The Disease Game

On Sunday I went to the Ostrich Farm with one of my student's family and some other missionaries. I'm hoping to take my students there on a field trip next week or the week after so of course I had to check it out first. Sadly, I could not ride an ostrich as I was looking forward to doing. The tour I went on was very informative and interesting. My favorite part was the ride to the Ostrich Farm. We played an interesting game. We named diseases through the alphabet. For example: A-arthritis, B-bilharzia, etc. Most kids would want to play the alphabet game using food or something like that. Not the little girl who was in the car with me. She's funny. I was surprised at how many diseases the four of us knew.

PTCs and Famine Relief

From Wednesday until today it’s been pretty busy. Wednesday and Thursday were ½ days for the kids. Not for teachers though. I had parent teacher conferences after lunch. They all went really well and I was very encouraged. I learned that my students talk about me A LOT. This is not a bad thing because apparently it’s all good things being said. It does makes me much more conscientious of what I talk about in class though.

Yesterday I went on famine relief with my church. God’s Word says it’s more blessed to give than receive. I’ve learned that even when we give we still receive though. I received a blessing in visiting the churches in the Ukambani area. I love hearing them sing their voices out in praise to our Savior. I’ve been taking Swahili lessons and it’s neat to actually understand some of the words that were spoken. It was a great day!

Next week is a three-day weekend for West Nairobi School teachers. One of the teachers has invited me to Mbita. Mbita is on Lake Victoria. I’m looking forward to the trip and I’m sure I’ll have things to say and pictures to post of the trip.

Sweet Fellowship

This was written Sunday October 18th:

This past week I've thought of my family A LOT. I miss my parents, sisters, brothers, extended family, and friends so much that I'm crying as I sit here and type. I know the Lord is with me always but sometimes I really desire a good friend here. I'm thankful for all my friends, but I desire a friendship where I can fully be myself. I miss being goofy and silly and not worrying whether the person I was behaving that way around would think I was an idiot. I feel like I have to be so grown-up all the time. Oh to be a kid again! I wish I had a dad to give me advice - like about my piece of junk car or even advice on something as insignificant as fixing my broken couch. I don't like leaning on other people for that advice – especially when I feel like I’m a bother to them. I feel so.... helpless. I guess when it boils down to it I'm lonely. I miss my friends back home. I miss having even one friend physically with me to share with what God is doing in my life and in return hearing what God is doing in their life. I miss praying with good friends. I have friends here that I can talk to about surface level things like how my class is going and so forth but I have none that I can truly share my heart with. I'm sure a lot of this is a lack of patience. Cherished relationships come with time. It doesn’t negate my desire for a friend around my age to hang out with, pray with, and share with.

Today's Entry:

Today is Kenyatta Day, which is a national holiday in Kenya. It also means NO SCHOOL! I’m home and I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with the Lord. Yesterday I was thinking that complaining about homesickness, loneliness, and dependency on others is not very Christ-like. So I decided that I would count my blessings. I tried to think of blessings throughout the day and even as I lay in bed ready to drift into a good night’s rest I was dwelling on God’s goodness to me. This morning was a morning of sweet worship with my Savior. I wondered yesterday what I would do today all alone because I had no plans. Little did I know that God had better for me. Spending quality time with Him is exactly what I’ve needed.

Ad-Nouns?

My students this year always have me smiling. :-) It seems like English is the most amusing subject. I'm teaching about verbs today and I asked them what words describe verbs. They answered 'adverbs'. Then I asked what words describes nouns and one child above all the rest blurts out 'adnouns'. He's so stinkin cute! He knew the right answer (adjectives) but the first thing that came to mind is what came out his mouth.

I have this fun thing in class where my students try to spell the word c-o-m-p-l-i-m-e-n-t. They earn the letters by getting compliments from adults or teachers on campus and administrators. This week they earned all the letters and their prize was a snack day. Today they could eat snacks at their desks all day. I kind of forgot they had music and boy did I get an earful about their behavior in music. Ooopsie! I definitely need to warn their specials teachers or have snack day start after lunch next time. All in all the students were thrilled with the day.

Prepositions

In English today I was teaching my students about linking verbs. I explained to them that they need to put all the prepositional phrases in parentheses so they can find the subject, verb, and predicate noun or predicate adjective easier. We had just completed a sentence and I asked a student what 'of football' was? The correct answer would be 'a preposition'. Instead he begins to shape an American football with his hands and says 'it's kinda shaped like this'.

