After school yesterday, a bunch of the kids were very excited to bring us to a soccer game they were playing. Anytime we walk down our street, kids come out from all over the place and start yelling, "Teacher, teacher!" "Deanna!" "Kendra!" They get so excited to walk with us, and were pretty pumped about the fact that we were going to go watch them play soccer. We watched until dinner time, then headed home for some food before our Amharic lesson.
When Ready arrived, he started doing some "review" with us. These Amharic lessons are getting tough, fast! We were so relieved when Amare interrupted us to say that his mom was making injera, if we wanted to learn. We did want to, so much! Amare took us across the street to his house, and we watched his mom make some first. She's pretty good, I think she's done it a few times before :) I went first, and totally threw his mom off when I tried to do it with my left hand. We told her that I'm left-handed, but in the end I ended up going righty. My injera totally would have been more perfect if I had used my left...just saying. But it didn't turn out so bad! You get a little pitcher of batter, and pour it around and around in a circle on the "injera maker", as Kendra and I call it. It's really a big round flat skillet-like stove thing. I know, really good description. It's hard, because you have to go kind of quick and you have to try to make a perfect circle like Amare's mom does, without spilling. I must say, we did a pretty good job, though! While we were enjoying eating our injera and talking with Amare's family, Ready made a discovery. He found out that I wear contacts, and was completely blown away. He asked me if they were in my eyes then, and if he could see them. He then proceeded to stare at my eyeballs for a good minute or two. He told us he's only seen that kind of thing in movies. We made fun of him, a lot.
After we made injera, we got some fantastic games going outside with the frisbee we bought. Kendra, Ready, Desta, Amen (another brother of Dundee and Amare...we just keep meeting more!) and I all played some serious frisbee. When that got old, we started to introduce Ghost in the Graveyard to the Ethiopians. It was obviously meant to be, because as soon as we finished explaining it there was a power outage! It was very, very dark. Outside and inside. The perfect setting. The Ethiopians all got super into the game, and we had some pretty epic hiding spots. If you remember from previous posts, we have acquired a minibus at our house. At one point, Kendra and I hid on the floor of the bus. Not the cleanest, but hey, we're in Africa. I'll be clean again when I get back to America. Desta was looking for us, and I'm pretty sure it took him about a half an hour to find us. Best spot ever. Another time, we kind of cheated...Amare had joined in, and decided to help us win. He took us away to his house, and we just hung out inside. They were looking for us forever, and finally someone heard that we had escaped to Amare's house. Which is when we snuck back home. We're so tricky!
Okay, so I realize it sounds like we played children's games all night. Which is essentially what we did. But I just can't even tell you how fun it was. Especially because the power was out. Just epic. Such a good time. I'm sorry that's all I'm writing about, perhaps it's not that interesting...but this blog just doesn't do justice for the incredible amount of fun we had. I absolutely love hanging out with these people, and I think you should probably all come and meet them. Yeah?! Good plan.
When Ready arrived, he started doing some "review" with us. These Amharic lessons are getting tough, fast! We were so relieved when Amare interrupted us to say that his mom was making injera, if we wanted to learn. We did want to, so much! Amare took us across the street to his house, and we watched his mom make some first. She's pretty good, I think she's done it a few times before :) I went first, and totally threw his mom off when I tried to do it with my left hand. We told her that I'm left-handed, but in the end I ended up going righty. My injera totally would have been more perfect if I had used my left...just saying. But it didn't turn out so bad! You get a little pitcher of batter, and pour it around and around in a circle on the "injera maker", as Kendra and I call it. It's really a big round flat skillet-like stove thing. I know, really good description. It's hard, because you have to go kind of quick and you have to try to make a perfect circle like Amare's mom does, without spilling. I must say, we did a pretty good job, though! While we were enjoying eating our injera and talking with Amare's family, Ready made a discovery. He found out that I wear contacts, and was completely blown away. He asked me if they were in my eyes then, and if he could see them. He then proceeded to stare at my eyeballs for a good minute or two. He told us he's only seen that kind of thing in movies. We made fun of him, a lot.
After we made injera, we got some fantastic games going outside with the frisbee we bought. Kendra, Ready, Desta, Amen (another brother of Dundee and Amare...we just keep meeting more!) and I all played some serious frisbee. When that got old, we started to introduce Ghost in the Graveyard to the Ethiopians. It was obviously meant to be, because as soon as we finished explaining it there was a power outage! It was very, very dark. Outside and inside. The perfect setting. The Ethiopians all got super into the game, and we had some pretty epic hiding spots. If you remember from previous posts, we have acquired a minibus at our house. At one point, Kendra and I hid on the floor of the bus. Not the cleanest, but hey, we're in Africa. I'll be clean again when I get back to America. Desta was looking for us, and I'm pretty sure it took him about a half an hour to find us. Best spot ever. Another time, we kind of cheated...Amare had joined in, and decided to help us win. He took us away to his house, and we just hung out inside. They were looking for us forever, and finally someone heard that we had escaped to Amare's house. Which is when we snuck back home. We're so tricky!
Okay, so I realize it sounds like we played children's games all night. Which is essentially what we did. But I just can't even tell you how fun it was. Especially because the power was out. Just epic. Such a good time. I'm sorry that's all I'm writing about, perhaps it's not that interesting...but this blog just doesn't do justice for the incredible amount of fun we had. I absolutely love hanging out with these people, and I think you should probably all come and meet them. Yeah?! Good plan.
Chocolate bunny cake and brownies for Easter! Yum!
ReplyDelete