Rain is glorious. I love the feeling of rain. I love the smell of rain. And most importantly, it means that farmers here might even see a harvest this year. But rain can also cause all manner of problems at school. First off, my voice is mostly gone because raindrops falling on a corrugated iron roof make a lot of noise. My efforts to explain the unit circle required a lot of shouting to be heard.
Second, my third year students are still in that mud shack which means that a little stream flows right through the classroom. I had an elaborate analogy about cooking beans to explain the Haber Process (the industrial method for preparing ammonia), but the students were pretty distracted as I had to jump over the stream to get to the blackboard to write notes and then jump back over the stream to get close enough to them so that they could hear me over the sound of the rain hitting the roof.
Third, there is a large transformer next to the school that gave the title of this post. There was no lightning in the storm, but the heavy rainfall caused something to go haywire. I was sitting in the staff room when I heard a buzzing and a very loud pop. Chaos ensued. All of the first and second year students were bolting for the gate to the school compound. There is no such thing as a fire drill in my village, so it was panic and free-for all. They threw desks across the room and I was amazed that no one was hurt.
I went to see what they were looking at and heard the transformer buzzing and sputtering and giving off a brilliant light, but I didn't see any immediate danger. I ran over to the gate at the opposite end of the compound to corral the students. I was mostly concerned about them standing out in the rain and catching a cold, but I also wanted to assuage their fears. Some of the other students told me later that they thought that I was fleeing in panic like the others. After a five minute delay, the students came back to class and everyone settled down.
Since the second years are the most skittish, I gave them a talk on how they need to handle themselves in an emergency (remain calm, remain calm and REMAIN CALM). Then I realized how foolish they had been. In the classroom, there was virtually no risk. They opted to run to the gate which connects to a chain link fence that runs the perimeter of the compound. I explained that if the wire had come into contact with the fence on the opposite side of the compound they would have been in a much more dangerous position. I'm just glad that no one was hurt.
Fourth, I had to subtract another one of my accomplishments today. I was so proud that the school had agreed to put up gutters so that they could collect rainwater from the roof and harvest it in a tank. Even though they were only at 10% coverage, I figured the success of that area would be a good demonstration and encourage them to expand the project. Today I studied the system in action. It turns out that the tank leaks. And the pipe to get water out of the tank doesn't work. And the pipe to feed the water into the tank wasn't actually feeding it into the tank so much as to the top of the tank where it would flow off. So instead of increasing the school's quantity of water, this project has probably increased surface run-off (basically erosion) and nothing else. Goes to show the importance of following up and evaluating projects. I know what I need to start working on tomorrow.
Still, I got lots of laughs from my students as I ran around in the rain and I love being soaked to the skin.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
April showers, except it's October
The arrival of the rains has been glorious. My dusty existence (I kinda enjoyed picturing myself as Pigpen from Peanuts) has been replaced by a muddy existence. I would call it the lesser evil of the two.
My favorite thing has been catching rainwater from my roof in my buckets. I mostly use it for laundry (I have no idea what kind of organisms are on my roof, so I figure it's best to use it when it's mixed with lots of soap). I have harvested enough that I've been able to rinse my laundry after soaking it (for most of the past six months, I just kinda lived with the fact that after my clothes dried, there was still a bit of detergent on them). The community taps are running again, so water is available for cooking and drinking (it was available before, just had to be severely rationed). Most importantly, things are turning much greener in the area and some of the seedlings at the school are looking healthy again (and the ones that aren't looking healthy provided a valuable lesson about trees that are not hardy enough for the area).
Apparently El Nino is making it a bit more intense than usual. A lot of people in the village have dug terraces, which is very practical with all the rain this year. Unfortunately, several of them didn't actually plant anything after the intense labor required to dig them Those who did plant mostly planted corn. Apparently my conversations about multi-cropping (raising more than one crop), intercropping (raising crops together, especially ones with a symbiotic relationship) or alternative crops didn't sink very deep. Hopefully the corn will produce a harvest this year, although it hasn't for the past few years.
My favorite thing has been catching rainwater from my roof in my buckets. I mostly use it for laundry (I have no idea what kind of organisms are on my roof, so I figure it's best to use it when it's mixed with lots of soap). I have harvested enough that I've been able to rinse my laundry after soaking it (for most of the past six months, I just kinda lived with the fact that after my clothes dried, there was still a bit of detergent on them). The community taps are running again, so water is available for cooking and drinking (it was available before, just had to be severely rationed). Most importantly, things are turning much greener in the area and some of the seedlings at the school are looking healthy again (and the ones that aren't looking healthy provided a valuable lesson about trees that are not hardy enough for the area).
Apparently El Nino is making it a bit more intense than usual. A lot of people in the village have dug terraces, which is very practical with all the rain this year. Unfortunately, several of them didn't actually plant anything after the intense labor required to dig them Those who did plant mostly planted corn. Apparently my conversations about multi-cropping (raising more than one crop), intercropping (raising crops together, especially ones with a symbiotic relationship) or alternative crops didn't sink very deep. Hopefully the corn will produce a harvest this year, although it hasn't for the past few years.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Hummus
Our wonderful Peace Corps cookbook comes with a recipe for hummus. Since I found garbanzo beans in Voi, I've been experimenting with them, so this seemed like a fun challenge. I was skeptical of the book's suggestion to replace the tahini (very hard to find) with peanut butter (much easier to find), but it actually worked rather well. My creative substitution that worked less well was roasting the garlic in margarine and using vegetable oil in place of the olive oil (not very hard to find, but pretty extravagant on my salary). All in all, it was a pretty satisfying (and nutritious) dinner. And then I washed it down with some Kool-aid. Always classy.
Life Skills
One of my new things is teaching Life Skills. The class is encouraged by the government, though most schools (as far as I can tell) don't put many resources into it since there are no exams. I am only teaching it to my second and third years for right now. We've talked a little bit about HIV and violence (both topics are woefully under-covered in the syllabus and there is lots of misinformation out there) and today was a big hit: how and why to use a condom.
I presented them with a spice container that was to be the model penis. I went through all the info and demonstration (I thought about having one of the students help, but I wasn't sure if that would lead to bigger issues) and I think the students set new records for attentiveness. Then the question and answer session started. They started with a few clarifying questions on condom use (e.g. what should I do if I cannot find a condom?). Then, the questions started going towards sexual practices (e.g. what is the best sexual position? Is it true that having sex can cure back pains?). Finally, questions turned to biology and anatomy and betrayed how much the education system had failed to teach them about their changing bodies (most girls even as old as 19 didn't understand their periods at all and I couldn't figure out for the life of me what they meant when students were asking about secondary virginity).
It was nice that this was all on Friday afternoon, since most of the other teachers skipped out early. The students are much more free and open when I am the only teacher around, so it made for a much more productive lesson. I am very proud of this bond that we have developed, I just hope that most of the messages will sink in.
I presented them with a spice container that was to be the model penis. I went through all the info and demonstration (I thought about having one of the students help, but I wasn't sure if that would lead to bigger issues) and I think the students set new records for attentiveness. Then the question and answer session started. They started with a few clarifying questions on condom use (e.g. what should I do if I cannot find a condom?). Then, the questions started going towards sexual practices (e.g. what is the best sexual position? Is it true that having sex can cure back pains?). Finally, questions turned to biology and anatomy and betrayed how much the education system had failed to teach them about their changing bodies (most girls even as old as 19 didn't understand their periods at all and I couldn't figure out for the life of me what they meant when students were asking about secondary virginity).
