Thursday afternoons are all about me. Especially after having sung the alphabet song so many times in the past two days that I’ve started singing it with a jazzy rhythm. I need a mental, emotional, physical (and nutritional) break. Being in Ilkiloret is so other-worldly it takes time to ease my way back into “town” life. I first need a shower…there is only so long I can stand the smell of cooking fire and cow dung out of context! Then I have to address missed communication on my smart phone. Most people know I’ve been in the bush so there are rarely any urgent messages. Then I have to download photos and think about blogging, which is difficult because my body is in rest mode. However when you have a memory that equals the capacity of that of a flea…it’s essential to write while the memories are fresh.

It rained Tuesday evening, so Njenga wasn’t excited about the trip, but as it turned out there was only one bad spot on the road and a path had already been cut parallel to it on the side of the road. It hadn’t rained in Ilkiloret so the roads were good. We encountered about the usual amount of jams - a really dumb dog that just laid in the middle of the road while we past and some dikdik’s (like tiny dear) raced us in the bush next to the road until they encountered a fence. They are really fast. I can’t figure out how they know there is a fence in front of them and stop in time to not run right into it!

We also came across the green lorry that had delivered my supplies the day before. It was parked at the top of a big hill. The story Joseph the transporter gave me was that it had started raining just after they had delivered the materials and so the road was too muddy... the story Janet gave me (after she told me it hadn't rained the day before), was that the lorry had problems with the brakes. I tend to believe Janet!

We arrived to find the walls completely up on the classroom building! They also started on the veranda.

Half of our classroom was filled with ceiling boards and iron sheets. So class was crowded and loud and lots of fun. I ended by taking about 6 women through the alphabet on the board. So far…we’ve got A, B and C down – D and E are problematic. Any thoughts on teaching the alphabet? I’ve started to teach them the alphabet song, and we are making progress… but my goodness is it ever slow. I have other students who I need to find more work for – makes teaching a bit tricky!
My students have decided they need to have a test before we break for December vacation. Boarding school children have the month of December off. So we will take a test of November 17 and have a party and give the tests back on November 23. They had a small meeting to discuss this after class (see below).

The MIDI project did have a demonstration but they ended up starting after our class was finished. Rebeka was cooking for them again and was still cooking when I came back to the house after class, so I went back to the building site and was invited to lunch at Janet’s house. I had ugali and beans and then was told that Rebeka was looking for me so I went home and ate rice and stew… then I went and sat with the women while they got a demonstration about bee keeping. It started raining so we finished up and then I sat with the MIDI folks while they ate lunch and then helped Rebeka take the dishes back to the house.

Rebeka cooking lunch.

James working on his homework before class.

I spent the rest of the afternoon handwriting/copying assignments for the next day. I didn’t have time to create assignments on Monday or Tuesday… so the work we had done on Wednesday had been left over from last week when I arrived late with the lorry.

I don’t write longhand that often and my wrist and hand still hurt! Janet helped copy a bit too, but that was a lot of work! Janet had a good laugh at me because that is how she does it all the time. I’m still trying to figure out if the computer and copier have made me more proficient or lazier!

Grace had said she might come see the construction and talk to my students today. But she was unsure of her plans. Had she come I wouldn’t have needed Njenga to come get me. I stood under the network tree early this morning and finally got a hold of Grace who said she would call Njenga, but I texted him anyway and like magic he showed up about 1 pm! I actually had told him to meet me at the small public school nearby because everyone was going there for prayers at noon. But then I decided to wait for him on the road. I was walking up the path from the house to the road when I heard a motorcycle. I started running and waving my helmet, fearing he would drive by. Thankful he saw me and stopped.

We had an uneventful ride home, except that we say some giraffes near Grace’s house. We stopped to say hi…and I could swear my son, Omondi, has grown a foot in the last week! On the way out of the valley a car honked at us and stopped. I told Njenga it was probably Grace and it was. I ran down the hill a bit and said hi. She was with her son Sammy and grandson Keith. They were headed to the farm to plant some grass.

So now I’m comfortably reclined on my bed with my computer perched on my lap and I’m thinking it’s about time I do some actual relaxing. Maybe even a nap before Ruth gets home and dinner needs to be made! I really like Thursday afternoons!