PCV in Kenya: Week 12

Monday

I wonder if we are entering the rainy season because it poured rain all night and my power was out when I woke up. I wore my rainboots to school and had a great day. My two double lessons went well and I then spent the rest of my day working on global connection videos with my students. This is a cultural exchange between my students and an elementary school in Oregon. We are working to connect with a high school in the US, so if anyone reading this is a high school teacher or a high school student, reach out to me and I can get you connected with my students. After lunch, I headed to the market to shop for vegetables and then continued on to meet with Elma. We had a great language session and I was home by 6PM. I did see a chameleon on the way home which was so exciting! There was a new goat born at the house today as well. She is brown and white and I have named her Scottie. I made dinner and finished watching “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”. It was honestly pretty similar to the book. It missed a few background stories, but other than that, it was very similar to the book.

Tuesday

I was running a bit behind today, but I only got to work a few minutes behind schedule. Tuesdays are the days I teach four lessons and they all went well. There is a lot of construction happening at the school as we prepare a garage for the new school bus that is coming on Saturday. I was able to finish making the two quizzes I will be giving my students on Friday and Monday. I picked up juice on the way home from school and had a moment of disbelief in a good way that this is my life right now. I really love what I am doing and I love my community and I am so happy I took this opportunity. When I got home, I took out the trash, did the dishes, and responded to Susan’s Marco Polo message. I made some more noodles and heated up my vegetables from the day before to make my dinner. I started watching “Elysium” tonight and quickly took a hot shower when I heard a storm start to roll in. The rains were so strong again tonight and I had to put in my headphones to be able to hear the movie on my phone.

Wednesday

The rains knocked the power out again, but they usually turn back on within the day. I wore my Hawaiian flower dress to work today. I got it from Sarah in the market. I have never received so many compliments in Kenya before, so I will be wearing that dress again soon. Today, all of the teachers moved out of the teacher work room and into a different room on campus in preparation for our event on Saturday. The school needed a space to receive our esteemed guests that are coming. I actually like the room that we moved to because the workspace faces the windows so I can see everything that’s happening outside. When I got home, I relaxed with Nala, made dinner, and finished watching “Elysium”. I doom scrolled on social media but Nala knocked me out of it by breaking apart my entire shoe stand. It was not ideal because the shoe stand doesn’t go together very easily. I left it all apart because I need to glue it all together, but that’s a weekend project, not a Wednesday project.  

Thursday

Today was my early day to get to work and that early lesson went well. I love Thursdays because I can get so much work done. I took one break today to have lunch and worked straight from 8AM to 4PM. It was awesome to cross so much off of my to-do list. I left for the market when I was done with school and I found some fun tops in some of the clothes piles. Sarah also found me two new wrap skirts which was awesome. I was also able to pick up veggies, eggs, and a new box of milk pouches. You can either get milk here straight from the cow or you can use milk pouches that don’t require refrigeration. I never know when I am going to need or use milk, so I typically use these pouches instead of a local farmer’s cow’s milk. I cleaned up my house a bit then exchanged the pink heart on my wall to a green four-leaf clover. Vikky and Junior, my 7-year-old neighbors, got my leftover pink frill from the pink heart and they had fun making crowns out of it. Baba Charles and the fundi came to my house so they could measure my windows for window screens. When they left, I talked to Sammy then prepped my vegetables for my meal tomorrow while talking to Andy. I watched “Suits” while eating dinner to end the day.

Friday

I woke up this morning and organized my laundry and cleaning supplies for Jane. I think I am going to more consistently pay Jane to help me out with my laundry because she does such a better job than I do in a fraction of the time. I also had time to send Susan a Marco Polo video this morning. When I got to school this morning, the teachers changed rooms one more time which was fine because I still have a nice window view. Today, all of my Chemistry classes took their second quiz of the year. I was also able to finish grading all of these quizzes which was an awesome way to end school on a Friday. There was so much happening at school today because the event for the school bus and the new computer lab is tomorrow, so there are so many people helping make the school look nice and decorating different areas. When I got home, I cleaned my water filter and my water bottle, two of my least favorite activities. I then spent about an hour outside just enjoying the weather and the animals. When I came back inside, I swept my house and glued together my shoe rack. For dinner, I made rice and the instant curry and tofu meal which was again delicious. I watched “Monk” to end my Friday.

Saturday

I woke up around 6AM so I could wash my dishes and be to school by 8:30AM. The school looked amazing when I arrived. Soon after I got there, I got in the car with Principal Richard, Costmas, Pastor Ayub, and Baba Charles to meet the bus on its way to the school. The streets were lined with students and community members ready to greet the bus and follow it in a procession to the school. We met up with the bus and followed it to school in a procession of students, community members, cars, piki pikis, music, singing, dancing, and waving of tree branches. It was so exciting to see everyone so happy. Back at school, the school bus was decorated with ribbons and balloons while the students performed their local song, music, and dance numbers. They are really great performers. The primary school also performed some plays and they also performed very well. We ate a shockingly early lunch at 11AM. Usually lunch is served around 1PM or 2PM so I was surprised when I was told it was time to get lunch.

Reagan and Josh were here today and it was so good to see them. These are two of Baba Charles’ grandkids. Shortly after lunch, two helicopters with government officials flew in. These were our guests who helped sponsor the computer lab. They came to help us dedicate the computer lab and the new bus. They gave money to the primary school, the secondary school, and to the principal as well. When the festivities ended, I purchased some baghia with kachumbari (French fries with diced tomatoes and onions) and headed home. At home, I warmed up my bagia and created a Google photo folder of today’s photos so I could send to everyone from today’s event. I studied some Kiswahili then vacuumed my house and the top of my bug net. I made pancakes for dinner and called Aunt Rhonda. When I was done with dinner, I took off my nail polish so I could paint them a new color tomorrow. I ended the night by journaling and filled in my last page in my journal tonight 😊

Sunday

I naturally woke up around 6AM today and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I started watching “Blown Away”. It is a Netflix competition between glass blowers. I then organized all the paperwork I needed to be able to vote in the 2024 elections in the USA and submitted them to the appropriate places. I painted my nails while watching “Blacklist”. When I was done, I started doing some research on what trip(s) I want to take in April when we have three weeks off between the end of Term 1 and the beginning of Term 2. For lunch, I had a pancake with Nutella (super healthy) then set up my Eno for an afternoon nap with Nala. It was lovely 😊 When we were done resting, I facetimed with grandpa and sent Susan a Marco Polo. I made a dinner of lentils, veggies, rice, toast, and an egg and it was delicious. Nala did not finish her deworming medicine tonight, so that was a bit stressful, but the veterinarian said they will give her the medicine in two weeks. I watched “Damsel” while eating dinner and I didn’t like the movie very much. It was, however, a good movie to have on in the background while I continued working on one of my friendship bracelets. It was a great day to end the week.

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