So, I guess that's it's been a while since I've blogged, but there hasn't been too much happening here. Last weekend was pretty busy, I guess. Friday was busy because I had so many students come for English tutoring and I was working with them while I was working with while I was working with my piano students. I would give one group an assignment while I worked with the other and then I would switch back and forth. It's a bit stressful, but it works well enough and each group gets work accomplished. After that I went to town to get my weekly groceries and arrived back just in time to prepare for my weekly English lesson with some ladies from the church. I've modeled our lessons after the way I learned Spanish in high school. Each time we meet, I have a list of vocabulary prepared and we work with that vocabulary. I believe that building vocabulary is a most important aspect of learning a language in addition to grammar. But, how can you build an understanding of grammar with no vocabulary? So, each week, we learn new vocabulary which we use in a variety of activities. These include work with tenses, work with singular and plural, creating and translating simple sentences, and more. I think it's going alright. It's sometimes hard because my Kiswahili is not so good, though it has improved drastically. I can say quite a few things now and I understand quite a lot. Yes, I make a lot of mistakes, but that's part of learning.
Saturday, I played Ultimate Frisbee and Nathan joined us. He's really good and it was nice that we were able to have another player. Also, it was nice that I was able to have an experience that combined my two groups here, the locals and the other missionaries. It definitely helped me feel more connected to both worlds. That day was also the mother's birthday, so we got to celebrate that evening. I made pizza for her and we all sang happy birthday and had quite a feast. It was nice. Birthdays here are certainly not like American birthdays. Here, if it is your birthday, they say you "become like a baby", which means you aren't supposed to do anything for your birthday, just sit and relax. Back in the US, we put so much energy and stress into planning parties and special activities to celebrate with many people. I think I prefer the simplicity here.
Sunday, Pastor Umba and his wife left for Dar es Salaam because they are flying to America for the UMC annual conference. After the conference, they will have a chance to visit the churches that support them, mostly in Texas and Oklahoma. The trip will take until July, after I have already left to return home. It was definitely a strange experience saying goodbye 2 months before I'm actually going to leave. I definitely felt like my major support here has left me. But, I'm finding now that I'm forced to get out and interact with more people. Not that I didn't interact with others before, but now it's more a matter of necessity because I refuse to simply sit in my room by myself all day. I mean, seriously, that's just depressing. Thus, I believe that God pulling me out of my comfort zone is definitely a good thing.
This week has been just a normal week of teaching, running, and Kiswahili lessons. Volleyball hasn't met for the third week in a row. I'm not really sure what's been up, but I know some people are out of town, at least one person has been sick, and there have been a couple of days where it's been raining so much that we couldn't meet anyways. But, it's all good because I've up-ed my running mileage which has been fantastic! I've noticed that I've gotten a LOT stronger since I've been here. At first I was overcome with the heat, high altitude, and the cross country style running. I mean, I could barely run a mile when I first got here! But, now I've grown accustomed to them all and I've been able to run further without having to stop. It's definitely a nice feeling.
And I know that my new-found strength is limited to just my running. I can tell that I've grown personally and spiritually stronger since I've been here. I mean, I've had to. So often, I've had to deal with tough experiences by myself because, well, I'm the "American" here. It's tough sometimes having to face so many things by myself, but I've grown very comfortable with myself. Not that I was uncomfortable with myself before, I've just been forced to face so many things with, well, myself. And, of course, God is always here, reaching out His hand to me. There have been many times where all I can do is cry out to God "God, I just can't take it anymore!!" But, I am constantly reminded that He has led me here. There is no doubt of that in my mind and that He will not give me more than I can handle. Sometimes, I wish I preformed my duties with more grace and understanding, but I'm glad that I serve a loving and forgiving God and in those times when I'm not at my best, He's still there, encouraging me forward towards His greater purposes. I'm not really sure what my true purpose is here, and honestly, I may never know. But, He knows, and He knows what He is doing here, in the lives of the people here and in my life, and we will all be made better because of it. :D
Yesterday, a new friend, Shantelle, was given the opportunity to come to the school and observe the school and some classes. She has just moved here with another family and they are preparing to go to language school to learn Kiswahili for a year. After completing language school, they will begin their missionary work. She was a teacher in the US for many years before coming and was very interested to see what the schools are like here. It was great to hear her reflections during lunch afterward. We had many of the same impressions, the biggest being the lack of resources here. Seriously, the resources are limited to a chalkboard, chalk and the class set of books for each subject. She mentioned about how back at her school the US, their teachers used to have door decorating competitions and such. That could never be made possible here. In the US, teachers are addicted to worksheets, but here, worksheets have to be made and paid for by teachers who can barely afford to live. In other words, they are non-existent. And then there's the issue of some classes having over 60 students. Can you believe that?? Sixty students!! How can a teacher possibly teach 60 students at the same time effectively?? It's simply overwhelming to think about. But, I have to say that I have gotten used to the system. I've been forced to go from using Smartboards, worksheets, computer slide shows, movies, and sheet music during my student teaching to simply chalk and a chalkboard. But, I've learned quickly to adapt. I've had to. It's like the whole "survival of the fittest" thing. Either learn how to deal with the sudden, drastic change, or crash and burn. I'm glad that I'm part of the former group. ;)
Also, Friday, some of my students came over in the evening to study for their national exams. Before the pastor left, he was working with them a lot to practice for this exam, especially in math in science. Now that he is gone, I have taken up the responsibility for assigning tasks, checking the work, and helping the students develop their understanding. While the students were doing a practice test for English, I pulled up an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy off of youtube and then well all watched it together. It was great and the students LOVED it!! They thought it was hysterical and I paused it often to make sure that they understood what was happening. It was great, too, because it offered visual aids for concepts that can be very complicated to understand. They can watch experiments being performed that they cannot do themselves because the school does not have the means to provide it. I want to get all of the episodes burned to a disk so that the school can have it to help the students learn science.
Afterwards, the electricity was out and it was really dark because it was late. We ended up in a pillow fight in the living room area by flashlight. It was AMAZING! I haven't laughed that hard in such a long time. Even when the electricity came back on, we continued our fight and even resorted to rock, paper, scissors as a means of "stealing" pillows from each other. Pretty much, I'm still just a big kid and it's awesome! :D
Well, today has been a really nice day. I played Ultimate Frisbee and Nathan joined us again. It was a REALLY good game and the teams were well matched once again. Also, things have been cooling down a lot since it's been raining more which, of course, makes it easier to play. This afternoon I did laundry and then watched a movie. I haven't watched too many movies since I've been here because there always seems to be so much to do, but it was really nice to just sit back, relax, and not have to think for a while.
Well, I hope you all have an excellent and restful weekend!!
"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made." Psalm 145:8-9
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine
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