It was nice that this was all on Friday afternoon, since most of the other teachers skipped out early. The students are much more free and open when I am the only teacher around, so it made for a much more productive lesson. I am very proud of this bond that we have developed, I just hope that most of the messages will sink in.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Another good-bye
Volunteers Serving Overseas (VSO, which is Britain's volunteer organization) sends their volunteers out for one-year programs. Sadly, that means that my neighbor Chris (he works 60 km from me in Voi) is finishing up his service. A bunch of us got together to say good-bye to him yesterday. Jai (he runs a supermarket in Voi and is a friend to most of the volunteers in the Voi area) put together some fantastic curry and we sent Chris off in cheerful fashion. I hope my path will cross with his again later in life.
Also, one more volunteer from my group is gone. :( 32 remain.
Also, one more volunteer from my group is gone. :( 32 remain.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Bureaucracy 3
Peace Corps requires us to complete a form (called the Volunteer Reporting Tool or VRT) three times a year to show what we have accomplished. All the data is entered into a spreadsheet and presumably makes up the bulk of what is presented to congress to determine Peace Corps funding. In spite of the wide differences across the program, Peace Corps volunteers in Kenya will complete the same form as volunteers in Guatemala or in Bulgaria. That means that the form is pretty generic and often ambiguous. There is no paper copy, and the form must be filled out in Excel (which is actually a bit of a challenge since most Windows machines here are crawling with viruses). I discovered that my form had some entries locked in by my Peace Corps supervisor. I was pretty surprised to learn that my village is in Voi, seeing as that is actually an hour and a half from where I live.
When all is said and done, they will be able to come up with statistics like "Volunteers in Kenya have developed critical thinking skills in 1328 students (ages 15-24) in 2009" or "Volunteers in Kenya have increased awareness about AIDS in 28746 people during 2009" (these numbers entirely made up and do not reflect the actual results of the survey). What does that even mean to increase awareness? I told my students what T-cells are. Did that raise awareness? Several of my students with critical thinking skills are at risk for being expelled because they are using this knowledge to question certain bits of authority. Is that what Peace Corps had in mind when they formulated that goal? Not all volunteers complete this survey, do they extrapolate in that case? How big is the margin of error on those numbers? I worked with a lot of people on agriculture and environment projects, but since those sectors don't exist here, Peace Corps is not interested in quantifying that data. Does that mean that I should stop working on those kinds of projects? They asked how many of my students scored C or above. That seems pretty irrelevant, since some schools have lots of students who already average Bs, while at other schools, students are used to an average score of 10%. Why don't they ask about improvement in scores or some other less arbitrary metric?
There was also a section where we wrote a few paragraphs talking about our challenges, lessons learned, accomplishments and anything else that we thought Peace Corps should know. I tried to paint a pretty clear picture, but I imagine the quantitative information will be reviewed much more intensively than the qualitative information. After filling out the report, I felt like I have been a big disappointment in terms of what Peace Corps wants us to do. I think that I've done some good work, no matter what any VRT wants to say.
In unrelated news, Jackie wrote a cool post on development which includes pictures from my school.
When all is said and done, they will be able to come up with statistics like "Volunteers in Kenya have developed critical thinking skills in 1328 students (ages 15-24) in 2009" or "Volunteers in Kenya have increased awareness about AIDS in 28746 people during 2009" (these numbers entirely made up and do not reflect the actual results of the survey). What does that even mean to increase awareness? I told my students what T-cells are. Did that raise awareness? Several of my students with critical thinking skills are at risk for being expelled because they are using this knowledge to question certain bits of authority. Is that what Peace Corps had in mind when they formulated that goal? Not all volunteers complete this survey, do they extrapolate in that case? How big is the margin of error on those numbers? I worked with a lot of people on agriculture and environment projects, but since those sectors don't exist here, Peace Corps is not interested in quantifying that data. Does that mean that I should stop working on those kinds of projects? They asked how many of my students scored C or above. That seems pretty irrelevant, since some schools have lots of students who already average Bs, while at other schools, students are used to an average score of 10%. Why don't they ask about improvement in scores or some other less arbitrary metric?
There was also a section where we wrote a few paragraphs talking about our challenges, lessons learned, accomplishments and anything else that we thought Peace Corps should know. I tried to paint a pretty clear picture, but I imagine the quantitative information will be reviewed much more intensively than the qualitative information. After filling out the report, I felt like I have been a big disappointment in terms of what Peace Corps wants us to do. I think that I've done some good work, no matter what any VRT wants to say.
In unrelated news, Jackie wrote a cool post on development which includes pictures from my school.
Bureaucracy 2
The fourth years start their national exams (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education or KCSE) on Wednesday. We have been filling out paperwork for months and making sure every single t is crossed and every i is dotted for this. Tomorrow is a national holiday (Kenyatta Day to commemorate the independence hero and the first president) so school will be closed and we had to prepare the school today.
Step 1: In order to make sure that there is sufficient space between the candidates (that is how the government refers to students taking exams), it became necessary to split the fourth years into two rooms. That meant the third years lost their classroom. They had to haul their desks to a decrepit mud shack that is supposed to serve as a lunchroom (no one eats in there because it overheats and is pretty uncomfortable; instead, it is used for bicycle storage). For the next three weeks (candidates will sit for 20 exam papers in 8 subjects over this time), this miserable room will be their classroom.
Step 2: All books have to be removed from inside candidates' desks. All graffiti (there is a lot) has to be scratched off their desks using sandpaper. All posters and teaching aids must be removed from the walls. All blackboards must be scrubbed clean.
Step 3: Teachers have to prepare space for the invigilator. The invigilator is an education officer who will help supervise exams and make sure there are no irregularities. He or she needs space in the staff room and it is necessary to make sure that there is a plate, fork, spoon and tea cup for the guest.
Step 4: First, second and third year students are strictly forbidden to walk anywhere near the third or fourth year classroom. Extra warnings are issued about "noisemaking".
I'm worried that there will be another half-dozen steps and I just haven't found out about them yet. I think that I am just as anxious about exams as the students are. I'm hoping that all this chemistry review will pay off.
Step 1: In order to make sure that there is sufficient space between the candidates (that is how the government refers to students taking exams), it became necessary to split the fourth years into two rooms. That meant the third years lost their classroom. They had to haul their desks to a decrepit mud shack that is supposed to serve as a lunchroom (no one eats in there because it overheats and is pretty uncomfortable; instead, it is used for bicycle storage). For the next three weeks (candidates will sit for 20 exam papers in 8 subjects over this time), this miserable room will be their classroom.
Step 2: All books have to be removed from inside candidates' desks. All graffiti (there is a lot) has to be scratched off their desks using sandpaper. All posters and teaching aids must be removed from the walls. All blackboards must be scrubbed clean.
Step 3: Teachers have to prepare space for the invigilator. The invigilator is an education officer who will help supervise exams and make sure there are no irregularities. He or she needs space in the staff room and it is necessary to make sure that there is a plate, fork, spoon and tea cup for the guest.
Step 4: First, second and third year students are strictly forbidden to walk anywhere near the third or fourth year classroom. Extra warnings are issued about "noisemaking".
