This past weekend I went to visit one of my friends, Danielle, at her site and it was probably my best weekend so far. Danielle lives in a town called Litein which is about 5 hours away. So to make the trip worth it, I left on Friday morning (I worked it out so I would not miss any of the classes I teach on Friday). I piled into a matatu (14 passenger van which they normally stuff at least 20 people into) at 7:40 in the morning and arrived in Litein at 1:30 after transferring matatus in 3 different towns. It was my first time traveling by myself here but everything went great! The drive there was beautiful. Pictures just do not do justice to the beauty. Litein is the tea country so there are a bunch of bright green fields with rolling hills. Never pictured that to be Africa. Kinda reminds me of Scotland in a way… weird.
Once I arrived we went back to Danielle’s house on the school compound and there were 3 other teachers that she works with cooking lunch for us! They were so sweet. I was told they even cleaned her house since I was coming! They made chapati (Kenyan style tortillas) a salad type thing (that had tomatoes in it and yet I thought it was good!) and chicken. Even though I decided to be vegetarian, I ate the chicken…. couldn’t turn it down. It was delicious! They laughs were never ending as we were all sitting there eating lunch together. I went to class with Danielle (Kenyan sign language class 8) and met some of the students. When we walked up all of the students just swarmed us and wanted to meet me. It was so cute! They all started to tell me their names and asking my name and where I was from. She works at a primary school so there are kids from whats equivalent to kindergarten through 8th grade. Apparently she was talking about me all week to the students, so the students were very excited for my arrival.
Danielle showed me around town, during which it seems the crazy people found and flocked us. Its amazing how much attention 2 mzungus can get in a kenyan town. Then for the rest of the Friday night we just hung out in her house talking about life at our sites, the culture, friends and our home back in the US. We stayed up until 11 pm! Which is pretty late for me, hah. Saturday morning we woke up and ate a delicious pineapple for breakfast. Fruit, especially mangoes and pineapple are really cheap at her site. (pineapple costs about 34 american cents!) We decided to head to Kericho (which is about 45 min from her town) for the day. There is a big supermarket there comparable to krogers. We bought ice cream there! So we walked to a park in the town and enjoyed our ice cream sitting on the grass underneath a tree. We had lunch then at a hoteli. I’m pretty boring and just ate chips (fries). Arriving back to Litein from Kericho, it was raining. Kenyans seem to have a fear of rain... and do not go out in it. So being crazy mzungu, we decided to run back to the school even though it was pouring down rain. As we were running back, a car drove by and of course drove right through the huge puddle of muddy water right as we were passing it. My entire left side of my body, including my mouth, got covered in the muddy water, haha.
Once we got back to the house, we changed into dry clothing and curled up under our sleeping bags and watched some much needed chick flicks. That evening we went up to the dining hall to hang out with the students for a bit before they went to bed. It was sooooo much fun! The students ended up showing me some dances. One of them was a Scottish dance, and the deaf students probably have better rhythm than I do. After they showed us the dances, the students wanted danielle and me to show them some american dances. So we did the chicken dance, macarana, and the electric slide. They picked it all up really fast.
