Climbing Mt. Longonot

Mt. Longonot, an extinct volcano, is one of the mountains that we can see from our backyard. Last Saturday, we hired a babysitter and drove with some friends for about an hour through the valley to the base of the mountain. It was a steep, quick ascent which took about one hour. Once we reached the top, we trekked for about 2 - 2.5 hours around the rim of the crater. I was expecting that part to be the "easy" part, but I was wrong -- there were still many steep ascents and descents as we went along the crater rim. The views were majestic and the hike rigorous.

Our Backyard by Abby

Here is a photo from our yard. It is a sunset. It is raining over near Mt. Longonot.

We grow roses and a garden. We have a compost. There are lots of trees. We have passion fruit vines. The flowers are very beautiful. We have a great view. We can see the whole valley and lots of mountains. I can even see the crater of Mount Longonot. We have a bottle brush tree. We have a bird bath. We see lots of mousebirds. We even found two nests: one on the ground and one in the passion fruit vine. We have a little backyard porch. We have two little wooden chairs. There is a green plastic chair too. We like our yard a lot. We like to play in it. One time we even had a picnic in the yard. There are banana trees that we climb on. We see pretty sunsets every evening. Sometimes we even see the sunrise. There is a guard post higher than our house. It leads to the guard trail. The guard trail is a path around RVA. We like to play at the guard post. There is a big bougainvillia bush in down the road. There are some in our yard too.

Alex in the classroom

We just spent a wonderful evening with Alex's AP biology students. They have recently completed their coursework and are now reviewing in preparation for the AP exam in early May. Tonight was a bit of a celebration for them and our time with them this year. Here are a few photos of Alex teaching last week, specifically running a lab and discussing the results:

Tennis Baseball

Each term, there is a Titchie sport which all K-6 children are invited to play. They play games on Tuesdays and Thursdays and are coached by High School students. Abby played soccer in the fall; and both Abby and Andrew (now that Andrew is a Titchie) are playing tennis baseball this term. They have one game left: students vs. parents and teachers! These photos are from their game last week. They have grown leaps and bounds since the first game. Andrew stood on the sidelines watching the entire first game. He eventually started fielding and batting and now is enthusiastically playing the games.

Here's a great sequence of Andrew at bat:

Andrew in the field:

Abby running for home!

Skating Party

When was the last time you went roller skating/blading? Every term, Titchie has a skating party, BBQ included. They dust off the piles of roller blades and skates that have been donated through the years and students sign them out for the weekend. The kids are allowed (the weekend of the party) to skate on the outside (basketball) court. Abby missed the fall skating party because she was sick with a fever; and though Andrew went this year, he left early because he was sick (thankfully a short sickness this time). Abby had a ball and was practicing with her skates for two days, but couldn't quite make it away from the wall.

The day after the party she said to me, "Mom, when we get home, would you buy me some skates?" My reply, "Tell me what you're thinking about." Abby continued, "Well, if I get skates when we get home, I can practice and get really good at skating so that the next time we come back to RVA - will I still be in Titchie when we come back to RVA? - then I'll be able to skate really well at the party!"

Lego Club

I haven't had as much time this term for Lego Club, but I've just started getting together with a few students in order to teach/learn about Lego Robotics. Here are a few photos from last week's club. These are the same Legos that I used in Lincoln, MA and at the Duke School in order to teach science and engineering concepts to elementary aged students. There was a donation of about 6 Lego Robotic kits to RVA and the hope is to get a few people proficient who can then use them to teach students in a local Kenyan school, where the students have little opportunity for hands-on learning.

Caring Community: Dutch Night

Alex frying up the pannekoeken

Students helping chop (and eat) fruit for toppings

Preparing for the feast

A serious game of Dutch Blitz

We had our last Caring Community meeting with our seven 10th graders. We had Dutch night with Dutch pancakes and Dutch Blitz. We had a blast with the kids. It is always so fun to spend an evening with them!

I think we're headed into a series of "lasts" in the coming weeks.

Friends in Kenya

We had the pleasure of a visit from a Kindergarten classmate of Abby's. Last weekend, she and her mom came out for an afternoon from Nairobi. Though they live in Durham, they had just arrived in Nairobi and were about to head to Amboseli Park for 3 weeks where her mom (a biologist from Duke) researches animal behavior. The girls had a blast together and all three kids enjoyed the treat of eating a few bowls of honey nut Cheerios that they had brought along - yum (cereal, especially American cereal is a hot commodity around here)!! Its been amazing to connect with so many different people from around the world - right here in Kijabe!

