thursday. october 25 2oo7

i like the fall semester for all its crazy weeks. the month of october has not had one normal week. last week was the end of the 1st quarter, so we turned in grades this monday. the kids get the report cards on wednesday. and then the kids have halfdays on thurs and fri b/c we use the afternoons for parent teacher conferences. for teachers, we sit in separate classrooms for a good 4hrs waiting for parents to drop in. i was assigned the old computer lab like last year. why? well they need someone to remove useless programs from these ol skool computers and move them over to the elementary side. honestly, i'm not looking forward to it. good thing i'm bringing family guy and the office with me. oh i completely forgot to mention another reason why this week is interesting. on wednesday, it was pajama day for the entire school. it also happened to be a gameday for our sports teams which means i wear a dress shirt and tie. it was pretty obvious to me what i was going to do. i was never one to choose one or the other. so i ended up looking like this... for our last game of the season, we played against a british school called hillcrest. they had a few girls that were giants. one of them was easily 6ft tall. we were losing by 10 throughout most of the game. 3rd qtr we closed the gap to a 4pt game. at one point in the 4th, the score was 30-28. the game ended with us losing 32-28. we had a billion turnovers that cost us the game. but the girls played hard, and i appreciate that. we finally had the opportunity to take a picture with every teammate. it's rare to have everyone together b/c some of them play tennis and don't make it to all our games. to the 2007 WNS girls bball team, great job this year!!! ok it's thursday night right now. i'm sitting at an internet cafe. i started sneezing like a madman, so i needed tissue to wipe up all the snot. the guy who works here directs me to a door when i asked him if there was a bathroom here. when i walked through the door, it took me outside. i was not too surprised b/c i've learned to expect ghetto things like this here in kenya. there was a sink and toilet out there. but the best part was finding a bottle of vodka with a toothbrush sitting next to the sink. it was so awesome that i had to take a picture. this is for you aftat rampage. ::: :::

monday. october 15 2oo7

wow i actually let two weeks pass again without posting anything. it's probably because nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. actually, i did have a problem with my water heater this past week. i came home one day, and the entire bathroom floor was drowned in water. i thought it was leaking from the back of the toilet at first. later on, i realized the water heater was broken. so the landlord had people come in on friday afternoon to remove it. they also removed some of the tiles because of the water underneath. who knows how long it'll take to replace that thing. i guess it's time to get used to cold showers again =P on saturday, six of us ate indian food at a mall called prestige. since we're not loaded, we found this decently-priced place to eat. come to think of it, i've never had indian food in the states. so i don't really have anything else to compare to. i don't know how authentic this really is, but this is what i had....butter chicken with naan. Mmmm so good *drool* this upcoming week is a busy one. normally, it would've been busy days on mon, wed, and fri. but since tuesday is a halfday this week, it also became a busy day. throw in bball games after school on mon and wed, accreditation on tuesday afternoon, tutoring on thursday, and bball practice on friday, and the week is complete with each day followed by a cold shower =] i make it sound like it's all overwhelming, but the truth is i'm sure more unexpected stuff is gonna pop up this week. i can't wait. God's got his reasons, and i'm looking forward to it. i could really go for some popeye's chicken with side orders of mashed potatoes, dirty rice, and those nice, warm biscuits. ::: :::

monday. october o1 2oo7

here's one of my BUSY days. i have remedial teaching with these two 6th graders from 8:30-9:10am. currently we're working on exponential notation. do i sound nerdy yet? just wait... i walk across campus from the elementary side to the high school side to step into my geometry class at 9:15am. here's what they look like right before the bell rings. look how they desperately try to finish last night's homework....hahaha! right now, we're studying arcs and circles. can anyone give me an accurate definition of an angle without looking it up? when the bell rings at 10:05am, the students have a 10-min break for snacks. that gives me time to walk over to the library where i begin the 7th grade computer class at 10:15am. we're currently using a program called Typing Master. around here, kids don't spend their lives on AIM, so their typing abilities aren't as proficient as some kids in the states. but i'm trying to get them there. at 11:10am the 8th grade class rolls in for computer class. this year they are focusing on learning the ins and outs of microsoft word. you may think you know microsoft word until you've taken this class. i like the books and their tutorials. hopefully the students will walk away remembering most of it. as you've noticed from the two comp classes, we have fairly nice computers this year. we made a push for new comps last year, and lo and behold we get these nice dells. these are probably the most technologically sophisticated machines we have on the entire campus. you'd think teacher and staff would have better but not at this school. our students deserve it. ah crap, i sound like i'm selling our school now. ok moving on... 12:05-12:55 it's 7th-8th grade boys bible. here's what they look like on a good day. hahaha jk...we were really busy today, so i forgot to bust out my camera and get "snaps" as trevor would call them. right after bible, i have lunch duty every day. to me, this is the best time to get to know the students. most teachers like to eat lunch with other staff in the office or just away from the kids. for those of you who know me back home, this is probably where i feel the most comfortable. i came to kenya for these kids, and that ministry isn't always going to happen inside the walls of a classroom. i finally have a break from 1:30-2:25pm. i don't know if it's much of a break. i try to work on lesson planning. someone always approaches me to ask a computer question. i'm not exactly the smartest guy when it comes to comps, but compared to everyone else i guess i am. this time slot will be used for updating the website when i pull all the information together. during this time on thursdays, sometimes i help kayla put up the tennis net. don't get me wrong...i'm not annoyed by all these tasks during my break. sometimes it just fries my brain abit when i don't get a moment of peace. last period 2:30-3:20pm i teach algebra II to my one australian student =] because there's only one student, we have the privilege of enjoying the nice weather occasionally. we're currently studying matrices, parametrics, and exponential functions. if the stuff from earlier didn't sound nerdy, i'm sure that had to have earned me a pocket protector and TI-85 calculator =P the final bell of the day rings, and everyone starts pouring out of their classrooms and heading to buses. i casually pack up my stuff, walk to the upper basketball court, and prep my girls for a bball game against braeburn. the tip-off started at 4:00pm. today was a special day for our girls b/c it was our first home game. we've had some tough losses that left our girls frustrated. getting a 26-6 win today helped boost their confidence. we still have some things to work on, but we played very well today. everyone got involved and had fun. i'm happy for them. at the end of the day, you'd think i'd go home and fall over. but it's MONDAY! that means mzuri monday madness!!! what is that you ask? well it's the only day they offer a drink, popcorn, a hotdog, and a movie ticket for about $6. i'm chinese man. of course i'm gonna capitalize on that! there wasn't much to choose from this week, so i watched superbad. let's just say it's rated R for a reason. if you want to follow a one-night adventure of 3 dorks, then go watch it. i enjoyed it b/c the reality of how so much can occur in one night reminded me of the movie Go. the movie started around 6:30pm. i got home around 8:30pm. what now? ummm shower and prepare for the rest of this week. tomorrow is a halfday b/c of accreditation. wednesday is another game day (two in one week?!?!?) thursday is picture day. and we'll see if i've survived till friday without a meltdown. i miss ansley. she would make my day on friday if i could see her. till next time... ::: :::