So teaching is fun. Im teaching at a school for three weeks to get some practice before heading to my site later on. My students are really well behaved, adn they think its a riot when i say anything in kiswahili or do anything that is non lecture oriented. Im trying to learn their names, but whenever i call on them in class, i try to say their name, which most of them have been whispering, and that brings on more laughter, which is fine with me, becasue it makes me feel so much more comfortable and its not that hard to get their attention back, all i have to do is say, "attention" well maybe a couple times, but thats pretty good... (ive only taught each student once, because each class has biology once a week--that also makes the lesson plans way easier becasue i only have to do one for the week...at least for now). THe other teachers at the school are also pretty cool, and there is a group of them who are in their twenties. Last week I also observed a major battle of the sexes because we had a small group of girls and a small group of guys separately write down their daily schedule and boy were the girls getting after the guys for not making writing down that they made their beds in the morning, and then the girls were saying that they did so many more chores than the guys do, which according to the guys, isnt always true...and THEN of course we had to talk about how the girls had better handwriting on their poster, but they didnt have pictures so the guys poster is better.
Then there is kiswahili time.
It is so confusing for me.
6 oclock am, is 12 am in kiswahilie time. The clock starts when the sun comes up (6am). But you say 12 am. Sorry if this is confusing. Im still confused. So every different time you have to add 6 hours to, so that you get kiswahili time. Then you have to say it in kiswahilie. My mama was really trying to teach it to me, and would ask me what time it was every 10 minutes.
More on mama teachign me. She is a funny lady. when I was learning how to count in kiswahili, it turned into teaching me how to draw numbers, like one looks like a stick. 2 looks like a swan. i forget what 3 is supposed to look like, but i had to remind her that i did know how to write numbers... sometimes the line is blurred. but im starting to think that i should maybe say i dont know how to do things more. Such as ironing. I know how to iron. But she will be so impressed if she thinks i just learn really quickly. And cutting onions...
And then there is still the fact that I have to wash my feet. Im starting to wonder if mama thinks my tanlines from my chacos are dirt. She checks my feet after I bathe. There is a lot of laughing that goes on there.. Speaking of chacos,, im getting a free pair. They broke a little and so did my friends so we emailed chaco... yee haaaaaaaaa. oh , and i passed my kiswahili mid terms. til next time....kwa heriniiiiiiiii
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Gold toenails are INNNNn
Hey guyssssss,
I hope everything at home is going well and id love to hear about it... Things here are still going well, the usual highs and lows of being in a new place and just living everyday in general, but throughout the week i kind of think about random things i want to say here. So here we go.
1. THankssss to everyone for the birthday wishes---It was a great surprise to read them today-yes a week later- and we did get to celebrate tanzanian style, dont worry, nothing too crazy, just a lil gathering and some dancing, and maybe i learned that when dancing with little kids spinning in cirlcles NEVER gets old...
2. Gold toe nails are innnnnnnnn HAaaaaaaaaa. So to catch everyone up, Ha and I had gold and bronze tonails before the final four, which we got a few comments about, but here, gold toenails are the way to go.
3. Im really excited about teaching!!! Yes, even about the KINgdom Monera, we have been practicing all week in our little kiswahilie groups , which consists of five recent college grads and our awesome teacher. Anyway, we tried to simulate a real classroom, which ends up being ridiculously hilarious because we are using "special-or verrrrrrrry slow" English ( we will be teaching in English, and yes, the kids im gonna be teaching have only officially been learning english for a few months. Try sounding excited and interesting whhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeen youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrreeeeeee taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllkkkkkkkkkinnnnnnnnnnhg llllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkeeeeeee thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssss. Ok, get the picture a little bit, it should be interesting and hopefully easier when im not teaching smart mouthed american friendssss.. ANother thing about teaching, is that here, we rub the board.
yeah, im definately NEVER going to be mature enough to say it with a straight face, especially if there are any americans around. (fyi, rub the board... means erase the board). More on that, but im sure you can imagine the other one liners about this subject, but im trying to keep this PG ( okay Mom)
3. ALLLLLL the dogs remind me of TURK (my friend sloans or maybe its steves dog from FandM) Anyway, i just want to go up and pet them and be like "heeeeewwwwwoooooo puppy", but I cant. Not only is it culturally inappropriate, but they probably have mange/rabies. Which reminds me, i got my last rabies shot yesterday and my arm is killlllling me. (yes, im sure you all feel so bad)
4. I forgot to mention that last week when I was talking about how the primary school students sang the "in the jungle song" the song that we sing back goes a little like this...to the tune of frerajacka(i have NO idea how to spell that)
avocado avodcado
cucumber cucumber
watermelon watermelon
fruit fruit
......
