updates:

so this is the roster for grade 1. try learning these names in a hurry! asibongwe is a darling little boy who is getting adopted this week by an american family. i am so happy for him!

these are the books that i have been reading in my spare time. just finished pursuit of God (amazing).

i picked up this little phone shortly after arrival. i have been so spoiled by smart phones that i can barely operate it. everyone laughs when i try to treat it like it has a touch screen. it has been nice though to be able to communicate with staff/volunteers here. don't know if it can receive international calls though. i literally feel like i have gone back in time 10 years.

this little rooster starts yelping at 4  in the morning. this is literally the view from my bedroom window. and this rooster never travels far... he likes to stay close to my room for some reason.

so they apparently do controlled burning of the grass here. some of the kids told me that this was so that we can more easily spot poisonous snakes. bahhhhhh!!! someone else told me that it was to prevent forest fires during dry season.. i'm fervently hoping that it is the latter.

in other miscellaneous news, one of our boys, spinele, gashed his leg open the other day and had to be brought to a hospital for stitches. he was so brave and barely even cried. these kids are so tough here. its amazing. 

also, unrelated, i am going to try to squeeze in a trip to cape town at the end of my trip. it looks so beautiful there, and i can't imagine being so close and not being able to see table mountain and some of the other sights. will keep y'all posted :)