Counting to 10

Things Im starting to hate

Cleaning my house. It really makes me appreciate the washing machine, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner and carpet. When I lived in San Francisco, yeah I had to clean house, but I shared the house with roommates so we would all do a section. Now I have to wash dishes, sweep and mop my huge house bending down at the waist, wash clothes in a bucket and try to not notice all of the places I missed when cleaning.



Washing clothes. Now when I feel in the mood, I love washing my clothes. But 98.9% of the rest of the time, I hate it. I really miss my washing machine. I miss putting laundry into a machine and going on with the rest of my day. When I wash clothes, it takes up the whole day and then god forbid if it rains cuz then your 1 day of washing clothes is now turned into 2.



Paying a lot of money for a package from home. Mail comes very irregularly here in Kenya. You never know how long something will take to get to your site. But when it does come, you are on top of the moon. I am always surprised how fast I can run from the school to the post office the minute I heae I have a package. Then all of your excitement gets shot down the minute you hear how much you have to pay for the package and they place the package right next to the teller to taunt you, it helps you get your money out faster with limited questions. You want how much for that package? Sh 970?!?!?!?!



People who just want to touch the muzungu. So there are days where I find this funny and I don’t just let them shake my hand but actually go over and have a conversation with them…or at least to depending on their accents. But there are days where Im tired and all I want to do is finish my shopping, go home and chill. I was in the market today and some mama grabbed my hand( I was talking to another mama at the time) and pulled my hand down so the kids could touch it. Didn’t ask permission, didn’t try to get my attention first, didn’t even let me finish my conversation with the other woman.

Makers of starbursts for making the wrappers out of paper. Its called twist wrappers! You can't get paper cuts if it's twist!

Can you tell it's been one of those days? Believe it or not I have had an good week. We made soap, ate somosas and pineapple, got a new water heater and I have been playing with the puppies. It wasn't untill I went to the damn post office that my good week changed.

But you want to know what I love? My kids. Im in love with my students and I am finding myself hanging with them outside of school a lot more. Because although I am not deaf, Im still different from the rest of the community and these kids know what that feels like. So anytime, I find myself having a bad day, I go on a walk with some of my students and by the end of the walk, I don’t feel like strangling anyone.

It wasn't my fault...

Well, I'd say my house has been officially baptized. I started my first fire tonight, unintentionally of course. I thought I kept smelling something funny but thought it was the cow from outside. It wasn't till I saw the flames at the end of my bed that I realized it wasn't the cow. It was my water heater and the plastic ball was aflame. When I had finished heating my bath water, I turned off the outlet switch, not unplugging it like I normaly do. So When my computer was dying, I just forgot about the water heater and turned the switch on.  LOL Damn, now my house smells like burnt rubber and I wont have hot water tomorrow! :(  And to make matters worse, it also just rained and I think the smoke is attracting flying termites into my house. Not a good night.