I'm worried that there will be another half-dozen steps and I just haven't found out about them yet. I think that I am just as anxious about exams as the students are. I'm hoping that all this chemistry review will pay off.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Bureaucracy 1
Schemes rank among the biggest wastes of time I have ever encountered. Kenyan teachers are required to write schemes of what they plan to teach over the course of a term. The general idea is that you take a copy of the government syllabus and transcribe it onto forms issued by the school. For example an entry might look like:
Week: 6
Lesson: 28-29
Topic/Subtopic: Nitrogen compounds/properties of ammonia
Objective: By the end of these lessons, the learners should be able to 1) state the chemical and physical properties of ammonia, 2) Describe tests to identify the presence or absence of ammonia, 3) perform laboratory tests using ammonia.
Teaching/Learning Activities: Lecture and demonstrations
References: KLB Form 3 Chemistry book pp. 137-139
Remarks: Well taught
And we're supposed to do this for pretty much every lesson of the term. In theory, it could be a good idea; in practice, it is a waste of time. The previous math teacher at my school would come to school drunk, skip his lessons, and all the students would fail exams. Yet he had impeccable schemes and he always included the remark "well taught". Teachers are also supposed to fill out lesson plans and then records of work. All this paperwork serves to cut down more trees and typically is not read by anyone.
I had relied on my headmaster's non-presence thus far to avoid filling them out. With the arrival of a deputy headmaster at our school, there is now someone to follow up on this process. I spent my Saturday afternoon at school filling out the paperwork (always in duplicate; one copy for me, one for the office) and chuckling to myself about how ridiculous this all was. I decided to cut a few corners and include more comments in my schemes.
Remarks: These lessons were disrupted because other teachers removed students from my class to punish them.
or
Remarks: Lessons were lost because headmaster pulled the teacher out of class to type letters for him.
Now, if the headmaster wanted to observe my teaching or perhaps sit down with me and discuss my syllabus coverage, he might be able to glean some idea of whether or not I am doing well in my teaching. Unfortunately, this radical idea is completely out of the question here. Even in training, most of us thought this practice pointless. Still, both our technical trainer and our Peace Corps supervisor felt that they would make us more effective teachers. I still haven't figured out how...
Week: 6
Lesson: 28-29
Topic/Subtopic: Nitrogen compounds/properties of ammonia
Objective: By the end of these lessons, the learners should be able to 1) state the chemical and physical properties of ammonia, 2) Describe tests to identify the presence or absence of ammonia, 3) perform laboratory tests using ammonia.
Teaching/Learning Activities: Lecture and demonstrations
References: KLB Form 3 Chemistry book pp. 137-139
Remarks: Well taught
And we're supposed to do this for pretty much every lesson of the term. In theory, it could be a good idea; in practice, it is a waste of time. The previous math teacher at my school would come to school drunk, skip his lessons, and all the students would fail exams. Yet he had impeccable schemes and he always included the remark "well taught". Teachers are also supposed to fill out lesson plans and then records of work. All this paperwork serves to cut down more trees and typically is not read by anyone.
I had relied on my headmaster's non-presence thus far to avoid filling them out. With the arrival of a deputy headmaster at our school, there is now someone to follow up on this process. I spent my Saturday afternoon at school filling out the paperwork (always in duplicate; one copy for me, one for the office) and chuckling to myself about how ridiculous this all was. I decided to cut a few corners and include more comments in my schemes.
Remarks: These lessons were disrupted because other teachers removed students from my class to punish them.
or
Remarks: Lessons were lost because headmaster pulled the teacher out of class to type letters for him.
Now, if the headmaster wanted to observe my teaching or perhaps sit down with me and discuss my syllabus coverage, he might be able to glean some idea of whether or not I am doing well in my teaching. Unfortunately, this radical idea is completely out of the question here. Even in training, most of us thought this practice pointless. Still, both our technical trainer and our Peace Corps supervisor felt that they would make us more effective teachers. I still haven't figured out how...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Lots of laughs
On Wednesday I made laughing gas for my third years. We have to study nitrogen compounds in chemistry, so dinitrogen oxide (laughing gas) is part of the syllabus. The book told me that I was supposed to strongly heat ammonium nitrate, which meant I had to take one of the unlabeled bottles which I hoped was nitric acid and mix it with ammonia (never any doubt about ammonia, since its noxious smell is pretty distinctive). I think it went well. I was able to narrate convincingly for the students what was going on (first releasing ammonia gas, which changed red litmus to blue, then water vapor which condenses on the side, and then laughing gas, which relights a glowing splint). Also, I got to breathe much nicer fumes than I usually ingest.
Yesterday, I got the chance to do a lab with my second years. This is the first time I've taken them into the lab for a practical lesson. This one was a bit delayed because craftsmen were doing work to install gas taps. Unfortunately, during the process, our distilled water got sent to the kitchen and used there (pretty expensive water to use for cooking). I had to use tap water. That doesn't work so well for preparing solutions, since most of them formed precipitates before the lab. The students were pretty eager and they definitely enjoyed getting to use real test tubes and beakers and staring at solutions to see if a solid was forming. I think it was the worst lab session I've run in some time. I'll try to redo it when I can get some distilled water.
Today I arrived at school at 7:10 to get some extra time for reviewing chemistry with the fourth years. I lost some lesson time this week, since my voice has been pretty weak (still getting over that cold). Then, over the course of the day, I was pretty busy for the next 11 hours at school. Somehow I wound up not teaching a single lesson. The morning, the headmaster had me typing some things for him (the secretary is out for the rest of the term, so we all have to pick up some of the slack, since she had a whole lot of responsibilities). The afternoon was given over to a priest to pray for the students to do well on their exams. He told some pretty good jokes, so that was fun. After school, a truck came to deliver water. I stood around collecting the water that was leaking from the hose. I ran around the compound collecting containers to store water so it wouldn't be wasted. I explained to my students that I was stealing water from the weeds so that I could give it to the trees. I was around the truck for almost 2 hours and I collected more than 50 liters (12 gallons) of water. You might not find that as exciting as I do.
In other news, I got some pretty useful emails this week about our HIV hotline, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic about that. Now I just need to get some more things done on some of my other projects.
Yesterday, I got the chance to do a lab with my second years. This is the first time I've taken them into the lab for a practical lesson. This one was a bit delayed because craftsmen were doing work to install gas taps. Unfortunately, during the process, our distilled water got sent to the kitchen and used there (pretty expensive water to use for cooking). I had to use tap water. That doesn't work so well for preparing solutions, since most of them formed precipitates before the lab. The students were pretty eager and they definitely enjoyed getting to use real test tubes and beakers and staring at solutions to see if a solid was forming. I think it was the worst lab session I've run in some time. I'll try to redo it when I can get some distilled water.
Today I arrived at school at 7:10 to get some extra time for reviewing chemistry with the fourth years. I lost some lesson time this week, since my voice has been pretty weak (still getting over that cold). Then, over the course of the day, I was pretty busy for the next 11 hours at school. Somehow I wound up not teaching a single lesson. The morning, the headmaster had me typing some things for him (the secretary is out for the rest of the term, so we all have to pick up some of the slack, since she had a whole lot of responsibilities). The afternoon was given over to a priest to pray for the students to do well on their exams. He told some pretty good jokes, so that was fun. After school, a truck came to deliver water. I stood around collecting the water that was leaking from the hose. I ran around the compound collecting containers to store water so it wouldn't be wasted. I explained to my students that I was stealing water from the weeds so that I could give it to the trees. I was around the truck for almost 2 hours and I collected more than 50 liters (12 gallons) of water. You might not find that as exciting as I do.
