| anne has files to share with you on SkyDrive. To view them, click the links below.      |
We are in the midst of rugby season here and both boys had major sevens tournaments in the last couple of weeks. I still cant quite get used to watching rugby in shorts and suncream but they don't really know anything else and seem not to mind the hard ground which they regularly crash down on. I try and watch when i can and am torn between shouting at them to get stuck in and worrying that it looks painful when they do. But so far they have got away with only mild knocks to the head and big grazes on elbows. Matthew is now the proud owner of a winner's medal for his tournament and Jamie's team put in a valiant effort and were runners up in their's - Matthew is clearly (not so) secretly pleased to have a better medal than his big brother. Jamie is consoling himself with making the squad for the biggest local (2hours away) sevens event of the year and so far domestic tackling practice is being kept to a minimum.
As well as a major sporting week, we have had a busy social time since getting back from our half term break. Some good friends lefty Nairobi this week and there has been a stream of farewell parties for them which has been both lots of fun, whilst at the same time knowing that there will be a big hole in my mums net from next week. They are the first of the end of summer term exodus and a reminder of the constantly moving parts of expat life, with friendships sustained through Facebook and emails. I'm not very reliable with either form of electronic communication but I'm hoping we have enough shared experiences for that not to matter. Add to that a major work function, dinner with friends and our turn to host our bi-monthly neighbourhood lunch last Sunday and its been one big social whirl. One great thing about our life here is that the lovely people who help us run the house, keep the kids in cakes and cuddles and in the right place at the right time with kit, are almost always available to babysit and stay over if we will be late in or out early. So I never have that scramble to sort childcare at the last minute. And the kids know who is looking after them, even if that doesn't always stop the debate at bed time about whether it really is bedtime or just time for one more story.
And of course its also that time of year for school fairs and end of year shows and general winding down/up for long school holidays - not quite summer holidays here as its the coolest, greyest time of year but still long! Having played my part in many school fairs I took a back seat at he kids' one last week, baking meringues with Matthew and otherwise just providing a source of cash. The set up was pretty much like all school fairs I've been too - lots of sugar to eat and drink, buns to ice, wet sponges to throw, tattoos to apply and kids generally running round noisily. Jamie's class's addition of a car wash appeared to leave kids wetter than cars and the fact that the usual parking chaos (which school is far from immune to) limited his customers didn't seem to matter.
Each class had chosen a local good cause - elephants for Katie, a local slum school for Matthew and an orphanage for Jamie - and designed a stall to try and make the most money for their charity. They raised nearly half a million shillings (about £4000) which wasnt bad for an afternoon in the sun. Some of the charities came along to join in - one of our friends is a sports teacher and physio by training and now works with disabled children for an NGO in Nairobi and Dadaab, a huge IDP camp in NE kenya. His daughter's class had chosen this as their cause and the wheelchair bound kids with so little opportunity in life and lots of smiles as their wheelchairs were raced round a specially designed track were a very real reminder for us all of the range of lives here.
Anne
No comments:
Post a Comment