Kenya: Week 9 Pre-Service Training
Monday started off with the first day of model school. Here are the 5 Ws of model school. Who: Peace Corps Education Trainees (PCTs) and 10 students in Form 1, Form 2, Form 3, and primary. These students were selected by their teachers at their respective schools to attend this week of model school. What: A week where PCTs practice teaching to different forms of students in their respective teaching subjects. Where: A primary school that is in a central location to the different schools we pulled students from. It is also the school for the deaf, so the PCTs in KSL education were able to teach their students this week. When: 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM Monday – Friday Why: Many PCTs do not have teaching experience, so this provides another opportunity for us to practice our techniques. It also gives us more experience with the content taught in each form that we will be teaching starting in January.
After this first day of model school, Andy purchased a goat for our Thanksgiving meal later on this week. We ate lunch in town followed by language class. Sheila headed back to Kisumu tonight which is always a kind of sad day, but she will be back before I leave.
On Tuesday, we had model school and I received my first letter from a friend from home which was more exciting than it probably seems. It was very rainy today. Kenya is experiencing very high levels of rain and some areas are experiencing flooding because of El Nino. I am very happy I brought my ankle high rain boots, umbrella, and rain coverings for my bags. During model school we could use a projector this week and it was awesome to be able to show the kids videos on a larger scale. After model school and lunch in town, we had language class and then I headed to CiCi and Andy’s to pick up the kitenge fabric I ordered to make my graduation outfit. My language teacher and her baby were there and I got to hold the baby which was like a recharge for my soul 😊 At home, Dan helped me practice language and then we started watching “Avatar”.
Wednesday began with model school. It was my busiest day because I taught three lessons. We again had language class and then at home I worked on my homework and Christmas cards. My parents in America were able to call me and talk to my host family which was nice to have that cultural exchange. I was also able to send Aunt Susan a “Marco Polo” message. “Marco Polo” is an app where you can send video message back and forth. The messages save so you can go back and look at them and you can listen to parts of them whenever you have time. It’s a great way for me and her to catch up because of the time difference and our busy schedules. I used the extent of my computer knowledge to update my laptop and then read more of my book.
Thursday was Thanksgiving! Sophie and I walked to model school together and we saw a turkey in the market on the way. This is very uncommon and was the first turkey I’d seen in Kenya, so it was very fitting for it to be here on Thanksgiving Day. At model school, the last class of the day got canceled so we had time to go home and cook our Thanksgiving dishes for our get-together for dinner. This was my only class for today so it was a great Thanksgiving gift. It also gave me time to finish making my Christmas cards and find a birthday present for a friend from home. Dan and I ate ramen for lunch and then he helped me make oodles of mashed potatoes for dinner. When I went to Kisumu last weekend, I picked up butter, so the mashed potatoes had real butter and milk from our cow. The whole day Dan was so nervous to get his exam scores back. To get his scores, we had to text a specific number with his student ID and all day he wasn’t getting a response back with his scores. But, before we headed to Thanksgiving dinner, we received a response back and he passed and qualified to go to boarding school next year! On the way to dinner, we picked up our neighbor’s kids.
At the dinner there were PCTs, our host families and their friends, our language teachers, and Peace Corps drivers. Our host family kids played while the PCTs and language teachers finalized our dishes. We had mashed potatoes, ugali, gravy, peanut noodles, cabbage, carrots, beans, chicken, turkey, goat, chapati, mandazi, mac and cheese, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, and soda. Bramara also brought a cake with chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas, and it was delicious. We successfully fed about 50 people and everyone left stuffed and all our plates and dishes were cleared. While we were eating, a hawk swooped down to try and steal Savannah’s turkey leg that she was eating, but she held on to it 😊 Babu ended the evening by making a chai mixture with the leftover parts of the goat. A lot of people tried it. It is traditional that it is saved for the end of the meal for those that helped prepare the food. I took my kids back to their homes around 6 PM and there was a gorgeous sunset, perfect for Thanksgiving. I brought a plate of food for Mama Margaret to try back at home since she was unable to attend the get-together. She loved it all and said the mashed potatoes I made were one of the best things she has ever tasted. I can’t tell you if she was being serious, but I will be telling myself she was 😊 I called my mom and dad from home and was able to talk to Warren (my brother), Morgan (his fiancé), and Maverick (their fur baby) and it was a great end to my first major American holiday away from home.
On Friday, we had model school and then went to the training center for the rest of the day. We had lessons until 4 PM followed by chai and social time. The Wi-Fi was working which was awesome, so I started to watch the new season of “The Crown”, “The Unforgivable”, made new bracelet patterns, and stayed up way too late and it was great 😊
Saturday marked 2 months since arriving in Kenya and we didn’t have meetings the entire time we were at the hub so I was able to practice language that I specifically needed to work on before class this week. After lunch, we went back to our homestays. I did household chores until dinner and then Dan helped me study language and we continued watching “Avatar”. He is very interested in this movie, so much so that Mama Margaret makes fun of him for forgetting he is eating while watching it 😊 Tonight I was able to call my extended family in Michigan because they gathered today to celebrate Thanksgiving. My Grandpa has tickets to all the Lions games, so he spends most Thanksgiving Thursdays in Detroit at the game, so this is why they gather on another day. I got to talk to all my extended family which was so awesome.
I got to sleep in on Sunday and I watched an episode of “S.W.A.T.” while finishing a bracelet. I did my laundry from the week and Margaret, Erika, and Laura came over to study Kiswahili. Dan was making lunch for all of the church members, so he set some aside for us to have as well which was very generous of him. We ate our rice and dengu and then the girls left and Dan and I walked up the mountain to the tailer. It was a beautiful walk and when we got to the tailer, she looked at the reference picture I had, my fabric, took my measurements, and hemmed the outfit I purchased last weekend when I was in Kisumu. Dan and I walked home the back way so that he could show me where they collect water in the dry season and where Mama Margaret’s farm line starts and ends. He was also generous enough to show me the breeding area for black mambas but left out those details until after we had passed through it in typical younger brother fashion 😊 At home, Deborah surprised me with gummy bears she had purchased and Savannah also brought me gummy bears (clearly I’ve made it known my love for gummy bears 😊). Dan and I continued watching “Avatar” and I started to re-watch “Night at the Museum” on my own. Overall, it was a great week filled with a lot of unique experiences!
The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.
