3AM

It's three AM and I can't sleep. In fact, I just watched ABC's World News Tonight which is on every few nights here. I am having a really tough time of it this week-I'm pretty homesick. I'm also pretty sick, which I am sure does not make things easier. Then, tonight my DS comes home to tell me (for the second time) that someone has made a comment about not liking him because he is "brown". The first time this happened it was about a week into school and we had a little chat about how people can say not nice things, but that God made him a beautiful brown and loved him very much. Last night it was about kids telling him that he was naughty because he was brown. I knew that we would have to deal with this at some point, but age four seems so young. In some ways it makes me want to pack up my bags and get on an airplane. I know this type of stuff might happen at home, but there he has a family and not just his mom who has come with him halfway round the world. All of the other culture shock stuff, the other issues, seem so little next to this. I don't want him growing up thinking that his skin color makes him bad.
Mama triste,
ML