baph monsters

I'm not sure how much to include or exclude, on behalf of the kids. I was a little torn about the idea of including specific information--especially since we've all talked so much about the controversy of "slumming" and of being careful to not exploit them. However, they mean so much to me already. I would be leaving out such an important part of my life here if I didn't talk about them. Being influenced by all of those Cosmos and Teen People's out there (or is it Men in Black?), I've decided to refer to them by their initials. Hopefully that's something.

So here we go. It's about time: These kids are amazing. We have a really a special group (though I'm sure everyone says that). They're all nuts. Before we can say, "Moloweni!" (hello!) they are in our arms. They are fireballs of energy who just want to climb and dance and run and be bounced and chased and thrown and shaken all day. We sing their names to the tune of this Xhosa song we learned the first week of orientation. They all know it and all love it. Absolute best dancers. Been dancing and drumming since they were in the womb. We taught them duck, duck, goose. But without the same language and with the desire to help them learn how to count, told them to just say "1, 2, 3, 4...Go!" But the "go" didn't really catch on. So now they think the premise of the game is to count to ten and run all over the place and sit in that spot. Somehow this hasn't gotten boring to them yet and I doubt it will by the time we leave. Little gremlins.

We started the day coloring in hand-writing worksheets ("J" is for "Jester"). Then they made paper-bag puppets they all named after themselves. Followed by some good ol' "Simon says...," which was somewhat lost in translation. What began with us demonstrating, "Simon says touch your knees...Simon says jump three times..." immediately turned into "Simon Knees"...while pointing to shoulders... Okay, so we still have a long way to go.

But it also is amazing to see their development in such a short period of time. For example, K is clearly dyslexic. When copying a word, she writes the entire thing as if it was in a mirror--including her name and the alphabet and all of her letters. But a few weeks ago she wrote it all correctly! Or how Z, who is usually quite the trouble-maker and threw a fit last week, brought a book today and was completely well-behaved the entire class. As a routine, we rounded the day out in a scrambling mess singing the "clean up song," "the hokie pokie," "baby shark," "head shoulders, knees, and toes" and "down down, baby." As long as they're moving their bodies they are apple-pie-happy. Crazy and wild as ever. Never gets old. Rewarded with a star sticker on their hands, they then parade around and flaunt it. If only we could incorporate some nap-time. Then I'd be a very happy camper.

Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE BOOKS, ZEYDE! So wonderful.