parties and choir

So with all the new visitors, we have been having tonnes of parties. There were even streamers and annoying whistles which every kid has been waking us up with early in the morning. Johan a Belgium guy who was visiting the orphanage for the week , comes every year and organises fun stuff for the kids, and also makes nice meals. One day Claude and some other boys made 2000 benjees , which is like a doughy thing that you fry and is really good, We all 'stole ' as many as we could , for our breakfast. Then Johan also organized an orphanage from kigali to come visit, they have 80 children and was started by an ex Noel Orphan Emmanuel when he was 20 .He is now 30 . The kids were absolutely gorgeous , the youngest being about 5, one of the girls Jemima , was so cute that all the motherly tensions in me were screaming Adopt this kid! Adopt this kid! Thats actually the first time I wanted to be a mother for a kid here, I want to be a friend a sister an aunt for many children but never  a mother. So Jemima was a pretty special girl. A Noel versus the other orphanage soccer game was organized, we creamed them .Of course.Also an acrobatic/dance group from Gisenyi came to entertain us . There were probably about 600 people in the workshop complete with deafoning music , rain and lightning. I tried to forget that lightning kills people here very regularily. Then that evening we had a dance party in the older boys dining room , with some of the older boys. It was Joe and Joanna's (two volunteers who arrived around the same time as me and lived in the same house with Tara and I ) last evening here. I  had promised that I would dance. If there is anything in the world that I cannot do, it's dance, so at the end of the evening I finally mastered the courage to get up and make a fool of myself. When Joe and Joanna left the next day along with all the children from the Kimisagara orphanage , there was a lot of crying . Even though its not 'natural' to cry in rwanda , there were many children crying which showed what an impact Joe and Joanna had had on them , even some of the tough soccer boys were trying hard not to cry. I went with three of the kids into the house that were crying , a minute later came a knock on the door and in came another little girl that was crying , and about 5 minutes later a group of girls brought two crying girls to the door. So we had a little crying party. I fed them everything that I  had left in the house that was edible  , so a funny combination of hot chocolate , cheese and mango cheered them up. These last few days have been busy , the visitors have gone now and all of a sudden every child wants your attention , there are also many new kids from school that have arrived , including Jean Claude who drew a picture of me and Innocent who I taught how to write a letter this morning. I have been taking the kids to the basketball court across the road at the Pfunda Tea Company , the boys to play basketball , and the girls to play swedish handball, also the latest faze here is making bracelets , which every age group is enjoying . Lately I discovered that there is choir three times a week in the evening , I love to sing , and when Andrew told me that choir had restarted as most of his choir members had come back from boarding school , I jumped at the chance to join . There are about 12 boys , who are all very good singers and then there is me . Some of the boys were allocated as sopranos to help me and there are also boy altos. The boys sopranoes are the biggest toughest looking boys out there , every time I have a little giggle because they are so big and there they are singing soprano in a choir . The songs we are learning now are English hymns , such as I surrender all , most of them I vaguely know. The choir sounds amazing  (no thanks to me ) and Andrew the conductor/singer/keyboard player is amazing . I went with him a few days ago to Mahoko , beacuse his beloved keyboard was broken to get it fixed, it was about 16 dollars to fix but I figured it was better than 2000 dollars to buy a new one ( I almost had a heart attack when I got told the price) . Andrew is a super talented guy, he is 20 and he only in his third year of secondary school , but that is because of difficult circumstances that he didn't start school until he was 12.He runs every weekend to Musanze which is more than an hour drive and back , and he boxes , and his english is very good. He is also extremely musical (more so than anyone I know , and I know many musical people ) .He has taught himself various songs on the keyboard and the harmonica and the recorder , the drums and I think he also plays the guitar. He is also an amazing singer and can sing any note. I am glad to help him with pronunciation of English words and to translate the text in kinyarwanden (using my hands feet , small words and acting) , at least I  can be useful in some way!
My dad is coming next week and I am super excited , as are the kids. Papa Keza is coming , they say , and always ask when. One of my favorites Benwau has been feeling very jealous lately , he thinks I have a new favorite a boy who hangs on my side all the time Mukwanashyaka (who I really love) and he thinks that I dont care for him anymore ,and that when my dad comes he will not know anything about Benwau and will not like Benwau. I had to explain to Benwau was the reason I liked him so much was because he reminded me of my little brother (among other things) , so I am hoping dad thinks the same.
Next time I blog, hopefully , dad will be here.
All is well, and everybody please stop worrying so much I have never been happier before in my life and will be very reluctant (kicking and screaming) to go home :)
love keza