It's been a long time since I've blogged! I've actually had a lot of trouble loading this website... it's gonna be tough adjusting back to US Internet! But Mzungu mukubwa is quite frequently how American men appear to the nationals here. I was talking about it with Tim, one of our science teachers. He's been called that, and he's really not what I would consider big.
Ashley and I are finally out of the dorm. No more dorm-mom-ing. I miss it already! We're back in the Fasses' house, which is real quiet, down by the lower gate... Luckily, tonight was the first Caring Community, which means there were 8 thirteen-year-old girls in our house. They were a lot of fun! I made... soppapias? I'm not sure how to spell it. Anyway. they were quite tasty! The girls were really excited, too... I think probably more about the ice cream. We played signs... they were so funny! They were giggling at everything! They've informed us that we're going to have to do a sleep-over. Hahaha!
We also now have a house worker. Her name is Dorcas, and she is wonderful! She made us the most DELICIOUS jepatis (juh-PAH-tees) and stew! Anyway, most everyone here has a house and yard worker to help them keep up with everything. Life is busy... and everything takes a bit longer than it does in the US. I was uncomfortable at first with the idea, but it really was awful trying to teach and be involved in all the activities and students' lives and cook and clean and dorm-mom. AND! It gives more job opportunities to Kenyans.
One of the nationals who works on campus is named Zeb, and he makes the most beautiful pottery! I went into his pottery studio to see his work, and I was completely blown away! And he's only been doing it for a couple of years. The art teacher here trained him. So now he makes dishes and things for anyone around campus who wants one. There are lots of students around who use mugs that he's made for chai time.
My private lesson "studio" has finally stopped growing. I think I'm pretty full... I even let a couple of students talk me into giving them lessons first period... which is kinda rough. And I'm getting used to giving private lessons... although the saxophone and clarinet lessons REALLY scared me at first. I still am not very much help with clarinet fingerings. But I'm able to play along with my sax student now (I think I only have one sax student...). The only problem is sometimes I'm not sure how to say what I want to say. But I'm enjoying it a lot because it gives me so much opportunity to get to know students.
The students here are amazing. They can be trusted, they stay on task (85% of the time), they WANT to learn, they are kind to younger students... in fact, the administration gives all the high school students a "little brother" or "little sister," and then they go on coke dates together or to the "drive-in movie" together or hang out... and the titchies LOVE it and get sooooOOOO excited, and the high school students love doing special things for their lil brother/sister. It's really sweet to see! And I think that one of my flutie girls, Jennie, has sort of adopted me as a big sister... she's SO sweet! But she asked me to come to her basketball game today, and I couldn't go cuz of the move! I was really bummed... but I told her to be sure to tell me when the next one is, and I'd be there.
Anyway, I think that's about all the news I have. Life is pretty good here... but it still gets overwhelming and quite difficult sometimes. Every once in awhile, I just really want to be around something that's familiar to me. And sometimes I get really weird cravings -- like today, I really wanted to go to Lowe's. But, my friends and my students and my fellow staff members are all wonderful and supportive, and I know I have a lot of people at home praying for me.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Tugende - Let's go!
The school year is going nearly full speed now, and life is getting a lil hectic. This past Friday was dorm night, Saturday was health fair and ice cream social, Sunday was AIC, and Monday night we had “the singles” over for a pot-luck dinner. We’ve had so many people in and out of our partment! I can’t even tell you how many dishes we’ve washed!!! It’s been worth it, though. :)
On dorm night, the ladies of Suswa were exceptionally good sports! We needed to provide treats for them… I tried to make up a way to make chocolate popcorn, which turned out pretty OK. They thought it was fantastic! We also made taco popcorn… but we ran out of popcorn! We had enough for maybe 6 or 8 girls – and there were 18 at dorm night!!! So we ran out to borrow popcorn and kept working… the girls wanted to make cookies, but no one had a recipe! So KoKo said she’d make them – but we only had one egg and couldn’t find any baking soda! She didn’t put enough flour in them, either, so they were kinda funny looking till I turned down the oven. They were good, though! We didn’t have chocolate chips, either, so the girls had to chop up chocolate bars. We were also planning on watching a movie, but we have no TV and no projector. I went out twice – into the COLD, windy, dark night – to find Courtney to borrow her projector, but no dice. She was at a different dorm night! Anyway… the girls graciously agreed to watch Lil Mermaid on a laptop, with fancy speakers. They had a good time. :) They have great attitudes!!!
Saturday Ashley were determined to be a lil more prepared… so we went down to the Dukas in the afternoon to try and get things together for ice cream social (health fair was fun, too – I got to help with titchies, and they were just all over the place!! And so excited about getting weighed and getting their eyes checked and whatever. :) ). We made chocolate syrup, cuz you can’t get it here, and someone randomly brought us Hershey’s (a RARE and valued commodity!) strawberry syrup, and we cut up some bananas and chopped some peanuts… and we crumbled some cookies and chopped up some chocolate…. Anyway, for the ice cream social, they try and mix up the kids. So we had 9 random students in our apartment! It was a lot of fun, though. :) We played mafia and zip-bong (a VERY silly game!) and signs. The kids – well, not kids… high school students… young adults – all said they had a blast. :) Ashley and I had a lot of fun, too.
I think my favorite, though, was the singles pot luck dinner. It turned out SOOO good! Erica, Courtney, and Sarah came, as well as Ryan, Aaron, John, Candace, Anita, Abigail, and Ru. We had chilli, homemade bread, salad, soup, chicken enchiladas, stir fry veggies… and then afterwards we had a “pineapple dump cake” that I had made and coffee n’ tea. Poor Ryan… he brought Pringles. Hahaha! I don’t have any idea where he got them, though….
One of the most recent additions to our singles group is an English guy named “Ru” (Rupert). He had coffee after dinner, at which I exclaimed “coffee?!” And he told me that coffee is more popular in Britain now than tea. “Sad times,” he said. He also said things like “hey, Ryan, could you shoot me my jumper?” Jumper = sweater, we found out. He also referred to “chicks” and “blokes,” and occasionally called one or another of us “mate.” :) At one point, he even said something about the “loo,” which excited me because then I found out that it’s not just an American stereotype; they really do call it that! :) (I kept my mouth shut, though, because I didn’t wanna sound like a stupid American.) We also heard some more RIDICULOUS stories from Aaron – about building 48 classrooms in Darfur, Sudan, and having 30 of them bombed… about the Sudanese airline and how, because there’s no bag/weight limit, people are stuffing their luggage into the plane… about having his passport completely filled up with places he’s been… about going to college in the US and selling a $5 spear to an American girl for $80… etc, etc. He tells stories like Charles does – like you’re waiting for him to laugh and say he’s just kidding, but he doesn’t cuz all his stories are true and at first, you’re not sure whether you believe him or not. Anyway, we had a blast together, and it was really nice to hang out with people around my age and just relax. :) It’s difficult, though, because everyone’s sooooo super-busy. We have to be intentional about keeping up with each other. We ARE discussing the possibility of going to the coast for midterm break, though… :-D
I taught a tenor sax lesson today… which was actually a lesson for me – in faking it. I’ve never played a tenor sax! But I used my knowledge of saxophone embouchure and musicality and… whatever else I could think up!... and we had a fairly successful lesson. :) I have two flute lessons tomorrow, which should be significantly easier for me. Wednesday I’ll start kindergarten music and flute choir. I’m pretty excited. :) Thursday I get to start working with the jazz band!! I’m a lil intimidated about that, but I think it’ll be fun.
