Healing 2 The Nations International ~ Julie Heisey ~ Blog June 2011

Friday, July 22, 2011

Clothes Shopping in the Market

Today, I got to go shopping for clothes!!!! It was a little different than going to the mall and trying on tons of clothes and trying to find the best prices, but equally exciting lol. Rokia took me down to our local market and we stopped at a few actual shops first. The first two places we stopped were just in the beginning of the maze that our market is, and they were really just cheap, expensive clothes. Cheap, because they were pretty much plastic kinda stuff, but expensive because they cost like $8.00 each. Well, really $8.00 isn't expensive, but for what those clothes were worth, not worth it. So, I almost bought a skirt that was kinda cute, just because I was turning everything down, but then he wanted an even more ridiculous amount for that one, and I just said no. We were headed to another place like the last two, and I stopped Rokia to ask her if she knew where any of the places were, that had the big piles of clothes that you just go through and pick what you want for yardsale prices. I used my hand motion skills, first the big pile part, then pointing to my shirt for clothes. (: Apparently she understood what I was saying, because we soon emerged from the market and were directly across from a roadside pile of clothes. Oh my gosh, it was sooo much fun going through that huge pile of tons of clothes. A lot of them were to big, or stained, or not my taste, but I walked away from there with 10 different shirt for only 2000CFA (a little more than $4.00). We went to two other places that didn't have much for me, but that first place was a really good turn-out. She did some more shopping for supper at her house and then we walked home. And I couldn't wait to model of all the stuff I got for mom (:

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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Icecream.... (YAY!!!!:) Sticker :(Ahhhh)

This morning when I went downstairs Jonathan was sitting beside the bench, mixing something in a little tuna dish with a big spoon. I sat down on a short chair beside him and asked him if he was cooking. He just nodded his little head yes, but wouldn't tell me what lol. He just kept mixing it and mixing it, and I really don't know what it was. A little while later, Bakary came out of the Living Room and after a little while of sitting with me, gave me two stickers to put on my water bottle. I got ice cream and a bonbon (candy:). So, now I have a decorated water bottle (even more), and we're gonna have mystery food for lunch (:

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Little Kiddos

Earlier this morning, I'd gone down to the kitchen cooking area outside. When I walked out of the dinning hall doors I heard singing and clapping, and I was kinda wondering what was going on. I peeked around the corner, and there was little Casimir (1 year old) dancing his little jig in the middle of half a dozen people. Paul was singing, and everybody else was clapping a beat right with him. It was sooooo cute to see Casimir dancing the way he does lol. He was bobbing up and down to the beat of our claps, and walking around in a circle. Haha, he almost got so dizzy one time that he fell down, but somebody grabbed him quick. These little ones, ahh, they can misbehave just like any other little kiddo, but things like these, or the expressions of pure joy and gratitude they get on their faces when you help them to do something is what we're here for. It's a part of what makes this all worthwhile.

Littles Are Lovable

Awwww, I just got a kiss! (: Bakary (8 yrs old) asked me to tie his swimming shorts while I was sitting here on FB in the living room. Today we're going to a swimming pool, it's Eva's going away gift to everyone, and they're all super duper excited. Anyways, he came over and needed his swimming shorts tied. I asked him if he was excited and yup, he definitely was. (: When I finished he said thank you, and then gave me a little kiss on the cheek. He's such a sweetie pie. All the littles are cute and adorable, but he's one of the big eyed, cupid faced kinda kids that makes you wanna hug him.

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Monday, July 18, 2011

Nail Polish... And Boys?

The other day, I promised Sarata I would paint her nails with some sparkly gold nail polish I found in a bead box (thanks for that Ginn. Even tho that may not have been its first intention:) I took it down to the dining room and I started painting with her on one of the benches while the other kids were riding the scooters in there. Pretty soon, a few of the younger boys came over and wanted their nails painted too! Haha, I told them that this was for girls, not boys (: They still wanted them painted, so I told them I'd do just one. They were satisfied with that, and went back to riding scooters. It looked kinda funny though, I just painted their pinkies, and while they were holding the scooter handles they all had their pinkies sticking out, like princesses drinking their tea (: Only a few minutes later, I was again surprised. The older boys wanted a nail painted too! It was too funny to deny them. So when I went upstairs, I'd painted all 10 fingers and toes of one girls nails, and 10 different boy's nails.

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Monday, July 18, 2011

Rice Pickin

Yesterday, the little kiddles went to the zoo with a few of the adults for the morning as a special treat. It was pretty quiet for the whole morning, which never happens lol. I was down in the living room, writing in my journal, when Jonathan (he was the only little one that was too young to go) came in to get me for Fanta. All he said was 'malo' (which means 'uncooked rice' in Bambara), but after thinking a few seconds it registered that she needed someone to come help pick through the rice for stones and hard rice. I've already done the same thing with peanuts that we've bought at the market. We buy them raw, and mostly clean of little rocks and stuff, but they always need a little picking before I roast them. Yeah... I knew it was going to take a while, but I wasn't quite expecting half an hour for one pan lid full. Phew! Fanta, on the other hand, did like 4 pan lids in the time it took me to do 1! I was being a little more particular with getting everything that wasn't rice, but she's also had a few more years of experience than me. It was a good experience though, and I won't mind helping her with that on the weekends when the other family isn't here to help. Besides, it's not like I have that much to do on the weekends in this sleepy summer season.

