In hiatus

While I am back in the good ol' USA, Fina has been keeping me abreast of her growing Saturday Kid's Club.  There are now enough children to separate out the older ones because their needs and interests are different from those of the younger children.  

Fina also emailed me asking what kinds of questions she should ask the children when returning books that they borrowed from her "library".  I suggested that she use open-ended ones, questions to make them think about what they have read. I have emailed her some examples, in French, that she might experiment with.  Below is Fina's "new" library shelving--as you can see, she has added doors (and wheels) to the shelves she bought recently which was pictured in my previous post.




































Here's the original photo below: 

The club has now grown quite large and there are a fair a number of older children, which is exciting. Fina is not short on ideas, and has brought in outside "speakers" and entertainment including having a kid's camp, various activities and competitions, puppet shows, and recently invited Mary (saxophone) and Damien (guitar) from SIL, introducing the children to instruments that they were unfamiliar with.  When shown a guitar and asked if they had ever seen one and what it might be called, one child asked if it were a "piano"! In the photos below you can see the separate "older" and "younger" children's groups.

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The above words were written back in September.  I have now returned to Paris, having arrived this morning, and am sorting through the clothing I have brought with me, the Africa-related stuff which I have left in my apartment, and the books I ordered for Fina before leaving for the US last spring.  I have also collected a few books and posters that I would like to give to a FAVL library as well, but I only have two small suitcases, and books are VERY heavy, as you all know.  Whatever was I thinking when I bought the hardback copies that I did?  Fortunately they are not all hardback!  I bought an inexpensive bathroom scale a few years back and have been packing, repacking, and weighing the items I intend to take.  I can probably squeak by the weight allowance, but just picking up the suitcases is going to be a challenge in itself.  My increasing osteoarthritis is not helpful, but recently my right wrist, which has undergone multiple surgeries, has been bothering me as well.  I'm wondering if some of the added bone-strengthening hardware, added after the last break, is the culprit.