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
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