Neighbor's Yard Sale

The last few months we have enjoyed having some new neighbors in the back yard. The kids have been especially thrilled as they had new play mates! J has been in Tom's kindergarten class too. In fact, as I type, they are all playing dress up! Little A enjoys all the girly toys that my girls are outgrowing. She loves coming and parading around with the doll carriage in pink frilly dresses. Tom & J have played everything from soccer to legos to makebelieve. They get along really well. When they moved in, we knew they were only in the neighborhood temporarily and unfortunately that time is coming to an end. At the end of this month their family heads back to New Zealand. As the photo above shows, J & A recently had a "tag sale" selling some of the toys they were not taking with them. We will miss them and their easy availabilty as play mates!

Track & Field Day

This past Friday was one of our favorite events of the year: Track and Field Day! For those of you who know Ian and I from the past, you know we both competed on track teams in high school, so we always enjoy helping out. This was the second year Ian has been the starter. I always enjoy helping coach the jumps and relays in the weeks leading up to the big day. For a few weeks now the kids have worked hard during PE class to practice various Track and Field events. The entire school is divided into four teams. Each team chooses a color and team name and creates a team cheer. This year Heidi was on the "Blue Baracudas". Kay was a member of "The Big Red", and Tom's first ever field day team was the "Green Mambas". All three of them had a fantastic time!

The day begins at the National Stadium; all the teams enter marching together, after each presents their cheers, the sport begins! At our school, we don't have a track, so it is extra special that we have this day of competition in such a fine facility! Most of the traditional track and field events are represented, and though three weeks doesn't make anyone an expert, we have a lot of fun. The younger crowd (K-2)chose from the 200m, 100m, & 60m races, a shuttle relay, the hula hoop toss (the younger version of the discus), and broad jump. 3rd-4th grade also can participate in the long jump,a team relay and the 400m. Heidi's class (5/6)also add the high jump, shot put, a 4x 100m relay, 1500, and 800 onto their possibilities. Kay and Tom's ages also have lots of fun games in the infield such as a sack race & three legged race, among others. For each event you enter, you receive a point for your team. You also get points if you win an event in your age category. Given that we are a small school, sometimes you place just because you enter!

Kay and Tom participated in everything. They both said their favorite race was the "long curvy one" (ie the 200m). They both did a great job, even staying in their lanes, which is a feat in and of itself for the younger elementary kids! It will be interesting to see how they develop physically as they grow older, both of them were on the faster end of their classes. Heidi signed up to do the 1500m this year, among other things. I was very proud of her! She did a great job in her first ever long distance race: holding her form and running hard to the very end. She wasn't sure if the 1500m was her favorite or if the 100m was her favorite. It is fun having her take more of an interest in athletic things and even choosing to try something that is difficult and requires lots of effort and training!

After the morning at the track, we adjourn to the school for lunch and fun games in the afternoon. The kids played a very fun game with water. It was especially fun as everyone was so hot! After arranging their teams in height order, they were each given a plastic cup. The first person in line filled their cup, then had to pour the water into the next person's cup HOLDING THE CUP ON THEIR HEAD the whole time. The recipient also had to keep their own cup on their own head. They were trying to fill a small bowl at the end of the line. It was funny to see the littlest trying so hard to aim for the bowl and to successfully pour... nothing! or only little drips into the bowl. As you can imagine, everyone got quite wet! The game ruptured into a big water fight when near the end the principal got out the hose and hosed everyone down. Much fun was had by all! Here is Tom at the end of the green team line waiting for the water to come his way.

The thing I love best about field day every year is the glimpse of true community I come away with: a member of one team cheering on his competitor on another, the gracious welcoming and inclusion of home schoolers from all over Niger (and even Burkina this year!)on the various teams. The littlest kids are cheered for and helped by the big ones whether it be in showing them where to go for their leg of the relay or helping them find their water bottle. The big ones, in turn, have the respect and all the cheers the littlest kids can muster while they are competing. It is truly a joint effort and every member is valued whether they can contribute point wise or not. Each year, I appreciate the healthy competition that I see lived out and am so thankful for the models my children have in the realms of winning losing with grace, encouraging one another, and valuing every member.

Vacation week

The kids are on break this week and we've had fun doing somethings we don't get to do as often now that they are all in school. We started the weekend with the yearly Niamey softball tournament. Ian was a captain for one of the teams this year. It was fun competition with the scores being very close for just about every game. Ian was disappointed to loose, yet again (0 for 3), to the Sahel team, but still greatly enjoyed the weekend. Since then, we've had several family movie nights, multiple play dates and one sleepover. We've been able to go to the pool a few times as well. We also had a fun SIMAIR night where all three families got together for pizza and then after we retired the kids, the adults got together for games and dessert! For the most part I have stayed home from the office. Next week will be work heavy, so it is a nice lull before the storm of meetings.

