Speaking of Keira...

This girl likes to have fun, and she's becoming more adventurous all the time.

When she first started learning how to write the letters from the local language, she would come home and practice on a white board.

Here, at the bottom of the board, she's practicing "D" with long "A" and short "A" and "R" with long "A" and short "A."  The top is just a bunch of letters "zAzdaAd"

The interesting thing is that when I saw her practicing her "English" numbers, she wrote them right to left, just like she's learning how to read and write in the local language.

This is the playground at Keira's school.

I think I've showed you this before, but it's good enough to show you again.

Since her school is basically a house transformed into a school (see the upper right hand corner in the picture below), it's located in a neighborhood.  This "playground" is actually a blessing and not at all expected in a neighborhood.

Only sometimes, when you rent/buy a house, it includes a small patch of grass across the street that you can use as a small garden/sitting area.  This is actually one of the largest I've seen.

In January, Keira brought home this sheet for us to "check" her on.  I understood most of it, but I had my language helper translate the words I didn't know.  I added English, so I didn't have to re-translate every day.  

It has categories like "Wash your face," "Obey your parents," "Eat Breakfast," "Be in bed by 9pm."

After we filled in her week, she had a week of holiday, so I just left it hanging on the wall.  When I took it down to put it in her bag, I saw there was a back side that I was supposed to do!  Yikes!

I love checklists, but for some reason, this one was not my favorite.  And sadly, ever since that time, they send a new one home every two weeks!

At semester, we received a "Social Interaction Assessment."
Categories included were "Keeps Books Clean," "Violence Against Peers," "Using Profanity Towards Peers," "Eating Food at School," and "Turning Around Yourself."

Beside "Turning Around Yourself," were two categories:
"Talking and Turning Around"
"Not Talking and Turning Around"

I read Keira the whole sheet so she would know what the teachers' said, and when I said, "They checked off that you talk and turn around," she laughed and said, "Yeah, I do that."

This was her report card.  Also, if you're wondering, the kids here go by their first name and their father's first name.  We wanted our last name included as well, so this is the creation of her new name.

Even though she attends a school that has an English curriculum, most students and some teachers communicate in the local language.

One day after school, Keira had a fever, but the next morning she was fine.  I told her to tell her teacher to call me if she got sick again, but she said, "They won't understand me."

I'm sure there are so many moments where she feels lost, but I'm so proud of her for always trying.

So that day, I wrote her a note that said, "Naxoshm.  Daikm talafonbka,"  and I gave my phone number.
Now, if she ever needs it, she has a note in her bag that says, "I'm sick.  Call my mom."

Together, she and I are learning all sorts of things!

Mermaids and Unicorns

Note:  This blog was supposed to post before the previous one.  Sorry about the order confusion.

 Keira turned 5 in October.  We had a small celebration for her in the morning before school, and then when we picked her up, we took her to her favorite place here for chicken...KFC :)

 Later that night, our language helper and his family brought her a cake that said, "Happy Birthday I Baby."  He calls her "I Baby" because when we first visited his house, he had the TV station "I Baby" on for his young son.  It teaches songs, rhymes, ABC's, and numbers all in English.  Since Keira was so fond of it, he's been calling her that for two years.



 She loves swimming, Minecraft, ballet, mermaids and unicorns.

Here are two pictures of unicorns she drew.

 Here's a mermaid.

And thanks to one of her grandmothers, she can even BE a unicorn.

She even gets creative with other things...

 After picture taken after ballet class.

 

Another family was celebrating one of their birthdays the day after hers, and they added candles to their cake for Keira to join in.

Happy 5th birthday, Keira!
Happy birthday, MOM!

Life in a Taxi (Vol 5)

"Life in a Taxi" is where I chronicle some of the interesting interiors of taxis I ride in. 

Most of these pictures were taken before we bought a car last year; however, we still have to take the occasional taxi when we need to go two different directions at the same time.

For example, we have the nicest taxi driver in our neighborhood.  When Doug was teaching an English class at the same time that I was taking a language class, and the girls had to get to dance class, I would ask the taxi driver in our neighborhood ahead of time if he could take the girls at such and such time, and he always made time.

Keira helping me with groceries.

Nice fabric for winter...not so much for summer.

The netting that goes over the backs of the front seats to hold the fabric seat covers on.

For previous posts of "Life in a Taxi," go to these links:  Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4

Wedding #3 (The End)

The Party Bus arrived  outside of our gate.  

I knew because I heard the music blaring on the speakers.

It came to the neighborhood to pick up the mom, sisters, grandmother, nieces, nephews, and aunts.  

No brothers, uncles, or father of the bride went.  In fact, some of the aunts didn't even go because in their household either they believe or their husbands believe that parties with dancing, etc are seen as shameful and they go against their religious beliefs.

A HUGE story occurred between the first picture and the next one.  I won't go into all the details, but there were three cars of Americans following the Party Bus on a night when there happened to be a big wreck a mile down the road.  

