Furaha kwa siku ya kuzaliwa, Astrid!

Hi everyone! How's Belgium? Or wherever you are ;)

Saturday – 15.03.2014

Last weekend we stayed in Getamock again. Unfortunately Astrid was sick and spent most of the day in bed. Since some of the teachers go visit their family on weekends, you can never be sure if there will be a lot of people around. Thankfully, Philly was and he went and bought rice for Astrid. I didn't know where to find it in Getamock and most of the shop owners don't speak English, only Kiraqw and Kiswahili. This way I didn't have to leave her alone either, so thank you, Philly! :)

In the afternoon I tried to boil the rice.... Turns out it is not that easy. It is different from back home, so Costa, the boy next door, came to save me and helped me with preparing the rice. After dinner, in the evening, Astrid and I went to visit Philly. He lives with mr. Mbwala, the head master from Getamock Secondary School. This was the first time we had a conversation with him that extended beyond 'Hi, how are you? – Good, how are you?' All in all, it was a really nice night.

Sunday – 16.03.2014

Furaha kwa siku ya kuzaliwa, Astrid! Or in others words: Happy birthday, Astrid! :D 21, you're getting old ;)

Sunday was Astrid's birthday and what was supposed to be a day of celebration turned into something else :( Astrid was still sick and she stayed in bed most of the day. Consequently, the big bar of chocolate I had bought her wasn't the best idea. Nevertheless, she was really happy with it.

Later on, Astrid was feeling a little better and Philly, her and I went to the shop where Astrid bought us candy. She also gave some to Costa en Johnny. All this still gave the day a festive twist.

Monday – 17.03.2014

Usually on Monday mornings, I teach the first two periods in form 3. But now I am assisting Astrid in mathematics instead of the other way around. Even though I am used to assisting her in civics, this is still different. What is the same as in assisting her in civics is that sometimes, it is really difficult to keep my mouth shut. When the students are doing something they're not supposed to do, I can't just stop class for a minute. I know that if someone did that to me, I would hate it, so I can't do that to Astrid either.

In the afternoon, we went back to hill Mahaha, where we also went the first week we were here. Back then we were blown away by the view; but honestly, that view can't compare to the one we saw this week... It was almost magical! With binoculars we even saw giraffes walking at the lake! How cool is that? :D

Tuesday – 18.03.2014

Since Tuesday is my preparation day, it was a very calm day this week. I went over the lessons of form 3 with Astrid which is more fun than preparing them on your own. The only lessons I did have to prepare on my own were for form 2 and form 4. Consequently, Astrid and I had time to bring a visit to mama Regina :)

While Astrid had to teach remedial, I could enjoy the nice weather since all my lessons were already prepared. Afterwards, Astrid joined me and suddenly in between the trees in the distance we saw a lake. And believe it or not, but it was Lake Manyara. We can see Lake Manyara from the school grounds, can you believe that? :D

We ended the night on a Belgian note, with chips, and invited Johnny and Costa over! :D

Wednesday – 19.03.2014

On Wednesday, I wanted to run around the school grounds screaming: 'Red alert, red alert!' Most of the students had disappeared and I was flabbergasted. Usually every class I teach ranges between 40 and 50 students and now there were about 10 in every class. Astrid and I didn't have any clue what was going on until a student told us they were sent home to ask for food for the school. It turns out that some of the students pay to eat at school while others bring the maize and beans from home. Since the school was running out of food because most of the students hadn't brought anything they were sent home to fetch food for the students who did pay.

After lunch-break, there was debate. I really like this, but unfortunately the students don't seem to feel the same. They speak very quietly and they try to avoid having to speak in the first place. This is really a pity. I try to tell them again and again that they are here to learn and that it is okay to make mistakes, that it's better than not trying at all but they don't seem to believe me. The debate was a preparation for Thursday when they have the debate against Endallah. The motion stated: “A monarchy is better than a republic.” Our students were proposers but they didn't want to be at all. We told them that they didn't have to worry since we're from monarchy we could help them! In the end, we figured out that the students don't know what a monarchy really is. They thought a king has all the power in the monarchy and that there is no parliament. We quickly educated them about it and discussed possible points for the debate on Thursday.

Thursday – 20.03.2014

Something we hadn't noticed before were the check-ups on Thursday. This week, it was the students their hair. If it was too long they had to go into the staff room where plucks were cut of their hair. This way the students are forced to have it cut. When those students arrived in the classrooms the others were laughing at them. Even though the others weren't a lot. Because of two reasons: most of the students their hair was too long and a lot of them were still absent.

In the afternoon, there was the re-match against Endallah and we were ready. Apparently, they weren't. They came by car and one way or another they were still too late. I don't know how they did that. Consequently, there wasn't enough time and the other school didn't want to have the debate. All that preparation and now our students didn't get the chance show what they could do. Nevertheless, our students won at volleyball! In handiball they came close (7-8) and football even closer (1-1). You know what our students also won at (even though it is not a game) discipline, politeness and respect. ;)

Friday – 21.03.2014

In the morning, I taught form 4 again. I really like teaching there, because those students are close to the national exams and they realise that so they work really hard (at least most of them do ;) ). They just need to learn to ask questions, but don't worry, they're getting better and better at it.

In the evening we made chips (yes, again). Since we didn't know Paul would be absent we had made too many. So we invited Johnny and Costa again. Those boys are going to think that the only thing we eat is chips! (Maybe we should invite them over for spaghetti sometime)

Baadaye!

xoxo