monday. february 26 2oo7

the package was sent from the states in september, and it just now arrived!!! i appreciate the heaps of ramen. they definitely don't have these ones here in kenya. i think i'm gonna take a life-risking decision by eating TWO packs at once...livin on the edge...i know. i'm pretty psyched about the nice leather nike basketball. now i can put these wooden floors to good use. i think it goes without saying that pocky is one of the best snacks in the world. i have yet to meet anyone who does not like them. they mess with my emotions because i eat them so fast. there's no possible way to eat them slowly. of all the things in the package, the biggest surprise was probably the plastic bag that the ball was wrapped in. for anyone from houston who's shopped in chinatown, you'd recognize this bag in a second. receiving this bag was like receiving a piece of home. i know i'm a dork for keeping stuff like this. go get your own bag! =P thank you uncle simon and family =] ::: :::

sunday. february 25 2oo7

yesterday... ::: :::

saturday. february 24 2oo7

this week was a week of birthdays. ricky turned 6. daniel turned 14. and clay turned 13. i was invited to clay's bday party. they're going go-kart racing today. i'm actually waiting right now to get picked up for that. i'm not sure what the rest of the day has in store for me, but i enjoy thet spontaneity. yesterday was probably the fullest day i've had. we had classes during the first half of the day. then right after lunch, we headed to the arboretum to watch a musical called porgy and bess by george gershwin. right after the musical, we headed out to RVA for boys bball and girls soccer games. boys bball got spanked 34-17. defense wins games, and we just didn't bring it. anyway right after the game, we rode back in the bus, dropped off some kids, and then had king's kids (youth group for middle schoolers) at the girls' place. it was one thing right after another. you would think that a long day like that would cause me to sleep in today, but nooooo i woke up at 630am =O i'll probably fall asleep on the racetrack today...hahahaa! i'm sure some of you may be wondering what a broadway musical would be like in kenya. so here's the rundown. i researched beforehand about the musical to get some background. it was set in the 1930's in south carolina. the original cast was predominantly black, and i'm assuming it was done in a southern accent due to the time period. so that's what i was preparing myself to expect. it turned out being a cast from south africa, which means they had their own accent. george gershwin wrote opera and jazz. the orchestra did a great job of bringing out the jazz. the performers had great voices for opera. but because i expected a southern accent and it was done in a south african accent, i had a difficult time understanding what was going on. it was also performed outside, so much of the sound got lost on the way to my ear. i'm not saying the musical wasn't done well though. it's more like i feel like i missed out on something. at the end, tons of people were applauding during the curtain call. maybe if my ear was used to listening to a south african or even kenyan accent, i would've caught more of it. oh btw, this upcoming week is gonna be nuts! boys bball has a game on monday, tuesday, thursday, and a tournament on saturday at RVA. hahah awesome... ::: :::

