~Ruth Benedict
April was my month off from school but I kept busy. I went out to visit another volunteer in Embu for a week and we discussed possible projects for AIDS awareness. Then the entire training group got together in Nairobi for more training. And, finally, a bunch of us had a mini vacation on the coast and spent a night on an island, had amazing calamari and pizza, and went snorkeling.
Now I’m back at site and back to teaching. Wednesday was my first day back at school and I decided that the best thing to do would be to tell stories about our time off. Here’s my favorite conversation: (The convo is in caps because it’s translated from sign language.)
Student: “YOU MARRIED?”
Me: “BADO” (not yet)
Student: “I SAW MZUNGU FALL WITH PARACHUTE. LAND OVER THERE.” The best part about this is that he acts the whole thing out.
Me: “TRUE?”
Student: “TRUE! YOU MARRY?”
Me: “HAHA! NO, I’M SCARED. NEVER JUMP OUT OF PLANE. AND ALL THE MZUNGUS IN MALINDI A LOT OLD FOR ME.”
Student: “BUT YOU CAME ON PLANE”
Me: “TRUE BUT DIFFERENT PLANE. NO JUMPING OUT. PLANE LANDS AND I WALK OFF. JUMP NOTHING.” I act this out.
Then we drew people jumping out of airplanes on the blackboard.
Me: “SEE HERE. JUMP FROM PLANE SCARY. THEN PARACHUTE OPEN. YAY! HAPPY! BUT ME NEVER BECAUSE A LOT SCARED. MAYBE PARACHUTE WORK NOTHING.” More acting.
Student: “FALL. DEAD.”
And then I drew the big plane that brought me to Kenya.
Me: “SEE MY PLANE. DOOR OPENS NOTHING. STAYS CLOSED. I SIT. WAIT LONG TIME. PLANE LANDS. I WALK OFF.”
Student: “MZUNGU MEN PARACHUTE A LOT. YOU MARRY.” I’ve yet to see or hear about anyone sky diving here. Maybe I’ll get him to show me some day.
Me: “BUT MZUNGU MEN IN MALINDI A LOT OLD. ME 25. MEN HERE 50! A LOT OLD! ME MARRY NOTHING.”
He seems to be satisfied with this answer but, I know it’s not the last time that I’ll explain that I’m not going to marry every mzungu my students see in Malindi.
Other things my kids find strange:
I’ve never had a baby.
I call my dog my baby.
I sleep alone.
I’ve eaten pig.
They’ve seen me in town wearing trousers.
I don’t like ugali.
I need to get organized. I have a lot of ideas for this semester and I’m excited. Most have nothing to do with the syllabus because it’s pointless to teach solely for a test that is impossible for these kids to pass. I will try to break the copy habit and try to work on games with fingerspelling and word recognition. But, mostly, I just want my kids to enjoy my 2 years.
April was my month off from school but I kept busy. I went out to visit another volunteer in Embu for a week and we discussed possible projects for AIDS awareness. Then the entire training group got together in Nairobi for more training. And, finally, a bunch of us had a mini vacation on the coast and spent a night on an island, had amazing calamari and pizza, and went snorkeling.
Now I’m back at site and back to teaching. Wednesday was my first day back at school and I decided that the best thing to do would be to tell stories about our time off. Here’s my favorite conversation: (The convo is in caps because it’s translated from sign language.)
Student: “YOU MARRIED?”
Me: “BADO” (not yet)
Student: “I SAW MZUNGU FALL WITH PARACHUTE. LAND OVER THERE.” The best part about this is that he acts the whole thing out.
Me: “TRUE?”
Student: “TRUE! YOU MARRY?”
Me: “HAHA! NO, I’M SCARED. NEVER JUMP OUT OF PLANE. AND ALL THE MZUNGUS IN MALINDI A LOT OLD FOR ME.”
Student: “BUT YOU CAME ON PLANE”
Me: “TRUE BUT DIFFERENT PLANE. NO JUMPING OUT. PLANE LANDS AND I WALK OFF. JUMP NOTHING.” I act this out.
Then we drew people jumping out of airplanes on the blackboard.
Me: “SEE HERE. JUMP FROM PLANE SCARY. THEN PARACHUTE OPEN. YAY! HAPPY! BUT ME NEVER BECAUSE A LOT SCARED. MAYBE PARACHUTE WORK NOTHING.” More acting.
Student: “FALL. DEAD.”
And then I drew the big plane that brought me to Kenya.
Me: “SEE MY PLANE. DOOR OPENS NOTHING. STAYS CLOSED. I SIT. WAIT LONG TIME. PLANE LANDS. I WALK OFF.”
Student: “MZUNGU MEN PARACHUTE A LOT. YOU MARRY.” I’ve yet to see or hear about anyone sky diving here. Maybe I’ll get him to show me some day.
Me: “BUT MZUNGU MEN IN MALINDI A LOT OLD. ME 25. MEN HERE 50! A LOT OLD! ME MARRY NOTHING.”
He seems to be satisfied with this answer but, I know it’s not the last time that I’ll explain that I’m not going to marry every mzungu my students see in Malindi.
Other things my kids find strange:
I’ve never had a baby.
I call my dog my baby.
I sleep alone.
I’ve eaten pig.
They’ve seen me in town wearing trousers.
I don’t like ugali.
I need to get organized. I have a lot of ideas for this semester and I’m excited. Most have nothing to do with the syllabus because it’s pointless to teach solely for a test that is impossible for these kids to pass. I will try to break the copy habit and try to work on games with fingerspelling and word recognition. But, mostly, I just want my kids to enjoy my 2 years.
1 comment:
I will send a photo of Mark jumping out of the plane. Or better yet, we'll copy the dvd. Can you show it? Thinking of you on Mother's Day. Love you!
Post a Comment