So im sure the primary school students get a kick out of the "american teachers" level of song.
5.
Lows-- Peace Corps has to tell us EVERYTHING about anything, which is good, but it just gets a little boring, like I think Ive sat through a million lectures in my life about drinking and why its bad.
Highs--- the dance party i had w/ my lil bro and sisters the other day
Thats that! Miss everyoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I hope everything at home is going well and id love to hear about it... Things here are still going well, the usual highs and lows of being in a new place and just living everyday in general, but throughout the week i kind of think about random things i want to say here. So here we go.
1. THankssss to everyone for the birthday wishes---It was a great surprise to read them today-yes a week later- and we did get to celebrate tanzanian style, dont worry, nothing too crazy, just a lil gathering and some dancing, and maybe i learned that when dancing with little kids spinning in cirlcles NEVER gets old...
2. Gold toe nails are innnnnnnnn HAaaaaaaaaa. So to catch everyone up, Ha and I had gold and bronze tonails before the final four, which we got a few comments about, but here, gold toenails are the way to go.
3. Im really excited about teaching!!! Yes, even about the KINgdom Monera, we have been practicing all week in our little kiswahilie groups , which consists of five recent college grads and our awesome teacher. Anyway, we tried to simulate a real classroom, which ends up being ridiculously hilarious because we are using "special-or verrrrrrrry slow" English ( we will be teaching in English, and yes, the kids im gonna be teaching have only officially been learning english for a few months. Try sounding excited and interesting whhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeen youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrreeeeeee taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllkkkkkkkkkinnnnnnnnnnhg llllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkeeeeeee thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssss. Ok, get the picture a little bit, it should be interesting and hopefully easier when im not teaching smart mouthed american friendssss.. ANother thing about teaching, is that here, we rub the board.
yeah, im definately NEVER going to be mature enough to say it with a straight face, especially if there are any americans around. (fyi, rub the board... means erase the board). More on that, but im sure you can imagine the other one liners about this subject, but im trying to keep this PG ( okay Mom)
3. ALLLLLL the dogs remind me of TURK (my friend sloans or maybe its steves dog from FandM) Anyway, i just want to go up and pet them and be like "heeeeewwwwwoooooo puppy", but I cant. Not only is it culturally inappropriate, but they probably have mange/rabies. Which reminds me, i got my last rabies shot yesterday and my arm is killlllling me. (yes, im sure you all feel so bad)
4. I forgot to mention that last week when I was talking about how the primary school students sang the "in the jungle song" the song that we sing back goes a little like this...to the tune of frerajacka(i have NO idea how to spell that)
avocado avodcado
cucumber cucumber
watermelon watermelon
fruit fruit
......
So im sure the primary school students get a kick out of the "american teachers" level of song.
5.
Lows-- Peace Corps has to tell us EVERYTHING about anything, which is good, but it just gets a little boring, like I think Ive sat through a million lectures in my life about drinking and why its bad.
Highs--- the dance party i had w/ my lil bro and sisters the other day
Thats that! Miss everyoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Thursday, October 4, 2007
the way i liveeeeeee
So its been about two weeks since the last update...or almost 3. its already going so quickly--i apologize for no capital letters, but i cant quite figure it out on this keyboard--. Soooo much has gone on since then and ive already learned soo much kiswahili!!! So the place im living is absolutely beautiful...green mountains, which were not allowed to hike until training is over...green everywhere and very friendly people --or at least i dont know enough kiswahili to know if theyre not being friendly...We have been broken down to groups of 5 for kiswahilie lessons/teaching lessons--everyday 730-5ish. We are all staying w/homestay families....\okay so top ten list--not in any order---
1. First of all, my homestay family is awesome! i have a mama, a baba -dad-, 4 sisters and one brother. The first day i walked in, had some chai, attempted to chat a bit, was shown my room, shown my bed, shown the basket for dirty laundry and told with a big smile that the shirt i was wearing belonged in that laundry pile....and that i needed to take a bath. now im telling you all, that i knew that i needed to look my best the first day. i washed my feet and my face and wore a nice clean shirt, and i dont know what happened, but i guess by the time i got to the nyumba -house- i needed a bath.
