11/04/13

            This has been a week of goodbyes as I prepared to leave tomorrow. Monday was my last auntie’s meeting (which almost all childcare staff attends) so I baked an apple-cinnamon bread and made earrings or hair clips for all the aunties and childcare staff. Everyone has looked especially pretty the past few days sporting their new colorful earrings! Yesterday the hostel kids and staff threw a goodbye party for me, complete with songs, dances, and cards from the kids. At the end they dressed me like a Swazi and made me join in the girls’ traditional dance to show off my own moves.

Dancing with the girls. It's like Where's Waldo, you almost can't find me.

            This morning I made cookies and popcorn for my bridge school kids. We danced for a bit, enjoyed the snack, then I introduced them to madlibs, and we ended with hangman. Madlibs was a big hit—the kids got really into coming up with funny and creative parts of speech, and by the third time (it took them a few times to really understand the game), they were dying laughing during the reading. Teaching bridge school has been a really wonderful and special experience for me. Not only were these 11 very sweet kids, but there were ELEVEN kids! I loved teaching in Mozambique, but there are limits to what even the most motivated teachers can do with five classes of 50 kids. With bridge I could check their homework every day and make corrections. I could anticipate mistakes they would make while copying notes or doing exercises and be there to help when it happened. I’m thankful that I got to experience teaching in such a drastically different and better setting.