Kericho and Ice Cream

Well, I think I just had the best weekend since coming to my site. My good friend came down from mumias to visit for the weekend. It was soooo nice to have another muzungu with me. Like my last post, living in a bowl can get to you after awhile. So, to prepare for her visit, the heaping club helped clean my house and cooked an amazing lunch for us. When she arrived, I took her on a tour of the school grounds. We couldn’t even step onto the walkway before we were surrounded my kids. They loved her and were almost as excited as I was for her visit. Of course how couldn’t they be when they had to listen to me talk about her for the last week. After the tour, we went back to my house and had lunch with the heaping club. I loved sitting in my living room eating amazing food and laughing with great people. Oh yeah, they had to tattle on me about everything. But they were so welcoming, they even made her an honorary member of the heaping club. It was definitely a mental picture moment. After lunch, the ladies cleaned up the kitchen and gave us some space. We spent the rest of the day talking on the couch about school, life and the culture. I took her on a tour of the town and all of a sudden, I was the most popular girl in town. Moe than the usual crazies came up to greet us. It’s like touching the hand of a muzungu just brings joy to their lives. LOL. That night some of my girls came to the house and wanted a picture with kristiann. Since I knew the kids were not going to stop until every single one met kristiann, I promised them we would come up the following night to watch them dance. Saturday, we decided to go into Kericho for a day of shopping. We both almost cleaned out the fabric store and played around in tuskis. We ate ice cream on grass and enjoyed the sunshine. When we got home, it had started to rain. Kenyans have a special way to deal with rain, they stay indoors till it stops. Unfortunately, I think its genetic and not something that can not be learned by a visitor. We both made a run for the school in the down pour. All along the way, we saw Kenyans trying to wave us inside, but we declined and kept running. Up ahead I noticed a car coming. Since half the road was flooded, we tried to move over as far as possible. The car came at a speed it should not have been going and splashed us with muddy water. I think kristiann even got some in her mouth. We continued until we got to my house where we changed out of our wet clothes, curled up on the couch with our sleeping bags and watched some much needed chick flicks. Around 8, we decided we should go up and say goodbye to the kids. They were so excited to see her. We ended up watching some dances. One of the vocational boys was trusted with her camera and was the designated photographer for the night. When the girls were done dancing, one of my students asked if we could dance for them. So kristiann and I got up there and did the macarana, chicken dance and the electric slide. After dancing, it was their bed times, but the kids had other ideas. Krisitann and I got separated and we each had our own large group of kids asking us questions., asking her about America and mumias, and asking me about her. The kids noticed everything different about us. I was red skined, she was white, I was strong, she was weak, she had more arm hair than I did. The kids asked me if I was going with Kristiann the next morning. I teased them that I would, they didn’t like that very much.. LOL It was nice to see the kids wanting me to stay. The kids even begged kristiann to stay. They were all so cute and I looked on with pride. We finally pulled ourselves away from the kids and went back home to go to bed. The next morning, I put her on a matatu with 4 pineapples, 10 mangos, 15 chaptis and threatened the conductor with his life if he didn’t take care of her. We also promised to plan some sort of get together in Kisumu over the next few weekends. Well, its now it a ‘s couple hours from the close of the weekend and the start of another week. It’s wet and cold I still have no idea what I am teaching tomorrow. So I am going to close and say good night for now. Hope everyone had an amazing weekend and I miss you all

Paging Dr. Doolittle

The children think I am Dr. Doolittle. They are starting to notice my friendship with the school animals and now whenever they see a bird, frog, dog, or snake on the premises, they immediately run for me. Last week, a teacher caught a bird and tied it up in the class. This kids, thinking it was hurt, came to me. I took it, and although didn’t see anything wrong with it, figured it needed some rest. Later on, the kids and I released it. This morning the children come to me with another bird that they found on the ground. This time it was a baby. Obviously it was learning how to fly and fell from the nest. I took it around with me letting it rest and get some water. Well, the kids, knowing I have something interesting, followed me everywhere. Whenever I stopped, they stopped. That's when one noticed a toad. He picked it up and gave it to me. So now I have a toad and a bird. I was the fricken pide piper for kids and animals. I left the kids to go into the classroom and give the bird water. I look up, there was still be a herd of kids outside peeping into the room. I decided to take it with me to my pe class. I sat outside with a bird on my lap and the kids forming a huge circle around me. ( I had gotten rid of the toad by then) 5 minutes later, who should wander into the circle and plop right next to me? Sasa! Now I really did feel like Dr. Doolittle and the pide piper. So there I am with a bird, a dog and about 16 kids following me everywhere. Well, by lunch time, I had had enough of the merry band. I told the kids we needed to try and find the birds home. We figured it came from the nest at the top of a tree located in the courtyard. So, I release it onto a branch where it started chirping and hopping up the tree. All good signs. I left the kids with instructions to watch for it as I went in to enjoy my lunch. I was about to take my first bite of a amazing somosa when it happened again. 17 kids come find me…they have another bird.

