Surprise of the day: We came home around 10pm tonight to the wonderful news from Dundee that we have running water!! And he says by tomorrow, we should be able to shower! I don't even know what to do with myself. When I turn the knobs for the faucet in our bathroom sink, water comes out. A steady stream. It's legit. You can also tell that water must be running due to the fact that both the toilet and sink have sprung a leak, leaving a nice sized puddle on our bathroom floor. But no worries, there's a drain in the middle so it shouldn't get too bad. And it's better than no water at all, right?! So pumped. Tomorrow, I might get to take my second official shower. Oh! But guess what else? Kendra and I managed to wash our hair in the sink with bottled water this morning...so I'm actually feeling quite clean. :)
Today was our first official teaching day. Wow is teaching in Ethiopia different than teaching in America! Oh my goodness gracious, quite the experience. Today I taught English and "Maths". Usually I will teach science as well, but they didn't have science today. It was not an easy task! Meagan, I probably should have paid more attention in Sister Mary Eunice's class or something, because trying to teach 30 five- and six-year-olds who know very, very little English is tough. Especially when the teacher working with you knows very little English herself, and therefore cannot clearly tell you what you should be teaching. I am working with a teacher who actually works for the school, and she's very nice. However, there is definitely a language barrier. Lots of sign language and guessing is going on. For Math, she wanted me to "review anything" because the kids have an exam next week. Using the one tiny math book they have for reference, I did my best! The kids seemed to understand most of the lesson. Another tricky aspect, though, is the fact that this school has nothing. They have so little school supplies and resources, it's unbelievable. We have one mini dry-erase board hanging on the wall that I had to use for the lesson. Nothing for the kids to use, nothing to do activities with. I think I'm going to try to make some things to bring in to make the lessons more exciting. That's the other thing...these are kindergarten students, and they essentially listen to the teacher lecture all day. It's amazing how well they just sit quietly and listen! Although they are fantastic listeners, I'm hoping I can find some things to bring in or buy to help them get involved in the lessons. Something interesting to end this school talk with: Today, my teacher gave a little quiz during their Amharic lesson. After she graded it, she made all the students who got zero points stand up in front of the class. Um, bummer!
After we taught all morning, we got to walk home for a lunch break. After lunch, we went back to school and, so cute, nap time was just ending. Okay, again, 30 kindergarten students in an incredibly small classroom. Of course, they have no where else to go for naps. They were all sitting in their chairs, heads resting on their arms on their metal tables. And most of them were asleep. Kim, get your preschoolers at Northbrook in shape! ;) There wasn't even a teacher in the room. She was in the room next door drinking some tea while they all quietly slept. It's sad that that's how they have to nap, but amazing how well-behaved they are.
After school ended, we went home and Amara (one of Dundee and Tamrat's friends) taught us a bunch of Amharic words...we're getting good! And we start lessons tomorrow...watch out, I'm going to be fluent soon! Then, we went out with a sister of someone I met in Northbrook. She was very nice, and took us to a fantastic cafe. It's beyond fantastic, because it's the first place we've found to have wifi! We didn't know this when we went out with her, so we didn't have our computers. Now don't judge us, but after we got home, we grabbed our laptops and headed back to take advantage of the wifi (yeah, it's like a 30 minute journey, but that's how much we miss you all at home and want to talk to you!). Getting there was quite the experience. We took a minibus most of the way (I've written about the craziness of these in a past blog, I believe) and then grabbed a taxi for the end of the ride. Unfortunately, our taxi ran out of gas in the middle of the road...nice! Our cab driver got out and sprinted to a gas station. Kendra and I couldn't stop laughing. Nevertheless, we made it back to the cafe and happily got online. The connection was even good enough to put pictures on Facebook! Get ready to be proud of us, now. On the way home, we had to take a cab because it was late and the minibuses had stopped running but...our cab driver got lost. Guess who told him the way. We did. The two girls who have lived here for less than a week. I know, we're amazing.
So we're home now, chilling in bed writing our blogs. We're incredibly excited, because tomorrow we get to go to an orphanage! We're really looking forward to it!!