Traffic was crazy, and we couldn't keep up with the Party Bus, and we never saw where they went.  We goose-chased for a while based on what the girls in my car were telling me.   We stopped twice to ask directions, and finally a taxi driver had heard of the "hall" we were looking for (it was WAY outside of town).  

However, the sad part is that the girls in my car telling me where to go were the twin sister of the bride and her sister-in-law.  They were on the phone with the bride, who was waiting for us, but no one could give us good instructions on how to get to the hall.

So...we missed the bride and groom walking in.  (They did let us borrow the DVD later, and we watched the whole thing). 

When we arrived, the red carpet was being rolled up, and the bride and groom were already seating on the stage.

I felt so bad for her sister, but thankfully, she didn't seem to mind.  She was just ready to get in, see everyone, and dance.

These beauties also rode with me.

If you remember, I told you that in the last hall where we had one of the wedding parties, they were selling balloons and snacks and drinks.

The same thing was happening in this hall, with the addition of the equivalent of shaving cream spray in a can.

Awful idea.  

Truly awful.

When I watched the DVD, I saw a kid come up behind the bride JUST as she was about to walk in the hall, and he sprayed it all on her head.  

No one said a thing to the kid.

Nothing happened.

A few ladies helped her get most of it out, and off she went.

Later, before the cake was cut, a kid sprayed some on the groom's pretty hair.

And in between, kids were having shaving cream fights on the dance floor, making children sticky and the floor slippery.

Awful idea.

The dancing began to the loudest music you can imagine.  

This is the one time I ever see women and men touching.

This is what it looks like when the dance line comes by your table.

Anyone who wants a picture with the bride and groom goes up at anytime for a photo.

More dancing.  The small girl in white is the bride's younger sister.

The bride's twin is in the green dress, has the LONG hair, and is beside her younger sister in white.

I spend so much time with this family at their home and at picnics, etc, that it was a nice night of visiting.  I know most of the ladies on the bride's side of the family, or I can at least recognize them.

One of my favorite "aunts" is in the black and maroon, to the right of the sister in green.  She also looks like a friend of mine in Mississippi, so I enjoy seeing her when I get the chance.

And then came the food.

Two men who work at the "balloon" shop, went around passing out sodas, water, and "ding dongs."

I guess, in America, we could cut down on the cost of the sit-down dinner weddings by just serving some snack food.

Later in the evening, the bride and groom came to the middle of the floor to cut the cake in a partitioned off area.  

This picture was taken SECONDS before the groom got attacked with shaving cream.

They cut the cake with a sword.  Pretty cool, huh?

And shortly after cutting it, the partitioned area was jammed with people coming in to get pieces of cake.  

Cake was being handed out bite by bite over heads.

I remember at the weddings in Africa, the cake would be cut in inch square pieces, put on plates, and handed around so everyone got a square.  I looked for the picture of it, but I couldn't find it.

Here, it was more of a feat of survival if you wanted a piece of cake. 

I'm sure my older two girls could have stayed longer, but it was time to get Keira home, so we left soon after the cake cutting.

Sadly, soon after the bride was married, the rest of the family moved out of our neighborhood and out to the village, where it was cheaper to live.  We still see them from time to time, but we really miss having such amazing neighbors.

Wedding #3 Preparations

The preparations for the wedding started early.  The groom came to the house to get the bride.  I followed with Kylie and a sister-in-law in my car so we could locate the salon.  

I had previously driven around one day with the Kylie, the bride, her mom, and her sisters looking for the salon, and we were not successful.  The groom, however, must have made the appointment, and he knew where to go.

This picture was taken while the mom was quickly feeding Kylie some lunch, since she knew Kylie would be gone all day.

At the salon, there was a lady who had the job of helping brides get into their dresses.  

Getting into the dress turned out to be quite the affair.

It was a rented gown, which is the most popular thing to do here, so it's not only "one size fits all," it's "if there's something wrong, figure it out on your own," kind of thing.

A piece of silk material was put behind the laces, so that for all the space that wouldn't lace up, her skin wouldn't show through.

A few loops in, one popped.  

There was a lot of pressure being put on these loops. 

I think, all in all, three or four loops popped.

The lady assigned to dress her, took a pair of scissors and poked a hole in the dress directly, and ran the string through the dress.  

I was shocked by the whole thing thinking, "She just ripped that material on a gown that is not hers."

It was a lengthy process, to be sure.

Then, the bride wanted her sleeves sewn tight to her arms, so there wouldn't be a space.

Then came the make-up artistry.

After make-up was done, we moved back to the "hair section."  Kylie and I were not allowed to get close to her in this area, so I zoomed in a bit.

I left Kylie there to continue watching the process while I went to pick up kids from school.

When I returned, I found a princess.

She wanted some hair hanging down on the sides, so she just asked them to "cut some pieces off."

After this, she went with the groom to take photographs.  They take pictures in a studio with different backdrops, and when they come out, a videographer will follow them to the car, and they will go different places to take pictures. 

Our job was to go home, get ready, and follow the "party bus" to the wedding. 

Sounds simple enough...