In other news, I got some pretty useful emails this week about our HIV hotline, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic about that. Now I just need to get some more things done on some of my other projects.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Jackie in Mwakitau
We hopped on a bus Sunday morning. Just before our bus left, my friend Will (recently left Peace Corps and is now back in Kenya working in Mombasa and free to travel at night or ride on motorcycles to do his work) ran up to us to say hi before running to catch a different bus. our bus didn't have good movies :(, so I slept a bit on the way to Voi. Jackie and I grabbed some food in Voi on our way back to my site.
Jackie and I had a lot to catch up on. I made some Kool-Aid (Jackie brought me lots and lots of Kool-Aid packets, which should serve to give me a pretty serious addiction). We found ourselves talking shop pretty much the entire time. She came to school with me the next two days. She was a big hit with the students. They asked about her dreds. They asked her about being a female engineer. They asked us if we were a couple (at which point, Jackie made advances on me). They asked about everything. Jackie seemed to enjoy how forward they were (especially my third years) and I think they made a pretty good impression on her.
Jackie was my 4th visitor in a week and a half, which was pretty fun. I don't think that I'll have visitors again for a little while. Still, the offer is on the table that if people come to visit me, I will cook authentic African food. Just probably not local Kenyan food. I kinda botched the Ghanaian peanut soup when Jackie was here, but it turned out well last week when Emily was over. Since Jackie was here two nights I had to figure out a second food that I can cook. I managed to make chana masala (Indian chickpea dish), which turned out pretty well. I hope no one ever visits me for three nights, since I'll probably run out of things that I can cook.
This morning, Jackie is heading off to Arusha in Tanzania for the next leg of her volunteering project. You can read all about her adventures on her blog (here and here) as well as her perceptions of my village. I will definitely have to visit her down there at some point.
Jackie and I had a lot to catch up on. I made some Kool-Aid (Jackie brought me lots and lots of Kool-Aid packets, which should serve to give me a pretty serious addiction). We found ourselves talking shop pretty much the entire time. She came to school with me the next two days. She was a big hit with the students. They asked about her dreds. They asked her about being a female engineer. They asked us if we were a couple (at which point, Jackie made advances on me). They asked about everything. Jackie seemed to enjoy how forward they were (especially my third years) and I think they made a pretty good impression on her.
Jackie was my 4th visitor in a week and a half, which was pretty fun. I don't think that I'll have visitors again for a little while. Still, the offer is on the table that if people come to visit me, I will cook authentic African food. Just probably not local Kenyan food. I kinda botched the Ghanaian peanut soup when Jackie was here, but it turned out well last week when Emily was over. Since Jackie was here two nights I had to figure out a second food that I can cook. I managed to make chana masala (Indian chickpea dish), which turned out pretty well. I hope no one ever visits me for three nights, since I'll probably run out of things that I can cook.
This morning, Jackie is heading off to Arusha in Tanzania for the next leg of her volunteering project. You can read all about her adventures on her blog (here and here) as well as her perceptions of my village. I will definitely have to visit her down there at some point.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Nairobi again
Primary reason for this trip was my follow-up appointment to see how my mental health is doing. I travelled on Thursday to Nairobi. Pretty uneventful bus ride, which I was grateful for. I was coughing a bit the whole way, which hopefully didn't make anyone else sick. I arrived earlier than expected so I decided to head over to the Peace Corps office and see the staff.
I greeted the staff and caught up with people a little bit. I met with Serah, who is our Volunteer Support Assistant and when our APCD (the Peace Corps staff member who is supposed to support us) is not around to help us, she is the one we can go to for help. I told her about my exam issue (submitting those agriculture papers was the secondary reason for the Nairobi trip) and she got on the phone trying to figure out how to help me. She even helped me to meet the new country director.
I went in to meet Steve and we had a nice, frank conversation. I had to start off by apologizing for something that I had posted on my blog (sound familiar?) and then we talked a lot about issues. We discussed reforming Peace Corps (I even brought up this campaign, which has some pretty interesting ideas) and he told me about getting settled in Kenya (he arrived here about a month ago). We discussed a lot of issues for volunteers related to training and service (he seemed pretty surprised by some of the things that we endure). Then he had to take a call, so I went back to the hotel.
I found a few other volunteers on the guest list, so I was glad to have some company for the trip. I also felt slightly under the weather, but that didn't stop me from grabbing dinner with another volunteer in town for mental health. Then we found a third volunteer who was also in Nairobi for mental health and grabbed second dinner, which was two-for-one burgers at a fast food joint near the hotel. We hung out a bit and then crashed early.
I spent most of the night coughing and woke up with almost no voice (not a good recipe just before an appointment to talk with someone) so I made sure to head to the office early to grab some cough drops from medical. They also put me on antibiotics and double strength advil (I wasn't entirely sure that antibiotics were the right thing for a sore throat, especially with a pretty cursory examination). Then I went back and found Serah, and she had sorted out all of my issues with the exams (which I am very grateful for). Then I ran over to say hi to Louis, and discuss bio-gas and peanut shellers before he had to leave for another meeting.
I went to my appointment, which went pretty smooth aside from having to suck cough drops the whole time. It sounds like I won't need another session, which is nice to hear. Then, I went to the Peace Corps office where they were having a reception for our new country director. I hung out with the volunteers a bit more before having to run across town to put a signature on the exams and pick up a receipt (pretty painless, except it was quite a ride to get there and back).
All the exhaust in Nairobi kinda aggravated my throat so I was ready for an exciting Friday night of doing laundry and waiting for the advil to kick in. One of the volunteers invited me to dinner, but I was pretty down for the count, so he was stuck eating on his own (sorry, man). When the advil kicked in, I found myself flying through the laundry (had to stop when I ran out of hangers) and worked up quite an appetite. I ran out to dinner at the nearby Indian restaurant with another volunteer. He ordered the chilli naan thinking of Southwestern food. He gave me a piece of it and I did not manage it very well (the spice was pretty intense).
Saturday morning was pretty unpleasant. I wanted to grab some apples (so happy they have those in Nairobi) so I went to the ATM to take some cash. Peace Corps deposits our money into a bank which only has branches in Nairobi, Mombasa and one town near Mount Kenya (in other words, completely inconvenient for the vast majority of volunteers). Whenever I'm in Nairobi or Mombasa, I try to withdraw for lower surcharges. Unfortunately, the ATM decided to steal all of my money (it took 75% of my monthly salary, leaving me with $7 in my account). So I spent the rest of the morning sitting at the ATM waiting for the manager arrive to learn that they would correct the transaction on Monday (I'm betting the stupid bank is not going to refund my ATM fees, though; I found it ironic that their slogan is "what stress-free banking is all about").
I went to lunch with a bunch of volunteers and we had delicious sushi. We realized that most of us were having money problems and bonded over our common experience. I was grateful that my friend Jackie showed up halfway through lunch (Hi Jackie, I missed you, can you spot me for lunch?). During our travels in Ghana, I borrowed money from her the whole time (also due to ATM issues), so it felt like old times. The other highlight of the afternoon was when one of the deaf education volunteers showed up with no voice, so we lamented that she needed some kind of language that didn't require a voice. Something with gestures, maybe. A kind of sign language, if you will.