Sunday was AIC Sunday, which meant we went to the local African church – all of RVA! I was walking with Mrs. Cook on Saturday afternoon, and she mentioned something about needing to come up with something for special music. I told her if she was really desperate and needed something last minute, I could play. She took me up on it! I didn’t really have any music with me, so we played around with “Amazing Grace,” which is simple enough… but… the exciting part is that I IMPROVISED in front of 800 people!!!! It was so much fun!!! But when I sat back down… well, first of all, I started shaking like crazy! My flute case almost fell off my lap! But also, I was sitting where most of the African children were… so when I sat back down, I had close to 30 pairs of little African eyes just staring at me! :) They were so cute! Mrs. Cook said, “I believe you have a new fan club!” And Mr. Taylor told me later that they had never seen a flute before. It was a pretty special experience. I’ll never forget it, for sure! One of my dorm girls told me later, “You were so awesome! You didn’t squeak ONCE!!!” :)
In other news, I’m becoming quite the accomplished fire builder! Even though it gets really cold here at night and in the mornings, there are no heaters. I think it’s because things that make heat require so much electricity, and electricity here is currently three times what it costs in the US – and it’s continually going up. Anyway, out of necessity, I’ve learned to build a fire. I’m kind of excited about my newfound skill, except that I have a few burns on my fingers. I’m also learning more and more how to improvise in the kitchen. What the dukas – and even Nakumatt – will have is unpredictable, so you learn to do without, borrow, or just make something up. The other night when I was having dinner at the Morrisons, Mr. Morrison asked what we were having, and Mrs. Morrison said, “I don’t know. It happened in the kitchen.” It was delicious, though! :-) The situation lends itself well to having a great attitude about things, though… Kind of like, “if you don’t have it… oh well. We’ll make do.” :-)
On dorm night, the ladies of Suswa were exceptionally good sports! We needed to provide treats for them… I tried to make up a way to make chocolate popcorn, which turned out pretty OK. They thought it was fantastic! We also made taco popcorn… but we ran out of popcorn! We had enough for maybe 6 or 8 girls – and there were 18 at dorm night!!! So we ran out to borrow popcorn and kept working… the girls wanted to make cookies, but no one had a recipe! So KoKo said she’d make them – but we only had one egg and couldn’t find any baking soda! She didn’t put enough flour in them, either, so they were kinda funny looking till I turned down the oven. They were good, though! We didn’t have chocolate chips, either, so the girls had to chop up chocolate bars. We were also planning on watching a movie, but we have no TV and no projector. I went out twice – into the COLD, windy, dark night – to find Courtney to borrow her projector, but no dice. She was at a different dorm night! Anyway… the girls graciously agreed to watch Lil Mermaid on a laptop, with fancy speakers. They had a good time. :) They have great attitudes!!!
Saturday Ashley were determined to be a lil more prepared… so we went down to the Dukas in the afternoon to try and get things together for ice cream social (health fair was fun, too – I got to help with titchies, and they were just all over the place!! And so excited about getting weighed and getting their eyes checked and whatever. :) ). We made chocolate syrup, cuz you can’t get it here, and someone randomly brought us Hershey’s (a RARE and valued commodity!) strawberry syrup, and we cut up some bananas and chopped some peanuts… and we crumbled some cookies and chopped up some chocolate…. Anyway, for the ice cream social, they try and mix up the kids. So we had 9 random students in our apartment! It was a lot of fun, though. :) We played mafia and zip-bong (a VERY silly game!) and signs. The kids – well, not kids… high school students… young adults – all said they had a blast. :) Ashley and I had a lot of fun, too.
I think my favorite, though, was the singles pot luck dinner. It turned out SOOO good! Erica, Courtney, and Sarah came, as well as Ryan, Aaron, John, Candace, Anita, Abigail, and Ru. We had chilli, homemade bread, salad, soup, chicken enchiladas, stir fry veggies… and then afterwards we had a “pineapple dump cake” that I had made and coffee n’ tea. Poor Ryan… he brought Pringles. Hahaha! I don’t have any idea where he got them, though….
