Africa weekend
How was my trip? Good, but too quick! I'm beat still - managed to get up early enough for work today, but have NO energy. I think it wasn't long enough to have the magical healing properties of a getaway, but it was better than nothing.
Highlight? CeCe of course - she's great! We had much fun. When I got there the games (all educational of course) and books were all neatly put away but very well-used - and she was thrilled with the new books I brought her. And the lighting fuzzy bunny pen? The neighbors went wild with delight. She's really smart - almost beat me at Memory (only didn't because I follow "my" rules - she has much better recall than I) and could read all the books very well. Her first Dr. Seuss! I read it to her, then she practiced, and then she read it to all the neighborhood kids who gathered round, full of awe and delight (and once I pointed out that his cadence is different than the rhythm she feels in her blood [she awesomely rhythmical] she mastered it, too). She even discussed the pictures and previewed (which I couldn't help myself from doing, I'm such a teacher). And I think she has Definite Teacher Potential. She says she wants to be a nurse, which of course made me say, "What about a doctor? You'd be a good doctor." She hadn't even thought of it. I love the girl power book by Jada Pinkett-Smith I took her - "Girls Hold Up the World" - and hopefully she takes it to heart.
Sweetest thing she did? My first morning there she got up and got the family toothbrush ready with toothpaste and water for me (yeah, I used my own, but it was such a sweet gesture). Or, when she wrote me notes in the journal I got her asking if I could stay and not go away.
Cinderella is her favorite story (from a book I gave her before) which I call her because the girl works lots without complaint. She did all the dishes, the cleaning, all that stuff. And still had lots of time for fun. She's the perfect little stepdaughter - though we didn't talk about that at all - too much pressure and such. It's cool to just be friends first, and she was mighty forgiving to the woman who kicked her out of bed and made more work for her.
Anyway, yes, and Dayton is fine. I fall more in love with him every time we're together. I only worry that makes me not have the best judgment.
The worst part? The freakin heat. It was SO hot, and his electricity was cut off when I arrived, so no fan. (Why? Because the cheaper electricity he bought was illegal, and the guy cutting into the line didn't pay enough bribe to the power company official, so it got cut.) It's hard when I'm not there for long because I don't adjust and I didn't feel my best while there. Had a really horrible headache one night - in all, didn't ever get more than a couple hours sleep at a time, usually just 30 minutes or so on plane and there.
Strangest thing? One evening we went out to hear a speaker about repatriation, but the announcement was wrong and it was some religious blah blah so I said I was going home to rest. I was sitting outside - because inside must have been a sauna - and an old neighbor lady said, "You look so lonely. Don't be lonely." She introduced herself and said I should visit her. Which I didn't, but it didn't stop her from the next day expressing how she loves me like a daughter. I'm always skeptical about the quick free-flowing love, but I've seen it be real. What does she love about me? "You come and stay with us, like one of us. You understand us and our problems and you really love us to be here with us."
I didn't say, "Well, really I'm here because it's a long-distance booty call." (Yes, blog fans, working that out with CeCe about was a challenge, but one we definitely overcame quite well and satisfactorily.) And it was touching, and I do like to be appreciated. People leave me alone when I want to be left alone, but I realize that they're all seeing me, judging me, wondering about me.
CeCe will be an awesome in-road for me. She hung close to me - not clingy, but just wanting to be near (and also because her father requires she not wander - it's quite dangerous). So I got to see her friends in a more natural environment than the children who show off to the strange white people. And CeCe loves me and sees me as one of her people, and she treats me like that so the other children don't orientalize me anymore. It's cool.
OK, my work now starts an hour earlier so time to head there. It makes me sick, but only 14 more Fridays.
Highlight? CeCe of course - she's great! We had much fun. When I got there the games (all educational of course) and books were all neatly put away but very well-used - and she was thrilled with the new books I brought her. And the lighting fuzzy bunny pen? The neighbors went wild with delight. She's really smart - almost beat me at Memory (only didn't because I follow "my" rules - she has much better recall than I) and could read all the books very well. Her first Dr. Seuss! I read it to her, then she practiced, and then she read it to all the neighborhood kids who gathered round, full of awe and delight (and once I pointed out that his cadence is different than the rhythm she feels in her blood [she awesomely rhythmical] she mastered it, too). She even discussed the pictures and previewed (which I couldn't help myself from doing, I'm such a teacher). And I think she has Definite Teacher Potential. She says she wants to be a nurse, which of course made me say, "What about a doctor? You'd be a good doctor." She hadn't even thought of it. I love the girl power book by Jada Pinkett-Smith I took her - "Girls Hold Up the World" - and hopefully she takes it to heart.
Sweetest thing she did? My first morning there she got up and got the family toothbrush ready with toothpaste and water for me (yeah, I used my own, but it was such a sweet gesture). Or, when she wrote me notes in the journal I got her asking if I could stay and not go away.
Cinderella is her favorite story (from a book I gave her before) which I call her because the girl works lots without complaint. She did all the dishes, the cleaning, all that stuff. And still had lots of time for fun. She's the perfect little stepdaughter - though we didn't talk about that at all - too much pressure and such. It's cool to just be friends first, and she was mighty forgiving to the woman who kicked her out of bed and made more work for her.
Anyway, yes, and Dayton is fine. I fall more in love with him every time we're together. I only worry that makes me not have the best judgment.
The worst part? The freakin heat. It was SO hot, and his electricity was cut off when I arrived, so no fan. (Why? Because the cheaper electricity he bought was illegal, and the guy cutting into the line didn't pay enough bribe to the power company official, so it got cut.) It's hard when I'm not there for long because I don't adjust and I didn't feel my best while there. Had a really horrible headache one night - in all, didn't ever get more than a couple hours sleep at a time, usually just 30 minutes or so on plane and there.
Strangest thing? One evening we went out to hear a speaker about repatriation, but the announcement was wrong and it was some religious blah blah so I said I was going home to rest. I was sitting outside - because inside must have been a sauna - and an old neighbor lady said, "You look so lonely. Don't be lonely." She introduced herself and said I should visit her. Which I didn't, but it didn't stop her from the next day expressing how she loves me like a daughter. I'm always skeptical about the quick free-flowing love, but I've seen it be real. What does she love about me? "You come and stay with us, like one of us. You understand us and our problems and you really love us to be here with us."
I didn't say, "Well, really I'm here because it's a long-distance booty call." (Yes, blog fans, working that out with CeCe about was a challenge, but one we definitely overcame quite well and satisfactorily.) And it was touching, and I do like to be appreciated. People leave me alone when I want to be left alone, but I realize that they're all seeing me, judging me, wondering about me.
CeCe will be an awesome in-road for me. She hung close to me - not clingy, but just wanting to be near (and also because her father requires she not wander - it's quite dangerous). So I got to see her friends in a more natural environment than the children who show off to the strange white people. And CeCe loves me and sees me as one of her people, and she treats me like that so the other children don't orientalize me anymore. It's cool.
OK, my work now starts an hour earlier so time to head there. It makes me sick, but only 14 more Fridays.
posted by NOLA at 6:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home