Summer
There are seasons in Africa, they are just a little bit harder to delineate than the ones in the US. The leaves don't change color to tell you it's a new season, and the temperature doesn't change that drastically, but there are seasons. When I read on facebook that most of our American friends were starting their summer vacation, or that it was Memorial Day already, I did a double take, because the thought of Summer caught me by surprise. The temperatures have been soaring above 100* F for well over 4 months now, and so it feels like it has been summer here since we arrived in December.
In order to keep track of the seasons, we need to do things that mark the time other than watch the weather, or go to school. This summer since we are continuing with school, we are also doing a couple things that hopefully will give our year a bit of a break-up. One is a summer reading challenge. One of our favorite book sites, Exodus Books, is giving away prizes to kids who read the most books over the summer. Eliana is convinced that she can win the grand prize...if only she can get her hands on enough of the books. The other kids will participate too, and hopefully by the end of the summer, Hali will be reading on her own. The other thing we are doing is a fitness challenge. Our friends here have invited all the kids in our town to a daily fitness challenge, and at the end of the summer we will all have a field day full of games and races. I am hoping to join the kids for at least 15 minutes of fitness fun each day too.
Other than that, our summer is going to look a lot like our spring. We will be finishing up our school year, sweating, learning Arabic, sweating and hopefully enjoying some rain showers...because after all, the season is about to change from "hot" to "hot and rainy"!
In order to keep track of the seasons, we need to do things that mark the time other than watch the weather, or go to school. This summer since we are continuing with school, we are also doing a couple things that hopefully will give our year a bit of a break-up. One is a summer reading challenge. One of our favorite book sites, Exodus Books, is giving away prizes to kids who read the most books over the summer. Eliana is convinced that she can win the grand prize...if only she can get her hands on enough of the books. The other kids will participate too, and hopefully by the end of the summer, Hali will be reading on her own. The other thing we are doing is a fitness challenge. Our friends here have invited all the kids in our town to a daily fitness challenge, and at the end of the summer we will all have a field day full of games and races. I am hoping to join the kids for at least 15 minutes of fitness fun each day too.
Other than that, our summer is going to look a lot like our spring. We will be finishing up our school year, sweating, learning Arabic, sweating and hopefully enjoying some rain showers...because after all, the season is about to change from "hot" to "hot and rainy"!
the reading contest sounds like fun. Do the kids have any favorite books yet? I'm going to check out the Exodus site & have already shared it with several people. I plan to mark this summer with as much swimming as possible but I have to join a gym before I can get that started! - Veronica
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