You Know You're a MK (Missionary Kid) When...

Abby is a nature lover. Not a day goes by that she does not stop to smell the flowers, observe an interesting bug, create art out of leaves and sticks and flower petals, and so on. When the flying ants came out of the ground after a huge rainstorm a few weeks ago, there were swarms and swarms, and she was right there observing them. She helped Alex collect a whole container of them. She even helped him pull their wings off. But when it was time to fry them up in a little butter and salt as is the custom around here, she wanted nothing to do with them. Alex enjoyed his midnight snack, but the rest of us just stood by - at a distance.

Alex diving in...

Swarms of flying ants coming out of the ground

Just yesterday, again after a big rainstorm, a few more flying ants were creeping out and taking flight. Abby and her friend, when walking home from school, ran into two friends (veteran MKs) who were collecting flying ants for an afterschool snack. Well, these two blond headed six year olds caught the bug, so to speak. As soon as they arrived at Amelia's house, they collected two - count em - two flying ants and asked her dad to fry them up for them. Apparently they each ate one. When Abby returned home in the early evening, she helped Alex collect a few more and they fried up a bunch. We all tasted them this time (except Andrew). She tried to convince Andrew to eat one, saying, "They taste like bacon!" The taste is a little bit like popcorn or potato chips: basically fried, salty crunchiness. Mmmmmm....

Emptying her collection into the hot butter

Muncha, Muncha, Muncha

Just like bacon...

Last week of the term

Singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with the Kindergarten class

I had my last music session with the Kindergarten class.

They are always enthusiastic singers and especially love songs with movements.

This is our last week of the term. I have one more music class with 1st-2nd graders and 3 more days of teaching first grade. Alex's biology and calculus classes are away on interim (week long trips for juniors and seniors), but he is teaching two sections of geometry to fill in for another math teacher who is also away on interim. And when the juniors and seniors return, he will supervise a practice AP exam and then take his biology students on a half day trip to the Kiambethu tea farm to observe the plant life in the beautiful flower gardens.

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.