One of the most recent additions to our singles group is an English guy named “Ru” (Rupert). He had coffee after dinner, at which I exclaimed “coffee?!” And he told me that coffee is more popular in Britain now than tea. “Sad times,” he said. He also said things like “hey, Ryan, could you shoot me my jumper?” Jumper = sweater, we found out. He also referred to “chicks” and “blokes,” and occasionally called one or another of us “mate.” :) At one point, he even said something about the “loo,” which excited me because then I found out that it’s not just an American stereotype; they really do call it that! :) (I kept my mouth shut, though, because I didn’t wanna sound like a stupid American.) We also heard some more RIDICULOUS stories from Aaron – about building 48 classrooms in Darfur, Sudan, and having 30 of them bombed… about the Sudanese airline and how, because there’s no bag/weight limit, people are stuffing their luggage into the plane… about having his passport completely filled up with places he’s been… about going to college in the US and selling a $5 spear to an American girl for $80… etc, etc. He tells stories like Charles does – like you’re waiting for him to laugh and say he’s just kidding, but he doesn’t cuz all his stories are true and at first, you’re not sure whether you believe him or not. Anyway, we had a blast together, and it was really nice to hang out with people around my age and just relax. :) It’s difficult, though, because everyone’s sooooo super-busy. We have to be intentional about keeping up with each other. We ARE discussing the possibility of going to the coast for midterm break, though… :-D
I taught a tenor sax lesson today… which was actually a lesson for me – in faking it. I’ve never played a tenor sax! But I used my knowledge of saxophone embouchure and musicality and… whatever else I could think up!... and we had a fairly successful lesson. :) I have two flute lessons tomorrow, which should be significantly easier for me. Wednesday I’ll start kindergarten music and flute choir. I’m pretty excited. :) Thursday I get to start working with the jazz band!! I’m a lil intimidated about that, but I think it’ll be fun.
Sunday was AIC Sunday, which meant we went to the local African church – all of RVA! I was walking with Mrs. Cook on Saturday afternoon, and she mentioned something about needing to come up with something for special music. I told her if she was really desperate and needed something last minute, I could play. She took me up on it! I didn’t really have any music with me, so we played around with “Amazing Grace,” which is simple enough… but… the exciting part is that I IMPROVISED in front of 800 people!!!! It was so much fun!!! But when I sat back down… well, first of all, I started shaking like crazy! My flute case almost fell off my lap! But also, I was sitting where most of the African children were… so when I sat back down, I had close to 30 pairs of little African eyes just staring at me! :) They were so cute! Mrs. Cook said, “I believe you have a new fan club!” And Mr. Taylor told me later that they had never seen a flute before. It was a pretty special experience. I’ll never forget it, for sure! One of my dorm girls told me later, “You were so awesome! You didn’t squeak ONCE!!!” :)
In other news, I’m becoming quite the accomplished fire builder! Even though it gets really cold here at night and in the mornings, there are no heaters. I think it’s because things that make heat require so much electricity, and electricity here is currently three times what it costs in the US – and it’s continually going up. Anyway, out of necessity, I’ve learned to build a fire. I’m kind of excited about my newfound skill, except that I have a few burns on my fingers. I’m also learning more and more how to improvise in the kitchen. What the dukas – and even Nakumatt – will have is unpredictable, so you learn to do without, borrow, or just make something up. The other night when I was having dinner at the Morrisons, Mr. Morrison asked what we were having, and Mrs. Morrison said, “I don’t know. It happened in the kitchen.” It was delicious, though! :-) The situation lends itself well to having a great attitude about things, though… Kind of like, “if you don’t have it… oh well. We’ll make do.” :-)
Monday, September 1, 2008
Poli Sana - So Sorry
Psalm 121
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.
2 Chron. 20:12 “….For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
If TFC were giving out a prize for most unique student teaching experience, I think I would be in the running! I have been in Africa just over a week now, and already things have changed so drastically…. I was planning on student teaching with Mr. Taylor and working with the band at Rift Valley Academy. That much is still true, at least. However, RVA has a lot of holes this year because of how much transition is going on here – new titchie principal, new high school principal, LOTS of new staff, etc etc. (Titchie Swot – pronounced "tih-chee swa" – is an old British term for “little learner.” It’s the elementary school here.) One of the holes is titchie music teacher. For obvious reasons, they asked me if I would be interested. I thought about it and got soooo excited! I even started dreaming about titchie music and all the kids singing and clapping in my class. Luckily, another woman and I are going to share it. She’s gonna take care of titchie choir, which is grades 4-6, and I’ll have K-3.
ALSO! My housemate, Ashley – who I’ve known now for all of 4 days – graduated from RVA and was asked to be a temporary dorm mom because the regular dorm parents for Suswa dorm had to extend their furlough. She agreed to do it on the condition that I could come with her and help. She knows how things work here, but she’s relying on my cooking skills. So I am now co-dorm-mom of Suswa, which houses 15 eleventh-grade girls.
