Tuesday, May 21st:
Today was our unexpected day off of school. I spent most of the morning packing boxes ... the hardest part is deciding what will stay and what will come back with me. In the afternoon, Hannah and I made a chicken, bacon, bleu cheese pizza. Since there was extra pizza dough, we also made some pizza pockets for a meal later this week when things are busy (and too hot to cook). The weather has been heating up, and with the oven on, our kitchen was stifling by the time we finished!
Hannah made a garlic dip, so I cooked up some tortillas that we fried up to go with the dip. After our yummy pizza meal, we went over to John and Mary's for games and garlic dip. Our mouths were hot by the time we finished there! :)
Wednesday, May 22nd:
This morning, John went to play basketball with the expats and ended up dislocating his finger! Ouch! Thankfully Andy was there and put it back in place...
After lunch, I walked down to the market (it was definitely warm/hot) to exchange money and pick up groceries. When I got back, I went on a couple of visits. My first visit was to see my friend T (the one who helped me connect with the orphanage.) She is working for a different organization now. Her organization partners with the government to create parent/teacher/student groups that address the needs of the local public school within various neighborhoods. It is a lot of work, but allows her to be creative and is in a field she enjoys. It was good to see her again. As I met her co-workers (some of them are Americans helping with the Syrian refugee camp), she introduced me as her "best friend in Duhok." That really broke my heart ... she has said it before, but I know her so little. And now I am leaving...
After an hour visit, I went over to H's house (her son goes to CSM and she has been such an encouragement to me). We had a good two-hour visit. It will be hard saying goodbye to her and her family.
From there I went to the orphanage. The girls were really happy to see me (the last few times I've gone by they have been away). We sat in their room and talked, then they took me out to the garden...
We played on the swing...
And they showed me some frogs that were hopping all over the place:
I stayed there for about two hours, then walked back home. Everyone had met up for dinner (they saved me some) and then we had our Skype call. Possible changes coming up, but we'll have to wait a couple weeks to see what really happens. Hannah and I came back to journal, then I crashed for the evening.
