"if your skin is black like mine, get out! if your skin is white like theirs, stay here!"

day 2 in mbale, and i dont feel as exhausted (like..sleepy) as i did yesterday, but my body aches more today haha.

the men had much more luck with the wood today and were able to finish 2 of the 3 open walls of shelves in the library. we filled them with the easy-reader books as well as the fiction. &we sorted through the secondary fiction before we headed out for home.

haha -- at one point all the kids filed into our sorting room after music time becuase i suppose they were finally bored with their instruments and curious to see what we were doing. they were all extremely eager to help, but with so many of them after having helped us with the books we needed moved to the library, they started trying to take all the ones that werent ready! Jerald, the music teacher who was extremely fun to be around- very funny- came in and announced to all the children that "if your skin is black like mine, get out! if your skin is white like theirs, stay here!" hahaha; it was too funny.

but all the kids listened - they filed out quickly and obidiently and went back to their music classes.

this morning after filling the book shelves on the only available wall at the time, stefani, audrey and i (the two other girls closer to my age - stefani's 23 and audrey's 16) headed over to the playground to play with the kids that were on break there. there was a group of three girls who took to me, and thus i gained more friends in the home:) their names: zulfa, juliet and aihda. such beautiful girls, with the most priceless smiles. after stef played with them on the slide a good while, they showed us their own merry-go-round type deal as well as the swings. the kids knew ring-around-the-rosies so we played that, but they had never heard of london bridges. so audrey and i showed them that game as well. a few of the littler ones would just go through and then hold on to my skirt, waiting for our arms to come down over them as we sang the "lock her up" part. it was too cute. they also taught me how to play their version of red rover. i wish i spoke the language so that maybe i could have learned the song. the boys lined up on one side and the girls on the other. each side draped their arms over the others shoulder and they chanted individual songs as they walked forward and kicked and walked back. then whoever's turn it was (the boys or the girls) would call one of the kids from the other side out, at which point the particular boy and girl would meet in between the two lines and hit hands singing a new song. at the end of the song they'd try and pull the other to their side (with of course the help of their teamates lol.)

lunch was different from yesterday but still good. the food here is different from most things ive tasted but not yet in a bad way - ive enjoyed all of it. today was "irish" mashed potatoes (haha - its just what they call white potatoes), with a beef stew of sorts, greens (spinach today) and then the constant bread and soda. today they'd prepared watermelon for us as well.

we got to sit in on the childrens worship service today too. it was awesome. they all have such beautiful voices and my little faith grace lead many of the songs - she has an amazing voice. prayers followed and to see all the kids so into their praise and worship time was great.. the little girls closest to me had nothing but praises to lift up to the Lord in prayer - even when compared to us they have so little..

Nana counted 416 bikes on the way to the home this morning just on her side of the van. i had only about 75 on my side of things so a rough total of close to 500 bikes. its insane. most people ride bikes or walk; very few ride in vans in the country-side. most of the bikes are boda-boda (bike taxis) where the women ride side-saddle behind the driver, or as many as 3 people may pile onto the small seat behind the main one of the bike driver. definately an interesting way to travel.