Tuesday 6-3-14

Tuesday 6-3-14

                Still no power, but at least we have the solar light in the living room, so we had a little light with which to eat breakfast. I made up some oatmeal, but Jove says all oatmeal is yucky. He ate animal crackers, Nutella, and a banana. The kid loves bananas. Ayla at least ate the oatmeal, as did I. The kids were having a hard time listening this morning and I almost had them go off to school instead of staying with me and waiting until I walk over to school. They started acting better though when I told them what was almost going to happen.

                I got to school and began the day by having a talk with the two teachers that left the school open. They claimed it was the kids that just put their keys down and didn’t tell them where. I let them know that I wasn’t as upset about having to come back down to lock up due to lost keys (although I wasn’t happy about it). I told them the thing that made me the most upset was that when I got to the school and there was no one there waiting. That anyone that wanted to could have just gone right into the school and stolen anything they wanted. I let them know that if anything happens like that again, there will be issues. I think I have instilled a little fear in the teachers.

                In std1 our day was pretty basic for the most part. We did our flashcards and our word recognition sheets. I tried to explain opposites to the kids and realized that it is quite difficult to explain opposite to kids just learning a language. I finally got them to understand it after we went over about fifty examples. But there were still a few kids that would yell out that book was the opposite of happy, or something bizarre like that. We moved on to when it is appropriate to capitalize. I gave them a little quiz to see who still needed help. I let everyone know that they could use the restroom after they wrote the ten answers down. One of the kids Leonard asked to use the bathroom. I told him after he was done, or one minute, whichever comes faster. He has a hard time holding his bladder and we usually let him go sooner than the other kids. After maybe thirty seconds I see he is just sitting there. I checked his paper and saw ten answers so I asked why he hadn’t gotten up to use the restroom. Poor guy had peed right there in the middle of the classroom. It is amazing the lack of bladder control these kids have when up until going to school they just squatted in the grass wherever they happened to be, whenever they wanted. I had no idea how to deal with this situation, as far as cleaning it up. I had Leonard go home to change then come back to class. I asked Teacher Grace what to do. She helped me dump water on the floor then we squeegeed up the water out the door. I have never cleaned up a pee mess like that before, but at home I always had towels and access to a washer and dryer. We were back to learning in no time.

                In std3 it was math day, and the kids wanted more of the greater than or less than. Some are still having a hard time with it, and I love how when they have difficulties they beg to do it more. Back home, the kids hate doing the things they don’t understand, here they just want to learn. I love it. Our class went by pretty quickly though without many issues.

                As I was getting ready to leave for lunch, the teachers came up and asked if we could end school early today so they may attend the funeral of our student’s sibling. I told them to let me think about it during lunch but it shouldn’t be an issue. I came home for lunch, and still no power. No problem. I picked up a few half cake on the way home and I had those with a banana and some peanut butter and jelly. It was a very tasty lunch. While eating, I read my book in wonderful peace and quiet. I needed that, if only it lasted longer.

                Std2 was shorter than normal since I let the teachers know to release early so they could go to the funeral and any of our students that wished to attend could go with them. A few of the kids got a little too excited so I reminded them that school was ending early because someone died and that it wasn’t something to be happy about.

                I made sure when leaving that the teachers had the keys and I was the last one out. I didn’t want to have to come back down again J When I got to the house, I laid down and nearly fell asleep. I realized I had told the lady at the pub I would bring her empty bottles up today, so I got ready and went up. Ayla wanted to stay home, but Jove wanted to come with me. On the way up, a few Maasai women stopped us and tried to talk to us. It was an elderly woman, one of near my age, then a little girl maybe four or five. We had a conversation where neither side understood much of what the other was saying. She asked where I was from in America, why I had tattoos, and where I was staying here. I got her to understand a little. At one point I noticed Jove had taken a liking to the little girl. He went over and was rubbing her head and kind of cuddling against her. She seemed fine with this. It was so cute, I so badly wished I had my camera. I have seen them before, so hopefully I will see them again and ask for a picture of Jove with the little one. We said goodbye and went up the rest of the way to the village, only to find that the entire village had shut down for the funeral. I was able to get someone to take the bottles for the pub, but no duka to buy a flashlight for tonight since the power was still out. Back home we went. Jove found some chunks of hardened dirt that looked like red bricks, so he grabbed those and continued walking with his arms just filled as much as they could carry. Every few steps he would drop some, then bend down and try to pick them up again, all the while dropping more. It was so funny I couldn’t help but laugh.

                Once I got back home, I had to start up on dinner. I had promised the kids I would make marinara for them tonight since we had eggplant and tomatoes. It turned out great, I was very pleased. Nothing like fresh marinara that was given a few hours to cook down. In between cooking, I would go outside and watch the kids play, or yell at some kids for being bad. We had some village kids beat up my Samweli down the hill a little ways. The village kids can be pretty rough, that is why when they are allowed over there, they are usually on limited chances. It isn’t fair, but that is how we have to do it. I was back inside trying to figure out pen pal letters from David and Anne that I need to pass out to the kids and have them write new letters, when Logan called to me saying Ima Mkulati (our wonderfully sweet Maasai student) was hurt and I should come outside. Turns out he was on the swing and he fell off, then the swing came up and smacked him right in the face. He was bleeding pretty bad from his lip and mouth and even had a few teeth a little loose. Logan and I cleaned him up the best we could with what we had. I got a little ice out of the fridge. I couldn’t believe we still had any ice since the power was off for the past day, but we had enough for him to hold some against his lip. I went to ask David what he thought we should do past what we had done, since he is a pediatrician. He said to take him to the out patient at the hospital. So Logan walked him down and they cleaned him up. A little ibuprophen and the swelling even went down pretty fast (according to Logan, I hadn’t seen Ima again).

                The rest of my evening was trying to get the kids to listen and behave. They did very much enjoy dinner though. Jove had three bowls, Ayla had two. Jove liked it so much he asked if he could have it for breakfast tomorrow. I told him of course he could. I got the kids cleaned up and tucked into bed.

                Logan came by around 8. I had invited him to come eat some dinner. I had just locked the door and was almost going to take a shower and crawl into bed early, but I offered dinner so I unlocked the door. The next hour or so was spent just bullshitting on and off while I wrote this journal. Having conversation with an adult is very nice around here. Having just the kids or non native English speakers is enough to drive a person insane. I even got to chat with Mamaliz on the computer a little and figure out when I will be doing my midterms. I am going to have to make up the midterm for std3 soon.