Which, of course, is Happy New Year in Swahili! As soon as we learned that phrase, from a cashier on New Year's Day, we used it on everyone we could, for practice, and got great smiles from secrty guards, waiters, etc. Hopefully, they were smiling because they were pleased, not because mne and Shelley's pronunciations were bad!
It was a happy new year and a very merry Christmas. Christmas morning began with breakfast on the patio with Joanna, Simon, Neil, Janet, Shelley, Sarah, and me. We ate wonderful food, read the Christmas story together, listened to Christmas music, and watched Sarah open presents! She was the only one who had gotten packages and not opened them already!
Then several of us watched "White Christmas," whch I pretty much have memorized and no one else had even seen! Then we had to take a break and go eat a huge buffet lunch at Mountain Village, a really nice hotel overlooking a lake, up on a hill.
Resting and reading for awhile that afternoon, then we got together that night as a team/family for snacks and present exchange. was finally able to call home after that, as Christmas was just getting underway in the States. A really nice day.
The next week Sarah and I spent at Cradle of Love baby orphanage and loved on under-3-year olds, fed them, cuddled them, etc. We had a ball! We plan on going back on Sunday afternoons a couple of times a month so they don't forget us, and we don't forget them!
New Year's Day, several of us packed a picnic lunch and went to a lodge/resort hotel for the day for swimming, reading, eating, relaxing (except for Joanna who was doing MORE wedding planning!).
Started back to school last week and went out to Karanse last week and Monday and Tuesday of this week to get everyone settled back in. This is the term where they begin their rotations of observing in a set classroom, teaching small groups, leading various activities, and finally teaching for a whole week. They're excited and a little nervous, as I remember from my own student teaching days!
This week we picked up 2 additional students from the St. Dorcas group. That school just wasn't workng as a training school, so we had to (temporarily, we hope) split them up and send them to 3 different schools, including Karanse. They were happily accepted by "our" students, who knew them from their time together at Joshua in July and August.
FINALLY, this Saturday is Joanna's wedding! It really has only been in the planning stages since September, but since I live with Joanna and am in charge of many parts of the reception, I feel like it's been in planning for a lot longer! It will be wonderful, and we're all so excited for them both.Hope to have pictures soon.
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