Wednesday 6-4-14
What a
great and easy day today. I love it when I am blessed with days like these. We
woke up and Jove wanted to come into bed and cuddle with me for a few minutes
so we stayed in bed until a few minutes after 6:30. They wanted simple
breakfast so I would have to work so hard. So they got themselves some animal
crackers and Nutella on a plate. Jove got his banana and I helped cut Ayla’s
apple into slices even though she told me I didn’t have to like twenty times. I
had a great cup of coffee (Mexican mocha style) and got to relax and talk to a
few people this morning on the computer. I got to have a great little chat with
my sister in law Kirsten. I love it when I get to talk to her. I miss her a
lot. I always have such a great time with her J
Love ya sis.
I had pen
pal letters from England for the kids that David and Anne brought with them. So
I decided to deal with those today. Only a few of the kids were there when the
original letters were written last year, so only a few were getting a letter
back. So for those kids, they just answered the letter. The rest of the kids I
had them do a “Dear Friend” letter and hopefully David and Anne will be able to
come up with enough children to receive all the letters. The kids had so much
fun with it. I told Ayla she could write a letter to whomever she wanted; she
chose to write a letter to her cousin Lily. We are going to try to send it out
while we are still in Africa so that Lily can receive a letter from Africa. I
repeated this in std3 and again, they had a blast with it.
I
almost forgot, in std1 I did have Robert try to get away with giving me
homework that was incomplete. This is the kid that got sent home yesterday for
still not having his homework from Wednesday finished for me. He had 900
sentences totaled up for things like cheating and not doing his homework. Of
those 900 sentences, he came to me with 27. Yup, only 27 sentences and he
thought it would be okay. I tried to explain to him that he would have to go
home until they were finished. I had Teacher Grace come in to explain to him in
Swahili so I knew he would understand. I felt bad for doing it, but he has to
do what he is told. He is one of the kids that doesn’t know any of the stuff he
should know. He really needs to be back in chekechea, but it will happen soon
enough when he doesn’t pass the final exam in November or December.
I came
home for lunch and had the leftover spaghetti and another tasty coffee. My back
was starting to act up pretty bad and I was having too good of a day to let my
back ruin it, so I took a muscle relaxer to help ease the spasm before it got
any worse. I was thrilled when I finally got Asa on the computer and we chatted
while I was home. The time flew by and it was back to school with me.
Std.2
was very much like my other two classes. We did our usual beginning of the
class stuff (flashcards and word recognition sheets) then I told them about the
letters. Happy faces all around. They worked on their letters and made pictures
that they thought their new friends would enjoy seeing. Their class is the
longest and so I was able to even have enough time to do some English with
them. We practiced finding nouns, verbs, and adjectives in a paragraph. We
don’t have too much longer before our midterm. Only another two and a half
weeks to go, and it works out to only being another nine school days that
aren’t end of the week quiz days. I had so much energy and was in such a good
mood I found myself being all goofy and semi dancing around the classroom while
I checked their letters. They laughed at me. I told them I was happy and when I
am happy I like to dance and be silly. I let them know that after school lets
out on the 27th that the next day we could have a dance party in my
yard. They were all very excited. I will put on the kids bop and other children’s
music I have for Ayla and Jove. I think they will all very much enjoy it.
It
turns out today was Elizabeth’s (in std3) birthday today. When I asked her why
she didn’t tell me she said she forgot. How can a child forget about their
birthday? It was cute. The kids in class sang happy birthday to her and some of
them were going to get together at the boarding with her to celebrate. I didn’t
go, but Teacher Logan did. I am curious what they ended up doing. As we spoke
of birthdays, Grace in std2 told me tomorrow is her birthday and
Kelvin/Kevin/Mzee told me that the 6th was his birthday. It was
nice, everyone was happy in all the classes and it was just an upbeat day.
We came
home from school and just relaxed. I decided I really didn’t want to cook
anything for dinner tonight, so I took the kids to Bismillah for dinner. We had
rice and beans since rice and beans is pretty much all they ever have. But it
was good. Jove has decided he doesn’t like rice anymore. He ate his beans right
up, but rice… I made him eat a few bites and told him there would be nothing
else to eat. He said he was fine with that. We brought the rice home with us so
I can give it to the dogs that come around the house. I still hate the sight of
how thin these dogs are. It makes my heart so sad to see animals that are so
badly taken care of.
On our
walk back, the kids got a bunch of chunks of the clay dirt. When we got home
they dumped them out on the front porch and began pounding rocks into the clay
to turn it into a powder. Then came the water so they could turn it into mud.
Now they are using it as play dough and making things out of it. Ayla said she
really wanted to experiment and make toys the way the kids here make toys. She
made a caterpillar out of her clay. I love the way they play here. Even though
I have had some rough days here and there, I am so very happy that we did this.
It has been so good for all of us. I have grown in ways that I didn’t know I
ever would, I mean, I am in a foreign country with no one other than me and the
kids, and I am thriving. The kids are playing and almost never even play their
tablets or ask to watch a movie on my computer. It has just been a wonderful
experience for all of us.
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