They couldn't keep it in their pants....but at least they used a condom!

Yesterday afternoon, I was walking to the staff room when I noticed a herd of students trying to see into the door. The kids don’t spend all day trying to look in the staff room so something was up. I have learned the staff room is usually where we hosts visitors and where the teachers deal out their discipline. So something was most definitely up. I crept towards the door, listening for some hint that they were hosting a visitor and not bating a student. Since there was no sound of a stick flying through the air, I decided it was safe to pass. It wasn’t until I was half way through the room that I noticed the 4 students on their knees. I didn’t ask questions, I just kept on walking. I tried to kill time in the office so by the time I was finished, the discipline would also be finished. I figured 15 minutes was enough time, So, I walk back into the staff room where I found out when Kenyans discipline, they make it last. I couldn’t really back out, without getting noticed, so I tried to keep my eyes on the opposite door and walk through unnoticed. Someone called my name. shit. My counterpart asked if I knew what these kids had done. That’s when I really noticed the set up. All 4 kids were in my class 7 pe health class. 2 sets. Boy and girl. I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. They were caught playing sex.( I never figured out why Kenyans call it play sex when they for sure are not playing anything. ) Well, I said something funny and walked out. I spent the rest of the day contemplating what and how I was going to address it. The next day, I had their KIV/AIDS class first thing in the morning. Before class, I learned that luckily all used condoms. The kids have taken awhile to get used to my frankness about sex that I didn‘t think any of my lessons about condom safety were getting through. I decided to go in and just talk about it. I felt a deep sense of pride for my kids when I heard they used condoms. Ok yeah, they couldn’t keep it in their pants and that will be my next goal but when they did, they thought of me and pulled out a condom. So, I just decided the best way was to go in, comfortable, non threatening and at ease with the situation. I started off explaining just because I say use a condom, doesn’t mean you go and whip one out and use it. I explained sex is a serious topic, a decision that can affect the rest of your life. It’s not something you just do with one of your classmates because you were board. It’s something done between people who love and care for each other. Since one of the couples were fighting only yesterday, I figured this was not the case. I did say how proud I was that they at least thought about using a condom. I told them we would talk about it more and they seemed to finally relax with the subject and with me. So, maybe I am finally getting the hang of this teaching thing. I taught them about condom safety, now how do I teach a bunch of hormonal 15 yr olds to keep it in their pants?

Fish in a blender, Cat under a comforter

Im on the fence if I want to go up and teach tonight. It’s been rainy and cold and I am huddled up in my sleeping bag enjoying the warmth. I did miss my KSL class today so I should probably go up ands make up for lost time. I am at such a loss with my classes at the moment. I feel like a failure and they haven’t even taken a test. Nothing I am doing seems to work and the minute I teach them something, they are asking me 4 hours later for the answer. I ask my counter part for help and she just tells me to stick to the syllabus. Only problem IS the syllabus. I guess I am just letting all the pressure Im under for this class get to me. On top of my guilt trip with my classes, I am getting a little annoyed with the dog and pony show I am the main attraction for. I had to miss class because the head master wanted to show off the muzungu to the high officials for the district. Ok so it really was so I could meet the District officer and some other officials for the ministry of education, which if something bad were to happen, I guess would be a good thing. But I don’t remember any of their names or their titles and in all honesty felt like it was just a show and a waste of my time. Ok, so I guess I am slightly touchy today. I have been here a month and getting into the community has been slow going. Sure there are a few people I have become friends with and a few I have even gotten marriage proposals from but I just feel like a circus act the minute I step out the gates of the school. During training we were told we would have ups and downs and have a lot of unwanted attention. So, I knew that would happen, I have been dealing with it for the past 4 months and I am not positive it will actually stop. I guess it’s just me wishing it would stop. So this is the part where I try to compare my feelings to something. Most would think a fish in a fish bowel. But it’s worse. Have you ever seen a fish in a blender? I once put a fish into a blender. No, not to see how sharp the blades were but for him to call home. Well, now I understand why all the fish I put in there had early deaths. On top of living in a glass bowl where everything you do is public, you also have blades hiding under the rocks and the minute you get too comfortable, some idiot could plug it in and switch it to puree. Well that’s me right now. Having everything I do public knowledge and the pressure to make a good impression and not commit social suicide. It seriously gets to you after awhile.

