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.