So I realized today that I haven't posted in close to a week, but it's been a fast week! That's always good I think. At least, for me, it probably means a bit of a routine is establishing. There haven't been too many big moments, just lots of little ones that I feel are noteworthy.
Last Sunday, Christine and I hosted our prayer service for the missionary community. It was quite nice to have everyone come to our house! I was pretty impressed, our little living room held 14 people. One of these days when I get around to taking photos, you'll be able to see why that's so impressive. We got even luckier because we had mentioned to one of the couples that our table didn't work (the top was not attached to the base at all, any weight was a questionable act), so they actually brought tools to fix it! All we need is a heat source of some sort, and our home will be quite complete!
Other than Tuesday, this week was quite normal. We literally live 20 feet from the school; you can look into Class I from our porch, so in the mornings, I often wake up to kids screaming and running around before school. On Tuesday, Christine and I were getting ready for school and we commented to each other that it seemed awfully quiet. We walked to school and saw maybe 12 scattered students and a lot of parents. The head teacher then informed us that it was an immunization day and there was no school. I guess this the Tanzanian version of a snow day because that's what I felt like all day. It was just weird to get to sleep in the morning and lounge around doing schoolwork. It was so relaxing!
On Wednesday, I went to the prayer service for the first time. It was very much similar to a mini church service because there was a lot of singing, praying and someone gave a message. It was nice though, and I hope to go from now on. I still have yet to go to the all night prayer service, but I intend to make that happen at one point. I want to at the very least say I did it once.
This week unfortuantely I had some miscommunications with the Math teacher so I haven't been able to start working with the Class IV and VI kids. I would have rather started this week, there's just a lot that could be done, but this may have been part of God's plan all the same. Right now, the spare classroom is being used, but that should end this week or next week. Then I'll have a place I can meet with the kids, actually have a chalk board, chalk, and be able to actually talk my class as if they're, you know, a class. Soon!
I'm getting to know the students better, and I absolutely love it! I'm here and there recognizing students, which considering I've been getting to know about 90 of them, I'm pretty excited about that! The other day, I for the first time just got to "hang out" shall we say with some of my students. During a free period one came up to our desk and proceeded to tell me all of the things we will do in our math class when we get a classroom (I think she's more excited than I am!). She also started grabbing all of my extra reading materials and reading for fun, we had a blast! Later that day too, a different student decided to just sit down at our desk and talk to me. She wanted to know where I had gone to school, my birthday, how old I was, (she thought I was 29), Christmas, how school works in America, how to play certain sports, all sorts of things! The kids have been so shy around me it's nice to actually talk to them.
It rained for the first time yesterday! I realized it had been three and half weeks since I had last seen rain. So far, that's been my one homesickness. My brain knows it's fall. The weather here is quite warm, but it sort of reminds me of really warm, early September days, and with me just getting here and arriving at school, I keep thinking it is September and this is a new school year. So wrong. The other problem is then my brain knows logically, fall type weather, smells, sights, halloween, cold nights, pumpkins, etc. should follow the beginning of a school year. Oddly enough in a tropical climate in the Southern hemisphere of Africa, they're not coming. So I'm just terribly confused some days, and in some ways, the rain made it worse. It really felt like a rainy day in Northfield for some reason, so I kept thinking about being back on fourth Burton my freshman year. That was kind of hard, and I have had a number of moments like that. Most days, I love going on facebook, but somedays it just makes me miss everyone back home and want to be with them.
This is a normal part of culture shock; bewilderment usually comes at the end of the honeymoon phase. However, I think they're mixing a little. I mean, I took my first solo dala dala ride today, which went well. I think I'm starting to understand town just a little. My English class went pretty well the other day. My days may have challenges, but they are filled with blessings as well. And life as a whole really is about appreciating the latter and accepting the former, with God along you every step of the way. So, I guess that means everything is just ok. :)
God bless!
Kjirstin
PS: I've heard some people back home are struggling to comment, and I've heard that some of tried but I unfortunately haven't received them, so here's a little tutorial on how to comment.
1. Click on the comments link directly underneath this post. There is one of these under every post. It will either say "no comments" or "1 comment" "2 comments" etc.
2. There will be a box labeled "Post a Comment." In the white space, write whatever you would like.
3. Underneath the white space, there will be a line that reads "Comment as..." with a drop down menu beside it. Click on the drop down menu.
4. There will be lots of options. The last two will be "Anonymous" or "Name/URL". You can do either anonymous and leave your name in the actual comment so I know who you are, or you can click name/url. That will bring up a box that will ask for your name and your URL. I think it posts without the URL, so just put in your name, leave the URL blank, and click ok. If that gives you problems though, just stick to anonymous and include your name in the messge.
5. You can preview the message by clicking preview.
6. You can then publish the message by clicking publish.
All comments are public, so if it went correctly, you see it underneath the blogpost.
Hopefully, this helps. I'm really touched that people are wanting to leave comments, and I'm really bummed that it hasn't been working!
If you guys have questions, my email is kjirstinalmos@yahoo.com and you can email me.