I have a few random things to tell you, and they don't really fit in. So, this is going to be the paragraph of random stories. Good? Okay, first of all, everyone here gets excited when I tell them my name is Deanna. They say, "Oh! The Queen!" They mean Princess Diana. Today, I gave the adorable little girl at our house (she's the daughter of the fantastic lady that makes our delicious food and washes our clothes) a bouncy ball. She was so funny, chasing it around. Cute! Last night (Lee Ann, this ones for you - remember when I freaked out about that bug and had to sleep in your bed with you?), I had my first African spider encounter. It was big and black, and scary. And fast. I suppose maybe it was small for an African spider, I don't know, but it was big compared to the spiders I've seen in America! Well, I was too slow to squish it because I was freaked out. Bad move, because it escaped to beneath my bed. I can't get under there, so I'm not sure where he is. Anyways, I was very brave and slept just fine. Impressive, I'd say. Kim, Ben, Cheryl and Jeff, next story's for you. I can't remember which one(s) of you kept teasing me about the clicking but...guess what. It's real. No, Amharic is not all clicks. I told you. But there is a "letter" that is a click! Dundee and Amara have been trying to teach us how to pronounce is (aka click correctly) but we can't do it! They think it's hilarious. It's so hard! Maybe I'll have it down by the time I get home, and I can show you. :) Now a story about Kendra. Last night, I got up in the middle of the night (like 3am?) to go to the bathroom. Kendra (who wakes up before me every morning) sat straight up in bed and in a very loud and cheerful voice said to me, "What, you're getting up before me today?!" I responded by telling her, "No, it's the middle of the night...I'm not getting up." Dummy. Last random tidbit, I just want to let you all know that they give us a LOT of food out here! And you thought I'd be hungry...no way! We are given breakfast, lunch and dinner at our house every day. It's usually pretty normal Ethiopian food...lots of bread and vegetables. It's all very good! Apart from that, people always want to take us out to restaurants or for coffee. Yesterday, we went to a super delicious Italian restuarant! I could talk a lot about the food, but for now I'll just say that there is no need to worry because I have plenty of it.
Whew, it is late here! Way past our bedtime. Which reminds me, they tell time differently here and it's only the year 2004. Odd. I'll explain that another day :) Anyways, off to bed! Since we have our wifi cafe now, we might be able to Skype more! So you peeps keep your Skype open, I'll be around! Miss you all!!
Today was our first official teaching day. Wow is teaching in Ethiopia different than teaching in America! Oh my goodness gracious, quite the experience. Today I taught English and "Maths". Usually I will teach science as well, but they didn't have science today. It was not an easy task! Meagan, I probably should have paid more attention in Sister Mary Eunice's class or something, because trying to teach 30 five- and six-year-olds who know very, very little English is tough. Especially when the teacher working with you knows very little English herself, and therefore cannot clearly tell you what you should be teaching. I am working with a teacher who actually works for the school, and she's very nice. However, there is definitely a language barrier. Lots of sign language and guessing is going on. For Math, she wanted me to "review anything" because the kids have an exam next week. Using the one tiny math book they have for reference, I did my best! The kids seemed to understand most of the lesson. Another tricky aspect, though, is the fact that this school has nothing. They have so little school supplies and resources, it's unbelievable. We have one mini dry-erase board hanging on the wall that I had to use for the lesson. Nothing for the kids to use, nothing to do activities with. I think I'm going to try to make some things to bring in to make the lessons more exciting. That's the other thing...these are kindergarten students, and they essentially listen to the teacher lecture all day. It's amazing how well they just sit quietly and listen! Although they are fantastic listeners, I'm hoping I can find some things to bring in or buy to help them get involved in the lessons. Something interesting to end this school talk with: Today, my teacher gave a little quiz during their Amharic lesson. After she graded it, she made all the students who got zero points stand up in front of the class. Um, bummer!
