My African Boy

Ever since we attended the Watoto concert in Ocean City there a side to Mich that I had not seen, may be I had but didn't taken note of it.
Jackie was kind enough to give us one of the DVD's and ever since Mich watched it that first time, he insists that I play it for him almost every day. He watches it with such concentration it's incredible, no one is allowed to talk or sing along while it's playing. He gets really upset when there is any kind of distraction. One time Sam came home from school and found him watching it, he didn't even turn his head towards the door let alone welcome his dad back.
He has learned most of the songs by now and he even dances a long. When I noticed that he liked the music so much I played for him another of the Watoto albums and you should have seen the look on his face, a mixture of awe, excitement, and wonder. I guess he couldn't believe there was more, but this time it was just playing and he couldn't see the children so that confused him a bit. He sat through the whole album, Sam and I were really surprised.

Interestingly it's not just Watoto music, I played some of Pastor Okudi's music and he couldn't stop dancing. Basically any music that has the African beat to it and has a local dialect (Swahili, luganda e.t.c) makes his day. Just a few minutes ago he was telling me to play the drums while he played the guitar(imaginary). I played and after some time I told him I was tired, then he said " but I can not play the guitar if you don't play the drums", that serious.

Music aside I have never seen a kid crazy about maize like he is, he eats it like his life depended on it. There are times we have decided not to buy it lest it starts growing out of his ears (hehehe). Anyway every time I buy some corns they get finished sooner than you know. If they are row I have to cook them because there have been times he starts nibbling at it when row. Then I thought let me keep it in the fridge, well he opens the fridge and finds it. We are teaching him to ask for things before taking them so he uses that on us, gets it out of the fridge and sweetly asks "Mummy please can I have some maize".
I know he likes g-nuts but unfortunately there are none here that compare with what we had back home so that will have to be put on hold for a while unless we have some nice person bring some when they come from home. One thing I know he certainly misses is kalo (millet), since he is a kid I wonder if his tastes will change completely or if he will remember when he gets to taste it again.

Mercer

Remember my posts about interviews? well, Sam got invited for a couple, it was a very stressful week, we had to hold our breath each evening as we waited for the response on whether or not he had been invited to the second round. I'm certain some people loose weight because it's pressure pressure pressure! if you are not successful with the companies you applied to then it's back to the drawing board, writing applications and the like.
The interviewees had to look their best, which means you had to do everything in your means to look sharp. I'm not too sure what the ladies had to go through but for the guys things were cut out. Black shoes, black or navy blue suit (limited to particular styles), white shirts and red ties, they were advised not to steer far from that.
I'm glad Sam and I have our faith in God because once you depend entirely on your own efforts it can be really disappointing. I prayed for Sam everyday that he would have favour and that the Lord would open the right door and lead us where He would have us go. God has a real interesting sense of humor, out of the seven companies he interviewed with, three called him back for a second round and in the end we got one offer. There was no space to debate where God would have us be.
Come June we will be heading to Dallas Fort worth for an internship of about two and a half months with Mercer Consulting Firm. Then we will be back with the Texan accent and may be some cow boy boots to show for it. I hope all y'all know what I'm talkin about.

Friends

This week is certainly ending a lot better than I thought it would. Over the last two days I have received emails from friends that I hadn't heard from since I left Uganda. It has been really exciting, just when I begun to think, oh well I've been forgotten and I have only 2 friends left in the world. I also got an email from my former boss and a phone call from a friend wishing me a happy valentines.

Monday was Mich's 3rd birthday and sadly we couldn't throw him a party because I wasn't feeling too well. However he insisted on us getting him a cake so we bought him one and sang for him, that made him happy. I really wanted to do much more for his birthday and I think he is going to celebrate for a long time because I'm not through with him yet.

I had a eureka moment last Sunday when I finally found "posho flour", I had been searching for a while, got all sorts of strange powders until I found "corn flour". I remember some friends cracking on me and saying that I'd never find it because I was looking for the label "posho". What I got is as close to the real thing as it gets. All I wanted to eat was posho and dried meat in g-nut sauce, it was a stretch and involved walking long distances but I got it. Mich likes it too, something I can add to his diet because he hasn't been eating much lately. I thought he'd take on to Mac and Cheese, sandwiches and the other things kids love to eat here but no, he is interested in g-nut sauce, avocado, greens and tomatoes.

