of Christmas programs and Jack Johnson

Sabbath morning came faster than I probably would have liked. Well, truth be told, I was dreading it. I really didn't feel like my kids were ready enough to get up in front of everyone and do this play. They barely know their lines and don't even know when to come forward... Oh dear...

Luckily almost all the kids from KG and Class 1 are in my Sabbath School class so I took advantage of that and ran through the program with them quickly. I gave each 'scene' a number and then told the kids to look at me and if I called their number to come forward. I gave them the low-down of what was going to happen in hopes that things would be alright...

The moment of truth. When we were called the front, Banni and Brittni went to the podium and I sat on the floor. The kids were all still sitting as if they didn't know what was going on... Great start lol. But I hustled them all together into a choir-form in the corner. But now that I think about it, they didn't stay in lines for very long... lol Brittni welcomed everyone to our program and proceeded to start reading the Christmas story from the Bible and then Banni translated from the Bengali Bible. I called the number ones forward and instead of acting it out, the kids got scared and stood in a line. lol I had to basically sit there and tell each one what to say two words at a time, but the whole thing didn't end up too terribly. At the end of each scene, there was a corresponding song but since the kids had a hard time picking up the old English Christmas carols, Brittni and I had to sing a couple songs. After seven scenes and some jumbled up lines, the kids finished with singing "We wish you a blessed Christmas and a joyful New Year". We had to change a couple words to make it more church-appropriate :)


Banni dressed up little Marissa in one of her Indian-made dresses, put a scarf around Joseph's head, and "King Herod's" crown on Danny's head. That was the extent of our costumes lol. We had a small doll in a towel for Baby Jesus and four brightly wrapped gifts from the wisemen (yes I know there were 'three' but we needed all the parts we could to include everyone lol). I was proud of them though. Most of them had actually learned their lines but stage fright will take any victim it can. That's alright.. the only real cure is repeated exposure. I'm sure they will put on a fantastic Christmas program with next years missionaries--any takers out there for the 2010-2011 school year? :)


After church we took a walk out to the rice fields... We ended up meandering all over the place with no real goal in sight. Nonetheless it was still a relaxing walk. I took a picture of Josiah because I find it so funny we can have such good reception IN THE MIDDLE OF A RICE FIELD. Literally. It should be used for GrameenPhone's advertising or something... lol


I pretty much vegged out the rest of Saturday... I was so tired after doing stockings, the Christmas program, and all the presents for the staff here. But I also realized I had been absolutely dreading Christmas. Not only am I away from family but Elle's gone right now. I was dreading Christmas like none-other... But now that it's over (yet feeling like it never really came), I feel better. I still have to tackle not having a New Year's kiss from Michael but that should be easier now that I know I survived Christmas. That also means that I'm pretty much half way done with my mission experience. I have such contradictory feelings about that--I miss home and Michael and everyone so much so I can't wait to get back but my kids.. How can I say goodbye to them, not knowing when I'll ever see them again? I know people say they will come back but how many people stick to that? Life gets in the way, work never ends, and $1300 plane tickets don't just fall from the sky. I hope my kids will grow up to be great--grow up to change their world and the worlds of anybody that has the pleasure of meeting them.

Yesterday and today were pretty chill. I had a battle with the laminating machine when I was making labels for the storage room and Handicrafts. It full out ate a sheet of labels! It didn't just chew it up, burn the edges, and such--it just didn't come out the other side... Yikes. lol It won that round but I won all subsequent rounds! lol After taping up all the labels, I headed over to the storage room equipped with my Ipod to help sort cupboards and cupboards of children's clothing. Luckily Jack Johnson was there for me. As I was walking past some of the bedrooms, Marissa asked me what I listening to so I put one of my headphones into her ear. She was so surprised that music was coming from them but then didn't want to give the headphone back :) That's right, I'm not only teaching letters but I'm teaching an appreciation for GOOD music! lol It was so cute that I had to take a picture of her and me chilling to Jack Johnson. I know Abby and Tiffany would be proud of me for enhancing her cultural education lol.


in other words, if you haven't gotten his new album, Sleep Through the Static, you should look it up because even Bengali kids that don't speak English love it! lol
ami tomake bhalobashi