monday. march 17 2oo8

alright i'm writing this post backwards just b/c i wanna talk about cooler stuff first. it's around 830pm. i just got back from watching the movie Juno. i haven't been around alot of news media or movie critics, so i dunno how america or the rest of the world feels about this movie, but i loved it! serious props to the writer and actors. i haven't checked it out, but i'm sensing the writer is from part of my generation just b/c there was a reference to Thundercats. the film was quick-witted, emotional, and just flat out real. talk about a film with a heartbeat. i dunno if it's the type of film everyone would enjoy, but i definitely connected with it. to top it all off, it had an amazing soundtrack. the writer definitely has to be a music buff. i'm wondering if he wrote some of the lyrics to the songs in the movie. ok i know i'm not some awesome movie critic or anything. i just wanted to share my thoughts on it. i walked out, and the first thing i wanted to do was watch it again. and here's what i wrote this morning... i hope you can keep up with my recent picture frenzy. here's a picture of our 2nd place trophy in the league. this year is the school's first year as a member of ISL. walking away with 2nd place for our first year....not too shabby. just b/c i'm already on the topic of bball, i can't believe the Rockets have won 22 games in a row and are now 1st in the West!!! must be exciting to be in houston right now. anyways, here's our 2nd place trophy. WNS is moving up in the world. ::: :::

saturday. march 15 2oo8

on thursday, we took the 8th grade class to a Feed The Children facility called ABC (abandoned baby centre). we take students there once a month as community service and spend time with the kids there. here's luis learning now to change a diaper. they use towels instead of disposable diapers. ol skool! here's the same HB symbol we found last year. had to take this picture again there was a kid looking out the bars, so hanbeen yelled "scoffield!!!" and ran over to join him...hahahhaa!!! shortly after, sam hopped on the bar fence also here's wesley. cute cross-eyed kid we had chapel 7th period. we rarely have the opportunity to form a worship band, so this was a treat. on friday, we celebrated hanbeen's 15th birthday and of course afterwards, we played starcraft HB won the mini starcraft tournament we set up randomly. lucky punk! traditionally we "jake" someone on his birthday. (jake: a giant wedgy). on saturday morning, we jaked him when he least expected it. ahhh good times =] ::: :::