Thankfully peace corps knew this and arranged it where volunteers always had at least 1 person living near them. Speaking of which I am really happy a fellow volunteer is visiting this weekend. It will be a nice break to have another fish for people to look at. Also my mom called, which was nice. She told me Tess the cat was almost smothered by mom when mom thought she was just a bump under the down comforter. It was nice to hear about home and it made me feel a little better knowing I could always be invisible and be smothered with a down comforter. Well it’s started to rain so… I think I will take it as a sign and not go to class. J Hope all is well. I miss u all and no matter how sad I sound, just know it’s normal and no I am not ready to come home yet. LOL Tomorrow always has the potential to be better.

P.S. For all you teachers out there who read this blog, feel free to drop me some hints on how I can improve my teaching strategy. I am teaching grade 4 english and grade 8 KSL( If you work with the deaf, any advice would be amazing) You can leave a comment or you can reach me by facebook or email.

The Chicken Dance comes to Kenya

So went up to the school tonight to teach, only to find my class having a dance off. It was so much fun. I learned some new Kenyan dances and I taught the students the chicken dance and the Macarena. We told stories, jokes and sang songs, it was a night full of laughs. They wanted me to tell a story but I declined since my signing skills are not as good as theirs. They were so welcoming though and when I got up to do my impression of a kenyan dance, the were sup portative. Ok they laughed their butts off but it was fun to feel like I was a part of the school. I think they like me being there. I learned our school participates in a national dance competition. Im thinking I’ll talk to the head master and see if I can go with them. I also played a game today in class to practice the signs I teach them. It went well and they seemed to like it. I might continue it, it might help with the midterm. I was told today, I have to create a midterm for all of my subjects. I have never created a test before. Im nervous to give it out because I don’t know if I want to see the results. I know Im the worst teacher right now and I will get better but I still feel like I should be teaching more, that the students would improve with any other teacher. But no matter what, I am in love with my students, my town and this country. I have never felt more right. Well, this will be a short posts since it’s late and I am tired. So untill next post, good night.

Happy Valentines Day XOXOXO

Happy Valentine’s Day XOXOXOXOX This time last year I was participating in the giant pillow fight in San Francisco and getting smooched on the muni. Unfortunately, Kenya doesn’t seem to celebrate the holiday with the same dedication that America does. So, I am hanging out on my bed, playing on my computer as I procrastinate finishing my lesson plans and schemes of work(The one aspect of teaching I really am starting to hate) and feeling blah( I think I may be coming down with something). I did get my dad’s package of peanut M$M’s so that helped make the day exciting,. I don’t know if I did something, said something or my neighbors are noticing my slimming, but I have been getting food made for me in very large quantities. My neighbors have been making me beans, chapti, rice, more beans and even bought me 2 pineapples all in 1 day. I feel like I missed something, like I should be having a baby or have someone die to deserve all this food.. If I haven’t mentioned it before, Kenyan culture thinks the more meat on you the better. To them, someone who is big is considered healthy. If they notice you slimming, they will tell you and ask if you are sick. Every mealtime I have with them, I have to fight to serve myself, otherwise, I will leave more than half of the food on my plate. They also do not like the fact that I have been eating PD&J for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every morning, they ask what I ate for dinner. Sometimes, I lie and say I cooked. So what am I going to do with all of this extra food? I noticed sasa was getting on the slim side so maybe I will give her some of the food. Better than having it go to waste.


