connected

With a nearly desperate sense of isolation and a growing suspicion that I lived in an alien land, I took to the open road in search of places where change did not mean ruin and where time and men and deeds connected. ~ William Least Heat-Moon

 

…..

 

One thing I like to do where I travel is find local honey.  (Although, I have yet to be able to accept the idea of palmetto bug honey that I saw at a shop in Gainesville. I don’t care what you say, they ARE roaches!) Honey is my latest excitement in Kenya! Because, not only is it local but also, you usually buy it from the person who made it! Sometimes I buy honey from the Kipepeo Project in Gede (which is a 10 min matatu ride south of me.) But, a few weeks ago, Charlotte (knowing about my fascination) bought me some honey from a man in Kilifi and, today, a teacher brought some to school to sell. These people don’t have labels made for their honey and they often use old soda bottles to send it home with you.  I’m in love!!!

 

The past few days I’ve had a few online and phone conversations with friends and family and I’ve realized that I should have a mini Kiswahili lesson for everyone so that if when I slip you’ll understand. I don’t know much but there are a few words that have found there way into all of my conversations and I really don’t know how I ever lived without them.

 

na – and

 

bado – not yet – “Kiswahili na Giriama bado”

 

bas – enough/that’s it/only – “I have one brother, bas.” (Almost always accompanied with the sign - even if I’m talking on the phone.)

 

sawa – okay – “I’ll meet you in an hour, sawa?”

 

I expect that by the time I come back to the US these should be catching on as slang…. So much better than “uber”!!!!!

 

…..

 

Here’s a mix I threw together about a month ago for my dog. (Sometimes I just need to get out of my head.) I haven’t had time to confirm but according to itunes these are all Track 05 songs. That’s significant because my dog is named Fiver (after a rabbit in the book Watership Down by Richard Adams.) Future cover art will definitely include a frisbee.

 

Hi, Fiver

 

Details Of The War                              Clap Your Hands Say Yeah         

You're My Flame - Feat. Sia                   Zero 7

Capturing Moods                          Rilo Kiley   

i thought i saw your face today            she & him

Josephine                                            Teitur

Octopus’ Garden                         The Beatles

Pictures In An Exhibition                    Death Cab for Cutie

Saint Simon                                         The Shins

Paper Bag                                            Fiona Apple

Stealing Romance                                  Portastatic

days that are over                             Sondre Lerche

august                                                  Rilo Kiley

No Other Way                                       Jack Johnson

Lonely Lonely (Frisbee'd Mix)              Feist

Someday                                              Strokes

she sends kisses                           The Wrens

Sailor & Widow                                     Keren Ann

Unpersuaded                                        Moving Units

Teeth in the Grass                           Iron and Wine

Measuring Cups                            Andrew Bird 

Are S’mores in the syllabus?

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty, even when it’s not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

~Oriah Mountain Dreamer

…..

This week I’ve decided to throw out the syllabus!

I’ve come up with my ultimate goals for my 2 years of teaching. Everything I teach should:

1.     improve KSL conversational skills

2.     improve English vocabulary recognition

3.     be FUN!

So, we’ve been playing a lot of games this week.

During “Science” class the kids pair up, each team gets a card with 15 animals and they must match the animal name to the picture. I don’t really believe these children need to know what a platypus is but they love the game. After they’re through matching they get to draw the animals in their books and they always enjoy showing off their artistic skills.

For “English” class I use another game my mom sent me in which you pick a card and must decided the category it belongs in (Clothes, Furniture, Body Parts, Toys, Animals, Food.) I’ve altered Hangman slightly by actually signing the word and then they must guess the spelling.

In Maths (spelled correctly) class we do a lot of the normal problems out of the text book but I’ve also added games like (my favorite in Elementary school) “Around the World” with addition, subtraction, and multiplication and I’m planning on trying some logic games like Sudoku – my thoughts being that by discussing the logic and their reasoning with me the kids will improve KSL conversational skills.

In “Social Studies” today we looked at a new book about the world and I explained any picture my students asked about. My kids were appalled to learn that there is vessel in an Iranian temple that has been burning for over 3,000 years. I couldn’t get a clear answer as to why, but they decided that this was very bad. I made an Origami crane while looking at Japan. While looking at the page about Mexico I promised my kids we would try and make a piñata. On the United States page there was a picture of an American family camping and I found myself promising I would try and teach everyone to make S’mores (there’s got to be marshmallows somewhere in Kenya.)

I’ve decided that I’m not really concerned whether these kids can write a grammatically correct sentence but I want them to be able to write basic sentences:

I like run. I run yesterday.

And, when they see a sentence:

Water will be off for the next 14 days.

They should be able to understand. (And, yeah, that sentence is true. I spent the last 2 hours filling every container and bottle that I have with water.)

So that’s my motivating week. Hopefully this will continue for a while!

Orphants

Orphan Elephants








Orphan Rhino

As Promised

My livingroom



My ceiling



One Love island


Waking up on One Love island


My student visiting Gede Special School


An old pic of PCVs

fadhila kidogo (small favour)

My counterpart has been out sick since school started and had to have surgery last week. She’s home and doing better now but may not be back at school for a while so I’ve taken over her Standard 5 classes.

The kids are always fascinated when I tell them how I got to Kenya and how far away America is. About once a month, they pull out an old (1960’s or 70’s) Worldbook and have me show them where I’m from, where they live, and where the Italian tourists are from. My mom just sent me a book about time around the world and how, when you are at school, somewhere else in the world kids are going to bed or just waking up. So I want to do a unit on that. Then I got an idea that I need your help with…

Pictures!

Lots of pictures!

I want pictures of my friends and family showing that people of all different backgrounds/colo(u)rs/races live together in the US.

I want pictures of places you have lived and visited – other states and countries.

And anything else you might think my kids would find neat or strange or interesting.

The kids are always excited when I get mail and I open letters while I’m at school and then tell my kids if they’re from a friend or family member. Now, we can discuss where the letter came from, how long it took to get to Kenya, and maybe even figure out if the person who wrote it is sleeping right now. The kids will be even more thrilled that my mail is for them too!

I may not be teaching Class 5 by the time I start receiving letters but that’s okay. I’ll make sure all of the kids get to see and discuss the pictures. They don’t need to be quality photographs, of course, just print a few out if you can and I (and the kids) will be forever grateful.

Love and miss you all! And, yes, I know you want pictures too! Pole pole, pole! (Slowly, sorry!)

Erin

PARACHUTE WEDDING

The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human difference.

~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.