sunday. march o9 2oo8

here's a preview of things to come in this post =] let me start off by talking about this past friday. the 8th grade science teacher is currently teaching physics and decided to put together a bowling field trip. what?!?! bowling in kenya?!?! they had to fill out lab sheets testing bowling balls of different weights. since the 8th grade class is pretty big, i was asked to be one of the chaperones. and who am i to deny the responsibility of watching over kids? hahahaha! we went out to village market where i always forget for just a moment that we're in kenya. the kids had alot of fun eating out, bowling, and just getting a day outside of school which was much needed. i had one student in my group named max who had never bowled before =O for his first time, he bowled really well. on saturday, we brought 2 boys bball and 1 girls soccer team to the RVA (under 14) middle school tournament. it was an all-day event where you show up at 830am and don't leave till 4pm. i have to take a moment to explain the players on the team that i brought to this tournament. this past year i coached the HS team, but i had a few middle schoolers on it. so i brought 4 that were eligible and picked up 3 guys from the middle school team that their coach was willing to give up. 1. JT - 7th. hs team. position: PG/SG. favorite player: d.wade. he's a great ball handler and shooter. in one game, he started launching 3's. he made like three in a row!!! 2. David - 7th. ms team. position: SG. nickname: oh-ma. origin: he had a perm last year that reminded the other korean kids of hairdos that older korean women get. he's not much of a bball player, but he's super fast. i picked him up purely for defense. little did we know, he had a nice surprise for us at the end. 3. Mr.T - old. hs team. position: Coach. nicknames: T or T-Bone. status: happy b/c of her. you should know this guy. he's the only chinese basketball coach in kenya. this is his second year coaching bball at WNS, and his team won 2nd place last year at this tournament. so he was determined to take 1st this year. btw, he loves the team more than he enjoys winning. 4. Sam - 8th. hs team. position: SG. here's our token preppy, white boy. a&f, american eagle, stylish hair, and an earring. he can bomb 3's. but sometimes, i have him playing bottom b/c he's a tough defender against big guys. wait till you see him play rugby. 5. Kwame - 9th. hs team. position: SG/SF. i bet you didn't know "kwame" means born on saturday. he's a smart kid who jumped two grades when he was younger. he likes to shoot fadeways. he makes them on occasion. but what i really like is his toughness on defense and on rebounds. he's a smaller kid, but he'll fight for the ball until he ends up on the floor. 6. Caleb - 7th. ms team. position: SF/PF. tall and lanky. you know what i'm talking about. the coordination isn't all there quite yet, which is why i was able to pick him up from the ms team. he follows instructions very well, and he sets awesome picks. greatest accomplishment from the tournament: he LEARNED how to post up and score. 7. Andrew - 7th. ms team. position: SG. he got zero playing time for the ms team b/c he arrived at WNS during the 2nd semester. he came to us all the way from ghana. i'd say he's a good ol' american boy, except he's spent most of his life living in ghana. he's not much of an athlete, but he figured out the importance of defense early on. i only had 3 practices with this team, and he brought the D at the tournament. no one was able to enter the key on his side. he was also the first one down the court on a fastbreak. he was great having on the team too b/c he happily sat on the bench sometimes and cheered as if he was on the court. you gotta love kids like that. 8. Austin - 8th. hs team. position: PF/C. nickname: big kenya. his name matches his personality perfectly. he's this giant hick of a boy who belongs on a farm, except he's spent most of his life in kenya. you'd expect him to have a southern accent, but no. instead he has one of the thickest kenyan, english accents. everyone loves this guy b/c he's so real. he turns red when he's embarrassed, angry, or uncontrollably laughing. he dominates the inside b/c of his freakishly, mutant size. he has a giant heart. he's probably the future valedictorian of his class. hanbeen calls him big daddy. they're best friends. so there you have it...the team that brought it home. we fought alot of battles and learned alot from each other yesterday. i was proud to coach this team no matter how well and how badly they played. not only did they win 1st place, but they also went undefeated the entire day. so why are we all pointing at oh-ma??? great story. he doesn't show a whole lot of emotion. he's always very calm. and soccer is his first sport. alright so, we're playing the championship game against the international school of kenya. we're down by 1 with 8sec left in the game. JT is standing at the line with two free throws to shoot. if there's anyone i want on that line, it's JT. but he's a little guy carrying this huge pressure on his shoulders. he shoots and misses both FT's. we grab the rebound. the ball got fumbled, and we ended up inbounding the ball with 3sec left. by now, JT is hanging his head and crying. the ball gets passed in. Kwame takes a turnaround fadeway jumper and completely misses the rim. it bounces off the backboard and angles out to David standing alone right under the basket. David calmly shoots it in, and the buzzer goes off. WNS wins their first tournament ever! the whole thing was VERY ironic. not JT, but oh-ma gets us the win!!! it was definitely a storybook ending. congratuations guys!!! the boys are pointing at our team name in the championship bracket on the white board. there were 9 teams in all. we were in one pool, and the other wns boys team was in the other pool. it's crazy to think we won all 3 pool games and 2 single elimination games all in a row that day. i didn't eat lunch that day b/c they ran outta food. but it didn't matter b/c i was so focused on the tournament. i even wore my noise-cancelling headphones to concentrate during a game once, but it was looked down upon. so i removed them. anyways, it was a good day not only for me but for the team. here is the girls soccer team after playing in the finals. yes, they made it to the finals also!!! it came down to penalty kicks, and rosslyn got the last one on us. we walked away with 2nd place. check out what a beautiful day it was!!! i think everyone should move to kenya based on weather alone =] look at how painful it was for them to stare into the sun hahahahaa ::: :::