After school today, I decided to walk home with one of my
students, Derrick Opata. He’s one of the second graders that I’ve been working
with and I thought it would be fun to see where he lives and also to meet his
parents. Like most of the students at NAP, Derrick (more commonly referred to
at school as Opata) lives very close to the school. I don’t think it took
longer than five minutes to walk from school to his house. When we got there, I
was introduced to his aunty (whose three children all go to NAP as well) and
his mother. According to his mom, Opata is going to have a new baby sibling
next month some time! She told me I was more than welcome to come visit the
newborn baby if he/she’s born before I leave. I’m really excited.
Opata’s family, his cousins, his grandmother, and another
student from NAP all live in the same building complex so their little yard was
quite literally crawling with children. I was definitely a little jealous.
Since my sister is so much older than me, I didn’t really have any playmates in
my house after 3rd grade and Opata has like 3 or 4 other elementary
school kids living with him with just as many toddlers! I imagine there’s
seldom a quiet moment in that yard.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before or not, but many
people, when they meet me, ask me if I can take them to America when I leave.
Today was no different. I wasn’t sure if Opata’s mom was joking or not, but
about 10 minutes after getting to their house, she asked if I could bring Opata
to America at some point. When I first got here, I wasn’t sure what to say. I
obviously couldn’t say yes, but I didn’t want to sound too harsh and say “no,
absolutely not” either. By now, though, I’ve come up with a well-rehearsed
answer that dodges the question completely. Instead of saying yes or no, I just
laugh and say, “I’m still in college, I can barely take care of myself!” This
usually leads to questions about Dartmouth, some comment about my age (most
people seem to think I’m in my late 20s. One guy even told me he thought I was
30), or confusion as to why I’m not taking classes. Either way, the topic of
bringing them with me to the U.S. is generally forgotten and the conversation
moves on. Moral of the story: when you have to answer an uncomfortable
questions… just change the subject. That’s healthy, right?
After sitting with Opata’s family for an hour or so, I
decided it was time for me to go home. Opata and three other kids insisted on
walking me home because they wanted to see my room and because their parents
were worried I was going to get lost. It was 5PM and still light out. Everyone
seems to constantly worry about me getting lost. All I had to do was turn from
Opata’s street to mine and walk in a straight line until I got to my building,
but they still insisted. Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t be complaining, I got to
be accompanied by four cute little kids on my walk home from work.
On an unrelated note, plans for my school choir are finally
shaping up and I’ll be starting auditions either tomorrow or the day after.
Since all the students leave school at different times, though, it means my
choir will have to be a before-school extracurricular. We’ll rehearse from 7-8
in the morning. This isn’t ideal for their voices and definitely not ideal for
my sleeping habits, but I’m really excited either way. My current idea for the
choir’s name is “The NAPsters”, but I’m open to suggestions. I came up with that
name in like two seconds so I’m sure there are better options out there.
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| Opata's on the left, Enoch's second on the right, and Opata's cousin Kekeli is on the far right. |
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