Jwe avek timoun

Yesterday, I was missing home a bit, but once I started playing with my favorite kids from the village, I forgot about being home sick.  Mialove (12), Andy (9), Mialove’s brother (4ish), and Rudy (pronounced “Woody”, 6ish) played with me on the porch of the house.  I brought out a jump rope and two hula-hoops, which they love to play with.  We showed off our skills with the hula hoop – how we could hula around our waist, stomach, arms, neck, ankles; how we could use the hula hoop as a jump rope and count the number of times we jump in English and in Kreyol.  They helped me count in Kreyol because every time I got to 13, I did not know how to say it.  They thought that was hysterical because, I just kept repeating “douz” for twelve over and over until they yelled, “trèz.”  You see, I never took French, so even these seemingly easy words that I should know, I don’t!  They also wanted to see how strong I was and showed me that they wanted me to do push-ups.  I did ten, with them counting loudly, and then they liked to squeeze my muscles.  Haha.  They also liked to flex their muscles and have me feel them.  What I think is so interesting, is that they asked to see pictures of my family.  I showed them pictures of my niece and nephews, siblings, and parents, on my phone and they loved it!  They made comments about baby James and Charlie, and they always said, “Se Bennett!  Se Bennett!”  It’s Bennett!  It’s Bennett!

Andy and Mialove also showed off their dance skills – they can pop and lock extremely well, and Andy loves to sing (chante).  The kids were dancing and playing so hard that the sweat was just streaming down their faces – and I imagined that they had worked up an appetite.  I am aware that these four kids get different amounts of food from their families each day to eat – where Andy is well-fed, Mialove is not.  So, I brought out a Cliff bar and I kept ripping pieces off to share with them.  While they were eating, I showed them a dance move that I thought would impress them – the worm.  I can do the worm decently and when I showed it to them, they were fascinated.  They tried to do it, but just could not figure out the coordination.  AND, Mialove’s brother really does not like wearing pants, so he was trying to do the worm pantless!  (He has pants; he just prefers not to wear anything…)

What a great afternoon!

The other day, Mialove asked me, “Pouki sa ou pa fè lekòl avek mwen?”  Which means, Why haven’t you done school with me?  When, I was here in March, Mialove and a few other kids would hang out on the porch, look at picture books, and look at a map of the world.  We talked about where different countries are, where the animals live, and we even did some math.  Mialove does not regularly go to school, and it was really interesting to hear her ask me to “do school” with her.  So, the other day, we sat on the porch, and “did school.”