saturday. february 17 2oo7

this is one of those catch-up posts, but it was intentional this time because i knew it'd be an eventful week. if you like to read, go read a book. they have plots. if you like pictures, go get a camera and take some. if you're stalking me, my name's not really steven. if you've read this much of my nonsense already, then i know you're a devoted reader, and you should already know to prepare yourself for alot of text =] [ monday ] - of all the days of the week, this one is generally the longest. i go to school. then i coach bball for an hour after school. then i tutor joe for an hour after that. and i don't remember if i've mentioned this before, but mondays are special here because you can get a movie ticket along with a hotdog, popcorn, and drink for the price of a regular movie ticket, which is about $5. how can anyone in their right mind pass this up? so i rushed back to nairobi just in time to watch the Prestige with the girls. i'll admit it...i got dooped by that movie during parts of it. the preview threw me off because it gave me the impression that christian bale's character was supernatural or something. at the moment, i'm still not sure if he had a real brother or if it was a clone. and what ever happened to scarlet johannson's character? let's hope she found a nice asian guy in kenya and lived happily ever after. [ chooseday ] - i've had alot on my mind lately regarding my value to the school. ironically enough, it happens to be Teacher Appreciation Week. i've been thinking about it so much that my mind leaves me from time to time. for example, i almost forgot the boys bball and girls soccer teams had a game today. normally i'd try to think of something to say to the guys as far as team goals for the game. but today i just showed up. we played against a school named st. christopher's. while the guys were shooting around on one end of the court, i noticed a few kids, who i thought were elementary kids, playing on the other end. it turned out that the kids were 12-14yr olds but exceptionally short. it was clearly going to be a blowout. most schools don't allow a couple of our older guys to play just because they look monstrous. but today their coach negotiated me into allowing two of their senior players to play if i could let kim(17) and allan(16) play. i was eager to give our guys a challenge, so i agreed. strangely enough, two unexpected players from our team put on quite a show. josh scored 10pts, which is huge for him. and hanbeen got 5 steals. for a little timid guy, that says alot. along with him, i think it's worth mentioning that sam and daniel played a good defensive game at the top. their seniors rarely had opportunities to get good looks at the basket. we still need to lower the number of turnovers. oh btw, the score was 42-10. we've got one more practice before our game on saturday against RVA. i expect them to be good with their long history of bball, but i'm not worried. oh yea, after the game, the weather went krazy. it started pouring rain. it was madness i tell you. a couple teachers and i went to java to get online and have dinner. the power went out a few times, but man is java rich! at most the power would stay off for one minute, which means they must have an awesome backup generator. when my power goes out, it usually stays off for the rest of the evening. anyway, i had a chance to upload new stuff onto the school's website. at the moment, pictures are the main focus for me. i gotta give it some life. [ wednesday ] - i nearly forgot it was valentine's day until kayla put one of those tiny heart candies on my desk yesterday. i think i'm addicted to those things now. the funniest one i've gotten says "Go Home" on it....hahahaa! i've thought long and hard about how that could possibly be a positive message to someone. i've concluded that it was just a mean joke to even out all the other sappy messages that come in a bag. today was interesting because i wanted to know whether or not kids here celebrated valentine's the same way as back in the states. compared to public schools, they were alot nicer. ok aside from the whole carnation-giving and sadie hawkins stuff, it was pretty kool. actually i can only speak from a teacher's point of view. i got chocolates, little cards, candies, and cookies. whoa, i just realized they all start with 'c'. anyway, it was typical to see girls into it more than guys. there was one thing that i spotted today that sent me waaaay back to nostagia. i walked by the kindergarten class and saw white bags lined up next to the window. i think i saw kids putting little cards or whatever into the bags. i remember when we used to give each other valentine's when we were kids. love was so simple then. nowadays, people jump to conclusions if you even show a hint of care for someone else. kim, our korean soccer phenom, surprised me bigtime today. he gave me a bouquet of red roses. did that sound strange when you read that? a dude gave a dude flowers. i realized how twisted our society has become seeing as how it wouldn't have easily accepted that as normal. even he felt alittle shy about giving them to me in fear of embarrassment. he had a korean girl hand them to me. i like it when expressing care or love can be so simple. we had no problem doing it when we were kids, so why complicate that? alright there's one last thing i have to say about this day. in my box this morning, there was a little bag with a bear inside. there was no card or note. no one has said anything to me either. i'm confused. i have no idea who it came from, so i'm completely convinced that it was mistakenly put in my box. so it remains a mystery to me. maybe i should attach a note to it saying "if this isn't yours, put it in someone else's box". if i put it in someone's box and it doesn't belong to him/her, then it'll get passed on. somehow it'll get back to the original owner, right? and that person will put it in the correct box. but if it ends up in my box again, i'll be confused all over again. hmm maybe i should inspect the bear more closely. until then, the mystery continues. 11:55pm sumkay sends me a text msg. you rock! hershey's from mario, cadbury from sunny, dark chocolate from lepage's, lollipops from hwai ni: cookies and candy hearts from josh: card from kayla: roses from kim these are just hilarious: [ thursday ] - we took the 7th graders in the afternoon to a place in dagoretti called Feed The Children. i think it was good exposure for our kids to meet and spend time with these underprivileged kids. it's a good reminder of where we are. this boy's name is austin. he probably made the biggest impression on all of us. he had the best attitude. every time we approached him, he'd say, "wassup man!" he was brought here about a year ago because half his body was paralyzed. but now after caring for him, he's gained back some of the feeling in his body. go to the Videos section to see a short video of him. [ friday ] - just when i thought teacher appreciation week was coming to a close, these 9th graders and daniel caught me off-guard right before my geometry class. stefanie brought a giant chocolate cake. after 2nd period, i let them come back and have some cake. some of them even had seconds. during lunch, i gave more cake out to some of the other students. and right now, there's still half of it left. that's what i mean by 'giant'. also, becca (on the far right) brought me cookies, m&m's, 3musketeers, jolly ranchers, and other goodies. after school, i ended up going with hanbeen, luis, and chang hwan to sam's house for a sleepover. we had a game the next morning vs RVA at our school. since sam lives in karen, they figured it'd be alot more convenient to spend the night at sam's...pssh yea right! sleepovers are all about playing bball, xbox, and watching movies. [ today ] - the boys A bball, boys B bball, and girls soccer teams had games today at 11am. RVA came out to play us on this beautiful sunny day. i wish i took pictures today. i also wish i had the opportunity to watch the boys B team and girls soccer play. the boys B team lost 12-10, and the girls lost 1-0. even though the girls lost, they all seemed pretty excited when i saw them. i think they played really well compared to the last game. as for the boys A team, it was neck to neck throughout the entire game. at halftime, the score was 17-17. near the end, we were up 26-25 for practically the entire 4th quarter. our team has a really bad habit of making turnovers, so i was nervous on every possession. with 36sec left, i called timeout to calm things down. with a 1pt lead, anything could happen at the end, so i wanted to make sure we stuck to a certain game plan instead of running around frantic. we ended up finding an open man underneath the basket after the inbound pass. after scoring, we pressed and got the ball back. they fouled us until we went to the line. the score ended up being 30-25. good job guys! ::: :::