After we taught all morning, we got to walk home for a lunch break. After lunch, we went back to school and, so cute, nap time was just ending. Okay, again, 30 kindergarten students in an incredibly small classroom. Of course, they have no where else to go for naps. They were all sitting in their chairs, heads resting on their arms on their metal tables. And most of them were asleep. Kim, get your preschoolers at Northbrook in shape! ;) There wasn't even a teacher in the room. She was in the room next door drinking some tea while they all quietly slept. It's sad that that's how they have to nap, but amazing how well-behaved they are.
After school ended, we went home and Amara (one of Dundee and Tamrat's friends) taught us a bunch of Amharic words...we're getting good! And we start lessons tomorrow...watch out, I'm going to be fluent soon! Then, we went out with a sister of someone I met in Northbrook. She was very nice, and took us to a fantastic cafe. It's beyond fantastic, because it's the first place we've found to have wifi! We didn't know this when we went out with her, so we didn't have our computers. Now don't judge us, but after we got home, we grabbed our laptops and headed back to take advantage of the wifi (yeah, it's like a 30 minute journey, but that's how much we miss you all at home and want to talk to you!). Getting there was quite the experience. We took a minibus most of the way (I've written about the craziness of these in a past blog, I believe) and then grabbed a taxi for the end of the ride. Unfortunately, our taxi ran out of gas in the middle of the road...nice! Our cab driver got out and sprinted to a gas station. Kendra and I couldn't stop laughing. Nevertheless, we made it back to the cafe and happily got online. The connection was even good enough to put pictures on Facebook! Get ready to be proud of us, now. On the way home, we had to take a cab because it was late and the minibuses had stopped running but...our cab driver got lost. Guess who told him the way. We did. The two girls who have lived here for less than a week. I know, we're amazing.
So we're home now, chilling in bed writing our blogs. We're incredibly excited, because tomorrow we get to go to an orphanage! We're really looking forward to it!!
I have a few random things to tell you, and they don't really fit in. So, this is going to be the paragraph of random stories. Good? Okay, first of all, everyone here gets excited when I tell them my name is Deanna. They say, "Oh! The Queen!" They mean Princess Diana. Today, I gave the adorable little girl at our house (she's the daughter of the fantastic lady that makes our delicious food and washes our clothes) a bouncy ball. She was so funny, chasing it around. Cute! Last night (Lee Ann, this ones for you - remember when I freaked out about that bug and had to sleep in your bed with you?), I had my first African spider encounter. It was big and black, and scary. And fast. I suppose maybe it was small for an African spider, I don't know, but it was big compared to the spiders I've seen in America! Well, I was too slow to squish it because I was freaked out. Bad move, because it escaped to beneath my bed. I can't get under there, so I'm not sure where he is. Anyways, I was very brave and slept just fine. Impressive, I'd say. Kim, Ben, Cheryl and Jeff, next story's for you. I can't remember which one(s) of you kept teasing me about the clicking but...guess what. It's real. No, Amharic is not all clicks. I told you. But there is a "letter" that is a click! Dundee and Amara have been trying to teach us how to pronounce is (aka click correctly) but we can't do it! They think it's hilarious. It's so hard! Maybe I'll have it down by the time I get home, and I can show you. :) Now a story about Kendra. Last night, I got up in the middle of the night (like 3am?) to go to the bathroom. Kendra (who wakes up before me every morning) sat straight up in bed and in a very loud and cheerful voice said to me, "What, you're getting up before me today?!" I responded by telling her, "No, it's the middle of the night...I'm not getting up." Dummy. Last random tidbit, I just want to let you all know that they give us a LOT of food out here! And you thought I'd be hungry...no way! We are given breakfast, lunch and dinner at our house every day. It's usually pretty normal Ethiopian food...lots of bread and vegetables. It's all very good! Apart from that, people always want to take us out to restaurants or for coffee. Yesterday, we went to a super delicious Italian restuarant! I could talk a lot about the food, but for now I'll just say that there is no need to worry because I have plenty of it.
Whew, it is late here! Way past our bedtime. Which reminds me, they tell time differently here and it's only the year 2004. Odd. I'll explain that another day :) Anyways, off to bed! Since we have our wifi cafe now, we might be able to Skype more! So you peeps keep your Skype open, I'll be around! Miss you all!!
YAY for running water;)!!!!
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