Where did it go?

I spent an hour this afternoon, blogging about my last two days and it's gone!!

Well, I tried to recap the last two days, since I didn't blog yesterday. I haven't been sleeping real well here and I was really tired and just not feeling too well so I went to bed very early. I am happy to say that I did finally get a good night's sleep. So I'll recap the day I missed.

On Wednesday it rained, so we were stuck inside at the creche most of the morning. It was dreadful. 24 children, and 5 adults crammed in a loud, hot, and small room. I would estimate the room is about 12x12. Between the TV (old Blue's Clue's VCR tapes), the children being loud and misbehaving and the Xhosa women talking in their loud booming voices....I was pretty much on overload by the time we got out of there. It's really funny to watch the local woman talk. In the morning you can tell they are all catching up on the goings on and you get a group of them together and they all talk at the same time and it's like the all try to talk over each other...but none of them misses a word the other's are saying. I really love to hear them speak. They are the most warm people ever. They are all from the same township, the same clan and it shows. They are all beautiful women that have a connection to each other.

Nothing much else happened yesterday. Some of the groups chose to go out and I think I was in bed by about 7:30-8:00 pm. I read for a while and then went to sleep. Between the day inside with the noise and chaose and this communal living...I really just needed to go to bed and have some solitude!! I felt much more rested and refreshed this morning.

Today was a beautiful day! When we arrived at the creche, the kids were already outside playing...YAY! We were outside until amost 10:30 this morning!! It was awesome. I love to be outside with them. I pushed more swings today! And they are so cute. They all clamor for my attention and the refer to me as either si-si (see see, which is sister), Mama, or Miss. They are so polite! They ask me to push them in the swing. It's, "Pusha Miss".....or si-si or Mama. This one little girl they call Macy...just kept putting her head back with the biggest smile on her face like she was flying. They are all so wonderful and their little smiles just light up my day. To see them laugh and smile....that's exactly why I came here.

I've been working with the younger children, 3-4, but think I'm going to move to the classroom of 5 year olds next week. That's where I worked 2 years ago...when those same kids were younger. So I can work with the two teachers I worked with last time as well as the few children that are still there, that haven't yet moved on to primary school yet. The program manager here said it's my choice, so maybe I'll just switch off every week, while I'm here.

There was little boy today that was really ill. I felt so bad for him. I noticed he wasn't real active on the playground and when we were inside he kept putting his head down on the table. Well he ended up vomiting all over the floor. And sadly...it was in the morning, and it was obvious that there was no food in his belly..only liquid. The teacher walked him to the bathroom...we took the other children outside while she cleaned and mopped the floor. When the kids came back in...the brought him back in with the group. On Thursday's there is a singer/story teller that comes to the creche to sing and play his guitar for the kids. He brings 2 young Xhosa men with him to translate and they have the kids get in a circle and dance, and act out his songs and participate. They made the sick little boy participate. They eventually let him sit down. I felt his forehead and he was fevered and his little eyes were glassy and heavy, like he wanted to go to sleep. You know...like we've all seen our children when they get sick. Lunch time came and they put lunch in front of him. And of all days...today was the day where Soured Milk was on the menu. If you aren't sure what that is....read my blog below from my last trip...I am pretty sure I wrote about it. It's like runny cottage cheese...it's nothing I could eat. Anyway...the child started eating and of course didn't make it thru the meal. My whole point is that this poor little boy obviously has some sort of virus, and they don't isolate him from the other children. They kept him in the group. They cleaned the mess, with soap and water...but no sort of bleach or anything....so i'm sure there are still those germs in the room, on the tables and such. It's hard to speak up and not offend. You have to tread very lightly around these things. In the meantime, all the children have been exposed more than they should have had to. I'm so hoping it doesn't go thru the whole creche. I'm also so hoping I don't get it!! :( Hopefully my twice per day Airborn doses along with my vitamins will keep me healthy.

This evening a group of us took the cable car up to table mountain to watch the sunset! It was just as breathtaking as I remember it. I would love to share pictures with you...but for some reason I'm having trouble uploading pics to the blog!! I've tried with every post and no such luck. Tomorrow I will hunt down a computer weenie in the house and get some help!

Oh and on the top of the mountain, one of the guys in our group....Jay...just found out today in email that he was accepted to Dental School so we bought a bottle of chamapagne to celebrate. He is a really nice kid! He is from British Columbia, Canada and is Chinese. Thank goodness he has really good teeth!

Oh well...sorry to rush thru this, but since I've had to retype it and it is 10:50 pm....and I still have one more email to get out...I really must go so I can get to bed at a reasonable time, to stare at the ceiling, since my clock still stays it's 3:50 pm!!

More tomorrow!!

xo