The new term is well under way. A highlight has been the presence of a new assistant teacher (helping me and the math teacher) and a new full time teacher. The new full time teacher is a "sportsman," not a "Sportsman," which is a popular cigarette. In one day he was able to help us revitalize the enthusiasm for sports at our school. His secret: intramural competitions. For the next week we are putting clubs on hold to give all attention to rehydrating the program.
As soon as clubs return I hope to give more time to the solid establishment of our debate club. Last semester it lacked continuity. Another project of mine is the introduction of the board game Go into the students consciousness. If you haven't heard of it, wikipedia has a nice article. A few of my house mates at Reed were really into it. It is considered to be about as strategically complex as chess, but there are fewer pieces required. All you need are stones of two different colors. You need a couple hundred just for one set, so with the help of my local kiosk mama I recruited the local primary school students to collect bottle tops for me. Glass bottles are the dominant means of soda transportation and the caps have made the roads here look like they are made out of skittles. I asked about 150 students, and much to my surprise received at least 2 thousand. Now they have to be cleaned, but thankfully labor is cheap. The nursery class will be completely happy to help if I give them a big smile and a few pieces of candy in exchange for their support.
The first day that I introduced Go to the teachers was just so pleasant. The smiles on their faces as they placed and captured stones dissolved all of my stress. That is, until I challenged the best of them to a match. I could tell that he really got the game. My heart started pounding and I became anxious thinking to myself, "come on, you have to beat this guy, you introduced the game." It was a little bit of a let down when I won though, since it meant that although I can teach the game, I probably wont be challenged right away.
The sad news around our school right now is the departure of Mr. Toinya, our deputy principal. He was called up for a government training in Embu and never returned. He called to say that he had been promoted to be the principal at another school about 25 km away. It is funny how the government deals with these issues. I don't think that he knew about the transfer before he left to Embu. Then a day or two after he left the training he was expected to begin his responsibilities at the new school. The students were very sad to hear that he was leaving as they thought that he was very fair with his discipline and was helping to move the school in the right direction. He was also my best friend around the school, so I feel a bit of a personal loss. Without him though, I have noticed some of the other teachers really stepping up when they are on duty. I definitely think we are starting off this semester in the right way.
In an effort to further my relationship with the other teachers I made fresh bread and served it to them on a platter with avocado during tea time two days ago. After I ran out of avocado I began serving it with peanut butter, which they preferred. It is still a little funny to me how common avocados are here, it is hard for me to imagine someone at home asking for peanut butter instead of fresh, buttery, perfectly ripe avocado. The landscape and climate in Kenya is so varied, and for me, coming from America, it reminds me of paradise.
Whenever I ask a local how to grow a particular plant the answer it always, "put it in the ground and it will grow." It keeps blowing my mind; instead of trying to do a science experiment in the kitchen window sprouting an avocado, I can actually grow an avocado tree. Just by putting it in the ground. Amazing! Passion fruit trees, papaya trees, avocado trees, here I come!
The other exciting news is that the teacher in charge of guidance and counseling at my school is getting married. I told him that I would help him by taking wedding photos for him since I brought my digital SLR with me. He is one of the more bubbly Kenyans I know, and I am very excited for him. It will also be a good opportunity for all of the teachers at my school to come together outside of school.
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