got some pretty good stuff!   Most of it is a secret as of right now though! : )  It’s that time of year!  I will say that I got my kids some pretty cool gifts though!! Spended more than I would have liked, but I just couldn’t pass up the bubble wands and popper thingies (the ones that you throw on the ground and they pop.. SO COOL!)  I also got a pretty sweet headband with those bobby-things on it which are Santas.  Oohh yes.

            When we were sitting in the taxi waiting for traffic to move, one of the people walking around selling things came up to the window (it was rolled down because it was warm again today) and said “How is you Canada? Are you feeling good?” that is the second time somebody here has thought I was from Canada! Why is that, I wonder?  How do you tell the difference between a Canadian and an American?   I just ignored him because once you acknowledge them, they just keep talking to you.  So then he said “what? You don’t talk to the people here?”  Thanks for making me feel like a jerk, dude.  After we started going again, I realized I should have looked at him and pointed to my ears to pretend like I was deaf.. I still need to try that trick!!

            Twelve days til I hop on a plane!!!!!!!!!!!! Yahooooooooooooo!