Term 3

I haven't written in a long time and for that I apologize, so here are some updates on what I've been doing in the term so far, and there will be more to come.

Week 1: Parents visit!

My parents were here for the first week of school, they were able to meet my staff, students and see my lovely house! They were real troopers and barely complained about the facilities. My parents visited all of my classes to talk with the students and also brought a Frisbee for each class that they can use during their PE classes. We had a fun time playing Frisbee with the neighbor kids (that is, until I rolled my ankle swinging the little boy around). It was great being able to show my parents where I live and work, it makes it so much easier for them to understand what my life is like here, which helps me out since it is so hard to describe my experience here. Other highlights of their trip to Bande: washing clothes by hand, making guacamole for my staff – which they loved, and seeing the fishing boats on the lake at night lit up by their lanterns.

Here's a picture of my parents on the bus back to Nairobi to catch their flight. I think I wore them out!




Week 2: Nairobi

After taking my parents to Nairobi and to the airport for their long long long flight home, I had to stay around because of my sprained ankle… RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) is not easy to accomplish when you live in remote Kenya – I can’t exactly not walk or not stand when I’m at my school, especially if I want to buy food from the market or do my job and I have yet to see an ice machine in my village. So, Nairobi it was until my ankle got better. I did some physical therapy which helped, got a brace and then headed back to school.

Week 3: Catch-up

I spent the week grading exams and calculating grades for my students, catch-up from when I was gone in Nairobi when the opening exams for the term were taking place. Saturday the school was host to a large Christian youth rally with over 20 schools in attendance. Each school's choir performed a few songs and guests from all the churches in the area came and gave speeches to the students. Chris came for the day and after the main sermon of the event Chris and I headed to Migori for good food, good internet connection and to stock up on necessities from the grocery store. Here are some pictures from the event: