Tuesday, April 17, 2012

its FRIDAY. friday.FRIday.... looking forward to the weekend

We did writing for life today. Or at least that was the topic of the day. It started off a little slow. Last day of school should feel like more fun right... a job well done, a new chance to start something new the next time... but it wasn't really. There was this weird tickle-y feeling at the bottom of my belly that I just couldn't shake.
It was time to start walking back up the hill to the school. It was oddly quiet that morning. It was cold and I had regretted not grabbing some sort of jacket to keep the goose-pimples away. The smell of cow manure and dirt made the tickle-y feeling go away and I kept playing flashbacks of the week in my head. The first time I'd ever been in a mini-van for that amount of time with people I had just met and my PROFESSOR! Wild ride over that knocked a tooth loose.... I think (but not really). We made it to school just as the sun peaked over the top of mount Nusu (that wily lump of land). We planned to do the story carousel today. I was looking forward to getting to read a story but extremely nervous about reading the story to adults... who of course just happened to be teachers. We did a play-by-play of everything we had done over the week. We talked about the writing process and graphic organizers that we use in the states to help start writing. Then came my favorite part. "THE BIG REVEAL!" Finally all those days of hunting teachers from the workshop down to take their picture was about to pay off. All the confused stares and weak smiles swirled about with eye brow lifts and questions. They loved, and I mean LOVED the fact that after all that, they got to keep these awesome pictures of themselves. They wrote these beautiful narratives about themselves. The day ended or at least I thought it had ended with a raffle of everything we had left over. It was a fire sale of epic proportions. We thanked them for coming to the workshop... we voiced with the highest sincerity that we learned much more from them than we had words to thank them with. I started to tear up a bit but fought off the emotion with a quick lip bite and a deep breath.
Lunch now. Its raining outside and everyone seems to be lingering. I've never seen it rain in Uganda. I wondered what it felt like and grabbed the girls for a walk outside. I jumped into the rain feet first.
The teachers called us back in. Strange I thought. They pulled us back on stage and now it was their turn to thank us. Something I had not expected. I cried. It was beautiful and encouraging and it gave me that warm fuzzy feeling inside.
Hugs were exchanged and hand shaken.
The day was officially over. Back home now.... time to pack.

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