This past week has just gone by so fast.  Tuesday was the SMs town day.  We went to Matubas, which is a type of market.  Katie describes it as a “Goodwill on steroroids” and that is a fairly accurate description.  So while we were there I was looking for some skirts to wear for teaching.  Between the lack of driers here, all the running I have been doing, and the lack of preservatives in the food here I have lost some weight and my dress pants are pretty much falling off of me.  I don’t know how to describe this market except to say that it’s a bunch of little booth type things with different tent-type covers over them.  So while Katie, Emily, and I are standing there looking at some skirts it starts to rain.  We are all crowding together trying to get out of the rain a little more and under the shelter of the tarp and so the ladies that owned this particular one called us up into their spots and we sat with them.  While we were there the lady kept pulling out skirt after skirt for us to try.  I think that each of us left with two skirts after the rain had passed but while we were there we had a blast getting to know these two ladies.  I also almost fell through a hole in the stand.  It was a great time!

            Now I tell all of my students that I will be at the school until 5 pm every day so if they need help with their homework they need to come back and I can help them figure it out.  So on Thursday this week I was at the school a little bit later than that.  I walked home around 5:30.  As I got close to my house all three of my 6^th graders ran out to meet me.  I laughed and asked if they needed help and how long they had been sitting outside my house.  I then told them that I would only help them if they helped me and handed them some of the stuff that I had been carrying because I had been about to drop it.  They all agreed and so they came in and we worked on math homework at my kitchen table. 

Now all the SM ladies here live in two different houses that are across the street from each other and we pretty much come and go from each other’s houses as we please.  So while I have my three 6^th graders sitting at the kitchen table three of the other SMs come running in the house yelling and pulling at their clothes.  I yell out to them that I have kids in the house and they need to run into one of the rooms if they are going to strip.  They had apparently gotten into some safari ants, and they are quite vicious.  I got quite a laugh out of the looks on my kids’ faces after that whole episode.  A few minutes later I left the room and returned in time to hear Amber telling Larissa that, “boys will be boys no matter how old they grow”.  The two girls are just sitting there shaking their heads and Kingsley is looking like he does not know what to make of anything that had just happened.  It was all quite amusing.

Yesterday was great!  Tanzi and I taught Sabbath school.  It was about Daniel 10 this week and I think that it went really well!  I have been enjoying teaching Sabbath school to the high schoolers and we got some pretty good discussions going today!  Then this afternoon we went to an orphanage to play with the kids.  As we were getting ready to leave Hadassah suggested that I go and get some stickers and bring them.  The kids just loved that!

When we got to the orphanage the students did a little program for the kids.  We sang some songs and there was a short skit of David and Goliath and then we played some games with the kids.  The stickers were a huge hit and the kids just loved them!  I ended up being covered with stickers and so did most of the kids.  It was so great to spend that time with the kids.  They were all so cute and seemed so happy!  Going to that orphanage and spending the time with the kids just made my day.

At the New Life Samaritan Children's Home.  My video skills are greatly lacking....

         My mom has been harassing me that I need to update my blog. I am almost finished with my 5^th week of teaching.  I am amazed at how fast the time is going by and how full the days are! Last week, Tanzi helped me re-do some of the bulletin boards in the classroom and they a lot better!  I am amazed at what you can do with some construction paper, a pair of scissors, and a little creativity! The only things on this board that I can take credit for are the birds, the cloud with the verse, the grass, and the trees.  Tanzi gets credit for all the other critters.

The weeks are really busy and go by very quickly!  Classes start at 8:15, but we let kids in at 8:05.  School gets out for the day at 3:00.  I spend most of my afternoons grading and lesson planning.  I think that lesson planning is getting a lot easier!  Monday evenings are joint worship. Tuesday afternoons the SMs go into town.  Wednesday I afternoon I have supervision at the high school.  Thursday evening we have Bible study.  Friday evenings we have vespers and sometimes we have faculty family. 

Let me explain what faculty family is.  Maxwell is a boarding school for the high school and so the students are split up into “family” groups.  Once or twice a month each group of kids goes to a different staff member’s house to eat food and just hang out.  The SMs collectively have their own faculty family.  Our group is mostly seniors and so far we have had a lot of fun making popcorn and cookies together and singing songs.

