This is not just mock examinations, this is mock week.

Saturday – 10/05/2014

On Saturday something we had feared (and expected) all week happened: it was impossible to get to Endamarriek and therefore Karatu. Rain season is quite annoying. Actually, I like spending a weekend in Getamock. It is calm and everything can be pole pole. The only problem is that we didn't have enough food to get through another week. Luckily for us, mister Heriell had left the afternoon before when the rain had cleared the stage for the sun. He was willing to bring some groceries for us. Nevertheless, we still had to get through the weekend. To the village!

We were planning to buy some mangoes and bananas in the centre, but apparently mango season was over. Don't fear though, potato, tomato, carrot and paprika season has begun! For the first time, we could buy all those vegetables in the centre. This meant we had enough food to make pasta and chips again. Success! :)

In the evening we invited Costa and Johnny over for spaghetti. It had been a while since both boys had been at our place. It turned into an amazing night with a lot of laughter. Okay, maybe not being able to go to Karatu isn't all bad :)

Sunday – 11/05/2014

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers over the world, but just a little bit more to mine ;) I love you, mummy! I miss you! In less than a month we'll be able to hug each other again.

Astrid and I have developed the habit of washing each other's hair. This time we heated the water first though. Usually we use the cold water but then the sun is shining. Now it was cold and misty out. The warm water felt amazing while washing our hair :)

In the afternoon, it cleared up a bit and we went to sit outside. We had already done a lot of work for school that day and even outside we kept working hard. Suddenly, mister Fikiri came by and told us that the very next day our second week of duty would start. So on every day we would have to be at school at 7, check how many students were late (and who), give out chores, teach our own lessons, teach remedials, supervise more chores, go home to eat and come back to supervise the evening sessions until 10 pm. Well, a tiring was coming up....

Later on we moved back inside and while I was still going over remedials and regular lessons, Astrid started preparing chips (duh, it's Sunday). While doing so Johnny started to clean the house. This is something he has to do. Since Johnny is Paul's relative and is younger, he has to do as Paul says. That includes cleaning the house and its surroundings, washing Paul's clothes and doing the dishes. Sometimes we help him with the dishes etcetera. This time we really didn't have time though and it made me feel guilty.

In the evening we went to bed early, because duty week is exhausting, terribly exhausting....

Monday – 12/05/2014

At 6.30 our alarm clock started ringing, what a terrible noise so early in the morning (it is always a terrible noise, but still, it's even worse in the morning). By 7 o'clock we were at school and ready to check if our students were on time. As usual a lot arrived late. Especially, now the rain season has started a lot of our students arrive late.

It wasn't just a tiring week for us but also for form 4. Our precious babies had mock examinations. This is to prepare them for the national examinations in October and they try to re-enact those. The same rules apply, the same check-ups and the same kind of questions are asked. The only difference is that for the national examinations the supervisions will be done by people from outside the school and that police will come to guard the examinations.

I started teaching mathematics in form 3 again, ooh, how I had missed it! :) Nevertheless, form 3 was still acting a bit unruly. I hoped their behaviour would be different during the remedials later that day. During the first remedial we made it clear to the students that there were strict rules, rules that were different from the regular school rules. We had to enforce these, because next week form 4 will join them and than there will be about 100 students in one class room.

It turned out that there wasn't any reason to be worrying about their behaviour. All our students had turned into angels that were cooperating more than ever before. In form 3 there are four to five students that dare to speak up and ask questions. All the other students ask us questions outside of class or quietly so no one else can hear them. Suddenly a boy that never asks questions (he is always eavesdropping when others do though) spoke up. He asked to explain something again. I was surprised but happy. This was amazing progress. He seemed to be one of the few that didn't warm up to us, that didn't care for us and maybe he still doesn't. He doesn't have to like me, but the fact that he speaks up and asks his question in front of the class is a big deal to me. I'm pretty sure it was a big deal for him as well, but I'm glad he did it. Really, really glad :)

After the remedial, we still had to supervise chores for half an hour before being able to go home and eat something. At 7 we were back at school for the evening study sessions. I would have gone to school anyways because the next day the form 4 students would have their mock examination of mathematics. So the moment I walked in the form 4 classroom I was bombarded with questions. That's okay though, now I had something to do during the supervision of the study sessions.

Tuesday – 13/05/2014

On Tuesday, I was really looking forward to teaching the second remedial, right up until the moment mister Fikiri came to tell me that he would be teaching remedial. Since he is the second head master, it is difficult to tell him no.

After we had lunch, mister Ndetio ran up to us to ask if we could take over the supervision of the mock examinations for a short while so he and mister EPA could have lunch. We were a little surprised but agreed right away. The week before we had let him know that we wouldn't mind supervising, but he had told us only himself and mister EPA were allowed to do so. They are the academic master and guidance counsellor.

That day, I couldn't teach remedial but as teachers on duty we had to supervise the chores instead. Around 4.30, we went home and quickly washed our hair. We didn't have enough time to wash clothes (which was kind of becoming necessary) before having to go back to school for the evening study sessions.

Wednesday – 14/05/2014

On Wednesday, form 2 was not cooperating very well. In form 3 and form 4 the students have to hand in their exercises so I can correct them instead of having them corrected during class. There were too many students waiting for the solutions to appear on the board instead of working on them themselves. So now only a couple of exercises are corrected on the blackboard. In form 2 the same problem was occurring now, so I tried to solve it the same way I did in 3 and 4. When I told the students this, suddenly everyone was working. When we were correcting the exercises, I noticed most of the students did very well. It was obvious that most of them tried their level best. They're not as tough as they're pretending to be. Even though, some might act uninterested in class, they care a lot.