The weekend before, we met up with a family in Nairobi. Alex had gone to grad school in Oxford with Jeffrey and recently discovered that he, too, is living in Kenya and working as a journalist. We enjoyed a leisurely Sunday lunch with him and his family. In fact, that was the first day that Alex drove in Kenya. We rented an RVA vehicle and drove ourselves to Nairobi! What freedom. It was such a treat to get in a car - with just the four of us - and hit the road...

Andrew

Helping Mommy bake

Harvesting spinach from our garden

Sorting and clipping the stalks

Besides spending 90 percent of his time building with Legos, playing Knights, and listening to "Jack and Annie" (The Magic Tree House series) stories, he has become quite the helper around the house. I think he had more fun harvesting and washing the spinach than he actually did eating it.

If you ask Andrew how old he is, he'll reply 4 and 10/12ths. He loves numbers -- I'm not sure he quite understands what that means, but he knows that he is *really* close to turning five (in April)! This week he was so proud to come home from Kindergarten and show us that he could count to 100. He rushed getting to the 90s quite a few times. 27, 28, 29, 90! Then I told him 30 came next. ...37, 38, 39, 90! And so on until we actually got to 90 and then eventually 100. He just couldn't believe how long it took to actually get to 100!

Compassion International

Compassion staff with our family and sponsored child

Meeting his family - Are we really THAT tall??

Meeting the school children

Eating stew and chapatis -

the boys were comparing orange Fanta levels, trying to drink at the same rate

On the Merry-Go-Round at the Compassion Project Center

The children drawing together

On Friday, we had an incredible day in a small village about halfway between Kijabe and Nairobi. For about 2 years, we have sponsored a young boy through Compassion International. We have written letters back and forth and faithfully pray for him on a daily basis. Our family's love for him has grown through these letters and prayers. After we decided to come to Kenya, one of our first realizations was that we might be able to meet him. When we found out how close he lived to us we were overjoyed. We initially tried to visit during December when we had our term break, but his school was on break too, and we had to wait. The visit, scheduled through the CI office, takes about 6 weeks to coordinate, so we ended up finally visiting Friday.

We met him at the Compassion project center where he was waiting with three of the center staff. A Compassion liaison/hostess had met us in a town nearby and directed us to the center. He knows some English from school (he is in standard/grade 4), but is most comfortable in Kikuyu first and Swahili second so it was still a bit of a stretch for him. We know only a small amount of Swahili, and hardly any Kikuyu, so we needed translation for much of our conversations. Despite the obstacle, he warmed up quickly to Abby & Andrew and we all had a lot of fun together. We enjoyed chai and jam sandwiches, followed by drawing, playing on the playground, and kicking around a football (soccer ball). When we were playing football in the yard, the school children who were on lunch break in the adjacent school yard and who are friends with our sponsored child, came running to the fence and were excited to interact with us: rarely does a white person (Mzungu) come to this village so the children were quite fascinated by our arrival and eager to shake hands with us.

We then all walked to his family's rented home and visited with them for a while. They were kind people who warmly welcomed us. We exchanged gifts -- they gave us beaded necklaces. We brought them household goods: rice, beans, flour, tea, sugar, soap, etc. They are casual workers which means that they don't have steady jobs, but they work when they can -- at any type of job. The father said that he sometimes does digging, construction, or tea plucking (they live near a sizable tea-growing district). The mother sometimes buys vegetables & fruit and then sells it on the roadside. After the home visit, we ate stew and chapatis back in the project center office.

It was a sad good-bye, but it was such a joy to spend a day with him and to have a glimpse into his daily life: to meet his family and project center leaders, to see his home, center, school, and church.

Visits with Alison & Clifton and Martha

Alex and Clifton feeding the Giraffe

Martha, Melissa, and Abby at Lake Nakuru Park

A White Rhino in Lake Nakuru Park - our first close up view of a rhino in Kenya

The flamingoes at Lake Nakuru

Abby in the tea leaves at Kiambethu Tea Farm!

Clifton, Alison, Andrew, Melissa, Abby, and Alex at the Tea Farm

Alison (Alex's sister) and Clifton visited us for a week in February. They headed straight for a safari in the Mara and then came out to Kijabe. We had a fun week showing them around campus. They visited lots of classes, took a day trip to Hell's Gate National Park, and immersed themselves in our lives here.

