International Children's Day

International Children's Day is celebrated on June 1st in most former Communist countries, and it involves childrens' programs being shown on TV and no school. In SOS, we celebrated by playing games ranging from Playstation 2 to foosball.

Foosball is by far the most competitive non-contact game we play in SOS. In actuality, it turns into a contact sport, because I constantly have to play referee and break up fights that inevitably occur. The kids have an insatiable competitiveness that results in a total dislike for losing. One minute they're best-friends and enjoying the taste of success, and the next they're complete enemies ready to rip each other to pieces because one person let the other team score the final goal.

Playstation 2 is the biggest hit for the children in SOS, because there's only one in the village. The children have computers in their homes so they're able to play PC games, but Playstation 2 games draw all of the attention. I have to set a time limit for the Playstation because otherwise there would be the same two children playing the entire time. No one wants to give up the seats in front of the TV for those games - it's like trying to get a front row seat to a Lil' Wayne concert!

The computer games are usually relegated to the children who don't have the audacity to fight and claw their way for a chance to play the Playstation 2 or foosball. It's a shame because I've spent hours trying to download fun games, only to realize that no one wants to play them. The children that do play computer games want to play internet games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, or spend their time talking on Skype. It's okay, though, because it just makes me realize how disconnected I am from the gaming world. When I was the kids' ages I was just as in-the-know about Playstation and computer games as they are now, so maybe it's a sign that I need to put down the books in my free time and check out the popular internet games. I never thought I would say that, but it's for the kids at the moment.

By the way, I just finished reading two new books in the past two weeks: Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel and The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell. If anyone's interested they are both excellence reads. Martel has to be one of the best writers out at the moment, and my new favorite author. I find it amazing how he is able to write so exquisitely about a topic such as the Holocaust, but disguises it in such as way that the reader isn't really focused on the horrors of that period, but more so, the meanings of life and death. I wouldn't rank it higher than his acclaimed book, Life of Pi, but it's worth reading if you enjoy good literary work. The Man from Beijing is crime novel that pulls the reader in from the start on a long twisty ride, and doesn't let go until the end. In the beginning, an entire village is gruesomely murdered in Sweden, except for three people, which leads investigators to speculate why. Mankell takes the reader from present day Sweden to 19th century China and America to Mozambique.

Well, that's all for now.

Quotes of the Day:

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." - Aseop

"Faith is like being in the sun. When you're in the sun, can you avoid creating a shadow? Can you shake that area of darkness that clings to you, always shaped like you, as if constantly to remind you of yourself? You can't. This shadow is doubt. And it goes wherever you go as long as you stay in the sun. And who wouldn't want to be in the sun?" - excerpt from Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

Beat on Repeat:

"Spanish Joint" - D'Angelo

Peace, Love, Understanding...