Kids

Yesteday Isha and I went for a walk to see the neighborhood behind our layout, and the park where I saw the statues standing in the rain. It was a very pleasant walk through the neighborhood. People were staring at us a lot, but as soon as I smiled and bobbled my head, they would grin back and then bobble their heads, suddenly we would feel accepted. It is really interesting how that simple little thing will change people's attitude so fast.

We saw just about everything on the way, men stripping down motorcycles to work on them, fruit vendors arguing, men taking a nap by the corner of a building. We even saw a couple of women leading a group of 5 or 6 cows somewhere. They just kept nudging them along, and one had to use her elbow on the rum of a particularly stubborn cow which didn't want to move out of our way.

But the best part of the trip was the kids. In the park, there is a walkway which is maybe a kilometer around. We walked clockwise and as we got to about 1:00, we ran across this group of children who were having fun walking through the park. We passed them, and then they yelled at us "Hello". So we replied, "Hello". There was one boy who could speak English, , but he was rather shy. None of the rest spoke any english. The boy would say something, and then dash back to the middle of the group and sort of hide there. He asked Isha what her name was, then me. Then he asked how old we were, and we told him. I then asked how old the tallest girl with them was, figuring she was somewhere between 10 and 12 by her size. She, through the translator, told me she was 14. She knew English numbers. I asked if I could take their picture, and they were very willing to let me, but then I had to show them all the picture, and they were thrilled. Then they insisted that Isha take one with me in the picture. It was really interesting how they warmed up and started hamming it up for the camera (all except the two older girls, one is almost hidden in the second picture.)

The best part of it all was when we were leaving. Shortly after the pictures were taken, we passed by a playground and they yelled goodbye and disappeared into the throng. We wandered on to the exit, and just before we got to the gate, the two older girls came runnning up and wanted to give 'auntie' Isha a kiss. I wish I had had the camera out for that, it was really cute. Oh well, it is a wonderful memory.