2. Every day, for the past 5 days, ive been "running" with my homestay sis and bro- ages 8 and 10. \its really fun though and ive even gotten a little closer to the mountains that were not allowed to climb--ahh the mountains are soooo gorgeous!!!!!!
3. My mama, who has tons of energy even though shes up before 5 and in bed at 12 loves to talk and show me everything--and she also loves to tell my 8 and 10 yr old bro and sis 'if you dont finish supper, bevy will leave; or if you get to school on time --bebby or bevy and the occasional BEVERLYN-which i dont mind at all--will run with you- i hope they dont stop eating/getting to school on time on purpose--no they are so fun..\
4. Everything is kinda tiring---but it kinda feels just like the normal end of the school day at the end of school, so by the time i have a little drink with dinner, im ready to sleep by like 930. That part is awesome. i love being able to sleep when my head hits the pillow.
5. Yesterday i threw our frisbee over the bushes we usually play near and it fell into the garbage pit of the primary school. The pit was like 6 ft deep---no garbage was actually in it... just some bushes, but the frisbeee was like 4 feet down. so im trying to reach it and making no progress, and my friend tries to help me by holding my hand as i lean down into the ditch to fetch the frisbee--at this point were laughing so hard that i am weak and can barely hold on, and finally snag the frisbee. and barely make it up to the top of the ditch w/out pulling my friemd in with me. \i dont think any of the primary school kids saw---
6. The primary school is right outside our class room. They sing some form of where the lion sleeps tongith..... and everytime the hit the 000000000000wweeeeeeeeeeeeeee it is hilarious and awesomeeeee
7. i am teaching a class next week on the kingdom monera. i cant wait. i mean isnt classification soooo excitin? but hopefully the being in the class room part will be good...
8. i dont think im gonna make it to 10 bc i have like 1 minute left on the computer--- send me your snail mail addresses.......
miss everyoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
1. First of all, my homestay family is awesome! i have a mama, a baba -dad-, 4 sisters and one brother. The first day i walked in, had some chai, attempted to chat a bit, was shown my room, shown my bed, shown the basket for dirty laundry and told with a big smile that the shirt i was wearing belonged in that laundry pile....and that i needed to take a bath. now im telling you all, that i knew that i needed to look my best the first day. i washed my feet and my face and wore a nice clean shirt, and i dont know what happened, but i guess by the time i got to the nyumba -house- i needed a bath.
2. Every day, for the past 5 days, ive been "running" with my homestay sis and bro- ages 8 and 10. \its really fun though and ive even gotten a little closer to the mountains that were not allowed to climb--ahh the mountains are soooo gorgeous!!!!!!
3. My mama, who has tons of energy even though shes up before 5 and in bed at 12 loves to talk and show me everything--and she also loves to tell my 8 and 10 yr old bro and sis 'if you dont finish supper, bevy will leave; or if you get to school on time --bebby or bevy and the occasional BEVERLYN-which i dont mind at all--will run with you- i hope they dont stop eating/getting to school on time on purpose--no they are so fun..\
4. Everything is kinda tiring---but it kinda feels just like the normal end of the school day at the end of school, so by the time i have a little drink with dinner, im ready to sleep by like 930. That part is awesome. i love being able to sleep when my head hits the pillow.
5. Yesterday i threw our frisbee over the bushes we usually play near and it fell into the garbage pit of the primary school. The pit was like 6 ft deep---no garbage was actually in it... just some bushes, but the frisbeee was like 4 feet down. so im trying to reach it and making no progress, and my friend tries to help me by holding my hand as i lean down into the ditch to fetch the frisbee--at this point were laughing so hard that i am weak and can barely hold on, and finally snag the frisbee. and barely make it up to the top of the ditch w/out pulling my friemd in with me. \i dont think any of the primary school kids saw---
6. The primary school is right outside our class room. They sing some form of where the lion sleeps tongith..... and everytime the hit the 000000000000wweeeeeeeeeeeeeee it is hilarious and awesomeeeee
7. i am teaching a class next week on the kingdom monera. i cant wait. i mean isnt classification soooo excitin? but hopefully the being in the class room part will be good...
8. i dont think im gonna make it to 10 bc i have like 1 minute left on the computer--- send me your snail mail addresses.......
miss everyoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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