Hi All!
Today we got to sleep in! Morning prayer started at 8am. We have prayer and daily Mass in a small chapel in which there are eight chairs (one for Abba, one for Deacon, and one for each of the two Brothers…Paula and I take up two of the remaining four). The chapel itself is just a regular room with tile floor and painted walls – of course decorated as a chapel. Morning prayer was directly followed by breakfast consisting of the usual, hot tea with white bread (resembling French bread) with assorted toppings, butter and strawberry jam today (on other days we have also had fresh avocados and cream cheese). After breakfast, the Brothers, Paula, and I climbed into the back of the pick-up truck to ride to Mass. Since it is Sunday, and inspired by our interpretation of the local women’s Sunday attire, I am wearing a long skirt with three-quarter-sleeve sweater…each of us wearing a scarf loosely draped around our head and neck. We have quickly grown accustomed to the rides in the truck into town (we don’t get out much). We ride standing in the truck bead, hanging on to the roll bar (?) right behind the cabin. As we drive down the dirt roads, lined with houses (made of mud and large sticks), we wave and say “Salam” to people who are in the road (mostly children) standing in front of their houses. We still are not quite used to people starring at us all of the time (we are clearly not from around here), everywhere we go, but in response we just smile and wave (or shake hands), saying “Salam.”
We attended Mass today at the prison, which Paula and I enjoy. After Mass we came back and had a couple hours of free time. Lunch always involves pasta – yummmm! Mind kinda place :) Also, today at lunch we had homemade pizza which has become one of my favorites around here. In the afternoon, we had a teacher meeting. School starts tomorrow, but it’s really just orientation. Classes officially start on Tuesday. I will be teaching 3rd and 4th grade Spoken English classes, 3rd grade English Tutorial, and 6th grade Math Tutorial. After the teacher meeting, we had time to play with the kids 1,440 kids came to play today. One good thing is that it doesn’t take much to make them laugh, so it’s pretty easy to keep them entertained. There were more kids today than on a usual day; typically there are probably between 400 and 500 young people. On Sundays after play time and prayer time, we hand out biscuits (large crackers) – one package of four biscuits per child.
Our day concluded with evening prayer at 7pm, in the chapel. After, we had dinner which consisted of pans of rice, lentils, beef, hardboiled egg, and a thick soup. I kind of just get some of each thing and eat it from my plate all together. The food is all really good here! Occasionally we get to have chocolate, typically chocolate with hazelnuts :)
Well, I should get to bed, as we have a big day tomorrow with it being the first day of school!
Peace and Love,
Jenna
Today we got to sleep in! Morning prayer started at 8am. We have prayer and daily Mass in a small chapel in which there are eight chairs (one for Abba, one for Deacon, and one for each of the two Brothers…Paula and I take up two of the remaining four). The chapel itself is just a regular room with tile floor and painted walls – of course decorated as a chapel. Morning prayer was directly followed by breakfast consisting of the usual, hot tea with white bread (resembling French bread) with assorted toppings, butter and strawberry jam today (on other days we have also had fresh avocados and cream cheese). After breakfast, the Brothers, Paula, and I climbed into the back of the pick-up truck to ride to Mass. Since it is Sunday, and inspired by our interpretation of the local women’s Sunday attire, I am wearing a long skirt with three-quarter-sleeve sweater…each of us wearing a scarf loosely draped around our head and neck. We have quickly grown accustomed to the rides in the truck into town (we don’t get out much). We ride standing in the truck bead, hanging on to the roll bar (?) right behind the cabin. As we drive down the dirt roads, lined with houses (made of mud and large sticks), we wave and say “Salam” to people who are in the road (mostly children) standing in front of their houses. We still are not quite used to people starring at us all of the time (we are clearly not from around here), everywhere we go, but in response we just smile and wave (or shake hands), saying “Salam.”
We attended Mass today at the prison, which Paula and I enjoy. After Mass we came back and had a couple hours of free time. Lunch always involves pasta – yummmm! Mind kinda place :) Also, today at lunch we had homemade pizza which has become one of my favorites around here. In the afternoon, we had a teacher meeting. School starts tomorrow, but it’s really just orientation. Classes officially start on Tuesday. I will be teaching 3rd and 4th grade Spoken English classes, 3rd grade English Tutorial, and 6th grade Math Tutorial. After the teacher meeting, we had time to play with the kids 1,440 kids came to play today. One good thing is that it doesn’t take much to make them laugh, so it’s pretty easy to keep them entertained. There were more kids today than on a usual day; typically there are probably between 400 and 500 young people. On Sundays after play time and prayer time, we hand out biscuits (large crackers) – one package of four biscuits per child.
Our day concluded with evening prayer at 7pm, in the chapel. After, we had dinner which consisted of pans of rice, lentils, beef, hardboiled egg, and a thick soup. I kind of just get some of each thing and eat it from my plate all together. The food is all really good here! Occasionally we get to have chocolate, typically chocolate with hazelnuts :)
Well, I should get to bed, as we have a big day tomorrow with it being the first day of school!
Peace and Love,
Jenna
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