Well, I think maybe I shouldn’t have gone on at such length about the amazingly blue sky here, because today the short rains started. These are the ones that “only” absolutely tip it down for an hour at a time. In March it rains all day and you have to wear Wellingtons (the word here is bootis, of course) because the roads don’t drain. The rain woke me up in the night and then it bucketed down when I got to school. Everyone is totally unconcerned except me, as I have a British obsession with weather still, and stand by the window tutting and pointing.
On my way out of the nunnery gate, I saw the biggest mollusc I have ever seen. My mother will be horrified. It was fresh out of that Arthur C Clarke story in which giant snails eat this scientist who doesn’t believe they exist until it’s too late. It was so gigantic that I took a photo, with my foot in it for scale. I can’t remember why I thought it necessary to take my flip flops off. It wasn’t very bright: you can see it is trying to get underneath something much much lower than the height of its shell.
After assembly, I prepared the agenda for the weekly catch-up meeting for Matilda, the head teacher and me. We share news, go over last week’s actions, and talk about what needs to be done next week. I am sorry to say that this is seen as an innovation, but at least they do it now, and things are getting done. The agenda is always huge. Today, it included:
- Are the prefects still hitting the children, and how do we stop them?
- WHEN will the sewage be fixed and what threats do we need to make?
- Are we all happy with the designs for the new playground? (involved me having to get up and mime jumping on a trampoline. Not easy to get the requisite height without an actual trampoline)
- How do we choose which teacher gets to go on a computer training course?
- Does the cow-hand really need help, or is he just lazy?
After that, it was time for chai, which is great. I read my book for a bit and eat two bananas and two eggs and have some Nescafe with hot milk from the school cows. Here is my chai and Bernadeta, the faithful retainer. Then I chased up the sewage, checked on the carpenters building benches for school dining hall, prepared my English lessons, updated the fundraising targets list, talked to the fundis (skilled workers) about moving the water pipes away from the sewage pipes, chased down a quote for redecorating the school and mending the ceiling boards aka Luxury Spider Hotels, arranged when the next school trips should be, and had a long discussion with Matilda about pit latrines and how many we need.
Next was my English lesson with my lovely pupils. I always approach this with a little trepidation, as sometimes they are great and sometimes they write bonkers things like “I an peach”, which makes me despair. Today they absolutely rocked. They seemed to grasp the simple past tense and even managed some translation, which is marvellous – the testing system here is entirely based on asking examinees to select a word from a list to fill in a blank in a sentence, so translating a whole sentence is quite advanced. Tsk. Here is a picture of Siaele, the worst in the class by far, after stunning me by getting something right. I know she just wrote what was in her book from Friday, but even this is a triumph for her.
Finally, it was the English conversation lesson with the teachers, in which I tried to explain how English people often say the exact opposite of what they mean, eg “Great! That’s ALL I need”, etc etc. They understood, but were understandably very puzzled about why we would engage in such mass duplicity and enjoy it, conscience-free. They also wanted to learn some English sayings, and now they are walking around referring to things as being “the bizz nizz” (bee’s knees, not business) and chortling to each other. I hasten to add that I did not put this forward as the epitome of all that is quintessentially English; I just thought they might like it.
I was so tired when I got home that I fell asleep and woke up grumpy and dazed. Since then I’ve had dinner, drafted five letters for the school, had a shower, failed to read my Swahili grammar book, and finished off my monthly report for the English charity that funds the school. Next I am off to use the internet and then later tonight I shall try to muster the energy to pack up the Christmas decorations: despite checking all the orders twice I am convinced I shall arse it up somehow, so don’t get too hopeful that you’ll get what you ordered or paid for…
Tomorrow: Bunking off school! ex-pat coffee morning, playground meeting, Book Council meeting, braving the Post Office (it smells of rotten meat and I have to step over tramps to get to my box), and attempting to help Umivita.
No comments:
Post a Comment