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.

NEW ADDRESS

Moved into my new residence! 2 room house (1 bedroom and 1 living room/kitchen). I cook with a kerosene stove or a hot plate either at my front door or outside for ventilation. The only type of furniture that I own right now is a bed and mattress. I have a borrowed stool and coffee table, but mostly I sit on the floor. There is no running water, but I do have electricity, except it is only hooked up to handle simple charging and lights. Cooking for an extended period with a hot plate usually ends up with me short-circuiting something (thank goodness for surge protectors). My bucket bathroom is about 10 feet across from the house, along with my choo (this is the smallest choo hole I have seen yet and it causes my overall accuracy percentage to rapidly decrease). I live in a family compound which means my counterpart is in the house 10-15 feet across, but at least it’s a completely separate house.

The town itself is a lot calmer compared to Loitokitok, with less people and no/less screaming obnoxious children. Before coming I was told that Laikipia is dry, dry and dry, so food security is an issue, which is true, except in my town. I live in a small town/village called Sipili and even though it is real dry, people have found a way to have sustainable farms. Many people (especially my counterpart) are also really into organic farming. He saved me a part of his shamba (farm) so that I can grow what I want, which is AWESOME! Also, they don’t just eat simple carbohydrate foods like ugali and rice. They believe in whole grain and in spices (other than salt)! I almost forgot what pepper tasted like. By the way, if anybody gets a chance to taste a tree tomato, do it! It is my new favorite fruit!

The school I am teaching at has 4 greenhouses, a botanical garden (in progress), a huge farm, and some cows, chickens, rabbits, and goats. The school itself is the biggest school I have been in since coming to Kenya. It has over 400 students, which means each one of my classes will probably have around 40-50 students. Classes start “January 4^th”, but that does not factor in Kenyan time (which is 5x worse than Asian time). The students will still be helping out in the shamba, since it is still harvest season. Thus, I was told not to expect the majority of my students until mid/late January, maybe even February.   

I have a new address, and if I forgot to email it to you, then let me know and I'll send it to you!

If you already sent something and it is on route to the old address, don’t worry, it will find me somehow.

Happy Holidays everybody!

1 Day Until Swear-In

I am currently in Nairobi and going to swear-in tomorrow morning! To all those who don't know, swearing-in is a ceremony where I finally become a real volunteer instead of just a trainee. The day after swearing-in I will finally be moving into my own house. I have 2-3 weeks of just adjusting to my new community and I believe in the first week of January, I will begin teaching Math and Biology at Lariak Day Secondary School.

Now that training is just about over, I can't believe I've been here for 11 weeks already. Time went by so slowly in the first 2 weeks with all the awkward conversations and staring with the host family. But, as time passed, they slowly stopped looking at me like an alien and conversations started to flow more easily, learning the language also helped. I left my Kenyan family this past Saturday and am going to be leaving my fellow Peace Corps family this Thursday to start a new life from scratch again. 

While in Nairobi, I am loading up on my American food and using as much free Internet as possible. There is such a drastic difference between Loitokitok and Nairobi. Nairobi is like America with flushing toilets, hot water whenever you want, more stable electricity (most of the time), and all different kinds of foods and HUGE wal-mart like shops. I had me some DELICIOUS Indian food and Thai food these past few days. Nobody stops and stares and kids don't come running up to you yelling "Mzungu Mzungu Mzungu." I am ignored again and not the center of attention.... oh man, it's a nice break.

I am about to meet my counter-parts (supervisors) for my site and learn more about my future community and school. But, since I have Internet,

Click here for some pictures from Loitokitok during training

Quick Post

Ok guys, quick update.

Only 3 more weeks left of training and then I'll be in Nairobi for a week for swearing in and then I'm off to Laikipia to start teaching!

So I guess the most exciting thing I've done these past couple of weeks is eat a live termite. After it rains, a WHOLE BUNCH of termites will be flying around and mostly kids and students will catch them and eat them like it's candy. They go crazy for them! After it rained one day, I the termites were swarming as usual, and another trainee and myself decided to try it. So we just grabbed one from the air and popped it in our mouth. They don't have taste, but their wings have a weird texture. Next time some people told me to pull of the wings and then roast them with salt. Apparently they will taste better. If I get curious or bored enough again, I'll be sure to try that.

SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Just finished my second week in Kenya (1/4^th done with training), but it feels like I’ve already been here for over a month with all the language and information that I’m receiving everyday. However, we did receive our site announcements this week! Starting sometime in the middle of December for the next 2 years, I will be living in the district of Laikipia West in the Rift Valley province.  So  excited!

Right now, I’m living with a host family in Loitokitok, Kenya in a village called Kimkumji. I have 2 younger brothers (12 and 7), a mama, a baba, and a “houseboy”. There are 3 dogs, 3 cats, 3 goats, and 5 chickens that I’ve seen so far. I wake up at around 5am in the morning to the roosters crowing and the goats screaming (Roosters crow at all hours of they day not just dawn, and yes goats scream. all the time). The house does not have running water, but it does have unstable electricity. Interesting story, we were without power for 3 days because apparently some elephants knocked down some of the power lines. Karibu Kenya. (Welcome to Kenya)

The type of bathroom that I use is called a choo, which is located outside next to the house. (Google choo and I’m sure you guys will get some crazy pictures). I bathe everyday by warming up some water on the stove, pouring it into a bucket/basin and just splashing myself or using a cup to pour water on my hair. I haven’t tried shaving yet, but that will be my next goal. I wash my clothes by hand and hang them on a clothes line to dry, or on my mosquito net in my room for my “delicates”.

On my daily walk to my training site, I pass by an uncountable number of children who will come running up to me and yell “MZUNGU MZUNGU” (WHITE PERSON WHITE PERSON… or anybody not African) and they will just keep chanting “How are you how are you how are you” over and over and over. If I answer, they will usually run away giggling, but then come running back repeating the same phrases again.

The food here is pretty good. The staple food is ugali (corn flour in a playdough like texture) with sikuma wiki (kale) mixed with small pieces of beef or beans. Beef is A LOT cheaper than chicken, so chicken is considered luxury. There is also something called chapati, which is like cong you bing, without the cong (Imagine a thicker chipotle wrap with more flavor).  It is delicious, but it takes a lot of time to make. My favorite dish besides chapati is Githeri which is corn mixed with beans, beef, and some vegetables (usually cabbage, tomatoes, carrots and onions). The fruit here is SO GOOD! I LOVE the bananas (they are extra sweet), but my favorite so far is passion fruit YUM YUM. I am still eagerly waiting for mango season to start, which should be sometime soon.

I am located at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro so it is actually pretty cool especially in the mornings and nights. When the sky is clear (usually 6-7am) I can see the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro which is beautiful! The town is also less than 1 km away from Tanzania, which apparently is not marked but if we cross it, we’ll be in big trouble. Rain season has started, so it gets pretty muddy.

As some of you may know, I did end up buying a cell phone. Ask Ying, Lisa or anybody in my family for the number. Or just email me and I’ll send you the number. To call/text me you have to put in the Kenya country code, which is +254 and then drop the first 0 in the phone number. (Lisa knows what to do). If you want to contact me, the best way is through email or my cell phone. Try not to contact me through Facebook, it’s pretty slow to load.

Pictures will come when I finally get on a computer where I'm not waiting 5 minutes for 1 picture to upload. 

I'm Here!

So we landed in Nairobi, and we've been staying in a hostel until tomorrow. We haven't seen much of the city because days are filled with training and then we have a curfew at 6:30pm which is when it gets dark. Tomorrow we leave for Loitokitok, Kenya which is where we will be for training until December. Sunday is when we meet our host families, so EXCITED!!!!!! So, so far we've just been going through the basics, background info, what we can and cannot do, how to use the choo (toilets) and how to bathe. I've been brushing my teeth with a water bottle and can't open my mouth in the shower, which is different.

Oh fun story, on my way to the train my straps broke on the 40 pound duffel bag!! SUPER! So I lugged onto the train, out of the train stop and to the hotel. Luckily there was a Target right next to our hotel so I stopped in there and bought a new duffel. PHEW. Now, this duffel rolls and is SO much easier to carry.

Another fun fact! We've started our Malaria pills that was take once a week. Apparently, the side effect to these pills are vivid nightmares and hallucinations during your dreams. Supposedly the dreams won't start until about a month after taking the pills! YAY!!!!!!!! But, don't worry. They have 3 types of malaria pills we can take, so if these side effects are too overwhelming, I can take another kind.

Well I'm going to go repack my stuff to get ready for the 5-8 hour bus ride (yes I know, a large range). Everybody take care and I miss you guys!