Then we went back to the hotel to watch The Lion King (you know, when in Kenya...). We only watched about 2/3 of the movie before the sound cut out (now I want to see the ending). Then we went out to Java House for the dinner (Hey Jackie, put it on my tab) and went out for a little dancing. I wound up dragging down the party, since I decided to head out with my sore throat and everyone came back with me (it was pretty late anyway and we had to travel the next day).
Aside from the ATM, Nairobi was much better this time. Volunteers are pretty amazing. I hope that everyone who I saw there has a complete and speedy recovery.
I greeted the staff and caught up with people a little bit. I met with Serah, who is our Volunteer Support Assistant and when our APCD (the Peace Corps staff member who is supposed to support us) is not around to help us, she is the one we can go to for help. I told her about my exam issue (submitting those agriculture papers was the secondary reason for the Nairobi trip) and she got on the phone trying to figure out how to help me. She even helped me to meet the new country director.
I went in to meet Steve and we had a nice, frank conversation. I had to start off by apologizing for something that I had posted on my blog (sound familiar?) and then we talked a lot about issues. We discussed reforming Peace Corps (I even brought up this campaign, which has some pretty interesting ideas) and he told me about getting settled in Kenya (he arrived here about a month ago). We discussed a lot of issues for volunteers related to training and service (he seemed pretty surprised by some of the things that we endure). Then he had to take a call, so I went back to the hotel.
I found a few other volunteers on the guest list, so I was glad to have some company for the trip. I also felt slightly under the weather, but that didn't stop me from grabbing dinner with another volunteer in town for mental health. Then we found a third volunteer who was also in Nairobi for mental health and grabbed second dinner, which was two-for-one burgers at a fast food joint near the hotel. We hung out a bit and then crashed early.
I spent most of the night coughing and woke up with almost no voice (not a good recipe just before an appointment to talk with someone) so I made sure to head to the office early to grab some cough drops from medical. They also put me on antibiotics and double strength advil (I wasn't entirely sure that antibiotics were the right thing for a sore throat, especially with a pretty cursory examination). Then I went back and found Serah, and she had sorted out all of my issues with the exams (which I am very grateful for). Then I ran over to say hi to Louis, and discuss bio-gas and peanut shellers before he had to leave for another meeting.
I went to my appointment, which went pretty smooth aside from having to suck cough drops the whole time. It sounds like I won't need another session, which is nice to hear. Then, I went to the Peace Corps office where they were having a reception for our new country director. I hung out with the volunteers a bit more before having to run across town to put a signature on the exams and pick up a receipt (pretty painless, except it was quite a ride to get there and back).
All the exhaust in Nairobi kinda aggravated my throat so I was ready for an exciting Friday night of doing laundry and waiting for the advil to kick in. One of the volunteers invited me to dinner, but I was pretty down for the count, so he was stuck eating on his own (sorry, man). When the advil kicked in, I found myself flying through the laundry (had to stop when I ran out of hangers) and worked up quite an appetite. I ran out to dinner at the nearby Indian restaurant with another volunteer. He ordered the chilli naan thinking of Southwestern food. He gave me a piece of it and I did not manage it very well (the spice was pretty intense).
Saturday morning was pretty unpleasant. I wanted to grab some apples (so happy they have those in Nairobi) so I went to the ATM to take some cash. Peace Corps deposits our money into a bank which only has branches in Nairobi, Mombasa and one town near Mount Kenya (in other words, completely inconvenient for the vast majority of volunteers). Whenever I'm in Nairobi or Mombasa, I try to withdraw for lower surcharges. Unfortunately, the ATM decided to steal all of my money (it took 75% of my monthly salary, leaving me with $7 in my account). So I spent the rest of the morning sitting at the ATM waiting for the manager arrive to learn that they would correct the transaction on Monday (I'm betting the stupid bank is not going to refund my ATM fees, though; I found it ironic that their slogan is "what stress-free banking is all about").
I went to lunch with a bunch of volunteers and we had delicious sushi. We realized that most of us were having money problems and bonded over our common experience. I was grateful that my friend Jackie showed up halfway through lunch (Hi Jackie, I missed you, can you spot me for lunch?). During our travels in Ghana, I borrowed money from her the whole time (also due to ATM issues), so it felt like old times. The other highlight of the afternoon was when one of the deaf education volunteers showed up with no voice, so we lamented that she needed some kind of language that didn't require a voice. Something with gestures, maybe. A kind of sign language, if you will.
Then we went back to the hotel to watch The Lion King (you know, when in Kenya...). We only watched about 2/3 of the movie before the sound cut out (now I want to see the ending). Then we went out to Java House for the dinner (Hey Jackie, put it on my tab) and went out for a little dancing. I wound up dragging down the party, since I decided to head out with my sore throat and everyone came back with me (it was pretty late anyway and we had to travel the next day).
Aside from the ATM, Nairobi was much better this time. Volunteers are pretty amazing. I hope that everyone who I saw there has a complete and speedy recovery.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Authority
Case 1:
Last week, my headmaster announced that we would be giving the third years midterm exams that would not count towards their final grade. The other teachers seemed to be in favor of this, since they would be free from giving lessons during the week. I protested saying that since the third years would be taking comprehensive exams at the end of the term, I didn't want to lose precious lesson time, since I was still trying to get them caught up with the syllabus. The headmaster declined, saying that he was also behind in the syllabus, but that this was the only way to motivate students to do work (apparently, giving exercises and activities and going over solutions is not effective regardless of the fact that I have tried to encourage the other teachers to try it out). I knew that that was his final word.
I wrote an agriculture exam for them (I am no longer teaching agriculture, they self-study, but I promised them that I would help them track their progress), but left the chemisty and math exams unwritten. When the secretary asked me about them, I told her that I had taken care of everything myself (as in typing and making copies). Then I told my third years the plan. They were sworn to secrecy, but I was going to use the exam time for teaching. They were very excited by this plan. Everything went smoothly, and I was grateful not to fall further behind. No other staff member knows yet what I've done, so maybe I'm in the clear. The students won, I won and it seems like everyone else was not affected positively or negatively.
Case 2:
After I had filled everything in for the agriculture reports and handed them to the headmaster to be signed, I waited an hour before he handed them back to me with his signature to be submitted. While waiting for him to sign, I had tied up my loose ends at school for the afternoon so that I could travel to the district headquarters and submit them.
The papers were past their deadline, which was entirely my fault. That was also why I was so concerned with making sure that there wasn't any further delay. It is a 2 hour trip for me when transport cooperates (which is not as often as I'd like) and I knew that I would be cutting it close to arrive before the office closed. Still, I felt certain that it was worth a shot. If the vehicle didn't show, then I could just get back to school and get started grading papers. Right as I was at the gate to leave the school, the principal stopped me and said that I should just go the following morning, since I would not be able to arrive in time. I tried to protest, but to no avail. I could barely hide my scowl, as a bus drove past 5 minutes later meaning that I probably would have arrived in plenty of time. I was most dismayed because the afternoon was my free time, while the following morning, I would have to skip out on lessons (certainly not a concern to him).
