Stage 2 of Culture Shock= Irritability

So before we arrived we were given a lot of information about culture shock and let me tell you I am officially full blown stage 2-irritability. Good news is stage 3 is much better and cant be far away...

I arrived at the school at 930am this morning and got to teach grade 8 about landing on the moon. We had a great time and learned alot of new vocab words. One of which was "overcome" With 5 minutes left in class all the students begged for me to dance... no clue what the obsession with me dancing is here but I get asked constantly. For those of you who have ever seen me dance its not great in fact it is absolutely embarrassingly terrible. However, I told the students what it meant to be shy and said that I was too shy to dance in front of them. One student raised his hand and said "teacher, you must overcome your fear in order to achieve your goals" proudly using his new vocab word. With that I had no option and terrible dancing was next.

After class we had a break and I played volleyball with the kids. My team lost both times which was sad but what can you do. What happened next made me absolutely positive that I never want to go into teaching. I was given nearly 70 children and told to go teach them to play a futbol in the courtyard. 1 ball, 2 goals, no other equipment. No amount of Smith education can prepare me for this situation as I sat there absolutely dumbfounded at how I would control the kids. To make matters worse the boys all played futbol while the girls sat in the shade. Needless to say I failed miserably at teaching and got very little accomplished in the next 90 minutes except for extreme frustration and a lost voice.

Finally the period ended. I went in and helped make some lunch, ate some delicious ugali (mmmmm) and some greens and two small chunks of meet (mmmm meat... never tasted so good before). We then walked back through the farms to get more vegetables for one of the teachers. I was again taken into a home of another teacher who was with me which was very interesting to see, similar set up four massive tin sheets with a couple couches, tv, and a radio. Outside was a car, their 2 cows and a dirt yard.

We got abck to the school, called it a day around 4pm and headed back to do some laundry. It is now pouring rain but hey its the weekend! This weekend I will go see "the slums" which are very densly populated areas where the poorest of the poor in the country live. After on Sunday morning I will go to a church service (which will be in Swahili) then with one of the teachers and her brother to some markets... Should be exciting.

Would love to upload photos soon but I have to get to an internet cafe to do so...

1 more week at the school and then 5 days in a mud hut with the Maasai then HOME on August 10... Hope all is well!

Parent Teacher Day...

Oh I forgot something in the last post... the students do everything at the school, they wash the classrooms, do the teachers dishes, wash the toilets etc. Teachers walk around with sticks and hit the students in the legs and back if they are missed behaved.

Today I arrived at the school at 8am to help prepare the food for the parent teacher day. It was the first time in the history of the school that they ahd such a day so the pressure was on and there were many invited guest from the equivalence of the board of education and the Kenya Government. We arrived and peeled potatoes for about an hour with a knife which was incredibly challenging but I didn't cut myself until the last potato which I was proud...

After we were finished with the potatoes we walked up to the outdoor assembly. There were about 150 parents there 10 invited guests and all the students. The students had to carry there wooden desks all the way out to the assembly so they had something to sit on. Including the little 1st and 2nd graders. We sat freezing outside in the assembly listening to people talk and a few student presentations until 4pm when we had to leave to go into town to get money. Let me tell you that students from nursery school to 8th grade sat still from 1030am-4pm with out nearly any rucuss absolutely freezing cold. I was very happy we left when we did because apparently the assembly went on until after 6pm.

A newer volutneer and I headed to Nantuck Junction where I was able to get some money out and we grabbed some food... you can only eat so much ugali... and a delicious Kenyan beer. I headed back to where we stayed and passed out after a long day.

Kanjeru School

After a quick meeting with the program coordinator I was told that I was going to be teaching for the next week and a half at Kanjeru School about a 30 minute walk away. After making the trek I was escorted into the Head Teachers Office for a meeting. While I tried to explain what my expertise is he only concluded that I was a physical education teacher and must go teach the children sports. I finally flat out said while I can teach sports I can also teach english, Science, and Math with comfort.

The school... the school is a cement complex surrounded by a massive dirt courtyard. In the classroom are small desks with little lighting, a chalk board and little else. The students all have a uniform with girls wearing skirts and shirt with a sweater and boys wearing shorts, shirt and a sweater. Many of their clothes are so ripped and torn that they barely cover their bodies and most with either no shoes or shoes that clearly do not fit them properly.

Few of the students have ever seen a white person in real life so they surround me at all times and want to touch my hair and skin. It is shockingly awkward and often genuinly uncomfortable to have so many people around you at once all literally grabbing at you and yanking on your hair.

I walked into Standard 8 (our grade 8) and after about 100 questions got the 50 something students to be quite and listen. After an hour and half lesson about why sports are good for the physical and mental. Then I explained some futbol (soccer) strategy and the rules of baseball.

Following the hour and a half class all the children go play for 30 to 40 minutes. I ran out and played futbol. I couldn't be shown up so I played goalie and made a diving awesome save until my arm met the post and i bruised and scraped my shoulder pretty badly. Following the recess I went abck into the same class and taught english. The lesson of the day was on using descriptive adjectives for a fire.

Following this class we were fed a lunch of ugali, eggs and tomatos, and greens. Ugali is corn or flour mixed with water which creates this very thick incredibly bland chunk of food you eat with your hands. It sits in your stomach for days following... I swear. The following day the school was having a parents day in which they were going to be making food for all the guests so I walked with one of the teachers through the farms surrounding the school to get some greens for the following day. It was incredibly beautiful and I got to see a few homes in the farm land which consist of four metal tin sides attached to each other with maybe a tv and 2 couches inside.