I think the hardest thing, though, is the feeling of not being settled. I think I was beginning to feel a little bit settled before we moved into the dorm, but that’s all gone now. Haha! But everything here is new. Even doing familiar things – like eating, having coffee, talking – are different here. There are different rules and different smells. They don’t tell you this, but fire smells different in Africa. It’s just 100% new, all the time, and it can be exhausting. I’ve been praying a lot for peace, and God is faithful. The people here are kind and wonderful, it’s just that I can’t make myself feel settled. But I have never been so needy. I have never relied so heavily on God. I have never sung so honestly or worshipped so truly in church. So it’s good. I’m feeling quite stretched, and sometimes overwhelmed, but it’s good. :)
I’m also seeing how some of the skills God has taught me through different people are vitally important to me here. Sam, for example, taught me that it’s ok to grieve. I’ve lost comfort, familiarity, the nearness of everyone I know and love, and it’s ok to grieve those things. Rach, Sam, Mere, n’ Jess all taught me that if I need people around me I should go find them. I’ve been knocking on all kinds of doors here! In fact, that’s how I met Erica, the Thomases, and John Hayes (the titchie principal) – I knocked on the wrong doors! Haha! :) And, of course, my parents, from whom I learned to love people and be aware of what I need so that I can take care of myself. :) But anyway, God has been with me through all of it -- good, bad, overwhelming, smelly, beautiful, breath-taking, and even some sickness -- and I’m seeing how He’s prepared me for this time of stretching and growing in Him.
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.
2 Chron. 20:12 “….For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
If TFC were giving out a prize for most unique student teaching experience, I think I would be in the running! I have been in Africa just over a week now, and already things have changed so drastically…. I was planning on student teaching with Mr. Taylor and working with the band at Rift Valley Academy. That much is still true, at least. However, RVA has a lot of holes this year because of how much transition is going on here – new titchie principal, new high school principal, LOTS of new staff, etc etc. (Titchie Swot – pronounced "tih-chee swa" – is an old British term for “little learner.” It’s the elementary school here.) One of the holes is titchie music teacher. For obvious reasons, they asked me if I would be interested. I thought about it and got soooo excited! I even started dreaming about titchie music and all the kids singing and clapping in my class. Luckily, another woman and I are going to share it. She’s gonna take care of titchie choir, which is grades 4-6, and I’ll have K-3.
ALSO! My housemate, Ashley – who I’ve known now for all of 4 days – graduated from RVA and was asked to be a temporary dorm mom because the regular dorm parents for Suswa dorm had to extend their furlough. She agreed to do it on the condition that I could come with her and help. She knows how things work here, but she’s relying on my cooking skills. So I am now co-dorm-mom of Suswa, which houses 15 eleventh-grade girls.
I think the hardest thing, though, is the feeling of not being settled. I think I was beginning to feel a little bit settled before we moved into the dorm, but that’s all gone now. Haha! But everything here is new. Even doing familiar things – like eating, having coffee, talking – are different here. There are different rules and different smells. They don’t tell you this, but fire smells different in Africa. It’s just 100% new, all the time, and it can be exhausting. I’ve been praying a lot for peace, and God is faithful. The people here are kind and wonderful, it’s just that I can’t make myself feel settled. But I have never been so needy. I have never relied so heavily on God. I have never sung so honestly or worshipped so truly in church. So it’s good. I’m feeling quite stretched, and sometimes overwhelmed, but it’s good. :)
I’m also seeing how some of the skills God has taught me through different people are vitally important to me here. Sam, for example, taught me that it’s ok to grieve. I’ve lost comfort, familiarity, the nearness of everyone I know and love, and it’s ok to grieve those things. Rach, Sam, Mere, n’ Jess all taught me that if I need people around me I should go find them. I’ve been knocking on all kinds of doors here! In fact, that’s how I met Erica, the Thomases, and John Hayes (the titchie principal) – I knocked on the wrong doors! Haha! :) And, of course, my parents, from whom I learned to love people and be aware of what I need so that I can take care of myself. :) But anyway, God has been with me through all of it -- good, bad, overwhelming, smelly, beautiful, breath-taking, and even some sickness -- and I’m seeing how He’s prepared me for this time of stretching and growing in Him.
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