Last Sunday, Christine and I hosted our prayer service for the missionary community. It was quite nice to have everyone come to our house! I was pretty impressed, our little living room held 14 people. One of these days when I get around to taking photos, you'll be able to see why that's so impressive. We got even luckier because we had mentioned to one of the couples that our table didn't work (the top was not attached to the base at all, any weight was a questionable act), so they actually brought tools to fix it! All we need is a heat source of some sort, and our home will be quite complete!
Other than Tuesday, this week was quite normal. We literally live 20 feet from the school; you can look into Class I from our porch, so in the mornings, I often wake up to kids screaming and running around before school. On Tuesday, Christine and I were getting ready for school and we commented to each other that it seemed awfully quiet. We walked to school and saw maybe 12 scattered students and a lot of parents. The head teacher then informed us that it was an immunization day and there was no school. I guess this the Tanzanian version of a snow day because that's what I felt like all day. It was just weird to get to sleep in the morning and lounge around doing schoolwork. It was so relaxing!
On Wednesday, I went to the prayer service for the first time. It was very much similar to a mini church service because there was a lot of singing, praying and someone gave a message. It was nice though, and I hope to go from now on. I still have yet to go to the all night prayer service, but I intend to make that happen at one point. I want to at the very least say I did it once.
This week unfortuantely I had some miscommunications with the Math teacher so I haven't been able to start working with the Class IV and VI kids. I would have rather started this week, there's just a lot that could be done, but this may have been part of God's plan all the same. Right now, the spare classroom is being used, but that should end this week or next week. Then I'll have a place I can meet with the kids, actually have a chalk board, chalk, and be able to actually talk my class as if they're, you know, a class. Soon!
I'm getting to know the students better, and I absolutely love it! I'm here and there recognizing students, which considering I've been getting to know about 90 of them, I'm pretty excited about that! The other day, I for the first time just got to "hang out" shall we say with some of my students. During a free period one came up to our desk and proceeded to tell me all of the things we will do in our math class when we get a classroom (I think she's more excited than I am!). She also started grabbing all of my extra reading materials and reading for fun, we had a blast! Later that day too, a different student decided to just sit down at our desk and talk to me. She wanted to know where I had gone to school, my birthday, how old I was, (she thought I was 29), Christmas, how school works in America, how to play certain sports, all sorts of things! The kids have been so shy around me it's nice to actually talk to them.
It rained for the first time yesterday! I realized it had been three and half weeks since I had last seen rain. So far, that's been my one homesickness. My brain knows it's fall. The weather here is quite warm, but it sort of reminds me of really warm, early September days, and with me just getting here and arriving at school, I keep thinking it is September and this is a new school year. So wrong. The other problem is then my brain knows logically, fall type weather, smells, sights, halloween, cold nights, pumpkins, etc. should follow the beginning of a school year. Oddly enough in a tropical climate in the Southern hemisphere of Africa, they're not coming. So I'm just terribly confused some days, and in some ways, the rain made it worse. It really felt like a rainy day in Northfield for some reason, so I kept thinking about being back on fourth Burton my freshman year. That was kind of hard, and I have had a number of moments like that. Most days, I love going on facebook, but somedays it just makes me miss everyone back home and want to be with them.
This is a normal part of culture shock; bewilderment usually comes at the end of the honeymoon phase. However, I think they're mixing a little. I mean, I took my first solo dala dala ride today, which went well. I think I'm starting to understand town just a little. My English class went pretty well the other day. My days may have challenges, but they are filled with blessings as well. And life as a whole really is about appreciating the latter and accepting the former, with God along you every step of the way. So, I guess that means everything is just ok. :)
God bless!
Kjirstin
PS: I've heard some people back home are struggling to comment, and I've heard that some of tried but I unfortunately haven't received them, so here's a little tutorial on how to comment.
1. Click on the comments link directly underneath this post. There is one of these under every post. It will either say "no comments" or "1 comment" "2 comments" etc.
2. There will be a box labeled "Post a Comment." In the white space, write whatever you would like.
3. Underneath the white space, there will be a line that reads "Comment as..." with a drop down menu beside it. Click on the drop down menu.
4. There will be lots of options. The last two will be "Anonymous" or "Name/URL". You can do either anonymous and leave your name in the actual comment so I know who you are, or you can click name/url. That will bring up a box that will ask for your name and your URL. I think it posts without the URL, so just put in your name, leave the URL blank, and click ok. If that gives you problems though, just stick to anonymous and include your name in the messge.
5. You can preview the message by clicking preview.
6. You can then publish the message by clicking publish.
All comments are public, so if it went correctly, you see it underneath the blogpost.
Hopefully, this helps. I'm really touched that people are wanting to leave comments, and I'm really bummed that it hasn't been working!
If you guys have questions, my email is kjirstinalmos@yahoo.com and you can email me.
Thanks for posting Kjirstin! I'm going to try it with the name and URL and see what happens. I'm looking forward to pictures - a visual outside your "skpe window" would be great! I love you - Mom
ReplyDeleteP.S. Just tried the Comment as, and don't see the 2 options you mention - I'm trying OpenID. It wants a URL and can't be left blank. It looks like a person has to create an account somewhere. I did it on Google and it was rather painless.