Nyali Reef

Mombasa was amazing! Linda, another teacher, and I left Friday evening from the bus station at 9:30 p.m. and arrived in Mombasa at 5:45 a.m. We took a cab to the place we were staying at for the weekend. The first thing we did after all the other guests in the house left for a ministry activity was to go for a swim in the pool. It was raining and I enjoyed every minute of the drops pelting on my skin. The weekend consisted of swimming (in the pool and Indian Ocean), reading, walking, sleeping, worshiping (devotions while overlooking the ocean & church at Crossroads Fellowship), chatting, laughing, and eating. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. We left Sunday evening at 10 p.m. and arrived in Nairobi at 6 a.m. I rushed home and got ready for work. I was pretty exhausted while teaching yesterday and boy did I look tired. I tried to cover up the exhaustion with makeup but to no avail. My whole demeanor screamed sleepy. My students were quite gracious toward me. Like 5th graders they of course laughed when I slurred my words or mumbled. I was a very different Miss Pourciaux from their usual upbeat, on-task teacher. Even though I was tired we still had a fun day.

Going to Mombasa

So I am going to the coast this weekend! One of the teachers at school is going with me. We are taking a night bus and will arrive in Mombasa tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. I am bringing absolutely no school work with me. I hope to lay in the sun for two days straight. I'll come back Monday morning at 6 a.m. and have just enough time to go home, get ready for school, and go to work. I miss doing random crazy things like this. I used to take weekend trips all the time in the States. Of course when you're female it's a lot safer to take them in the States than in Africa. Please pray for safety!

fUnNy MoRnInG

Today has started off with a load of laughter. I caught two students talking during my Math lesson and told them both to flip their cards. One of them says, "But Miss Pourciaux I was telling him to be quiet in Korean because he dissed me in Swahili." I couldn't contain my laughter. I would never hear something like what he said in the States. I also found it amusing that he was trying to justify his talking because he spoke in a different language. lol

Later one of my students was in class packing up to go home. Another student didn't believe that he was sick and I pointed out how he'd been coughing all morning. All of a sudden about 5 or 6 students start fake coughing. Again the whole class was harmonious in a roar of laughter. I'm eager to see what the rest of the day holds. :-)

Unexpected Detours

So this morning on my way to work I got a flat tire. I felt my car pulling to the right a tad bit as I was leaving my gate but didn't think anything of it. It didn't take long before I realized what had happened. Thankfully there's a family here that I can always count on. They arrived to help me as soon as they could. First, we tried pumping the tire up with fix flat but it was too far gone. So, we ended up putting the spare tire on. I drove to work without any difficulty. Sadly, I need to buy a new tire. :-( There are many other things I need to repair on my car, but surprisingly I didn't get upset by this news. I've known since I first got back in July that my car was in bad shape. I plan on selling it but honestly I do need to fix a few things before I entrust my clunker (a.k.a. Bertha) to anyone else. On the brighter side of things :-) with the rain we got the other night the jacaranda trees are in full blossom. It is a beautiful drive home from work once I come to the area where the trees are sporadically lined along the main road. There are splashes of purple all over the place. I thoroughly enjoy the little things in life that put a smile on my face and a bounce in my step. I'll try to get a pic of these beautiful trees this week.

Belated Visit

Today I had lunch with the family one of my students from last year. They live not far from Nairobi Game Park. They are actually building a house that overlooks the game park. We went over to their new place after lunch. We mainly saw cows and sheep, but there were a few zebra there as well. We saw some monkeys also. Overall it was a very relaxing day. Tonight I jammed my finger though. Ouch! I hope it heals quickly. :-(

So lately I've been a not so good blogger. I'll try to be better about blogging next week. I couldn't help but smile on my way to work this morning. There was the usual traffic but what was different were the 6 or 7 matatus and buses pulled over on the side of the road with police officers around them. Most mornings buses and matatus will pass along the dirt path on the side of the road so they can avoid traffic (ultimately causing more traffic b/c they cut in line and cause accidents). Well I guess today was NOT their lucky day if they decided to avoid traffic because they were literally being issued tickets. HA HA! Every so often it's nice to see the law enforced. Shortly after passing the angry matatu and bus drivers I continued driving and I looked to the left and beheld a man carrying a van door to the matatu ahead who apparently lost it on their drive.

With the famine getting worse, more and more cows are being brought into Nairobi to find grass or water. They look so pitiful. Please pray for rain! It's heart breaking to know that while the animals are in bad shape there are people in worse shape than they are. Prayer can change things!!