One Month In....

5-21-11

• Met Heather in town again, brought my sister Joy with me b/c she was supposed to meet her boyfriend in town- unfortunately he never showed

• Went on internet & spent most of the time explaining things to Joy and showing her pictures from home (all along she has heard me saying I want to go on the internet, etc. and she had no idea really what it was or what it meant to “get on the internet”)

• Ate 2 ice creams lol- banana soft serve- never heard of such a thing or would have thought it would be good- but it’s actually pretty okay 

• Horrible ride home in back of canter truck! Way too many people squeezed in- can’t even explain how squished and uncomfortable we all were- also had stupid drunk man yelling things at me 

5-22-11

• Slept in until 8.

• Washed my bed sheets

• Finished painting leaves on the trees of my 2nd mural

• Started painting 3rd mural-sunset scene w/ ocean and palm trees

• Got very sad today- it started with me thinking about and missing my boy at home- then down spiraled from there until I was just sitting in my bath bucket crying and thinking “what the heck am I doing sitting here alone in the middle of Africa?”- I feel totally alone, isolated, and questioning whether I’ve made a mistake in coming

5-23-11

• 6:45 staff mtg, started at 6:50- big improvement!

• Talked with student teacher about beating-she does not do it & doesn’t agree with it- good to hear at least one teacher say this

• Observed gr. 8 all day- lots of beating-lots of teaching in tonga- not much learning

• Played volleyball in afternoon- made me very happy! I want to play everyday, but they want me to be the girls soccer coach instead

• Visited SDA preschool- teacher doing good job, but only 2 children b/c others stopped coming when they were asked to pay school fees- she just wants materials/donations from me

5-24-11

• Can’t believe I’ve been here almost a month! Crazy!

• Observed gr. 9 all day- they are much better than gr. 8- speaking better englsih, better behavior, participation, friendliness, and interest in me, etc.- I even spoke up and taught a bit today! I really enjoyed them!

• Coached soccer in p.m. w/ student teacher- girls at a skill level of about a U-7 league in U.S.- all chasing the ball around the field in a big herd and flailing their bodies all over the place- we have a lot of work to do!

• I want to make a weekly schedule for teaching/learning aid workshops

5-25-11

• No school- African holiday

• Made to-do list and laid on reed mat all morning working- made Gr. 8 & 9 time tables (class schedules) to post in their classrooms ( b/c teachers are avoiding responsibility to do it & is now 3rd week of school and pupils still have no idea of their schedule)

• Made sign up sheet for teaching/learning aid workshops, made roster& position diagrams for soccer, organized notebooks and observation notes

• Fetched water by myself for first time (no one walking with me)

• Made pancakes-yum!

5-26-11

• Observed gr. 9, talked to kids a lot and also helped explain/teach English lesson

• Made list for girls soccer team- 54 girls signed up!

• Went to Pentecost preschool to observe & bring teacher some ideas & notes- set plan to get together and work on making daily schedule and teaching materials- very excited to work on this with her!

• Soccer practice horrible- student teacher took over & put all girls on field, then took 25 min to organize them



5-27-11



• Woke up a bit late, then decided I didn’t feel like going to school

• Couldn’t really make up my mind about where/what I should do community wise, so I just stayed home

• Worked on some stuff for Pent. Preschool & made Zambia map

• Scrambled pancakes for breakfast, mashed potatoes for lunch, oatmeal for dinner- I’m bored with my food!

• Went to school in p.m. for soccer- did 1st half of practice on my own, then let student teacher do 2nd half- played volleyball w/ girls after!



5-28-11



• While waiting for church I experimented with baking, trying to make an oven by putting coals on top of pot lid- used short bread recipe- oven didn’t work- I scrambled the dough & made some crumbly good stuff- tried again in p.m. and added some oats- made granola! Yay! Will use as cereal in a.m.!

• Church- outside in sun, hot, boring- don’t even listen-all in tonga

• Too lazy to do wash today

• Got water 2 times by myself- but still struggle lifting it to my head

• Relaxed and read my book



5-29-11



• Supposed to meet at school at 7:00 to depart for sports games- I show up and no one is there- 1 student teacher around, working on lesson plans- at 7:45 he says lets go to his house ( where 2 other teachers live)- we hang out there until 8:45 when some others finally arrive to school- don’t leave the school to head to sports games until at least 9:30, stop to eat breakfast, get to fields at 10:30- no one from other school there- teachers finally come and games start around 12:00- end at 17:30- which means I ride bike home in dusk/dark

• Found out that the girls only play a 40 min soccer game, while the boys get a full 90 min, b/c

• “girls can’t handle 90 min”



5-30-11



• Nurses from clinic came to do health education program with gr. 1, 7, & 9- did check-ups (eyes & teeth) for little ones & HIV/AIDS talk & pamphlets for older ones

• After break no teachers showed up for gr. 9 (4 periods in a row)- so I sat with them and talked about sex, HIV/AIDS, relationships, gender roles & issues, America, etc. – was good bonding time- I want to continue having sessions on HIV/AIDS w/ them



5-31-11



• Supposed to be a community meeting this a.m. to go over the PC contract and sign it- NOBODY showed up- Head Teacher left to town and said if anyone showed up I could go ahead and have the mtg. without him lol

• Sat and wasted time in staff room- more teachers skipping classes- so not much to observe

• Had headache in p.m. and didn’t feel like training for soccer, so played volleyball instead