Well, today turned out to be another interesting day. First off, I’d like to send my condolences to Mrs. A’s brother-in-law who passed away overnight. She found out that he was diagnosed with leukemia last night, so it was shocking news. They knew he was sick, but didn’t know what until it was too late. News like this, and seeing the hospitals on Monday, makes me thank God all the more for blessing me with living in America. I cannot help but think about my own father and how he would be doing if he grew up in a country with similar healthcare to Zambia’s. It scares me. God has richly blessed me and my family!
Secondly, who would have ever thought my first taxi experience would be in Zambia! (Unless you count that “taxi” that my mom and I took in Thailand—aka, a back of a truck with benches on the sides—I don’t count that one.) Well, it went off without a hitch and we arrived at Matero school to once again observe today. Again, I was more impressed with the teachers today than upon my previous visit, especially the seventh grade teacher; he certainly knows his stuff! I am looking forward to working with and learning from these teachers in coming weeks.
We ended up staying through break time at the school. Within 30 seconds of sitting on the cement slab after the kids were excused, T and I had a swarm of 40 children huddled closely around us. They were so excited that the Mzungu had come to visit them. J Five seconds after the swarm huddled in, and ten more students had whipped out their notebooks, homework, and pens, not to do homework, oh no, but to copy down my tattoo. J It was cute and I couldn’t stop laughing. The sight was really funny. After they were all convinced that they had copied it correctly, I chatted with the kids a bit, but mostly they just wanted to stare at the Mzungu. By the end of the half hour break, I had several girls feeling my hair, a few snuggled up against me, most of them staring at me, and a ten year old boy tell me that my eyes are beautiful. We’re such a novelty to them.
After Matero, a quick nap and a quick lunch were in order before tutoring. Afternoon tutoring consisted of me guiding the high school girls through a novel and working on their pen pal letters while I simultaneously helped my second grade friend with her letters and basic addition. T and I came up with some killer addition chants over the weekend, and even the girls that T was teaching about the Three Little Pigs were singing them by the end. J (When you add one, you end with fun....All you gotta do is *clap* add two...Three, three, count on me!.....Four, four, knock on the door.....) T’s girls were also talking about parts of a house and I saw they had made some spectacular floor plans for their houses by the end of the day. The seven afternoon tutoring girls all left tutoring with smiles on their faces and the sound of *clap* add two coming from their lips. J
After tutoring, T and I had a date with the copier, and since it had POURED during tutoring (it started leaking down through the tarp while my girls were writing their letters—that was interesting), it had now stopped and cooled off enough for a run. Dinner and lesson planning happened sometime later. This week has not been very full of teaching times, but T and I have been SUPER busy with everything has that needed to happen, so I don’t feel bad about saying that I can’t wait for the weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment