Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The weather was beautiful today so our entire visit was spent on the playground. Good thing too since a visiting educational committee was taking up most of the space inside. We pumped up some balls we had brought and played so hard one of them popped! The children enjoyed a banana while Keith was inflating. They laughed at the way I peeled a banana and told me I did it upside down. Valentina says that here bananas are peeled from the end opposite the stem. The kids had a great time throwing, kicking, and heading the ball. Some of the other children joined us for a game of soccer until Rinat decided that perhaps we should play something that required Keith’s attention to be more on him. The boys brought out the Traffic game and played until their brains ached. The girls made necklaces with me and spelled their names in beads. A couple of their friends joined us. They had never seen alphabet beads. They were a novelty to Valentina as well so she made a necklace for her daughter. Rinat actually sounded out Susan from my necklace. Hopefully, this means he will transition easily to our alphabet! He is definitely eager to learn. Mamba were handed out to disperse the crowd that gathered and Keith and Rinat got in a few hands of Crazy 8 before time to pack up. Rinat remains the champ! It was fun to see the children laughing and playing together outside. The girls are renewing their sisterly bond and are giggly together. Rinat watches out for both of them and makes sure they are happy. When our coordinator was here yesterday she formally asked each child what their decision was about joining us. Thankfully, they each said they wanted to come home with us!