So, Friday night, I went up to the school to help the students, like I always do. Most of them wanted to enjoy their firday night., but one student had a lot of vocab he wanted me to give him the signs for. Since now, I have never had a problem helping them with the vocab. I have actually enjoyed them asking me. But looking over the words, I noticed almost half of these words are words I have been teaching them these past weeks. Im stumped. Im starting to think I must be the worst teacher if a student can’t even remember one vocab word I had taught them earlier. I know some of my students have multiple disabilities, including mental delay ,but all 60? So what am I doing wrong? Part of me feels like I am getting played. Like they are smarter then they let on, they are used to having a teacher lecture and just have them copy down the homework and here I come, the newbie, and they want to see who can quit first. But then I think of how the kids interact with me outside of class and them seem to enjoy my company. So, Im at a loss of where to go from here. Do I back track and teach them vocab they say they don’t know? Do I just pretend they are lying to me and continue on with the lessons? If I didn’t have the unseen amount of pressure for them to perform well, on the national exam, I would take my time and focus on the vocab, because how can you learn about the sentence structure when you have no idea about the vocab? I have a few ideas playing in my head right now. I’ll think I’ll try them this week and get back to you.
You guys remember that teacher I wanted to strangle? No, don’t worry, I didn’t strangle him. I just gave him a dose of American stubbornness. One Friday, he had the 2nd to last class of the day and I followed him with my KSL class. Well, when the clock struck the required time, I walked in and stood inside the classroom. He was walking around showing a book to the students. I let him finish, although I stayed inside the classroom. He finished up with the students, looked at me and signed class finish. He cleaned up his area, erased the board, and walked out…although not before giving me the stink eye. I talked to the other teachers and asked if I should have done anything differently. They said no and that what I did was the only way to deal with him. Hopefully, it will only take a few more times before he get the point that I am tired of him taking up my class time.
Saturday night, I had some of my neighbors kids over. Since the dinner party they have been pestering me on seeing a movie. I finally let them in….boy was that a mistake. I don’t understand how it happened but, I hate small kids now. 15 minutes hadn’t even gone by when they started fighting over my things. I wanted to kick them out. But Im starting to feel like that wouldn’t have been ok with the mamas. I did get on them about fighting over my stuff, but when they are used to a beating to get the message across, just being firm with them seems weak. Im hoping it was just the excitement of being in the muzungu’s house without the mamas was what caused the ruckus.
Well, I am off to school. I think I am coming down with a cold but if I don’t go, they don’t have subs, so there would be no one to teach my class. I hope all of you are doing well and I miss you all. I actually came down with a dose of homesickness on Sunday. It’s never happened till now. I think it was a combination of the holiday, me getting sick and listening to my music without my singing buddy. Weird. J well till next post, kwa herii

