Urban legend on the RVA campus is that whenever the milk goes south, they announce a special treat and give the children chocolate milk to mask the south-ness. I don’t know if it is true, but it is as prevalent as the man with the hook in these parts.
Because of the attack on a boarding school similar to RVA in Pakistan, we are considered a “soft” target and have begun lots of drills in case of attack. We are in...
There are always interesting parts of living in a dorm, but perhaps the most highly anticipated is Korean food day, or as it is always referred to, “delicious Korean food day.” All of the Korean parents come to campus and cook tremendous amounts of Korean food.
Before I go on, let me point out that I really like Korean food. When Nancy went back to the States last summer and asked what I wanted brought back, the first thing I thought...
You change when you have been out here for a while. We had a monkey come into our house last week, and while it was a thrill (and more of a thrill that he didn’t hang around, because monkeys celebrate coming into homes by pooping in them), I see them quite often and wasn’t totally shocked.
But this is the big one. I didn’t know that the Super Bowl was last weekend. What kind of American can I be if I...
Eighth grades guys can go from awkward to slick in moments. One of our dorm boys, fearing that we would tease him, would ask if he could call his sister. We would say yes, and he would call her and ask, “Can I have all your money?” She would hang up, and then he would call the eighth grade girl he really wanted to talk to.
We have short devotions in the dorm Monday through Thursday, and because they get really...
Kenya has changed its laws, and to adopt, the courts appoint a guardian from the Kenyan Child Welfare Society to oversee how you raise the children. She was scheduled to come to our home, but at the last moment she asked us to come to her office. For those of you old enough to remember the old Batman show, her office looked like an abandoned factory now used for nefarious means by criminal masterminds. It was scary to go inside,...
Continue ReadingBesides the obvious holiday, we celebrated our first year with the babies on December 23. It would be hard to name highlights: it was harder than I thought it would be, and more fun than I imagined it could be. Any babies at my age would be a challenge: twins at my age exposed all the selfishness that I continue to harbor in my heart. The most amazing part of it all is this: They were not part of our...
Continue ReadingWe had a lovely restful peaceful vacation in Mombassa last week. The absolute great thing about Africa is that it never seems to stop throwing curveballs at you. Near the place where we stayed was a small reptile zoo, so we stopped in.
The first surprise was that we were the only people there. The guy at the front told me the price he wanted me to pay, which was much more than I had expected, and more than the posted...
You can tell when the end of the term is because the children start playing Christmas music rather early getting ready for the end of term Christmas concert. The older kids do a wonderful job, but the concert of the younger kids band is a marvel to behold. Many of them have had instruments for just a few months, and the sounds they make are fascinating.
I’ve learned that you should NEVER make eye contact with another adult during one of...