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Monday, July 11, 2011

Carwashed Restaurant

Yesterday (Sunday) has kinda become our day off. We're getting involved with the Christian Fellowship circle that meets every Sunday evening for a 6:00 service, and we make it a day by going to the American Club for the afternoon. This time I swam in the pool for a while, got a little exercise, and then layed in the sun for a while too (: Anyways, we were planning to get a little something to eat at the small restaurant there, but it closed when we thought it opened lol. Soo... we decided to be a little adventurous and try a Malian restaurant we'd passed on our way there. We pulled up, and walked into what we were pretty sure was the restaurant... but it had not chairs or tables. Before we could walk out and leave, the owner came running from across the street and was talking to us in Bambara, and the only word we could understand was 'sandwich'. We couldn't just walk in and walk out, so we agreed to get a sandwich, and a minute later, he had his helpers bringing chairs and a table from across the street. We were thinking, why in the world were the chairs and table across the street? Not till we left and took a look, did we see that across the street was the local carwash. Of course!!! Take the furniture over to the carwash to get a sunday cleaning! lol. We tried to ask for a menu when we sat down, but couldn't communicate (which is still as frustrating as ever!). We managed to get drinks, Fanta for mom, Coke for dad, and a Sprite for me (I really wanted to take my cool glass bottle home, but they charge you more if you take the bottle, oh well) Because there wasn't much else we could do, we agreed to just try the only thing we could communicate to the guy, a sandwich. When he brought it in to us, it actually wasn't that bad. It had meat, sliced veggies, and mayo on it. We're pretty sure the meat was ground beef, and it has some good seasoning in it. It was warm, and the veggies were cold from being in the fridge, but we still prayed that God would protect us from anything harmful. Soooo, interesting experience, but I think we'll go to a familiar restaurant next time lol.

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Friday, July 8, 2011

African Braids

OH. MY. LANTA! I have a whole new respect for all of the girls that I see walking around everywhere with these crazily (new word) designed braids. It hurts a LOT! I didn't think it was really going to be such intense pain, but when she takes a little section of your hair and braids it right on your head, it's definitesly intense. I actually cried on the third or fourth braid, and was thinking, 'oh my gosh, why in the world would anyone pay someone to do this!' lol. And, I have, and probably will have, a headache for a while. Bebe, the name of the lady that did my braids for me, did one half of my head, then the other half, then did the whole back/bottom from left to right. She did it so that it pulls up into a pony tail, with those colored plastic bands to hold them in place at the end of the braid and also right where it starts away from my head. It took 2 hours and 12 minutes for her to do it all, with a few short breaks (like 2 or 3 minutes). But, my experience wasn't completely filled with pain lol. They served me some millet drink that one of the girls made as an afternoon snack. Later, when we'd moved outside of their yard to do the 2nd half of my hair, a lady came by selling what I think were frufrus (it's basically fried dough, sometimes with stuff in it, this one had chopped up onions and boiled eggs) and Bebe gave me one. (: It was really really good, besides giving me a break because Bebe had to take time to eat hers lol. Just after that, another lady finished making her tea that she'd started when I'd gotten there, and served me a little cup. They serve them in little 'shot' glasses, and you're supposed to slurp it as loudly as you can lol. It was good and sweet, and a little distraction from the pain... for a few seconds. I've gotta say though, despite how painful it was, I'm glad I went through with it and got it all done. I don't think I'm gonna do it again, maybe, maybe not, but I'm certainly glad for the experience.

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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

English Class

This summer, because the kids have no school or homework, Claudia has started an English class. So, I help Claudia and watch in the morning, and in the afternoon I help them with their homework. We just started on Monday, so we're still reviewing the stuff from last year. Tomorrow they're gonna take the same test they took at the end of last summer's English class. It's kinda for review, but really for us to see what they remember. As prep for the test tomorrow, today for homework (at 4:00) they're going to write out all of the words and phrases they should know. They did pretty good doing some of that Monday, but today it's gonna be everything they learned a whole year ago, and we'll just have to see how it goes. (: Anyways, now I can say "Good morning, how are you today"... and sometimes I get a correct response back lol. But sometimes, it goes: [me] "Good morning!" [one of the kids] "I'm fine, thank you." :D So... they just need to practice, and if they don't understand what I'm asking or saying, now I know how to say it in Bambara! (: We'll learn from each other.

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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Getting to know the boys

We got this game as a gift right before we left, and it's been soooo much fun here. (: "Qwirkle" is a really simple game, it's just blocks of 6 different shapes and colors. And you have to match them up with something the same and something different, but it's a really strategic game too. Anyways, we've played it with the boys a few times and it's becoming the favorite over UNO lol. Yesterday, I played two games with Flo, Amadou, and Jeremie. They're getting good at putting tiles together, but I'm also getting to know them better. Flo's halarious when he talks, like, he just has the best facial expressions and he's soooo funny. We talk back and forth, me in English, him in Bambara, so neither of us know what we're saying, but we do it for laughs. :) Jeremie's one of the hyper boys. He's usually always talking, but when we play, he can actually settle down and listen. You have to get to know him a little to see his calm side, but it's there lol. Amadou is thoughful. Both smart thinking, and thinking of other people. He found places to play blocks that weren't very obvious and he brought me tea twice this morning. (the boys spend hours making this really sweet tea over a charcoal fire that they keep going with a little woven fan) Even tho it takes such a long time to make, they love doing it, and then usually bringing us little "shot" glasses of it. Oh, and you have to really sip it hard, you're expected to make a lot of noise while you're drinking it lol. So anyways, I probably won't know these kids even after a year, but I definatly feel more like their accepted sister than when I first came.