half way

today i went with stephanie to visit her kids in the morning. her kids are street kids who have parents affected by gender violence. none of her kids speak english and the oldest was 11. they were all wonderful. so cute and very artistic. one of the girls played drums and she was amazing. all the kids sang different songs for us. we taught them hokie pokie and they loved it.
in my p2 class i decided to translate a short story written by a rwandan boy with aids. i am writing the story in kinyarwanda on the blackboard and having the kids translate it...it is the most attentive they have all been at one time. they love it. my staff 1 class has been coming to class all week. there are 4 men in the class (along with kenny and emmanuel who are students) and they are really eager to learn and know a lot more than i thought they did. in staff 2 class we talked about sports...i taught them the names and rules for volleyball and basketball. i am trying to get the staff 2 class to talk more but it isn't working as well as i thought. the next class i am going to have them describe how to make different food dishes. this morning we had omelets for breakfast and stephanie and i were so excited. it is only the 2nd time we have had omelets for breakfast (usually it is some sort of bread and tea and maybe fruit) and this time we asked for no salt so they were extra delicious. i am not a huge egg fan but i am sure a fan of eggs in rwanda.
since i was with stephanie today i got to decide on my own lunch and i had 4 samosas and an orange fanta...and some pringles. the samosas here are really good. so my addiction for the week is samosas and orange fanta which i would never want if i was in the states. but when i travel it seems to become a staple of my day.
the new volunteers seem to be settling in ok. theyare very nice and diving into all rwanda has to offer.we all went for italian the other night and it was fabulous. and one the way home we saw a dog-maybe a st bernard/shepard mix and it was the 1st dog we had seen as a pet. the dad was very proud of him. i miss hobee and diogie :(
a few funny stories...yesterday i wore a pair of pants one of the previous volunteers had left behind. when i put them on in the morning they seemed to fit fine. throughout the day they seemed to stretch in the waste and at one point when i was reaching up to write on the board i felt them falling. i quickly grabbed the waist band and changed my plan to having the kids write on the board instead of me. then this morning as stephanie's kids were saying goodbye and hugging me and literally hanging and sliding down my body one grabbed onto my pants and my pants started to slide down with her. i grabbed on for life and she finally let go of my pants.
the weather has changed to cool. since the rainstorm it has been breezy and lower temps. i love it! i don't pour sweat on the squished taxis anymore. i have also been taking motorbikes to work this week and it has been so nice in the mornings. i take the taxi home still and yesterday the bus fare guy asked me to marry him...this was told to me by the english speaking women in the back. the entire bus was involved and laughing as she explained that he wanted me to marry him because his dream was to have a muzungo (white person) marry him and make him rich. i declined with a smile and the bus laughed hysterically. this back and forth chatter went on until i got off the bus at my destination. i felt very silly knowing everyone was talking about me and making fun but at the same time it was quite funny. i believe that is the 3rd or 4th marriage purposal since i had arrived here.
i got the house employees chocolate bars today. they were all very excited. innocent said "i love you" that is the most he has said to me since i got here. he speaks very little english and mostly just smiles and waves. i feel pretty good that they will all enjoy their chocolate.
i only have 2 weeks left here and i am feeling sad. i really don't want to leave and wish i had come for a longer time. this country is amazing and it will only get better as they continue to develop and grow. i will definitely come back again. i would love to come back as an employee for a year or 2 but work opportunities here are very slim. for now i will continue to educate others and campaign to raise donations and funding for the boys at the orphanage. the boys really need english books, dictionaries, dvds with english movies and letters of encouragement so they know there are people out there that care about them. i am going to look into joining a classroom back in the states to write to the boys.
i hope the things i am learning here stay with me. i have been influenced by so many things and so many people here and i hope that the day to day u.s. life doesn't overpower all those things.