Cheeky little buggers...and birthday cake

Hey guys and Donia, sorry for the delay in posts. I have seriously been running around like a chicken without a head, and trust me, they do run. I haven’t really had a chance to breath till now. So updates….
I have been living without running water for about 4 days. The good thing is it’s not just me but the whole town. This means, there is more pressure on the people who control the water to get it up and running. So, living without running water means I have to get water from the tanks on the school grounds… and because my tanks are small, I have to go a lot. Its definitely becoming an inconvenience. My dishes are piling up because I would rather have water to drink and take a bath then wash dishes. But if water does not return tomorrow, Im going to have to suck it up and wash them…my kitchen is starting to smell.
I had my first dinner party on Sunday night. I guess you could call it a success. If you call running out of dishes, half of the cake stuck in the pan and having a kid pee on your floor a success, then yeah it was a success. It was fun having the ladies over. The kids also seemed to like going over to the muzungu house especially when there was a movie involved. Yeah I bribed the kids into liking me with Kung Fu Panda. Hey it worked. I cooked rice for them, another lady brought over beans and chapti. I was really good and I didn’t kill anyone with my rice. I also got a gas stove from one of them. I probably have the best neighbors. They are all mothers so I am like their baby. I have a gas stove and a jeko which I didn’t have to buy. The gas stove definitely works faster than the kerosene stove and I really starting to get the hang of this cooking thing.
I am still working in the classroom at night. It is my favorite time with the students. It’s very relaxed. My students writing skills are very weak, so I have been trying to teach them composition. I think I got through one lesson before they started asking for signs. Although, I can’t tell if they are genuinely asking or trying to kill time so I don’t lecture on composition. There seems to be a bit of let’s mess with the volunteer. The other night, one of the words that came up was period. I always ask if they know the meaning an sometimes they do, but this time they didn’t know. So, for the next 5-7 minutes, they sat watching me struggle to explain puberty. I tried to keep it simple as possible but there were some words they would stop me at and ask the meaning. Well, I later found out they know all about puberty and periods from class 6. So, did they forget or did they just want to see if the volunteer could pull it off?
Besides getting to teach the cheeky little buggers, I have started to integrate with the staff. Everyone is very helpful and seems to enjoy my company. They tell me I am never short on things to say and like my students am very cheeky( maybe that why my students and I get along so well). But like most teachers will tell you, there always has to be one that you just don’t connect with, and I found him. This gentleman is very nice, however there are a few of his quirks that just seem to irk me. My lessons always seem to follow his and this wouldn’t be a bad thing if he would get out of his class on time. Every single day and every single lesson, guaranteed, he is 15 minutes over. With 1 lesson being only 30 minutes, I don’t get much time to teach. I have asked the other teachers and it seems like he does it to them, although I only asked the female teachers,. So I don’t know if it’s just him or some weird patriarchal thing, since that is sort of the culture here. Once in a while, I can understand, but every single lesson? I was teaching tonight in class 8, we were going over vocabulary, and the same gentleman walks in and starts writing on the board. He finishes and then waits, like I should know this is his class time. So like any true stubborn American would do, I took my time. I guess all this” taking over my classes” was sort of getting to me. He asked where some of the students were, I told him I let them go since my class was over, it was their bed time and I didn’t know he wanted to teach. I am not sure how to deal with this situation, Kenyan style. This country seems to be very indirect and I have no idea how to be indirect. I think I might talk to the deputy headmaster and ask him to either talk to the gentleman or tell me how to address it. I’m going to be working with the man for the next 2 yrs, I wouldn’t want to have it start badly from the beginning and be uncomfortable for the rest of my time.
Well, that about covers the updates. It’s been a month of adjustments and I know they aren’t over, but I haven’t run home crying yet so that’s something good. Even with all the up’s and down’s of this job, I’m having a wonderful time and I don’t even mind when I’m so exhausted from school, I go directly home a sleep for 4 hours.

Here’s the recipe for the cake that got stuck in the pan. I also included the frosting, although I thought the cake was sweet enough without it( believe it or not it was the salt loving Kenyans who wanted it). I do advise when making it, follow the recipe. I sort of added some extra banana and pineapple… it was still good but a little too banana-ee

Tenaya’s birthday cake
Pineapple banana cake
1 cup sugar
¾ cup oil
2 eggs
1 ½ cup flour
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup crushed pineapple
¾ cup diced ripe bananas
Mix dry ingredients. Add all other ingredients. Mix Well. Bake in greased enamel pan for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Sorry this part is a little hazy. Since I’m cooking it Kenyan style. Im sure it’s around 350 degrees and just cook it till its golden brown.

Frosting

¼ cup margarine
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups icing sugar
¼ cup Milk
Margarine should be fairly soft. Mix all ingredients, adding milk to make a good spreading consistency.

