Irene and Noelle do Tubaniso

As I left Irene and little Noelle on her back in the classroom lined with beds and the handful of quiet matrones passing their time in silent waiting, I worried. She is going to be so bored here. Everyone is just sitting around in this terrible cramped room doing nothing on the first afternoon. But she seemed fairly content as I left her for my French lesson. Upon returning, I could not find her among the other timid matrones.
"Where's Irene?" I asked.
"Oh, she left. Maybe she is washing".
Well Ok. Yet the next moment while passing by the dining hall I found her- no cultural shame- hanging out in what we like to call "the guy's corner". The janitors and shuttle drivers have a little TV where they like to sit around and be rowdy throughout the day. Irene had spotted our choffuer, Mussa, pulled herself a chair, and made herself comfortable sittin back, watching the soccer game, drinking tea, and joking with the guys. And they got a kick out of that little spitfire too. Yup- bean joke central.
It's been fun having Noelle around. He spotted me and calls me "Tata!" But he got wicked confused when a bunch of other white girls came up to him and started calling them all "Tata." He's terribly afraid of my friend Hunter, who keeps wanting to hold and play with him. But being one of the biggest, pastiest-white guys around, I can understand why he's frightening.
So Irene seems happy to be here. Though our sessions have not been that dense since her arrival, she's in to it, and is already walking around Tubaniso like she owns the place. And man does she like to talk! While the other matrones are sitting quietly in the car on the way to our field trip, she's yapping up a storm. "Why didn't that donkey get out of the road? These donkeys here are terrible. I think it's pregnant look at it. It's probably twins. What does it think it's doing? Driver, why don't you run it over? Then the other donkeys will see" And she just cracks herself up- and me too. But I think the other women are a bit intimidated by her, even the other volunteers. She's even made her marks with the trainers, who she throws her baby at if she has to fix her scarf or get her food. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. Thank God she's so enthusiastic!

Mud Wrestling

So there isn't too much to do at Tubaniso, our training center. Movies are great, card games- addicting, and working on project proposals is often cut short by the realization that these will be the last days we see our American pals- many of them until the end of our service.
Then what do we do with our time? Well, with a free Saturday afternoon, a couple volunteers put together a mud wrestling pit out in the garden. There were some settled rivalries and some entertaining moments as people were flipped and slipped- sometimes face down in yummy African mud. I myself was paired with the other smallest girl around here- Sarah- whom, may I added, I conquered. My bucket bath afterwords was quite difficult though, and I still have my muddy clothes hanging on a tree outside my hut. I'll get to those one of these days.