Friday, February 1st

(I meant for this to be posted last Friday but I was having technical difficulties. Sorry it is so overdue!)

Today I reached two major milestones.

First, it is now February! Can't believe this is already my second (and last!) month here. January sure went by fast! I brought over a bag of dark chocolate M and Ms from the States that I was saving for today as a little celebration that I had accomplished my first month here, but I actually opened them on Wednesday. Oops. :) But, I can now enjoy a few M and Ms everyday until I go home.

Second, I recognized one of my student's siblings today. This may not sound like an accomplishment, but let me explain. You see, at first all of the students tended to look a little bit alike- they all wear uniforms and they seem to have similar features and hair. But, now that I've spent 3 1/2 weeks going to the school everyday, I can easily distinguish one child from another. And, not only that, I have begun to be able to pick out family resemblance! This actually happened twice this week; I noted two little girls that looked like they were sisters to two of the girls in my class, and I was right. Their eyes and faces looked similar. I am so happy that I am able to notice these things about the kids, and so happy that God gave me the ability to remember distinguishing characteristics of the kids. :)

Now, more about today:

Today when I went to school, the kids were all lined up in rows in the courtyard by age. (They do this every Monday and Friday as a way to open and close the week.) They usually go through a time of singing, announcements, reminders, Bible reading, and prayers. Well, to my surprise, right before they were going to begin the Bible reading and prayer, one of the teachers asked if I was ready to lead...I was caught off guard, but being flexible is definitely one thing I've become well acquainted with here in Kenya! I dug my Bible out of my backpack and opened up to Psalms. I read a Psalm about praising God for his wonderful creation and his faithfulness. I can't remember now exactly what Psalm it was, but it seemed fitting for the moment. I then prayed for the kids to have a wonderful day, to stay focused, to do well on their upcoming exams next week, and thanked God for bringing us all safely to another day at school...it was actually a lot of fun to read the Bible and pray like that! Also, when I read the Bible verses, Andrew (the head teacher) translated for me. That was a new/different experience to stop after every sentence so I could be translated...but, guess what, while here I've learned to speak slowly!! A first for me! (haha). When I was doing all of this, I was standing up on the concrete steps that lead into Andrew's office overlooking the courtyard where all the kids were standing and looking at me read the Bible and pray over them. The 6th graders that I caught eyes with smiled and I felt so reassured and affirmed that, even though I was unprepared, God was equipping me for that moment. It was such a surreal experience. One of the other teachers, Hillary, took a bunch of pictures of both the kids and me. I was so excited to have those pictures...but when I went to review them on my camera a second time tonight, they were gone! :( It is just one of those sad, mysterious, unfortunate aspects of technology. I am still praying that God will do a miracle and let the pictures reappear (I know it's not the end of the world if I never get them back again, but the moment was just so special I would love to be able to relive it though pictures.) I'm also hoping that maybe the pictures are just gone on the camera, and are somehow still on the memory card and will show up when I put the card into the computer. We'll see.

After the morning assembly, it was time for PPI- which stands for Pastoral Instruction. (I can't remember what the second "p" is for.) PPI is the first class period for all the grades on Friday mornings. For pastoral instruction, the kids sing praise songs to God, listen to a mini-sermon and BIble verse, pray, and give any testimonies and prayer requests that they have. It's very fun! :) Last week, I was with 7th grade, this week I was with 5th. I liked doing both. The 7th graders were more willing to share during testimony time, but the 5th graders were great listeners when I read the passage, which was Philippians 4 where it starts with "Rejoice in The Lord always, I say it again rejoice!" and talks about how we should pray instead of worry. (I thought this would be a good reminder for them as they have exams coming up. They take exams at the end of every month; usually the first week of the new month is exams that test the previous month's learning. At least that's how I understood it.)

After PPI, I taught two sessions of math with the 6th graders- we finished up adding and subtracting mixed numbers, and then reviewed everything they had learned up to this point. (Interesting fact- what we call "review", they call "revise". So when I want them to think about what we did yesterday, I say, "Let's revise what we learned yesterday." It's a little weird to say it like that. I'm not sure what they call it when they fix a composition...maybe they just call it editing, and make no distinction between edits and revisions...but I digress. Again, something that's probably only interesting to other teachers! :))

After math, it was onward to English. We are working on writing a class alphabet book about Kenya (modeled after the book "A is for Africa", which is primarily about Nigeria). I assigned each student a letter (some letters have two students) and their task was to come up with something that is uniquely Kenyan that starts with that letter. (For example, the student who had the letter "p" wanted to do "pigs" but I said no...I wanted him to think about something that is special to Kenya that starts with P. He still hasn't decided what to write about yet.) So, today I met one-on-one with all the kids to discuss their letter and check on their progress. Most students had decided on a noun to go with their letter, which was great! We then discussed the different adjectives and describing sentences that they could use to go with their nouns. My ultimate goal in all of this is to get the kids to write the words, then when I'm home I'll use their words with my pictures (or Internet pictures if I have to) to make a real ABC book about Kenya written by the class...I could then share this book with my future classes and, ideally, also get a copy to the school here to share with my 6th grade class and the other classes!!! But, we'll see how it turns out. So far, I'm encouraged by their progress and we have three more weeks to get it done!

Actually, that brings me to my next point- I only have 12 more days teaching!!! That is so insanely sad, I don't want to think about it. This week at the school, I felt so comfortable and really hit my stride...and now it's drawing to a close! :( But, the next 12 days of teaching are going to be so wonderful!!! :)

I only have 12 days at school because starting tomorrow through next Wednesday, I'll be traveling to the towns of Samburu and Nakuru. In Samburu, we are visiting with the village people, dedicating a well that has been recently dug, hopefully seeing the progress that's been made on another new well, and visiting with widows. I've heard that going to Samburu is like stepping back in time and that it is quite remote. I can't wait to see what it's all about! Then, in Nakuru, we'll be going on safari!!! :) After we return from Nakuru, I'll have Thursday and Friday at school, and then I'll have two straight weeks with the kiddos. Then...it will be last week here in Africa and I'll be traveling to Ethiopia with Vickie to see some International Childcare Ministries there. When I get back from Ethiopia, I'll have just ONE day left in Kenya...and then I'll fly home! CRAZY.

Well, I feel like this blog post has covered a lot of ground and isn't nearly as cohesive and well-written as my other posts, but...hopefully you enjoyed reading it!

Love,
Ashley