Saturday, February 16, 2008

Ava's Losing It

Ava is one of the few kids in her class who had not lost a tooth. Tonight she joined the ranks of the holey-smilers. She had just finished telling her teacher how she would never ever pull her own tooth out when it just fell out! She was very excited, and completely amazed that there was another tooth already growing in beneath/behind it! She carefully carried it around to show her friends, carefully set in a place where she would remember it, and promptly forgot it as we drove away. After a few tears, Cameron suggested that she write a note to the Tooth Fairy explaining what happened and that that would be just as good as leaving the actual tooth. Ava went straight to work as soon as we got home. It worked, too--Ava is now 2,000 shillings richer!

The style of cursive they use here is quite different from what it taught in the US. Basically they use the same letter formation as in printing, but connect the letters together. The kids call it joined-up writing, not cursive. Because the shape of the letters is the same as in printing, they start it much earlier than in the States. Ava loves joined up writing. In translation, "tgt" is the rugby club where we hang out a lot and were eating dinner there.



Happy happy girl!

2 comments:

Karen said...

Woo-Hoo!!! What does the Tanzanian Tooth Fairy bring to holey-smilers?

shawn said...

WOW!! CONGRADULATIONS AVA!! I am sure that you were thinking that it was about time!! and the note was BEAUTIFUL!! I am sure that the tooth fairy understood! Next time I see her at work I will have to ask her!