The Weather, Critters, and Kids

The weather here has been unseasonably cool. Not uncomfortable for us generally. Our work at Ibny with the children takes place in a very narrow room with 4 tables. It has no cross-ventilation so this cooler weather has been great for us. The sky clears and the shines and it warms up, then clouds come along with a cool breeze. Temperature has been between 60 and 70 F cooler at night.

We are enchanted by the small land turtle that lives in the back yard, the stripped snails that climb in the greenery, and the grey cat with the cropped tail that visits at meal time. He is fed at the kitchen door, but tries for food at the sliding door by the dining room. He is quite small, but looks healthy.

The kids have gotten to know us and we can hear a swell of sound when we walk into the building. They keep saying "morna," "morna," and reaching for whatever I have in my hand. So I asked their teach if "morna" meant "more" in Arabic. "No," she says, "the children think it means teacher, because you greet them when you come in by saying, "Good Morning (Morna). So they call you Morna. So now we are telling them to call you Teacher."