Tuesday morning

On Tuesday morning, Bryn, Christine and I were invited to College Evangelique Maranatha to speak to the 11th grade English class. Evens, Alex, Argentine, Stephanie, and Kattia are in 11th grade at Maranatha and they made the fatal mistake of mentioning to their English teacher that some Americans were staying at the orphanage. So we got volunteered to speak to the whole class about sports.

We arrived at Maranatha at 8am. The entire school was gathered for morning prayer. Beyond our 5 children, there are several boys and girls who attend Maranatha that I know through church or through playing at the seminary. They were walking on air from the prestige that knowing us personally gave them over the other kids. Later, my buddy Jude said that he was hoping that I would call him out of line to come greet me. He would have been so proud!
Evens introduced the guest speakers. "This is Bryn, she works with the children at the pension. She is very shy so be nice to her and listen to what she has to say. This is Christine. I don't know her. And this is my friend Kez. She is not shy at all. What animal do you think she looks like? I'll tell you. She looks like a rabbit." Definitely the best introduction I've ever been given.

I told the hundred year story of the Boston Red Sox, the Curse of the Bambino and the long road to breaking the curse. When I finished, Christine explained how the game is played. The students were having a hard time grasping it, so we decided to demonstrate for them. I pitched an imaginary ball to Bryn with Christine as my catcher. Bryn got a hit with her imaginary bat and then we needed a new batter. I called Evens up and made him bat, then I called Alex up. I looked at our girls and could tell that they would never forgive me if I made them get up in front of the whole class, so I went looking for volunteers instead.

Now before we had arrived at Maranatha , the girls had been telling us about some of their classmates. They mentioned a boy named Jefferson who is "girly" according to them, so the entire class calls him Dolores. When I asked for volunteers, no one raised a hand, so I walked out to choose someone. One of our girls whispered, "Get Dolores!" so I went for it. "Where's Dolores?" The class went crazy laughing while Dolores came up front. I had Dolores hit an imaginary grand slam to finish the demo, but the class was going into hysterics of laughter every time I called him Dolores. To have an outsider, particularly a white outsider, take part in their ongoing joke was apparently the highlight of their day. He took it all very good naturedly and even let me take his photo.