So after the dances were finished, instead of going to bed like they were supposed to, they decided to seperate and swarm Danielle and myself. We both had about 20 kids surrounding us. Asking my questions about america and mumias, and also random questions about what food I eat. They are so amazed by arm hair and will just rub my arm. One of the kids pinched the side of my hand, and since it was soft, said that I don’t work very hard, haha. They then continued to compare both Danielle and myself saying that I was whiter than danielle, Danielle is stronger than me, and i have hairer arms than her. As they are around they all end up at one point holding my hand and feeling my arm. My watch ended up lighting up since the button got pushed, and one little boy was just so amazed by it. He looked up at me wide eyed, and mouth gaping open. Oh it was so priceless. Also the students noticed my bracelets that I was wearing. One said that they looked like they were Masaai made and a different student said they looked like witchcraft, haha. I thought you would enjoy that Natti : )
It was wonderful going to see danielle at her site, but it also made me realize (even though I already knew it) what I’m missing at my site. I’ve been struggling a lot lately with building relationships with the other teachers and even the students somewhat. I’m sure part of it has to do with the fact that I am shy when I first meet people, but I think that they have been kinda standoffish also. It has been a huge mental burden on me, making a number of my days a challenge. Toss into that the fact that I have to teach chemistry in Kenyan sign language (that I just learned) when the national syllabus requires a bunch of experiments to be done that quite often are not possible to do at the school. Everyday has been a struggle for me, but I’m making it. It seems that a couple of the teachers are starting to warm up to me, and I just hope that it continues. I know I just need to give it time for things to develop.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
It has been a little over a month that I’ve been at site now. And man it has been a challenging month… I arrived at site on a Thursday night, and then “started” teaching the next Monday. However, come Monday (after school was supposed to be in session for one week already) the timetable for the classes and who was teaching which classes wasn’t even made. This is about the time that my shock at how the Kenyan schools are run took over me. It’s definitely much more lax than the states. The timetable wasn’t completed until Tuesday, so I started to teach on Wednesday. For the two days that no one was teaching, the students were just sitting in their classrooms reviewing their notes. Pretty amazing that the students are that orderly.
So Wednesday rolls around, and I was one the verge of vomiting and running away because I was so nervous to teach, haha. Even to this day before I go to teach a class, my heart starts to beat to the point where I can hear it in my head. But I’m getting used to it a little more each day. It has definitely been a challenge to try and teach the information so that the students can understand, not only the material, but what I am trying to say. Kinda hard when you’re teaching in a language you’ve only known for 2 months. I’m still trying to find my place in the school, and what benefit I am bringing by being here. Hopefully I will figure that out soon. But I only have 28 more days of teaching before the end of the term : )
I’ve been participating in games (sports) after school just to try and get to know some of the girls. It is amazing how tough the Kenyans are…especially their feet! Most of the students run in cheap plastic flip-flops and then most will end up just running barefoot… in a grass field that has sticks, burs, and rocks randomly throughout the field. And not only are they running barefoot, but they play soccer barefoot also! I tried to kick a soccer ball wearing a decent pair of sandals and I think my foot just about started to bleed. Alright I think you get the point that I am amazed by this, so I will stop talking about it now.
Buying my food at the market has been interesting also. Market days are on Friday and Sunday. I normally go on Sunday since Im in class on Friday. I walk into town, and a bunch of mama’s are spread out with their produce in front of them sitting underneath an umbrella to have shade from the intense sun. Since I am Mzungu (white) I of course am told initially the Mzungu price. I have to haggle with them to try and get a lower price, which typically isn’t the Kenyan price, but it isn’t as high as the Mzungu price either.
On that note, it’s pretty funny that it has taken me living in Kenya to start cooking. I have a small little gas stove that I use typically to make either some sort or rice or potato meal. But I do still have many nights when I just make a PB&J because I am too lazy to cook something. I have also taken up baking. Now you might wonder how I can bake when I don’t have an oven… Little do you know, you can make an oven using a jiko (charcoal stove thing) So I have made a chocolate cake and granola and this weekend I plan to make cinnamon rolls which I am quite excited about.
My house is wonderful. I have come to the conclusion that they gave me the best house on the school grounds. I have nothing to complain about here, except for the 5 roosters (at least it sounds like 5) that start to make noise at about 4 every morning…. Yeah…
This past weekend, I traveled to a town called Kakamega that is about an hour from my site. The only rainforest in Kenya is located there. It still amazes me how many kenyans can fit into a matatu. I think at one point I counted 25 includint the driver. There are litterally sometimes 3 people or more standing at the sliding door with their butts hanging out holding onto the seats. I serisouly cannot express just how crazy it truly is. But it is very entertaining at the same time (at least it is when you are not one of the people being crammed in there). But don't worry because I always make sure to have a safe seat. I traveled with a Canadian woman who is here for a month volunteering with a local AIDS organization. We stayed in a small little thatch roofed hut in the forest. It was wonderful! I thought that it would have been hot and humid but to my surprise it was really chilly. I could’ve used another blanket at night! It was a great nights sleep except for the black and white monkeys that started to make calls at 3 am, and let me tell you…they are loud. We went on 2 walks through forest in the 1.5 days we were there. The second one was awesome. We got up at 4:40 in the morning to go on a walk to the top of a hill in the forest and watch the sun rise. And just if you were wondering, a rainforest really does sound like the tapes they play in the zoo : )
I must say thanks to those who are sending me letters/emails/comments, they definitely brighten my days.
