This calls for a party! After a relaxing day at the park and picking up a few groceries, Misty and I decided we would have a movie night with the boys here at home. We bought some pop and popcorn, set up our laptop and put on Mr. Bean’s holiday which I burned to a cd in Canada. We figured this would be one of the best movies we could all watch together because it does not have a lot of talking.
Since we do not have a dvd player here, the only way to watch it was on my laptop. We hooked up some speakers so that the sound was loud enough for everyone to hear, put the computer on a chair and we were set. It is amazing how 12 boys can sit close enough so that they can all see off my 15inch laptop screen, without any fighting or arguments.
We made a little bag of popcorn for each child. The reason for this was because if we didn’t the older boys would get all of the popcorn, leaving the younger children with nothing. This is another way the hierarchy works here. The younger children are always picked on as well, but it is not seen as a problem as they just believe that they will have their chance when they are older.
One thing that surprised me was the way they ate the popcorn. I figured since they do not get popcorn every day, or ever, that they would eat it as fast as they could. Yet most of the boys savored it, eating it slowly piece by piece. Some of the boys finished faster than the others, and the others shared theirs with them. Some of the boys were carrying around their bags and not eating any of it. I asked why this was and it was because some of them just wanted to save it for later. Not because they did not want it now, but they just wanted to hold on to it as long as they could. It is funny how they are sometimes. SiJie was telling me that the other boys at the villa had scrambled eggs this morning. That is also a treat. They ate all of their fish and vegetables first and left their scrambled eggs untouched on the plate until the very last possible moment.
When many of the children were finished their popcorn they sucked the butter off of the bags for the rest of the movie. They wanted to make sure they got whatever they could from it.
This reminds me of another story. The other day Misty treated herself to some Fruit Loops. After having a bowl for breakfast, the box was not properly shut, and the bugs got into it. Sadly, Misty ended up throwing the rest out. Later that afternoon the boys offered her fruit loops that they were carrying around in their pockets. They found the box in the garbage and were carrying them around hidden so that some of the others did not see. They were snacking on them all day, bugs and all, knowing that there were bugs on it. To them it is just a bug, no reason to waste perfectly good food.
It is amazing what these children are grateful for. During the meal prayers they thank everyone for everything, including us for being with them. They appreciate all of the little things in life, from thrown out Fruit Loops to buttery popcorn bags. I wish we were all a little more like them.
In other news, we have a new roommate! However, he or she came uninvited and seems to not understand that we all have our own space. Instead Mr. Gecko likes to take ownership of our whole room. He/she moved in the other day but we were hoping it was only temporarily, like for the evening. However he showed himself again at breakfast this morning, before he disappeared behind my armoire. We have decided that if he is going to be a long term guest we need to set up some ground rules, for example, he/she is only to stay on the ground or on the walls, our bed is off limits! Also, we feel that he/she should be named. I will update with more later.
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