wild sunday

Sunday was one of the most bizarre/interesting/outrageous days Ive had since being here. First, mass was 3 hours long because every group (like choirs or prayer group type things I think) had to give a little talk about what they do and then the priest decided to give a homily that lasted maybe 45 minutes. Love me a crowded, poorly ventilated building but 3 hours was a tad long. There was some white lady standing in the back but she left after 2 hours (cant imagine why) so I didn’t get to talk to her. I guess I would have said, “hello. I noticed that you are white” or something like that.

After mass the boarding school girls wanted to take pictures because they had on their fancy clothes since it was the day of the ‘fete’ for peace. So I got my camera and they go nuts with pictures soo we took a lot. As we were finishing pictures two ladies with a baby came looking for sr Vicky who then told me to come with them to the dispensary. The baby was 3 pounds! I had never seen a baby that small. It had a lot of extra skin- it looked like it was wearing leggings made from skin or something. Sr Vicky told me to hold it so she could take a picture and told the ladies ‘its good luck’. Hmm yes the old ‘have the premature baby take a picture with a random foreigner’ good luck charm. Works every time. One of the ladies asked me my name and when I told her she said, “ok then she is Anne. She doesn’t have a name yet”. What the heck? The other lady said something about the name Grace but sr Vicky vetoed that. “grace? No, not grace. There are too many graces. Everyone here is named grace.” So voilà Anne Marie.

The reason they came to the dispensary was because the baby was born a week ago, but the 17 year old mom died. So it was the baby’s grandma and friend who brought the baby in to buy formula…and apparently to name it.

Then in the afternoon it was this fete for peace and there were big tents set up. All the boarding school girls were there but I was sitting at the table of hot shots with the nuns and priests and some fancy ladies and the mayor. Also there was some extremely spicy chicken.

Monday at the dispensary sr Vicky was really on top of her game in terms of tact and sensitivity. This woman brought in her niece who was 3 years old and weighed 13 pounds. The mom herself didn’t bring her because ‘she doesn’t know french’. So sr vicky really let this lady have it and literally said ‘it would be better if she went to heaven because no one wants her. Shes just going to suffer.’ Umm. Hopefully the 3 year old was also deaf. Its easy to think ‘wow that’s super mean’ but maybe if I had been here for as long as sr Vicky has I would be the same way. Id like to think that I wouldn’t be but who knows.

In the afternoon I was looking for some of the girls who were going to have an English lesson later that day when BAM white people! One of the older girls was walking them to the house. I should have played it cool and made them wonder who I was but no. “Bonsoir!! Je m’appelle anne!!” Really over excited. It was a man and a woman working for the European union to supervise the elections. She was from Portugal and I think he was French. They were wondering if some of their people could stay here at the house. Then at the end of the conversation the lady said ‘I find the level of security and sanitation here really good’. Good thing she wasn’t around last night when sr Vicky had to have a talk with the boarding school girls because someone pooped in the shower!

So things are going well and the teaching is getting easier even if everyone mercilessly makes fun of my accent. I tell myself that theyre making fun of it in the same way I laugh at people with strong accents- in a good way. Not sure that’s true but that’s what I prefer to think.