mizungu

Well, I was going to add some photos, but I've been trying all day and the internet seems a bit dodgy today, so you will have to read all my words today and I'll try to post some pictures another day.

Yesterday was a big day. I woke up with the kids and headed to school with them to shadow one of the other teachers. I spent the morning observing and hanging out at the schoolhouse. There are currently four students and now three of us teachers. I hear that there are more students who will be returning in a few months, so our numbers may make it all the way to 7 students. I will be working mostly with my cousin, Moses and also leading P.E. (Speaking of which, if you have any ideas of games or active activities for a small group of kids to play, please feel free to send them my way.) There is a little Dachshund at the schoolhouse named Einstein. He recently got into a tussle with some other dogs, so he is a bit worse for the wear at the moment but seems to be doing ok.

I think that my soul not-so-secretly belongs on a farm. I love every kind of farm animal. If you have been reading my blog, then you know how much I love chickens. The added bonus of my walk to school is that there are so many goats from my house to the school. So. Many. Goats. I just want to walk them around on their leashes and pick up and cradle the little baby goats. They make my heart so glad!

It turns out that there are quite a few young people my age who are also working/serving here. Even cooler is that the majority of them are actually from the East Coast and two of them are from North Carolina. Rep it Carolina. I went to play soccer with a few of them and some locals yesterday afternoon. The field was packed with what seemed like every child within a 50 mile radius. Not really, but there were a lot of kids and the field was so packed. All the kids kept saying "Mizungu" to me and the unknowing me that I am thought they were saying hello! Nope. They were really just saying "white person." Classic. I tried to hold my own at soccer, and I wasn't to horribly bad, but I got the sharpest pain in my chest. I have never felt that before. It took me a while of thinking that I was beyond out of shape before realizing that it was likely the altitude change. Yeah, we'll stick with altitude as the explanation. The goal of the game seemed to be getting the ball while making sure that you didn't step in one of the cow pies that created a minefield all over the ground. See cows? I should be on a farm.

I always leave the window open when I'm falling asleep. Last night, there must have been a host of birds in a tree very near my window. For the most part, they were really quiet. Then, all of a sudden, one bird would caw unleashing a whole host of caws as the other birds argued back. The arguments would last for a few seconds before slowly petering out as one or two of them got the last say.

I only have one more thing to say: fresh avocados. All day, every day.