The next morning I woke up early to catch the first vehicle out of town. I managed to arrive at the office without any problems. The office had only been open for 30 minutes when I arrived so most of the staff hadn't arrived yet. Still, they were able to direct me to Priscilla, the woman who would know what to do with everything. I arrived and greeted her and profusely apologized. She told me that she could not accept them, since the reports had already been collected. She gave me a number to call in Nairobi to find out what I should do. Then she added that if only I had come the day before, she would have been able to accept them. I left her sight before I let the scowl creep back across my face. I called the number in Nairobi and they told me that the only remedy was to deliver them in person to the Nairobi office. Fortunately, I will be in Nairobi anyway this weekend, but it will be incredibly hard to get to the office while they're open.
I seem to have lost in this case. Everyone else seems to be unaffected.
-----
I think there is a lesson to be learned in here about what happens when I do what my headmaster tells me to do.
Last week, my headmaster announced that we would be giving the third years midterm exams that would not count towards their final grade. The other teachers seemed to be in favor of this, since they would be free from giving lessons during the week. I protested saying that since the third years would be taking comprehensive exams at the end of the term, I didn't want to lose precious lesson time, since I was still trying to get them caught up with the syllabus. The headmaster declined, saying that he was also behind in the syllabus, but that this was the only way to motivate students to do work (apparently, giving exercises and activities and going over solutions is not effective regardless of the fact that I have tried to encourage the other teachers to try it out). I knew that that was his final word.
I wrote an agriculture exam for them (I am no longer teaching agriculture, they self-study, but I promised them that I would help them track their progress), but left the chemisty and math exams unwritten. When the secretary asked me about them, I told her that I had taken care of everything myself (as in typing and making copies). Then I told my third years the plan. They were sworn to secrecy, but I was going to use the exam time for teaching. They were very excited by this plan. Everything went smoothly, and I was grateful not to fall further behind. No other staff member knows yet what I've done, so maybe I'm in the clear. The students won, I won and it seems like everyone else was not affected positively or negatively.
Case 2:
After I had filled everything in for the agriculture reports and handed them to the headmaster to be signed, I waited an hour before he handed them back to me with his signature to be submitted. While waiting for him to sign, I had tied up my loose ends at school for the afternoon so that I could travel to the district headquarters and submit them.
The papers were past their deadline, which was entirely my fault. That was also why I was so concerned with making sure that there wasn't any further delay. It is a 2 hour trip for me when transport cooperates (which is not as often as I'd like) and I knew that I would be cutting it close to arrive before the office closed. Still, I felt certain that it was worth a shot. If the vehicle didn't show, then I could just get back to school and get started grading papers. Right as I was at the gate to leave the school, the principal stopped me and said that I should just go the following morning, since I would not be able to arrive in time. I tried to protest, but to no avail. I could barely hide my scowl, as a bus drove past 5 minutes later meaning that I probably would have arrived in plenty of time. I was most dismayed because the afternoon was my free time, while the following morning, I would have to skip out on lessons (certainly not a concern to him).
The next morning I woke up early to catch the first vehicle out of town. I managed to arrive at the office without any problems. The office had only been open for 30 minutes when I arrived so most of the staff hadn't arrived yet. Still, they were able to direct me to Priscilla, the woman who would know what to do with everything. I arrived and greeted her and profusely apologized. She told me that she could not accept them, since the reports had already been collected. She gave me a number to call in Nairobi to find out what I should do. Then she added that if only I had come the day before, she would have been able to accept them. I left her sight before I let the scowl creep back across my face. I called the number in Nairobi and they told me that the only remedy was to deliver them in person to the Nairobi office. Fortunately, I will be in Nairobi anyway this weekend, but it will be incredibly hard to get to the office while they're open.
I seem to have lost in this case. Everyone else seems to be unaffected.
-----
I think there is a lesson to be learned in here about what happens when I do what my headmaster tells me to do.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Different Reactions
Today a little twister (well, a powerful gust of swirling wind which was kicking up lots of dust) passed by my school right as the time came to start our afternoon exams. I was with my third years as the dust came in through the windows and several of us were a bit blinded. Many of the windows slammed shut, and I tried to close the ones that were still open in case another one came along, but the students complained of the heat, so I left them open. Then, we all heard the sound of glass shattering. I motioned to my students to continue their exams and went out to investigate.
I found that one of the panes had come loose in the first year classroom and had fallen to the ground. My first instinct was to go to the first years and make sure that no one was injured. Fortunately, all of the glass fell outside of the classroom, so there was nothing to do except sweep up the shards. However, before I could do that, I saw the reactions of other people.
The students were somewhat startled by this, but much more anxious about their imminent exam. Some of the other teachers came out of the staff room to gawk and then blithely returned to their crossword puzzles (others didn't even bother to see what had happened). The headmaster was the only other person who reacted with the urgency that I did. He hurried from his office to the classroom and informed the students nearest to the window that they would be paying to replace the window. Everyone laughed until they realized he was serious. Then he marched back to his office.
I went back to my third years to borrow my broom and reflected a bit on the situation. The first years are a rather docile class, which means they have the least discipline cases, but it also means that they don't raise issue when the headmaster puts out these ukazis (tsarist decrees which were known for their unpopularity). I swept the glass as best as I could and thought about trying to have a little discussion with the class about how they felt about this. Unfortunately, since it is exam week, I knew that they wouldn't appreciate any additional distractions, so I put it off for another day.
After I finished sweeping and checked on my third years, I went to speak with the headmaster about this. I knocked on the door to his office and realized that if he was in there, he was not giving the second years their history exam (15 minutes after it was supposed to start). When I heard his voice inside, I forgot my initial purpose and instead collected his exams and handed them to him and politely reminded him that the second years were waiting for him to give the exam. He thanked me and sent me away. I began to worry that he was going to wait for me to finish supervising my exam and then ask me to supervise for him (again), but I was relieved when I heard him walk into the classroom next to me ten minutes later to give the exam.
And my shirt ripped on the door handle today while I was rushing into the headmaster's office earlier. One of my favorite shirts no less. Oh well, exams finish tomorrow, so things should get better.
I found that one of the panes had come loose in the first year classroom and had fallen to the ground. My first instinct was to go to the first years and make sure that no one was injured. Fortunately, all of the glass fell outside of the classroom, so there was nothing to do except sweep up the shards. However, before I could do that, I saw the reactions of other people.
The students were somewhat startled by this, but much more anxious about their imminent exam. Some of the other teachers came out of the staff room to gawk and then blithely returned to their crossword puzzles (others didn't even bother to see what had happened). The headmaster was the only other person who reacted with the urgency that I did. He hurried from his office to the classroom and informed the students nearest to the window that they would be paying to replace the window. Everyone laughed until they realized he was serious. Then he marched back to his office.
I went back to my third years to borrow my broom and reflected a bit on the situation. The first years are a rather docile class, which means they have the least discipline cases, but it also means that they don't raise issue when the headmaster puts out these ukazis (tsarist decrees which were known for their unpopularity). I swept the glass as best as I could and thought about trying to have a little discussion with the class about how they felt about this. Unfortunately, since it is exam week, I knew that they wouldn't appreciate any additional distractions, so I put it off for another day.
