Almost a month gone!

On Wednesday I will have been here exactly a month. Much like at Notre Dame, time seems to be operating as a paradox - both passing very slowly and extremely quickly! It seems like just yesterday that I was with my family at the Grand Canyon (or graduating from ND), but it also feels like I've lived here for years. I find myself saying "let's go home" in reference to Open Arms more and more often.

So what have I been up to these past two weeks? Well July 1st (the day after my last entry) marked our youngest kid's first birthday and it was absolutely adorable to see the kids crown around him and sing happy birthday (with an extra verse of "God bless you today!" as is customary) and watch him clap and laugh and smile in celebration (then promptly pass out in Kalienka's arms...). And since then lots has gone on...

I got the opportunity to take a day long trip with Rita, Auntie Ruth (Rosie's mom), and Zach to Grahamstown (this awesome little town!) for Festival - a huge festival with tents full of crafts for sale and food and all sorts of performances (though we couldn't go to any of them). We spent the day looking at local crafts, eating kudu dogs (a local antelope-like animal native to South Africa), relaxing in the sun, and having team and discussing South Africa vs. America with Rosie's sister and brother-in-law. Needless to say I had a great day and picked up a few treasures along the way!

Other highlights have included a trip into East London with the kids to see Toy Story 3 (so great and the kids loved it for the most part - and were so well behaved!!), a trip to the dairy farm where the kids got to see the cows being milked, pet some baby calves, and try the milk, headband making (they really like the ones that Sophie gave me so we made some more with things we found around the house! - I still hear chorus' of "we can make bandages today?"), and volunteering to make crepes for dinner (let me tell you, making crepes for 35 kids plus volunteers plus mamas is no easy task!!).

Really lots has happened in the past two weeks, it's hard to recap! In the past two weeks six other volunteers have come and gone. Kalienka and Adell were here for two weeks (two awesome girls from South Africa off on university holiday), Liz and Matt were here finising up the tail end of their seven month world trekking adventure, and Yani and Paul Horn (who works for Notre Dame) came by for a short two day stint to take pictures of the ISSLP site. They are all greatly missed but have assured us they will stay in touch (and perhaps we'll be seeing some of them back in here within the next year!).

This past weekend also marked our World Cup final celebration! We kciked off our celebration with a big soccer game (volunteers vs. children of course) in town (volunteers barely lost by golden goal...). The kids got a surprise from Auntie Caitlin at the end of the game too - Notre Dame hats! (rest assured that they have been taught how to say "Go Irish!" and they do...a lot...). Then last night (the night of the final) we had a pinata! (Truth be told the paper mache pinata that we attempted to make with the kids became a shriveled up raisin when the balloon popped too early so it was really just a cardboard box that we decorated and let them beat up on for a while...). But the pinata was amazing!!! It was actually so hilarious to watch! The kids chanted everyone's name as they swung and by some sort of divine miracle no one got hit (though there were a few very close calls!). *Ps. if anyone wants to send a REAL pinata, it would be most welcome!* We also decorated cupcakes with the Van Beveren secret recipe for frosting and decorated the lounge with balloons and flags made in my playroom classroom. Then we watched the game with the older ones (but let me tell you, by that time I was so wiped out I could barely stay awake!!).

In the past two weeks we have also been blessed with the arrival of two new volunteers that will be with us for a while: Pat and Erin. Funny story actually...(although perhaps not so funny to Erin). The night that we were supposed to pick up Pat (an exciting event for me since he'll be here for the whole year too!) Rosie, Caitlin, Katelyn, Elyssa, Zach and I all piled into the bus and went to fetch him in East London. We made a quick pit stop at Windmill for milkshakes and the convenience store to load up on Magnum bars (these delicious chocolate ice creams!!) and candy and then went on to the airport. There we messed around and probably annoyed everyone within 5 feet of us by playing cap baseball (so much fun by the way!). Finally we saw Pat arrive and he came over to us with only he had another girl in tow. We chatted with Pat, not sure who this other girl was, but when Pat turned to get his bags she introduced herself to us. We busted up laughing we had NO idea who she was! She then proceeded to follow us all back to the van and put her bags in. We couldn't hold it in - we just lost it at this point and doubled over laughing and nose-going to see who would have to ask her who she was. Finally someone told her and Pat they should take a trip to the "lou" before we left so we could call Auntie Rita. We did and of course when we called Rita told us that she'd forgotten to tell us we had another volunteer coming too! We felt SO bad! Poor Erin, we'd just completely ignord her!! It was pretty hilarious in the end though and ended up working out just fine. She's great and Pat's great and it's all wonderful!

