LOL!! That was so fun!! I went and visited the refugees again this week. It really doesn't seem like it's been a week since I was there! Oh, man, what fun.

Today a new guy came with us--he's a transfer here, I think, or else I just never met him last year. His name's Darrin. Anyway, I don't know what it is with me and guys, but I just assume they're all good with kids. That wasn't totally the case with Darrin. He was about as uncertain around them as I was last week! But those kids--they just cling and surround and attach themselves to you! At first Darrin was just in charge with the one-year-old of the family we actually came to visit. (I was in charge of the little girl.) Oh man there's so much to tell... Let me start over.

The three oldest boys (I'm omitting this family's names on purpose) went with a guy from a nearby church to go get food for their pantry. Then their mother and Beth (our "leader") went to Fred Meyer to get milk and eggs. So Darrin and I were left with the little girl and the one-year-old.

They weren't too difficult at first. The girl was content to sit in my lap and Darrin just held the little boy. There were very few kids out--it was still pretty early. Then my little girl jumped up out of my arms and started running around. So I had to go keep track of her, and that's where it all began! I played games with her for a bit.

Kids started coming out eventually. One girl I met last week, Rachel, who likes to do hair, I saw and recognized. "Rachel!" I said. She turned to me with this big-eyed expression like, "How'd you know my name?" "Do you remember me?" I said. There was just a half-second hesitation before she said, "Yes."

I met her friend Stephanie. Stephanie was a shy redhead who was thrilled to meet another Stephanie. She told everybody! "She's Stephanie too." It was so cute. :) Both those girls are about 5 years old. They played with my hair--sharing a brush Stephanie used to comb her My Little Pony's hair, LOL. "Your hair is soft," said Rachel. Rachel is African, so her hair is naturally pretty coarse.

There are two African girls--sisters, I think--who are the sweetest things around. They're tiny... They might be three or four, but they're both tiny. One's name I really, really liked. I don't know how to spell it--in Somali it would be something like Salaaxaa, but I don't know if she's Somalian. If she is, she has a nice name: It means caressed or good. But it's already a nice name--the pronunciation is "sah-LAY-hay" and I just think it's the prettiest sound.

Anyway. After meeting Rachel again, I sat down on the grass and let them do my hair. That way I could keep an eye on the little girl and enjoy myself. :)

Darrin sat underneath a tree nearby, still holding the sweet little one-year-old. He's perfectly content for most of the time to just sit and be held. Anyway, eventually Darrin started playing/keeping track of the four-year-old, although I could see her from where I was--

I'm still laughing. Oh my word. :D I just have this image left in my mind of Darrin sitting on the big metal box (whatever it was) with 6 or 8 kids crawling all over him, sitting with him, messing with his hair... Oh my gosh, it was hysterical, because he really didn't know what to do. :D I hope people looked at me last week with humor like this... LOL. And then at the end, when we finally reentered the house, oh my goodness, he sat down and said, "I'm not having kids." LOL!! Just watching him... Wow. It was funny. I'll stop now. ::grin::

I gave piggy-back rides. That was fun! I like feeling liked by the kids. I gave... My goodness, it must've been 6 kids or so. A few I didn't even know the names of. :D They'd just come up to me and say, "My turn!" Oh yeah, I think I gave our little girl a piggy-back ride, too. They weren't too long, so I didn't get too exhausted, but every time I crouched down, I'd almost step on my skirt--which is rayon--and every now and then hear a thread of it go "riiiiip!" Poor skirt. Rayon skirts are not conducive to playing with kids... LOL. But I wanted to kind of fit in with the women there. They all wear skirts or dresses. It's not that I'm uncomfortable wearing pants in front of them (shorts I might be!), but I want them to be comfortable. Next week I might wear my brown one, which is shorter, but it's not rayon. Oh... However it is very staticy... There goes that idea.

I've been teaching myself Somali words--or at least attempting to! It is so hard. Their pronunciations and spellings are completely different from anything I've encountered. Luckily I have a small website to help me.

Here are some Somali words if you're curious:

How are you = Sideed tahay (seh-DAYD ta-HA-yee)
sky = cirka (EHR-kah)
sun = qorax (oh-rahh) (extend the h sound at the end)
Thank you = Waa mahadsan (waah MA-hahd-sahn)
Goodbye = Nabadeey (nah-ba-day-ee)
father = aabbe (a-YEE)
friend = saaxiib (saah-hheeb)

Now it's about time I go finish that research paper...

-Stephanie