School Has Started... Sort of

Classes started last week, but of course the teachers and administration started on the same day. When I tried to explain that in America the staff come at least a couple of days before the students start to arrive so everything would be prepared and classes can be taught on the first day, but they just looked at me like I was crazy.

Teacher: “Doesn’t that cut the teachers break short? Why should we get a shorter break?”

Me: “If we came maybe 3 days earlier we could have started teaching on the first day and the students wouldn’t be sitting in the classrooms doing nothing.”

Teacher: *stares, wide-eyed* “I don’t understand, why should we have shorter break?”

Me: “Our job as teachers is to teach these students, not let them sit in class and do nothing while we organize ourselves”

Teacher: *another blank stare* “Sifahamu (I don’t understand)” *walks away*

Me (in my head): You’re paid to teach these students, do your freaking job.

So, I didn’t actually meet my students until the second week of school, but of course 2/3 of the students were sent home because they haven’t paid their school fees (though secondary school should be public and free). Why they weren’t sent home the first week when they were just sitting doing nothing is beyond me.

The first day of actual class was spent giving out books, taking down numbers, introducing myself, explaining the difference between America and Kenya, explaining why I’m here, and trying not to let the whispering/giggling and wide-eyed, open-mouthed stares bother me. On the second day, I taught a double lesson, but I can’t tell if they actually understood the info the material. It’s like talking to a brick wall. They just stare, stare, maybe whisper and giggle, but mostly just stare. When they do speak or answer a question, they whisper the answer to me or they put their hands over the mouth and answer the question, so I have to ask them to repeat maybe 5 times before I actually understand.

Everyday I do notice that the whispering and staring diminishes a little. Some students even greet and converse with me like I’m human.

Until February I’ll only be teaching one Biology class (4 classes a week) and 1 PE/Life Skills class a week. I’m waiting for Form 1s (freshmen) to arrive. The Form 1 students are waiting to be chosen to be accepted into a school. It’s like a draft based on how they did on their KCPE (national exam for primary schools). Basically it’s like applying to college solely based on your SAT scores, if the SAT was a cumulative exam of what you learned the past 8 years in each subject. So, until February (hopefully they’ll show up on time) I’ll have ample of time to keep staring at my walls.   

On a side note, I’ve seen my first fresh dead body. I was on a matatu and then noticed that we were slowing down on some random road. I thought we were just going to squeeze another person into this already packed matatu, but then we came to a full stop and everybody got out of the matatu. Before I realized what was happening, I was being pushed towards a crowd where everybody was grouped around a woman sprawled on the road, many bones obviously broken, blood coming out of her head, and cabbage scattered all around her. Apparently she was hit by a matatu, but not sure if it was hit and run or if police took care of it. Some prayed, but most people just gawked. Then before I knew it, they pushed me back onto the matatu and we left. That is a hard image to erase from your head, but apparently it’s common to see bodies on the side of the road hit by car/bus/pikipiki. It is uncommon however for the matatu to stop and everybody get out to stare. Sigh, TIA.

Happy 2011

Just came back from an amazing trip to Meru (about 6-7 hour matatu ride). It’s a much larger city than Sipili and they have a Nakumatt (wal-mart type store)!!!!! This trip was filled with delicious non-Kenyan food (grilled cheese sandwiches, PIZZA, minestrone, garlic cheese mashed potatoes, garlic cheese bread, more cheese, chili, scones, French toast, burgers, salad, etc), fabulous friends, flushing toilets, hot showers, wine, liquor, and an awesome hike!

On New Years Eve, we went to a club which cost us 260ksh (~$3) to get in, which went into the first drinks that we bought (it bought us 2 beers). We danced, danced, and danced! There was no countdown to the New Year, so all of us foreigners looked crazy screaming the countdown. We decided to leave around 2am, but apparently most of the locals were going to another club. Champs…

New Years Day, after being able to sleep in because roosters don’t crow every hour starting from 3am in Meru and there were no goats and donkeys nearby, we went on an awesome hike and saw 2 waterfalls! The hike itself was probably around 4-5km or so, with the first 2-3 km on a big road, but once we went off the road, it was quite an experience! The first 0.5km started off really steep so we were snowboarding down on the dirt and grabbing trees and vines to either keep us from falling, or to slow us down after falling and sliding down the large hill. Then, the next 2 km consisted of up down up down up down, climb around/through this tree, don’t fall in this stream, up down up down, climb a few boulders, don’t fall into that marsh, jump across this swamp, up and down a few more boulders and finally we have reached the big waterfall! We even got to go directly behind the waterfall, which is an experience that I highly recommend if you ever get a chance!

Now, I’m back in Sipili, in my lonely, non-cozy, still furniture-less house. I have set up plastic bags around my sitting room so people can sit on them though. The fundi (carpenters/handymen) were supposed to come to my house to start measuring and give me an estimate before Christmas, but surprise surprise, they’re taking their sweet time. Eh whatever, they’ll eventually show up.

Anyways, school starts tomorrow! I am so excited to meet the students and to start having responsibilities and obligations again! Before the trip, these past 2 weeks have been filled with, staring at walls, staring at trees, chewing sugar cane, purposely getting lost so that it will take some time for me to find my way back, reading, sudoku, and more sitting and staring at absolutely nothing. Once in awhile there will be some kind of awkward conversation with a local who either doesn’t believe I’m from America or that I’m actually living in this town for the next 2 years to teach their children. Once I actually start teaching and these locals start getting used to seeing this “mzungu” in their town, it’ll get better. Hopefully in a month I’ll stop being the center of attention wherever I go and people will start ignoring me, again… hopefully. Oh, I did help my counterpart to plant his small shamba! We planted about 125 spinach plants, watermelon, cabbage, cauliflower, and some other stuff I can’t remember. But, in 1 month or so, some of them will be ready to eat. Right now, he just has fruit that are ripening, so I’m kind of on a fruit binge right now.