Things I'm excited for at home...

- seeing everyone!
- a very clean, properly functioning home
- properly functioning plumbing and electricity
- an utter lack of insects
- apples
- unfrozen bread
- my big computer
- fast, reliable internet
- a dental cleaning (yes, really)
- TV/movies
- driving places
- not having to walk in bad weather
- Christmas!
- snow
- new nephew!
- fixed prices
- the lack of pop music in my life
- privacy
- frozen yogurt
- proper couches
- not feeling like I'm walking around with a dollar sign for a face

The Downfall

It's been a bit since my last post and I kind of feel like I've been lying to y'all by omission. My last post was definitely written at the pinnacle of my time here so far and things have degraded a bit since then.

We've run into some trouble with some of the staff at my school. A new headteacher was hired right about the time that I arrived. He was hired to make changes, with the intention of making the school function more like a school. Unfortunately, some of the changes he tried to make had to do with discipline and they went a bit far.

Corporal punishment is very common here, even though it has technically been outlawed. For the most part it takes after the States of not so long ago - something akin to a rap across the knuckles. At our school, the new headteacher took it to some new heights and it started to verge on abuse. Obviously, that is not a practice that we can support, and GVI was forced to pull out of the school. We are still providing limited financial support until the end of the term in a couple weeks (for the sake of the children having water, etc.), but none of the volunteers have been teaching. So far the kids haven't been given very much information about what is going on, they just know we aren't there.

There have been a lot of meetings between the head GVI staff and the directors of the school. The directors had been taking a step back from the school and were largely unaware of what was happening. Now that they are aware, GVI is sort of waiting to see what action they decide to take. Unless things can be resolved satisfactorily, we'll be forced to pull out for good. Frustratingly for those of us on this end, the school is approaching things the Kenyan way, which means polepole - slowly, slowly.

For the time being, us displaced volunteers have been doing some other things in the community. There is an orphanage that is just getting started very near my school. It is run by an Australian woman who knows one of the staff members here, so some of us have been helping out there. The rest of us have been visiting a different school called Junior Learners. It is a little bit farther from our village and has some random connections to people here.

I have been working at the school, which has actually turned out to be an amazing experience. It's a wonderful place to be. The children are very smart and respectful and the staff are so welcoming and joyful. It has been an absolute pleasure to be in a school where everyone is happy and respectful - to go to P.E. and watch the teachers playing and joking with their students. It is a nice change from Olive's. The atmosphere there has not been so nice lately.

This week is the end of the school year here, so it sounds like we are going to be doing some extracurricular things with the kids at Junior Learners and next week we will be doing the same with our kids at Olive's. I'm looking forward to being with them again. I miss my class a lot. I'm waiting, though, to find out what will happen in the long term. I want to know what I am coming back to in January. Right now, everything is bittersweet.

Lack of Communication

I'm not sure if I've just gotten used to not talking to people or if I'm too busy doing things or if it's because there are so many people around or because it feels comfortable to be here or what, but I don't miss people from home the way I usually do when I am away.  Of course I miss everyone and I can't wait to see them in a month, but I don't really miss having a skype that works consistently.  I have hardly talked to anyone since I've been here and it's not really stressing me out like it usually does.  Like I said, I'm not sure why this is.

Ommm...

The other day someone asked me what made me choose to come to Africa. I didn't have an answer for them. All I could say was that, one day whilst sitting in Costa Rica, pondering the rest of my life (as college students are wont to do), I had an epiphany. I realized that the life I had always expected to lead - the one where I graduated, got married, got a job, had kids and probably taught in the same school in the Midwest for 20 years - didn't have to be. Not that it was such a bad life to lead, it was just that there were an infinite number of other possibilities to consider. For whatever reason, the first possibility that popped into my head was doing aid work in Africa...and that is the one I stuck with.

I don't know why. I had never thought of doing such a thing before. But once the idea had taken root, I couldn't let it go. I've been waiting to get here ever since and I knew that I couldn't settle down until I had gone and had this adventure. (To be honest, I was a bit worried that I wouldn't make it here. It took a bit longer than I had intended.)

