Howdy Ya’ll J
I have now officially completed my first
school year of teaching. Ever. It was challenging, tough, interesting,
hilarious and chock full of crazy experiences! In thinking back on this year,
it’s crazy how much happened in Kenya! It has been filled with so much action
and I’m hoping things calm down in 2014. We started off the school year with
the elections and all us PCVs were consolidated for 2ish weeks. In term 2 there
was the 3ish weeklong teacher strike across the country and the Nairobi airport
had a fire due to electrical issues. Then in Term 3 there was the awful
terrorist attack at Westgate Mall. And now as the term ends, there have been a
build-up of riots/unrest on the caost and in Maralal and PC is moving all of
those volunteers! Whew! Now here we are in November with the holidays quickly
approaching! This school year has taught me a lot and although it has had its
fill of rough and tough times, it has also been incredible and awesome too. I
want to share with you what I loved this past year-in the spirit of the
upcoming holidays-I’m going Oprah on all of you minus the absurd gifts but plus
bullet points with fun things hahaha J
So with
“raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…wild geese that fly with the moon
on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things…”
Zabet’s Favorite Things from 2013
- Running every day with my kiddos and
having one or both of my hands held by the little ones
- Kicking around the futbol with the
older boys and seeing all their moves
- Occasionally hearing Elizabeth or
mwalimu (teacher) called our while walking in town or getting a run in,
instead of mizungu (while running 2 Sundays ago I had, for the 1st
time, 2 separate people call out ‘Hello Elizabeth’!! Dude, that rarely
even happened to me in the States)
- Being able to go to market and eat
fresh fruit and veggies every day
- Receiving snail mail! Thanks
everyone, you guys are the best!!!!
- Treating myself to mac and cheese
with hot chocolate for dinner
- Hanging out with MC and his family in
Sipili on Sunday afternoons
- Chai twice/day and meat most
Thursdays at school
- Experimenting with variations to the
classic choco-chip recipe since I haven’t seen a choco-chip since leaving
the States haha I add different fruits, oatmeal, spices and cocoa
powder-yummm!
- Having Magdaline and the girls play
with my hair endlessly and come up with new styles and ‘dos for me while
constantly telling me how excited they are at how fast it is growing (I’m
equally excited!)
- Seeing the kids play in front of the
Africa Map and point out things to their friends that they know about the
different places, usually it’s the country name &/or futbol team
status
- Making fresh banana bread about
once/week after the kids help me successfully light the jiko oven
- The awesome view I can get from
almost anywhere in Sipili-makes my runs so amazing!
- Watching my kids dance and getting
their groove on-I recently taught some of them the moves for the Macarena-
so. so. so. great!
- The kindness in Kenyans. One small
example, recently I bought potatoes and a lemon from the lady I go to once
or twice a week on average and before I left she handed me a bag of 4-5
tomatoes and a large mango, just ‘cause J Made me smile so big!
- Being able to read a lot &
successfully complete 2 puzzles on my own for the first time in my life
- Running with the little 4-6 yr old
boys and then having them show me their muscles after maybe 3-5 min to
show me how tough and strong they are and how impressed with themselves
that they’ve already run so far J
- Hearing my fellow teachers stick up
for the students when they go on an outing anywhere to make sure they have
an interpreter and that they can all see the interpreter fully
- Experiencing Sipili (as well as other
parts of Kenya) in all it’s glory with my sister Sarah and cousin
Clarissa!
- Having all of the matatu guys in
Sipili and most in Nyahururu know me
- My kids signing or spelling Batman
and then asking me if I love him which then ends in fits of giggles
- Being asked if I or Americans in
general eat snakes
- Hot bucket baths after making banana
bread on my jiko ‘oven’- it’s a double win
- Catching up on enough sleep to hold
me over til I’m retired and can get the same amount as I’m getting now!
…pretty sure I go to bed earlier than my entire family back in the
States….including my sisters who are in elementary school and my all of my
grandparents! I’m talking between 8 & 9 is totally normal for me now!
Hahahahaha yep.
- Drinking 2 mugs of baby porridge
every morning with a fresh banana and making lots of homemade French fries
for dinner
- Hearing laughter all the time!! My
favorite is at night when the kids have finished dinner and are hanging
out outside my kitchen window and the boys laughter floats through and
fills my house.
- The support I have from all of my
family & friends! I was able to rewatch the video some of you made for
me right before I left a few days ago and I still love it! All the
letters, packages, FB msgs, emails and little notes that I receive make me
feel so blessed and thankful to have you all in my life!!!
To say this year
was easy and always fun-filled with my favorite things would not be true. It
has been tough and at times really hard to be so far away from family &
friends and Americans in general. The things on this list helped me to see the
sunny side of things when I was having a rough day. If all your days are great,
well that’s awesome, but it makes it much harder to appreciate the little
things-even things like a hot shower, a cube of cheap cheese or electricity so
you don’t have to take a bucket bath with only a few candles-those things feel
ahhhh-mazing when you get them! When I go to a big town once a month where I
can meet up with some PCVs, eat cheese or bacon and take one hot shower it’s
soo good. I am so incredibly thankful to have this opportunity of a lifetime
and as hard as it can be, overall so far, it’s been an amazing experience and
I’m head over heels for Sipili and all my students!!!!
Kisses Galore
from Kenya,
Elizabeth
