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Published: February 21st 2011
Ok, so I've been here for a month and a half and am finally finding the time to write a brief blog post about what I am doing at the moment! I'm not lazy, just busy!
I arrived back here on 9th January, was picked up at the airport by David (My African dad!) and we came straight back here to Kitengela. It seems to be a bit bigger than last year, more buildings going up, but still the same little town from last year. We are living in a different house to last year, as the old one was damaged by a building in the same compound which collapsed, so they had to move! We now live in a house in our own little compound type thing, with a garden - perfect for sun-bathing at the weekend!
When we got to the house Anne was there, along with Peter (my little brother! 3 years old and very bossy for someone who cant talk an awful lot!) and Priscilla (my African mum). I spent most of the day asleep, trying to make up for the 9 hours i didn't get on the plane.
First day back at school was the Monday, 10th, and was fantastic - my last years standard 8's have all left, but I have seen them at regular points as they come to school to get their official results slip to enable them to go on to high school, if they are able. I think most of them have gone to school - their parents will apparently have sold a bit of land, or sold a cow to pay their fees, as secondary education isn't free in Kenya.
However, most of the other kids I taught were at school and remembered me, which was good! I walked into class rooms of happy, smiling faces, and exclamations of 'Teacher! You are back!'
I am again teaching English Composition (essay writing - set an essay, mark it, teach lessons based on the mistakes that they make), PE ('Here is a football, I'll just sit here in the sun and watch you play...') and library lessons. Currently trying to teach tenses, which is... fun...? Teaching something that you have had to learn to enable you to teach it isn't the easiest thing to do! But we are getting there. Games come in very helpful! I played 'whodunnit' with one class today, making them give me a sentence to explain where they were on on Friday night when someone was murdered. If they couldn't get the sentence right, they were guilty and had to go to jail, stand at the front of the class with their hands on their head. To prove their innocence, they had to kneel on the ground, then construct a sentence in past simple. If they got that wrong, they had to put their hands on the floor and look at the floor, and try again. The two that didn't do that right were the 'murderers' and had to run to the school gate and back as their punishment. We had fun, although I think the teacher next door was a bit confused by the shouts of 'guilty' and 'murderer' coming from my class room...
The little kids at school are great fun - if they don't have a teacher in the room when I walk into school, they shout, 'mzungu, mzungu, couja' (white person, white person, come here), followed by 'How are youuuu?' and me having to shake all their hands.
Walking home from school is more or less the same - going through the streets of Kitengela is just a constant stream of 'How are youuu?' and me answering 'I am fine. How are you?', for the entire half an hour!
My weekends have been split between staying at home and going to the Kitengela bars of an an evening, and going into Nairobi for the day with David and Priscilla and spending the evening in a bar there. One Sunday, I tagged along to an investment meeting in Nairobi. We left the house at 2.30 and eventually arrived back at home at mid-night, with both David and Priscilla having drunk too much to be able to drive!
Two weeks ago I went to the Maasai market in Nairobi and did some shopping - lots of fun bartering with the Maasai, and then to the Giraffe Centre in the afternoon, where I kissed the giraffes.
I have had two colds since being here, which is rediculous - I am 4 hours drive from the equator and I wouldn't exactly call the weather cold here - if anyone can explain this to me, please do!
The kids at school had exams last week - their first of the year. We have a child in standard 8 who scored 324, which is more than the highest score at the end of last year, so it looks like we are going to do well this year in KCPE!
We had proper rain for the first time in a long time last week - 3 days of it! The first day of it, Monday, came as a bit of a shock and I wasn't ready for it! Luckily I had decided it was cold in the morning and so hadn't worn flip flops, but canvas shoes instead, and had packed my rain jacket. Canvas shoes definately aren't waterproof. After walking through ankle deep water, I had very wet feet. Coming home on the Tuesday was okay until we came to one section of the walk which had turned into a lake - this time, the water came over the top of my hiking boots, which again made my feet wet! A load of men had set up camp at the 'lake', not to help people, but to watch all the women leaving work try and cross this section of road - free entertainment! There were women in heels and i saw one lose one shoe and then hop around trying to find it in the muddy water. I think having two mzungu turn up and nearly fall over probably was a highlight for them! Walking to the matatu stage to get to school on Wednesday morning after more rain over night, well, I may as well have been in a ice skating rink! The mud was slippery - every time i lifted one foot, the one left on the ground would slip out from behind me. I really don't know how I managed to stay upright! It took us about 55 minutes to do a walk that would normally take about 25.
To get to school, we have to leave the house at 8.10. We then have a 25 minute walk into Kitengela, followed by a wait for the matatu (like a really run down mini-bus) to fill up (can take anything from 2 minutes to half an hour), then a drive which can take between 20 and 40 minutes, and then a 10 minutes walk up the road to school. I normally get there at about 9.30. Leave school between 4.30 and 5.00, and get home at about 6.30, and then play with Peter and plan my lessons for the next day. Very busy!
Hmm, that is pretty much it I think. I am hoping to head to Diani beach at Mombasa when the kids break up for school over easter, but still need to book that. Other than that, I have 34 days left as a teacher at Kepiro Primary School! Not entirely sure where the time has gone.
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Anne
non-member comment
karibu!
I stumbled upon this site and reading through the blogs..very interesting! I live in Nairobi. The Swahili word for 'come here' is 'kuja' not 'couja'. :)