18.08.08 Monday 8. 38 pm
Today was so many things all rolled into one. It was the first day of school and Mohamed was awake at 4:30, ready to go. The woman who was coming to watch Nabih was 15 minutes late and making me sweat. When she did arrive, it was only to tell me that she was no longer available to work for me and had brought her daughter-niece to stay with Nabih. I had to gulp back tears.
Nabih, ever the trooper, handled the situation much better than I. He sat down to his tea and cereal and went through the routine of kiss, hug, high- five with only minimal convincing. I saw him later in the day laughing his deep laugh and tearing through the lower campus with his usual gusto. Later I found out why.
My first day at school was wonderful. I had so much fun talking with students and getting them thinking. Once I stepped into the classroom my nervousness was gone and I knew just what to do. The children are really a delight and so interesting. One of our activities included picking a country and creating an outline map. They were then to decorate the map with their name, birth date and thoughts about themselves. I took a quick survey in the morning to see which countries they wanted to work with. Initially, I wanted them to choose the country they considered home but then opened the idea to include any country that they felt connected to. Surprisingly, there were four students that simply could not come up with a country. I felt a bit for them, thinking they were like lost children without a home. I offered them the world and they took it. Some others changed and decided to use the world as well. It was a very illuminating exercise.
Mohamed seemed to have a good time in first grade. I saw him several times throughout the day and he was always pleased. After school, he met up with his friends and they went to play soccer.
It turned out that while Mohamed and I were busy in school, Nabih was busy eating cake. I cannot seem to get the babysitters to insist on a proper lunch and he ends up eating bread all day. Well, the “cake” was banana cake-bread (from scratch- like flour and baking soda scratch, ahem) and Nabih had quite a slice, 2 slices actually. There was no way to repair it as we did not have any frosting so ……..after feeling incredibly frustrated and wanting to cry (where is Betty Crocker when you need her?!!?) …..
I sat with Nabih on the back porch to have tea and get down to the business of accepting the situation. “Look, she’s here.” Nabih announces all the visitors. Three times a week there is a woman that comes to our house selling vegetables. She is amazing and I always remark on the heavy load she carries as I help her lift her wares. There is a small gazebo in the middle of campus where she sits to sell but I always forget to go there. She must know this as she carries her tub down the hill to go house to house. Today, I saw 3 watermelons in there. (Has anyone carried one watermelon recently?!) She saved the day for me and I lightened her load by buying one “pastik.” I cut a piece to fit into the triangle left by Nabih’s snacking and sliced the rest.
Mohamed’s party was simple and sweet. Grown-ups had tea (the first affair in my house) and the boys had watermelon and cake-bread. We sang happy birthday in 2 languages. For us it was perfect, no pressure, no stress but a wonderful time by all.
I think the best thing about today was that Mohamed asked, just after dinner, if he could grow up here. I guess that’s a ‘yes’ for Congo.
