A NIGHT FOR THE ARTISTS

Well, being the last hour and half of the month we have some internet time in excess, Soooo, I snuck on to You Tube and listened and watched Mollie play her yukele and sing a song she wrote. And you said hello to me, if hearts could explode with joy and have the exploding be a really good thing, well mine just did.

"All you have to do, is smile and pretend, smile and pretend, go up in a swirl, " and my favorite line seems to have disappeared into my head over powered by a sense of absolute amazement, delight and and overwhelming desire to grab Mollie, hug her and scream,,,HOW THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT. That was beautiful. When I left you did not play an instrument, write music nor sing all that much, I love you so much. You can do anything that you ever want to do, anything and you always do it exceptionally well. Remember at Bromley, when Phil and I were going to teach you to telemark. Both of us seasoned instructors, excellent parents, not pedantic at all, RIGHT Phil? While we were busy conferring on the best teaching technique, you were off and running. I recall the sound of your voice fading away as you made near perfect turns, yes on your first attempt, "Is it sooomeethiiinnggg like thhissssss yyouuuuu ooo guuyyyyyyyys." And you were gone.

I know life does not always feel that way, but I have been observing you for a good many years and the truth is the truth. You are one sharp babe. Can't wait to hear you in person. I promise to try and resist jumping out of my seat and hugging you at the first note. Phil, your input is obvious. I love you too. And fu geda boooud it zeeeee-gerl, weezz knowz you can play da museec.

Ok, so let's get back to me, it is all about me, is it not. I happen to have just been recognized twice in the 3 team school DANCE OFF this evening. Truth be known, I did not and will never again recognize or understand any piece of music that we just danced to, and when it was my turn to move out onto the dance floor alone, well with 2 others, and wait patiently for some surprise music and then improvisationally respond in competition for about a minute, well I was scared out of my pants......... Lucky for me it started slow and i did a little yoga move and somehow before i knew it, I was down in some sort of split position. Who knew I could do a split, or almost. The room gasped in disbelief. I gasped in great fear that I would never again rise.

It was my good fortune that the tempo picked up and I miraculously followed suit. I was up and jumping, leaping, and apparently dancing with some grace or form of something that was rewarded with extra points and tons of screaming from the kids. I would not have thought it, but the word on the street suggested that I did good, with comments like wow, that is some fancy footwork. duhh you must do yoga, and did she touch the floor with her hands. I personally think it was more like Trish and I leaping around after a couple of shots of Tequila, or like Mollie, Zoe and Richie and I last New Year's Eve when we barely let anyone else out on the dance floor,,, hmm I think a bit of red wine was involved in this episode, but who knows, maybe I have matured. I can say for sure that no alcohol was involved, but as for the maturing process,,,, I kinda doubt it , right Trish.......

Then at the very end for the last few special awards I, Ms. Sue was awarded the 'Most Versatile Dancer' and I think that is a good thing. I actually just got to review it on video, could not really see much, but yes, I did do a split and did get up. You might all want to wait on the report from tomorrow morning for a true assessment of how this body survives.

And tomorrow, hmmmmm, I think I have a date at 10;30 at the local, well the almost only restaurant in town, Indian Restaurant. Yes, from India kind of Indian Food, to make stilts. The two daughters are in my stilt club and said, yes come, we have tools. But we neglected to speak of the other important factors such as wood, bolts, you know those other essentials. Whatever, the group of potential stilt dancing performers keeps growing and still not stilts. Hopefully this will be the weekend to pull it together.

I am ready for it. There will be a bit of studying in the morning to prep for heading out into the world. After an intense 4 days of teaching, I know nothing of swahili. But I do notice that each weekend when I can study, it comes back and new words are easier to obtain. All good, the best that I can do. I cannot develop classroom curriculum, and study swahili at the same time. Although I have finally organized and cleaned the classroom, put into place improved programs in all areas, and so I think I might just be able to back off on the teaching prep stuff and hopefully replace it with nitafundisha... that is either 'with me studying' or 'with me teaching' What I mean is studying and none of you know if I am right or wrong, so what the heck am I fessing up for.....

Sit down volleyball happened this week for me. I know it does not sound so great, but I laughed a lot. My partner and I kicked butt. Of course we could not speak to each other, but we sure as heck could laugh. How silly am I trying to remember what comes after 4 and then after 5, for 2 hours. I know, I know, I don't sound so bright, do I.

Re-runs of "Grey's Anatomy" again tonight, oh yeah. They are my real friends. Hey, they would come visit me here, wouldn't they? Hmmmm not like any of you sniveling, excuses for friends. Ohhh, that almost sounded mean. No real intent, I was still going for the humor angle, let me know how it comes through. But really come on, still waiting for which one of you is going to tire of my asking and accept my invitation.

I just got an invitation to Ruaha National Park. One of the most world famous animal safari kind of places and less than an hour away from here....... all sorts of big animals. Oh, speaking of big animals, there is a an influx of frogs in the school. Yesterday 10 in the pre-school room and 4 in mine. Today some more, but since the poop that was there yesterday did not again appear, I paid absolutely no attention to the little buggers hopping all over the place. I also realized that I forgot to help out the little girl that was concerned about retrieving her notebook from her desk because of a little cockroach. Well, I don't know if it was little or big, since I gave that creature no attention either.

Yup, I am in Africa. And tonight the moon is sort of full, the sky is outstanding. And the electricity that was off for most of the night has returned. I guess there was some sort of electric fire or sparking in the wires out on the street. A friend said that he watched as sparks flew between wires and a few buildings and then everything in sight went dark. For hours. Ah well, like I said, I'm in Africa.

All good. I am a bit lonely though, for real. Think I will try some offensive on this, just don't know which direction to make the efforts. The 20 something year olds in my house are kind to me and I to them, but I am a 5th wheel when I do push my way into their social world. And really they don't make my heart spin either. I do like the two 12, 13 year old girls downstairs. They are actually fun. So at least I can go out and play with them, probably for a hike on Sunday.

Nothing much else to report. Although I did return to the market lady from the first market episode. I did tons better even though I needed to keep referring to my notebook for vocabulary. I managed meager conversation. She walked me to 3 other stalls and informed them not to use english with me because I was working on swahili. I was exhausted and thrilled after the fifteen minute shopping spree. And this time there was not question, I was going out for my coke around the corner. Naoma cocacola, may i have... yeahhhhaaaaaaaaaaa