Wednesday-Thursday, during which we get mail and play soccer.

Today Dr. Gemechu again did not need us at the clinic, so Anisha was happy. I worked on ASL songs, and hopefully Jeff will look them over for me when I finish. Anisha and I are going to do a special music (or five) and I have one song that will be a good solo (ack). Abebe dropped off a grater and peeler, and then Azeb stopped by and visited a little bit. I miss American cheese. Class went well. We listed all the “th” words they could remember and made sentences out of all but three of them in 26 minutes. AND I think most of them even understand what thunder is! (Although we are still working on “thump.”) Anddd Stephanos’s shrill, “JENNEY-FARE” is calling me now.
At the request of Chris, I shall describe injera and hopefully post a picture of it. Injera is made from teff, a grain that grows here. Injera is gray, and about 1/8 inch thick. Well, I say gray, and Cameron says “grayish but light brown.” Okay, I looked at the picture, and it is more graylightbrown. It has a bubbly texture on one side (like the craters left behind when a bubble pops), and is more smooth on the other from laying in a pan. It is sort of sour-tasting, and soft, and moist. Kind of like sourdough. I think there is a picture already up of it.

I think I worked translating songs into ASL Wednesday night, and then we called it an early night.
Thursday was much like Friday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! I made a family powerpoint (which I did not end up using, but plan on using at the end of the family lesson), and replied to emails, and worked on the ASL songs.
Samson had invited us to go play soccer today at noon. We thought we had been invited to play with the kids at recess, and at first it was kind of like that. Then someone told us to save our energy because that was not the real game—it turns out we played against the teachers! We played full court (which was exhausting, because when we play with the kids at night, we play half-court). The teachers were intense—they had uniforms and everything. We just were… regular. And I pick today to do my laundry and so I have to wear my shorter shorts in front of the whole school. Eh, it does not matter—they guys’ shorts were about the same length haha. CAMERON was our keeper, and he was fantastic! Anyway, even with me on the team, we won 10-4! It was so exciting. The whole school was watching. I like doing basketball defense on people so they do not get the ball. I thought it would just be a half-hour game, but we played for 35 minutes, then had a ten minute break (during which Cameron and I went and got some water) and then played until 245 or 250.
Class went really well. I called Mom for her birthday after, and she called me back before supper. I wish the clinic would open soon. I want to do medical stuff instead of sit around all day. I suppose I should be grateful for this time, and use it to prepare lesson and stuff, though. Cameron and I made dinner. We cut the onions bigger than Anisha usually does, and managed to get the beans kind of softish. We had the BRILLIANT idea to put taco seasoning in the rice, and it turned out really good. We watched Remember the Titans, which was, of course, excellent, then went to bed.
On Friday, Dr. Gemechu dropped off a bag that Cameron’s mom had sent with someone. IT HAD COOKIESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and it had a countdown LEGO candle for Christmas, and some other things. Dr. Gemechu suggested we go pick up Cameron’s package at the post office. On our way out, Emmanuel said he needed two special musics and a Pathfinders program. Well, ce la vi. We thought it would take a long time, but we went to a smaller branch, so I guess that made it smaller. Anisha was going to nap, but she ended up having a package too, so she came with. When we met Yared to get some little yellow slip, I got a package too! Thanks, SM office! They sent me the ugliest leaf ever (it was laminated). We went to lunch at one of Abebe’s favorite places (Ethiopian) and it was a buffet. We could not go before because they did not have vegetarian food, but today was fasting day, so we could dig in! It was so good, and, don’t tell Hareg, but I had some salad! Mwahaha. We were all stuffed. The buffet was $4 for each of us. Both Cameron and Anisha had one of the really spicy peppers and regretted it :-). We went grocery shopping, and I FINALLY got vegetable shortening! When we got home, we had a present-opening party (Amanda, we do it better), and Anisha got some clothes and garlic salt and taco seasoning. Cameron’s was a birthday present from Shelby, BUT shout out to Stephanieeeeeeeeeee who sent a note to me in it! He got some Taco Bell hot sauce, candy, PLAY DOUGH!!, stickers, and chips. I got… two copies of the Accent, some SM newsletter, Taco Bell sauce (one of each intensity), that leaf, AND a note from COURTNEY!!!. We were all very excited. I cut up our old bag of onions, and we told Stefanos that we were not going to play today. So sad. We are having leftovers for dinner since only I am really hungry (no matter how much I eat, I am still hungry later), but cookies will be for dessert I think! Anisha and I picked a song for special music, and, roughly translated, practiced. It’s not bad. I did send them to Jeff to try to edit.