Tuesday 6-24-14

Tuesday 6-24-14

                Oh my goodness, I woke up in the middle of the night last night to get Jove up to go to the bathroom. When I tucked him back in, I went to give him and Ayla both a kiss. Ayla had a scarf wrapped around her head and neck to keep herself warm. It was so tight she could have choked herself pretty easily. I had to have a talk with her about how we can never wrap things like that around our neck then go to sleep. She even kept trying to argue with me about how if she does it loose it is okay even if it is at night in bed. NO it is never okay, just don’t do it and don’t argue with me. That was fun.

                Anyways, today was great. We woke up, I had a delicious cup of coffee and got all my stuff ready to go for school and even got to Skype a bit with Asa before going to school. After I got to school I realized I left the teachers copy of the tests at home so I had to improvise a few sections and change them on the teachers copy later on, but all worked out great. In std1 I moved the kids around and separated kids that I thought would cheat, then we started. It went very smoothly, I was pleased. There isn’t really much to say about it, just moving along section by section trying to keep the slow ones at pace with the rest of the class. Before I realized it, our test was over and I was moving over to std3 with Teacher Charlene.

                When we moved over there, I discovered that Teacher Grace didn’t realize she could start her exams this morning and so she just had the kids write letters and read books. Instead of reviewing she has wasted so much time doing letters and things like that. Letters are fun for the kids to write and Teacher Charlene has appreciated them. It even makes the kids practice handwriting, spelling, sentence structure, etc. but the point is that we have midterms and they didn’t utilize any of the time last week or this week so far to prep the kids in any way. I just don’t understand. I told them they should use the time to review last week, and I repeated it again yesterday morning. It is like talking to a child much of the time. I know much of it is a language barrier, but still. I miss being understood when I speak.

                The std3 exam was much the same as the std1 exam, except having a shorter class period; I ended up running out of time with many of the kids. I felt bad because it isn’t their fault that they have a shorter class but just as long of a test, so I spoke with the other teachers about letting the matrons know that some of the kids would be getting to lunch late, and to please let them still eat their lunch when they get there. Usually if you are late to lunch, you simply don’t eat. Only two did not finish the exam even with the extra half an hour. I was hoping they would move faster so I would have a little more time for my lunch break, but I wanted to get everything done today, so I went off to the house to see if I could get something to eat quickly.

                As soon as I reached the house, I first grabbed the teachers copy of the tests and all the finished exams so that Charlene and I could correct during the std2 exam since with the math tests there is much down time for me while they work on the problems. Internet was having some difficulties, but it was fine because it wasn’t like I had time to play around on Facebook anyways. I found some leftover chicken potato soup and began to heat it up. Once I pulled it off the stove I realized that it tasted funky and must have spoiled. I didn’t have enough time to heat anything else up, so I ate a quick bowl of cold curry rice with sriracha. I don’t know what I would have done if my wonderful husband hadn’t gone crazy and bought so much of that sauce, and then thought to bring four bottles of it with us to Africa. I put that **** on everythingJ. I did make sure there was enough time to heat water so I could have more coffee in class. Back to school I went with a smile on my face. I was having a great day and I knew that today was the last day that I needed to be stressed. After today it is my mellow time.

                Std2 was waiting and ready to go. I was amazed at how fast they moved through. Many times one or another would bring up their packet saying they were finished, when I would check it over it would be missing a full page or more. They would laugh then go back to their seat to work some more. Albert and Freddy each did it a few times and each time seemed genuine. It was too funny. Each one of them finished except poor Grace. I felt so bad having to take her exam at the end of class. But as it was I let her go an extra two minutes and their class is already longer than any of the other classes. It just wouldn’t be fair, and she was just so far behind. The girl just takes forever doing her math, she always does in class. I kept trying to get her to stay with us, but a moment later she would be falling behind again. She took it well though and even considering that she missed so many points at the end, she didn’t do too bad.

                I gave all of the kids in each of the classes a piece of bubble gum (thanks to Logan for having all the Double Bubble) as a thank you for doing a great job on their tests with me. They were all so excited and surprised. I also explained to all of them that today was my last day in school with them, that after this I would be at the house preparing to leave next Tuesday. They were sad, but okay. I let them know they could still come see me at the house and play with Ayla and Jove and I would stop into the school just to see how the rest of their tests were going. That seemed to bring the smiles back to their wonderful faces.

                Charlene came home with me and we corrected exams. We worked on it for quite a while before we both decided to end it for a while. She wanted to call home and I needed to get dinner for Ayla and Jove. The kids had beans and hotdogs for dinner and I had more curry rice. I am giving the last little bit to the dogs tonight. I can’t eat any more of that. It is all I have had for the past many days. During dinner the kids watched the Smurf movie and I went back to correcting papers. I was amazed I actually was able to get the rest of them finished. It took all evening and I didn’t put it down until about 9:45, but it is now done and I don’t have to do it anymoreJ. We lost power, so partway through the movie we had to turn off the computer for a while, but it came back on and so I let the kids stay up late to finish watching it. It should have been 9:30 but with the issues that we always have every night, it wasn’t until ten that they were in bed. Luckily I didn’t get much “mommy…” from the bedroom and they both fell asleep quickly. Maybe they will even let me sleep in tomorrow morning. One can hope at least.

                I can’t believe this adventure is almost at an end. It has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. Helping these kids is just such a wonderful thing. Even with all the stress that has come with it, not being able to have my medicine for my pain, lack of internet much of the time, etc, I have never in my life been happier (at least when Asa was with me, but still). I feel as if this was what I was meant to do in life. As anyone that knows me knows, I am a pretty spiritual person, but not necessarily a traditional religious person, I have never felt more in tuned to whatever is out there. I guess it is because I felt like everything was how it should be. I am so eternally grateful that I was given this experience.

                Now I am going to grab my book and lay down to read and listen to the bush babies screaming to each other and the bats squeaking outside the windows. I am very much going to miss the nature sounds this place has to offer. Just amazing!