There's been a festival going on at the Jacobite Syrian Church down the road these past few days. They've been singing all day and night through an amplifier in the back of a pick-up truck (I should note that we can hear them without the amplifier). Since I sleep with my window open for a breeze, it hasn't been the most pleasant experience. The church has been shooting off fireworks every night around midnight and two nights ago they decided to do it at 4:30 AM also. I'm sure you can imagine what I was thinking when I woke up to that. But I think the festival is over in a few days, and then it will be back to sleep disturbed only by confused roosters and loud cows.

I've been having a lot of fun with the kids this week. Yesterday I gave 6 or 7 of the older boys some of the left-over VBS t-shirts our church had. The boys immediately stripped off the shirts they had on and put the bright green "Power Camp" shirts on. They liked them a lot. Then we all played a game with some of the 3-letter-word flashcards I got from the church. I made them put the cards together and then tell me what word they spelled and how it was spelled. The boys were really good at it! The girls didn't quite understand the concept, but I think the younger girls started to learn more toward the end. They would put the picture together and then hand it to me proudly. I also had the kids trace letters on one of the boards someone donated. They absolutely love using the dry-erase marker, so it's an easy way to get them to do educational stuff. They all pushed and shoved for their turn to draw letters. I think tomorrow I will have to bring my computer and show an Elmo video. Everyday I go they always tug at me and say, "Auntie, computer?" They also do that with stickers, and I always have to explain to them that we can't have a movie and stickers everyday! I'll try to update again later in the week.