Three weeks here and life begins to settle...

My title says it all, three weeks here and life begins to settle... which is far from saying that life is ordinary or dull. Rather, I am beginning to settle in and feel quite at home. I am no longer the guest, names are getting easier, I am understanding the routine, and each day I am getting to know the kids better. And despite the fact that I have not left the compound for three weeks tomorrow, I have only brief moments of restlessness that quickly pass. Life here is its own community, and never dull, and there is always something I can do if I feel restless. Or if I feel tired, I can always hide and make myself a cup of tea before reentering the community. Tea is my after class routine along with reading the news headlines from around the world... While life here is completely self-contained, I would feel so lost if I did not know what was happening around the world.

Probably the highlight of this past week was Sunday when we had the 12th year celebration of Hope Community Center. It was something like a birthday party for everyone and also a celebration of our Madam. Some of the children performed songs and poems, the dining hall was decorated with balloons, and we all had cake and pig with our beans and maize(the same pig we saw take its last walk before church that morning). A local official attended, and the occasion was videotaped by a friend of Madams, and I personally hope to get a copy of the finished product. I have personally taken no pictures yet(except for one beautiful sunrise here) although I am sure I will. The event started on African time, which means hours after I had heard it would start, but we all just hungout and watched tv in the dining hall; or perhaps the preparations began when I was told, and so the event did happen on time... who knows, that was one cultural difference that you always here about. Life here is neither ruled by the clock nor the calender.

The other big happening of the week was some shifts in my class. While the three 3-year olds in my class are great, precocious children, the dynamic of having them with students who were realistically doing standard one level work, was unmanageable. Had I been given them and some of the older two year olds, it would have been a better fit. However, I am ok with not having that particular combination because while I loved teaching preschool last year, it is not something I think I could sustain for more than a couple hours a day. Still, I decided to ask that they be removed(mostly because while pretty well behaved one on one, they fight like siblings all the time when together and would cry when things were not to their fancy). Mostly, I did not know what to do with them, and so realized that their being in my class was not really good for anyone. On the same day I came to that realization, another standard one was shifted into my class, brining my grand total of students up to eight. I am enjoying teaching, but I think eight students is about how many I would ever care to have. I have heard most classrooms here in Kenya range from 50-100 students, so I am counting my blessings. Still, all the classes here are small because we have all of 200 children ranging over all the grades and including those still in the nursery. Perhaps more would be more manageable if every lesson was not happening including a language barrier. My English/swahili blend is functional, but barely fluent.

Life here goes well beyond the classroom though, for after class their are children to hangout with, babies to play with, and life to be lived together with the children in community. From daily devotions to meals, my task is to be present and engaged, and it is a happy task indeed. Speaking of meals, I have also after the first two weeks of struggling to finish any of the food given me, have not had the least trouble finishing any of my meals this week. Perhaps the key is to not eat between meals, and to know how long until the next meal is to spur on your appetite... whatever it is, on the food front, I am going to be ok.

Otherwise, this week has been good for the North American volunteer numbers have increased to three, including for the week a young woman from Canada who has been here several times before and coaches the kids in basketball. That said, this week has included lots of basketball. She has made two teams(based on age) and is working on a plan to bring them to Canada to play basketball sometime this next year. I hope everything works out and they all are able to go, for what a great opportunity. Seeing her coaching them, I now better understand the enthusiasm the children have for basketball, a sport I would not especially associate with Kenya. She will leave this Monday, but then her father is coming for a week or two to do more sports with the kids, and this coming Friday, another woman who helps run Hope from Canada will be coming, and so this week will be busy too!

Today was Saturday which is always a great relaxed day. I played with the babies outside for a couple hours this morning, caught up on emails, read my book, helped Madam organize some of her extra supplies, got to know one of the highschool girls better over lunch, watched basketball... and updated my blog! That said, I should now wrap this up because I have been asked to give the message at church tomorrow and need to prepare. I am not sure what passage I will use, but am sure it will include something about love, grace, peace or justice... meaning, I have a lot of solid passages to chose from as that is the heart of the Bible and its message. Hopefully the rain which has held off these last three days will continue to hold off and we can all go watch basketball after church again as that is my favorite Sunday afternoon routine.