March 3rd - 6th

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I get up early in the mornings and do my exercises before I ride with the driver to pick up the first set of students. It is a beautiful time of day. The sun has not yet come above the horizon so the light is gentle with pinks. The stars are just disappearing, there is a planet that is so bright it shines well into the day and sits on the crescent of the waning moon. When the wind picks up, the banana tree leaves rustle like water. There is a grove a banana trees next to us. From our enclosed yard we can see the top of Mount Meru. First thing in the morning and at night fall, the mountain catches the light on one or the other of its sides and seems to float in the air. Many of the trees are blooming with huge blossoms or millions of tiny ones. It is really beautiful here in the midst of all the poverty, it unsettles you with the juxtapositions.

Thursday, teacher Ruth did not come to work. This is the class I work with. She did not contact the school, and since she has told me a few times that she doesn't like this job, she would rather teach special needs children, I am afraid that she has quit. So my day was very busy. Instead of helping Elizabeth, as most volunteers do when a teacher is away, I became the teacher for the day. I know enough about the class that I can do this, but I don't have the materials to plan for more than one day. All went well, until after classes were done, then some students where unruly as they waited for the car to drive them home, which was really late. My plan to go to town and get a dress sewn for me was chucked, because they needed a someone to go with driver on the last trip. Jacob had been I'll in the night so had stayed home, so I was it. It was a long day, reminded me of being a substitute at home. We have arranged for a seamstress to come to me tomorrow and Jacob was well when I returned home so the day ended well.

Good Night and Sweet Dreams.

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