On the weekend, Martha (friend, Durham neighbor, and fellow Blacknall church member) arrived (after teaching at a medical conference for missionaries in Africa); and the seven of us headed north for a day trip safari to Lake Nakuru National Park on Saturday; followed by AIC Church, Kiambethu Tea Farm and the Giraffe Center on Sunday. Alison and Clifton departed that night and Martha stayed with us the rest of the week. She, too, visited classes, toured campus and the larger mission station, and jumped into our lives here.

Last Month of the Term

Its hard to believe that we only have four weeks of school left before the end of Term 2. After April break, the students will come back to RVA for a third term, but we will depart mid-April. It has been such an incredible year here for us.

In these last four weeks, Alex continues to teach students in Biology and Calculus, preparing them for the AP exams which they will take in early May.

My schedule has changed yet again. Now that I am not teaching second grade or music and that Andrew is in Kindergarten 8am-noon, I have some free time. I have enjoyed exercise every morning this week, which has been a true blessing. But I have also lined up a new "job". At the beginning of the term, Titchie implemented a new reading program called Accelerated Reader. It involves children selecting and independently reading books 30 minutes / day in class; and then taking 5 minute computerized (over the internet) quizzes which check their comprehension. I am helping to set up the computers and monitor the computer lab each morning from 10:30-12 as individual students come down to take their quizzes. I am also helping by creating reports for teachers so that they have accurate assessment/progress reports on the students' reading each week. In addition, I am assisting the librarian in the adjacent library. Since this reading program began, students have been coming to the library all morning to check out books (where previously they only checked out books during their afternoon library special or after school.) She taught me how to check out books yesterday. They use the computerized system as well as the old card system as back up. The reason for this is that occasionally the whole computer system has gone down. So the process is fairly involved.

We are also beginning some curriculum work at Titchie in which I am excited to participate.

Finally, the last week of the term is "Interim". Juniors and Seniors take one week trips all over Kenya (camping, scuba, aviation, biking, etc.) which involve adventure, exploration, and ministry. The interim leaders all need subs for their classes, so I will substitute teach grade one in the mornings and library in the afternoons that week.

Teaching update

After seven weeks of leave, the second grade teacher is healthy and ready to teach her class again. I am so thankful for her restored health. It was such a gift to me to teach those eleven second graders for that time. It is bittersweet to leave the classroom. I welcome a little more free time and time for taking care of our household - maybe I can even start blogging more regularly again!

There are 5 weeks left in our school term. I'm not sure what the next month will bring for me, but I'm sure that something will come up quickly. No one stays jobless for too long around here. Andrew will continue in Kindergarten through the end of the term since he is thriving, and we don't want to put him through yet another transition.

Eclipse

Last month, we had an annular solar eclipse. The moon was far enough away from the Earth that it blocks less of the sun than during a normal solar eclipse. So the moon passed right through the center of the sun, but owing to its smaller size, it only obscured 92% of the sun's area and a ring of sunlight was still present. We were told this is pretty rare. It wasn't nearly as dark as I was expecting it might be; that 8% of light is apparently enough to illuminate things pretty well: it felt like it was about as dark as just before sunset. And it was hard to take pictures, but we could see the whole thing with welding masks pretty well. The first two pictures are not from our camera.

January - February

It has been a very busy 6 weeks since the term began. Our campus has been plagued with illness. At one point a few weeks ago, there were nearly 90 students sick. We've had all sorts of viruses on campus, though it seems to be calming down. There are still quite a few staff out because of various illnesses. Andrew became very ill with some sort of infection. He suffered from fever for 8 days and had serious abdominal pain for several days in the midst of it. He spent a lot of time seeing doctors and getting tests done, but there was no conclusive diagnosis. Thankfully, an IV injection of antibiotics helped him turn the corner. He is back to himself now. We are so thankful for his full recovery!

I have continued to teach full-time, though the teacher for whom I'm subbing will start to teach about 1 hour/day next week and will slowly build up from there. She is still regaining strength while recovering from a serious illness. I have enjoyed teaching tremendously and I adore my 11 second graders. I will be happy, though, to soon have a little more time with Andrew in the afternoons.

Alex has kept busy with his teaching load and has stepped in to teach additional courses including geometry and english for absent teachers during the past couple of weeks.

Dad, Robin and Liz visited us for about 10 days. Andrew was sick through most of their visit, but we did enjoy a 2 night trip to the Mara with them once Andrew was healthy again. It is incredible to drive through the grasslands and see so many amazing animals and so much open land!