After I finished sweeping and checked on my third years, I went to speak with the headmaster about this. I knocked on the door to his office and realized that if he was in there, he was not giving the second years their history exam (15 minutes after it was supposed to start). When I heard his voice inside, I forgot my initial purpose and instead collected his exams and handed them to him and politely reminded him that the second years were waiting for him to give the exam. He thanked me and sent me away. I began to worry that he was going to wait for me to finish supervising my exam and then ask me to supervise for him (again), but I was relieved when I heard him walk into the classroom next to me ten minutes later to give the exam.
And my shirt ripped on the door handle today while I was rushing into the headmaster's office earlier. One of my favorite shirts no less. Oh well, exams finish tomorrow, so things should get better.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Visitors
Last week, my friend Nick called and asked if he could come visit my site over the weekend. I haven't had any visitors since April (that's mostly my fault; I don't invite people, since I know it's far out of the way for most and there's not a whole lot for visitors to do), so I was excited about this. Nick was actually the second one, since my friend Emily had also asked if she could come on Monday and see my site, since I had to turn her down the last time she asked.
Unfortunately, the timing didn't work out that all of us could hang out, but perhaps that was for the best, since it would be quite a struggle for too many of us to sleep here. I spent the end of last week trying frantically to make my house presentable and to find water so that people could cook and drink and bathe while they were here. I made a picture to put up on one of my walls (I used something I learned in elementary school art class: Thanks Mr. Patterson!) so that they would be less bare. But, I was a bit tied up at school, since I was also planning for exams which are this week, so I reached a stage that could charitably described as semi-presentable. Good thing it was only Peace Corps volunteers coming to visit.
On Saturday, I went to school to wrap up on organic chem with my third years and supervise the compound. When the bell rang at noon, I bolted over to the main road and miraculously caught a bus right away heading to Voi. I met up with Nick and we grabbed a delicious lunch before taking care of some errands. I grabbed a spare mattress (I don't think my house will be nearly as popular if I make my guests sleep on a concrete floor), we surfed at the cyber a bit, I made photocopies of a chemistry review packet that I had made for my fourth years and then Nick went to the keysmith while I went to the phone store to ask about a modem. We both realized that we needed more cash, so we went to the ATM. The machine proceeded to eat Nick's card and tried to skip the part where it gives me my money, so we were not in a good mood as we finished errands and ran over to the supermarket to grab a bit of food for the ride back to site.
We got back and played with the modem a bit (okay, a lot) before we realized that we were late (that means more than two hours past the starting time) for the goat-eating party that my neighbor was throwing. We went and knocked on his door only to find him sleeping and he told us that the party was cancelled since most people bailed. However, he is never one to turn down a beer, so we did the village pub crawl (not a challenging feat when there are only two bars). We swung to one of the late night cafes and grabbed a late supper and then played cut-throat (a three player billiards game) before returning home and crashing.
The next day, I stopped into church for a short time, but Nick and I spent most of the morning further tinkering with the modem before I put him on a bus back to his site. I spent most of the rest of the day trying to make ubuntu work (not only is the machine now capable of playing audio and visual files, but sound also comes out of the speakers now). I tried to do a bit more clean-up before Emily's arrival (Nick tried to conceal his disapproval of my slovenly lifestyle, which is mostly caused by immense thriftiness with water), but found myself pretty lazy so it didn't really go anywhere.
Yesterday, I went to school for the start of midterm exams. I used the chemistry exam with my third years to tie up loose ends in organic chemistry and start the next chapter on nitrogen compounds (I don't think anyone else at the school knows about my decision not to give the 3rd year math or chemistry exams yet). One of my third years came to me with some pretty vague symptoms (this is rare for him, since he usually has pretty specific symptoms when it comes to exam time) and I tried to get him permission to go to the doctor as discreetly as possible, but the whole staff room caught wind of it and started accusing him of faking everything. Though he has quite a track record for becoming sick during exams, it seemed like a pretty lousy claim, since these exams won't count toward their final grade and he has been trying to get more practice. After the session was over and he had gone to the doctor, I played the swine flu card (some of the students had had the same thought). I commented that though it seemed like an extreme long-shot, it wasn't impossible with his symptoms. As the village's likely preparedness for this in terms of testing and treatment is nil, I figured it was better safe than sorry. Perhaps a bit alarmist on my part, but I worry a lot about my students (I already had a flu shot).
After I gave an exam for another staff member in the afternoon, I ran out to the main road. I only had to wait ten minutes before I saw a bus coming by, which I was pretty sure contained Emily. I flagged it down and she hopped off. I had collected them there deliberately so that the bus wouldn't take them to the other side of the village before dropping them off, but also so that it would seem like I'm completely in the middle of nowhere (from where we were standing, there was not a single building visible; only weeds and power lines). We walked and talked as we headed to the school where the students were studying for the next day's exams. I introduced Emily to the teachers, and then we went to meet the students, one class at a time. It was a big hit. My third years even suggested Taita names (Emily is now Malemba, which is a nice name). Then we went back to my place. Emily was relieved when we were able to grab a matatu (driven by my neighbor) to get a lift instead of walking the 3 km to my house. She was even more impressed when we didn't have to pay.
We grabbed a cold soda at a cafe near my house before going home and watching a movie (fortunately Emily brought speakers, since my computer can play sound, but that doesn't mean the machine has terribly audible speakers built in). After that, I whipped up some of my peanut soup while Emily bathed and cleaned my room a bit (yeah, it's that bad). Then, we ate on my bed, since I am still pretty limited in terms of furniture. After that, we played computer and talked for a long time before crashing (I should be wary of using that term, but the bed was able to support three of us sitting on it, though for sleeping, I was on the spare mattress in the kitchen). We thoroughly enjoyed the conservapedia article on Barack Obama's use of "mind control" during the election.
In the morning, we woke up early, but didn't move very quickly, so we left a little later than planned. Fortunately, about halfway to school, we saw one of my second years, and he agreed to help Emily to school so she wouldn't have to put any more weight on that ankle, so I walked to school without her. I had 30 minutes before I was supposed to give an exam, but I still had to prepare a few things, so I left Emily in the staff room. I came back after the exam and they seemed to be having a good time with the other teachers during the tea break, so I didn't feel bad abandoning them. Emily told me she wanted to put some money toward the school fees of the student who had helped her get to school, so I think everyone won in that situation.
Then, the headmaster informed me that I was supposed to have submitted the agriculture reports from the fourth years (their napier grass projects) last week at the latest. I had been putting that off since, in spite of the hard part being over, it was still a source of great frustration. Still, I realized that I needed to deal with that right away, so I abandoned Emily again. I was about halfway done when she found me and told me that it was time for them to go. I took a ten minute break and walked them to the main road. Even though they were only here for 18 hours, we had a lot of fun and I was sad to say good-bye to them. We agreed that we'll have to hang out again soon and then I hurried back to finish up those agriculture reports and make sure that the teachers were giving their exams (they weren't).
I finished a bit before lunch but I had to wait more than an hour for the headmaster to sign the documents. I was ready to sprint to the district offices (60 km away), but the teachers stopped me as I was at the gate and assured me that the office would be closed for the day before I would arrive. I guess that's my project for tomorrow.