So Wednesday rolls around, and I was one the verge of vomiting and running away because I was so nervous to teach, haha. Even to this day before I go to teach a class, my heart starts to beat to the point where I can hear it in my head. But I’m getting used to it a little more each day. It has definitely been a challenge to try and teach the information so that the students can understand, not only the material, but what I am trying to say. Kinda hard when you’re teaching in a language you’ve only known for 2 months. I’m still trying to find my place in the school, and what benefit I am bringing by being here. Hopefully I will figure that out soon. But I only have 28 more days of teaching before the end of the term : )
I’ve been participating in games (sports) after school just to try and get to know some of the girls. It is amazing how tough the Kenyans are…especially their feet! Most of the students run in cheap plastic flip-flops and then most will end up just running barefoot… in a grass field that has sticks, burs, and rocks randomly throughout the field. And not only are they running barefoot, but they play soccer barefoot also! I tried to kick a soccer ball wearing a decent pair of sandals and I think my foot just about started to bleed. Alright I think you get the point that I am amazed by this, so I will stop talking about it now.
Buying my food at the market has been interesting also. Market days are on Friday and Sunday. I normally go on Sunday since Im in class on Friday. I walk into town, and a bunch of mama’s are spread out with their produce in front of them sitting underneath an umbrella to have shade from the intense sun. Since I am Mzungu (white) I of course am told initially the Mzungu price. I have to haggle with them to try and get a lower price, which typically isn’t the Kenyan price, but it isn’t as high as the Mzungu price either.
On that note, it’s pretty funny that it has taken me living in Kenya to start cooking. I have a small little gas stove that I use typically to make either some sort or rice or potato meal. But I do still have many nights when I just make a PB&J because I am too lazy to cook something. I have also taken up baking. Now you might wonder how I can bake when I don’t have an oven… Little do you know, you can make an oven using a jiko (charcoal stove thing) So I have made a chocolate cake and granola and this weekend I plan to make cinnamon rolls which I am quite excited about.
My house is wonderful. I have come to the conclusion that they gave me the best house on the school grounds. I have nothing to complain about here, except for the 5 roosters (at least it sounds like 5) that start to make noise at about 4 every morning…. Yeah…
This past weekend, I traveled to a town called Kakamega that is about an hour from my site. The only rainforest in Kenya is located there. It still amazes me how many kenyans can fit into a matatu. I think at one point I counted 25 includint the driver. There are litterally sometimes 3 people or more standing at the sliding door with their butts hanging out holding onto the seats. I serisouly cannot express just how crazy it truly is. But it is very entertaining at the same time (at least it is when you are not one of the people being crammed in there). But don't worry because I always make sure to have a safe seat. I traveled with a Canadian woman who is here for a month volunteering with a local AIDS organization. We stayed in a small little thatch roofed hut in the forest. It was wonderful! I thought that it would have been hot and humid but to my surprise it was really chilly. I could’ve used another blanket at night! It was a great nights sleep except for the black and white monkeys that started to make calls at 3 am, and let me tell you…they are loud. We went on 2 walks through forest in the 1.5 days we were there. The second one was awesome. We got up at 4:40 in the morning to go on a walk to the top of a hill in the forest and watch the sun rise. And just if you were wondering, a rainforest really does sound like the tapes they play in the zoo : )
I must say thanks to those who are sending me letters/emails/comments, they definitely brighten my days.
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