They departed on Tuesday and that very same day, Alison and Clifton arrived. They will be here through Sunday. Martha arrives on Friday for a week with us as well. It has been such a joy to share our life in Kenya with friends and family.

Its hard to believe that there are only 6 weeks left in our term!

Ferret?

The other day, a Kenyan man that I hadn't seen before came to the door and when I answered it, he held out a clear plastic bag filled with bloody meat. He said, "Ferret?" I could see that his bag must've contained a freshly skinned ferret. I apologized but told him he must have the wrong house. "No, last week I came by and you ordered this ferret." "Umm, I don't think so." "Well, of course it wasn't you that ordered it; it was your wife." "Well, I can't be sure, but I have a good hunch that she didn't order ferret either." But the man insisted. Finally, it came out that we has saying "fillet", what the British call steak, pronounced with a hard t, and that Melissa had indeed ordered some the previous week. Though his story checks out, I'm still avoiding any meat Melissa cooks the next two weeks...

English!

One of the things about teaching at RVA is that we are our own substitute pool. So when someone is sick, or otherwise unable to teach class, everyone else pitches in. That is why Melissa is now teaching second grade -- but at least she is in her element, with 6-7 years of experience. I, on the other hand, have just been drafted to teach senior English for the week, and possibly longer -- hah! Luckily for the students, the actual teacher has laid everything out clearly and I'm not really doing much teaching (yet). My question is: am I now permitted to call myself a part-time English teacher?

Changes, Changes

More change for us: Subbing for a few days turned into a few weeks or more. The second grade teacher is very ill. Thankfully, as of this past weekend, she has made a turn for the better and is out of the hospital. She will likely be out for an extended period of time.

I am thrilled to be filling in for her and in order to make that work for our family, Andrew began attending the Kindergarten class which meets five days/week from 8-12. After we all have lunch together, he stays at home for rest time and play time under the supervision of our houseworker, Scovia. He is excited about attending Kindergarten and it has gone very smoothly these first two days. He has been talkative about the activities of the day and he has jumped right in at recess (K-6) time and everything. This is obviously a big change for us, since I haven't worked full-time since before I was pregnant with Abby. So far, we are faring well and are thankful for both a supportive community and the help at home that we need to make this happen. It has been such a gift to serve in this way at RVA.

First Week of the New Term

There have been a few changes to our first term already!

The second grade teacher has been quite ill, so I am filling in. I had my first day yesterday; I'm not sure how many days I'll be in the classroom, but I'm having tons of fun! There are 11 wonderful children in the class and we are busy with reading books, writing in journals, and learning about astronomy!

Abby has a new afternoon teacher, Mrs. Haynes, for science, social studies and Bible. Uncle James has new/different responsibilities this term, though he'll still teach the first grade PE class.

Andrew continues in preschool bliss. He has been playing Legos from sun up to sun down. I introduced him to the motorized simple machine Lego kits and he has been creating all sorts of amazing structures, both from the direction sets and from his own imagination.

Alex is off to a good start with his Bio and Calc classes. He'll be using a lot more labs in his class this term b/c he has his class for a double class period.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010!

We are excited for the new year to begin. We've had a great break, and are ready for the students to return (Monday) and for classes to begin (Tuesday). On Thursday, we had our in-service faculty meetings; I've been preparing for my music and preschool classes this week and Alex has been preparing for his Biology class which will be a double class session this term.

Michael's visit

We invited Scovia's son Michael came to visit for a day last week since he is on break from school. He usually spends his non-school days at Little Lambs which is a ministry started by Kijabe Missionaries to kids and families in the area. Little Lambs is an afterschool / vacation / Saturday care center for children. Michael is 12 years old and is a very sweet boy. He plays really well with Andrew and Andrew adores him! We had a really fun day together: We baked sugar cookies in the morning and painted them with egg yolk and food coloring before baking (which our friend Cassandra taught us) - what a fun way to decorate! Andrew preferred loading on the sugar sprinkles (which were homemade) to the painting, but Abby & Michael really enjoyed the painting and did so with great care and detail. The kids played Legos and K'Nex and enjoyed playing catch in the yard. We enjoyed chai and cookies together mid-morning. We played at the Titchie Playground. We all ate lunch together! The kids all built motorized Lego structures, including a car and a merry go round. We read some books, played more Legos, and that was the end of the day.