Getting ready to Peel Banana  

Mango Day

Cookie day!

Thanks to a generous donation by my parents I have been able to buy the kids at AMAP treats twice a week.  We started out with banana Fridays...we taught the kids the chant “Peel Banana, Peel Peel Banana...Go Bananas, Go Go Bananas” which they all go crazy for and now every time they want to sing it (which is pretty much all day) they either show me their banana (hands cupped together high over   their heads) or they get this sheepish grin on their faces and they go “Madam...Peel Banana” and then giggle with huge smiles on their faces.  It’s so cute. 

And the bananas are a huge success as well!  One of the crazy things to learn here is that there is very little concern about trash cans.  Trash piles up in the streets there are impromptu dumps all over the town.  So it’s really funny to watch the kids finish              

their bananas.  Rather than look for a trashcan (something we teach kids in the States almost immediately) the either drop the peel or throw it over their shoulder into the kid behind them or walk a few steps out of the classroom and chuck it as hard as they can.  At times this is hysterical, but also very sad.  This country is beautiful, but the amount of untreated trash everywhere really destroys the landscape.

After two success with bananas we changed it up and brought the kids cookies.  Another great day!  They are so funny about snack and treats.  Some gobbled them right up, others ate them like we’d eat an oreo...twist open the two sides, eat the center, and then smash the two ends back together.  Others would horde them away into their backpacks for later and still others would nibble a little at a time so that their cookies would last them all throughout the rest of class.

Mango day was a riot...every single one of the kids enjoyed their slices of mango down to the very core but the best part was that every single one of them was a sticky mess.  Their fingers, their faces, their clothes...everything.  We were probably their mom’s worst nightmare (since all clothing is washed by hand here).  But it was worth it...especially when we realized that we had enough to give out seconds and feed the mommas (wonderfully ladies who wash all the children’s dishes and always prepare their meal for them) as well.

Today we brought all the kids a juice box of mango juice (mango is the common theme because they are about to go out of season here).  Juice boxes were the most interesting snack to watch them take on.  First there is the challenge of the straw, getting it out of the paper and then placing it properly into the bow at the assigned spot.  Next, because we had the juice frozen overnight to keep it cold while it sat waiting to be eaten some of the boxes had a slush like consistency that the kids found so interesting.  Finally for those with just juice they were so cute trying to get every last drop of juice...even ripping the boxes open to inspect the inside to make sure that the box was in fact finished with juice.

On Thursday we’re taking them pineapple...