Il Faut Parler!

Dear Readers,

On Tuesday I went back to the orphanage at 4:00 and I arrived and saw all the children laughing, singing and playing with each other.The director had unpacked all of the goods and displayed them on and around two big tables. He called all of the children to come and stand around the tables so that I could get a picture!

As you can see the youngest boy is holding a stuffed animal and he didn't let it go the whole two and half hours that I stayed that evening. The boys went straight to the footballs, basketballs and volleyballs. I helped them pump them up and we played games all evening. The look of gratitude on their faces is a look I've never seen before. Their eyes were gleaming with excitement andI couldn't have been happier in that moment. 

Yesterday morning I had my French lesson from 9 to 12. I really like my teacher, he is very patient and kind. For the first two hours he teaches me grammar, conjugation and vocabulary and for the last hour we just talk, talk, talk. He doesn't speak a word of English, which is oddly a very good thing because it forces me to speak, which is, what he says, the only way to truly learn a language. "Il faut parler!" is what he always says, which means, one must speak! We have the lessons on the balcony of the volunteer apartment, which I really like because it is a very relaxed environment with no distractions and I find that I have a lot more confidence to speak when I am with him in this setting. I have my French lessons on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 3 hours each lesson. He told me that it is harder to talk to me than it is to talk to Matt because I am a young woman and he is an older man. I found this a bit odd because I'm not used to being treated differently because of my sex, or maybe I'm not used to people being so upfront about it. Some of you might be thinking "but you live in an arab country how are you not used to that?" and my answer to that is yes I live in an arab country, and I clearly do see the differences between men and women, but I am not subject to the inequality as much as other people are there. Anyway, maybe as time goes by he will feel more comfortable having conversations and debates about different and possibly controversial things. 

My days are pretty usual, I go to the orphanage in the mornings, come home for lunch and then go back  from around 4 to 6:30. Yesterday's walk to the orphanage was a little bit uncomfortable because the big market that is on the way to the orphanage, "Marché Kpassé" (Yes there is a 'K' infront of passé)  was open (it opens every third day, and I'll explain why) and there were a lot of people on the streets. They all stare and yell out to you and to be quite honest, it gets to be really annoying feeling like there is a permanent spotlight on you. But today's walk was fine, the market wasn't open so there were far fewer people out. Marché Kpassé used to be the market where slaves were sold, and they still run the opening times of the market the same way they did some 250 years ago when they sold slaves, every three days.

Here are some more pictures of the orphanage that the kids actually took! I wish I could share all the pictures but it would probably take the rest of my trip to upload them. It's only been 4 days, but I have already fallen in love with these kids.

Until next time! 

Bisous