Unfortunately, the timing didn't work out that all of us could hang out, but perhaps that was for the best, since it would be quite a struggle for too many of us to sleep here. I spent the end of last week trying frantically to make my house presentable and to find water so that people could cook and drink and bathe while they were here. I made a picture to put up on one of my walls (I used something I learned in elementary school art class: Thanks Mr. Patterson!) so that they would be less bare. But, I was a bit tied up at school, since I was also planning for exams which are this week, so I reached a stage that could charitably described as semi-presentable. Good thing it was only Peace Corps volunteers coming to visit.
On Saturday, I went to school to wrap up on organic chem with my third years and supervise the compound. When the bell rang at noon, I bolted over to the main road and miraculously caught a bus right away heading to Voi. I met up with Nick and we grabbed a delicious lunch before taking care of some errands. I grabbed a spare mattress (I don't think my house will be nearly as popular if I make my guests sleep on a concrete floor), we surfed at the cyber a bit, I made photocopies of a chemistry review packet that I had made for my fourth years and then Nick went to the keysmith while I went to the phone store to ask about a modem. We both realized that we needed more cash, so we went to the ATM. The machine proceeded to eat Nick's card and tried to skip the part where it gives me my money, so we were not in a good mood as we finished errands and ran over to the supermarket to grab a bit of food for the ride back to site.
We got back and played with the modem a bit (okay, a lot) before we realized that we were late (that means more than two hours past the starting time) for the goat-eating party that my neighbor was throwing. We went and knocked on his door only to find him sleeping and he told us that the party was cancelled since most people bailed. However, he is never one to turn down a beer, so we did the village pub crawl (not a challenging feat when there are only two bars). We swung to one of the late night cafes and grabbed a late supper and then played cut-throat (a three player billiards game) before returning home and crashing.
The next day, I stopped into church for a short time, but Nick and I spent most of the morning further tinkering with the modem before I put him on a bus back to his site. I spent most of the rest of the day trying to make ubuntu work (not only is the machine now capable of playing audio and visual files, but sound also comes out of the speakers now). I tried to do a bit more clean-up before Emily's arrival (Nick tried to conceal his disapproval of my slovenly lifestyle, which is mostly caused by immense thriftiness with water), but found myself pretty lazy so it didn't really go anywhere.
Yesterday, I went to school for the start of midterm exams. I used the chemistry exam with my third years to tie up loose ends in organic chemistry and start the next chapter on nitrogen compounds (I don't think anyone else at the school knows about my decision not to give the 3rd year math or chemistry exams yet). One of my third years came to me with some pretty vague symptoms (this is rare for him, since he usually has pretty specific symptoms when it comes to exam time) and I tried to get him permission to go to the doctor as discreetly as possible, but the whole staff room caught wind of it and started accusing him of faking everything. Though he has quite a track record for becoming sick during exams, it seemed like a pretty lousy claim, since these exams won't count toward their final grade and he has been trying to get more practice. After the session was over and he had gone to the doctor, I played the swine flu card (some of the students had had the same thought). I commented that though it seemed like an extreme long-shot, it wasn't impossible with his symptoms. As the village's likely preparedness for this in terms of testing and treatment is nil, I figured it was better safe than sorry. Perhaps a bit alarmist on my part, but I worry a lot about my students (I already had a flu shot).
After I gave an exam for another staff member in the afternoon, I ran out to the main road. I only had to wait ten minutes before I saw a bus coming by, which I was pretty sure contained Emily. I flagged it down and she hopped off. I had collected them there deliberately so that the bus wouldn't take them to the other side of the village before dropping them off, but also so that it would seem like I'm completely in the middle of nowhere (from where we were standing, there was not a single building visible; only weeds and power lines). We walked and talked as we headed to the school where the students were studying for the next day's exams. I introduced Emily to the teachers, and then we went to meet the students, one class at a time. It was a big hit. My third years even suggested Taita names (Emily is now Malemba, which is a nice name). Then we went back to my place. Emily was relieved when we were able to grab a matatu (driven by my neighbor) to get a lift instead of walking the 3 km to my house. She was even more impressed when we didn't have to pay.
We grabbed a cold soda at a cafe near my house before going home and watching a movie (fortunately Emily brought speakers, since my computer can play sound, but that doesn't mean the machine has terribly audible speakers built in). After that, I whipped up some of my peanut soup while Emily bathed and cleaned my room a bit (yeah, it's that bad). Then, we ate on my bed, since I am still pretty limited in terms of furniture. After that, we played computer and talked for a long time before crashing (I should be wary of using that term, but the bed was able to support three of us sitting on it, though for sleeping, I was on the spare mattress in the kitchen). We thoroughly enjoyed the conservapedia article on Barack Obama's use of "mind control" during the election.
In the morning, we woke up early, but didn't move very quickly, so we left a little later than planned. Fortunately, about halfway to school, we saw one of my second years, and he agreed to help Emily to school so she wouldn't have to put any more weight on that ankle, so I walked to school without her. I had 30 minutes before I was supposed to give an exam, but I still had to prepare a few things, so I left Emily in the staff room. I came back after the exam and they seemed to be having a good time with the other teachers during the tea break, so I didn't feel bad abandoning them. Emily told me she wanted to put some money toward the school fees of the student who had helped her get to school, so I think everyone won in that situation.
Then, the headmaster informed me that I was supposed to have submitted the agriculture reports from the fourth years (their napier grass projects) last week at the latest. I had been putting that off since, in spite of the hard part being over, it was still a source of great frustration. Still, I realized that I needed to deal with that right away, so I abandoned Emily again. I was about halfway done when she found me and told me that it was time for them to go. I took a ten minute break and walked them to the main road. Even though they were only here for 18 hours, we had a lot of fun and I was sad to say good-bye to them. We agreed that we'll have to hang out again soon and then I hurried back to finish up those agriculture reports and make sure that the teachers were giving their exams (they weren't).
I finished a bit before lunch but I had to wait more than an hour for the headmaster to sign the documents. I was ready to sprint to the district offices (60 km away), but the teachers stopped me as I was at the gate and assured me that the office would be closed for the day before I would arrive. I guess that's my project for tomorrow.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Books 9.0
**** Life of Pi by Yann Martel. This was a really fun read. I nearly put it down too early, and I'm glad I finished the whole story. I would definitely recommend this book, although I think it is easier to read if you go through it in a short time.
** Teach Yourself Swahili. I decided to brush up my Kiswahili a bit. This was not a very good book for that. The structure was pretty awkward and they chose to emphasize strange bits. I really like Peter M. Wilson's Simplified Swahili. Anyone who prefers a solid grammatical foundation should opt for Wilson. I loaned my copy out 5 months ago and I really hope that I get it back soon...
As an aside, one of my neighbors was reading a book by Mario Puzo (author of The Godfather) called The Fourth K. I picked it up and glanced through the first few pages, but I had to put it down when they introduced the plot device where some MIT physics professors had stolen material to make an atomic bomb. I was not a fan.
** Teach Yourself Swahili. I decided to brush up my Kiswahili a bit. This was not a very good book for that. The structure was pretty awkward and they chose to emphasize strange bits. I really like Peter M. Wilson's Simplified Swahili. Anyone who prefers a solid grammatical foundation should opt for Wilson. I loaned my copy out 5 months ago and I really hope that I get it back soon...
As an aside, one of my neighbors was reading a book by Mario Puzo (author of The Godfather) called The Fourth K. I picked it up and glanced through the first few pages, but I had to put it down when they introduced the plot device where some MIT physics professors had stolen material to make an atomic bomb. I was not a fan.
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