Wednesday-Thursday, during which I spend the night all alone and go to Mercato!

Wednesday we did… well, I wrote out the test I am going to giving my classes and made copies of them. Anisha cleaned because Janyne and Abby, her neighbors, were arriving that night. Class was well attended because the teacher was there for the first half of class, but they started getting SUPER noisy and rowdy. I was trying to explain the relationship between “aunt and uncle” and “cousin” to Eyerus, one of my very smart 3rd graders, and they went bizurke. Some ran out of the classroom, so I posted Salam, one of my trusted students, at the door to guard it. I then realized that it was past time to leave, but made everyone sit down in their own seats before I dismissed them (and I dismissed them individually). I realize they have to get home, but they know how to raise their hands and say, “Teacher, it is time to go.” So next time we have class, I am going to apologize for letting them out early, but explain that they need to respect me. I will explain to them how to properly alert me to the time next time I run over. Anisha left at 5, and Cameron and I had a splendid dinner without her, then we watched two episodes of Bones together and ate peanut butter popcorn. I woke up and did situps and pushups (you owe me 50, Chris), and realized the toilet had flooded (again). Gaaaaahhh. So I was trying to have it all nice for Anisha’s neighbors, but our bathroom is out of order. I spent all morning trying to dry the floor/wash the towel with which I dried it the first time without having it flood again. Edjihgayo, the lady who works at the sewing room, went with us to Mercato, and Daniel was going to come, but he had things to do for tomorrow. Hulu, one of the nurses, came too. We picked up Anisha and Janyne and Abby at the hotel, and went to Mercato! Thankfully, we just had enough money for all the costumes (God was watching out for us). Hopefully it will be enough. We did not get robbed! We have survived the largest open-air market in Africa! Hopefully we will get to go back to go souvenir shopping sometime. The lady who ran the fabric store was really nice. She gave us soda and bought us these bean things. People kept stealing some as we walked by. Humph. If they had asked, I would have been happy to share. After Mercato, we dropped off Janyne and Abby (they were tired), and got two huuuge Tupperware boxes of goodies from them and Jill! After running a few errands, (including getting more bananas and sugar!), we got back and gobbled down a late lunch (needless to say, I was hungry). We got to see what Jill and Janyne had sent us (lots of goodies, including 8 lbs of chocolate chips (which Anisha has basically banned me from…) and lots of other things (both for us and the people here). We headed over to class…. and… no one was there! All the kids were outside, and only Dureti and Mek’des were around. They were eager to go to class, at least. I spend about a half-hour showing random kids pictures on my computer. Then we walked back, I dropped off my computer, and got them some water. Then we helped Sinke unload whatever stuff she got today, and then the girls dragged me off and started doing my hair. It was more intense than Flag Camp! They got about half of my head done, then decided… that they wanted to wet my hair? And anyway most of it had fallen out by the time I put my foot down and said no more doing my hair, thanks. My hair looked… interesting. My hair dried though. Dureti, Mek’des, Meskeram, and Tamu played Go Fish, then they wanted to sing Making Melodies (they must love it, because we sang it while they were doing my hair). Tamu left, but China and Estifanos joined us. I hope they will come to Pathfinders. They can be sheeps. Anisha left again to stay with her neighbors, and I made chocolate chip cookies. They taste like they have some sort of cherry flavor in them, but are not terrible. Actually, I change my mind. They are wonderful for the circumstances. I spent some time programming the pharmacy computer program.