Looking back

Saturday, I woke up to the sounds of kids playing and roosters greeting the morning. I sat for probably 15 minutes watching them run around having fun. I thought about the night before and how much fun I had with them, how spending time with them, answering simple questions and watching wrestling was so fulfilling to me. It hit me that this felt right to me, this was where I belonged. I thought back to the year long application process and how many times I called my mom crying because of some paper lost or another unnecessary test I had to do. I thought about my life before Peace Corps and how unsatisfied I was with it, always thinking there was something was missing. If I compare life now to life then, I would say I truly have never been happier than I am right now. Most of you who follow this blog know I have epilepsy. But for those of you who don’t know, I have been struggling with it for a long time. The dependency on others, the prejudice, the stereotypes, feeling ashamed of it, and feeling like the world was closed off to me. I struggled in school because of it and struggled in life as well. But then, I guess I had what you would call a breakthrough when I thought it would interfere with my dream of serving in the peace corps. Epilepsy had taken away my independence and at times my dignity, but I refused to let it take this away from me as well. Since being here in Kenya, I have never felt more alive or more myself. I’m still living with epilepsy and I will probably have to take medication for the rest of my life, but I have finally realized epilepsy does not have me. If being here has taught me anything it is having a disability is not a disability but an ABILITY that makes us stronger than we think we are, wiser than we like to believe and more stubborn than our parents might want us to be. All you have to do is persevere and you CAN follow your dreams. I did.

What is a virgin and do American's eat snakes?

Well, it’s been 3 months since I came to Kenya and 1 month of teaching and I am still alive. I actually feel more alive and more myself here than I did back home. The kids seem to love watching me joke around with them and the other teachers. They laugh when I get into a dancing mood and act like an idiot. They are very accepting and patient with me. This week has probably been my favorite with them. They seem to be opening up to me and love hounding me with questions. They also seem to know where I am at all times. When I sit down outside, a message goes through the compound and 3...2...1... WOOSH, I have almost the entire school circling me. I told my deputy headmaster, if we ever need a quick gathering, just put me in the middle of the field and in 5 seconds flat, I will have the whole school together Then the questions start. “Do you have elephants in America?” “Do Americans eat snakes?” They love trying to rub off my tattoo and always ask why do I have a water bottle. When I told them I didn’t know how to cook, they laughed and couldn’t believe a 23 yr old didn’t know how to cook. The younger ones want to help wash my clothes. They come to my house asking if I need help. My classes are going continuing to go well, or at least they seem to be. I’m still stumped at times on how to teach them, especially English where I have to use Signed Exact English and KSL with no work book. But I am slowly getting better. They use totally different signs here than I am used to so they enjoy teaching me new signs. It’s like we are learning Sign Language together. My KSL class cracks me up. I go in with a lesson plan and end up not even covering the lesson. The minute I walk in, the students start finger spelling vocab they don’t know. Most times they don’t know the meaning, so I explain the word and we look up the sign together and if there is no sign I try to give them an alternative. I have them for art as well and today decided to use water color for a change. They loved it and even started to have a paint fight in the end, painting each other.
Then in the evening, the upper primary students have a sort of study hall. I went up there once and noticed there were no teachers. So I have decided to go up at night and be there in case they need help. Tonight was my first night and thinking I would just read while they did their work, I brought one of the Janet Evanovich books. It was like KSL all over again. Kids, who I didn’t even know, joined us and started asking for the signs for vocab words. One of the boys took my book and started writing words from the book. Trenton, Morelli, Virgin… I asked them if they knew what virgin was. They didn’t , so I had the pleasure of explaining it to them. They don’t know much about sex and what they do know, they don’t like talking about it. I hope to change it where they are comfortable talking about it, at least to me. The know how to have sex but none of the vital information, like condom use, STD’s etc. When study hall was over, I thought I would head home. The kids had other plans. They invited me to go to the dinning hall and watch wrestling. They love wrestling but again had a lot of questions. I had to explain to them it’s all pretend. Their favorite was obviously watching the “ hot, sexy” women wrestle. I’m impressed they know who the people are since the T.V has no subtitles. I wish in the news especially would provide subtitles. Allowing the kids to feel connected to their country. I am also thinking of organizing a movie night, where they can watch movies and actually understand them. After wrestling, we said our good nights and headed to bed. I can’t wait for the next study hall.

Peanut butter and Jelly no more!!!!

