Day 5

I'm never coming home! I love this country so much!

Last night it didn't rain nearly as much as the night before, so I was able to actually get some sleep! The power only went out once durning the night, but I was already awake because a wild dog was barking near by. me and I were also able to get warm showers today...yay!! We hadn't had warm showers since we have been here, the water has been like ice. Having to take cold showers is really not a huge deal considering where we are, it really puts things into perspective.

Today all of the students were back in school, which made it so much more fun! When the classroom is full more of the students participate in the various activities and songs. Whenever the teacher says something to the students and she tells them to repeat, they all shout it back at her really loudly. She does this with the class a couple of times, then if she thinks one kid isn't participating she calls him out to say it alone. When she wants them to answer questions individually she tells them to raise their hands, their hands shoot into the air and they start snapping and saying "teacher, teacher." If she has them write on the board she always makes sure the answer is correct before asking the entire class, I think the only response they know to "is this correct," is "yes, Teacher."

Today they started out with science, they were doing parts of the body, so I did "head, shoulders, knees, and toes with them." They already know the song, but a lot if them mumble through it and don't know where their toes are or their head, so I got them to go slower through the song So that they might figure out each part a little easier. Then the teacher started asking them what parts of the body they know and having them point to it, if they were wrong she would correct them and then have the entire class point to that part of their bodies and say how many of them they have. When they did fingers and toes they would count them out a couple of times. Through all of this I was sitting with the 2 year olds in the class, pointing to each part and repeating it several times, that way they weren't just sitting there doing nothing. I'm not really sure that they should even be learning that yet, they really need to learn how to talk first. There are now 3 of them in my class that are 2-3 and just sit in the classroom all day either being  disruptive or completely silent. Two of them will do stuff wapiti me, like pointing at their head or mouth, but the third one just hits his face and speaks gibberish.

While the students were doing their science homework, Emily and I met with the pastor of the church. He didn't speak a word of English, so the teacher had to come sit and translate. The pastor talked to us some about when and how the church was started there. Then he showed us around the school and church, the church looks small from the outside, but it's really huge when you walk inside. They said that they don't have many people yet, but they are growing. The church opened in 2007 and the school opened in 2010. One thing that Emily and I both thought was strange was how the pastor kept telling us to come stay in their guest house, it's much cheaper than CCS. We just kept saying thank you to him and maybe next time, it was just so awkward. Then he invited us to come to church on Sunday, which we had to turn down because we are going on a safari! He showed us the few resources that they have at the school and talked to us about how the students come from really poor families and the teachers have to fix their clothes when they get tears. The conversation with him was pretty strange, Emily and I were both just sitting there waiting for him to ask for money. Which, if a person at the school asks for money, we have to come back and tell the ladies here, Sarah or Mama Fatuma, and then we would get moved to a different school.

Once we finished talking with the pastor, we got both of the classes together outside and taught them a song. The song is called "tooty ta" and we sing a line and then the kids sing it back. I hadn't heard of it before, Emily knew it from one of her education classes. I took a video of the kids doing the song and dance with Emily and their teacher, it was so cute. Most of the kids participated, but as usual some of them just stood there or wondered off and started doing something else. We went through the song a couple of times and then they had to go back inside for more lessons. When they have to do things like make a circle or walk back inside, they have these little chants that they do, I tried to video them but it didn't come out as well as out "tooty ta" video.

Pretty much right after we went back inside, it was time for us to leave. We always get back to the home base around 12 and have an hour to do whatever until lunch. Today, a lady from the neighborhood came to show us different fabrics we could choose from to have custom made pants or skirts made. I decided to get some pants made because they look super cute and comfy. The lady didn't have the fabric with her for pants, so she was going to drop some off to Sarah and then tomorrow we can pick out what fabric we want. A few of the other girls here bought the pants in town and they said they are really comfy. We will get them next week, so I'm excited for that!

After lunch we had a feedback meeting about our placements, the home base, and town. Two of the girls were really upset about their placement because their teacher hasn't been there in two days and the kids are impossible to control. One little boy in their class peed in the dirt today and then all the little kids started making mud pies with it and throwing it at each other! Neither one of the girls wants to go back tomorrow, but they don't have much of a choice...they might end up leaving early and just walking back to the home base. Some of the other girls were talking about how awful their class is and how when they tell the kids to do something they just say no and do something else. Emily and I were just sitting there shocked, our kids are so well behaved! I even showed them a picture of my class today and everyone was shocked because the students were sitting in their chairs working on homework.

For dinner tonight we went out to this barbecue restaurant in town. The food was so awesome! It was seriously the best thing I've had since we've been here! We got barbecue chicken and fries, I was in heaven! Emily and I were there with three of the other volunteers who had been there a bunch of times before. They ordered this alcohol called konyage, it's similar to vodka, but much stronger. I could feel it after like two sips, so I drank it super slow and only had one! One of the other girls had 4...I don't know how she was still standing! Emily and I ended up leaving there around 9, we had a taxi driver there with us, so he took us home and then went back to hang out with the others until it was time to bring them back.

Today was such a great day! I'm so excited for tomorrow! We leave for our safari at 1:30!!