thursday. february o8 2oo7

yesterday was a fun day. most of the ms/hs kids were excited about the two boys bball games and girls soccer game. at the same time, yesterday was culture day at our school, which means you dress up in whatever culture you come from. my favorite was meitamei's. he's a 6th grader with a masai background. it was kool seeing him dressed like that because i've seen adult masai men walking along the side of the road before. his older sister retoyia was also dressed nicely. the koreans went all out too. i'm actually surprised that they have these clothes on-hand. i would've never though about bringing stuff like that over to kenya. then again, they've lived here alot longer than i have, so they have a more permanent status than i do. it was the girls' second soccer game of the season. they tied 0-0, which is good in my book. the boys B team won 11-5. the boys A team lost 36-34. that was probably the most exciting game to watch out of all three. at halftime, the score was 21-7 and the guys were hanging their heads low. i made a switch from zone to man defense, and it changed everything. by the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 26-23. we were still down, but the point differential was a significant change. we stayed neck to neck throughout the entire 4th quarter, but we just couldn't seem to stay out of foul trouble. but overall, it was exciting to watch because everyone was hanging on this hope that we would make this miraculous comeback. the guys did great, and i'm sure they're alot more prepared for their next game. ::: :::

monday. february o5 2oo7

yesterday and today feels like one looooong neverending day. first i went to church. and then i went home with the hagmans. we had lunch and then watched a recorded bulls vs sonics game. after that, sam and i went outside to shoot around. when we came back inside, we watched school of rock. every time i watch that movie, it makes me wanna learn electric. shortly after, we had dinner. and then it was off to bed. 3-4hrs later, we woke up around 2am to catch the super bowl. it was great getting to watch football. it was probably the sloppiest super bowl game i have ever seen. to make things abit more interesting, the power went out as many times as there were turnovers in the game. it's something you get used to here in kenya. good thing it didn't cut out on too many important plays. the biggest surprise to me was the opening kickoff. talk about the earliest touchdown in super bowl history. after the game, i had about an hour to rest. and then it was off to school. today's gonna be killer for me. after school, i have basketball practice AND tutoring. but it was totally worth it. i'm glad i'll be home for the nba championships. ::: :::