Friday 12/2: I Walk On Stilts!

I got up at 7:00am so I could skype with my family, but miscalculated the time difference and realized that I had told them to be on an hour later… I called and talked with my mom (and Ivy and Brigid) briefly before getting ready for school. My first class was wonderful (they are by far the calmest and easiest class to teach), followed by a 1 1/4 hr break, then another class.

During lunch, Alison came over to hang out and I made us bean and cheese burritos (with tomato and avacado)!! Amazing! It’s been so long since I’d had a burrito! It was delicious. And, I still have more beans! Yes!!!

Photo: Heaven.

After lunch I went back to teach the younger kids and I had a great class with the first group using the finger puppets. I got them to take turns coming up in front of the class to do a basic conversation between the tiger and the monkey! There were a lot of interesting attempts at saying “tiger” that sounded nothing like the English pronunciation!

I had another break (during which I went to the bank to transfer money into my US account and also to the little grocery store to buy flour) and then a class with the other group of 7-8 year olds. They did very well and nearly all of them can say “how old are you?” and answer it correctly. I’m proud of them—I remember a few weeks ago when only 2 or 3 out of the whole class could pronounce it!

After school, I had tea with Margot and then rested until it was time to go to folk dancing. I was picked up in front of the middle school (like the last two times) by Aurélie and upon arriving, I asked if I could try out the stilts. She said that was totally fine and I just had to talk to her brother. So, I found him and he helped me put them on. It was really hard to stand up (they’re super wobbly at first) as they are attached to your foot (there’s a little shelf where your foot goes) and then just below your knee, where the stilt stops. You don’t use your hands at all!

After walking around holding onto Aurélie’s brother’s hands for about 2 minutes, I moved on to the rope that stretched across the room. I did that for a few more minutes and then I managed to walk all by myself! After practicing for at least 45 minutes, I can walk easily! They were very impressed with how fast I picked it up—especially as I’m “the American.”

Photo: Success!!

Tonight the class went longer because the guys were there as well. That meant we did different dances together (some of the time they danced on the ground, some of the time they danced on stilts). During one dance (I just watched), the guys on stilts jumped over their girl who was standing on the ground! Eek! Tonight one girl who was dancing on stilts had her leg strap break and she fell down, taking another guy with her! I was surprised that no one got hurt and they quickly replaced the strap and continued dancing. No big deal! Video: http://youtu.be/GKiN8TJeVyU

We finished around 10:40pm (I’d been there since 7pm) and although I was invited to stay and have a drink, I decided to leave with Aurélie because I was really tired and very hungry. Perhaps I’ll stay next time!

I had a bowl of soup and some cheese and bread when I got home and now my sleepiness is definitely hitting……