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During training, April had us go through a few exercises to get us into the correct mindset for what lay ahead of us. We went around the room and listed what we wanted to get out of the camp. Some girls said, "perspective" or learning things they could apply to their jobs. I was last and all I could say was "nothing". April seemed surprised that I didn't have more to add and encouraged me to continue but I didn't have anything else to say. I reflected throughout the day with why that was my only answer. I was concerned that, "nothing" sounded like I didn't want to be here, which was not true and was worried that that was why she looked confused by my answer and encouraged me to elaborate. There was the obvious reason why I said it at the time, because I'm not here for myself, I'm just here to help the kids and there's nothing that I'm looking to get out of this. But as I thought about it more, I realized that it was because while I knew I was going to gain a great deal from this experience, I don't have any expectations as to what I will get out of it, nor do I "want" something for myself.
Another exercise we did was closing our eyes and thinking back to a time when we were a child and she asked us all sorts of questions about what that time was like in our lives, who was there for us, etc. I found it embarrassing how little I remembered about those days, (thank goodness we didn't have to say our answers outloud,) but what I did find interesting was just how much my perceptions of what was going on back then had changed. How I would have dealt with my experiences and relationships differently if I just knew what I knew now, like with my mother. And at the same time, how I had met the goals I had set for myself of finding a job I loved and moving to New York City. Because some things never change.
The rest of the girls ate a quick lunch, (I had filled up on sweet breads at breakfast and wasn't hungry yet,) and then we learned "the dance". We would teach the girls an "8 count" every day and then on the last day, each group would make up their own 8 count to add on to the end and perform it in a dance contest. I had learned the dance from April a month or so prior back in NYC but as a girl that had to be taught what an "8 count" even is, this was definitely one of my first steps "out of the box" on this adventure.
After the dance, it was time to drop supplies off at the orphanage but there was one too few seats in the car. I stayed back at the hotel because I didn't want Kim to have to stay back in the hotel on her first day in Rwanda, I wanted her to get to see the city and the orphanage. So I blogged until they returned and got a lot done.
When they returned, we got ready and went to The Serena, a fancier hotel, to meet Willa and the rest of the group for dinner. Included in this group were the men that started and run the orphanage, (it was nice catching up with them although I'm not sure if they remembered me,) and we got to meet the people running the soccer camp for the boys, Opportunitas Aequa. Opportunitas Aequa was represented on this trip by 4 boys and 1 girl and they're based out of Canada. They go around repairing soccer fields and giving soccer camps to less fortunate kids, and through that teaching them life lessons. It was pretty amazing to hear how much they have done considering they are only my age. Also, one of the guys runs a very interesting "bucket list meets Make a Wish" website called The Buried Life.
As we sat at the dinner, a small band played random songs that we were familiar with, but mostly older tunes. But when "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..." came on, we got all excited, (Kim's a big country music fan.) And I loved when the singer crooned out a beautiful rendition of Alicia Keys's "No One". As I embarrassed Kim swaying along with the music, I remembered back to when Mom used to embarrass me when I was the age in the exercise we did earlier in the day and I realized there was a lot more of her in me then I even realized. And I wished she was was there to jam out with us haha.
We had a lovely buffet and banana wine (which I only tasted since I don't drink much.) There was yummy sweet potato and a pumpkin and pea dish but one of my favorite things on the menu is one of my new favorite omigosh-you-actually ate that foods: ox tongue!! It looks like a tongue, shape and all, complete with a vein on the end, but it actually tastes good. Reminds me of the fatty part of a roast beef in a pot roast or stew.
Almost everyone there knows a lot more about world events and politics then I do but as we were walking out late at night, I knew what it meant when I saw on a TV we passed that the former Lebonese leader had been killed by a car bomb. H's family is largely Lebanese and M's father shoots documentaries there and she was supposed to visit there later this summer. I dragged H to the screen and she couldn't believe it. She texted her mom, who hadn't heard yet, so we think it must have just happened.
Unreal. What a night. It is so hard to fall asleep, such a big day ahead: first day of camp!!
top pic: Willa & I
bottom pic: Katie, Joy (co-head of training center for baskets, Kim, me)
