Thursday 5-15-14

Thursday, 5-15-14

                So, the Jove was the cutest thing this morning. I was telling him how I was going to try to go to lunch with them today so I could try the kande, but I could only go if I was feeling okay since I was getting very dizzy as of late. He told me he knew why I was so dizzy and he kind of was also. He told me it is because the earth is spinning very very fast (as he spins his hands very quickly). So cute. The kids finished getting ready and Joan and Ian got here to pick them up. I had them wait a moment so I could give them each a jelly bean. About a minute later Jove comes running back into the house crying pretty hard. I expected him to say he bit his finger as he ate his jelly bean. He had forgotten to take his anti-malaria pill and got scared he would get sick. So he took his medicine quickly then went off to school happy as a clam. Ayla didn’t cry this morning either. They might be getting the hang of it, or they might have just had a good day. Yesterday they did ask if I could give them each a 100 tsh coin so that they could buy a maandazi (some kind of flavorless, nutrient less, fried dough crap) after school. Why not, I will make sure I give them one so they can buy with the rest of the kids after school.

                Today in std.1 we did our word recognition because the kids are done with their book. Afterwards, we did a small math quiz. This is all working with addition and subtraction when there is carrying and borrowing. She hasn’t been introduced to this much if at all yet, so she is still having a hard time. She is slowly getting it. But understandably, she did not do too well on the quiz. This upset her a lot. After we went over how to do them all as a class, we gave out letter tiles for the kids to make words. Mamaliz and I checked on all the kids words. We corrected when correcting was needed. Mamaliz came to Ayla and saw the word “rad”. We had to explain to the rest of the kids that rad is an American word. I told Ayla that if she could use it in a sentence I would let her keep it. “My mom is rad”. Um, okay, thanks Ayla.

                During each of the morning classes in turn we had to have a talk about our bladders and how they need to build up muscle control. These kids, some as old as 14, are asking to use the bathroom every thirty minutes. We need them to hold it for a mere two and a half hours. Not that long, but they just can’t seem to do it. They kids all thought it was funny when we drew a picture of a bladder on the blackboard. One empty, then a little fuller, then so full that they are going to wet themselves. Being new, it is hard for me to know which kids truly will wet themselves in class. But it is not hot here anymore, so I will just start not allowing water during class. They can have the bottles of water during lunch.

                In std.3 Samweli is back. I was very happy to see him in class today. I missed that boy. We worked more on the ‘word, sentence, paragraph’ differences. So during reading our book, we would not only ask questions about what had happened to see if what they were reading was sinking in, but we would also ask “who can find me the second word in the third sentence in the first paragraph”. My favorite is finding a one sentence paragraph and asking for the first sentence in whatever number paragraph that one is. They take a long time to figure it out, since it is a new concept, but when they do finally get it, my next question is “who can find me the last sentence in the ____ paragraph”. They are finally starting to pick up on my tricks.

                For lunch I had promised the kids I would go with them for kande. Bad news was I forgot my sriracha. I was sad. When I realized I had been in std.1 still. Ayla and I were talking while the rest of the kids went to the bathroom, and she offered to run up to the house to get me my hot sauce. It was so sweet because I know how scared she is of doing things by herself. I told her it was okay. I had to try it the way the kids eat it, and I have to say it wasn’t that good, but also not bad. It is this glop stew that has cooked too long. It is made out of corn and beans, but it isn’t sweet corn, it is the field corn that we feed our cows in America. The kernels are huge and very chewy. Then there is a spoonful of greens thrown on the top. The greens are the only thing that is truly good about that meal. But I can now say that I have tried kande. When we got back to the school after lunch, I told Ayla and Jove I would see them in a half an hour. While they had their playtime I was going to walk up to the house and visit with Bibi. Ayla got sad and cried, but I went on toward the house anyways. She needs to learn that crying because she can’t see me for a tiny bit isn’t going to mean I am not going to go.

                I got up to the house and visit with Mamaliz and the new neighbor Hannah. There is only about fifteen minutes, but it was free of yelling children, so I very much enjoyed it. Hannah was coming with us to the school to check it out and so her and I went off while Mamaliz took care of some things in the office dealing with uniforms for the kids. When we got to the school, I showed her around a little, but we had to start class, so I couldn’t show her much (not that there is all that much to cover, it is only a few rooms). We did flashcards for math then went on to our word recognition sheets. When Mamaliz got back we decided to have the kids introduce themselves to Hannah. Rahabu was first. She looked down at the floor like she was very shy, but then she belted this whole acting thing out. “Oh, hi there teacher. How are you?...” It was so funny. That girl has some serious acting talent. If only there was something we could do to encourage that ability, but English and math are more important. They all then took turns introducing their friends to her. When it came time for the boys to come up, it turns out they are all in love at first sight with the beautiful Teacher Hannah. Pasco was the worst of all. That poor boy could almost not even speak. Like a deer caught in the headlights. Man was it entertaining.

                We walked over to the duka after school and got a few half cakes to go with chai at the house. Plus that way Ayla and Jove got to buy their half cake (the maandazi was all gone). Hannah and Chris came by and adults visited while kids played outside. Ayla and Jove did a good job staying outside the majority of the day to play. We had to yell at the hoard of kids a few times for one thing or another. But at one point getting into the evening, Ayla came up to the house crying. It turns out while they were all playing a few new village kids came by. They started pulling her hair and punching her back when it was her turn on the swing. They pulled her down. Our school kids would never do anything like that and they actually helped her up then came and told us the story. The bad kids ran away and hid in the trees and bushes. So we are going to give it a chance where we only let the St. Mary’s School kids play on the swing. It is sad because some of the village kids are very very sweet, but if it causes too much trouble trying it this way, I will just cut the swing down. Too much stress and I don’t want to deal with it. I was proud of all of our school kids that were here though. They started into the forest to find the naughty kids and actually found a few and dragged them up to talk to Teacher Liz. Man were these kids scared. One of them was just a little girl, but I don’t think she will do something like that around here again. She leaves after school tomorrow to go into Morogoro to look for furniture (we need to furnish a house for a volunteer couple that is coming for a year). I just hope that the bad kids stay away since I don’t have enough Swahili to yell at them and tell them to go home. I really only have my greetings down. So Mamaliz wrote down how I can tell them to go home. Now I just have to memorize it. Not like these kids will take me seriously if I have to read anything off of the paper.

                We ended the day by feeding the kids a plate of tuna, cheese, and pasta. They even got to watch a movie, and then got a mango for dessert. Mamaliz was listening to her music and right as I am getting ready to put the kids to bed “who let the dogs out” came on. First I can’t believe she has this song, but the kids got very happy and danced around all crazy. I got a video of this because Ayla, at the point where they sing the ‘who let the dogs out’ would just wiggle her butt back and forth. And the butt shaking dancing has started. Oh joy.