Fun and Games

So I have to admit that sometimes when you are on a missions trip you get to have a little bit of fun and play games. How can you not when you live in the same place as 46 kids?!? Here are some of my fun and games experiences:

- Hide and Seek Swazi style: You run and hide but they never really come to seek you because the point is for you to touch the base before the person that is it. So instead of you finding an amazing hiding spot you are just trying to outsmart the person who is it and is standing right in front of the base.

- Red Light Green Light: Yes, the kids of Hawane now know how to play this wonderful American game, even if some of them don't know what a stop light is!

- Phase 10: I brought a deck of Phase 10 cards and Uno cards with me to Swaziland and have thus far gotten to teach two of the homes how to play Phase 10. I will teach more tonight and tomorrow night.

- Julie knows Siswati words: At one of the homesteads there were 4 little kids, only one of which understood my English. So to play with them for a bit I just used my very basic Siswati - run, jump, sit, stand, and stop. We all had quite a fun time!

- Soccer: They love to play it here and the guys keep asking me if I play (I hurt my ankle before coming so have been trying to let it heal before getting too excited on the bumpy field). The guys play games against guys in the surrounding community on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and I am now the unofficial coach. They can all school me with their foot skills and speed, but I know the foundations of technique and tactics. Our first soccer lesson will be next Saturday.

- Phophanyane Falls: Jane (the nurse) and I did get away on Saturday for a bit of a hike at Phophanyane Falls. Unfortunately the water level was low so the falls were only have their normal size, but they were still nice. The hike up and down the mountain around the falls gave us both a great work out, though I think my lungs got the worst of it. I don't have too much trouble with the air up here, but when I start climbing up a mountain I suddenly realize how much less oxygen there is at this altitude compared to low lying Ohio.

Tomorrow we are having a Braai (barbeque) for the Swedish Team that has been here for 3 months and is going home. They are going to teach us a traditional Swedish game, so the fun will continue....