As for the anecdotes from the past two weeks about the kids? There have been lots. One day one of the kids, a particularly hilarious three (or four?) year-old boy who always looks surprised heard me telling the other kids to be quiet. He then proceeded to point his finger at everyone who was talking face and scold them "stop it!" then move on to the next one "stop it! stop it! stop it!" it was too, too precious! This is the same kid, mind you, who runs up to you five times a day (at least) and say "what'syoname" (one word) and then quickly follows it up with "Kea-ten!" before you can get a word in edgewise. This same boy (wow I've got lots of stories about him!) also tried to do the spiderman web shooting thing with his fingers but accidentally flipped Auntie Liz and I off (woops!). Another little boy, a hilarious boy who is quite the charmer (he just bats his eyelashes and you do whatever he tells you...) broke it down in the garade while we were waiting to go to the movies (I will be sure to get some videos of him dancing - it's just too precious for words!!). Another favorite of mine is when one night we took a night walk (with glow in the dark rings!) - we broke up into groups of three (one adult and two children) and it was just the most hilarious thing to watch the kids hide in the grass and try to scare other groups! Well one of the kids I was with found it so funny that he ran ahead of us and scared US! It was super scary!! Speaking of being scared too, the tiniest (yet oddly strongest) nine year-old boy you'll ever meet followed me out of his house one night when the power went out - ofcourse I didn't know it - and I kept hearing footsteps behind me that would stop when I stopped and start when I started walking - I was seriously terrified! He then jumped on my back so I screamed bloody murder! So ridiculous! Tricky boys...

I seriously could just go on and on and on. The funny moments number in the thousands every day! And I guarantee that my imitations of their thick accents and their funny sayings will continue long after I've returned home ("I am losing?!" for one - that's what they say when they think they've lost a privilege...).

My duties with the children have also changed since the last blog entry I wrote. Since the kids are heading back to school tomorrow, I will no longer be having my group of ten in the playroom (phew!). The past two weeks have definitely been a challenge - though I love them all. I eventually wised up after the first few days and would wait patiently for them to calm down before I started anything. I mean literally I would just sit and wait for them to listen to me. It actually got pretty funny as they'd notice how quiet I was and say "sooo-rry Kea-ten!" over and over again. We also got to starting the mornings with a little yelling, which was always fun. We'd scream together and they'd watch for the signal to stop and then we'd start up again. Good times! But in any case, those days are now over and it's back to school tomorrow! So what am I doing now? Well, I am now taking each child (over 4 years) into the playroom individually and observing them play. It's actually pretty interesting. I can't divulge any details but suffice it to say that you would be surprised to hear the things that are said in accordance with what you know about each child. It's a really great time for me to get to know the kids though and to let them express themselves by playing since their language isn't developed enough just yet to say what they're feeling. I also am going to help out in the preschool and get the three girls whose English isn't quite good enough for them to attend school caught up.

As if there weren't enough highlights in this blog entry - I have one more! We actually go to spend a volunteers night out the other night at a Game Reserve not far from here called Mpatshane (proundoung mm-pa-tsha-nay) with Rosie and her friends. It was great! We got to talk, dance, and just get to know some of the locals outside of Open Arms - not to emntion this game reserve is beautiful and we saw some zebras! (however only briefly...).

In any case, I suppose I shouldn't go on too long here, but the truth is: I love it here. I say it every time but I really do. I love the houses and the beautiful sunrises. I love the kdis and their antics and the way they roll their Rs. I love trying to learn Xhosa (I'm failing miserably...). I love the food (for the most part). I love watching moveis and eating chocolate chips with the volunteers (feel free to send more!). I love having the kids fall asleep in my lap. I love watching them play. I even love being jumped on. This play is just full of love. And while I do get frustrated and tired and even verging on angry sometimes - the truth is I mostly just feel so happy being here and I can't believe my good fortune!

Of course, I miss you all but thank you so, so much for staying in touch! It really means a lot to me!

Love always and signing off after almost a month!,

Auntie Kea-ten! (we're getting there...).