the remainder of our day in Dahley

As Brian continued his hike up to the cliffs, I headed back down toward the school. When I arrived back I saw that the kids were everywhere. Some were playing soccer, some were playing volleyball and some were simply surrounding Nick and Kelly. Since I am a terrible soccer and volleyball player, I grabbed a hacky sack and began kicking it. Immediately a couple of boys joined me in kicking it. Soon there were a lot of kids wanting to play… maybe 20 kids. We began hitting it back and forth with our hands. That was easier for the girls and everyone seemed to enjoy this. We played and played and played on the open field with the sun beating down on us for what seemed like hours. There was lots of giggling, laughing, running and hitting of the small hacky sack.

After awhile I needed to stop playing to go get a drink of my bottled water. I left the kids with the hacky sack and said “ ciao.” I later realized the kids didn’t have the luxury of drinking clean water when they are thirsty. Nor could they simply grab a clif bar when the feel hungry, low energy, or a blood sugar drop.

After I had my quick drink and snack in private I came back out to join Nick, Kelly, Hallelujah and Haleigh in the grass. Within minutes we were surrounded by probably 50 or 60 kids who simply wanted to look at us, sit with us, touch us and shake our hands...even stroke the hair on my arms! We asked them what their names were and they shyly said “my name is…. ________” and then hid their face with their hands and giggled. It was fun. An outsider would not even be able to see us as we were seriously surrounded by so many kids.

(the next few pictures were taken of us inside the circle of the many kids)

Someone said that Brian had arrived back. I jumped up to go greet him. I was relieved that he had made it back Ok. The two of us quickly were surrounded by kids in no time. Brian said that he had a good time hiking. He found good rock. He said that he had people (mostly kids) following him up the mountain and showing him around. There were huts and homes his whole way up. The people were curious about him and he gave them candy so that they would know that he was harmless. At one point he did run into two men who were holding guns (looked like AK 47’s behind their heads). He said he was nervous. He stopped and was friendly. One spoke a little bit of English and all was well. I was very interested to see the pictures he had taken.

Tom came and picked us up at the school and drove us to a spot where a few families were selling handmade pottery on the side of the road. We checked it out and bought a few pieces—mostly to help them out.

Later this evening the four of us (Nick, Kelly, Brian and I) walked into town to the purple restaurant for dinner. We discovered apple Mirinda. Yum! I’m growing to really enjoy Ethiopian food. I still can’t get over the fact that we can buy 2 full meals and three Mirinda’s for only $2.40.

We relaxed in the restaurant for a bit after eating and enjoyed the Ethiopian music that was playing, the warm breeze that was coming through the open door and windows, and the view out the door of the beautiful people moving along the dirt road. With my sun burned face and arms, the warm breeze, the music, and my relaxed/peaceful spirit, I felt truly content.

We walked back to the house and I crocheted more hacky sacks while Kelly updated her blog and Nick and Brian did some “buildering”. Now I’m going to read a bit before going to sleep and HOPE that these dang mice (later assumed rats!) quiet down so that I can sleep. Tomorrow we will be going to the orphanages for the first time and also to the mercato (open air market). I need more chick peas for my hacky sacks. Kelly and I are also hoping to teach the older orphan girls a cool knitted project that can hopefully be sold in the U.S. I am really, really hoping that Brian will open his mind to the idea of adopting from here as I am falling more and more in love with the people and their culture.