Another Day In Kenya

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post: Last night we went to a very fun restaurant for supper. It was called "Hot Pot". It's a Chinese restaurant, owned by one of the many Chinese families that live in Nairobi. In the middle of the table was a giant hot plate on which they placed a big bowl of boiling broth. Then, they brought platters of a variety of things to the table (bok choy, spinach, meat, dumplings, noodles, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, etc) that you dropped in the broth. We watched the stuff cook in the boiling broth and then we used a ladle to serve it to everyone. We all had little bowls and ate it family style- it was so fun and different! I loved the noodles and veggies; I tried to avoid the meat because it was a little tough and stringy like undercooked bacon, but the soup was overall very good! The best part was the tea, which they called "Chinese Flower Tea". It was really good and they just kept bringing an endless supply! :)

Today (Tuesday) was a wonderful day at the school!!

I had to laugh serval times because things happened that were just so Africa! First, a goat walked into our classroom right during my lesson. It was so funny because it was so different than anything that would happen in the States! Then, a little later, I looked at the students and there was a giant grasshopper-looking bug perched on top of a boy's head! The boy didn't even notice (or he wasn't bothered if he did notice)! He was just going about his day and I said, "You have a bug on your head!" To which the class responded, "It's a locust!" The boy and his buddies then got some very mischievous smiles and I said, "Don't even think about throwing that at me! Go take it outside!" The boy did take it out, and the whole class laughed. It was a fun bonding moment. :)

Today was different than all the other days I've been here because it rained!! Today was the first time the sun hasn't been shining in all the days I've been here. I learned several things about the rain:
1. The dusty school grounds became the MUDDY school grounds. The water runs into the classrooms and turns the floors into mud puddles. I dropped my notebook into one of the puddles and it looked just like on Beauty and the Beast when Belle pulls her book out of the mud puddle and mud just drips off...but, at least I didn't ruin anything that important!
2. When the rain comes down really hard, teaching is impossible because it beats on the corrugated iron roof and you can't hear anything but the rain.
3. Inside recess doesn't exist, Instead, break times are just shuffled around to match when there was a break in the rain. Then, if it did start to rain during break, the kids would either stay out or hurry back into the classrooms.
4. It was cold! (Relatively speaking, of course! :))

Today was also special because...drum roll please...we had rice and beans for lunch!!! Instead of ugali and the green things we usually eat, there was rice! And beans! They were so good! When they pulled the lid off of the ugali pot and there was rice in it instead my heart literally leapt with joy! I enjoyed every single bite; it was made all the sweeter by the simple fact that it was NOT ugali! I prayed throughout the meal, though, for the kids who are STILL going without. The UN is really starting to make me mad...get the kids some food already!

For my lessons today, the 6th graders learned about the phrase "too + adjective" (like too hot, too big, too heavy, etc.) and read a story about a little boy who got diarrhea from eating rotten mangoes that he found on the ground. No joke, that's what they story was about! (Many of the stories in their books are very applicable to real life here in Kenya.) Oh, and more good news- our book count was up to 13 today! On the other hand, our student count was up to 35...it's such a terrible book:student ratio. We also talked about character/setting/plot and did some comprehension questions and a "reader's theatre" type activity by acting out a dialogue.

With the 5th graders, we learned that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God! We talked about the various aspects of our personalities and bodies that God has made and memorized the verse in Psalms that talks about how we're fearfully and wonderfully made. We then played "Ashley Says" (instead of "Simon Says") to show all the great things God made our bodies able to do...it was so fun! After I gave the directions, I let some of the kids take turns being the direction-givers. Our first direction-giver was named David and he did a great job! The rest of them spoke too quietly for the whole class to hear. I don't think they're used to doing activities like that. There were 45 kids in that class- all packed into a tiny room. I don't think I'm going to be able to learn all their names, especially because I only teach CRE (Christian Religious Education) 3 times per week.

I helped teach 5th grade PE with one of the other teachers (Hillary). Hillary led the games and I just helped. We played in the courtyard of the school and I learned a lot of fun Kenyan games! We did the hand-clap games like the ones we played with the kids at church on Saturday as well as some other running based games. They played a version of duck-duck-goose except everyone squatted instead of sat (which was painful for my thighs! haha), and the runners ran in opposite directions around the circle instead of the same direction. And, they tapped people by hitting them with a rolled up sweater instead of their hands. I'm not sure what the chant they said as they went around was because it was all in Swahili. It was fun, though!

As soon as I got home (around 4) we left for prayer meeting at the church. It was a very moving experience of worship as we sang "I Surrender All"...somehow that song (and many others) have so much more meaning in a place like Nairobi...

After prayer meeting, we went with the US team to a hamburger place to eat supper. Overall, it was a great day!

I'm very excited to go back to school tomorrow, and the US team is going to be there doing some teaching about first aid and basic health.

One thing you can pray for is that I learn all 35 of my 6th graders names...I am trying SO hard but I need some divine intervention to remember them all!! It is VERY important for me to be able to call their names for classroom management and involvement. Also, it's my personal conviction that I need to learn their names so that I can show them that I care and value each individual student as a person...so, just pray I can remember their names and distinguish each student from all the other students! (Not that they all look alike, because they don't, but especially when they're wearing uniforms, some of them look similar. It's especially hard with the boys because they all have almost the same hair.)

The last thought I'll leave you with is a comparison of some of the different ways they use English here: "students" are more often referred to as "pupils". "Lesson plans" are called "schemes". When something looks cute, you say it is "smart". The students write in "exercise books", not "notebooks". I think I mentioned this one before, but they use chalkboard "dusters", not "erasers". It's just funny how even some things in English are different!

Love,
Ashley