Two weeks have flown by and now I’m typing it’s a struggle to remember what I’ve been up to. The biggest thing I suppose is that I have decided August is going to be the end of my time here as work is going so well and all my tasks should be complete by the beginning of July. With a new manager coming and my staff trained and doing well I’m wondering what specific thing I could accomplish if I came back from September to December. It’s funny, I love it here but have really started to miss home and so added to work going well it feels like August is good timing. By then I’ll (hopefully!) have completed everything, been visited by my old youth group and my parents and have found more time to shop for souvenirs!
So in order to finish in August I have to get on with various projects that I aim to finish by July such as our Adult Literacy curriculum. In total it’s 4 subjects over 5 terms with 8 lessons in each term making 160 lesson plans. In the past two weeks I’ve managed about 15 so a bit of a way still to go but thankfully a lot of resources have been put together by previous volunteers and it’s just a case of formatting them in the same way and taking out any part that requires good literacy at the beginning of the course. The biggest challenge I think will come when I attempt to write the lessons for agriculture epecially the ones on animals. My knowledge of goats, chickens, pigs and cows doesn’t go much beyond how to cook them which isn’t really what we’ll be aiming at! In order to get this done and to ensure that staff at the project don’t rely on me too much I’m now working from home 2 days a week which hopefully means I’ll get a lot more done and saves me being on motorbikes which still scare me quite a bit.
Alongside work being busy but good my other adventure has revolved around my house mate Tiff who managed to slip on our kitchen floor and break her elbow. It was a Friday night and so all x-ray machines had been witched off for the night. In the end she was admitted to a local private hospital who gave her lots of strong painkillers which sent her a bit loopy. Quite funny to watch her say ridiculous thing but not fun seeing her in so much pain. In the end it took them nearly 24 hours to decide if it was broken or not and to put it in the hugest plaster cast I think I’ve ever seen. The final chaos was when the bill came and £100 had been added for 10 minutes with the doctor. Turns out it costs 120,000/- (£40) to have a baby at the hospital and 400,000/- (£130) to have a couple of x-rays and a quick appointment. We managed to get about £30 off when we argued our case and talked about mzungu pricing but it was still a bit of a rip off and annoying.
Our other house news is the arrival of Korah, our german shepherd puppy who is about 6 weeks old. Very cute and fluffy and not hugely popular with the other dogs who seem to have sussed out that she will be top dog one day and so they are attempting to teach her respect and fear while she is still young. The cat has also been trying to teach her manners but doesn’t seem to be having the same success she’s had with the other dogs. Not entirely sure the cat will survive Korah once she grows a little more.
This year is going so fast that we’ve made it to Easter, feels like we only just had Christmas and very aware that with only a few months left it could all go very fast. My Easter weekend has actually been very quiet as I haven’t been feeling great and need time to catch up on sleep. Did manage to go out yesterday to a bbq which was nice but after 2 hours I was exhausted and needed my bed. Even today I skipped church which I feel a bit guilty about but 5 hours when you’re not on top form is not a lot of fun. So now it’s Sunday afternoon and we’re all lying around lazily. Tomorrow is also a day off work but I may do some bits from home as I’m taking off Friday to watch the royal wedding with some friends. There may have to be a bit of explaining our strange customs as most of my friends are not Brits and will probably think the whole thing a little odd!
Right, I think that’s everything I’ve been up to in the past couple of weeks so until next time…