My kids at the elementary are great and I am really enjoying teaching. I want to tell you about one of my boys.  His name is Daniel and he is a 2^nd grader.  I know that teachers are not supposed to have favorites….. but it’s hard not too.  He is so funny!  He does not like to do his work and always tells me so.  I just tell him that sometimes we all have to do things that we do not like to do.  So now, every time he complains – he comes up to me and says, “I do not want to do this.  But I know that I have to because we all have to do things that we do not want to do” and he goes to his seat to do it.  It really cracks me up! Then he is always asking what day it is or what time it is and every time you tell him he goes “really!?  Where does the time go! It goes so fast

Here in Kenya they call erasers rubber and Daniel is always losing his!  So about 8 or 9 times a day I hear with a little Kenyan accent “Where is my rubber?  Where is my rubber?”  He rolls his R s too. Just today I was helping him with a spelling assignment.  I told him that I was not helping him with the next problem.  So he told me that I was a bad teacher.   I responded by telling him that I would be a bad teacher if I told him all the answers.  He then says, “No you wouldn’t!  I would be so proud of you!”  I am telling you these kids make my day!

Then I have Edna.  She is a 3^rd grader and I think of her as my Ramona.  She comes into the classroom every morning literally bouncing!  She comes right up to my desk “I love you Ms. McCauley!  What are we doing today?”  And then she proceeds to ask if we can make some kind of art project or make a play.

I think that art class it the one thing that I dread the most every week.  Katie and I take turns teaching 2^nd -6^th grade art and 7^th and 8^th grade ate.  I am a terrible art teacher!  Coming up with what to do is always a struggle for me.  It is not so bad with the younger ones.  You could hand them coloring sheets and they would be entertained.  We made puppets, made little books in which we wrote short stories, and have done some origami.  Trying to teach art to the older ones though goes right over my head and I really struggle with what to teach them!

Last weekend was team A’s weekend off.  However, the SMs were in charge of vespers that night and so we lead out in that.  Tanzi and I both gave short “sermons” at the vespers and all the other SMs lead out for the music.  I think that overall it went really well!  Then on Sabbath Tanzi and I taught Sabbath school for some of the high schoolers.  I have really been enjoying the discussions that have taken place!  Saturday night we made pizza on the grill with Derick and Yani and it was amazing!

 Here is a funny story.  On my walk home Saturday night, somewhere I walked through some safari ants.  I think that the term ants in your pants came from somewhere in Africa.  When these guys get in your clothes, you know it!  I go into my house and I started feeling a pinching on my leg.  Being that it is not the first time I have gotten bit by safari ants I immediately recognized the feeling.  Then I started feeling them more on my legs and even up to my neck.  It is a good thing that I was already in my house at this point, because I started pulling my clothes off fast trying to get rid of the nasty things!

Sunday morning Tanzi, Yani, and I got up early and ran about 10 k (that is about 6 miles) into Roungi.  It was a great run! Unfortunately, on the way back I tripped on a rock and fell.  I skinned up both my knee and my hand and so had a lot of fun cleaning it out when we got back to the school.  That afternoon we went to a restaurant in Nairobi and then went to an ostrich farm.  It was a great day! 

Emily, Tanzi, and I trying to make cookies.

Sunday evening Emily, Tanzi, and I were really wanting something sweet!  So we tried to make cookies.  The problem was we had a little flour, some sugar, an egg, and peanut butter.  We apparently are not talented enough cooks to make them turn out to be very good cookies.  They were eatable, just not the best.

This morning for reading class we did a short skit to act out what we read in the chapter.  I recorded them doing the skit and then we all watched it.  It was priceless!  They were all a little nervous with being recorded and so the skit is not recorded as well as they did it when they were practicing, but it is really cute.  When we finished I let them watch their skit and they just loved it.

It is really hard for me to believe that I have been here almost a month already.  Where has the time gone?  I just finished my third week of school.  I am loving teaching!  There are definitely some difficult moments and I feel pretty disorganized still.  My desk is almost always a mess and I can be quite forgetful.  It weird because that is not normally like me.  I am usually the one that is on top of everything and extremely organized.  At least my room and my house are clean still!  That makes me feel like I have still have some order in my life.  I am sure that I will figure out a system of organization eventually.  That will make my life much less stressful!

My students are great!  We have a lot of fun with most of our classes.  English class with the 2^nd graders is always full of laughter as we make up funny sentences about each other.  Earlier this week Xander was coming to rescue Ms. McCauley from the giant rabbit that tried to attack her on her way home from school.  It is always quite entertaining to hear what the kids come up with.  Social Studies with the 5^th and 6^th graders turned into a Bible study the other day as we were talking about the Reformation and questions came up about different religions and Christian beliefs.  It was very interesting!  5^th and 6^th graders can be very insightful.  My 2^nd graders made a volcano on Thursday with baking soda, dish soap, and some vinegar.  I think that was quite a hit!  I promise we are learning things!  We just have a little fun while we are doing it.  I am sure that my math class is not very exciting.  Although we do try to at least make our examples interesting.

On average I still have at least one student cry a day.  Whether it is something one of the other kids said or did, a skinned up knee, or because they got into trouble varies from day to day.  Today I had to make one of the third graders re-do an assignment because she did not follow instructions.  She was in tears as I explained that she was not really in big trouble – just that she had made a mistake and that now we had to fix it.  I think that she forgave me though because I got a hug and a kiss and an “I love you Ms. McCauley” before she left for the day.

As a side note, last Sunday I had off and we went to an elephant orphanage.  The baby elephants were so cute!  I also went for a run that lasted over an hour!  I felt pretty good about that since I am running in the mountains at about 6,000 feet elevation.  I am also playing volleyball with the high schoolers and absolutely love it!  I am starting to get to know some of them a little better.  I went to dorm worship the other night and it was great! I have also started bringing my lesson planning and grading and going to study hall with them.  It is nice to get to know some of the older kids.  Right now I am known in the high school not by my name, but as the skinny girl with blue eyes.  Hopefully in the next week or two I will change that.

             Well I have survived my second week of teaching.  Lately, I have been feeling like I need to go back and thank every teacher that I have ever had.  The kids have finally gotten my name down and they use it all the time.  It feels like every ten seconds or so someone needs help with something or is fighting with someone else.  I love helping the kids and talking to them… the problem is that often they all want help at once.  There are moments when I really wonder if teaching is what I want to do –but most of the time I love it!  I am learning a lot. 

            The students in the school are from all over the world.  I have students from all different countries in Africa, from the Philippines, from the U.S., from Moldova.  Asking a student where they are from generally leads to an interesting conversation.  Often their nationality is one thing, they were born somewhere else, their family currently lives in another location, and they go to school here in Kenya.  I think that it is pretty neat that the kids have the opportunities that they do to see so many different cultures and ways of life.

I am especially enjoying the second graders right now!  I have four of them.  We have been learning about writing in complete sentences.  This has been quite a struggle for some.  The other day, I was sitting on at my desk working on grading papers while they were writing their sentences and Daniel throws his pencil down saying, “this is too hard”.  Ameline, who sits behind him, tries to reassure him with an, “it’s O.K. Daniel.  You can do it.  You just have to believe.”  Daniel quickly responds with, “Well I believe that I can fly too, but I can’t.”  It was so hard not to burst out laughing.  I have never heard a response like that from someone so little.  These kids crack me up!  It is so hard not to laugh at them sometimes.  Today in church another one of my students could not find her family, so she came and sat with me.  She was almost in tears because she was so upset.  After a while we saw her brother and she quickly jumped up to join her family.  As she ran away though she turned back to me, threw her arms around my neck, kissed me on the cheek, and then left.

            Math class has been a bit of a struggle.  I am teaching 5^th and 6^th grade math at the same time.  I have a forty-minute class period to do this.  I am struggling to learn how to balance my time between the two grades and give each enough instruction for them to be able to do their homework.  I remember 6^th grade math.  I felt like that was the year that I struggled with math the most, and that makes me nervous in trying to teach it.

            I am getting pretty close to the other SMs here.  There are eight of us total.  The joke is that its Keith and his seven wives.  This all started the other day when we were in the market and a man came up to me saying I was very beautiful and that he loved me.  I just smiled politely at him and took a few quick steps to catch up to Keith and latched onto his arm.  He continued to follow us telling Keith that “his girl” was very beautiful.  Then when Emily had a guy trying to pet her arm it just become the joke that Keith was going to have seven wives for the year.

            The markets are a lot of fun!  I have really enjoyed just talking to some of the people from the area.  It is so interesting to hear some of their perspectives on things or just to joke around with them.  I am excited for more opportunities to spend time getting to know people from the area.

            Today, Tanzi and I taught Sabbath School to some of the high school students.  I think that we are on to teach for the next few weeks.  I was a little worried about how it would go.  I have not done too much with the high schoolers here because I spend most of my time in the elementary.  When I teach Bible to the 7^th and 8^th graders they do not talk too much.  You get up front to try and lead a discussion with them and all they do is make faces at each other and laugh.  This makes things interesting in class.  I have started doing less discussion and making them write responses more.  I am hoping that as the year goes on I will be able to get them to talk more.  I was afraid that this would be the case with the high school students for Sabbath School.  I was really excited that they were more willing to put in to conversation!