Sounds and Shopping

The symphony of sounds that come from the choir could not be mimicked except by accident. The morning starts with thumps on the floor from kids “climbing/falling” down from their top bunk of three. The bell rings people to attention and to place as they gather for meals. Cereal bowls create a nice clinking sound with hungry spoons; there are no Cheerios left behind or milk residue for that matter. Morning prayers said in unison before school have a sweet melody. Pencil sharpeners grind around the clock until play time. And then the real concert starts. The kids have found trash cans to bang on, but because they have rhythm, it sounds more like a scene from a Stomp show. In the background, bonks on the head from a soccer ball or skip of the jump rope add to the percussion piece. While I don’t plan on recording “The Sounds of the Children” (or at least not until the day before they leave), I do enjoy smiling at the sound of life all around.

I never thought about putting "shopping for 30 people" on a five year plan, and yet I found myself touring and scavenging the aisles of Sam’s Club with two other aunties this morning. Now, I am usually a person who goes with a list to the store, knowing the essentials I need and will probably use before nature starts eating the food. For this trip, however, I take a menu. A menu for the week with detailed ingredient lists. While for some getting enough potatoes to go with the meat in the freezer would be sufficient (and maybe some BBQ sauce), we try to provide a balanced meal for the children including VEGGIES! Well, a couple of hours after filling up 4 huge carts (which goes without saying at Sam’s where everything is BIG), we headed home with the groceries for the next few days. The kids were a bit perplexed by the food that just kept coming from the van.

I learned a few new Luganda words including:
Turtle/ tortoise: enfudu (ain foo doo)
very bad: kibinyo (chee bee Nyo-nasal sounding)
Did you like school?: Oyagalo soma?
School bag: ensawo eyokusomalo
Can I go for more?: Weyogeza? (za is low)
One day I’ll have the vocabulary to actually communicate with the kids in their native tongue, but of course that is only if they stop laughing at me long enough to hear.