So I have been nervous about cooking here in Kenya. So nervous, I been surviving off of Peanut butter and jelly and badly cooked rice for 4 weeks. Yesterday, I got up the courage to cook my first meal. Ok so it was eggs but I still had to cook on the gas stove. Once I got started, I enjoyed it more and more. Here are some recipes I have tried out and some I thought you might enjoy trying yourselves.

1. Rainbow sandwich
Bell Pepper
Tomatoes
Onion
Grated Carrot
Eggs
Bread
Mustard
Sauté onions first, then add tomatoes and bell pepper. Add scrambled egg. Add salt and Ms. Dash for taste.
On 2 pieces of bread, add grated carrot, mustard and the omelet. Smooch together and enjoy.

2. No Bake Cookies
2 cups sugar
½ cup milk
½ cup margarine
½ cup coca( I used 3 small Cadbury chocolate bars)
½ cup peanut butter
2 ½ cup oats/biscuits
1 tsp vanilla( Optional, I didn’t end up using it)
Combine sugar, milk, chocolate bar, margarine and bring to a boil, cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately add oats/biscuits, peanut butter and vanilla. Mix well. Spread onto a greased enamel plate, let harden and cut into pieces or roll into balls.

3. Elephant soup
1 elephant
30 cubic meters water
Salt and pepper to taste
2 rabbits(optional)
Blue band( butter)
Cut elephant into bite-sized pieces.( Save tusks for another use.) Sauté in blue band in a large sufuria( frying pan), then add water and simmer until done. Add salt and pepper to taste. If unexpected guests arrive, add rabbits- but check with them first, as many people do not like hare in their soup.

4. Samosas( I haven’t tried cooking these but I have been eating them a lot. The heaping club has a somosa day every week where we go out and get somosas. Very good)
Make some chapti dough and set it aside for at least ½ hour while you prepare one of the fillings. Knead dough briefly. Take a lime- sized lump of dough and roll into a circle. Cut each into quarters, roll into a cone, fill with filling, and pinch closed to make a triangle. Use the flour/water paste to seal. Try to seal the tips so that the oil does not get into the somosa. Deep fry or pan fry.

Filling - Vegetable
2 large potatoes, boiled
1/2 cup peas, boiled
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp grarm masala or curry powder
1 clove garlic
1/2 inch piece ginger
Some chopped cilantro
Bell pepper to taste
1 Tbsp margarine
Cut potatoes into small cubes. Mix all ingredients and fry until everything is mixed.

Filling - Meat
¼ kilo minced meat( 2.2 pounds is 1 kilo)
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp garam masala or curry powder
1 clove garlic
½ inch piece ginger
Pinch salt
Pinch cloves
Pinch dry mustard
Some chopped cilantro
Bell pepper to taste
1 Tbsp margarine

Fry onions until translucent. Add all other ingredients and fry till meat is done. If using tough meat, boil first.

Laughing, dancing and sunsets

Since moving to Kenya, I have started to love a lot of things


I love Mondays.

I love feeling prepared when I walk into the classroom.

I love getting the chance to sign with my students.

I love catching the sunset
I love laughing with my heaping club.( it's the nun's word for sex. I am sure you can guess what we talk about)

I love running around the field with the kids.

I love watching my kids sign( even though I still don’t know what they have said)

I love making my kids laugh

I love answering questions

I love pineapples

I love dancing with the ladies

I love greeting the teachers in the morning

I love watching my students faces when I tell them stories about America

I love getting mangos at 50 cents each

I love learning the language and culture of Kenya

I love watching my kids interact with each other

I love taking weekend trips

I love seeing the kids, all smart in their uniforms, stand at assembly

I love going to market and people watch

I love making someone’s day by shaking their hand( they get really happy when they shake the hand of a muzungu)

I love learning from the teachers

I love getting letters from home

I love learning from the students



But, I still hate ugali, tea, and cows. Hey, no one is perfect.