Tuesday 6-10-14

Tuesday 6-10-14

                We woke up although it was one of those mornings that I really wish I could have slept in. The kids were so great that I let them watch ‘Hook’ again this morning. Otherwise the morning went much the way it usually goes.

                We went off to school and Robert in std1 was back. He finally did all 900 sentences. Even though the kid drives me crazy much of the time, I was glad he was back. I felt really bad having to have kicked him out. I had him give me a high five (the kids usually love this), Robert got so confused and almost afraid. We got much and more covered in std1. Anytime we had a moment or two of down time, they girls would gather around Ayla and braid her hair. Ayla said she told them it was okay. This is two days in a row now and she has loved it.

                In std3 we did our everyday start of the class stuff, then I had to talk about family relationship titles. They were getting confused with aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, nephew, husband, wife, etc. So, we worked on these for a little while, and then I gave the kids a decently difficult quiz to see how they could do. There were items on here like 892 X 153 or 897 divided by 3. I knew they could do it if they just tried. I was surprised by about half of them doing a pretty good job. While in class Jenny asked if she could have a rubber. I looked over the tables and discovered that we were short by four erasers. I know this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it is. We had them yesterday and now we didn’t. So I started to scold the kids when they said that they had them yesterday at the end of school, but when they got to school today there were only three. We believe that the two girls that came to clean the school as their job (actually it is the mother’s job, but she sometimes sends her child and friend)stole them. It is the only explanation I can come up with why they would be there and then not. We found out that we were missing a bunch of our crayons also. It really makes me wonder what else has gone missing in the past that just escaped notice. Teacher Grace thought they were coming again today, but they never did show up, so we will have to talk to them at some point.

                I went home for lunch, ate some remaining leftovers from the fridge and chatted with Asa a little. Talking to him during lunch is one of the few things that is keeping me sane the last few days. Our time to talk ended way to soon, so I packed up my stuff and went back to school.

                Ayla had gotten her hair done and was filled with braids and yellow flowers. She reminded me of a little hippie child. Very sweet and innocent. I went into std2 and we did English all day today. I just didn’t want to do math, and we are doing a good job at getting through all the review. So we did journal entries and I picked out a set of books from the library and everyone read aloud while I asked questions through the story to see if they were listening and understanding. It was a nice change of pace for the day.

                We got home and I had to start into getting bread dough rising. I promised the kids I would make some regular type bread so they could have peanut butter type sandwiches tonight for dinner. I knew I promised regular, but it ended up being oatmeal, hemp seed, chia, honey bread. Ayla loved it. Jove not as much, but I thought it was the best bread I have had in a very long time. It was so good.

                But while the bread was rising and then baking, we were having issues with the village kids. They came to swing and I told them they could not stay and to go home. They tried saying they didn’t want to. “I don’t care, you are not welcome” After that we had issues. They began calling me a cow, telling me I had dirty legs (yes, dirty legs, as if that is an insult). When they started saying they would beat Ayla, Jove and my school kids, that was when I had had enough. I got my stick and chased them down again. After a few attempts at that (I am just not as fast as I once was), I got out the camera. This was when they got pretty scared and would start hiding. They would try to peek out long enough to throw rocks at me, but always missed. I got enough pictures of them I think I can identify the majority of the little mshamba (basically white trash) shits. I will have Ruth or Isaac help me to talk to their parents. They do not get to threaten me, my children, or the school kids because they couldn’t figure out how to act like proper kids and enjoy the swing and toys. I gave these kids too many chances. They would steal, not listen to rules, or just be pains in my backside. I am done with them. Their parents will hear how they disrespected a teacher and they will get beaten. I didn’t want it to come to that, but that is where it is. I had to go back outside a few different times because they would try to sneak back over, but the second they saw me, they would go running.

                Samweli was over to pick up a couple balloons he left her. We were eating our dinner and watching Jurassic Park. He wanted to stay and Ayla had given him a piece of her bread to see if he liked it. I told him it was okay if he didn’t like it, he didn’t have to eat any. He said that tonight he liked what I made, so I got him a slice with the peanut butter and Nutella, just like Ayla’s. He took a bite and said he didn’t like the stuff on the bread. So I took that one and Logan got him one where it was just bread. He took maybe one bite of that piece then a few minutes later said he was so full. I wish he would have just said he didn’t want any of it.

                I didn’t want to deal with bath tonight, so I had the kids take a quick shower. Even though I can manage, it was too hot for them. I had to stay at the faucet and turn from hot to cold since our water here doesn’t mix to give a nice warm. I finally finished and they were clean enough. I tucked them in and told them I wouldn’t be that far behind them. It has been a long day and I am ready for bed. Today started out so good even though I was in pain, and ended not bad, but just stressed out. I am upset with all these kids. I know they act this way because they are jealous, but I have tried my best to share with them and include them. I just know they wouldn’t act like this with Mamaliz around.  I am really looking forward to going home.  It is really hard being in a place where you cannot communicate and get your message across. I would love to have gone to the kid’s houses myself to let their parents know how they were acting. It is things like that, that are making me not enjoy this place.