Getting my groove back

Phew! that was a long one, it's certainly nice to be back. I would like to thank some of my buddies who were in touch while I was under the weather (you know yourselves).

Well, I've got a few updates not sure if each needs a separate posting or if I should knock them all down in one sitting. Then again it might be too much for one go so I think I will take it slow.
Just before I fell sick I was part of the team involved in the "Winter Welcome", a time when some of the prospective Wharton admits come to the school for a tour and a few meetings.
As usual I was with the Partners and Kids club, we had an information session where students with partners and kids get to know about our clubs and ask questions. It went really well, there was about 7 of us on the panel, 5 from the partners and 2 (Simran and I) from the kids club.

We introduce ourselves and then say something about where we are from and what we do, I'm getting used to sticking out like a sore thumb. In the group of students that showed up all were from around the area, New York, New Jersey e.t.c there were no international students and I was the only African. So, my story moving to Philly was definitely unique, I was talking about culture shock, absolutely unfamiliar territory, adjusting to being a stay home mom, the intense first quarter when Sam was hardly there e.t.c. You should have seen the look on the students faces, something like I was an alien from another planet, it didn't help that there were only like 2 or 3 students who actually had kids. True, they simply couldn't identify with me for the most part but I was encouraged when after the panel a few of them came up and were interested in talking a little more. That said we all had a great time, for a moment there it felt like I was talking to a class of Budonians who were giving me the look of " and what do you really have to say?" I guess that was all in my head, it's interesting how peoples facial expressions can be very misleading.
And now I need to prepare for the real big Welcome which is coming up this April, I'll shift the stories around and sort out the relevant stuff.

Emergency

Yayaya!!!! this past week has been absolutely crazy and quite honestly that is an understatement.
I had a rough night on Monday hardly slept because my legs were almost feeling numb and very uncomfortable, it was a strange feeling and hard to explain. It like started on it's own.
Tuesday morning I was still dealing with the strange feeling and still trying to figure out what was going on. As the day wore on things only got worse, now by back was in severe pain, I had to spend of the day lying down. Sam came home late that evening and we kind of talked about it, I decided to sleep early, got to bed but the pain only just intensified. I had thought of going in to see the doctor earlier in the day but I was not up to moving with Mich and all his energy.
My legs were feeling numb especially from thighs up, my back was on fire, my stomach was boiling and there was no position that felt comfortable. Then I thought this is probably how people pass on, you know short illnesses and boom they are gone. I told Sam I couldn't handle it any more we had to go to the hospital. This was about 11:30pm, we called a cub and headed to the hospital. You will not believe this but I was not able to see a doctor until 3:00am, by this point I was just groaning. I explained to the doctor how I felt, she took blood samples but the waiting process was not simple. The pain was still intense, but what did I think? that as soon as I saw the doctor the pain would disappear??, well I just wanted to get rid of the pain.

I had an ultra sound and pelvic scan and they couldn't find the source of the pain, that was very disconcerting. Meanwhile by the time I was through with all these procedures it was 6am. Sam is out in the waiting area all this time, I can't communicate with him because there is no network in the building, strange!. I finally get a chance to go out and meet him, give him an update and tell him he might as well go home I would come later.
I get back to the doctors office and ask, ok since there is nothing exactly wrong (I'm wasn't sure if that was good or bad news) how can I get rid of this excruciating pain?. I was advised to take Tylenol and that was all.
The Tylenol worked, but I have had to take it everyday to keep sane; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Today I'm feeling a little better, the pain has been moving all over, one day it would be the lower back, then the upper back, then my left side and then my shoulders, aaaaaahhh!!!!!!!!

Watoto at the East Coast

Yeah!, watoto was in Ocean city New Jersey on Thursday and Sam and I thought it would be great to go watch them let alone meet out friends. We started our journey a little late plus we got a bit lost on the way so we were not able to catch the whole concert. My friend Jackie and her husband Joseph are leading the team so we thought we would give them a good surprise by just showing up.

They have been touring since September last year and will be heading home in March, they are really looking forward to going home. It's interesting how going on a Watoto tour looks all glamorous and exciting but no one thinks about how taxing it actually is. Having a concert almost everyday, travelling and looking after over 20 children is a lot of work. Well all the effort is definitely worth it when you see the joy on the children's faces.

Jackie and the whole team were certainly pleasantly surprised to see us and spent some good time talking, it was certainly worth the trip.