Right before let out for school break, the kids had spirit week. Each day they were supposed to dress up as something different. Kay won a prize for her tornado day costume where she dressed up like a tornado using a hula hoop, black material and black streamers. Tom and another classmate won for comfy day; he went in his pjs and took his blankie. From what I could tell, the judges just couldn't pass up the cuteness of kindergartners in their pajamas! My favorite was identity switch day. Tom dressed up like his daddy the pilot- spitting image! And Kay dressed up like the PE teacher- she could have been Coach shrunk down. Heidi also dressed up like fun things, but unfortunately as she has PE first thing 3 days a week, I didn't get to see many of her costumes in their full glory. Her class did win best elementary cheer during the pep rally on the final day though, so the glories were evenly shared.

Isn't he too young?

For the second time this school year, Tom came home from kindergarten today telling me he wanted to give something special to a girl in his class. I would think nothing of it if he did the same to the boys too, but so far only girls have been the recipients. When asked why he wanted to give them something, he replies with a big grin,"because I LIKE them." The first time I didn't think anything of it until I saw the resulting picture full of hearts...Isn't he too young for this?

Games Day

Recently the student council at Sahel Academy sponsored an afternoon of fun and games for the whole school. After school, most kids stuck around and parents arrived to cheer on their students as they participated in various games. The secondary students divided into four teams and played kickball. The 3-6th graders, again in four teams, played soccer on the basketball court. It was hot in the sun, but they didn't seem to mind. Heidi even enjoyed herself. It is fun to see her more willing to participate in sports. (This the 1st grader who said, "I don't want to play soccer, you get sweaty!") The k-2nd played assorted games (Four corners, What time is it Mr. Wolf?)on the grassy area between the buildings. It was great hanging out with friends and taking time to play together. Much fun was had by all as you can see from the pictures. They slept well that night!

Resourcefulness in the Rain

One of the things I have come to love about Africans is their resourcefulness. Currently I have a beautiful purse, much commented on, made out of a plastic mat. A friend of mine has a computer bag beautifully crafted entirely out of plastic ice cream bags sewn together and, I must mention, it is lined- with recycled water bags! I can’t wait to buy one! In Niger, I have seen items I would have thrown away recycled and reused in unimaginable ways! Large milk powder cans store books where termites can’t intrude. No vehicle, no problem! Mattresses can be carried on a bicycle, as can your goat, or even your family of three. Plastic bags turn into many, many things: woven into a wallet perhaps, or serving as the ever present patch for any pipe that is leaking. This trait is never more obvious to me than in rainy season.
Niger rains are not usually a slow, steady drizzle or an overcast day with heavy mists now and again. The rains here come with a vengeance. It pours cats and dogs (or would raining camels and goats perhaps be a more fitting phrase?). Everything becomes drenched in minutes. Streets flood up to your knees, (drainage is largely disregarded due to the complete lack of need for it 8-9 months of the year). It is largely understood that if rain comes, all appointments are off. Someone is not expected to come to work until after the rain has passed. But what are you to do if you are caught in it? In particular, what is a man on a moped to do? (Mopeds and bicycles being the most common form of transportation.) I’ve seen lots of men on motos recently with suit pant legs rolled up, or better yet, dress shoe enclosed feet on top of the body of the motorcycle and plastic bags tied on their heads… The goats tied on top of a van become common place, but whenever it rains, I remember … creativity and resourcefulness know no bounds!! Viva the plastic bag! :)

F is for FROG

It is official, my son has fallen in love with amphibians! The past months have seen him FREQUENTLY searching them out after the evening church service to joyfully thrust into people's faces. I think he enjoys the screams as much as the frogs! If the screaming person is close to his size, he also enjoys chasing the screamer with the frog. A week or so ago, I noted he was giving his younger cousin, Silas, frog exposure time, showing him the best way to hold and pet a frog. Perhaps due to the recent rains, all the baby frogs appeared this week at Sahel. We are talking hundreds and hundreds of them! They are no bigger than my thumb (see Tom holding one up above)and seem to hop out of every clump of grass by the handfuls. Handfuls is NOT a random word choice either! The kindergarten boys (and others) have spent all their spare outdoor time this week collecting them, primarily in their hands, but also in cups and back packs and any other available container. Despite lectures that live frogs were not allowed in my truck (that was directed at my niece, Kira, who promptly zipped them in her lunch bag. "See Aunt Beka, they won't get out!")and that the neighbors' hungry cat would shorten the life of any small moving creature in our yard, Tom snuck one home in his aunt's car after school today. Luckily, I had a tip off, or that frog would be roaming the house uninhibitedly (is that a word?)this evening. As it was, when I received the timely tip (THANKS KRISTA!!!)mr. frog was still under the basket where he was initially hidden in Tom's room and was forthwith escorted outside to befriend the bunny. Tom and his backyard buddy, Joe spent the afternoon "playing" with the new "pet." Unfortunately, the frog couldn't stand all the love and died just before dinner time. Frogs ON his backpack, frogs IN his backpack. Paper frogs and plastic frogs. They are all the rage in our house this week for one 5 year old boy!