ity bity ballerina

Alesia is going well with ballet - though she still has issues with her left and right foot. Chris has started waking up in time to come along, so we settle Alesia at ballet and then walk to the Grand Khan Irish Pub for coffee and croissants. Why are there Irish Pubs in almost all countries? They also do a great hot cranberry tea, which is local cranberries steeped in hot water with plenty of sugar. I am sure the goodness of the cranberries is still there within the sugar! They have seen us there every Sunday for the past three weeks now, so we are basically regulars. Keira got a free ice cream last weekend - just what we need when it is minus 10 outside.

See how well Alesia can suck in her belly....she has become a fussy eater so has less to suck in. Every now and then she does a little step around the house that I can tell has come from ballet.

The girls in red tutu's have been doing this for two years, the girls in white have just started. The other thing we keep in mind when watching Alesia's performance is that she is in the class for 5-7 year olds, and she is only 4. She is so tall that they thought it was silly to put her in the class with the 3-4 year olds (Keira is bigger than them). Good Aussie blood makes for tall girls!

The girl in the red tutu is Urnaaka. She is 6 years old. Her mum is the translator at the SDA Mission here. It is thanks to Urnaaka that we are at ballet, and Alesia sticks pretty close to her when she feels nervous. Enjoy the short video below. Clearly Alesia is not going to be the prima dona of the class, but that isn't the point. At the end of the video there is a lovely shot of Keira admiring her big sister.