10 Kenyan Snippets

1) You never have to worry about speeding here. The policemen don't have cars. 2) The craziest birds that I've ever heard live here. You can hear owls hooting in the middle of the day, screeches from these huge crow-like birds, and mysterious alarm clock sounding birds. 3) The common mode of public transportation is the infamous matatu. These vehicles are like large minivans, with about four rows of seats that fit about 20. I haven't ridden one yet, since it's really easy to have every single one of your wordly possessions stolen in route. 4) Nothing says "for sale" or "for rent," instead all the signs say "for let." 5) Everyone lives within a walled, guarded compound. For a while we all thought the guards were pointless because they let us in without any questions. Finally we learned the guard motto which lets us in so easily- "white's alright." 6) Kenyans have a strong Kenyan/British accent which is very hard to understand. I often find myself thinking, "I know you're speaking English, but I don't know what you're saying." 7) Time is not of the essence here. When planning a time for an event, you have to specify whether you mean Kenyan time or American time. The difference can be hours. 8) There are hardly any road names here. Directions often include phrases like "turn right at the flower vendor," "take the second left after the blue billboard," or "turn after the fifth pothole." 9)We really need to sift through our sugar to get all the pieces of wood, grass, and rock out. 10) Kenyans have a tea break twice a day. Very British.

First First Day

Today was my first, first day of school! I'm a real teacher now! I will never have a first day of teaching again! Synopsis of the day - good. It was a success! Yah it was a little crazy, but overall I think it went well! I got an early morning call from the guidance couselor, warning me that two of my classes were overbooked. She didn't want me to be alarmed; she would work on the scheduling. I only have desks for 26 students, which is our limit, but I had about 35 kids in study hall today. It was pretty funny. But, we sent some of them to health so now I only have 26 kids to keep quiet the last period of every day! I don't have a first period class, so with getting to school one hour early this morning, I had nothing to do during our first period time. I just stood at my door, told the 8th graders they could pick a locker, and enjoyed the general wonder of a first day of school. It seems like such a long time ago since I had a first day! hehe Today was just a half-day, which I was very thankful for. So 25 minutes after the day began, I got my first set of kids and my first set of confusions. Apparently scheduling never runs very smooth here, so my class rosters were a little crazy. I was marking kids off, switching sibling names, writing in first names instead of middle, switching first and last names...you get the idea. To make matters worse, I could only pronounce about 10 of 65 names before they told me. So as each student walked in, I asked their name and repeated it about five times until I said it correctly. One poor boy will probably hate me all year, because after about 20 attempts I still could not say his name to his satisfaction. He finally gave up on me. SO...at the beginning of each of my five classes today, I repeated the same roster scramble. It was funny though! Thankfully the kids are used to new teachers who can't pronounce their names and crazy schedules. This year, 6th grade is a new addition to middle school, as opposed to just 7th and 8th. With this switch, we had two new grades added to middle school today! 2/3 of middle school is trying to figure out how to open their locker, switch classes, even whether or not to take their books out of class. The 7th graders were obviously excited to finally graduate up because they were hyper and bouncing off the walls! The poor, tiny 6th graders however, looked like a bunch of deer in headlights. I think they were scared to death, bless their hearts. They were tiny too! The kids here are a lot smaller than in th US, I've decided. I think I could break most of them in half! Regardless, we all made it through the day unscathed! I didn't stress out my first first day and my students don't think I'm mean or dumb yet....so, success!

School School School

So let me tell you a little bit about my fantastic new workplace, West Nairobi School! As you can tell from the pictures, it's a beautiful place! It is situated in the quiet suburb of Karen, adjacent to the Ngong Forest. Gorgeous! Lush greenery, stone buildings, lined walkways...it's lovely! I feel blessed to work in such an ideal setting. WNS has pre-K through 12th grade. The high school has it's own side of campus, and middle school (my arena) has it's own building. I have a great classroom, quite spacy, with lots of light pouring through my many windows. Yesterday, I was finally able to start really working in my room! Last week, I cleaned it out and got it prepped, now I can start working! I put up a bulletin board and decorated a magnet board. I also started putting stuff away in my desk! Oh, and we finally got our laminator working, so I lamenated everything! Praise the Lord for that! It feels good to have accomplished something! Today, Thursday, we are staying home due to the referendum here, so I have lots of time for lesson planning! I brought home all my curriculum so I can hit it hard! All the ladies and gentlemen I work with have been wonderful so far! I think we will all have a successfull school year together! I love my school!