After teaching form 3 and assisting for civics in form 3, it was time for debate. This would be the first debate we organised entirely on our own and the form 4 students, who speak the most, wouldn't be there. When I got to the classroom where we would be holding the debate, I noticed mister Stephen was already there. Suddenly he went to stand in front of the door, because according to him it had been too long since the bell was rung and all the students that were arriving were late. He blocked the entrance and he gave every student a hit against their shoulder. With some students it was barely anything, with others it was a lot harder, but mostly it was more as if he was saying if I touch you, you were in the wrong. It wasn't about hurting them, it looked like he wanted to make them feel self conscious. After all the students had entered, mister Stephen left again.

Then Anjelina, a form 3 student who is amazing in mathematics, walked up to me and asked if she could go and get a chair. I gave her permission and when she got back she kept standing in front of me with the chair. I didn't realise what was going on until she told me: “Please take the chair, madam.” She had gone to get the chair for me! I was astounded. This girl is quite something. She always seems very insecure and it is as if she doesn't realise how smart she is. She was also one of the first students to come and ask questions about the material. I know she is from a poor household and just like most of our students she has to do a lot of work outside of school. She is also amongst the students who have to walk very far to get home, but she is very determined to get out of the situation she is in and I honestly believe she will.

When the debate was over, both Astrid and I felt pretty proud. It was the first time that there came a student forward every time there was an open floor and also a lot of form 2 students came forward. Even form 1 students spoke up. They were adorable and impressed me immensely. So much bravery in such little bodies ;) We were really glad that we did a debate without the form 4 students, because apparently a lot of the younger students are too hesitant to speak up in front of them.

Thursday – 15/05/2014

Thursday morning, I taught, outside of the remedials, my last lesson for that week. After that Astrid and I went to mama Regina. Because of how busy we had been with the remedials we barely had had the chance to visit her in the kitchen the past week and we were happy to relax there for a second and have a chapati.

After we had finished our tea and chapatis, we went to Endamarriek with mister Paul. We were going to visit the school of mister Martin. Mister Martin is the previous head master of Getamock Secondary School and is also the one who tried to ban caning at the school. After his retirement, he started a private school. His whole life he had been buying land in Endamarriek with the purpose of starting a school according to the principles he believes in. Those are that all communication between students and teachers should be in English and most importantly that corporal punishments are not allowed.

At the school we were welcomed with open arms and the head master and mister Martin immediately showed us around. The school is still very small since it is growing along with its students. Right now, they only have pre-form 1 and form 1. The concept of pre-form 1 is quite unique. The school uses this to go over the last couple of years of primary school again and to increase the students' knowledge of English. After they showed us the school, we had a very interesting conversation with both the head master and mister Martin. Then we spoke with some form 1 students and we were happily surprised with their English. The purpose of pre-form 1 was clear. These students' English was amazing. Afterwards, we had lunch and instead of the ugali we expected we got rice, potatoes and vegetables. What a king's meal! :) Right before leaving we got a present from the school and all the students said goodbye to us.

When we arrived back in Getamock it was time to start the remedial. Upon entering the classroom it was obvious something had happened. There was blood all over the floor. Apparently, two students had been rough housing a bit when they accidentally fell and hurt each other. While they were checking up on one of the students the other one was sitting on his knees with his hands in the air as punishment. The boys themselves weren't mad at each other though, because during the remedial they were already sitting next to each other and working together.

Half an hour before the remedial was supposed to end, all the students had to gather outside suddenly. They had to do chores and after the remedial of Tuesday I now had lost more than half an hour again and therefore, I couldn't finish the topic on Thursday like I originally meant to.

Friday – 16/05/2014

This week I didn't have to teach on Friday since form 4 had mock examinations. Consequently, I had time to finish my preparations for the remedials of next week and we were able to visit mama Regina again. At the kitchen we ran into Paulina. We asked Paulina whether Selina, her cousin that is in form 3, had told her about the strict rules we had enforced during remedial. Asking permission to leave the classroom etc. is not a very common to do here. Paulina said Selina hadn't mentioned it at all, but that she had said that we were good teachers and that we explained things clearly. She had said: "Now, I am good at mathematics." :)

An advantage of the mock examinations of form 4 was that the other students weren't allowed to start sport and games until the examinations were finished. This meant that I still had about half an hour between lunch and the start of sport and games to finish the topic I was teaching in remedial. Originally, this wasn't planned. Hence, the students unexpectedly had less free time. Nevertheless, almost all of them came to the remedial even though they didn't have to. Okay, the half hour turned into 45 minutes but the topic was finished and the students had had a chance to ask more questions, so I was happy and I hope they were too.

Because it is sport and games on Fridays, there were no chores to supervise. Therefore, we could go home and wash. Score! We would have clean clothes again! Except for the fact that Paul had used up all the water and then disappeared again. We had told him we were planning to wash but after using up all the water he left without arranging new water. So there we were. We started a quest for some students to help us and unexpectedly, they came to offer themselves. Usually, students run away when you ask them to get water. We thanked our students profusely, because thanks to them we would be able to wash (and therefore wear clean clothes again ;) ).

In the evening, Johnny and Costa came over and just like every week we had chips. This week was a little bit different though. Next to chips, we had soda. :) The boys don't get to drink it a lot and they always enjoy it. At first, Costa seemed a little sad and distant. He didn't really answer when we asked what was wrong, but I think he might have just been tired after the week he had. After a little while, he cheered up though and sang us one of his songs. Okay, we had to bug him for several minutes but he still did it. :D And yes, Costa writes songs. Our students are a lot more creative than they get credit for. They're is so much more to them than most people think and I love seeing that side of them. It was the perfect ending of a long and tiring week :)

A lot of love to you all (and to my students ;) )

xxx

Laura