Long distance calls

The girls tried to call me last night while I was eating dinner. I freaked out because they never call me unless something bad is going on. I called them back immediately, and it turns out that they just called because they were worried about the internet being shut down and they wanted to make sure that I knew about the situation. I explained about the board's concerns, and then we just chatted. They told me about school, about the weather in Haiti right now, about Merline Jean being back, about their friends, about the porridge (la bouille) that they had eaten that day. They gave me a bunch of messages to pass on to parents and friends, now that they can't email any more, and they told me a million times that they loved me. Unfortunately, a lot of "Kisa?" and "Mwen pa ka tande ou byen!" was said, so I didn't get as much out of the 43 minute call as I would have liked. And I didn't get to talk to the boys. But, considering the fact that I called only the boys during the summer, I figure this is only fair. Although, if the internet is permanently nixed, my phone bill is going to climb significantly.

It's funny talking to the kids on the phone. Some of them are so difficult to understand, and their voices are virtually unrecognizable. Others, like Stephanie, Argentine, and Jephycca, have the most distinct voices in the world and you know who you're talking with the minute they say "Koman ou ye?" In the background, you can hear the multidude screaming things they want someone to tell me and of course, lots of giggling. I can just imagine them in the older girls' room, passing the phone around, running through the house to call everyone, "Kez is on the phone!" What do you talk about though? I can't tell them about my life because it is completely foreign to them. But they don't want to talk about themselves because they always think that nothing has happened, when it is exactly that "nothing" that I want to hear about: who lead devotions yesterday, where did they go to church, have the girls been playing volleyball, how do they like their new uniforms, is anyone is trouble, did any new babies come into NLL, has anyone's biological parent come to visit, how are the boys.... I really should write a list of questions before I call them. If you don't ask, they won't tell. The boys are a lot better at this than the girls - I would call Emmanuel during the summer and he would talk for ages about anything and everything that was going on at the orphanage. I would just sit there and grin stupidly, even if I didn't understand exactly what he was saying - it was just that special to hear his voice. Same thing with the girls last night. I would hear their voices and get chills just imagining their beautiful smiling faces.