We wrapped the presents for the top 3 students in each class which consisted of a very small notebook and pencil for the top student, notebook for the 2nd best and just a pencil for the 3rd best. After we headed home and I relaxed and spent some time with the other volunteers. Solid night involving some wine with two scottish girls and a canadian...

Again it is so hard to describe it here. In summary the school is basically made of cement and there are so many children stuffed into a classroom and clearly not enough staff to properly teach or educate the children, as they themselves admit. I don't want to put my emotional response on the situation because again it is so unlike anything I have ever experienced it would be impossible to explain or establish an opinion not to mention inappropriate. So I will just say that I found myself lying in bed and trying to process the sights of the day.

Safe and Loving Kenya

Hey all. I dont even know where to start. I arrived in Kenya around 8pm last night and could not find my program coordinator. Following many conversations with information poeple they instructed me to go to a hotel in Nairobi to meet him. When I arrived he was not there but we were able to call him and he came to meet me.

I was absolutely freaking out and more nervous then ever however we pulled up to the program headquarters where all the volunteers stay and I was quickly greeted by nearly 20 volunteers from all over the US and Europe. I instantly felt much more at home and am having a good time getting to know all of them.

Today one of the workers for the program Advance Africa who I am working with took me around town. Our adventure started by hopping on a Matutus bus with 15 seats however we were the 20th and 21st passenger on the bus.

We made our way to Nakumatt Junction to try and get a phone and to become orientated with a typical shopping mall. After we hopped on anothe rMatamus bus and headed into the center of Nairobi near the Hilton (major landmark). We then grabbed a phone, some lunch (chicken burger with more mayo then chicken... mmmm) and then made a short visit to the site of the US Embassy bombing in Kenya. After we walked around for a while so that I could become familiar with the area. Following that we went to another shopping center where I got some essentials such as toilet paper and water and peanut butter.

Back on to an overcrowded matatus this time at rush hour so I could not even begin to tell you how many people. We finally arrived back at my accomodation exhausted but invigorated with a great day. I cannot even describe this place so unlike anything I have ever seen yet so amazing and breathtaking. Tomorrow I will meet with the program coordinator and find out where I will be placed for the next three weeks. I wish I could describe my experience in words so far however I cannot because it is so unlike anything I have ever seen there is no space for comparison. I will definitely get some photos up soon as well as some info about my experience in Cape Town the past two weeks. I miss you all much!

Post from Wes

I'm jumping in to show everyone the proximity to where Katie is/going to be:

http://tinyurl.com/ln7gz4

Definitely the best side of Kenya to be on.

Off to Kenya

I promise to be better with my updates once I have some kind of stable consistent internet...

However I am on my way to Kenya today for 3 weeks. I am really excited and looking forward to meeting the volunteer coordinator and start volunteering. In addition to volunteering in a school in the Masai land region I am planning on going on a 3 day safari through Masai Mara which is the Kenya side of the Serengeti and also to maybe spend a day or two hiking Mount Kenya. Hope to update you all soon.

July 9- On the ground

So I am failing miserably at updating my blog in an appropriate time fashion however I am trying. We arrived after surviving several flights from NYC to Atlanta, Atlanta to Dakar Senegal then Dakar to Cape Town. Going through customs was a breeze. As Kathleen Boucher and I approached the desk the officer starts stating BOUCHER. We both look at him confused and he explains that apparently BOUCHER is the same last name as a famous cricket player in South Africa....

Exchanged some money and got the rental car but had a small hickup when I couldn't find the keys the man had just given me. After a small amount of unpacking of luggage we found the keys and were on our way to the hostel. As you could imagine we were both a little eager to see what would be in stored with us but quickly met a bunch of new best friends at Cape Town Backpackers and had an awesome welcoming night out in Cape Town.

So soon...

As I lay in bed at 140am I find myself too excited to fall asleep despite having to wake up in 3 hours and 20 minutes. I leave tomorrow!!!! Well I suppose that it is today but whatever... I am so excited! I am much relieved to know that I have a lot more planned and the big things taken care of... Room booked, car rented, safari reserved, and bags packed (mostly). Everything else I can figure out in the next 36 hours or something of travelling. I will leave my house at 6am on July 8 and not arrive to Cape Town until 11am on July 9 US time (5pm South African time)... plenty of time to make lists, plan tours, and hopefully catch some sleep. Check back soon for some hilarious flipvideo camera action and pictures of travels.

I'll miss you all much!

Less than a Week...

In less than a week I will be boarding my plane from NYC to Cape Town, South Africa. I will be travelling around Cape Town from July 9-July 15 with Boucher. Then on July 15 we will be meeting up with several people from my grad program to travel to Stellenbosch (45 minutes from Cape Town) for the IAPESGW conference. On July 20 I will be boarding a flight to Nairobi, Kenya where I will be volunteering teaching English in a Masai school outside of Nairobi.

This past week many people have been reassuring me and giving my organization a strong vote of confidence with comments such as well surely you have all your accomodation booked. Well here's the thing... I don't and I'm okay with that. So far I have a room in Stellenbosch booked for part of our stay and rugby tickets purchased so I feel like the most important things are taken care of.

We are going to a rugby game on the 11th and its a huge match and tickets are selling like crazy. Well we decided to splurge and purchased two of the best seats in the house for... you guessed it $13.75... for both.

While the to do list is growing rapidly I have elected to start a blog instead... so if I'm sleeping in the streets of Cape Town with no car rented well atleast I have a blog right?