Kicking Off Ramadan with @abubility and @lbility After A Day Meeting Ubuntu Kids and Volleyball

Eight years ago, I met the Bility twins in an advanced ESL class as they were transitioning from their Liberian ancestry into the mainstream English classrooms in their high school in upstate New York. Fast forward, and the twins will be working with CWP-Fairfield to host the second rendition of Ubuntu Academy with young men and women arriving from various countries around the world as they, too, enter classrooms with American-born peers. Yesterday morning, we stopped at Bassick High School to meet some of the students and then we went to campus to begin preparing for the summer work.

To celebrate, we headed to the beach with Steve V, one of my graduate students, Chitunga, and several of his friends for a few hours of volleyball until we worked up an appetite and headed home to make a spicy rice dish, some barbecue, and a last hoorah before the four weeks of fasting.


The evening was well spent talking about relocation, high school, the inevitable bullying in American classrooms, and keeping a focus on the FOCUS. Everyone once in a while I can cook a pretty delicious meal and last night was one of this evenings. Of course, there's no way I can maintain such a schedule because working all day and cooking all night is simply impossible - this coming from the cheese and crackers king. Still, it was nice to make 332 Mt. Pleasant come alive with the hospitality and the toast to Ramadan and the no-eating ritual to follow.

And I needed a reason to celebrate, because we finally found out what was wrong with the dryer. After several inspections, the town's interception on permits, and a closing, somehow the electrical work went through even when it was done incorrectly. The joy of home-ownership, however, is that once the paper work is signed, it falls to the home owner - in this case me - to front the bill. I think I will need to find a job to moonlight.

Still, I couldn't be happier making the arrangements for this summer that I have and a well-fed stomach is a good stomach. This will not, though, be a norm. I don't have the time to cook like this every night, especially when all the classes begin.