Jajja's home and Christmas Decorating

Sorry no post yesterday, we had a meeting in the morning to figure out the week and then had the rest of the day off where we just hung out. A few of us then caught a taxi to the craft market which is pretty much like a flea market but African style. It was amazing and I got lots of gifts for almost nothing. They figure that because we are white that we have money so they hike the prices up, so you have to really negotiate, which is not my strongsuit but I got really good deals o things.The power went out for about an hour and we all just sat around talking and used our laptops as lights. Technology... Today was the first day that I actually got to work with kids and  it was so exciting! We went to Jajja's home which I believe in a boarding home? Not quite sure, but there was kids of all ages. After we drove through the slums of a nearby subburb we arrived at the boarding house and pulled up to a huge iron gate with an 8ft high concrete wall that was topped with broken bottles for protection. The kids and adults greeted us with hugs right away and were so ecstatic to see us. We first sang songs to the kids and danced with them and introduced ourselves and the kids. We then played a game on decorating christmas trees. Where 2 teams had a kid be the christmas tree and in 10 minutes see who could decorate the kid the best and at the end we would vote at the end. The kids really ejoyed that. We then told them the story of Jesus' birth and then sang more songs. After that we passed out candy and presents and the kids all lined up patiently to get their 2 pieces of candy, silly bands and crayons with a small coloring book. They then showed us where they lived and the place was similar to were us missionaries are living now, but ours is a more westernized house. We left and a lot of the neighborhood kids came and waved to us. All the kids here love us mzungos and love waving to us. We got back around 11am and had lunch which was beans and rice for the first time since I got here( I was expecting that for lunch everyday) and it was actually really good! Our cook here is supposedly new and she makes amazing food. The house keeper came today and because kids are on vacation from school, she brought her son Luis, who is 5 and such a ball of energy. He was so much fun to play with and loves the American missionary, Craig, and will follow him around anywhere. Luis loved my little laptop and played with it and the buttons for awhile until I had to pry it from his hands. I then took a nap for a little while, had dinner which was sausage and chips(french fries) which are AMAZING here and I am obsessed with them. We are going to a childrens hospital tomorrow and putting on a Christmas party. So we just spent the last few hours making decorations and playing Christmas music. I really thought I would miss Christmas this year but everyone who is here is also sad that they are missing it so we are trying to make is as good as possible by playing Christmas music, making decorations for the house, cooking traditional meals that our families make and most likely watching ALOT of traditional Christmas movies (Griswalds family Christmas!) We will also be doing a secret santa sort of thing. Tomorrow is going to be really fun because we are putting on the Christmas party for the disabled children and feeding them. This is one of he homes that we are not supposed to take pictures at because the kids do have deformities but they said tomorrow would be ok because it's a party. So stay tuned for tons of pictures tomorrow!

To see all pictures, they are posted on my facebook