It sort of feels like the universe just knew that I would like it here and gave me the necessary pushes - a random idea here, a bit of restlessness there, some life experience - to make sure that I would get here and that I would be ready for it when I did. Now, I realize that that sounds kind of hokey and maybe I am just getting far too into the new agey side of my yoga practice, but I can't help this overwhelming feeling that my presence here puts me in perfect sync with the universe.

I'm not generally into the whole higher power thing. I find any existence or nonexistence to be somewhat irrelevant to my life. That said, I occasionally have moments where it seems possible that there is a sort of universal force that connects people to each other and to the overall fabric of the human experience. Of course there are also moments where this sounds completely and utterly absurd. At present, I'm having an extended series of moments where such a driving force seems not only possible in the abstract, but also to have been rather active in my life.

Regardless of whether it was a push from the universe or simply random chance, the feeling of rightness that I have here is absolutely amazing. Occasionally, there are people in your life that just fit perfectly. You meet them at just the right time and you click immediately. It's as if you've always been friends, even though you've only known them for an hour. That's kind of how I feel about my work here. It just fit so well, right from the first day.

I kind of like to think that all the detours between my initial epiphany and my actual arrival have been a sort of preparation for my time here. All of the experiences I've had are coming together to make me feel happy and comfortable and confident with what I'm doing. It's such a good feeling. After years of waiting for my life to begin, it's wonderful to finally have arrived. To leave behind the gnawing anticipation and feel that I am in exactly the place that I should be, doing exactly what I should be doing. I don't know where this adventure will take me yet and, for the moment, it doesn't really matter. I'm here and it's perfect, and I'm ready to let the universe take me where it will.

Never a Dull Moment

Life here is starting to get interesting.  There has been some political unrest due to tensions between Kenya and Somalia.  This week there were 2 bombings in Nairobi.  According to the media, the bombings are not linked to the Al Shibab unrest, though personally I think it seems rather coincidental.  At any rate, we have been encouraged not to go to Nairobi, nor to go too far from our home here in Mombasa.  Which is not a big deal, because we spend most of our time here anyway.  It has, however, added a level of excitement to our lives.  As far as I can tell, things are a little crazy, though that's actually a pretty normal state for Kenya and we are not in any immediate danger, though we should probably be cautious.  Just in case anyone was worried.

On top of that, we got a brand new schedule at school, which includes me teaching another grade level.  Woot!  They had asked me about teaching Standard 7 as well as Standard 6 last week, but no one had gotten back to me to tell me that I was for sure doing it until Sunday night at like 8pm when Katie brought us our new timetables.  And, sure enough, on Monday morning I had 3 blocks of English with Standard 7 right off the bat.  After my time here, I will be able to take anything that happens in a public school in stride.  There were a lot of last minute changes in the States, but nothing like here.  They make big changes and expect them to happen an hour after you've been told.  It's ridiculous.  I still haven't gotten any books for Standard 7 and I've been teaching it for almost a week. 

I also discovered yesterday that I don't really have any curriculum to follow for Standard 6 or 7 at this point.  Neither standard has had a volunteer for a long time, so GVI doesn't have the curriculum prepared for them.  Which means I get to make it up as I go.  The good news is, I know that I am perfectly capable of doing this and doing it well.  I also know that the kids are getting quality English instruction.  The bad news is that it's a bit more work and a bit more stressful right now. 

On a more positive note, I was talking to one of my students yesterday and she asked me how many weeks I would stay.  When I told her I would stay at least until March, her eyes just got huge.  She couldn't believe I would be with them for so long.  She told me that it was good, which was nice to hear.  I think that the kids are so used to people coming and going so quickly that it is nice for them to know that they have some consistency for awhile.  And I'm glad to be here with them for a long time.  (Don't tell, but right now Standard 6 is my favorite.  Standard 7 is making me a little crazy so far.  I'm still working out how to crack them.) 

Hopefully this is all the excitement for the week, but it's only Wednesday and, of course, T.I.A. (This is Africa).