PCV in Kenya: Week 25

Monday

Today was a normal school day. I was able to spend my morning marking chemistry quizzes that my students took the week I was away from school. I then taught one biology and one chemistry lesson to end my day. I stopped by the market on the way home and found a blackout curtain for my bedroom window. Since the flood light on top of my house was moved to prevent the bugs from being attracted into my home, the new flood light points into the yard by my bedroom window. So, this curtain will help my room stay dark at night. I also found a new dress that I can wear to school. I purchased my usual vegetables and juice and found a pineapple as well. In the market, I ran into one of the board members at our school and his friend. His friend is deaf and, thanks to Savannah, I knew a few KSL signs to be able to introduce myself. When I got home, I hung up my new curtain and cut up my pineapple before doing yoga. I had leftovers for dinner with fresh avocado toast. I watched “The Mentalist” to end the day.

Tuesday

I slept so much better last night because of the blackout curtain. I started my morning off by watching “Rizzoli and Isles” while I ate breakfast. I wore my new dress from the market to work today 😊 I taught three lessons today and spent the rest of my time working on writing information to share with others about the grant proposal my school is working on. If you missed that blog post, you can read it here. When I got home, I did yoga and ate dinner while watching “Suits”. I cleaned my dishes before going to bed. It rained so hard tonight and I had a hard time falling asleep. I also have a little scaredy cat 😊 Nala was hiding under the bed until the storm went away because it really does get very loud in my house during a big storm.

Wednesday

With the new Term 2 schedule, I have the 7:40 lesson on Wednesday and Thursday. Between this lesson and my 11:30 class, I marked student papers and started making the next chemistry quiz. I got my co-workers, Laura and Anitah, signed up for Student Friendly Schools training and they are so excited. I am actually jealous I can’t go to this training with them because it would be so fun to hang out with them for a week. I left work and decided to organize my cabinets at home. I then uploaded some documents to our shared teacher Google Drive and took out my trash. I always mention the trash because it’s an event. I have to carry it into the farm and put it in the burn pile making sure I don’t run into any critters on the way. I then did some yoga and ate dinner while again watching “Suits”. I ended my night by watching more of “The Mentalist”.

Thursday

I had my other early morning lesson today and it went well. I then had an acid/base lab with my students which went so well. They tested 10 different substances to determine whether they were acids, bases, or neutral substances. They could use litmus paper, phenolphthalein, methyl orange, and/or universal indicator. They seemed to have a lot of fun with this and it was one of the easier labs to set up and manage. Once my lessons were finished, we had another grant proposal meeting. It was me, Peter, Principal Richard, Cosmas, Baba Charles, and Nick came this time as well. The meeting again went very well and I am super thankful for who I am working with on this proposal. After this meeting, I marked biology notebooks before heading to the market. I found 4 dresses today! They were such a great find and a great deal 😊 I also got bread and veggies before heading home. At home, I chopped the veggies and made dinner before watching the first episode of the new season of “Criminal Minds”. I am so happy they have continued making episodes, I love this show 😊

Friday

I started off my day with my double lesson in biology. We had a review day for their quiz that is next week. I worked on lesson plans until noon then went to Ndori, the closest big town to me, with Nick. Nick is one of the school board members and he was headed into Kisumu and let me ride with him to Ndori. At the Ndori market, I went to Celestine’s hardware store and the timber yard to pick up the rest of the materials I needed for my window screens. Henry, Principal Richard’s cousin, drove me back home with all the materials which was extremely helpful. After dropping these materials at my house, he drove me back to the main road so that I could go to the funeral of Baba Charles’ cousin. Today was the first day of the ceremony, mainly the arrival of the body. This lasted a few hours and there were songs, prayers, and greetings. After the body arrived, everyone went and had tea. I was able to see Mama Doreen here and a lot of Baba Charles’ sisters which was nice. When I got home, I made dinner and started watching the second episode of the new season of “Criminal Minds”. I then talked to my dad before calling it a night 😊

Saturday

I got up earlier than usual for a Saturday so that I could eat breakfast and get Nala and all of her comforts out the door by 8AM. She got in the crate easily and I walked with her in it to the main road so we could get on a matatu toward Kisumu. Nala did well on the ride into town. At the veterinarian office, she was weighed again and she is finally 2kg. Nala does not like the vet, so as soon as she was weighed, she went and hid in the storage closet so I wasn’t able to say goodbye to her before I left. Nala had her spay surgery today and I will pick her up next Saturday. From the vet office, I went to Backyard Patio for lunch. I had a veggie burger and boba tea before walking to United Mall to do some grocery shopping before heading home. The guy at main stage that organizes all the matatus heading toward my site finally introduced himself to me which makes me feel like I’m part of the inner circle now 😊 On this matatu, I sat next to a woman who is a teacher at a Lutheran school near Bungoma so it was fun to chat with her. For most of this matatu ride, I slept and watched “Rizzoli and Isles”. I was so tired when I got back home, so I rested and talked with Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Dan. I made popcorn for dinner before finishing the “Criminal Minds” episode from the night before.

Sunday

I started my day by making pancakes. I then redid the nail polish on my fingers and toes. After my relaxing morning, I spent the afternoon sweeping and mopping the entire house. It is always so satisfying to have such a clean house after doing this. I did all of my dishes that were left from the week and warmed up dinner. I watched some of “The Mentalist” before closing out the weekend.

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