Games, Days 3 & 4 (July 13th and 14th)

          On Wednesday and Thursday morning, our games team worked with the older kids from the school. Most of our students were ages 7 to 9 (1st through 3rd graders).  By now, our group has a much better handle on the flow of game transition.  On top of that, these older students have two to three years of english under their belts, so most of them understand us without the need of a translator.  We had a blast.  I was afraid that I'd feel tired, since we were at the end of our work week, but God just kept pouring out energy.  And I was happy to use it!
          Each session, we divided the kids into three circles. Ryan, our recent high school grad, would take a small group of students to the end of the field to play soccer, and the remaining games team members would take a circle of kids.  The older kids LOVED relay races, so we usually did two or three relay races a session.  My two favorite relays were the dizzy, dizzy relay (kids ran to a plastic bat, put the bat on their forehead and spun around three times, then ran back to tag the next runner) and a jump rope relay ("skipping").  The kids LOVED skipping rope, and turning it into a relay was a riot.  The teams would cheer for their teammates as they attempted to jump rope to the turn around point and back.  I also taught several groups the Hokey-Pokey, which was a riot.  I think they got more of a kick out of watching me do the silly song and dance than they did learning it!
          My favorite moments of games days three and four occurred on our last day.  We brought out about a dozen bubble sticks that our team brought with us to Kenya.  The last five minutes of each session, we'd grab a bubble stick and blow bubbles for the kids.  They LOVED it.  Most of them had never seen bubbles before.  In fact, we always handed their teachers a bubble stick, too, and three of the teachers had never seen bubbles before!  Light flooded the kids' eyes.  They chased, jumped after, and threw things at the bubbles to try to pop them.  In fact, one time, the kids started picking up nasty pieces of trash to throw at the bubbles.  I was blowing bubbles and trying not to get knocked over (kids accidentally jumped in to me more than once).  Suddenly, a nasty piece of plastic hit me right in the face!!  One of the kids had thrown it up at a bubble and it soared back down INTO MY FACE!  I managed not to freak out, but it was pretty gross. I tried not to think about what was on that piece of plastic.  The bubbles were such a huge hit with the kids.
          So, on Thursday afternoon, we wrapped up our last session of games for the VBS.  I felt a bit empty as we carried the suitcases back to the school for the last time.  I loved game time. I loved being outside with the kids, just playing with them. I loved that I got hugs and high fives at the end of each session (once the kids almost hugged me to the ground).  Joy and laughter filled my mornings, and it was such a place of happiness.  I was a bit sad as I walked off the game field for the last time.  I knew I was really going to miss my time playing with the kids of Kosovo school.